Shi‘i Shrine Cities (Islamic Studies)

Introduction

Visiting the tombs of venerated figures has been widespread in most world religions. The devout believe that through the visitation, prayers said by the tomb, and votive offerings, the supplicants can obtain the help and intercession of the saints with God on their behalf. In Shiʿi Islam the imams (and some of their family members) have emerged as the most highly venerated saints among Shiʿi believers, and their tombs have become the sites of shrines that serve as symbolic spaces for culture, religion, politics, and national identities, due to their sacred and holy status to believers. These religious pilgrimages are not confined to any specific time of the year. There are, however, a number of special dates in the Shiʿi-Islamic calendar when the visitation to one or all of the shrines of Najaf, Karbala’, Samarra’, Kazimayn, and Mashhad is particularly auspicious. Among the shrines, those of Najaf and Karbala’ (where the tombs of ʿAli and his son Husayn are believed to be found) carry the highest importance. Shrines comprise buildings that often house the tombs of the imams and other notable clerical figures, prayer rooms, courtyards for prayer, guidebooks, and other religious paraphernalia. The shrines in Shiʿi Islam often become the center of the city surrounding it, with concomitant businesses that cater to the thousands of religious tourists by selling souvenirs and providing lodging, food, and tour guides of the shrine and surrounding areas. The shrines also serve as hawzas—religious educational centers where leading clerics live and teach students topics such as Islamic jurisprudence, theology, philosophy, and history. The clerical families have formed a religious elite class within the societies of the shrine cities. These religious leaders collect religious offerings from pilgrims and redistribute this money to the various services offered to religious students and their families, thus furthering their networks of influence. Political ideologies and events have affected the shrine cities, which periodically have become centers of rebellions and uprisings. In some cases, political leaders have patronized shrine cities, even utilizing them as national symbols and sources of revenue. Politicians often visit religious leaders to garner support for their campaigns or regimes. This article examines the shrine cities of Najaf, Karbala’, Samarra’, Kazimayn, Qum, Mashhad, and Sayyidah Zaynab in Syria, the burial sites for at least one imam or one of their family members.

General Overviews

Various studies look at the shrine cities either in comparative perspective or as a group. al-Mahbubah 1986 and al-Turayhi 2002 give an overarching analysis of Najaf and its nuances. Al-Gharawi 1994 looks more closely at the learning institutions of Najaf, but also includes many details of life there. Berque 1962 and Litvak 1998 provide important comparative studies of Najaf and Karbala. Northedge 2012 provides one of the few individual studies of Samarra’ as a shrine center. Algar 2012 and al-Khalili 1987 are overarching studies of the shrine cities as a group, although al-Khalili 1987 goes into much greater detail, as it is a multivolume work. al-Salihi 2004 looks at the religious learning centers that surround each shrine cities, giving details of notable teachers and events.

Algar, Hamid. “ʿAtabāt” In Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2d ed. Edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill Online, 2012.
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An overview of the primary shrine cities of Shiʿi Islam, including anecdotes and historical information taken from primary sources and Arabic biographical dictionaries. Addresses issues of ritual, pilgrimage, historiography and symbolism. Available online by subscription or purchase.
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Berque, J. “Hier à Nağaf et Karbalā’.” Arabica 9 (1962): 325–342.
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Gives overview of populations, demographics, layout, and geography of Najaf and Karbala’. Notes that these holy cities were also integral to economic growth and industry in mid-20th-century Iraq. Describes practices and rituals of holidays and pilgrimages observed in each locale. Offers a brief discussion of the rich cultural, religious, political, and economic histories of Najaf, focusing on the 19th and early 20th centuries.
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al-Gharawi, Muhammad. al-Ḥawzah al-‘Ilmiyyah fī al-Najaf al-Ashraf. Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Adwaʾ, 1994.
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Focuses on the various aspects of the hawza in Najaf, including its history, students, teachers, the role of the Shrine of Imam ʿAli, burial practices and pilgrimage, and the most important publications that proceeded from these learning centers.
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al-Khalili, Jaʿfar. Mawsūʿat al-ʿatabāt al-muqaddasah. Beirut, Lebanon: Muʾassasat al-Aʿlami lil-Matbuʿat, 1987.
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This multivolume work (Encyclopedia of the holy shrines) contains volumes on the various shrine cities of Iraq, including major intellectual figures and geographical and historical details of the cities from their origins to the time of publication. Gives detailed accounts of the centers of learning, the ritual commemorations, and pilgrimages to each of the shrine cities.
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Litvak, Meir. Shiʿi Scholars of Nineteenth-century Iraq: The ʿUlamaʾ of Najaf and Karbalaʾ. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
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Provides a study of the shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Analyzes the institutionalization of religious leadership surrounding the shrines in these two cities and investigates the role played by competing political regimes of the time, as well as the financial underpinnings of these cities.
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al-Mahbubah, Jaʿfar Baqir. Maḍī al-Najaf wa-ḥāḍiruhā. Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Adwaʾ, 1986.
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A comprehensive study of the history of Najaf, including its origins, development as a center of shrine pilgrimage and Shiʿi learning, political movements, and ritual practices. Addresses the interplay between religion and politics as well as the economic forces that applied pressure to Najafi society in the 20th century.
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Northedge, Alstair. “Sāmarrāʾ.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2d ed. Edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill Online, 2012.
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Detailed article on the history of Samarra’, with section on the ‘Askariyya shrine and its significance for the Shiʿa. Includes physical description of the shrine and pilgrimage practices. Available online by subscription or purchase.
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al-Salihi, ʿAbd al-Husayn. Al-Ḥawzah al-ʿIlmiyyah fī al-Aqtār al-Islāmiyyah. Beirut, Lebanon: Bayt al-ʿilm lil-Nabihin, 2004.
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A general study of the various centers of religious learning, with sections on the shrine cities and their various notable teachers and students, as well as geographical information and descriptions of ritual practices, including an exhaustive chapter about the hawza zaynabiyyah (the Sayyida Zaynab centers of learning) in Damascus.
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al-Turayhi, M. K. al-Najaf al-Ashraf Madīnat al-ʿilm wal-ʿumrān. Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Mahdi, 2002.
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Focuses on the history of Najaf as a center of shrine pilgrimage and religious scholarship and culture. Includes sections on notable clerics and intellectuals, the shrine rituals and commemorations, and the relationship between religion and politics in Iraq.
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Historiography of the Shrine Cities

