Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Kamran Scot Aghaie, ed., The Women 

of Karbala: Ritual Performance and Symbolic Discourses 

in Modern Shii Islam (Austin: University of Texas Press, 

2005); Juan R. I. Cole, Roots of North Indian Shiism in 

Iran and Iraq: Religion and State in Awadh, 1722–1859

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988); Vernon 

James Schubel, “Karbala as Sacred Space among North 

American Shia: ‘Every Day Is Ashura, Everywhere Is 

Karbala.’ ” In Making Muslim Space in North America and 

Europe, edited by Barbara Metcalf, 186–203 (Berkeley: 

University of California Press, 1996).

hypocrites

A hypocrite is someone whose actions contradict 

his or her outwardly stated beliefs or values. In 

early Islamic history, the “hypocrites” (Arabic 

munafiqun, fem. munafiqat), also called “dissem-

blers” and “dissenters,” were originally Mus-

lims in m

edina

 who opposed or disagreed with 

m

Uhammad

. In other words, they were regarded as 

a disloyal faction within the Muslim community. 

According to Ibn Ishaq’s eighth-century 

biography

of Muhammad, the Sira, they were mostly from