Shi'ism, Resistance, and Revolution

Although Shi'i Muslims number about 80 million, or 10 percent of the entire Muslim population, Western scholars have traditionally overlooked them in favor of the much more numerous Sunnis. In part, this is because Shi'is lived at some distance from Europe, in part because they tended to stay in remote and inaccessible refuges. This easy neglect of Shi'ism came to an abrupt end with the rise to power of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran in 1978. Since then, the driving question has been that of revolt: when and why are Shi'is quietist, when and why do they seek to overthrow the existing order? Of course, Kramer's volume gives pride of place to Iran; but its most original studies are the systematic surveys of little known Shi'is outside Iran — in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Especially fascinating are Joseph Kostiner's analysis of Shi'i unrest in the Gulf and Kramer's own survey of 'Alawi efforts to pass themselves off as mainstream Shi'is. This well-conceived and tightly edited volume has only one major defect: the total and inexplicable absence of North Yemen. Shi'is make up more than half the Yemeni population, and their tradition of power and distance from Iran should make them key to any comparative study of Shi'is in public life.