Juan R.I. Cole Knihy

Láska je jedinou slobodou na svete, lebo tak povznáša ducha, že jej smer nemenia ľudské zákony ani prírodné javy. Tí, ktorým láska nedala krídla, nemôžu preletieť oblak zdania a nemôžu uvidieť čarovný svet, v ktorom tú smutne šťastnú hodinu spoločne prebývali Selmin a môj duch. Tí, ktorých si Láska nevybrala za nasledovníkov, nepočujú, keď volá. Tento príbeh nie je pre nich. Aj keby týmto stránkam porozumeli, nebudú schopní zachytiť nejasné významy, ktoré nie sú odeté do slov a neprebývajú na papieri. Čo je to však za ľudskú bytosť, ktorá sa nikdy nenapila vína z pohára lásky a čo je to za ducha, ktorý nikdy s úctou nestál pred vysvieteným oltárom v chráme, ktorý dláždia srdcia mužov a žien a jeho stropom je tajný baldachýn snov? Čo je to za kvet, na ktorého listy úsvit nikdy nevycedil kvapku rosy; čo je to za riečku, ktorá stratila smer skôr, ako došla do mora?... celý text

How is it that Shi'i Muslims have set the agenda of political discourse in the Islamic world in recent years? Why have Shi'is been at the forefront of Islam s reassessment of the West? In the past three hundred years, Shi i Islam, already the state religion in Iran since the 16th century, has grown impressively in Iraq, northern India and what is now Pakistan. Its effervescence dominated Islamic world politics in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Juan Cole examines Shi'i Islam as a world religion that has faced modernity on its own terms. He explores the little known history of Shi i communities as far afield as Bahrain and India, giving attention as well to important centres such as Lebanon, Iraq and, of course, Iran. He demonstrates the way in which Shi is have sought to define space and time as sacred, and to defend those spaces from encroachments by the Other, whether that Other be Sunni Arab, Hindu or European Christian. Yet the Shi'i struggle for authentic identity in the modern world has not been only a matter of reactionary digging in. Cole shows that Shi i clerical institutions have been supple and imaginative in coming to terms with phenomena such as modern finance capital, imperialism and the modern bureaucratic state. This book will prove of enormous interest to those interested in the history of Islam and the Islamic world, and to all students of the Middle East."