For more than forty years, there has been a religious government in Iran that claims to be rooted in shi'i political theology. In this book, Naser Ghobadzadeh intends to show that this reading of shi'i political theology is a fundamental deviation from orthodox shi'ism.
The principle of theocracy is one of the most fundamental principles of the shi'i orthodox belief system, but its realization in practice depends on the return of the Twelfth Imam. Until that day, the institution of government and political leadership falls outside the scope of the authority of religious leaders. Naser Ghobadzadeh shows that governmental-shi'ism is less than half a century old and that its formation was not the product of a transformation in orthodox shi'i political theology. Rather, governmental-shi'ism was born in the political arena and has been able to survive because it profits from government resources.
Coining the term 'theocratic secularism', this book argues for the re-instatement of a form of political secularism in Iran.
Author(s): Naser Ghobadzadeh
Series: Religion and Global Politics
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 317
City: New York
Cover
Series
Theocratic Secularism
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Formative Centuries of Shīʿism
An Unattainable Theocracy
The Iranian Revolution and Ecclesial Transformation?
The Necessity and Importance of Theocratic Secularism
An Attenuated Notion of Political Secularism
Separation of Religious and Political Authority
Some Caveats
Part I. The Formative Period of Shīʿism
1. The Sorrowful Age of Presence
Political Leadership and Salvation
Claims to the Caliphate
Eschewing Politics
Scholarly Pursuits
Organizational Development
A Symbolic Role
Little Information and Even Less Political Involvement
2. The Minor Occultation: Collaboration and Survival
The Political Aura of the Minor Occultation
Infallible Imāms and Collaboration with Caliphs
Shīʿī Families in the Caliphate Apparatus
The Four Deputies (Nawāb Arbaʿa)
The Representative Organization (Wikāla)
“Othering” Rivals: The Case of Jaʿfar’s Claim to the Imāmate
Non-messianic Notion of the Savior
Discourse of Pragmatism and Survival
Elimination of Rivals
3. The Age of Perplexity: From Moderate Shīʿism to Twelver Shīʿism
Epistemic Transformation
Transformed Premises
ʿUlamāʾ in the Early Centuries
Dominance of Ḥadīth
Formation of Shīʿī Ḥadīth Collections
Discourse Formation through Ḥadīth Compilation
Appropriating from Competing Sects
Modifications to the Imāmate
4. The Major Occultation: The ʿUlamāʾ and Interaction with the Usurper
The Authority of the ʿUlamāʾ
Limited and Decentralized Authority
Just and Legitimate Ruler
Cooperation with a Usurper
Baghdad and Qum Schools of Thought
Būyids and Shīʿī Leaders
Rebellion against the Usurper
Shīʿism: A Religion of Resistance?
Part II. The Contingent Rise of Governmental Shīʿism
5. The Political Germination of a Religious Doctrine
The Doctrine of Wilāyat-i Faqīh: A Clean Break
Rational Kernel of a Religious Doctrine
The Sociopolitical Aspects of the Sharīʿa
The Populist Approach of Khomeini
Reception in the Seminary
6. Wilāyat-i Faqīh: The Elephant in the Room
Religion during the Revolutionary Struggle
The Interviews of Khomeini
“Islamic Republic”: An Empty Signifier
The Draft Constitution
7. The Creeping Entrance of the Idea of Wilāyat-i Faqīh
Referendum or Constituent Assembly?
The Creeping Entrance
The Faqīh at the Head of the State Apparatus
The Silence of Prominent Clerical Islamist Leaders
Complete Absence of the Doctrine of Wilāyat-i Faqīh
Lack of Cohesion and Coordination among Islamists
8. The Genie Is Out of the Bottle
The Islamists’ Conquest of the Assembly of Experts
The Mystical Character of Khomeini
Khomeini and the Assembly of Experts Election
Fear That the Nightmare of Constitutionalism Would Recur
Underestimation of the Clerical Islamists
The Assembly of Experts and the Tyranny of the Majority
The Great Absentees from the Assembly of Experts
Avoidance of Theological Debate
Disunity of Opponents and Cohesion of Supporters
Conclusion
Secularism Embedded in Theology
Governmental Shīʿism
The Cold War against Shīʿī Orthodoxy
Bibliography
Index
