In his new book, Shi’ism: A Religion of Protest, Hamid Dabashi argues that the nature of Shi’ism is historically incompatible with positions of power. From its very founding amidst a dispute over who would rightly succeed Muhammad, Shi’ism has been imbued with a defining spirit of dissent. Today, though, in Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon, Shi'ism has ceased to be a mere sect within the larger context of Islam and has emerged as a global claim on our most urgent political attention.
As Hamid Dabashi explains in the video below, his goal in writing the book was to capture the soul of Shi’ism. “The principal argument of this book,” he explains, “is that as a religion of protest, Shi’ism is successful and legitimate only when it is combative and in a warring posture, and it loses that legitimacy the instant it comes to power.”
The book includes a detailed discussion of the Shi’i doctrinal foundations, an encompassing view of its historical unfolding, and a varied investigation into its visual and performating arts. In this effort to explain the spirit of Shi’ism to a wide audience, Dabashi hopes to positively influence global political discourse. The book is the product of his conviction that “an accurate, detailed, and purposeful knowledge of Shi’ism is today indispensible to our understanding of global affairs, from the heart of Shi’ism in the Iranian and Muslim world, to the widest reaches of religiously nuanced politics.”
Hamid Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, an essayist on current affairs, and an anti-war activist. For more information about him and his work, visit www.hamiddabashi.com
