This paper seeks to illuminate the intellectual impact of the Iranian Revolution of 1979 among Pakistani Shi'as by focusing on Sayyid 'Arif Husain al-Husaini, the dominating Shi'i leader of the 1980s. In particular, I am interested in exploring how al-Husaini adapted hallmark themes of the Iranian revolutionary message, such as Muslim unity or political leadership of the religious scholars ('ulama), to the specific circumstances of Pakistan. Crucial for such processes of translation was not only pressure from the Pakistani state but rather internal challenges and divisions among the Shi 'i community. While al-Husaini could draw on a strong, indigenous tradition of political mobilisation, his revolutionary 'third wave' of Shi 'i thought sat uncomfortably between Lucknow-educated traditionalists and Najaf-trained reformers who shied away from getting entangled in these novel forms of politics. By drawing on biographical accounts and al-Husaini's speeches in Urdu, I trace how his revolutionary rhetoric had to accommodate thorny local issues such as sectarianism, South Asian mourning traditions or the lack of an established Shi'i clerical hierarchy in Pakistan.
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