Denne artikel undersøger en udbredt diskurs blandt britiske shiamuslimer, som med betegnelsen “islamisk enhed” fremhæver kulturel sameksistens blandt muslimer. Analysen af denne diskurs belyser shiitiske opfattelser af selv og andre samt magtrelationerne inden for islams mangfoldighed. Artiklen placerer denne diskurs inden for en ramme af majoritets-minoritets magtrelationer, hvor shiaislam traditionelt har minoritetsstatus (og i en britisk kontekst som dobbeltminoritet). Derudover identificerer og undersøger artiklen fire strategier inden for denne diskurs, som den argumenterer for, er et forsøg på at redde shiaislam fra sin minoritetsstatus ved at “mainstreame” denne retning. Denne mainstreaming handler dog ikke om at opløse shiaislam i en eksisterende mainstream, men snarere om at normalisere shiitiske særtræk.
The thirteen years Khomeini spent in exile in the Iraqi shrine city of Najaf is still a little-known page of his life. Based on a collection of published interviews with Iranian clerics, this article explores the social mechanisms of his growing authority, both as a religious scholar and a revolutionary figure. His leadership practices were, the article argues, a mirror of his position of in-betweenness characterized by his physical presence in Najaf and his continued attachment to the home country. The social dynamics at work inside the Iraqi seminaries are explored first to situate Khomeini in his place of exile. While he was kept at a distance by Najaf’s most influential clerical groups, he also had access to a social base of his own, a group of supporters composed mainly of Iranian students and low-ranking scholars. The local and transnational development of Khomeini’s religio-political leadership is addressed next. His scholarly and social activities among Najaf’s community of learning allowed him to consolidate and spread his religious influence. His political activities were less overt than generally assumed; he kept a low profile in Najaf’s public sphere yet maintained a political presence transnationally through his network.
This article explores the transnational contest over sacred authority in contemporary Shi’i Islam as it plays out between contemporary maraji’ (sources of emulation) and the Iranian Supreme Leader, and in practice between their respective networks. It engages with
existing assessments of the marja’iyya as an institution in crisis and argues instead that the marja’iyya has structural capacities that help maintain its potential in the face of the power exerted by the Supreme Leader. This in turns shapes the nature and outcome
of the contest, including the need for the latter to accommodate with competing religious authorities. In the first part, the article offers a conceptualisation of the marja’iyya’s potential on the basis of three of its intrinsic features: its polycephalic nature and the
broad temporal and geographical scope of a marja’’s authority. The second part offers a case study of the transnational contest over sacred authority in a specific locale. It maps the various (institutionalised) networks associated with Middle Eastern authorities, the Supreme
Leader included, in London. Networks are however not hard-bound entities, as illustrated by the cross-networks navigation of their members. Furthermore, networks operate not only in competition but also in collaboration with each other. The contemporary contest over Shi’i authority is
thus not a zero-sum game.
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