🌿 Announcement for the Esteemed Followers of the Rahyafte Channel 🆔 @rahyafte_en

Dear friends and followers,

For a long time, we have been sharing precise and research-based Mahdavi studies written by the scholar and author Mostafa Amiri from the channel:

🆔 @ASRZOHUR110

on the Rahyafte channel.

These publications aim to provide deeper insight into Mahdism, the signs of the Appearance, and related scholarly discussions, and we will continue sharing these valuable researches with our audience.

Those who wish to support the continuation of writing, research, and expansion of these Mahdavi studies are welcome to contribute financially.

📌 All contributions will be sent directly to the original author and primary researcher of these works, Mostafa Amiri.

#🌍 For our international audience:

Friends abroad who wish to support the channel or purchase selected topics, consultations, and files available through private communication can make a payment as follows:

▪️ Visit this website:
https://widget.swapped.com

▪️ Choose your preferred currency (for example: Euro or Dollar) and enter the desired amount.

▪️ In the next section, select the TON option according to the instructions.

▪️ Enter the destination address:

UQBG3Q3BhpffPlWZlFq5jSGBky-7ep2wYUeh2Th2WxGUYRoB

📌 (Click on the address to copy it.)

#🇮🇷 For our domestic audience:

Some followers inside the country have expressed their intention to support the channel:

6037997519358130

IR140170000000306734462006

We sincerely appreciate the support of everyone who contributes to the continuation and wider dissemination of these studies and research materials in the field of Mahdism. 🌱

🆔 @rahyafte_en

🔴 BBYO: Jewish Youth for the “Future of Israel”

▪️ This organization knows no borders and operates in more than 60 countries around the world. The criterion is being Jewish — not artificial borders.

💭 One wishes that a similar initiative could also be established across the countries of the Shiite Axis of Resistance and throughout the Muslim world.

🔻 Be sure to check out the channel’s next post as well.

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https://t.me/asrzohur110/3454
🆔 @ASRZOHUR110
🆔 @rahyafte_en

🔴 “Hasbara”: Israel’s Propaganda on Social Media

✍️ Mostafa Amiri

🔻 Hasbara is a Hebrew term meaning justification, persuasion, and the deliberate construction of narratives aimed at shaping global public opinion.

This concept is considered a central pillar of the Israeli regime’s “media warfare.”

Hasbara was initially carried out through print media. After 2021, its direction was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and under the leadership of Yair Lapid, a $30 million project was launched to support it.

These efforts included influencers and pro-Israel groups on social media.

As international criticism intensified, Israel allocated a $150 million budget for 2025 in an effort to influence global public opinion regarding Israeli actions.[1]

The editor-in-chief of the English-language Tehran Times has stated that the budget allocated by Israel for Hasbara in 2026 is $729 million.[2]

💭 We hope that those involved in designing and developing the media battle formation for the “cognitive warfare” front have, at the very least, heard the word Hasbara!

🔻 Martyr Imam Khamenei said:

“In confronting the enemy’s soft-power threats, produce content and ideas; this is more important than hardware-based defense.”[3]

✅ Notes:

1. https://farhikhteganonline.ir/news-paper/page/263365
2. https://x.com/Sarfi_M/status/2000562347879076172
3. https://farsi.khamenei.ir/speech-content?id=59361

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https://t.me/asrzohur110/3455
🆔 @ASRZOHUR110
🆔 @rahyafte_en

🔴 Martyr Imam Khamenei:

▪️ “In confronting the enemy’s soft-power threats, produce content and ideas; this is more important than hardware-based defense.”

🔻 Cognitive Warfare

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https://t.me/asrzohur110/3456
🆔 @ASRZOHUR110
🆔 @rahyafte_en

🔴 From Washington to Tel Aviv: Politics with a Taste of Raw Pizza

✍️ Mostafa Amiri

🔻 Have you read the channel’s previous posts? The enemy also considers an “eschatological addendum” when making its political decisions.

