Description:
Combining history, comparative religion, and political interpretations, Heinz Halm elucidates Shi'ism and political developments in the Middle East for the uninformed reader. The author highlights three main aspects of Shi'a Islam: its historical development, especially the history of the Imans; the rituals, including flagellation and passion plays; and the rules of the mullahs, known as the "government of experts." Halm explains the exalted position of the religious scholars, the mullahs and ayatollahs, who established themselves as clergy in the Safavid Empire and defined themselves as the "administrators" of the Hidden Iman. The relationship between the rulers of Iran and the mullahs has always been tense.The Khomeini revolution was the powerful culmination of a lengthy historical conflict that has expanded into Iraq and Lebanon after the American invasion in Iraq.
Heinz Halm discusses events in the Middle East during the last ten years - including the situation in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and the Gulf States - the results of the American invasion in Iraq, and what is called the new Shi'a revival and Shi'a Crescent. This book is an updated and expanded edition of Shi'a Islam: From Religion to Revolution, now out of print.
Brief description: Heinz Halm, of the University of Tübingen, is one of the world's leading scholars on the Middle East and especially on Shi'ism. His books, which have been translated into numerous languages, include The Empire of the Mahdi: The Rise of the Fatimids, The Arabs: A Short History, and the expanded edition of the latter, The Arabs: A Short History with Documents (both available from Markus Wiener). Professor Halm is the editor of Die Welt des Orients, and his shorter studies have appeared in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, Encyclopædia Iranica, and numerous learned journals.
Review Quotes:
"This very readable and useful account of the travails of the Shi'a begins with the martyrdom of al-Husayn in 680 and advances to the eleventh Imam, with the twelfth's fate being uncertain. The work is divided into five parts. The first recounts the life and fate of the twelve Imams, including the one in occultation. Part 2 details the lamentations, flagellations, processions, and passion plays associated with the death of Husayn, including the accounts of the earliest Western travelers and their observations. Part 3 focuses on what is termed 'The Islam of the Mullahs, ' who purportedly serve as representatives and spokesmen of the hidden Imam; it includes their formulation of Shi'i law and how they related to the established government. The fourth part deals with the revolutionary ideology of the ayatollahs toward the outside world, focusing on Khomeini's role and on Qom as the center of their authority as mujtahids. The last part treats the Shi'ah outside Iran, including Iraq, the Indian subcontinent, and Lebanon. This all-encompassing short history is illustrated with some print reproductions of Shi'ite rituals. Short bibliography. A concise, timely work that should appeal to those who have no prior knowledge of Shi'ism." - Choice Magazine
"The translation [by Allison Brown] is fluid and readable ... a most welcome event. It provides the English reader with an authoritative conspectus of Shi'i history and an accurate description of the revolutionary transformation of Shi'ism since 1979, including some useful information collected by the author in Iran in 1993. As a short historical introduction to Shi'ism, it is serviceable to the general public and has no rival or substitute." - International Journal of Middle East Studies
"A solid, knowledgeable, and readable book without ideological baggage ..." - Listen
"Recommended ..." - Library Journal
"An authoritative account." - Middle East Quarterly
"Illustrations, glossary, and index make this primer accessible and informative to nonspecialists ... recommended for courses on Islam and comparative religions, especially at the undergraduate level, and as a welcome addition to the literature on Shi'ism in general." - Digest of Middle East Studies
"Heinz Halm, an internationally renowned expert on Shi'ism, provides a concise and highly readable introduction to the historical and intellectual development of Twelver (Imamite) Shi'a Islam. He also presents Shi'i rituals as seen by European travelers. Halm considers these rituals as more important than Shi'a legal codes in terms of influencing culture. For example, he maintains that the 1979 Iranian revolution selectively utilized those historical and cultural symbols of Shi'ism that appealed to the sentiments of the masses; these symbols thus became tools in the hands of religious leaders." - Journal of Palestine Studies