Art of the Arab Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall

Blossoms on vintage


Tank v. bike Cairo





Protesting Women


Real life










































Syrian Refugees










Art imitating life
















"Freedom"




Ben Ali



Looting Ben Ali's mansion





Auction of Ben Ali Family Goods

Najaf and Hawza Bibliography

Āl Maḥbūbah, Jaʻfar al-Shaykh Bāqir. Māḍī al-Najaf wa-ḥāḍiruhā al-Najaf : Maṭbaʻat al-Ādāb, 1955-1958. 

Amini, Muhammad Hadi, Muʻjam rijāl al-fikr wa-al-adab fī al-Najaf khilāla alf ʻām Najaf? : s.n., 1992

Amīnī, Muḥammad Hādī. Muʻjam al-maṭbūʻāt al-Najafīyah. al-Najaf : Maṭbaʻat al-Ādāb, 1966

al-Asadi, Hasan Thaura al-Najaf ‘ala al-inkliz, Baghdad: Wizarat al-I‘lam, 1975

Āṣafī, Muḥammad Mahdī. Madrasat al-Najaf wa-taṭawwur al-ḥarakah al-iṣlāḥīyah fīhā. al-Najaf : [Dār al-Nuʻmān lil-Ṭibāʻah wa-al-Nashr, 1965]

Bahādilī, ʻAlī. al-Najaf : jāmiʻatuhā wa-dawruhā al-qiyādī Bayrūt, Lubnān : Muʾassasat al-Wafāʾ, 1989.

Bahādlī, ʻAlī. al-Ḥawzah al-ʻilmīyah fī al-Najaf : maʻālimuhā wa-ḥarakatuhā al-iṣlāḥīyah. Bayrūt, Lubnān : Dār al-Zahrāʼ, 1993

Bahadli, Ahmad Kadhem. al-Najaf al-Ashraf wa Jama'taha al-Deenaiyya

Bahr al-‘Ulum, Introduction to Amali Al-Shaykh Al-Tusi

Balāghī, ʻAbd al-Ḥujjat, Tārīkh-i Najaf-i ashraf va Ḥīrah Tehran, Chāpkhāneh-yi Maẓāhirī, 1368 [1949

Dujaili, Ja'far Mousooa't al-Najaf al-Ashraf (12 vol) 

Faḍlī, ’Abd al-Hādī. Dalīl al-Najaf al-ashraf. 1966

Fakhr al-din, tarikh al-najaf

Gharaviyān , Muḥsin. Ḥawzah dar maʻraẓ-i hujūm : naqdī bar maqālah-ʾi. Qum : Daftar-i Nashr-i Barguzīdah, [13]75 [1996]

Gharawī, Muḥammad. al-Ḥawzah al-ʻilmīyah fī al-Najaf al-ashraf : dirāsah tārīkhīyah mutawāḍiʻah tabḥathu ʻan bidāyat al-jāmiʻah al-ʻilmīyah al-dīnīyah fī al-Najaf al-ashraf Bayrūt, Lubnān : Dār al-Aḍwāʼ, 1994.

Gharawī, Muḥammad. Maʻa ʻulamāʾ al-Najaf al-ashraf Bayrūt, Lubnān : Dār al-Thaqalayn, 1999

Ḥakīm Hasan ʻĪsá, al-Mufaṣṣal fī taʼrīkh al-Najaf al-Ashraf, Qum : al-Maktabah al-Ḥaydarīyah, 1427/2006

Al-Hakim, Muhammad Taqi, Da’ira al-Ma ‘arif al-islamiyya al-Shi‘a, Beirut: al-Ta‘arif, 1986

Hāshimī al-Mashhadī, Muḥammad ʻAlī. al-Ḥawzah al-ʻilmīyah tudīn al-inḥirāf. Bayrūt, Lubnān : Dār al-Ḥusaynī lil-Maṭbūʻāt, 2001.

