Don'tMakeAس

Ref: Chamankhah, Leila. “The Conceptualization of Guardianship in Iranian Intellectual History 1800–1989: Reading Ibn ʿArabī’s Theory of Wilāya in the Shīʿa World,” 220.

Some responses to the typically quoted traditions on political quietism.

Coming back to the topic, I think I agree with brother Ibn Al-Ja'abi's take. I haven't seen anything to indicate that it's a plot to romaticize the concept of the Antichrist before his actual coming. If it is, it's a remarkably well-organized one. On the contrary, it looks like this figure is going to be depicted as a supernatural conman and the antagonist (rather than the protagonist) of the series. It's also unlikely to actually conform to scripture to the extent of the man losing an eye, etc. This might be me being overly optimistic, but I think the social media response to the trailer release has already generated interest in true Islamic eschatology. If a clearly fictional depiction of the end times piques people's interest in what will actually happen, then that's a positive externality. The fitna of the Dajjal is real, but I highly doubt that extends to the fitna of a Netflix spoof of his story.

I don't want to derail this thread any further, but the last thing I'll say is that there is a definitive difference of opinion among the 'ulema on the degree of involvement that religion should have with politics during the ghayba. Imam Khomeini is the most famous modern proponent of participating in political processes, although there were many before him -- including some of our greatest scholars, who can hardly be accused of remaining 'apolitical' or restricting their role only to the giving of 'advice' under the Safavids (and others). Imam Khomeini gave many arguments, in works like Hokumat-I Eslami, for why a government explicitly headed by jurists is preferrable, some of which have been alluded to in this thread. Some of them are summarized here, although not exhaustively. You'd also need to read his books to see the textual and scriptural justifications he backs these arguments with; some of his source material overlaps with these. Lastly, I would be highly skeptical of attempts to restrict 'political actions' to only explicit involvement in electoral systems. Not many things exist that can be truly apolitical, least of all religion.

The Najaf hawza might not be in a context where it can engage in politics as openly as its Qom counterpart, but you'd be foolish to try to pretend that Iraqi politics isn't dominated by Shi'I political parties that are deeply connected to the clergy. It's the same reason Hezbollah and Amal are so strong on the Lebanese electoral scene -- a separation between mosque and state might work on paper, but you can't stop religious people from voting for religious parties that want to enforce religious morality.

On a different note, a feature that stood out to me from the trailer was the notion of a dark-skinned Arab being either the Messiah/anti-Messiah. It'd be annoying if this ends up being a white saviour story like people have suggested in this thread, because on the flip side, there's potential for this to help contradict the false notion of a white, Spanish Jesus' second coming.

The character that Mehdi Dehbi is cast for is literally called Al-Masih ad-Dajjal, so Netflix really isn't leaving much to the imagination.

brother, I spend a few months of the year in Montreal, and the English-speaking brothers from various mosques and imambargas have made a WhatsApp group to post the English lectures that happen periodically in the centers of different ethnic communities. Drop me a DM if you'd like to be added to it or need more info. For instance: This is from a lecture held just yesterday. You can also follow that Insta handle for updates if you'd prefer that.

Echoes of the rally that Narendra Modi recently held with Trump in the United States attending by throngs of right-wing Hindu nationalists who support them both. Unfortunately, this really does seem to be the norm -- my university had a similarly interesting dynamic where, although most black and brown students were very sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, pro-Modi Indian students were the visible exception. The India-Israel link is a logical conclusion of the Islamophobia that they're unfortunately born into.

Probably an analogy to the famous حديث الثقلين, but with the subject replaced. Figure of speech.

Hajj Hasanain Rajabali

Asad Jafri Ammar Nakshawani Sayed Mahdi al-Modarrasi Azhar Nasser

As a part of our annual tradition here on ShiaChat, we're making this thread to serve as a repository for Muharram-themed lectures given by our Shi'I scholars during the 2019/1441 year. Share lectures of whatever language you understand, but please do strive to keep them limited to lectures of this year!

This slight is killing me.