Riecks carefully researched text provides the first thorough history of Shii organizations in Pakistan and their relationship with the state. [Riecks] punctilious treatment of the primary sources is astounding [His] unprecedented contribution will probably become a reference book for anyone interested in Shii politics and organizations in Pakistan. -- The Middle East Journal
A much-needed overview of the history of Shia organizing in Pakistan Rieck expertly outlines complicated webs of relationships and provides an unflinching account of the rise of anti-Shia violence. -- Reading Religion
This is the most comprehensive book on the Shias of Pakistan today, not only because of its historical scope, but also because of its detailed study of all the thinkers, leaders and organisations which mattered including those supporting violent action. Rieck focuses on Pakistan, but he factors in the major role of Iran in the making of Shia militancy. As a result, this remarkable book lays at the interface of the domestic dynamics and the foreign influences. -- Christophe Jaffrelot, Research Director at CNRS and author of The Pakistan Paradox: Instability and Resistance
Building upon a vast array of Urdu sources, this is a meticulous yet passionate foray into the political history of the second largest Shia community in the world. Refuting the idea that Pakistani Shias would constitute an oppressed minority, Rieck demonstrates that they always played a critical role in the countrys social, political and economic life, even as they bore the brunt of religious intolerance and sectarian violence. -- Laurent Gayer, Research Fellow at CNRS, and author of Karachi: Ordered Disorder and the Struggle for the City
The Shias of Pakistan is a most valuable and timely book. Rieck presents a nuanced and historically contextualised study, which examines the cultural and political significance of Shia elites in the formation of the state as well as the structural reasons for the rise in anti-Shia militancy since the late 1980s. Rieck successfully speaks to our understanding of contemporary Shia Islam and anti-Shiism in different parts of the world. -- Sajjad Rizvi, Director of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter
A major contribution to our understanding of todays Pakistan viewed through the history of one of its most important minority communities, Twelver Shias. Meticulously researched, it provides a thorough historical overview of the spread of Shia Islam to various parts of South Asia and the important influence this group, that has periodically held power in certain quarters, has had on Pakistan. It also provides important insights into the descent into religious extremism in the country. A must read. -- Anita M. Weiss, University of Oregon, author of Interpreting Islam, Modernity and Womens Rights in Pakistan
With this magnificent study, Andreas Rieck has singlehandedly put Pakistans Shia on the map of scholarly inquiry. Skillfully navigating vast Urdu materials, he carefully analyzes the history of the communitys uneasy relationship with the Pakistani state and documents the dramatically changing nature of sectarianism in the country. A truly pioneering work. -- Simon Wolfgang Fuchs, Princeton University