Approaches to the history of the shrine cities vary, with little consensus. Some histories focus on individuals, while others look at key institutions and events. Litvak 1995 and Cole and Momen 1986 focus on the Tanzimat reforms in the Ottoman Empire and their effects on the shrine cities of Iraq and the 1843 rebellion in Karbala, respectively. Farmanfarmaian 1996 shows how travel writing depicted pilgrimage to Mashhad in the 19th century. Al-Halafi 1977 gives a vivid historical narrative of the shrine at Najaf, and Lambton 1990 does the same for Qum. Hussain 2005 traces the historical development of the Ashura rituals. Honigmann and Bosworth 2012 and Honigmann 2007 give the histories of Najaf and Karbala’, respectively. Streck and Dixon 2012 provides details of the shrine at Kazimayn, a suburb of Baghdad. Nakash 2003 gives detailed historical reconstructions of the history of pilgrimage to Najaf and Karbala’.

Cole, Juan, and Moojan Momen. “Mafia, Mob and Shiism in Iraq: The Rebellion of Ottoman Karbala 1824–1843.” Past and Present 112 (1986): 112–143.
DOI: 10.1093/past/112.1.112Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Describes the social history of mid-19th-century Karbala’, focusing on the 1843 rebellion against the Ottomans. Investigates the networks of control and varying players within Karbala’ society and the role played by religion and religious authorities in furthering the rebellion and establishing Karbala’ as an autonomous entity vis-à-vis the Ottoman State, a contested status that was reinforced by its position as one of the most important shrine cities in Shiʿism.
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Farmanfarmaian, Fatema Soudavar. “James Baillie Fraser in Mashhad, or, the Pilgrimage of a Nineteenth-Century Scotsman to the Shrine of the Imām Riḍā.” Iran 34 (1996): 101–115.
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Analyzes the history of Mashhad in the early 19th century by reexamining the narrative of the Scotsman James Baillie Fraser, who visited the shrine of Imam Rida in Mashhad, disguised as a Muslim worshipper, in 1822. Locates his travel writing within the larger body of orientalist writings of the time and the larger history of 19th century Iran.
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al-Halafi, Kazim. Lamḥah Tārīkhiyyah ʿan Mashhad al-Imām ʿAlī bin Abī Tālib fī al-Najaf al-Ashraf khilāl arbaʿ ʿasharah qarn. Ansar, Lebanon: Lubnan al-Janubi, 1977.
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Provides an overview of the history of the shrine of Imam ʿAli over the past fourteen centuries. Includes photographs and maps of the shrine, discussion of various pilgrimages to the shrine over the centuries and a history of its restoration and expansion since its construction
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Honigmann, E. “Karbala.” In Historic Cities of the Islamic World. Edited by C. E. Bosworth, 276–278. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2007.
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Gives a detailed introduction to the importance of Karbala as a shrine city, providing detailed historical anecdotes and locating the city within the broader historical geography of Iraq and Islamic history. Includes detailed physical descriptions of the shrine’s exterior and interior.
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Honigmann, E., and C. E. Bosworth. “al-Nad̲j̲af.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2d ed. Edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill Online, 2012.
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A brief summary of the history of Najaf, including its importance as a shrine center for pilgrimage and scholarship and the changes that it underwent in the 19th and 20th centuries. Includes details of pilgrimage and rituals in Najaf. Available online by subscription or purchase.
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Hussain, Ali J. “The Mourning of History and the History of Mourning: The Evolution of Ritual Commemoration of the Battle of Karbala.” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 25.1 (2005): 78–88.
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Provides an examination of the classical Islamic sources, revealing that Shiʿi commemoration rituals for the death of Husayn at Karbala’ have evolved in several distinct historical stages. Includes detailed descriptions of the rituals and their development, and locates them within the various sociopolitical Shiʿi communities.
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Lambton, Ann. “Qum: The Evolution of a Medieval City.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 2 (1990): 322–339.
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A historical study of the varying roles of Qum, both as a shrine city and a political entity in Iran, since its foundation. Gives geographic and economic information regarding the development of Qum from the early Islamic period into the 20th century, using Arabic primary sources.
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Litvak, Meir. “The Shiʿite ʿUlamāʾ of Najaf and Karbala and the Tanzimat.” Harvard Middle Eastern and Islamic Review 2.1 (1995): 72–88.
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Traces the history of the 19th-century Tanzimat reforms of the Ottoman Empire as they relate to the cities of Najaf and Karbala’—more specifically, it addresses how the implementation of Ottoman control over these cities affected the Shiʿi religious authorities in comparison with their Sunni counterparts in the Ottoman empire.
