Islamic reformation discourses: popular sovereignty and religious secularisation in Iran

Rahim, Lily Zubaidah; Ghobadzadeh, Naser

doi:10.1080/13510347.2011.605627

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…86 This is a phenomenon which has been popularly associated with the so-called 'Islamism-Secularism' conflict. 87 It is not far-fetched to propose that the emergence of political Islam in the closing decades of the 20th century represented a significant contribution to the subverting of the global secularization thesis popularized by Herbert Spencer, Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim. Much of the academic literature in the new millennium is criticalor at least sceptical -of this thesis, although the secular-religious dichotomy is still the underlying assumption in the debate surrounding secularism.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religious secularity

Ghobadzadeh

2013

Philosophy & Social Criticism

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Despite its promises, the Islamic state of Iran has systematically prioritized political considerations over religious precepts, inadvertently generating a reformist religious discourse that challenges the very foundations of the Islamic state. This article conceptualizes the religious secularity discourse and the paradoxes ingrained in the Islamic state. The religious secularity discourse rejects the notion that Islamic holy texts offer a blueprint for governance and calls for the secular democratic state to realize the core principle of Islam: justice [Adl]. Towards this end, inclusive secular democratic principles champion a socio-political polity conducive to the cultivation of genuine religiosity, whereby faith and religious practices are free of coercion by fellow citizens or state institutions. By blurring the boundary between the religious and the secular and challenging the religious secular dichotomy, religious secularity highlights the relevance and possibility of harmonizing Islamic and inclusive secular democratic principles.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religious secularity

Ghobadzadeh

2013

Philosophy & Social Criticism

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“…The 1979 revolution, however, was not merely concerning economy; it was heralded, and its virtues often judged, by its normative call. It was an unprecedented attempt to fuse divine and popular sovereignties (Ghobadzadeh and Rahim ; Jahanbegloo ). Since its inception, the regime has labored to balance the ethos of “popular will,” drawing on civil society in the public sphere, with the theocratic principle of Vilayat‐e Faqih , the sanctified guardianship of the religious jurist (the supreme leader); and similarly on blending Iranian nationalism with the pan‐Islamic Umma .…”

Section: Iranian Nuclear Diversionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Disillusioned, many Iranians began to believe that the regime could not be reformed. Ghobadzadeh and Rahim (, 344) accurately observe: “[a]lthough the political crisis in Iran was triggered by widespread protests challenging the outcome of the 2009 presidential election, it rapidly transformed into protests challenging the legitimacy of the Islamic state.” The ethos of “popular will” was profoundly undermined by Khamenei's hasty endorsement of the election results and by the regime's oppressive brutality, leveraging both the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution and the paramilitary Basij. “The extensive protests revealed just how deep the disconnect between state and society had become, whereas the reaction which unfolded further highlighted the ideological fissures at the top” (Ansari , 281; cf.…”

Section: Iranian Nuclear Diversionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To these four “usual suspects,” this article adds a fifth, complementary and contemporary motivation for Iranian nuclear policy, focusing on Ahmadinejad's tenure (2005‐13): the Iranian regime's deepening domestic legitimacy crisis (Ansari ; Chubin ; Ghobadzadeh and Rahim ; Jahanbegloo ; Morady ; Shahi ). While all nuclear motivations—the four “usual suspects” as well as the fifth proposed here—lack conclusive evidence, there is sufficient reason to suspect that the legitimation motive has become increasingly weighty in this causal complex.…”

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Nuclear Diversion Theory and Legitimacy Crisis: The Case of Iran

Abulof

2013

Politics & Policy

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Can an insecure regime use nuclear diversion to address its eroding domestic legitimacy? This article argues that facing a domestic legitimacy crisis, a regime might opt to "rally round the nuclear flag" to survive. Theoretically, I argue that, compared with conventional diversion, nuclear diversion is less susceptible to structural restraints, has a unique symbolic value that could aid in coping with an acute legitimacy crisis, and spans a host of diversionary strategies as it ascends the escalation ladder, both before and after acquiring the bomb. The theory is examined empirically via Iranian nuclear policy. I argue that facing a deepening legitimacy crisis, the Iranian regime, throughout Ahmadinejad's tenure, has been increasingly drawing on nuclear diversion to boost public support and that, if the legitimacy crisis lingers, the regime may opt to further employ diversionary nuclear strategies, most of which require a viable "nuclear latency," rather than actual military nuclear capability.What are the causes and reasons for "going nuclear"? Among the myriad explanations, this article focuses on one: domestic legitimacy crisis. I explore this rarely analyzed motivation to go nuclear, suggesting that an insecure regime can use nuclear diversion to address its eroding domestic legitimacy. Nuclear diversion theory complements prevalent arguments regarding the drivers of nuclear proliferation, which accentuate economic incentives, deterrence and compellence, prestige and status, identity politics, parochial interests, and international norms (Brown et al.

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“…In other words, I demonstrate that their legacies make some functional clues available, clues with which one can deal with concrete issues in the Islamic world. As far as Iranian intellectuals are concerned, their works have been studied by some scholars (Boroujerdi 1996; Mirsepassi 2000, [1380] 2001, [1381] 2002; Jahanbakhsh 2003, 2004; Khavar 2004; Ghobadzadeh & Rahim 2012; Adib-Moghaddam 2015; Safari 2015), but their methodological contributions remained unnoticed. Most of these critical studies are concerned with the relationship between Islam and secular democracy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A non-fundamentalist return to origin: The new Islamic reformers’ methodology of (re)interpretation

Rezaei

2020

Critical Research on Religion

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Focusing on some contemporary Islamic reformers' solutions, in particular, Abolkarim Soroush, Mohsen Kadivar, and Fazlur Rahman, to concrete issues in Muslim societies, this article examines two different methodological strategies of alternative readings of the Sunna: an archeological one and a genealogical one. In the archeological perspective, the holy text has been considered as a repository of answers to all sorts of questions. Through a pathological analysis, this view suggests solutions to correct distortions and looks for new windows seeking an original interpretation of the Qur'an. The genealogical view, on the other hand, puts aside this pathology and instead insists on the idea of the contingency of any interpretation. Regardless of accuracy and validity, according to the genealogical view, all interpretations have addressed temporal and contextual questions. What is important in this perspective is not returning to an original source for finding the exact message of Allah, or correcting previous interpretations, but recurrently referring to an open-ended text in order to explore the futures of the Qur'an.

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Islamic reformation discourses: popular sovereignty and religious secularisation in Iran

Cited by 14 publications

References 7 publications

Religious secularity

Religious secularity

Nuclear Diversion Theory and Legitimacy Crisis: The Case of Iran

A non-fundamentalist return to origin: The new Islamic reformers’ methodology of (re)interpretation

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