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This text looks at the medieval monument of the Gunbad-i `Alawiyan in Hamadan, which is a unique and intriguing architectural phenomenon, with an amazing richness of brick and stucco decoration both within and without. The book contains a complete recording of the Gunbad-i `Alawiyan, based on regular visits to the site conducted by Professor Shani during the years 1974-1978. In this book Profesor Shani succeeds in solving many controversial issues by tracing the person who built the monument and...

Chosen among Women: Mary and Fatima in Medieval Christianity and Shi`ite Islam combines historical analysis with the tools of gender studies and religious studies to compare the roles of the Virgin Mary in medieval Christianity with those of Fatima, daughter of the prophet Muhammad, in Shi`ite Islam. The book explores the proliferation of Marian imagery in Late Antiquity through the Church fathers and popular hagiography. It examines how Merovingian authors assimilated powerful queens and abbess...

Among the various Muslim communities that were articulating their doctrinal positions in the early Islamic centuries, one in particular was known derisively as the Ghulat ('extremists'). This was owing to their specific interpretation of Islam, which included an 'extreme' devotion to the Shi?i Imams and the family of the Prophet, and controversial religious ideas, such as the transmigration of souls into other human or sub-human forms. Widely active in Iraq in the 8th and 9th centuries, the Ghul...

Shi'i Islam has been the official religion of Iran from the Safavids (1501-1732) to the present day. The Shi'i world experience has provided a rich artistic tradition, encompassing painting, sculpture and the production of artefacts and performance, which has helped to embed Shi'i identity in Iran as part of its national narrative. In what areas of material culture has Iranian Shi'ism manifested itself through objects or buildings that are unique within the overall culture of Islam? To what exte...

Ibn Babawayh – also known as al-Shaykh al-Saduq – was a prominent Twelver Shi'i scholar of hadith. Writing within the first century after the vanishing of the twelfth imam, al-Saduq represents a pivotal moment in Twelver hadith literature, as this Shi'i community adjusted to a world without a visible imam and guide, a world wherein the imams could only be accessed through the text of their remembered words and deeds. George Warner’s study of al-Saduq’s work examines the formation of Shi'i hadith...

Nasir al-Din Tusi, the renowned Shi'i scholar of the 13th century, produced a wide range of writings in different fields of learning under Ismaili patronage and later under the Mongols. "Contemplation and Action" is his autobiography, in which he recounts details of his early education, his search for knowledge and his eventual conversion to Ismaili faith. It is also a clear and vivid elaboration of the Ismaili doctrine of "ta'lim", the need for an authoritative teacher in spiritual knowledge. T...

A renowned poet, philosopher and traveller of the 11th century, Nasir-i Khusraw was also a major Ismaili thinker and author of the Iranian lands. His Ismaili writings, exclusively in Persian, have been preserved through the centuries by the Ismaili communities of the upper Oxus and Badakhshan, now situated in Tajikistan and Afghanistan. This is a study of Nasir-i Khusraw's life and aspects of his theological and philosophical thought in the context of his times. The author has devoted more than...

The eruption of violent sectarianism in Iraq following the US invasion in 2003 brought the question of Sunni-Shi‘i relations in the country to the forefront of the international public agenda. It also strengthened the popular belief that contemporary Shi'ism is inherently sectarian. Yet several decades earlier, Ayatollah Khomeini had declared an Islamic revolution and downplayed its Shi'i origins and links. So what is the true orientation of Shi‘i Islam in the contemporary era and how did modern...

The four volumes of this set bring together key contributions to the study of Shi'ism, giving access to material that has hitherto been scattered and difficult to locate. While the majority of the material stems from the past fifty years, earlier studies are included, providing insight into the field's development. This collection reflects the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of today's Shi'ite studies. Volume One covers the birth of Shi'ism and traces its development. The emphasis is on t...