Farhad Daftary and Gurdofarid Miskinzoda, eds. The Study of Shi‘i Islam: History, Theology and Law

Abstract

In this extended review article, the reviewer first summarises the contents of twenty-two chapters and nine introductions of The Study of Shi‘i Islam: History, Theology and Law in an understandable language and engaging manner so as to make them accessible to general readership.  This task represents both conceptual translation and pedagogical representation of its specialised contents and terminology. Moreover, he critically engages with each chapter, highlighting key insights and valuable contributions of the authors, appreciating their scholarship and reflexive approaches, raising questions about the possible gaps, alternative perspectives, and possible implications. These implications concern the Shi‘i and Islamic studies, philosophy and intellectual traditions, education (curriculum and pedagogy), and new areas of research in the field of Shi‘i studies. The overall argument of the reviewer is that The Study of Shi‘i Islam is a rigorously researched and excellently produced volume on the histories, traditions, continuities, and changes of thoughts and practices of a significant and diverse Muslim community; a community that is reclaiming its internally common and divergent rights, voices, spaces, and hopes in the global intellectual, cultural, and geopolitical landscape of the twenty-first century. The key challenges that the volume producers face are the acceptance, endorsement, and impact of its insights and findings within the context of uncertainty, multiple truths, continuing Islamophobia globally, and the politically motivated anti-Shi‘a sentiments in the large parts of the Muslim world.

Keywords

Shi‘i Islam, Islamic history, Shi‘i studies, approaches to Shiism, diversity in Shi‘i Islam.