Don’t we see Netanyahu’s statements about the project of a “Greater Israel” and the idea of “from the Nile to the Euphrates”? Don’t we see the circle of Christian Zionists surrounding Trump?

▪️ This very ideology encourages Trump to provide unconditional support for Israel.

▪️ Netanyahu, too, says: “We have no better friend in the world than America.”

More than 100 members of the U.S. Congress are Evangelicals and supporters of Zionism.

▪️ Millions of members of the International Christian community are active in support of Israel.

🔻 In the book “The Apocalypse According to Zionism,” we discussed in detail the ideological foundations and ideological appendage of the U.S. ruling establishment.

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https://t.me/asrzohur110/3457
🆔 @ASRZOHUR110
🆔 @rahyafte_en

🔴 Iranian Officials Failed to See Trump’s “Mind Map”

✍️ Mostafa Amiri

🔻 In the program “Strategic Dialogue,” Hamzeh Safavi acknowledges that Iranian officials failed to properly understand Trump and assessed his behavior and decision-making logic through the lens of previous patterns.

Safavi’s son says:

“We did not act based on a proper understanding of Trump’s psychology.”

If we analyze the situation solely through military logic, Trump should not have decided to attack Iran.

However, Trump had an eschatological, Evangelical ideological worldview that contributed to the decision to launch an attack.

✅ Postscript:

If some officials really thought this way, I am genuinely sorry.

It was as clear as daylight. Wasn’t there a competent adviser around some of these officials to tell them that Trump does not view Iran solely through the lens of “military logic”?

At a meeting, these very issues were discussed. Someone said to me: “You should have been an adviser to these officials.” I replied: “You must be joking.”

Time and again, this channel has discussed “Trump’s psychology” and the fact that his “ultimate target” is Iran. All the channel’s followers know this.

🔻 Watch the video. These are bitter words.

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https://t.me/asrzohur110/3459
🆔 @ASRZOHUR110
🆔 @rahyafte_en

🇮🇹 Italian Converts to Shi‘ism: The Emergence of “Italian Shi‘ism”

✍️ A growing body of academic research has examined the conversion of Italians to Twelver Shi‘ism and the emergence of what scholars describe as “Italian Shi‘ism.”

🔻 One of the most detailed studies is Minoo Mirshahvalad’s 2024 book:

📖 Crises and Conversions: The Unlikely Avenues of “Italian Shiism”

Published by Palgrave Macmillan, the book examines the phenomenon of conversion to Shi'a Islam in Italy and explores the intellectual, religious, historical, and sociological factors behind these conversions. The research draws on multidisciplinary work conducted between 2018 and 2023.

🔹 The study pays particular attention to the influence of Traditionalist thinkers such as René Guénon and Julius Evola, as well as the role of Henry Corbin and the impact of the Iranian Revolution on the intellectual trajectories of some Italian converts.

🔹 Another peer-reviewed study by Mirshahvalad, published in Entangled Religions in 2024, focuses specifically on Italians who converted to Shi‘ism and their subsequent contribution to the dissemination of knowledge about Twelver Shi‘ism in Italy.

The research uses semi-structured interviews, historical sources, and analysis of published literature to examine the motivations behind conversion and the intellectual activities of converts.

📚 According to the study, some of the conversion trajectories were influenced by religious studies, philosophy, Traditionalist literature, political and social developments, and encounters with Shi‘i thought. The converts also became involved in publishing, intellectual activity, and the production of literature about Shi‘ism.

🔎 Earlier research by the same scholar, published in 2020, examined how converts themselves contributed to reshaping the presentation and development of Shi‘ism in Italy. That study also explored the interaction between conversion, Iranian religious outreach, Italian Traditionalist intellectual currents, and the broader Italian social context.