Ḥassūn al-Burāqī, Ḥusayn ibn al-Sayyid Aḥmad. Tārīkh al-Najaf : al-maʻrūf bi, al-Yatīmah al-gharawīyah wa-al-tuḥfah al-Najafīyah fī al-arḍ al-mubārakah al-zakīyah Bayrūt : Dār al-Muʾarrikh al-ʻArabī, 2009

Ibn shahrashub, mu’alam al-ulama

Karbala center for research, najaf al-ashraf

Khalili, Jafar mausuat al-‘atabat al-muqadassah, Baghdād, Dār al-Taʻāruf, 1965 (vol. 7 has info on madrasa and students. Also look at section 7 vol. 2 for Bahr al-Ulum’s derasat wa tarikhaha fi al-najaf)

Kūfī, Muḥammad ibn ʻAbbūd, Nuzhat al-gharī fī tārīkh al-Najaf. al-Najaf : Maṭbaʻat al-Gharī, 1952

Al-Khu’i, Abu al-Qasim al-Musui, Musu‘a al-‘atabat al-muqadasa qism al-Najaf, Beirut: al-A ‘lami, 1987

Maghnīyah, Muḥammad Jawād, Maʻa ʻulamāʾ al-Najaf al-Ashraf [Iran] : Ahl al-Dhikr, 1426 [2005 or 2006] – This seems to be a translation of Gharawi’s book with same title

Marjānī, Ḥaydar, al-Najaf al-ashraf qadīman wa-ḥadīthan. Baghdad : Jamʻīyat al-Tawjīh al-Dīnī, 1986

Markaz Karbalāʾ lil-Buḥūth wa-al-Dirāsāt. al-Najaf al-Ashraf, isʹhāmāt fī al-ḥaḍārah al-insānīyah : waqāʾiʻ al-nadwah al-ʻilmīyah al-latī ʻaqadahā Markaz Karbalʾ̄ lil-Buḥūth wa-al-Dirāsaāt fī Landan Landan : Būk Akstrā, 2000.

Muhsin, Muhammad Zindaginamah va asar-I shaykh tusi,

Mufrijī, ʻUdayy Ḥātim ʻAbd al-Zahrah. al-Najaf al-ashraf wa ḥarakat al-tayyār al-iṣlāḥī Bayrūt : Dār al-Qārī ; al-Mawāhib, 2005

Mūsawī al-Ghurayfī, Muḥammad Riḍā al-Sayyid Muḥyī al-Dīn. Fikrah ʻan al-Hawzah al-ʻIlmiyah fi al-Najaf. Vol. 1 Qum : Muʼassasat al-Sayyidah al-Maʻṣūmah, 1429 [2008 or 2009]

Muvaḥḥid Abṭaḥī, Ḥujjat. Āshnāʾī bā ḥawzahʹhā-yi ʻilmīyah-ʾi Shīʻah dar ṭūl-i tārīkh.  Iṣfahān : Ḥawzah-i ʻIlmīyah, 1365- [1986- ]

Ruhaimi, tarikh al-haraka al-islamiya fil Iraq: al-juthur al-fikriya wal waqi al-tarikhi, 1985

Saghir, Muhammad Husayn ‘Ali, Asāṭīn al-marjiʻīyah al-ʻulyā fī al-Najaf al-ashraf, Bayrūt: Muʾassasat al-Balāgh, 2003

Salihi, ‘Abd al-Husayn, Al-Hawzat al-‘ilmiyya fi al-alaqtar al-islamiyya, Bayt al-‘ilm lil-nabihin, Beirut, 2004

Sahlani, Haydar. Fiqh al-atabat al-muqaddasah. Vol. 1 Qum : Manshurat Dalil Ma, 1429 [2008 or 2009]

Sayyid Kibārī, ʻAlī Riz̤ā. Ḥawzahʹhā-yi ʻilmīyah-ʾi Shīʻah dar gustarah-ʾi jahān. Tihrān : Amīr Kabīr, 1378 [1999 or 2000]

Shahir, tarikh al-najaf

Shams al-Din, Muhammad Rida Hadith al-Jama‘a al-Najafiyya

Sprenger and ʿAbd Ḥaḳḳ, eds. Fihrist kutub al-s̲h̲īʿa (, Calcutta 1848, repr. Mas̲h̲had 1972);

al-Suyuti, Jalal al-din Baghiyat al-wa‘a

Tihrani, Zendeginame-ye Shaykh al-tusi

Ṭihrānī’s intro to al-Ṭūsī’s Tibyān, in Yād-nāma-yi S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ al-Ṭāʾifa... Ṭūsī , Mas̲h̲had 1348/1970 - see the 102-page introd.

