Under the Safavids (1501-1736 CE) Persia adopted Shi'ism as its official religion. Rula Abisaab explains how and why this specific brand of Shi'ism--urban and legally-based--was brought to the region by leading Arab 'Ulama from Ottoman Syria, and changed the face of the region until this day. These emigre scholars furnished distinct sources of legitimacy for the Safavid monarchs, and an ideological defense against the Ottomans. Just as important at the time was a conscious and vivid process of Persianization both at the state level and in society. Converting Persia is vital reading for...
Under the Safavids (1501-1736 CE) Persia adopted Shi'ism as its official religion. Rula Abisaab explains how and why this specific brand of Shi'ism--u...
The complex history of Lebanese Shi ites has traditionally been portrayed as rooted in religious and sectarian forces. The Abisaabs uncover a more nuanced account in which colonialism, the modern state, social class, and provincial politics profoundly shaped Shi i society. The authors trace the sociopolitical, economic, and intellectual transformation of the Shi ites of Lebanon from 1920 during the French colonial period until the late twentieth century. They shed light on the relationship of contemporary Islamic militancy with traditions of religious modernism and leftism in both...
The complex history of Lebanese Shi ites has traditionally been portrayed as rooted in religious and sectarian forces. The Abisaabs uncover a more ...
