Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2026
The third chapter treats the geography of collective Shiʿite self and other and the question of its global contexts. It reassesses ʿĀshurā ritual to trans-European backgrounds of Shiʿite blood donation and charts the transnational evolution of the Twelver Khojas. While the first chapter presents it as local civic integration, blood donation is also a global practice supported by high religious authorities. Thus, blood donation involves cultural exchange on religious terms that both incorporates Shiʿites within national contexts of secular diversity and integrates the latter into Shiʿism’s orbit. Among Twelver Khojas, European settlement gave rise to globalized religious identity, political solidarity, or communal organization. Away from the Africa Federation in Britain, the Shia Ithnaʿashari Community of Middlesex broke open the caste mould, lowering the threshold for extramural relations while rebalancing communal self religiously. This involved strengthened transnational Shiʿite solidarity and a predilection for Middle East-centred, anti-Western Islamism. The World Federation of Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheri Muslim Communities emerged post-migration as a Britain-oriented body that evolved into the community’s global agent. Its international relations sectarianized and amplified the Twelver Khojas’ proto-statal functions on a world scale. In sum, the chapter demonstrates European transformations of Shiʿite identity in global religious contexts shaping trans-European selves.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.