The Book
The book specifically highlights the emergence of Usuli Shi‘ism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The long-term impact of the Usuli revival was that Shi‘i clerics gained unprecedented social, political, and economic power in Iran and southern Iraq. Usuli clerics claimed authority to issue binding legal judgments, which, they argue, must be observed by all Shi‘is. By the early nineteenth century, Usulism emerged as a popular, fiercely independent, transnational Islamic movement. The Usuli clerics have often operated at the heart of social and political developments in modern Iraq and Iran and today dominate the politics of the region.
Additional Information
| Subject | Religion |
|---|---|
| Pages | 240 |
| Imprint | Oneworld Academic |
Reviews
'Heern has done a great and of course difficult job'.
'Many discussions of Islamic movements of renewal and reform pay insufficient attention to Shi'I reformers. Heern provides an important resource for correcting this imbalance…His discussions of the issues involved in the way Muslim movements define knowledge and authority…provide a basis for more comprehensive examinations of renewlaist thought'
'Many discussions of Islamic movements of renewal and reform pay insufficient attention to Shi'i reformers. Heern provides an important resource for correcting for this imbalance. His comparative analysis of the three eighteenth/nineteenth century movements provides a useful critical framework for this more inclusive coverage of Muslim renewal movements. His discussions of the issues involved in the way Muslim movements define knowledge and authority, both in the debates within Shi'ism and in comparison with the Sunni and Sufi approaches . . . provide a basis for more comprehensive examinations of renewalist thought.'
‘Heern... is primarily concerned with the Shias, Islam's second-largest denomination after the Sunnis. But he refreshingly teases out the parallels between the three movements, rather than their differences as most other commentators have done.'
‘A challenging and thought-provoking read.'
Table of Contents
PrefaceIntroduction
The Triumph of neo-Usulism
The Eighteenth-Century Moment
Contemporary Shi‘ism and its Roots
Shi‘i Knowledge and Authority
Summary of Chapters
Chapter 1 The Times and Places of Reform in the Modern World
Introduction
The Place of Modernity
The Time of Modernity
World Systems and Multiple Modernities
Creation of the Modern World
Tradition and Change: From Pre-Modern to Modern
Chapter 2 Shi‘ism and the Emergence of Modern Iran
Introduction
Safavid Centralization of Iran (1501-1722)
Decentralization of Iran (1722-85)
Qajar Recentralization of Iran (1785-1925)
Conclusion
Chapter 3 Shi‘ism and the Emergence of Modern Iraq
Introduction
Ottoman and Mamluk Rule in Iraq
Shi‘ism and Arab Tribes in Southern Iraq
Conclusion
Chapter 4 Wahid Bihbihani: Shi‘i Reviver and Reformer
Introduction
Reviver of the Eighteenth Century
Bihbihani's Early Life
Bihbihani in Bihbihan
Usuli-Akhbari Dispute in Karbala'
The Historical and Mythical Bihbihani
Conclusion: Why Usulism Prevailed
Chapter 5 Wahid Bihbihani's Usuli Network in Iraq and Iran
Introduction
Usuli-Qajar Alliance
Bihbihani's Students in Iraq
Sayyid Muhammad Mahdi Tabataba'i "Bahr al-'Ulum” (Najaf)
Shaykh Ja‘far al-Najafi "Kashif al-Ghita'” (Najaf)
Mirza Muhammad Mahdi Shahristani (Karbala')
Sayyid ‘Ali Tabataba'i (Karbala')
Bihbihani's Students in Iran
Mirza Abu al-Qasim Qummi (Qum)
Mulla Ahmad Naraqi (Kashan)
Muhammad Ibrahim Kalbasi (Isfahan)
Muhammad Baqir Shafti (Isfahan)
Additional Students of Bihbihani
Conclusion
Chapter 6 Wahid Bihbihani's Conception of Islamic Law
Introduction
Bihbihani's Legalistic Conception of Knowledge
Four or Five Sources of Usuli Shi‘i Law?
1 The Qur'an
2 Traditions (Hadith)
3 Consensus (ijma‘)
4 Reason (‘aql)
5 Transference (ta‘diyya) vs. Analogy (qiyas)
Language (lugha) and Custom (‘urf)
Conjecture of Mujtahids
Conclusion
Chapter 7 Founding Fathers of Modern Islam
Introduction
Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab and the Wahhabi Movement
Ibn Idris and Neo-Sufism
Political Influence of the Reformers
Knowledge and Authority
Opponents of the Reformers
Primary Concerns of the Reformers
Conclusion
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