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Nakash, Yitzhak. The Shiʻis of Iraq. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003.
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Includes chapters on the shrine cities in Iraq (more specifically, on Najaf and Karbala’), and how the annual pilgrimages to these cities provide crucial economic vitality for the local economies of these cities. Highlights the historical development of these shrines and the religious schools that grew up around them, as well as the impact of political and economic changes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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Streck, Mamara, and A. Dixon. “Kāẓimayn.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2d ed. Edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill Online, 2012.
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An overview of the history of the Shiʿi shrine of Kazimayn in the suburb of Baghdad, including its symbolic significance and pilgrimage practices. Available online by subscription or purchase.
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Ritual Practices and Physical Descriptions of the Shrine Cities

Many studies look at various aspects of rituals surrounding the shrine cities or give detailed physical descriptions of the shrines themselves. Donaldson 1935 provides a very detailed description of the shine at Mashhad, with pictures. Muhammad 1969 and Strika 1985 give physical descriptions of the Imam ʿAli shrine in Najaf, and Strika 1974 describes the shrine at Kazimayn in vivid detail. Hyder 2005 examines the ritual practices of South Asian pilgrims to the shrine of Sayyida Zaynab in Syria, and Sindawi 2003 gives an overview of shrine rituals in various Shiʿi communities.

Donaldson, Dwight M. “Significant Miḥrābs in the Ḥaram at Mashhad.” Ars Islamica 2.1 (1935): 118–127.
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Donaldson provides a detailed physical description of the inside of the shrine in Mashhad. Includes English translations of all Arabic text located on the walls, ceiling, and columns inside of the shrine, and a geographically based description of the location of each mihrab (prayer niche) inside the shrine as it relates to the tomb itself.
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Hyder, Syed Akbar. “Sayyedeh Zaynab: the Conqueror of Damascus and Beyond.” In The Women of Karbala: Ritual Performance and Symbolic Discourses in Modern Shiʿi Islam. Edited by Kamran Scot Aghaie, 161–181. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005.
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Analyzes the practices of South Asian religious pilgrims to the shrine of Sayyida Zaynab in southern Damascus, Syria, showing how they reappropriate the narrative of Zaynab’s martyrdom as a rhetorical trope to further devotional behavior within their community. Includes physical descriptions of the shrine itself and the ways that South Asian narrators of her story invert gender norms.
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Muhammad, Suʿad Mahir. Mashhad al-Imām ʿAlī fī al-Najaf wa-mā bihi min al-hadāyā wa-al-tuḥaf. Cairo: Dar al-Maʻarif, 1969.
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Provides a detailed description of the shrine of Imam ʿAli in Najaf. Includes sections on the history of Najaf from the pre-Islamic period to the mid-20th century; poets and poetry of Najaf; tapestries, carpets, and ornamentation of the shrine; and pilgrimage practices. Includes photographs of the art and architectures of the shrine; emphasizes the primacy of the shrine in Najaf society.
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Sindawi, Khalid. “Holy Earth: The Importance of the Land of Karbala for the Shîʿah.” Islamic Culture 77.3 (2003): 73–84.
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A study of the Shiʿi sanctification of the soil of Karbala’ and the practices of pilgrimage to the shrine of Husayn. Locates pilgrimage practices in Shiʿi Islam within the context of religious pilgrimage practices more broadly. Draws upon a normative reading of traditional Shiʿi sources such as al-Majlisi’s Bihar al-Anwar and ziyarat literature.
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Strika, Vincenzo. “Il Santuario di al-Kazimayni a Baghdad.” Oriente Moderno 54.1–3 (January–March 1974): 6–22.
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Gives a detailed history of the development and physical characteristics of the shrine of Kazimayn in a suburb of Baghdad. Analyzes the various architectural and cultural points of significance, as well as the role that Kazimayn played in the devotional life of the Shiʿi communities worldwide.
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Strika, Vincenzo. “Note sul Santuario dell’Imām ʿAlī a Nağaf.” Rivista degli Studi Orientali 59.i–iv (1985): 315–322.
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Provides a detailed physical description of the Imam ʿAli shrine in Najaf, including the historical records of its progressive development as a shrine. Includes a discussion of the various debates on the pre-Islamic nature of Najaf and its role in the trade routes with India and China.
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Pilgrimage and the Shrine Cities

