SUFFERING FOR THE SAKE OF COSMIC ORDER: TWELVER SHI' AH ISLAM'S COPING WITH TRAUMA
Behram Hasanov, Agil Shirinov
article (Uluslararası, Hakemli) | Yazar(lar): Behram Hasanov, Agil Shirinov | Yıl: 2017 — Özet: The relation established in Shi'ite Islam between suffering, cosmic order, and the position attributed to the Shi'ite community in this cosmic order, is very important in terms of understanding Shi'iteIslam identity. This ar
The relation established in Shi'ite Islam between suffering, cosmic order, and the position attributed to the Shi'ite community in this cosmic order, is very important in terms of understanding Shi'iteIslam identity. This article's primary claim is that a deep investigation of Shi'ite-Islam identity should be conducted in the context of its coping with the trauma of the tragedy of Karbala'. Based on Jeffrey Alexander's definition of trauma as a "cultural construction," we claim that the coding, weighting, and narrating of the Karbala. tragedy in the course of the trauma process can provide us with important clues to understand the Shi'ite-Islam identity. This article claims that in the Shi'ite identity, the suffering experienced in Karbala. is considered a guarantee that cosmic order will be maintained. Suffering is interpreted as the cost of the battle between baqq (truth) and batil (falsehood) and of preserving the right way; thus, suffering is glorified and transformed into a social activity of continuous character. In this way, the Shi'ite community places itself both as "a subject of history" and as a dynamic social tradition.