Apocalyptic Islam and Iranian Shi'ism

A very interesting thought provoking book from a very prominent scholar of Shi'a Islam.

Fascinating collection of articles

Intelligent overview of superstition and apoclaypticism in Iran. Amanat knows his stuff and covers ground even I didn't know about.

Abbas Amanat's "Apocalyptic Islam and Iranian Shi'ism" is worth buying if you have a strong interest in Iranian apocalyptic or Islamic apocalyptic more broadly, as there aren't many books out there which provide significant background on the issue. I might also recommend it for those who simply have a strong interest in Iranian history, as this book covers some aspects of it otherwise brushed over.I would not recommend it for anyone looking for an interesting or coherent book to read on Iran or Shia Islam. I found the chapters to vary in quality; some are quite good, others I'm not so sure. As Amanat explains in his preface, the articles were written for various purposes over 20 years, so part of the lack of coherence is inherent. Several of the articles also reflect an unfortunate tendency among some academics to present a subject matter through their own ideological lenses. The chapters dealing with contemporary Iran focus too much on explaining Iranian apocalyptic politics as a secularist liberal from Yale would view the subject, which undermines the author's credibility. There are also several digressions to criticize U.S. foreign policy which bear no relevance to the subject matter.The best chapters, I thought, were these: chapter two on "The Resurgence of Apocalyptic in Modern Islam" (a broad survey), chapter three on the Nuqtavi movement, chapter four on "Meadow of the Martyrs" (dealing with a seminal piece of Shia literature from the Timurid period) and chapter five on the Babi movement. I also thought chapters seven and eight were useful for tracing the historical development of Shia clerical authority, although this material is not specific to apocalyptic issues and is well covered in other texts. I suggest Litvak's "Shi'i Scholars in 19th Century Iraq" and Nakash's "The Shi'is of Iraq" in this regard (you may want to see my reviews on those).

The information content of the book is good, but reading was a real problem. Not an easy reading at all. I finally did finish reading it all, but it took many days, and reading each page several times to follow-up what Mr. Amanat is trying to say.I have heard Mr. Amanat on VOA TV, and he comes across very understandable and informed when he is speaking Farsi, but this book (in English) has not been written for an average, or even above average, person.