Tusi, amali (2 vols), on hadith and dogma

Tusi, al-fihrist kutub al-shia, ed. Sprenger and ‘Abd al-Hakk, Calcutta, 1848. (Ṭūsī gives a list of 43 of his own works; later he would have composed several more (Ṭihrānī, introd. to Tibyān).

Tusi, al-Istibsar ed. al-Ḵh̲arsān (one of the four canonical books of Imami hadith)

Tusi, al-jamad wal-uqud intro with introd. and Persian tr. by Wāʿiz̦-zāda, Mas̲h̲had 1374

Tusi, kitab al-ghayba

Tusi, rijal al-tusi

Tusi, al-Tahdhib al-ahkam ed. al-Ḵh̲arsān

Tusi, al-Tibyān fī tafsīral-Ḳurʾān, 10 vols. ed. S̲h̲awḳī and ʿĀmilī, Nad̲j̲af 1376-83, 10 vols., with introd. by Āg̲h̲ā Buzurg al-Ṭihranī)

Uqaylī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn ibn ʻAlī ibn Muḥammad Ḥirz al-Dīn al-Muslimī, Tārīkh al-Najaf al-ashraf ; hadhdhabahu wa-zāda ʻalayhi ʻAbd al-Razzāq Muḥammad Ḥusayn Ḥirz al-Dīn. Qum : Dalīl Mā, 1427, 2006

Wadāʻah, Nājī. Lamaḥāt min tārīkh al-Najaf  al-Najaf : Maṭbaʻat al-Qaḍāʾ, 1973

News articles on Baha'i Persecution

Article published in Washington Post on 11/28/12 about Baha'is in Semnan: Faith under siege: The Baha’is of Semnan, Iran

Published by LA TIMES on 8/11/10 IRAN: Court sentences leaders of Bahai faith to 20 years in prison

Published by NPR on 4/3/10, Roxana Saberi mentions her experience with Baha'is in Evin prison:

Roxana Saberi's 100 Days In An Iranian Prison

 

Resources for Baha'i Persecution

Since the 1979 revolution in Iran, Baha'is have been systematically persecuted, even though they do not involve themselves in affairs of the government and are non-violent. The Baha'i Faith is the largest minority group in Iran. However, Baha'is are treated as second-class citizens. They cannot pursue higher education or hold state funded positions. Below is a list of resources for those interested in learning more about the persecution of Baha'is in Iran.

Iran Press Watch regularly documents arrests, detentions, etc. of Baha'is in Iran. The site is not maintained by Baha'is and is a good source of up-to-date persecution of Baha'is. Click here for the website: Iran Press Watch: Documenting the Persecution of the Baha'i Community in Iran

The Baha'i World News Service (BWNS) regularly reports on activities of interest to the global Baha'i community. Here is a link to the BWNS archive of reports on persecution of Baha'is in Iran and elsewhere.

The Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights is a Network of Muslim activists who speak out against the persecution of the Baha'is. Their website includes a good timeline of Baha'i arrests, etc., which can be accessed here. Comics and videos can be found here. The website also has a map plotting recent arrests, etc. here.

7 Baha'i Leaders (Yaran) in prison since 2008. They did not have a fair trial and had very little access to legal representation, even though Shirin Ebadi (first Muslim woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize) agreed to represent them.

Baha'is have been persecuted in Iran since the Baha'i Faith began in in the mid-1800s. This image was published in a Persian magazine in 1911.

Islamic Reform Abstract

Zackery M. Heern. The Emergence of Modern Shi'ism: Islamic Reform in Iraq and Iran. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2014.

This book takes a fresh look at the foundations of modern Islam. Scholars often locate the origins of the modern Islamic world in European colonialism or Islamic reactions to European modernity. This study, however, focuses on the rise of Islamic movements indigenous to the Middle East, which developed in direct response to the collapse and decentralization of the Islamic gunpowder empires. Arguing that the Usuli movement, as well as Wahhabism and neo-Sufism, emerged in reaction to the disintegration and political decentralization of the Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal empires, this book specifically highlights the emergence of Usuli Shi‘ism in the 18th and 19th centuries. The long-term impact of the Usuli revival was that Shi‘i clerics gained unprecedented social, political, and economic power in Iran and southern Iraq. Usuli clerics claimed authority to issue binding legal judgments, which, they argue, must be observed by all Shi‘is. By the early 19th century, Usulism emerged as a popular, fiercely independent, transnational Islamic movement. The Usuli clerics have often operated at the heart of social and political developments in modern Iraq and Iran and today dominate the politics of the region.

