Ali's Game By Ayatollah Sahabi

The author creates an astonishing climax to Ali’s story by tying together his twenty years of traditional Shia education, with his later lessons of Islamic Mysticism. The climax occurs when Ali cannot answer one of his student’s questions relating to religion and logic. Seeking advice, Ali goes to a family friend, Ayatollah Sahabi, who goes against madreseh education by explaining to Ali that reliance on logic and reasoning in religious studies can lead to skepticism. Sahabi tells Ali, "When I discovered that there was no rational proof of existence of god I tried to stop praying. I became ill; I couldn’t eat and couldn’t keep my balance. Then I discovered another way to believe. I pray, and you should pray. Most important of all, you should
However, Mottahedeh does a great job explaining Islamic history by providing analytical summaries as well as utilizing Ali’s character. For instance, the author first acknowledges Sunni and Shia relations by addressing a game that as a child Ali would play, with ants. In Ali’s game the red ants represented the Sunnis, the party that rejected the claim of the descendants of his father, and black ants represented Shias, since black and green colors were worn by people like Ali’s father who claimed to be a descendent of Ali (Mottahedeh, 30). Mottahedeh, also uses Ali’s narrative to explain how the death of Hussain is a tragic and celebrated part of Shiism. During a reenactment of Hussain’s death at the battle of Karbala, which often take place during the month of Moharram, Ali recalls that, “As Shemr began to strike Hosain, the crowd cried in horror and pressed inward toward the scene. But they were held back by the presence of twenty or so policeman who had been sent to protect Shemr. When Ali’s father had been a youth the crowd killed an unlucky Shemr” (Mottahedeh, 142). Not only does this teach the reader about Islamic history, but also provides a description of Shia culture in
Mottahedeh writes, until the 1500’s “Shiism had been a minority belief in Iran, a distinguishing characteristic of a few provincial areas and towns such as Qom. Then, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Safavis, drawing their support from Shia Turkoman tribes of Azerbaijan, the northwest province of Iran. Imposed Shiism on almost all parts of the Iranian nation” (Mottahedeh, 93). He concludes this segment by acknowledging how tensions with Sunni Muslims of Afghanistan eventually brought down the Safavid state. However, Shiism remains the prominent religion in Iran to this