An Introduction to the History of Shi'i Devotional Literature

Speaker

Shaikh Vinay Khetia has studied at various traditional Islamic seminaries in London, Iraq and Syria. He has an undergraduate degree in Religious and Near Eastern Studies from the University of Toronto and an M.A. in the History and Philosophy of Religion from Concordia University. He is a PhD graduate from the department of Religious Studies at McMaster University with a focus on the intellectual history of Islam and specifically Shi’ism.

In this talk

• 0:00 · Introduction: Book Project and Focus on Shiʿi Devotional Literature
• 0:58 · Defining Devotional Literature and Research Questions
• 2:04 · Placing Shiʿi Devotional Texts in Comparative Religious Studies
• 3:00 · Wilfred Cantwell Smith’s Observation on Prayer and Daily Life
• 6:00 · Individual Accountability, Prayer, and Late Antique Religious Change
• 9:16 · Devotion, Prayer, and the Role of the Imams in Shiʿi Practice
• 11:40 · Dua and Ziyārah as Complementary Forms of Devotion
• 14:00 · Comparing Shiʿi Devotional Texts and the Biblical Psalms
• 18:13 · Early Shiʿi Prayer Literature and Written Transmission
• 22:09 · Manuscripts, Chains of Transmission, and Historical Continuity
• 24:50 · Scholarly Authorization, Transmission Licenses, and the Sahīfa
• 29:00 · Closing Remarks and Open Questions