Episode 81- A conversation about Shiism with Hayder al-Khoei

Hayder al-Khoei (@Hayder_alKhoei) talks to the Loopcast about Shiism in the modern world. Our conversation roughly follows the outline below.

Describe Shiism in the modern world: What is the relationship between the state, the clergy, and the followers. Are there Shia Islamists? Islamists being defined here as a "Shia Ikwan" lay people who use religion as a method to access politics.

Najaf and Qum are the two most important cities in Shiism. How would you describe the relationship between them? How is politics structured between them? Where do we place Karbala?

How would you describe Iran's approach to Shiism, and Iraq's approach to Shiism as far as the individual experience is concerned? Has the differing ideologies of the state have had a different effect on the respective clergy and seminary schools?

 How would compare the scholarship and students of Iran vs Iraq? The relationship between government, scholarship, and students?

 In navigating the politics of the faith where do we place young men who have lesser religious credentials but are in the position of leadership like Sadr and Nasrollah? Moreover how important is the idea of marja taqlid to leadership in the faith if Sadr, Nasrollah, and even Khamenei have all used politics to circumvent it?

Syria: how do we understand Syria within the context of Shiism. It seems that the Sayyida Zayneb, the protection of it, is playing a large role in defining the conflict in starkly sectarian terms. Furthermore, a great deal of the media being produced by Shia militias have evoked sectarianism ( vs jihadis of the opposition) as reason to fight. Can we consider Syria as a "Shia transnational jihad" in the vein of the role that Afghanistan in the 80s played for Sunni jihadists?