The Emergence of Modern Shi‘ism Islamic Reform in Iraq and Iran by Zackery Heern (London: Oneworld Publications, 2015.)

Abstract

This is the first comprehensive work on the origins, development, and sociopolitical
ramifications of the Usuli movement within Twelver Shi‘ism. Given
that Wahid Bihbahani (1709-91), the founder and catalyst for Usuli revivalism
during the nineteenth century, is barely known in the West, it is a welcome addition
to the growing Western literature on medieval and modern Shi‘ism. This
ongoing movement is the most powerful force in Twelver Shi‘ism.
Using a wide range of primary and secondary sources, Heern highlights
the emergence of modern Usulism during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
While locating its genesis within a global context, he outlines its ideological
roots, historical background, and development. His central argument is
that Usulism was a response to the ummah’s changing sociopolitical conditions
and part of a wider trend of Islamic reform and revivalist movements that began
in the eighteenth century. He maintains that its emergence enabled the Shi‘i
clerical establishment to attain sociopolitical and economic ascendancy in Iran
and Iraq, and that the movement survived without government patronage by
cultivating transnational links with the Shi‘i laity. For him, Shi‘i Islam’s recent
ascendancy is the result of the neo-Usuli movement ...