Abstract
Thus far, we have examined four trends of Sunni Islamism on the basis of their approaches to power and their attitudes to democracy. This exercise suggests that the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is comfortable with democratic politics, while the other groups are either participating with reservations (e.g., Salafis) or rejecting democracy outright as un-Islamic (e.g., some Salafi, Taliban, and alQaeda-style transnational jihadists). In this chapter, we will explain how the Shia Islamist trend in Iran has responded to the democratic political system. By examining the historical development of Shia political thought, we will show how contemporary Shia political ideas and behavior, regarding the state, adhere to the acceptor form of Islamism. Additionally, Iran’s Shia Islamists, like the MB, are participatory in regards to democracy. In fact, in some respects they are more acceptor and participatory than the MB, which is rather surprising given the origins and nature of Shia theology.1 Unlike Sunni Islamists, over the centuries Shia Islam has gravitated toward a clerical hierarchy. Intuitively, this should mean that the minority branch of Islam would be far more resistant to what prominent contemporary Iranian philosopher Abdolkarim Soroush calls “extra-religious” ideas.2 On the contrary, there has been an evolution in Shia religio-political thought and practice—facilitating an embrace of presidential-parliamentary republicanism that is lacking among several of their Sunni counterparts.
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Notes
Abdolkarim Soroush, Reason, Freedom, and Democracy in Islam: Essential Writings of Abdolkarim Soroush, tr. Mahmoud and Ahmad Sadri (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002).
Antony Black, The History of Islamic Political Thought: From the Prophet to the Present, 2nd ed. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011).
Abdulaziz Sachedina, Islamic Messianism: The Idea of the Mahdi in Twelver Shi’ism (Albany: State University of New York, 1981).
Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, The Divine Guide in Early Shi’ism: The Sources of Esotericism in Islam, tr. David Streight (Albany: State University of New York, 1994).
Abdulaziz Sachedina, The Just Ruler in Shi’ite Islam: The Comprehensive Authority of the Jurist in Imamite Jurisprudence (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).
Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, The Spirituality of Shi’i Islam: Belief and Practices (London: I.B. Tauris, 2011).
Andrew J. Newman, The Formative Period of Twelver Shi’ism: Hadith as Discourse between Qum and Baghdad (Richmond: Curzon 2010).
Tamima Bayhom-Daou, Shaykh Mufid (Oxford: Oneworld, 2005).
Moojan Momen, An Introduction to Shi’i Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi’ism (New Haven: Yale University, 1987).
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Hamid Dabashi and Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr, Expectation of the Millennium: Shi’ism in History (Albany: State University of New York, 1989).
For a comprehensive background on Bihbihani’s role in the Usuli triumph, see Zachary M. Heern, Usuli Shi’ism: The Emergence of and Islamic Reform Movement in Early Modern Iran and Iraq (Ph.D. diss. submitted to the University of Utah, 2011). Electronic copy available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/68940894/24/Mulla-Ahmad-Naraqi.
Linda S. Walbridge, The Most Learned of the Shi’a: The Institution of the Marja’ Taqlid (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).
Said Arjomand,. The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam: Religion, Political Order, and Societal Change in Shi’ite Iran from the Beginning to 1890 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2010).
Said Arjomand, ed., Authority and Political Culture in Shi’ism (Albany: State University of New York, 1988). This book traces the historical evolution of Shia political thought.
For a rendition of the intellectual developments during the Qajar period, see Nikki R. Keddie, Qajar Iran and the Rise of Reza Khan: 1796–1925 (Costa Mesa: Mazda Publishers, 1999); and
Ervand Abrahamian, A History of Modern Iran (Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008). This latter book focuses on the Pahlavi dynasty and links the Islamic republic with the defining epoch of the Qajars.
Nikki R. Keddie, Religion and Politics in Iran: Shi’ism from Quietism to Revolution (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984).
Ruhollah Khomeini, Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini (1941–1980), tr. Hamid Algar (New York: Mizan Press, 1981).
Said Arjomand, Iran between Two Revolutions (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982).
Ali Shariati had a profound influence on the revolution and continues to inspire Iran’s democratic-minded forces. He therefore deserves far greater space than the scope of this book allows. For a better appreciation of his contribution to the discourse, see Ali Rahnema, An Islamic Utopian: A Political Biography of Ali Shariati (London: I.B. Tauris, 2000); and
Kingshuk Chatterjee, ‘Ali Shari’ati and the Shaping of Political Islam in Iran (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2011).
Hamid Enayat, Modern Islamic Political Thought (London: I.B. Tauris, 2005) devotes considerable space to contemporary Shia political thought.
Said Amir Arjomand, After Khomeini: Iran under His Successors (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).
Gilles Kepel, “Islamism Reconsidered,” Harvard International Review 22, no. 2 (2000): 22–8.
Kamran Bokhari. “Geopolitical Journey: Iran At Crossroads” Stratfor. Austin, TX. Sept 27, 2011.
Mehdi Khalaji. “ Supreme Succession: Who Will Lead Post-Khamenei Iran?” Policy Focus 117 (Washington, DC: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy). February 2012.
Mazyar Mokfi and Charles Recknagel. “How Could Iran’s Hard-Liners Choose The Next Supreme Leader?” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. July 04, 2009
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© 2013 Kamran Bokhari and Farid Senzai
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Bokhari, K., Senzai, F. (2013). Participatory Shia Islamism: The Islamic Republic of Iran. In: Political Islam in the Age of Democratization. Middle East Today. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137313492_8
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