Shrine cities in Shiʿi Islam could not exist without a continual stream of pilgrims to supply the shrines with financial support and religious meaning. Khosronejad 2012 provides anthropological studies on the act of pilgrimage and its meaning. Zabeth 2002 gives a general study of pilgrimage practices at the shrine of Mashhad, while Melville 1996 examines the historical narrative of Shah Abbas’s pilgrimage to Mashhad in the 17th century, and Glazebrook and Abbasi-Shavazi 2007 describes the pilgrimage practices of Afghan Hazaras to Mashhad in the 20th century. Nakash 1995 studies the ways in which ulama supported and justified pilgrimage to the shrine cities of Iraq in the early 20th century.

Glazebrook, Diana, and Mohammad Jalal Abbasi-Shavazi. “Being Neighbors to Imam Reza: Pilgrimage Practices and Return Intentions of Hazara Afghans Living in Mashhad, Iran.” Iranian Studies 40.2 (2007): 187–201.
DOI: 10.1080/00210860701269535Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An anthropological study of the Afghan Hazara Shiʿi community living in Mashhad, Iran. Provides data on the meaning of pilgrimage practice and residential proximity to Shiʿa shrines, and how these factors affected the intentions of Shiʿa Afghans living in Iran and its sociological impact on Mashhad society.
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Khosronejad, Pedram, ed. Saints and Their Pilgrims in Iran and Neighbouring Countries. London: Sean Kingston, 2012.
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The anthropological approaches demonstrated in this book on Shiʿi pilgrimage to shrine cities provide a glimpse of social history, by focusing on the beliefs and lives of “ordinary” people, past and present. Includes a theoretical introduction on anthropology and pilgrimage, and chapters on Karbala’ symbolism and Shiʿi rituals in Iraq.
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Melville, Charles. “Shah ʿAbbas and the Pilgrimage to Mashhad.” In Safavid Persia: The History and Politics of an Islamic Society. Edited by Charles Melville, 191–229. London: I. B. Tauris, 1996.
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Traces the historical narrative of the pilgrimage of Shah Abbas I to Mashhad, Iran, in 1601 CE. Gives geographical and statistical information on the pilgrimage, and touches on other pilgrimage sites in Iran, such as Qum. Draws from primary sources and includes details of the pilgrimage itself, as well as its symbolic role in reinforcing Safavid authority.
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Nakash, Yitzhak. “The Visitation of the Shrines of the Imams and the Shiʿi Mujtahids in the Early Twentieth Century.” Studia Islamica 81 (1995): 153–164.
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Analyzes the historical development of the practice of pilgrimage to the shrine cities and the religious justification constructed by Shiʿi ulama to justify these practices. Shows how the development of shrines in Shiʿi Islam played a crucial role in the identity of the Shiʿa, and gives examples of the ways in which Shiʿi leaders defended these practices. Includes appendices of important ritual dates within the Shiʿi-Islamic calendar.
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Zabeth, Hyder Reza. Landmarks of Mashhad. Mashhad, Iran: Islamic Research Foundation, 2002.
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Gives a brief history of the city of Mashhad, then focuses most attention the shrine of Fatimah. Provides extensive details of the pilgrimage practices and rituals surrounding the shrine, as well as the pious endowments (wuquf) supporting the shrine and lists of notable figures in Islamic history buried near the shrine.
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Religious Learning and the Shrine Cities

There exist many studies of the ulama as a class within Shiʿi societies. This section considers the role that the ulama play in furthering the importance of shrine cities, as well as their relationship to shrines and the cities that grew up around them. Hasanabadi and Mahbub 2009 give detailed descriptions of the holdings of scholarly libraries of ulama in Mashhad. Cole 1985 and Litvak 1990 examine scholarly controversies and the life of ulama communities in the shrine cities during the 18th century. Litvak 2000 gives a detailed analysis of the financing of ulama in shrine cities in the 19th century. Litvak 2008 studies the structure of religious education and learning in the shrine cities during the 19th century, and Sindawi 2007 analyzes the educational system in the shrine cities, focusing on the period from the end of the 19th century to the present.

