Description
Imam Husain's Brothers in Arms
ISBN: 978-1922583246SKU: LK
Imam Husain's Brothers in Arms comprises ten lectures delivered by Ayatollah Khamenei in September 1972, challenging the prevailing scholarly consensus that the Imams were apolitical. Against this notion, Ayatollah Khamenei argues, based on scriptural and rational evidence, that each Imam actively sought to overthrow Umayyad and later Abbasid political orders, differing only in tactics. The translated lectures provide English-speaking readers with an opportunity to assess Ayatollah Khamenei's compelling arguments, offering a nuanced perspective on the central issue of the political discourse in Islam and opening up unexplored insights into its revival.
Imam Husain's Brothers in Armsconsists of a series of ten lectures delivered by Ayatollah Khamenei in the month of Muharram of 1393 (September 1972), approximately seven years prior to the triumph of the Islamic Revolution of Iran.
The main thesis of the book goes against the millennial consensus of scholarly opinion that holds that the Imams were basically apolitical. Ayatollah Khamenei posits arguments based on scriptural as well as rational proofs of the politicism of all of the Imams, stating that every one of the Imams was engaged in a concerted clandestine effort to overthrow the Umayyad and later Abbasid political orders, the differences being one of tactics, which varied to suit the conditions current at the time. Ayatollah Khamenei in doing so explores historical events analytically as well as unpacking critical theological beliefs of the Sh'ia around Imamah, jihad and taqiyya.
With the translation of these lectures, the English-speaking public can judge the cogency of Ayatollah Khamenei's arguments for themselves on this most central issue in the political discourse of Islam. The reader will realize that it is not a thesis that can easily be dismissed and that it is one that opens huge unexplored and highly stimulating insight into the revival of the political discourse in Islam.
