An ethnographic study of the messianic aspirations and ethical self-fashioning of Twelver Shi‘i Pilgrims in Iran

Thesis

This thesis is an ethnographic study of the pilgrimage of Twelver Shi‘i pilgrims to the messianic Mosque of Jamkaran near the shrine city of Qom, the major locus of Iranian messianic anticipation. It examines how Shi‘i messianism gained popularity after the Islamic Revolution – the belief in the imminent Advent of the Twelfth Imam, or Mahdi, at the End of Time – by providing an overview of the political and discursive reinterpretations that have led to messianic rhetoric's development, circulation, and management. It also explores the interconnection of messianic aspirations and pilgrimage and explains how this messianic journey helps them configure ethical self-fashioning. This thesis explores ethical self-fashioning and piety within the Mosque's context and outside its scope in daily life, providing insight into the multifaceted aspects of Muslim piety that go beyond Islamic discursive models. Based on the embodied and emotional experiences of Twelver Shi‘i pilgrims during their pilgrimage and in daily life, this study outlines methods and techniques that can be used to shape and re-configure relationships with self and others. I argue that Jamkaran's messianic pilgrimage and its associated rituals assist my interlocutors in imagining novel relationships with themselves and others, including a personalised emotional relationship with the Hidden Imam. The Jamkaran messianic pilgrimage emphasises inner virtues as moral substance and promotes personalised affective relationships with the Hidden Imam. This inner connection and personalised relationship with the Hidden Imam enable my interlocutors to reformulate their relationships with him, themselves, and others in the present and future. Therefore, these ethical self-fashioning projects will animate hope and have a prospective temporal dimension. I attempt to examine the influence of the Jamkaran pilgrimage and its accompanying rituals on cultivating the moral spirit and self-refashioning methods of my interlocutors while also presenting the contradictions and challenges inherent in this self-refashioning through the examination of concepts like entezār (expectation for Mahdi’s Advent), sin, repentance, and forgiveness during the pilgrimage, as well as in everyday life. By prioritising internal virtues and applying personal agency to redefining these concepts, pilgrims can sustain and cultivate their moral identity. Finally, I examine the persistence and continuity of pilgrimage experiences in everyday life, along with the instability, fluctuation, and ambivalence they exhibit. As a result, by addressing the moral failures of my interlocutors in their everyday lives, I highlight the inadequacy of the pilgrimage experience as the only factor in moral self-fashioning and demonstrate the heterogeneous and fragmentary nature of the Jamkaran pilgrimage experience as a whole.

Authors: Mirrazi, H

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-qzjxzrdvg
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Jamkaran; ethical self-fashioning; Shi'i messianism; pilgrimage; ethics of expectation
• Subjects: Anthropology of religion