Introducing and Reviewing a Social- Intellectual History of the Isna Ashari Shi›is in India

A Social-Intellectual History of the Isna Ashari Shi›is in India, by Seyyed Athar Abbas Rizvi, was published in two volumes in English in Australia in 1986. This book is one of the most important works that has studies the intellectual and social life of Indian Shi›ites up to the 19th century. The first volume of this book was translated in Persian by a group of translators, and published in 670 pages by the publishing house of Daftar-e tablighāt-e Islami in1376. However, the very same volumehas been retranslated by Mansoor Mu›tamedi (775 pages), and the second volume has been translated by AbdulhosseinBinesh (767 pages). In the following paper, the author has tried to introduce the mentioned work. In order to achieve this goal, after presenting a brief history of the book author and stating the reason for the retranslation of the first volume of the book, he has introduced the book and the content of each of the volumes and their chapters. Among the other subjects discussed in this paper are pointing out some of typographical errors and content considerations, including the assessment of the content of the book and its translation, as well as presenting some of the weaknesses of the work.