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A Muharram victory

Oh boy! Was the US so confident of Allawi’s victory that they didn’t think what would happen if the Shi’i religious party won the elections? It’s not so much that they won, I think everyone but this administration saw them winning a plurality if not a majority, but it dawned on me today that they won the elections during Muharram. The first ten-days were when the Prophet’s grandson Husayn was tortured and killed. It’s one of the formative moments of Shi’ah identity and remains incredibly important for the Ithna’ashari, the type of Shi’ah in Iraq. The symbology of Imam Husayn…

Friedman on Sistani and the Nobel

See here. Friedman, like most commentators, acknowledges Sistani’s Shi’ism, but fails to understand what that means. “People power” as he describes is what the Ithna’shari conception of the state was/is prior to Khomeinism taking center stage. The idea of jurists leading the state, vilayat-e faqih, is a relatively new concept, but it’s already become normative for even op-ed writers who supposedly have the time to be able to think.

Moses At Sinai

The following quote is a commentary on the nature of God by a major Shi’ah thinker, Imam Jafar as-Sadiq (AS), who is also considered an important mystical figure. Moses (AS) is a major figure in the Muslim tradition, and symbolically is used to reference legalism and law. His interaction with the Divine helps to establish our understanding of God. As far as we can tell, the first major development of the concept of divine speech was the work of the sixth imam of the Shi`ah, Ja`far al-Sadiq (d. 148/765). Respected for his piety and wisdom by all Islamic sects, Ja`far…