Key Islamic Terms

ahl al-bayt familial descendents of Muhammad

Akhbari traditionist, scripturalist, Twelver Shi‘i school of thought that stresses the importance of scripture as the only real source of knowledge and authority

‘alim scholar, learned

amal al-ta’ifa the righteous sect, reference to Shi‘ism used by Shi‘is

‘aql reason, usually implies Aristotelian logic

al-‘aql al-hissi sensible reasoning

‘arif enlightened knower

asl original legal case

‘Atabat lit. thresholds, Shi‘i cities in Iraq, including Najaf, Karbala, Hilla, and Samara which contain shrines for remains of holy Shi‘i figures

‘azan call to prayer

bab al-ijtihad An important debate among early modern Muslim scholars was whether the gate of ijtihad was opened or closed. See also ijtihad.

bab al-‘ilm gate of knowledge

badiha common knowledge

batin inner or esoteric knowledge derived through inspiration, as opposed to exoteric knowledge (zuhur)

bida‘ blameworthy innovation

dalil (pl. dalala) indicator, as a legal term dalil is a proof that indicates true knowledge

dalil ‘aqli rational indicator

dalil shar‘i indicator from the Lawgiver (God)

da’wa missionary activity

dhimmi protected status granted to non-Muslims by Muslim rulers

din-i ilahi lit. Divine Faith, syncretic belief system of Mughal emperor Akbar

fana’ ceasing to exist, annihilation in God, highest state of Islamic mysticism

fatwa legal judgment issued by a legal official

fiqh Islamic jurisprudence

furqan intuitive knowledge

furu‘ al-fiqh positive law, lit. branches of jurisprudence

Hadith collection of reports of the sayings and actions of Muhammad (and the Imams for Shi‘is)

haqiqa absolute reality, the ultimate non-relative truth, truth according to God

hawza Shi‘i seminary or educational system emphasizing the study of Islamic law, also madrasa

hikma (or hikmat) mystical philosophy, wisdom

hikmat al-ilahi see ishraqi

al-hikma al-muta‘aliya transcendent wisdom

hujja (or hujjat) proof

hujjiyya probative force, authoritativeness

hukm legal ruling

‘ibadat commands related to worship or ritual duty

Idrisi early modern Sufi movement established by Ahmad Ibn Idris al-Fasi (1760-1837)

ihtiyat caution

ijaza lit. permission, license or diploma issued from cleric to student indicating the permissibility for the student to exercise the rights of a jurist

ijma‘ legal consensus

ijma‘ zanni conjectural consensus

ijtihad independent personal judgment exercised by a jurist (mujtahid) based on the principles of Islamic law (usul al-fiqh)

ikhtilaf disagreement, opposite of consensus (ijma‘)

 ‘illa ratio legis, rationale, effect cause

‘ilm knowledge

‘ilm al-khawass special knowledge

Imam According to Shi‘is, Imams are successors of Muhammad, believed to be endowed with infallibility (‘isma)

imam jum‘a Friday prayer leader

Ishraqi (or hikmat al-ilahi) theosophy or illuminationist philosophy that originated with Shihab al-Din Yahya Suhrawardi (d. 1191), who promoted the idea that true knowledge is the result of both rational and intuitive emanations from the mind

‘isma sinless, infallible, see ma‘sum

isnad chain of transmission of a hadith report

istihsan juristic preference

istishab al-hal presumption of continuance

istislah public welfare or interest

jahiliyya ignorance

jihad holy war, struggle

jizya head tax paid to Muslim rulers by non-Muslims

kadkhoda village leader

kafir (pl. kuffar) infidel, unbeliever

kalam theology

karamat miraculous phenomena

kashf divine inspiration, intuitive revelation

Kashfiyya see Shaykhi

khabar (pl. akhbar) hadith report

khabar al-wahid (pl. akhbar al-ahad) isolated hadith report, hadith report that does not have multiple transmitters