💭 In other words, the phenomenon is not simply a story of religious conversion. Academic research suggests that, in some cases, conversion was intertwined with a broader intellectual search involving religion, philosophy, Traditionalism, identity, politics, and a critique of modernity.

🔻 The phenomenon of European conversion to Twelver Shi‘ism deserves closer and independent study—particularly through the personal stories and intellectual journeys of the converts themselves.

📌 Academic Sources:
1️⃣ Minoo Mirshahvalad — Crises and Conversions: The Unlikely Avenues of “Italian Shiism”
Palgrave Macmillan, 2024
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-55877-1

2️⃣ Minoo Mirshahvalad — “Conversions to Shiism in Italy and Editorial Ventures”
Entangled Religions, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2024
https://doi.org/10.46586/er.15.2024.11570

3️⃣ Minoo Mirshahvalad — “Converts and the Remaking of Shi’ism in Italy”
Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, Vol. 31, Issue 4, 2020
https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2020.1858596

4️⃣ University of Turin — Institutional Research Record for Crises and Conversions
https://iris.unito.it/handle/2318/2029051

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Research into European converts to Twelver Shi‘ism continues…
🆔 @rahyafte_en

🎧 🌺

#Quran ✨

#page_447

💌 t.me/rahyafte_en

🔴 A Lesson from a Donkey!

It is said that the late Shaykh Gholam-Reza Yazdi, a contemporary spiritual scholar known for his piety and spiritual influence, was frequently invited to various gatherings to deliver sermons and recite Rauḍah.

His only means of transportation was a donkey, which he used for his travels.

One day, while riding his donkey to a Rauḍah gathering, the donkey stepped into a hole in the street and was somewhat injured. After tending to the animal, the Shaykh led it to the far end of the alley, tied its reins near the entrance of the house where the gathering was being held, and went inside. When the ceremony was over, he mounted his donkey and returned home.

The following year, he was once again invited to the same house to deliver a sermon.

Shaykh Gholam-Reza once again mounted the same donkey and set off toward the gathering. The donkey was moving along energetically. But as soon as they reached the beginning of that alley, the donkey suddenly stopped and refused to enter!

The Shaykh got off and pulled the reins as hard as he could, but to no avail.

Suddenly, those around him saw the Shaykh sit down beside the alley, lean against the wall, and burst into tears! 😢

The people tried to comfort him, saying:

“Nothing serious has happened! You go on to the gathering, and we will look after your donkey here until you return.”

The Shaykh replied:

“That is not why I am crying! I am crying for myself — because I have not learned even as much of a lesson as this donkey has!

A year ago, this donkey stepped into a hole in this very alley and was injured. Yet it refuses to set foot in this alley ever again!

But we human beings, who claim to be rational, repeat the same mistake again and again — and still fail to learn from it.”

🌿 May Allah have mercy upon Allameh Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, who held a special affection for the late Shaykh Gholam-Reza Yazdi. He would sometimes recount stories and anecdotes about him as well.

✍️ Ahmad-Hossein Sharifi

🔗 https://eitaa.com/solok_shieh/14564

🆔 @rahyafte_en

💌 The author of Sulook with One’s Spouse recounts:

🔸️ Before I started a family and got married, my daily routine was generally to visit the holy shrine of Lady Fatima al-Ma‘suma (peace be upon her) early in the morning. After completing my devotional and academic activities, I would wait for the return of the Gnostic jurist, Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Bahjat (may God sanctify his soul), from the shrine to his home, so that I could ask him my questions and benefit from his ethical guidance. This practice brought with it many blessings and positive effects.

🔹️ I continued this routine even after getting married, until one day that great, insightful mystic unexpectedly said to me:

“It would not be a bad idea if, on some days, you did not attend your lessons and instead devoted your time to your family. The late Muzzafar (Allamah Muzzafar) would sometimes not attend his lessons; in the evenings, he would visit his friends and benefit from their writings.”

