The Thread of Mu'awiya: The Making of a Marja' Taqlid

The Thread of Mu'awiya: The Making of a Marja' Taqlid (Transorientalia)

The marjaâ‚¬Ëœs or grand ayatollahs are the scholars who sit at the pinnacle of the Shiâ‚¬Ëœa religious hierarchy. Normally learned and reclusive men, they nonetheless wield enormous authority through their religious prestige and the funds generated by religious taxes. From their modest homes in the Shiâ‚¬Ëœite shrines cities of Iraq and Iran, their influence reaches across the Shiâ‚¬Ëœa world carried by networks of sons, sons-in-law, students, and local clerics. This book reveals the process by which a handful of religious scholars become recognized as grand ayatollahs, the way their influence is exercised, and how they relate to other Shiâ‚¬Ëœa clerics and to ordinary believers. Based on scores of interviews with Shiâ‚¬Ëœa clerics, this book gives a detailed and human portrait of the inner world of the Shiâ‚¬Ëœite clerical hierarchy. The late Linda Walbridge was an anthropologist of religion specializing in minorities in the Islamic world. Her other works include Without Forgetting the Imam: Shiâ‚¬Ëœism in an American Community, The Most Learned of the Shiâ‚¬Ëœa: The Institution of the Marjaâ‚¬Ëœ Taqlid, and The Christians of Pakistan: The Passion of Bishop John Joseph.
Country USA
Brand Ramsay Press
Manufacturer Ramsay Press, The
Binding Paperback
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780615957562
ReleaseDate 0000-00-00

The Thread of Mu'awiya: The Making of a Marja' Taqlid (Transorientalia)