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Sectarianism and sectarian de-escalation

2023 Oct 05

ALI: Introducing the Imam Ali Research Track at Harvard Divinity School's Project on Shi'ism & Global Affairs

5:00pm to 6:30pm

Location: 

Swartz Hall - 120 James Room East - 45 Francis Ave, Cambridge MA 02138

ALI

Abstract:

Harvard Divinity School's Project on Shi'ism and Global Affairs is proud to announce the launch of a new research track on the Life and Legacy of Imam Ali, generously sponsored by the Jaffer Family Foundation of New York. The figure of Ali ibn Abi Talib has been simultaneously enigmatic and manifest throughout Islamic history. As the key companion, cousin, and son-in-law to the Prophet Muhammad, Ali occupied a paramount role from the very origins of Islam. Both the first Shi’a Imam–and progenitor of the line of imamate–and fourth Sunni Caliph, the legacy, memory, and centrality of Ali is a key pillar of Shi’a and Sunni Islam. His embodiment of justice, leadership, and esoteric knowledge continue to form a bedrock of Islamic ideals. Virtually all Sufi orders in Islam, Sunni and Shi’a alike, trace their lineage to this recognized fountainhead of wisdom. This panel discussion brings together scholars and specialists to discuss the field of study surrounding Imam Ali–in the past, present, and future. Open to the public both in-person and online (hybrid).... Read more about ALI: Introducing the Imam Ali Research Track at Harvard Divinity School's Project on Shi'ism & Global Affairs

Ali Asani

Ali Asani

Faculty Director. Murray A. Albertson Professor of Middle Eastern Studies; and, Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures, Harvard University

Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Ali Asani is Murray A. Albertson Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and...

Read more about Ali Asani
2022 Nov 09

Theological Foundations of the Zaydi School

4:00pm to 5:30pm

Location: 

Online webinar

Zaydi theology

Zaydis are estimated to make up some 40-45% of the Yemeni population and approximately 5-6% of Shi'as in the world. Despite being a significant minority among Shi'as, the Zaydi school remains both an understudied and commonly misunderstood school among laymen and scholars. The purpose of the presentation is to bring light to the five foundations of Zaydi theology shared by all Zaydi Imams and explain them in a concise and clear manner. In order to do that with the historical context in consideration, the presentation will analyze the relationship between Zaydi and Mu'tazilite theology and the ways in which they co-evolved. Additionally, the presentation will bring light to the Zaydi positions on contentious matters like the succession of Abu Bakr, the sources of Zaydi fiqh, the different branches of the Zaydi school, the conditions of political leadership, and the meaning of Imamate.... Read more about Theological Foundations of the Zaydi School

A Genealogy of Conflict: An Interior View of the War in Yemen
Marieke Brandt. 3/11/2021. “A Genealogy of Conflict: An Interior View of the War in Yemen.” Cambridge, MA: Harvard University WCFIA Project on Shi'ism and Global Affairs.Abstract
Yemen - A Genealogy of Conflict.pdf
Over the past years, the war in Yemen developed many internal and external dynamics. The focus of international observers and the media is often more on its regional political contexts, thereby largely disregarding the local dynamics of this conflict whose roots go back far into the history of Yemen. This lecture gives an insight into the local history of this conflict, with a special focus on the roots of Zaydi revivalism in highland Yemen and the emergence of the Zaydi “Ḥūthīs” (also called Ansar Allah), as well as interlinked tribal, socio-historical, and political dynamics in Yemen that explain the Ḥūthī conflict’s onset persistence and expansion.
2022 May 09

Second International Symposium on Diversity and Unity in Transnational Shi’a Islam

Mon May 9 (All day) to Fri May 13 (All day)

Location: 

Online webinar

The Second International Symposium on Diversity and Unity in Transnational Shi’a Islam (May 9th - 13th, 2022) builds off a landmark symposium hosted at Harvard University in 2021 by the Weatherhead Center’s Project on Shi’ism & Global Affairs that focused on bringing together interdisciplinary voices from across various interpretations of Shi'a Islam in both contemporary and historical contexts. This forthcoming weeklong symposium will host five panels with leading scholars in the field who study the diversity of Shi’a thought and communities across denominational lines including Zaydi, Ismaili, Alevi, Alawite, Bektashi, and Twelver Ja’fari Islam, and more.

Each day of the symposium will feature a single panel on a specific topic which will be held online via Zoom. The symposium is free and open to the public. The full schedule of the symposium can be found here.

