Authority in Absence? Shi‘i Politics of Salvation from the Classical Period to Modern Republicanism

Abstract

Shi‘i Islam is often considered to be political per se because of its emergence historically as a movement with a strong position on authority and legitimacy in governance. This piece demonstrates how the politics of salvation in the tradition tie together one’s loyalty to the divine person of the Imam to one’s final destination, and how that relationship is complicated in the physical absence of the Imam. Such a politics guards against a sacralisation of everyday politics and recognises that sanctity arises from the person of the Imam and not the office of his delegate.