🍃 From this question and advice of that spiritually accomplished sage, I understood that there was a deeper meaning behind his words. There was a knot in my affairs that this sharp-sighted man of God wanted to untie and a form of heedlessness he wanted to dispel.

He wanted me—this humble servant, trapped in my own illusions and imaginings—to understand that the way I had lived before marriage had to change after marriage, in such a way that none of the many rights of my life partner would be neglected or violated.

🔸️ After returning home, I spoke with my wife and asked for her thoughts. I realized that she had developed some resentment in her heart because she spent most of her days and nights alone, away from her relatives and loved ones, yet she had never expressed it.

And it is precisely these accumulated resentments and the neglect of people’s rights that become thorns on the path of spiritual journeying. They prevent a person from attaining spiritual benefits and lifting the veils that stand between the servant and God, while diminishing the blessings and fruits of one's intellectual and practical efforts.

📚 Source: Sulook with One’s Spouse, pp. 17–18

#Sulook_With_One’s_Spouse

🌺 https://eitaa.com/solok_shieh/14576

🆔 @rahyafte_en

🎥 Imam al-Mahdi (may Allah hasten his reappearance) addressing Ayatollah Na’ini:

🔸️ “There may be dangers facing this country, and hardships and calamities may come, but we will not allow it to fall!”

🌹 https://eitaa.com/solok_shieh/14577

During World War I, Iran had become a battleground for the advancing forces of the Allies and the Central Powers, including the Russians, British, Germans, and others. Severe famine and widespread killings had also taken place throughout the country.

The late Ayatollah Muhammad-Husayn Na’ini was deeply distressed, fearing that the country was being destroyed under such circumstances.

He turned to God in supplication, and that night, overcome with grief and sorrow, he fell asleep.

In his dream, he saw a wall shaped like the map of Iran. The wall was collapsing and about to fall.

Still within the dream, he cried out:

“O God, come to Iran’s aid! Iran is being destroyed!”

He says:

“At that very moment, I saw His Eminence, Wali al-Asr, Imam al-Mahdi (peace be upon him), appear. With his blessed hand, he gestured toward the wall and restored it to its place.

Then he said:

‘There may be dangers facing this country. Calamities may come, and people may endure hardships, but we will not allow it to fall. We will not allow it to fall.’”

🌿 A message of hope amid the darkest of times: divine trials may come, but God’s protection does not cease.

🆔 @rahyafte_en

🔴 One of the Reasons Why Our Prayers May Not Be Answered

🎙 Ayatollah Sheikh Jafar Naseri

🌹 https://eitaa.com/solok_shieh/14578

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Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) once encountered a believer who was constantly praying, yet his prayers were not being answered.

From Prophet Moses’ perspective, this man seemed to have fulfilled all the conditions necessary for his prayer to be accepted. So he asked Allah:

🤲 “O Allah, he is a good man and worships You. Why don’t You answer his prayers?”

Allah replied:

“No, he is not as you think.”

Prophet Moses asked:

“O Allah, how is that?”

Allah said:

💠 “He is stingy.”

Prophet Moses asked:

“How is he stingy, O Lord?”

Allah answered:

✨ “Whenever he prays, he only prays for himself. He asks only for himself.”

🌹 Look at how Merciful and Loving our Lord is!

Perhaps one of the reasons our prayers are not answered is that we remember only ourselves when we pray, and forget others.

🤲 Let us make a place in our prayers for others, too.

#Prayer #Dua #ProphetMoses #IslamicReminder

🆔 @rahyafte_en

☪️ From Sunni Islam to Twelver Shi‘ism: Why Do Some Muslims Make This Journey?

The journey from Sunni Islam to Twelver Shi‘ism is a relatively understudied form of religious change. Unlike conversion from one religion to another, it usually involves a Muslim reconsidering questions of history, theology, religious authority, and the legacy of the Prophet Muhammad’s family (Ahl al-Bayt).

🔹 What motivates some people to make this change?

