| A Shi'ite Pilgrimage to Mecca, 1885-1886: The Safarnāmeh of Mirzā Mo?ammad ?Osayn Farāhāni Contributor(s): Farāhāni, Mirzā Mohammed Hosayn (Author), Farmayan, Hafez (Translator), Daniel, Elton L. (Translator) |
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ISBN: 0292776225 ISBN-13: 9780292776227 Publisher: University of Texas Press OUR PRICE: $49.50 Product Type: Paperback Published: October 1990 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Travel | Middle East - General - Religion | Islam - History - Religion | Islam - Shi'a |
| Dewey: 915.604 |
| LCCN: 90012174 |
| Physical Information: 1" H x 7" W x 10" (2.80 lbs) 432 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Western accounts of the Hajj, the ritual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, are rare, since access to Mecca is forbidden to non-Muslims. In the Muslim world, however, pilgrimage literature is a well-established genre, dating back to the earliest centuries of the Islamic era. A Shi?ite Pilgrimage to Mecca is taken from the original nineteenth-century Persian manuscript of the Safarnāmeh of Mirzā Mo?ammad ?osayn Farāhāni, a well-educated, keenly observant, Iranian Shi?ite gentleman. This memoir holds a wealth of social and economic information about Czarist Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, Northern Iran, and Arabia. The author is a meticulous observer, recording details of distances, currencies, accommodations, modes of travel, and so on. He records the experiences encountered by pilgrims of his day: physical hardships, disease, generosity and compassion, banditry, hospitality, comradeship, and exaltation. And, without prejudice, he discusses the tensions between the Shi?ites and the Sunnites in the holy places--tensions that still exist and have erupted in bloody clashes during recent pilgrimages. A Shi?ite Pilgrimage to Mecca will appeal to a wide audience of general readers, Middle Eastern scholars, anthropologists, and historians. |
Contributor Bio(s): Farmayan, Hafez: - Hafez F. Farmayan, a descendant of the Qājār Dynasty of Iran, is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Texas at Austin.Daniel, Elton L.: - Elton L. Daniel was Professor of History at the University of Hawaii. |