The Fundamental Problem in the Clerical Establishment

Motahhari, Morteza; Dabashi, Hamid

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195137996.003.0011

Cited by 16 publications

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“…Among the revolutionary clerics of the 1960s and 1970s, Motahhari is considered a mastermind of revolutionary Shī " ism and produced the most works. For more on his life and role in the 1979 revolution, as well as his politico-religious ideas, see (Shimamoto 2006;Motahhari et al 2000;Davari 2005). 12 Seminary education is comprised of three levels: introductory (muqadamāt), intermediate (sath .…”

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Wasatiyya Discourse in Shi’i Islam: Ayatollah Montazeri and Human Rights Jurisprudence

Ghobadzadeh

2022

Religions

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There are significant differences of opinion about the successes and failures of Iran’s clerical government, but it can hardly be disputed that the experience has led to the flourishing of Shīʿī political thought. In the past four decades, aided by government support, extensive literature has been produced endorsing the political theology of “governmental Shīʿism” conceptualized by Khomeini in the early 1970s. Numerous other schools of thought have also emerged in opposition to the militant Shīʿī interpretation of religion by governmental Shīʿism. Using the concept of Wasatiyyah to conceptualize the most important counter-discourse to governmental Shīʿism, this article addresses the life and thought of Ayatollah Montazeri, one of the most prominent Wasatiyyah thinkers. Focusing on the issue of human rights in Montazeri’s thought, the article seeks to demonstrate how Montazeri instigated a fundamental reform of the seminary episteme, and by doing so articulated intra-religious reasoning in favor of the promotion of modern concepts such as human rights.

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Wasatiyya Discourse in Shi’i Islam: Ayatollah Montazeri and Human Rights Jurisprudence

Ghobadzadeh

2022

Religions

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Prophet sharing: strategic interaction between Muslim clerics and Middle Eastern regimes¹

Taylor

2008

Journal of Islamic Law and Culture

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Theocratic Secularism

Ghobadzadeh

2022

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This book articulates a religious rationale for political secularism in the Iranian/Shīʿī context. The genealogy of Twelver Shīʿī political theology shows that the bitter experience and lack of success of the Shīʿa in governance during the early centuries of Islamic history led them to link the realization of their ideal political system to transcendental factors. Belief in theocracy has been the basis of Shīʿī political theology, but with the messianic conception of the twelfth Imām in the fourth/tenth century, its realization came to depend on divine will and intervention. As a result, Shīʿī leaders, while awaiting the return of the twelfth Imām, not only do not have the authority or responsibility to take over government but have been forbidden to do so. For more than thirteen hundred years, the political thought and action of Shīʿī religious leaders were shaped by the political theology formulated in this book as theocratic secularism. In opposition to orthodox Shīʿī theology, a new politico-religious discourse emerged at the initiative of Ayatollah Khomeini toward the end of the twentieth century, referred to in this book as governmental Shīʿism. Governmental Shīʿism considers the occupation of the government apparatus as the duty of Shīʿī religious leaders. This book argues that governmental Shīʿism was neither the product of a theological transformation of Shīʿī orthodoxy nor used as a blueprint to establish the Islamic Republic. Rather, the formation of the Islamic Republic and the clergy’s rise to power led to the birth of governmental Shīʿism and bestowed importance on Khomeini’s wilāyat-i faqīh doctrine.

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The Fundamental Problem in the Clerical Establishment

Cited by 16 publications

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Wasatiyya Discourse in Shi’i Islam: Ayatollah Montazeri and Human Rights Jurisprudence

Wasatiyya Discourse in Shi’i Islam: Ayatollah Montazeri and Human Rights Jurisprudence

Prophet sharing: strategic interaction between Muslim clerics and Middle Eastern regimes¹

Theocratic Secularism

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The Fundamental Problem in the Clerical Establishment

Cited by 16 publications

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Wasatiyya Discourse in Shi’i Islam: Ayatollah Montazeri and Human Rights Jurisprudence

Wasatiyya Discourse in Shi’i Islam: Ayatollah Montazeri and Human Rights Jurisprudence

Prophet sharing: strategic interaction between Muslim clerics and Middle Eastern regimes1

Theocratic Secularism

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Prophet sharing: strategic interaction between Muslim clerics and Middle Eastern regimes¹