Sociology of Shiʿite Islam is a comprehensive study of the development of Shiʿism. Its bearers first emerged as a sectarian elite, then a hierocracy and finally a theocracy. Imamate, Occultation and the theodicy of martyrdom are identified as the main components of the Shiʻism as a world religion. In these collected essays Arjomand has persistenly developed a Weberian theoretical framework for the analysis of Shiʿism, from its sectarian formation in the eighth century through the establishment of the Safavid empire in the sixteenth century, to the Islamic revolution...

Sociology of Shiʿite Islam is a comprehensive study of the development of Shiʿism. In these collected essays Arjomand has persistently developed a Weberian theoretical framework for the analysis of Shiʿism, from its sectarian formation in the eighth century through the establishment of the Safavid empire in the sixteenth century, to the Islamic revolution in Iran in the twentieth century. The bearers or cultural carriers of Shiʿite Islam first emerged as a sectarian elite, then a hierocracy and finally a theocracy. Imamate, Occultation and the theodicy of martyrdom are identified as the...

As with all general history, Islamic history is conventionally approached in terms of evolutionary trends and continuities. This study in historical sociology of the millennial or Mahdist movements and their long-term impact, in contrast, focuses on abrupt discontinuities in the form of revolutions as apocalyptic breaks, and on the reaction of the ruling authorities as counter-revolution aiming at routinizing these charismatic irruptions into history by absorbing their impact within the prevalent structure of authorities, and thereby re-establishing the continuity that is taken for granted by...