Cole, Juan. “Shiʿi Clerics in Iraq and Iran, 1722–1780: The Akhbari-Usuli Conflict Reconsidered.” Iranian Studies 18.1 (Winter 1985): 3–34.
DOI: 10.1080/00210868508701645Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Questions the standard intellectual historiography of the Akhbari-Usuli division in Shiʿism, using histories of important clerical families to trace the development and spread of Usuli thought to and from the shrine cities in Iraq and to the rest of the Shiʿi world. Approaches the ulama as a social group, affected by political and economic conditions.
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Hasanabadi, Abol Fazl, and Elaheh Mahbub. “Introducing the Safavid Documents of the Directorate of Documents and Publications of the Central Library of the Holy Shrine at Mashhad (Iran).” Iranian Studies 42.2 (2009): 311–327.
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Gives a detailed description of the various collections of Safavid-era documents concerning the shrine at Mashhad. Shows how the shrine played a role as part of the political and social fabric of Mashhad and Khorasan. The article acts as a guide for researchers of Safavid primary documents.
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Litvak, Meir. “Continuity and Change in the Ulama Population of Najaf and Karbala, 1791–1904: A Socio-Demographic Study.” Iranian Studies 23.1–4 (1990): 31–60.
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Analyzes patterns of continuity and dynamics of change in the composition of the ulama community of the shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala’, based on ethnic, professional, and geographical factors. Shows that the ulama community of Najaf and Karbala’ grew considerably during the 19th century as both towns emerged as principle centers of learning for the Shiʿa.
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Litvak, Meir. “The Finances of the ʿUlamāʾ Communities of Najaf and Karbalāʾ, 1796–1904.” Die Welt des Islams 40.1 (March 2000): 41–66.
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Provides a detailed study of the financing of the ulama in Najaf and Karbala’ during the 19th century, showing that the flow of funds and the entire financial administration in the shrine cities were never centrally organized. Rather it was a diffused system centered on individuals, who financially supported their own protégés. Litvak analyzes how foreign income streams also created weak institutions that were reliant upon market forces and political changes to remain viable.
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Litvak, Meir. “Madrasa and Learning in Nineteenth-Century Najaf and Karbala.” In Shiʿism. Vol. 1, Origins and Evolution. Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies. Edited by Paul Luft and Colin Turner, 341–358. London: Routledge, 2008.
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Investigates the nature of learning and scholarship among the religious students and teachers of the cities of Najaf and Karbala’ during the 19th century. Shows the ways in which scholarly production of knowledge remained independent of political authorities, until events in the early 20th century led to widespread changes in the demographics of Najaf and Karbala’.
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Sindawi, Khalid. “Ḥawza Instruction and Its Role in Shaping Modern Shīʿite Identity: The Ḥawzas of al-Najaf and Qumm as a Case Study.” Middle Eastern Studies 43.6 (2007): 831–856.
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Sindawi gives a general history of developments within the hawzas of Najaf and Qum, focusing on the changes that have taken place from the end of the 19th century to the present. Shows how these developments have led the hawzas to play an influential role in shaping the Shiʿi identity of students and turning them into an integral part of the Shiʿi community.
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Politics and the Shrine Cities

The interplay of religion and politics is a subject of much study and interest in various academic fields. The shrine cities were not immune to political influence. Fischer 2003 studies the developments in Qum that led to its important role in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Al-Qazwini 2002a and al-Qazwini 2002b also look at the ways in which scholar in Qum and Najaf contributed to the 1979 revolution, and to contesting the governments before and after the revolution. Minuchehr 2005 looks to an earlier period of political participation by Iranian ulama based in the shrine cities. Various political players tried to influence the ulama in the shrine cities, or to control the shrines themselves. Streck and Hourcade 2007 shows how the Iranian government attempted to turn Mashhad into a nationalist symbol in the early 20th century, while Litvak 2000 examines British attempts to manipulate the population of the shrine cities to further their imperial interests in the Middle East and India. Mallat 2004 and Litvak 2001 analyze how economic and political changes affected the ulama living in the shrine cities and furthered intellectual and political responses to these changes.

