Islam and Dissent in Postrevolutionary Iran: Abdolkarim Soroush, Religious Politics and Democratic Reform

by Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi

Overview

The Islamic Republic of Iran came into being in 1979, the result of a radical revolution that overhauled not only the foundations of Iranian society, religion and politics, but also our understanding of the role of religion in modern government. Here Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi takes us on an enlightening journey, showing that contrary to widespread assumptions the Iranian revolution opened up the public sphere to competing interpretations of Islam, with profound consequences for the nature of democratic reform.

Ghamari-Tabrizi sheds new light on the contingencies within which the new regime evolved, and traces the steps by which the clerical establishment sought to consolidate power during the immediate postrevolutionary period. Contrary to the received view, he argues that the ruling class failed to institute a theocratic regime, and, more significantly, unintentionally established the grounds for civic challenges to government policies underwritten by official interpretations of Islam. Far from being the exclusive preserve of high-ranking seminarians, interpretations of doctrinal Islam in contemporary Iran now form a contested, varied and negotiated discourse in which lay theologians, intellectuals, lawyers and social activists are active and influential interlocutors.

Against the background of this unexpected development, Ghamari-Tabrizi addresses the early and late works of Abdolkarim Soroush, an Iranian philosopher who has become one of the most influential Muslim intellectuals in recent years, a leading force behind Iran's pro-democracy movement and vocal critic of the state. Through a close reading of Soroush's evolving ideas, and of the works of Ali Shari'ati, and by tracing the links between Muslim intellectual critique and the realpolitik of postrevolutionary power struggles, Ghamari-Tabrizi offers nothing less than a pathbreaking reassessment of the Iranian revolution. In so doing, he demonstrates how democratic transformation in Muslim societies has taken place by means of a public engagement with the teachings of Islam and highlights a most significant, if unintended, consequences of the Iranian revolution - namely the secularization of Islam.

Drawing on a wealth of sources and with powerful insights, 'Islam and Dissent' is essential for an understanding of the Muslim world today and of the new relationships between religion, culture and political power visible across the globe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786724922
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	04/08/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi is Assistant Professor of History and Sociology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He specializes in transnational and global histories in the Middle Eastern postcolonial context, and studies social movements and intellectual articulations of Islamic conceptions of modernity. He has published in varieties of academic jourbanals such as 'International Sociology', 'International Review of Social History', 'Migration Review', 'Critique', and others.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents:
1. INTRODUCTION: IDEOLOGICAL CERTAINTIES, PAST AND PRESENT
Totality, Utopia, and Foundationalism
From Fairytales to Nightmares
The Topic of this Book
2. THE ISLAMIC ROOTS OF MODERNITY AND THE MODERN ROOTS OF ISLAMISM
British Colonialism in India and the Islamic Modernism of Sayyid Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani (1838- 1897)
Al-Ikhw?n al-Muslimun: The Birth of Political Islam
Abul Ala Maududi (1903-1979): The Islamic State in Pakistan
Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966): The Establishment of the State of Israel
The Arab-Israeli War of 1967 and the Iranian Revolution of 1979
3. LEGITIMIZING THE POSTREVOLUTIONARY REGIME AND THE GENESIS OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION
The Genesis of the Constitution and Its Ratification
The Politics of the Assembly of Experts&the Final Draft of the Constitution
Vel?yat-e Faqih and the Right of Self-Determination
Sources of Legitimacy: The Faqih Meets Rousseau and Mao
National Interests and the Interests of the Ummah
Legislating and Ijtihad, the Constitution versus the Shari'ah
The Limits and boundaries of freedom and democracy
The Constitutional Referendum
From Sacralizing the State to Secularizing the Fiqh
4. ABDOLKARIM SOROUSH, THE INTELLECTUAL VOICE OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC
Soroush, Marxists, and the “Eclectics”
Anthropomorphism, Scientism and Historicism
Elitist Totalitarianism
Soroush and the Cultural Revolution
Soroush and the Cultural Revolution Council (CRC)I
Soroush, the Purged President, and the Obliterated Left
5. FROM THE REIGN OF TERROR TO LET A THOUSAND FLOWERS BLOOM
Factions Within
Things Fall Apart
Maslahat over Feq?hat
Amending the Constitution: The Institutionalization of the Absolute Rule of the Faqih
6. FROM LIBERATION THEOLOGY TO STATE IDEOLOGY ALI SHARI'ATI AND THE EMERGENCE OF NEW RELIGIOUS INTELLECTUALS
Islam as Ideology
Shari'ati the Iranian Gramsci
Ummah, Imamate, and the Ideological Society
The West and Gharbzadegi
7. THE SILENCE OF THE SHARI'AH: SOROUSH AND THE THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF POLITICAL REFORM
Soroush and the Critique of Islam as State Ideology
The Return from Ideology to Religion
The Theory of Shari'at-e S?met, The Silent Shari'ah
History, Culture, and Religious Knowledge
Secularism, Democracy, and the Religious State
Conceptions of Science and Technology
On Westoxication (Gharbzadegi)
The Return to “Authentic Self”
Responses: From Prodigy to Pariah
8. ISLAM, DEMOCRACY AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM
Straight Paths and Religious Pluralism
Reason and Religion
The Eternity of the Qur'an
The Critics: Relativism, Secularism, and Democracy
Soroush Versus Soroush
Whither Soroush?
9. CONCLUSION: SOCIAL CHANGE AND THE SYMBOLIC UNIVERSE OF RELIGION
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"This brilliant analysis of ideological ferment in contemporary Iran is an eye-opening revelation of the issues created by the political role of Islam. It also gives profound insights into situations around the world where religion has become a part of social dissent. This book shows that when religion enters the public sphere it becomes a contested field of interpretation-even by its ardent proponents. Far from a simple 'clash of civilizations,' the politicization of religion creates crises internal to communities of faith and new challenges to understanding the relationship between culture and political power. This book should be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the internal character of today’s global rebellion against the secular state."—Mark Juergensmeyer, Professor of Sociology and Global Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

"This book will become recognized as one of the best reassessments of the Revolution and of the roles played by the likes of Soroush, Shariati and indeed Khomeini himself. … [drawing on] numerous specific references to Irani sources that are not generally available to readers outside of Iran and who do not read Farsi. … [The chapter on Soroush] presents the best intellectual history of the Revolution I have read."—Richard Martin, Professor of Islamic Studies and History of Religion, Emory University

"Could become a standard reference in courses on Islam and modernity, as well as Iran"— Omid Safi, Professor of Islamic Studies, UNC & Chair for Study of Islam Section, American Academy of Religion

"Suitable for courses on Islam, politics and modern society, and accessible for upper-level undergraduate as well as graduate students"—Valerie J Hoffman, (specialist in Islam), Associate Professor, Department of Religion, University of Illinois

From the Publisher