MARC record from Internet Archive

LEADER: 02978cam 2200373 i 4500
001 9925253981801661
005 20160603051249.9
008 151103s2016 mau b 001 0 eng c
010 $a 2015040452
020 $a9780674737075 (cloth)
020 $a0674737075 (cloth)
035 $a(OCoLC)926061431
035 $a99969911637
035 $a(OCoLC)ocn926061431
040 $aMH/DLC$beng$erda$cHLS$dDLC$dYDXCP$dBTCTA$dBDX$dOCLCF
042 $apcc
050 00 $aBP189.43$b.P54 2016
082 00 $a297.8/20922$223
100 1 $aPierce, Matthew,$eauthor.
245 10 $aTwelve infallible men :$bthe imams and the making of Shi'ism /$cMatthew Pierce.
264 1 $aCambridge, Massachusetts :$bHarvard University Press,$c2016.
300 $aix, 254 pages ;$c24 cm
336 $atext$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$2rdacarrier
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520 $a"The rift between Sunni and Shi ah Muslims is one of the most salient divisions in the history of Islam. Twelve Infallible Men explores the role of stories in the development of a distinctly Shi ah identity, demonstrating how accounts of saintly figures were popularized to meet the needs of a religious community. This analysis of Shi ah narratives provides insight into the social and religious significance of stories of the imams, helping explain what made them worth preserving. This book examines a form of biography that emerged around the beginning of the tenth century CE, when Shi ah scholars began compiling accounts of individual imams into works spanning the lives of all twelve holy figures. These collective biographies canonized particular versions of the lives and deaths of the imams, in the process constructing a sacred history. The themes and motifs found in these biographies reveal the concerns of Shi ah Muslim communities in the medieval period. Shi ah accounts of the imams' lives often differed significantly from those of their adversaries, reflecting an emotionally-charged conflict about issues of religious authority and legitimacy. The collective biographies imbued select memories of the imams' lives with religious significance, thereby demarcating communal boundaries in enduring ways. The stories inspired and entertained, but more importantly they offered consolation to a community searching for meaning at a new stage of history. They became the focal point of communal memory, inspiring Shi ah religious imagination for centuries to come."--Provided by publisher.
505 0 $aSetting the stage -- Consolation for a community -- Betrayal and the boundaries of faithfulness -- Vulnerable bodies and masculine ideals -- Entering the cosmos.
650 0 $aIslamic hagiography.
650 0 $aImams (Shiites)$xBiography$xHistory and criticism.
650 0 $aShi ah.
650 0 $aIdentification (Religion)
947 $hCIRCSTACKS$r31786103045016
980 $a99969911637