From Jabal 'Āmil to Persia

Abstract

Shī'ī scholars from Jabal 'Āmil, the hill-country which lies inland from Ṣaydā and Ṣūr in southern Lebanon, claim that theirs is the oldest of all Shī'ī communities. They attribute its foundation to Abū Dharr, a Companion of the Prophet and one of the first supporters of the claims of 'Alī to be his successor. He is said to have gone from Madīna to Damascus, and to have been exiled from there to the country districts of Bilād al-Shām, or Syria in the broader geographical sense. There is a mosque associated with his name in the village of Mays al-Jabal.

The Modernization of the Hawza?

“…While Lebanon would appear as a country on the margin of Islamic religious education today, with Qom, Iran and Najaf, Iraq occupying centre stage, this has not always been the case. To the contrary, and as is often retold by Shia scholars in Lebanon, the Hawza of Jabal Amel (a historic geographical area covering parts of the Lebanese South and parts of the Bekaa valley) was once the regional hub of education and religious training (Chalabi 2006;Hourani 1986). The self-proclaimed inheritors of this prestigious Hawza, scattered across Lebanese soil today, are the case being elaborated on in this paper.…”

Revolutionary Iran's 1979 Endeavor in Lebanon

“…17 The Islamic dimension of the 1979 revolution provided a model of resistance for Muslims, in particular the disinherited Shia in Lebanon, 18 whose ties to Iran extended centuries back to the Safavids' relations with Shii scholars from Jabal Amil. 19 After the revolution, in popular speeches on its regional role, this old tie was brought up as a reference point. When Mustafa Chamran returned to Iran, in his public speeches, he pointedly introduced himself as arriving from Jabal Amil "whose people throughout the 1,400-year history of Islam have been under constant suppression."…”

Invitation and Edicts Intended for the Shia Ulamā/Sholars: The Example of Shahid al-Awwal and Ali al-Karakī

“…Ayrıca Serbedârîlerden yaklaşık bir buçuk asır sonra kurulan Safevîler'de de benzer bir durumla karşılaşmışlardır. Nitekim İmamiyye'yi devletin resmi mezhebi olarak ilan eden Şah İsmâil'in mezhebin propagandasını yapacak 23Mîrḫând, 5:524; Ḫândmir, 3:366; Aştiyânî, 466; Smith, Sarbadâr Dynasty,[55][56][57][58][59][60] Mehdî Ferhâni Münferid, Şîa ez Cebel-i Âmil be İran Der Aṣr-ı Ṣafevi (Tahran: Müessese-i İntişârât-ı Emîr Kebîr, 1396), 69; Shivan Mahendrarajah, "The Sarbadars of Sabzavar: Re-Examining Their 'Shi'a' Roots and Alleged Goal to 'Destroy Khurasanian Sunnism", Journal of Shi'a Islamic Studies 5, no. 4 (2012): 394.…”