2nd_international_symposium_intra-shia_dialogue

... Read more about Second International Symposium on Diversity and Unity in Transnational Shi’a Islam

Diversity and Unity in Transnational Shi’ism: Proceedings of the International Symposium at Harvard University (April 5-8, 2021)
Ali Asani, Payam Mohseni, and Mohammad Sagha. 12/2021. Diversity and Unity in Transnational Shi’ism: Proceedings of the International Symposium at Harvard University (April 5-8, 2021). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.Abstract
Symposium on Diversity and Unity in Transnational Shi’ism - Harvard University 2021.pdf

The Project on Shi’ism and Global Affairs is proud to publish a report, “Diversity and Unity in Transnational Shi’ism (PDF),” based on the proceedings of an international symposium hosted at Harvard University in April, 2021. The symposium brought together interdisciplinary voices from across various interpretations of Shi'a Islam in both contemporary and historical contexts with leading scholars in the field who study the diversity of Shi’a thought and communities across denominational lines including Zaydi, Ismaili, Alevi, Alawite, Bektashi, and Twelver Ja'fari Islam among others. This report includes the edited remarks of the expert participants in the symposium.

While individual works and scholars have focused on distinct Shi'a groups in specific countries or world regions, less attention has been paid to addressing diversity within Shi’ism from a comparative perspective or thinking about how to approach the subject of intra-Shi’a dialogue rather than interfaith dialogue more broadly. This is all the more important as the historical and contemporary legacy of Shi'a Islam is extraordinarily rich and truly global in reach.

The symposium thus fostered a larger dialogue on the historical relationship between Shi’a groups, intellectual and scholarly conversations between them, and contemporary areas of convergence and diversity that intersect with transnational Shi'a groups ranging from Twelvers in Iran, Iraq and Pakistan, to Zaydis in the Arabian Peninsula, to Isma'ilis in Tajikistan and India, to Bektashi Shi'as in the Balkans, and to Shi'a diaspora communities in the West and beyond. 

Read or download the report (PDF).

 

The Prophet's Heir: The Life of Ali ibn Abi Talib
Hassan Abbas. 3/2021. The Prophet's Heir: The Life of Ali ibn Abi Talib. New Haven: Yale University Press. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Ali ibn Abi Talib is arguably the single most important spiritual and intellectual authority in Islam after prophet Mohammad. Through his teachings and leadership as fourth caliph, Ali nourished Islam. But Muslims are divided on whether he was supposed to be Mohammad’s political successor—and he continues to be a polarizing figure in Islamic history.
 
Hassan Abbas provides a nuanced, compelling portrait of this towering yet divisive figure and the origins of sectarian division within Islam. Abbas reveals how, after Mohammad, Ali assumed the spiritual mantle of Islam to spearhead the movement that the prophet had led. While Ali’s teachings about wisdom, justice, and selflessness continue to be cherished by both Shia and Sunni Muslims, his pluralist ideas have been buried under sectarian agendas and power politics. Today, Abbas argues, Ali’s legacy and message stands against that of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and Taliban.

Read more about the book here.

From Detente to Containment: the Emergence of Iran's New Saudi Strategy
Hassan Ahmadian and Payam Mohseni. 5/2021. “From Detente to Containment: the Emergence of Iran's New Saudi Strategy.” International Affairs, 97, 3. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Iran's strategy with respect to Saudi Arabia is a key factor in the complex balance of power of the Middle East as the Iranian–Saudi rivalry impacts the dynamics of peace and conflict across the region from Yemen to Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Bahrain. What is Iranian strategic thinking on Saudi Arabia? And what have been the key factors driving the evolution of Iranian strategy towards the Kingdom? In what marks a substantive shift from its previous detente policy, we argue that Tehran has developed a new containment strategy in response to the perceived threat posed by an increasingly pro-active Saudi Arabia in the post-Arab Spring period. Incorporating rich fieldwork and interviews in the Middle East, this article delineates the theoretical contours of Iranian containment and contextualizes it within the framework of the Persian Gulf security architecture, demonstrating how rational geopolitical decision-making factors based on a containment strategy, rather than the primacy of sectarianism or domestic political orientations, shape Iran's Saudi strategy. Accordingly, the article traces Iranian strategic decision-making towards the Kingdom since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and examines three cases of Iran's current use of containment against Saudi Arabia in Syria, Yemen and Qatar.

Read full article here.

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