Mutuality and immediacy between Marjaʿ and Muqallid: evidence from male in vitro fertilization patients in Shʿi Lebanon

This article concerns the dominant institution of religious authority within modern Usuli Twelver Shiʿi Islam: the <em>marjaʿiyya</em>. The most senior clerics serve as “sources of emulation” (<em>marājiʿ al-taqlīd</em>), informing the moral conduct of their lay “imitators” (...

Popoln opis

Bibliografske podrobnosti
Main Authors: Clarke, M, Inhorn, M
Format: Journal article
Jezik:English
Izdano: Cambridge University Press 2011
Teme:
_version_ 1826303916154814464
author Clarke, M
Inhorn, M
author_facet Clarke, M
Inhorn, M
author_sort Clarke, M
collection OXFORD
description This article concerns the dominant institution of religious authority within modern Usuli Twelver Shiʿi Islam: the <em>marjaʿiyya</em>. The most senior clerics serve as “sources of emulation” (<em>marājiʿ al-taqlīd</em>), informing the moral conduct of their lay “imitators” (<em>muqallidūn</em>). Despite the importance of this relationship, academic writing on what we call its “affective” qualities, especially from lay perspectives, is limited. We provide ethnographic data from anthropological research into Islamic medical ethics in Lebanon. Interviews in 2003 with infertile Shiʿi patients who were considering controversial assisted reproductive technologies revealed rare insights into which authorities they followed and in what numbers and how this relationship was experienced and drawn upon by those in need. We compare the very different relationships inspired by the two authorities most cited in our study: the late Beirut-based Ayatollah Fadlallah; and the Iranian Ayatollah Khaminaʾi, Hizbullah's patron. From his local base, Fadlallah offered a vivid and responsive persona of a qualitatively distinct type.
first_indexed 2024-03-07T06:09:57Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:ef2146ad-e105-47ab-b37d-dc51a2d0376a
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-07T06:09:57Z
publishDate 2011
publisher Cambridge University Press
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:ef2146ad-e105-47ab-b37d-dc51a2d0376a2022-03-27T11:38:03ZMutuality and immediacy between Marjaʿ and Muqallid: evidence from male in vitro fertilization patients in Shʿi LebanonJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:ef2146ad-e105-47ab-b37d-dc51a2d0376aSocial anthropologyAnthropologyObstetricsIslamEthics and communication in health carePhilosophy,psychology and sociology of religionMiddle EastEnglishOxford University Research Archive - ValetCambridge University Press2011Clarke, MInhorn, MThis article concerns the dominant institution of religious authority within modern Usuli Twelver Shiʿi Islam: the <em>marjaʿiyya</em>. The most senior clerics serve as “sources of emulation” (<em>marājiʿ al-taqlīd</em>), informing the moral conduct of their lay “imitators” (<em>muqallidūn</em>). Despite the importance of this relationship, academic writing on what we call its “affective” qualities, especially from lay perspectives, is limited. We provide ethnographic data from anthropological research into Islamic medical ethics in Lebanon. Interviews in 2003 with infertile Shiʿi patients who were considering controversial assisted reproductive technologies revealed rare insights into which authorities they followed and in what numbers and how this relationship was experienced and drawn upon by those in need. We compare the very different relationships inspired by the two authorities most cited in our study: the late Beirut-based Ayatollah Fadlallah; and the Iranian Ayatollah Khaminaʾi, Hizbullah's patron. From his local base, Fadlallah offered a vivid and responsive persona of a qualitatively distinct type.
spellingShingle Social anthropology
Anthropology
Obstetrics
Islam
Ethics and communication in health care
Philosophy,psychology and sociology of religion
Middle East
Clarke, M
Inhorn, M
Mutuality and immediacy between Marjaʿ and Muqallid: evidence from male in vitro fertilization patients in Shʿi Lebanon
title Mutuality and immediacy between Marjaʿ and Muqallid: evidence from male in vitro fertilization patients in Shʿi Lebanon
title_full Mutuality and immediacy between Marjaʿ and Muqallid: evidence from male in vitro fertilization patients in Shʿi Lebanon
title_fullStr Mutuality and immediacy between Marjaʿ and Muqallid: evidence from male in vitro fertilization patients in Shʿi Lebanon
title_full_unstemmed Mutuality and immediacy between Marjaʿ and Muqallid: evidence from male in vitro fertilization patients in Shʿi Lebanon
title_short Mutuality and immediacy between Marjaʿ and Muqallid: evidence from male in vitro fertilization patients in Shʿi Lebanon
title_sort mutuality and immediacy between marjaʿ and muqallid evidence from male in vitro fertilization patients in shʿi lebanon
topic Social anthropology
Anthropology
Obstetrics
Islam
Ethics and communication in health care
Philosophy,psychology and sociology of religion
Middle East
work_keys_str_mv AT clarkem mutualityandimmediacybetweenmarjaʿandmuqallidevidencefrommaleinvitrofertilizationpatientsinshʿilebanon
AT inhornm mutualityandimmediacybetweenmarjaʿandmuqallidevidencefrommaleinvitrofertilizationpatientsinshʿilebanon