Abstract
The first chapter of this book aims to clarify when and how the author encountered Evola and his connection with conversions to Shi'ism in Italy. Moreover, it explains the current state of research and the methodology adopted for data gathering. It elucidates why “inculturation” has been considered a suitable category for studying the ways in which Shi'ism is redefined by Italian converts.
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Notes
- 1.
In 2013, when Sunni rebels, fighting against President Bashar Assad, threatened to destroy the shrine of Sayyada Zainab, Shiʿa fighters from Iraq and Lebanon joined their Syrian counterparts to protect the shrine (Karouny, 2013). Since then, this term has become part of Iranian resistance literature, referring to Pakistani, Afghan, and Iranian fighters who traveled to Iraq and Syria to safeguard Shiʿa shrines from Sunni militias intent on targeting these important pilgrimage sites.
- 2.
The meal eaten by Muslims after sunset during Ramadan.
- 3.
On this regard see Mirshahvalad (2018).
- 4.
The gathering place associated with Sufi circles. In the Islamic world, it has also served other functions such as a school, monastery, and mausoleum.
- 5.
A form of Islamic prayer typical of Sufi circles. It is usually chanted.
- 6.
Shiʿism was originally intermingled with some pre-Islamic gnostic beliefs and the doctrine of metempsychosis, which attributed divine power to Imams. These convictions were considered extremist and condemned by the later rational Shi’i tradition. See Chap. 7.
- 7.
For instance, an Iranian maddāḥ (reciter of elegies) in Rome recalled how congregants after elegies would come to him, kiss his green neck cloth, and ask him to pray for them. A Pakistani group in Varese used expressions such as In shāʾ ʿAlī (“if ʿAlī wills”) instead of In shāʾ Allāh (“if God wills”) and Mā shāʾ ʿAlī (“what ʿAlī has willed”) instead of Mā shāʾ Allāh (“what God has willed”), which caused outrage among their fellow believers in Legnano and eventually led to a split in their community.
- 8.
Originally, “moro” was the term used for the inhabitants of Mauritania, later extended to other African populations, and particularly to the Muslims who invaded Spain in the eighth century.
- 9.
Bennasser Bartolome and Lucile Bennasser, Les Chrétiens d’Allah, Paris: Perrin, 1989, cited in Allievi (1999, p. 35). This is an amazing association because Persians and Turks were enemies and rivals at that time and becoming a Turk in Persia shows how much Islam for Italians of that period was associated to being Turk.
- 10.
In 2020, based on the data provided by ISTAT (the Italian national institute of statistics) and the existing literature about Muslims population in Italy, I estimated the number of Shiʿas in Italy around 70,000 (Mirshahvalad, 2020a).
- 11.
The Banu Hammud was a Shiʿa Berber dynasty that in the eleventh century (1016–1057) founded lordships in Cordoba, Malga, Ronda, Algeciras, and Seville. During the crisis of the Andalusian Umayyad dynasty, Ali ibn Hammud (d.1018), descendant of Imam Hasan, organized a revolt against the Umayyads and in 1016 established his own government in Cordoba (Glick, 2005; O’Callaghan, 1975).
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Ethical Approval
This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Comisión de Ética en la Experimentación Animal y Humana (CEEAH) (Reference #: CEEAH 6248) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. In this study, all interviewees were adult, mentally healthy and aware of the ends of this research. Their informed consent to participate in the interviews was obtained prior to interviews.
Funding
This study was partly supported by the Performative Ritual and Authority among Shia in Europe (PRASE). 2021–2024. PI: Avi Astor. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. Ref.: [PID2020-116558GAI00]. Amount: €66,308 EU; Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.
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Mirshahvalad, M. (2024). Introduction. In: Crises and Conversions. Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55877-1_1
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