PREFACE -- TRANSLITERATION AND ABBREVIATIONS -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. THE HOUSE OF SORROWS (Bayt al-Aḥzān) -- 1. The merit of suffering for the pious -- 2. The participation of ancient prophets in the suffering of the Holy Family -- 3. The privation and poverty of ahl al-bayt and their favor with God -- 4. The suffering and death of Fāṭimah, the radiant one, mistress of the House of Sorrows -- 2. THE PROOFS OF GOD (Ḥujaj Allāh) -- 1. The creation and substance of the imāms -- 2. The place of the imāms in human history and their relationship to divine revelation (waḥī) -- 3. The personality of the imām and signs of his imamate -- 3. THE MASTER OF THE YOUTHS OF PARADISE (Sayyid Shabāb Ahl al-Jannah) -- 1. Ḥusayn's birth and childhood -- 2. Ḥusayn's virtues and later years -- 4. THE WRONGED MARTYR (al-Shahīd al-Maẓlūm) -- 1. The historical background -- 2. Early accounts and interpretations of Ḥusayn's martyrdom -- 3. Later developments and pietistic interpretations -- 5. THE SIGH OF THE SORROWFUL (Nafas al-Mahmūm) -- 1. The merit of weeping for Ḥusayn -- 2. The ta(zīyah celebration: its growth and general characteristics -- 3. The place of lamentation poetry (marāthī) in the Muḥarram cultus -- 4. The zīyārah ritual and its place in Shī(ī piety -- 6. AT THE POOL OF AL-KAWTHAR ((Alā Ḥawḍ al-Kawthar) -- 1. Intercession: the reward of suffering -- 2. The day of the great thirst -- 3. The faithful remnant -- 4. Fāṭimah: the mistress of the Day of Judgment -- 5. al-Mahdī, the final avenger -- CONCLUSION -- APPENDICES -- A. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 1: 'THE HOUSE OF SORROWS' -- B. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 3: 'THE MASTER OF THE YOUTHS OF PARADISE' -- C. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 4: 'THE WRONGED MARTYR' -- D. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 5: 'THE SIGH OF THE SORROWFUL' -- NOTES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX OF NAMES -- SUBJECT INDEX.