Western studies of Shi’a Islam

The following will be an attempt to gain perspective by looking JL back at the major stages through which the study of Shi’ism has passed since the Christian West first became aware of the existence of this branch of Islam, the focus will be on Western studies of the Twelvers, to the exclusion of other forms of Shi’ism. In the centuries which followed the final defeat of the Crusaders, Twelver Shi’ism remained largely unknown. The only personality in the Shi’i pantheon to have early attracted scholarly attention was Ali b. As had been the case in previous centuries, travellers to Persia proved a major source of information on Shi’ism. Gobineau was not the only one to indulge in sweeping generalizations about Shi’i Islam. Although significant progress was made, Shi’ism did not become a subject of central importance in Islamic studies until the Iranian revolution forced all and sundry to take a fresh look at it.