People of the Prophet’s House: Artistic and Ritual Expressions of Shi’i Islam ed. by Fahmida Suleman (review)

This volume is based on the proceedings of a conference organized by the Institute of Ismaili Studies and the British Museum for an exhibition entitled Shah Abbass: The Remaking of Iran. The anthology collects presentations from the conference and several additional essays to address lacunae in the material covered at the conference.

There are twenty two essays, divided into five sections, which are: 1. Introduction, 2. Pilgrimage and patronage, 3. Inscriptions on art, architecture and coinage, 4. Iconographic studies: Shi’i contexts and beyond, and 5.Ritual expressions. These sections telegraph the intent of the editor, who says the contributors are “experts in their respective fields of anthropology, religious studies, art and architectural history, numismatics, film studies and contemporary art” (13). The breadth of the work is noticeable and to be commended. Since some of these chapters are the results of a conference, I would have liked to see some of the chapters in explicit conversation with each other, to leverage the multiple disciplinary approaches that the volume includes.

Sections 1, 2, and 3 do offer an implicit conversation among some of the authors about what is Shi’i art, or what is Shi’i about Shi’i art. The responses range from form, to use, to the relationship between doctrine and design, to authorization by a stable agency. This discourse is rich, and is an example of what academics struggle with in terms of defining what it is they are doing. Because these chapters are engaged with one another in terms of method, combined, they offer a rich understanding of the built environment in Shi’i contexts.

There are several individual pieces that illustrate both the strengths and weaknesses of this volume. Suleman’s introductory essay introduces us to the scope of the volume, and of the diversity within Shi’i Islam. However, in focusing on that diversity, and giving consideration to Ithna’Ashari, Isma’ili, and Zaydi Shi’ism, some of the common symbolic language is lost. Although usage of certain phrases such as Ali wali Allah (Ali is the friend of God) are particular to each group, it still has meaning across communities. Some of that shared meaning is lost in the specific focus of the chapters, and the volume would have benefited from the discussion of commonalities.

The introduction also offers us a concise and readable account of the origins and diversity of Shi’ism. Were it not interspersed with discussions of the chapters in the volume, it would make an excellent stand-alone piece for an introduction to Shi’ism. The genealogical charts (22–23) are clear and offer a model for how to present sometimes difficult claims to biological legitimacy.

With the essays in Part 4, the use of iconography is used to explicate how Shi’i and non-Shi’i communities interact. Massumeh Farhad and Maryam Ekhtiar’s essays engage us in how Sufi orders use Alid iconography to further their own ends. While they are not the only essays to do so, their sequential placement creates a broader conversation as to who is using Shi’i symbols in non-Shi’i contexts and what they intend to achieve by these usages. Zeynep Yürekli’s essay on Ali’s sword, Dhu’l-faqar, in Sunni Ottoman contexts is a deep exploration of one Shi’i symbol in a non-Shi’i context. It clearly delineates how the image is used across time in the Ottoman Empire, and how that usage is a reflection of internal beliefs and external claims to legitimacy.

Venetia Porter’s chapter on contemporary Iranian art offers a multidisciplinary consideration incorporating art, memory, history, and iconography. Fahmida Suleman’s...