Fischer, Michael M. J. Iran: From Religious Dispute to Revolution. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003.
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Fischer focuses an anthropological lens on the role of religion and politics in Iran in the years leading up to the 1979 revolution. Includes descriptions of pilgrimage and ritual practices in Qum, surrounding the shrine, as well as an appendix that gives the budget of the shrine in Qum. Analyzes the relationship between religious learning and ritual practices and how these factors combine with political movements.
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Litvak, Meir. “A Failed Manipulation: The British, the Oudh Bequest and the Shīʿī ʿUlamā ʾ of Najaf and Karbalāʾ.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 27.1 (May 2000): 69–89.
DOI: 10.1080/13530190050010994Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Shows the ways in which the British government attempted to use the Oudh Bequest to gain influence among Shiʿi clerics in Ottoman Iraq. Analyzes why these British attempts ended in dismal failure, showing that charity did not compensate for the need of religious leaders to maintain popular support by distancing themselves from foreign patronage and tutelage. Highlights the importance of broader historical processes, such as the rising national and religious awakening against foreign powers.
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Litvak, Meir. “Money, Religion, and Politics: The Oudh Bequest in Najaf and Karbalaʾ, 1850–1903.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 33.1 (February 2001): 1–21.
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Litvak provides an in-depth analysis of the Oudh Bequest, a financial endowment originally sent from an independent North Indian Shiʿi kingdom to Najaf and Karbala’ ulama, but later administered by the British government. His study of the bequest provides important insights into the internal workings of a leading community of ulama during a period of change, as well as into the role of European players in the life of such communities.
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Mallat, Chibli. The Renewal of Islamic Law: Muhammad Baqer as-Sadr, Najaf and the Shiʿi International. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
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Includes chapters that describe the intellectual and economic changes that took place in Najaf during the mid-20th century, highlighting the role of the seminal Shiʿi cleric and thinker Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr. Analyzes al-Sadr’s ideas in the context of the Iranian Revolution and the influence of Ayatollah Khomeini in Najaf and in Iran.
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Minuchehr, Pardis. “The Exile Persian Press and the Pro-constitutionalist ʿUlamāʾ of the ʿAtabāt.” In Religion and Society in Qajar Iran. Edited by Robert Gleave, 393–400. London: Routledge, 2005.
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Minuchehr focuses on the pro-constitutionalist writings of three Shiʿi clerics who resided in Najaf and Karbala’: Mirza Husayn, Khurasani, and Mazandarani. Provides English translations of primary sources in the form of letters written by these clerics promoting the pro-constitutional movement in Iran at the turn of the 20th century. Highlights the intersection of religion and politics in Ottoman Iraq and Qajar Iran.
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al-Qazwini, Jawdat. “The School of Najaf.” In Ayatollahs, Sufis and Ideologues: State, Religion and Social Movements in Iraq. Edited by Faleh Abdul-Jabar, 245–264. London: Saqi, 2002a.
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Gives a broad overview of the 20th-century history of Najaf in Iraq, with special focus on the interactions and relationships between the clerical authorities in Najaf and the colonial and Iraqi state leaders. Includes detailed discussions of Islamic political parties and the implications of the Iranian revolution on Iraqi affairs.
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al-Qazwini, Jawdat. “The School of Qum.” In Ayatollahs, Sufis and Ideologues: State, Religion and Social Movements in Iraq. Edited by Faleh Abdul-Jabar, 265–281. London: Saqi, 2002b.
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After a brief overview of the earlier history of Qum, focuses mostly on the various Islamic schools of thought and notable thinkers in 20th-century Qum, such as Ayatollah Khomeini and the issue of wilayat al-faqih, the Baha’i, Hujjatiyyah, and Shakhiyyah movements, and the power struggles between various leading clerics and the new Iranian regime after the revolution.
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Streck, Mamara, and B. Hourcade. “Mashhad.” In Historic Cities of the Islamic World. Edited by C. Edmund Bosworth, 332–338. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2007.
DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004153882.i-616Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This detailed article is organized into three parts: History and Topography to 1914; History and Urban Development since 1914; and The Shrine, and Mashhad as a Centre of Shiʿi Learning and Piety. Locates Mashhad as a devotional center in Shiʿi Islam within broader Iranian history, including the role of Reza Shah in the early 20th century in championing Mashhad as a revived center of pilgrimage and national symbol.
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Center-Periphery Dynamics of the Shrine Cities

Each shrine city acts as a pole around which an ever-expanding sphere of influence exists, echoing far beyond the immediate physical location of the shrines. Bahmanpour 2008 analyzes the production of religious knowledge in the shrine city of Qum and how these ideas spread to various other Shiʿi communities. Cole 1986 draws connections between the shrine cities in Iraq and the North Indian Shiʿi kingdom of Awadh in the 18th and 19th centuries. Norton 2005 shows how the rituals of commemorating the events of Karbala are mediated in a Lebanese setting, and Schubel 1993 examines the practices of Ashura and Muharram rituals in a Shiʿi community in Karachi, Pakistan.

