Expectation of the Millennium: Shi’ism in History

This is an anthology on the history, politics, and social aspects of Shi’ism including translations of original sources. It examines the historical development of Shi’ism, Shi’i political thought, the status of Shi’i minority communities in the Muslim world, and the life and works of prominent social and political thinkers. The book assesses the extent of the politicization process in Shi’ism in recent years and addresses that important question of the Shi’i attitude towards authority.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr is University Professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University. Hamid Dabashi is Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.