The Shi'i World ─ Pathways in Tradition and Modernity

The world’s 200 million Shi’i Muslims express their faith in a multiplicity of ways, united by reverence for the ahl al-bayt, the family of the Prophet. In embracing a pluralistic ethic, fourteen centuries of Shi’i Islam have given rise to diverse traditions and practices across varied geographic and cultural landscapes. The Shi’i World is a comprehensive work authored by leading scholars from assorted disciplines, to provide a better understanding of how Shi’i communities view themselves and articulate their teachings. The topics range from Shi’i Islam’s historical and conceptual foundations, formative figures and intellectual, legal and moral traditions, to its devotional practices, art and architecture, literature, music and cinema, as well as expressions and experiences of modernity. The book thus provides a panoramic perspective of the richly textured narratives that have shaped the social and moral universe of Shi’i Muslims around the globe. This fourth volume in the Muslim Heritage Series will appeal to specialists and general readers alike, as a timely resource on the prevailing complexities not only of the ‘Muslim world’, but also of the dynamic Shi’i diasporas of Europe and North America.

Farhad Daftary is Co-Director of The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London (IIS), where he also heads the Department of Academic Research and Publications. He is author of the seminal Assassin Legends: Myths of the Ismailis, co-editor of Encyclopaedia Islamica as well as managing editor of the Shi’i Heritage Series and the Ismaili Texts and Translations Series.