khawass elite, special

khums (lit. one-fifth) Islamic tax paid on specific items

lisan language

lugha language, linguistic

al-lugha al-‘urfiyya customary language

luti thug, gang, homosexual

madhhab school of Islamic legal thought

madrasa school, often denoting religious school

mafhum (pl. mafahim) linguistic implication

Mahdi Hidden Imam, According to Twelver Shi‘is, the Mahdi (Muhammad al-Mahdi) is the twelfth Imam, who has been in a state of spiritual occultation since 873 CE. In other words, the Mahdi (or qa’im, lit. the one who will arise) did not die, but is also not physically present in the world – although he allegedly may periodically manifest himself on the physical plane

marja‘ al-taqlid (lit. source of emulation), Shi‘i jurist (mujtahid) whose legal judgments are emulated by lay Shi‘is (muqallid)

maslaha public interest, common benefit

ma‘sum infallible, sinless, often attributed to the Shi‘i Imams

matn text of a hadith report

millet confessional community

mirghadab executioner

mu‘amalat non-ritual legal duties

mu’assis founder

mufti legal judge

mujaddid renewer or reviver of Islam thought to appear every century. Based on the prophetic hadith: “At the beginning of every hundred years, God will send a person who will revive the religion (i.e. Islam) for the community (ummah).”

mujtahid legal scholar who carries out ijtihad

mukallaf sane person who is subject to the law

mulazama belief that revelation and reason are in complete agreement

mullabashi lit. head cleric, highest ranking government appointed cleric, especially in the Safavid period

muqallid emulator, follower of a mujtahid, lay Shi‘i

murawwij reviver

mutashabih unclear, ambiguous Qur’an verse

mutawatir widespread, hadith report transmitted through multiple chains of hadith transmitters

Muwahiddun lit. Monotheists, Unitarians, title by which Wahhabis initially referred to themselves

na’ib deputy, see al-niyaba al-‘amma

najes ritual impurity

naql scripture, foundational Islamic texts (i.e. Qur’an and Hadith)

al-niyaba al-‘amma general vicegerency on behalf of the Imam

qadi Islamic legal judge

qarina textual evidence used to derive a non-literal meaning

qat‘ legal certainty

qiyas analogy, principle used by some legal scholars to formulate a new law

qizilbash lit. read head, supporters of Shah Isma‘il who assisted him in establishing the Safavid dynasty

qutb al-zaman axis of the age

ra’y personal legal judgment

rijal Hadith transmitters

riwayat companions of Muhammad

sadr chief religious dignitary

sahib al-zaman Lord of the age, one of the titles of the Mahdi

shakk legal doubt, opposite of certainty (qat‘)

shafa‘a intercession

salah prayer

sharh (pl. shuruh) textual commentary

shari‘a God’s law

shaykh (or pir) Sufi master

Shaykhi Shi‘i school of thought established by Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa’i, also known as Kashfiyya

shirk idolatry, polytheism

silsila chain

Sunna Islamic legal custom and practice

ta‘adiyya transference, method of transferring a ruling from an original case to a novel case

ta‘arud contradiction found within revelatory texts

tabaqat biographical dictionaries of Shi‘i clerics

tabarra’iyan those who publicly curse the first two Caliphs

tafsir explanation of revelatory texts

takfir declaration of unbelief or infidelity

takhyir legal choice

taklif legal obligation

tanqih al-manat discovering the rationale of a law with certainty

taqiyya dissimulation

taqlid emulation of an Islamic scholar’s legal judgment(s), precedent

taqwa fear of God

tariqa Muhammadiyya brotherhood or Sufi order of Muhammad

tawqifi (or tawaqquf ) suspension of a legal decision

tawhid monotheism, oneness of God

ta’wil interpretation of a text, exegesis

 ‘ulama religious scholars

‘urf custom, customary

usul al-din theological principles

usul al-fiqh principles of Islamic law

Usuli rationalist, Twelver Shi‘i school of thought that accepts the use of ijtihad and other extra-textual methods of deriving knowledge and authority. Usulis are often referred to as Mujtahids.

Wahhabi puritanical Sunni movement established by Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792), also known as Muwahiddun

wahy prophetic revelation, the manner in which Muhammad received the Qur’an from God

waqf religious endowment

al-wilayat al-takyini cosmic guardianship

yaqin certainty

al-yaqin al-‘adi ordinary certainty

zahir outer or exoteric knowledge, as opposed to esoteric knowledge (batin)

zann legal opinion, probability

zawiya Islamic religious school or monastery

zikrullah remembrance of God

zina’ extramarital sex