📚 1. Independent Study and Research

For some individuals, the journey begins with reading sources from both Sunni and Shia perspectives and comparing their arguments.

A 2025 report by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, based on consultations with academic experts, describes Sunni-to-Shia conversion as primarily an internal process of conviction involving beliefs concerning the Imams and the status of the Prophet’s family.

🕌 2. A Deeper Encounter with the Ahl al-Bayt

Some converts describe becoming increasingly interested in Imam Ali, Imam Husayn, Karbala, and the Twelve Imams, and then studying the historical and theological arguments surrounding them.

Academic research on young Muslims in Norway has also documented individuals who moved from Sunni to Shia Islam and examined how personal experiences, social relationships, and religious reflection shaped their identities.

🔎 3. Re-examining Islamic History

For some people, questions surrounding Karbala, the succession to the Prophet, the position of Imam Ali, and the early history of the Muslim community become important turning points.

These individuals may describe their journey not as abandoning Islam, but as an attempt to determine which interpretation of Islam they believe is most faithful to the Qur’an, Sunnah, and the Prophet’s family.

🧠 4. The Role of Personal Reasoning

Research on religious change has also documented individuals who describe movement between Sunni and Shia traditions as a conscious choice following comparative study.

Research concerning religious revival in post-Soviet Azerbaijan, for example, documents individuals who encountered both Sunni and Shia traditions and made personal decisions regarding their religious identity.

🌐 5. The Role of Online Communities

The internet has created new spaces where Sunnis and Shias can encounter each other’s arguments, books, lectures, and personal experiences.

Recent first-person accounts posted online in 2025–2026 also include people describing journeys from Sunni backgrounds toward Twelver Shi‘ism after periods of reading, questioning, and discussion.

⚠️ However, these are personal testimonies—not academic evidence—and should therefore be treated differently from peer-reviewed research.

📌 An Important Distinction

There is no single “Sunni-to-Shia conversion story.”

For one person, the decisive issue may be Karbala.

For another, it may be Imamate and the succession after the Prophet.

For another, it may simply be years of comparative study and intellectual questioning.

And in some cases, social experiences and relationships with Shia Muslims may play an important role.

✨ What these stories often have in common is the search for certainty.

Rather than simply accepting the religious identity they inherited, some individuals begin asking:

❝ What do I actually believe—and why? ❞

That question can lead a person to study the Qur’an, Hadith, Islamic history, and the legacy of the Ahl al-Bayt more deeply.

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📚 SOURCES & FURTHER READING

🔹 1. Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada — 2025
Pakistan: Conversion from Sunnism to Shi'ism
🔗 https://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/country-information/rir/Pages/index.aspx?doc=459079

🔹 2. Academic Research — Sunni–Shia Identities
Linge & Larsson — Sunni–Shia identities among young Norwegian Muslims
🔗 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13537903.2022.2050078

🔹 3. Academic Research — Post-Soviet Azerbaijan
Dobrosława Wiktor-Mach — Religious Revival and Secularism in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan
🔗 https://eurasia.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Religious-Revival-and-Secularism-in-Post-Soviet-Azerbaijan.pdf

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⚠️ Note: Personal conversion stories can be meaningful, but they should not be treated as representative of all Sunni-to-Shia converts. Academic studies and individual testimonies should be considered separately.

🆔 @rahyafte_en

🌍 European Converts to Twelver Shi‘ism

A growing but understudied phenomenon

When we talk about Shi‘ism in Europe, migration is only part of the story.

Academic research has documented another phenomenon as well: Europeans and European-based Muslims who have consciously adopted Twelver Shi‘ism, sometimes after coming from Christianity, secular backgrounds, or—particularly in some cases—from Sunni Islam.

The phenomenon is still relatively understudied, but research from Italy and Germany, as well as newer work on transnational Shia education in Europe, provides important evidence.

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🇮🇹 1. ITALY — THE MOST EXTENSIVELY STUDIED CASE

Italy is one of the clearest cases of European conversion to Shi‘ism.

