An Introduction to Shi`i Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi'ism

The name of Amazon must be changed to AMAZING. Just received my book today it's the 16th February 2016. When I go to the tracker it says my book is due on February the 22nd SIX days from now!!!!!!! I ordered it on Feb. 7th and it was shipped I think the 9th so with a weekend or two it took only FIVE days to reach me in Australia!!!!!!!!!!I was expecting it next Monday. Great Comdition and has everything I wanted but I didn't expect it to be so extensive.It has maps and details like the population of Shiah's and where they are and all sorts of information I never dreamed of being included and of course the main point for me about the Mahdi and that is about the Bab and Baha'u'llah fulfilling the prophecies of Shiah Islam. But it is so informative and just flipping through it I thought WOW, "I didn't know that". A very welcome addition to "Muhammad and the Course of Islam" and the Quran by Bakhtiar who she clears up the mistranslation 4:34 about beating wives and corrects it to the right meaning of 'leave them alone' if a woman gets angry.This book goes into the history of Shiah and events and gives charts and visual examples so you can grasp information at a glance.Amazon is great and I'm very happy shopping here and recommend everyone to shop here.

Received in good condition

Dr. Momen wrote an excellent illustrated book. Even the printing layout is very good with a rather large typeface readable even by oldies.Dr. Momen gave due attention to details like exact transliteration, differences between Arabic and Farsi spellings and pronunciations, careful complete footnotes, glossary and reference lists, etc.The book also contains several charts that make it much easier to gain an overview of the subject matter, in particular of politico-historic events compared to theological developments.Dr. Momen does not claim to be an esoterist but rather has chosen an historic (zahiri) viewpoint without at all closing the door to the esoteric side (batini).Dr. Momen makes it clear and plausible how Twelver Shi'ism has especially since Safavid rule in Iran moved towards a concentration on exoteric law with the legal experts gradually assuming several prerogatives original held reserved to the occulted 12th Imam. In other words, it seems that the Sunni Al-Azhar University's published opinion considering 12er Shi'a a 5th school of orthodox Islamic jurisprudence in addition to the four still extant Sunni schools is factually based. In all fairness, however, we should bear in mind that tendencies towards legalism are currently not restricted to Shi'i Islam but, alas, observable worldwide.The more esoterically minded (batini) amongst the 12er ulama (doctors of theology) who do not share the view that jurisprudence (fiqh) is the central theme of Islamic knowledge have apparently gradually withdrawn and gone underground in a kind of relative occultation.This reviewer heartily thanks Dr. Momen and hopes he is alive and well and will soon publish a second updated edition of his excellent work.

Interesting and very well written and gives a detailed account of shia sunni historical events. I cannot confirm that everything is true but seems to be correct as in religious politics everything happens the same was as it happens in politics. Human beings are same every where. Greed for wealth and power makes every one mad. To remain honest, clean and pious is not everyones job.

All details needed to understand about SHI'A are in this book .For historical elements it is very well detailed . Thanks .

good for explaining the convuluted history of shiaism and as an ex-12 Imami shia I found the argument convincing that the 12er shiaism is a invention of much later age ....almost no details on origins of shias though for that we need more details of first fitna

Thank you!!!

Another wonderful, educational book about Islam. Great historical facts, and easy to read. Moojan Momen is a gifted writer and a incredible scholar!

Extrêmement détaillé, une mine d'information sur les chiites, leur histoire et leur doctrine. Pour bien comprendre leur évolution et leurs différents avant de devenir les chiites des 12.

Simply great!