Shi’ism and Revolution

Abstract

In the 1970s and 1980s most of the Shi’i movements that have been featured in the Western press seem to be ones of protest, revolution, political martyrdom, and sometimes leftism: for example, Twelver Shi’i political movements in Iran and Lebanon; Shi’i protests against Sunni governments in Arabia; leftist movements of the Shi’izing Alevis in Turkey; and even the Ba’thist secular government of the Shi’izing Alawis in Syria (both Alevi and Alawi refer to reverence for the first Shi’i Imam or leader, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law Ali). In various periods of history and even today, however, many Shi’is have been quietist supporters of the political status quo. Like most religions, sects, and political doctrines, Shi’ism in its different incarnations is seen by its adherents as essentially unchanging. When revolution and protest are in the air among many Shi’is, as they are today, they will often stress Shi’ism’s revolutionary antecedents, and when quietism and support for the powers that be are considered doctrinal, as was often the case, they will be considered to be the essential ideas of Shi’ism from the time of its founders.

From Bruce Lincoln (ed.), Religion, Rebellion, Revolution (London: Macmillan, 1985): 157–82.