Heinz Halms Shia Islam: from Religion to Revolution Essay -- essays

Heinz haulms Shia Islam From organized religion to noveltyIn his 176-page volume, the atomic number 82 German Islamist, Heinz halm is able to trace the roots of the Persian Revolution back throughout the history of the Shi philosophy. Contrary to many western thinkers and Iranian militants, Halm feels as though Shii Islams character was not inherently extremist, however that the transition to revolution marked a milepost and a watershed in the history of Shii thought and history. The cognomen of his book, Shia Islam From Religion to Revolution really synopsizes Halms bakshis quite adequately. Heinz Halm is currently a professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Tubingen and is the author of numerous other works on Sunni Islam, Shiism and Ismailism. around of his works include The Empire of the Mahdi, The Rise of the Fatimids, and Shiism. Shia Islam From Religion to Revolution is broken up into three sections, which play their respective split in relaying Halms messag e. Part 1 deals directly with the origins of Shiism and is labeled The House of Sorrows The Twelve Imams. In this section Halm attributes Abu Miknafs report of the Campaign of the Penitents or tawwabun to be of the key documents that allows us to take in the emergence of early Shiism. Halm went as far as to prescribe that Abu Miknafs text and, at that placefore what is related in it, already exhibit all the essential elements that characterize the Shii religion today. He went on to say that the self accusations of the partisanspeaked in acknowledgement of their own dishearten and their desire to atone for this (the massacre at Karbala) with death. Halms dissertation in this section is that self-sacrifice characteristic of the Shiis was exemplified, and even developed in this march of the tawwabun. And, this particular characteristic was politically instrumentalized during the revolution of 1979 and during the war with Iraq. Further, Halm traces the non-political character of th e following Imams, especially Jafar Assadiq. Halm further delves into the roles that the fourteen Infallible Ones played in Shii theology, and as well the import of the Occultation of the Twelfth Imam. He expresses that with the absence of the Twelfth Imam there was a lapse in the duties of the Imam, which over time had to be interpreted over by ulama. ... ...ut the monopolistic position of the mujtahids and their claim to be emulated by their followers. Eventually the Akbaris would fade out into the periphery and by the nineteenth light speed the Usulis managed to gain widespread acceptance throughout the Shii world, and Halm claims that it had a key impact in transforming the role of the ulama. The transformation, however, that Halm refers to occurred in the pass of Khumayni and Ali Shariati who managed to develop a modern revolutionary ideology wrapped in traditional Shii images and symbols. Shariati and his fellow idealogues, Halm claims, were guilty of dismissing fourteen degree Celsius years of history and their goals were inherently very ahistoric and utopian. The de-ritualization of the Ashura customs and elimination of the eschatological expectations of the Mahdi were responsible in transforming the Shii doctrine into a revolutionary ideology. Halm concludes by saying that revolutions do not develop from religious causes, but have political, economic and social triggers. And, like all modern revolutionary movements, the Iranian Revolution played upon a manipulated re-writing of history to benefit the impulsion of the movement.