Theocratic Secularism: Religion and Government in Shi'i Thought

Description

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. 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