The Shia Revival by Vali Nasr details the history of the Shia religion, the role it has played in the politics and movements in the Muslim world, and how the recent events in Iraq will both influence and be influenced by the followers of Shiism.
Ever since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the words Sunni and Shiite have increasingly filled the airwaves and newspaper pages. Usually chosen when describing sectarian conflict, the words are broad general labels for two groups who interpret Islam in different ways. It is naiive to think however, that sectarian violence occurs on the sole basis of these religious labels — it is only one factor in a myriad of reasons and motivations for violence.
The first parts of the book discuss the historical background of the Shia — the events that caused the followers of a new faith still in its infancy to split ways. While the specific details of events that spurred the schisms in the Christian faith may seem to hold little relevance to the actions of contemporary followers, Nasr shows that the massacre of Husayn, the son of Ali who was cousin to the Prophet Muhammad, and his thousands of followers by the caliphate’s forces (those who came to be the Sunnis) in the Iraqi city of Karbala is key to understanding the evolution of the Shia faith.
While Nasr delinates a great deal of the history of the Shia and the Sunni, his style of incorporating more modern events throughout the earlier sections break up the cohesive of the historical narrative. In The Shia Revival, Nasr strives to show how history is firmly connected to modern events. The book also shows the importance of Iraq as a place for the Shia. Najaf, home to Ayatollah Sayed Ali al-Sistani and other disciples of Ayatollah Khoi, competes with Qom in Iran for being the theological authority on the Shia faith. Karbala, the city where the Shia faith was practically consecrated over 1300 years ago, is in Iraq, as is Samarra, which is home to the Mosque of Al-Askari (the Golden Dome mosque) where the 10th and 11th Shia Imams are buried and where a shrine to the Twelth or ‘Hidden’ Imam stands. When the American invasion broke the hold the minority Sunnis had on the majority Shia population, it sprung open hundreds of years of pent up emotions, passions, and re-structured the Sunni – Shia party lines throughout the Muslim world.
The Shias make up only 12% to 15% of the worldwide Muslim population. Because of their more mystical beliefs in the divine abilities of the Prophet’s family to communicate the word of God compared to the Sunnis, they have often been branded as heretics or infidels, which conveniently sanctioned their subjugation or murder. Their minority status in most of the Muslim world condemned them to being sub-citizens. Iran (note, which is not an Arab country) was the only place where the Shia made up the majority.
This book is intended, as the title suggests, to give the Shia perspective on the new Middle East. It should not be used as the sole resource on the Sunni-Shia divide. While the information presented is extensively researched, it feels at times that Nasr goes too easy on the crimes or acts of terror that the Shia have committed in retribution to the Sunni compared with the opposite instances. The treatment on the new Iranian regime towards furthering radicalization that harms the Islamic faith is also light compared to other sources. These weaknesses do not fault the entire book however — it simply means that one must seek out another resource to achieve balance.
I recommend this book. It will help people gain a bit more understanding of the sectarian violence in Iraq, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism around the world, and the perspective of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
