Twelver Shi'a as a Muslim Minority in India

<p>One of the most important current debates within and about Islam concerns its relation with power. Can Muslims be fundamentally content without power or as a minority? This book considers the voice of an important Muslim minority through its sermons. Indian Shi'i Muslims are a minority within a minority, constituting about ten to fifteen percent of the population as a whole, but comprising of about fifteen million people. Ten sermons are presented entirely and many more are quoted in order to analyze the preaching tradition in full. This book is the first survey to present the Indian mourning gathering and explain the history of this extraordinary phenomenon.</p> <p>An Introduction to the Shîa and the Events Surrounding the Battle of Karbala <strong>Part 1: Context </strong>1. From Karbala to India: A History of Shi'i Preaching 2. The Shîa of Hyderabad and their Mourning Gatherings <strong>Part 2: Sermons </strong> 3. The Description of a Complete Mourning Gathering (Including the Text of Sermon 1) 4. Sermons by Male ‘Lay’ Preachers 6. Sermons by Religious Scholars <strong>Part 3: Analysis </strong>7. What the Sermons Do and How They Do It 8. Indian Shi'i Preaching as the Expression of a Minority Islamic Religious Identity</p>