The Shia Revival: a threat or an opportunity?

• Author: Sariolghalam, Mahmood
• Position: The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future - Book review

The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future Vali Nasr (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006), 287 pages.

Vali Nasr is an established authority on Islam, the Middle East and particularly Shiism in the United States. The Shia Revival is another scholarly accomplishment. In every chapter of the book, his fairness and careful integration of variables to demonstrate the complexity of the subject are on display. Though in the book's opening the author targets a general audience, the content confirms academic rigor and a focus useful for students and researchers in politics, sociology, history and international relations. The book follows a style of rotating between personalities and events to mark the rise and demise of ideas and idealisms. His narrative on the Shia is attractively plainspoken. His historical account of Shia suffering invites respect and recognition for the minority Muslim group. Understandably, Nasr places more emphasis on and draws more examples from Iran and the subcontinent where his specialization lies.

Vali Nasr does justice to Shia theology and history by substantiating the evolution of the Shia school of thought. He delivers detailed analysis of the Shia-Sunni divide, carefully sketches why in recent times the divide has gained global attention, and suggests ramifications of the current divide and revival. Nasr's central argument is that the future of the Middle East will be shaped by the conflicts between Shias and Sunnis and not by debates over democracy or globalization. Throughout the book he entertains the reader with scholarly variations, passionate nuances and meticulous description of rituals and beliefs. The book occasionally dives into poetic mode but then quickly rises to analysis.

The central theme of the book is how the Shias have been empowered since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and have risen to be recognized in their own societies. Nasr sets forth the notion that between the Iranian Revolution and 11 September 2001, the Shia "received only cursory treatment." (1) The Iranian Revolution was the first opportunity in a long time to assist the Shias to recognize their rights and to organize themselves while Tehran pursued its political and revolutionary ambitions through this new channel of influence. Then came the opening for the Iraqi Shia to not only emerge as a dominant force in Iraqi politics through sheer numbers but also as the first Shia Arab country. The empowerment of the Shia in Iraq was actually far more alarming to the Arab governments than the Islamic Revolution in Iran. The Farsi-speaking Iranian Shias were limited in their scope of influence. The Arab Shia, however, had all the ethnic, religious and political instruments to step outside geography and function as an inspiring force.

A good portion of the book is devoted to Iran, its Shia past, its revolution and its system of Islamic governance. Nasr wavers on his characterization of the Islamic Republic of Iran between a "tired dictatorship" and a country that is "internalizing democracy-friendly values." (2) He correctly points to the openings in the Iranian social and intellectual arenas. However, he falls short of drawing attention to Iran's economy--which is heavily controlled by the state--and to a non-democratic political culture that ultimately reduces democracy to a source of inspiration for oratory purposes and fancy window dressing for academic research. For many who live in Iran, it is hard to dismiss the undemocratic culture and practices even among those who have marketed the idea since 1997. Given the pace and the quality of economic change in a country like the United Arab Emirates, it may be plausible to think that democratic...