Contesting ritual practices in Twelver Shiism : modernism, sectarianism and the politics of self-flagellation (taṭbīr)
Scharbrodt, Oliver LU
(2023)
In British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
50(5).
p.1067-1090
- Abstract
- Shiis perform a number of rituals on the first 10 days of the Islamic month of Muḥarram to mourn the killing of the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, Husayn, in Karbala in southern Iraq in 680CE. Among the most controversial rituals is the practice of blood-letting self-flagellation (taṭbīr). This article provides a comprehensive discussion of debates around this ritual among prominent Shii clerical figures of the 20th and 21st centuries. While the vast majority of senior clerics is either sympathetic to taṭbīr or retains an indifferent attitude, clerical interventions critical of it are informed by the discursive parameters of Islamic modernism and emphasize the universal moral and socio-political message of Husayn’s revolt. These debates... (More)
- Shiis perform a number of rituals on the first 10 days of the Islamic month of Muḥarram to mourn the killing of the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, Husayn, in Karbala in southern Iraq in 680CE. Among the most controversial rituals is the practice of blood-letting self-flagellation (taṭbīr). This article provides a comprehensive discussion of debates around this ritual among prominent Shii clerical figures of the 20th and 21st centuries. While the vast majority of senior clerics is either sympathetic to taṭbīr or retains an indifferent attitude, clerical interventions critical of it are informed by the discursive parameters of Islamic modernism and emphasize the universal moral and socio-political message of Husayn’s revolt. These debates also point at concerns over inter-sectarian relations between Sunnis and Shiis and efforts to discard Shii ritual practices that could antagonize Sunni Muslims. Finally, these debates contain an important political dimension reflecting contestations around Iran’s aim to exercise hegemony over Shii communities across the world. The 1994 fatwa by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic ‘Ali Khamenei (b. 1939) in which he declared taṭbīr prohibited (ḥarām) has hardened existing cleavages between those supporting and those rejecting this practice, as this article illustrates. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/0592e4f6-025e-446f-9748-616f6240842a
- author
- Scharbrodt, Oliver
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
- volume
- 50
- issue
- 5
- pages
- 24 pages
- publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85129187118
- ISSN
- 1353-0194
- DOI
- 10.1080/13530194.2022.2057279
- project
- Alterumma - Creating an Alternative umma: Clerical Authority and Religio-political Mobilisation in Transnational Shii Islam
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
- id
- 0592e4f6-025e-446f-9748-616f6240842a
- date added to LUP
- 2022-05-23 20:29:42
- date last changed
- 2024-05-06 08:51:10
@article{0592e4f6-025e-446f-9748-616f6240842a,
abstract = {{Shiis perform a number of rituals on the first 10 days of the Islamic month of Muḥarram to mourn the killing of the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, Husayn, in Karbala in southern Iraq in 680CE. Among the most controversial rituals is the practice of blood-letting self-flagellation (taṭbīr). This article provides a comprehensive discussion of debates around this ritual among prominent Shii clerical figures of the 20th and 21st centuries. While the vast majority of senior clerics is either sympathetic to taṭbīr or retains an indifferent attitude, clerical interventions critical of it are informed by the discursive parameters of Islamic modernism and emphasize the universal moral and socio-political message of Husayn’s revolt. These debates also point at concerns over inter-sectarian relations between Sunnis and Shiis and efforts to discard Shii ritual practices that could antagonize Sunni Muslims. Finally, these debates contain an important political dimension reflecting contestations around Iran’s aim to exercise hegemony over Shii communities across the world. The 1994 fatwa by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic ‘Ali Khamenei (b. 1939) in which he declared taṭbīr prohibited (ḥarām) has hardened existing cleavages between those supporting and those rejecting this practice, as this article illustrates.}},
author = {{Scharbrodt, Oliver}},
issn = {{1353-0194}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{5}},
pages = {{1067--1090}},
publisher = {{Taylor & Francis}},
series = {{British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies}},
title = {{Contesting ritual practices in Twelver Shiism : modernism, sectarianism and the politics of self-flagellation (taṭbīr)}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/119334849/Contesting_ritual_practices_in_Twelver_Shiism_modernism_sectarianism_and_the_politics_of_self_flagellation_ta_b_r.pdf}},
doi = {{10.1080/13530194.2022.2057279}},
volume = {{50}},
year = {{2023}},
}