Bahmanpour, Mohammad Saeed. “The Hawzah Ilmiyyah of Qum and the Production of Religious Knowledge in the Contemporary Era.” Journal of Shiʿa Islamic Studies 1.3 (2008): 87–95.
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Investigates the origins of the Shiʿi religious educational center (hawza) in Qum, Iran, and its relationship to other hawzas located near various shrine cities, such as Najaf and Mashhad. Focuses on the work of Ayatollah ʿAbd al-Karim Hairi and the intellectual production of this center of learning in the areas of law and jurisprudence, hadith biographies and investigation, exegesis of the Qurʾan, and philosophy.
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Cole, Juan. “‘Indian Money’ and the Shiʿi Shrine Cities of Iraq, 1786–1850.” Middle Eastern Studies 22.4 (October 1986): 461–480.
DOI: 10.1080/00263208608700677Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Cole looks at the connections and impact of financial and scholarly exchanges between the North Indian principality of Awadh and the shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala in the 18th and 19th centuries. Includes primary source materials from British colonial and Indian archives in addition to showing the structural impact of Indian money on Iraqi society.
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Norton, Augustus Richard. “Ritual, Blood, and Shiite Identity: Ashura in Nabatiyya, Lebanon.” TDR 49.4 (Winter 2005): 140–155.
DOI: 10.1162/105420405774762880Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Norton shows how although public and private mourning of Imam Husayn (ʿazah al-Husayn) and the tragic events (masa’ib) of Karbala, have long occurred in Lebanese Shiʿi communities, public commemorations of Ashura, the 10th day of Muharram, are relatively recent phenomena. He focuses his study on the southern town of Nabatiyyah and its unique practices of commemorating the events of Karbala.
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Schubel, Vernon James. Religious Performance in Contemporary Islam: Shiʿi Devotional Rituals in South Asia. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1993.
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The book is specifically centered on the rituals of Muharram in Karachi, practice by the Shiʿa there. Schubel argues that these rituals tie the community ritually and symbolically to Karbala and the Shiʿi shrine cities in Iraq, while simultaneously forming a unique Islamic identity in Pakistan.
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Symbolic Interpretations and Usages of the Shrine Cities

The shrines serve as powerful symbols, imbued with religious meaning. The varying uses of these symbols have been the subject of much study. Aghaie 1994 and Chelkowski 2005 show how Iranian thinkers and ritual practitioners themselves reinterpreted the religious symbolism of the shrines to serve new social causes. Centlivres-Demont 2003 and Flaskerud 2010 take a broader look at how shrine symbolism infiltrates various Shiʿi communities and provokes gradual changes in those communities. Deeb 2005 looks at how the political and social context creates changes in the ritual practices and symbolic means of the practices in a Lebanese context. Nakash 1993 traces the development of Ashura practices over twelve centuries, and Casci 2002 shows how ‘Ashura rituals were mediated and adapted to a North Indian Shiʿi context in the 18th and 19th centuries. Moving to the contemporary period, Ruffle 2011 presents an ethnographic study of Shiʿi hagiographical literature and its use in communal identity formation in Hyderabad, India.

