2014/05/22 by Simon Wolfgang Fuchs · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Art #Asian Studies and History #History #Islam #Islamic Studies and History #Law #Literature #Philosophy #Political science #Politics #Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East #Religious studies #Rhetoric #Sectarianism #Sociology #State (computer science) #TRACE (psycholinguistics) #Theology #Urdu
paper · doi:10.1017/s1356186314000200
openalex publication_date 2014/05/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Abstract This paper seeks to illuminate the intellectual impact of the Iranian Revolution of 1979 among Pakistani Shiʻas by focusing on Sayyid ʻArif Husain al-Husaini, the dominating Shiʻi leader of the 1980s. In particular, I am interested in exploring how al-Husaini adapted hallmark themes of the Iranian revolutionary message, such as Muslim unity or political leadership of the religious scholars ( ʻulama ), to the specific circumstances of Pakistan. Crucial for such processes of translation was not only pressure from the Pakistani state but rather internal challenges and divisions among the Shiʻi community. While al-Husaini could draw on a strong, indigenous tradition of political mobilisation, his revolutionary ʻthird waveʼ of Shiʻi thought sat uncomfortably between Lucknow-educated traditionalists and Najaf-trained reformers who shied away from getting entangled in these novel forms of politics. By drawing on biographical accounts and al-Husaini's speeches in Urdu, I trace how his revolutionary rhetoric had to accommodate thorny local issues such as sectarianism, South Asian mourning traditions or the lack of an established Shiʻi clerical hierarchy in Pakistan.