Category: Shia Community

The Hazara people are commonly defined as an ethno-linguistic group from central Afghanistan that is Persian-speaking and adherent of the Shia Islam or Ismaili sect of Islam which makes them a major part of the Shia Community in Afghanistan. Population estimates range from 2.5 to 5 million, representing 9 to 18 percent of the population […]

The third part of the article “Fighting for “Justice”, Engaging the Other” focuses on the positive Shia religious identity. The first two parts were discussed in the previous two posts of our blog. On the one hand, such attempts by Shia students to engage the wider non-Muslim student body should be understood as contributing to […]

The second part of the article “Fighting for “Justice”, engaging the other” focuses on the difficulties students from Shia community in British universities come across when they want Shiism to be seen more. The first part of this article was discussed in the previous post. For practicing Shiism in Britain, there are a number of […]

Shiism and sectarianism: Emanuelle Degli Esposti and Alison Scott-Baumann in their paper, fighting for “Justice”, engaging the other: Shia Muslim Activism on the British University Campus, have charted the emergence and evolution of Shia Islamic societies on British university campuses from spaces of minority representation to platforms for public engagement and activism. In particular, they […]

Reformist British South Asian Twelver Shia Muslims emphasize practicing Shia Islam in daily life beyond the month of Muharram by living a piety-led life; they encourage their followers to ‘become’ a Shia Muslim rather than just ‘being’ one. The reformist British South Asian Shia ulama, mostly trained in Shia seminaries based in Qom and Najaf, […]