Aghaie, Kamran, “Reinventing Karbala: Revisionist Interpretations of the ‘Karbala Paradigm.’” Jusūr 10 (1994): 1–30.
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Aghaie states that the politicization of symbolism related to the martyrdom of Husayn to further revolutionary causes, the “Karbala paradigm,” began in the 1960s in Shiʿism, not during the 1979 revolution, as previous scholars had asserted. He uses the writings of Salehi Najafabadi, Ali Shariati, and Morteza Motahari show these changes, and contrasts their ideas with contemporary Shiʿi thinkers both inside and outside of Iran, showing the continued diversity of usages of the Husayn-Karbala martyrdom narrative.
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Casci, Simonetta. “Lucknow Nawabs: Architecture and Identity.” Economic and Political Weekly 37.36 (7–13 September 2002): 3711–3714.
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Investigates the impact of Karbala’ and symbolism of the commemoration ceremony of Ashura on the architecture and rituals in the Indian city of Lucknow, prior to the British annexation of the Awadh state in the early 19th century. Shows how the Indian Shiʿi community adapted Shiʿi beliefs and rituals into a complex heterogeneous religious environment.
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Centlivres-Demont, Micheline. “La bataille de Kerbela (680/61H.) dans l’imagerie populaire chiite: Langage et symbols.” In La multiplication des images en pays d’Islam: de l’estampe à la télévision (17e-21e siècle). Actes du colloque Images: functions et langages. L’incursion de l’image moderne dans l’orient musulman et sa périphérie. Istanbul, Université du Bosphore (Boğaziçi Üniversitesi), 25–27 mars 1999. Edited by Bernard Heyberger and Silvia Naef, 103–117. Würzburg, Germany: Ergon Verlag, 2003.
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Analyzes the visual and literary representations of the battle of Karbala within Shiʿi communities, and focuses on the ways in which the symbolism of these representations further popular practices within these communities.
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Chelkowski, Peter J. “Iconography of the Women of Karbala: Tiles, Murals, Stamps, and Posters.” In The Women of Karbala: Ritual Performance and Symbolic Discourses in Modern Shiʿi Islam. Edited by Kamran Scot Aghaie, 119–138. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005.
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Shows how the imagery and symbolism of the events of Karbala—specifically the women of the Karbala narrative—have been reimagined in the context of the post-revolutionary Islamic Republic of Iran through various artistic and dramatic mediums.
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Deeb, Lara Z. “From Mourning to Activism: Sayyedeh Zaynab, Lebanese Shiʿi Women, and the Transformation of Ashura.” In The Women of Karbala: Ritual Performance and Symbolic Discourses in Modern Shiʿi Islam. Edited by Kamran Scot Aghaie, 241–266. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005.
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Deeb analyzes the Lebanese Shiʿi practices of Ashura, chronicling a particular set of transformations within the practices of women’s gatherings (majalis) that shows the ways in which the politicization of the Lebanese Shiʿi community has impacted the religious commemoration ceremonies. These changes reflect wider transformations in Lebanese society and the Middle East.
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Flaskerud, Ingvild. Visualizing Belief and Piety in Iranian Shiism. New York: Continuum, 2010.
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Analyzes the role of iconography in Iranian Shiʿism. Includes chapters that address the representation of Karbala in Shiʿi memory and piety, and its reception in popular religious practices in Iran. Argues that visualization and seeing have representative and transformative qualities that inform personal piety.
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Nakash, Yitzhak. “An Attempt to Trace the Origin of the Rituals of ʿĀshūrāʾ.” Die Welt des Islams 33.2 (November 1993): 161–181.
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Nakash traces the development of Muharram observances over the course of twelve centuries, originating in Karbala’. He shows how these rituals developed to include visual, theatrical, and violent aspects, and that the various Shiʿi communities did not adopt any one format; instead, the rituals differed greatly from one place to another.
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Ruffle, Karen G. Gender, Sainthood, and Everyday Practice in South Asian Shiʿism. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011.
DOI: 10.5149/9780807877975_ruffleSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Ruffle argues that hagiography plays a dynamic role in constructing the memory, piety, and social sensibilities of a Shiʿi community in Hyderabad, India. These stories, in turn, serve as role models and religious paragons whom Shiʿi Muslims aim to imitate in their everyday lives, improving their personal religious practice and social selves. Ruffle portends that such practices help generate and reinforce group identity, shared ethics, and gendered sensibilities.
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Contemporary Cultural Studies of the Shrine Cities

Some studies of the shrine cities apply a sociological lens to understand the broader social context of the cities’ inhabitants. Hedayati-Moghaddam 2008 assesses the attitudes of the inhabitants of Mashhad toward HIV/AIDS as a reflection of social values. Salehi 2002 uses the camera to give insight into daily life practices in Qum. Zubaida 2002 analyzes the ulama of the shrine cities as political actors in nationalist politics in Iraq.

Hedayati-Moghaddam, M. R. “Knowledge of and Attitudes towards HIV/AIDS in Mashhad, Islamic Republic of Iran.” Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal 14.6 (2008): 1321–1332.
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This article assesses knowledge and attitudes about HIV/AIDS in Mashhad, surveying 960 people aged 13–58 years who were approached in the street and agreed to participate by completing an anonymous questionnaire, the results of which were analyzed by the author. Includes data tables and Iranian government health policy information.
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Salehi, Omid. “Private Lives in Qum.” Index on Censorship 31.2 (2002): 50–55.
DOI: 10.1080/03064220208537046Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
With the help of friends in the religious schools in Qum, Omid Salehi was able to enter their world and bring the everyday life of the clergy to a wider audience. This article presents his photographs and attempts to show the simple human face of a group that has often been reticent to allow photography. Presents an ethnographic approach to visualizing the Iranian ulama in Qum.
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Zubaida, Sami. “The Fragments Imagine the Nation: The Case of Iraq.” International Journal Middle East Studies 34.2 (May 2002): 205–215.
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Includes a section of this article on the ulama of the shrine cities and their role in the construction, or resistance to the construction, of the Iraqi state in the early 20th century. Applies theories of nationalism to the roles played by the ulama as political actors within the newly formed state.