In her 2024 book Crises and Conversions: The Unlikely Avenues of “Italian Shiism”, sociologist Minoo Mirshahvalad examines the development of Shi‘ism among Italian converts. The study is based on multidisciplinary research conducted between 2018 and 2023.

The book argues that one important intellectual current behind some Italian conversions was Traditionalism, particularly the writings and influence of René Guénon, Julius Evola, and later Henry Corbin.

The author specifically examines how these intellectual currents contributed to the attraction toward Shi‘ism among certain Italian intellectuals.

📌 This is an important qualification:
The research does not claim that all Italian converts became Shia for these reasons. Rather, it identifies a particular intellectual trajectory within Italian Shi‘ism.

🔗 Full source:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-55877-1

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📚 2. ITALIAN CONVERTS AND THE REDEFINITION OF SHI‘ISM

An earlier peer-reviewed study by the same researcher, published in Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations in 2020, examines how Italian converts themselves contributed to the development and presentation of Shi‘ism in Italy.

The study identifies two important factors affecting the trajectory of Italian converts:

🔹 Iran's efforts to present Shi‘ism as a universally compelling form of Islam.

🔹 The attraction of some Italian Traditionalist intellectuals to Shi‘ism, partly because of perceived affinities between certain Shi‘a concepts and their intellectual and political ideals.

The study is particularly interesting because it does not merely ask “Why did they convert?” It also asks:

“How did the converts themselves change the way Shi‘ism was expressed in Italy?”

🔗 Full academic article:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09596410.2020.1858596

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🧠 3. ANTI-MODERNITY, PHILOSOPHY & SPIRITUALITY

A 2025 peer-reviewed article by Mirshahvalad, Shi‘ism Unveiled: Italian Converts and Trends of Inculturation, goes further.

The study examines the writings and publications of selected Italian converts and argues that anti-modern convictions influenced the way some converts understood and articulated Shi‘ism.

According to the research, some converts placed particular emphasis on:

✨ metaphysical and spiritual dimensions of Shi‘ism

📚 intellectual and philosophical interpretations

🌍 criticism of aspects of modernity

🧠 a search for an alternative worldview

The author also argues that these intellectual orientations contributed to a distinctive form of Italian Shi‘ism, which was not simply a reproduction of the Shi‘ism found in traditional Shia-majority societies.

🔗 Full source / University of Copenhagen:
https://researchprofiles.ku.dk/en/publications/shiism-unveiled-italian-converts-and-trends-of-inculturation/
🔗 DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/22117954-bja10103

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🇩🇪 4. GERMANY — SUNNI → SHIA CONVERSION

Germany provides another important example.

A major ethnographic study published in the Journal of Muslims in Europe examined Shia communities across Germany through participant observation, interviews, and research into Shia publications, websites and social media.

The researchers found that Germany's Shia population is highly diverse, including Iranian, Iraqi, Lebanese, Afghan, Pakistani, Turkish and other communities.

Importantly, their fieldwork also encountered:

🔹 German converts to Shi‘ism

🔹 Turkish Sunnis who converted to Shi‘ism

🔹 Turkish-speaking Shia communities containing both converts and people from established Shia backgrounds.

The study reports that conversion from Sunni Islam to Shi‘ism was a significant feature of some Turkish-speaking Shia communities in Germany.

The researchers encountered numerous Turkish-background individuals who had converted to Shi‘ism after 1979, and they also documented communities consisting largely of converts from Sunni Turkish Islam.

🔗 Full academic article — Brill:
https://doi.org/10.1163/22117954-12341351

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☪️ 5. WHY DID SOME TURKISH SUNNIS IN GERMANY CONVERT?

The German research provides an especially interesting historical detail.

According to the researchers, some Turkish Sunnis converted to Shi‘ism as early as the 1980s, in part because they were attracted by the success and symbolism of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

This shows that conversion cannot always be explained purely in terms of theology.

