Ayaan Karan
Since 1979, the Iranian regime has invested heavily in molding the Shia political identity around Khomeinism, reaching Shias from Bahrain to the United States. Drawing from non-Twelver Shia sources, Khomeini was decisive in transforming a historically quietist community into a politically revolutionary one. But the fall of Iran’s regional empire and the death of Khamenei begs the question: What is next for Shiism? Do Shias revert to a more politically quietist mindset, or will a far more radical movement follow the Axis’s collapse? The answer is both.
Traditionally, Twelver Shiism was never a politically savvy religion. Awaiting the arrival of the twelfth Imam (Messiah), Twelver Shias tended to be politically quietist and pragmatic. However, heretical extremism is not a stranger to the Shia faith. For most of early Islamic history, the majority of Shia were not Twelvers, the dominant branch today. The religion was a web of different sects, many of which were known as the Ghulat (Exaggerators). Ghulat sects differed on a bevy of issues, but common traits included apocalypticism, militancy, and messianism centered on a charismatic leader.
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