For some people, political events, intellectual movements, religious identity and transnational networks can intersect with personal religious choices.

At the same time, the German study also shows that the motivations and identities of Shia Muslims are far from uniform.

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🌐 6. SHIA EDUCATION & TRANSNATIONAL NETWORKS IN EUROPE

A newer study published in Contemporary Islam in 2026 examines Al-Mustafa University and transnational Shia education in Europe.

The study looks at the role of Shia religious education across Europe and the ways transnational educational networks contribute to the development of Shia communities.

The research is significant because it shows that European Shi‘ism is connected not only to migration, but also to religious education, institutional networks and transnational forms of knowledge transmission.

🔗 Full article — Springer Nature:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11562-026-00615-5
🔗 DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-026-00615-5

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🌍 7. SO WHAT DO THESE CASES TELL US?

The available research suggests that there is no single European path to Twelver Shi‘ism.

Different people arrive through very different routes:

📖 Intellectual and philosophical study

☪️ Interest in the Ahl al-Bayt

📜 Reconsideration of Islamic history

🧠 Theological and philosophical questioning

🌍 Criticism of aspects of modernity

👥 Contact with Shia communities

🇮🇷 The influence of the Iranian Revolution

📚 Religious education and transnational networks

💻 Books, publications and online communities

But these factors should not be treated as a universal list of reasons for conversion.

The Italian case, for example, has a particularly strong intellectual and Traditionalist dimension in the academic literature, while the German case shows a significant history of Sunni-to-Shia conversion among some Turkish-speaking communities.

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✨ A DIFFERENT STORY OF ISLAM IN EUROPE

These studies suggest that the history of Islam in Europe is not simply a history of immigration.

It is also, in some cases, a history of religious choice.

Some people born in Europe—or people who have spent much of their lives in European societies—have encountered Shi‘ism and consciously adopted it after periods of study, questioning, intellectual exploration, personal relationships, or religious experience.

📌 European Shi‘ism therefore has two dimensions:

Migration → communities brought from traditionally Muslim societies.

Conversion → individuals who consciously adopt Shi‘ism as their religious identity.

Understanding both is necessary for understanding the development of Twelver Shi‘ism in contemporary Europe.

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📚 ACADEMIC SOURCES

① Minoo Mirshahvalad — Crises and Conversions: The Unlikely Avenues of “Italian Shiism” (2024)
Palgrave Macmillan / Springer Nature
🔗 https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-55877-1

② Minoo Mirshahvalad — “Converts and the Remaking of Shi’ism in Italy” (2020)
Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, Vol. 31, Issue 4, pp. 363–383
🔗 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09596410.2020.1858596
🔗 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2020.1858596

③ Minoo Mirshahvalad — “Shi‘ism Unveiled: Italian Converts and Trends of Inculturation” (2025)
Journal of Muslims in Europe, Vol. 14, Issue 1, pp. 62–82
🔗 https://researchprofiles.ku.dk/en/publications/shiism-unveiled-italian-converts-and-trends-of-inculturation/
🔗 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/22117954-bja10103

④ Robert Langer & Benjamin Weineck — “Shiite ‘Communities of Practice’ in Germany” (2017)
Journal of Muslims in Europe, Vol. 6, Issue 2, pp. 216–240
🔗 https://doi.org/10.1163/22117954-12341351

⑤ Minoo Mirshahvalad — “Al-Mustafa University and Transnational Shia Education in Europe” (2026)
Contemporary Islam
🔗 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11562-026-00615-5
🔗 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-026-00615-5

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⚠️ Methodological note

The sources above are academic publications, not missionary websites or personal conversion blogs.

They should also not be interpreted as evidence that these motivations apply to every European convert.

The strongest documented evidence currently available is particularly clear for Italy and Germany, while the wider European picture remains an area requiring further research.

🆔 @rahyafte_en