Islam and Dissent in Postrevolutionary Iran

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 journals such as 'International Sociology', 'International Review of Social History', 'Migration Review', 'Critique', and others.

The Iranian revolution of 1979 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 the revolution unintentionally opened up the public sphere to competing interpretations of Islam. Far from being the exclusive preserve of high-ranking seminarians as before, in contemporary Iran lay theologians, intellectuals, lawyers and social activists are active and influential interlocutors in debates on the meaning of Islam.A key figure is philosopher Abdolkarim Soroush, a leading force behind Iran's pro-democracy movement and vocal critic of the state. Through a close reading of Soroush's writings, 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. With powerful insights, 'Islam and Dissent' is essential for an understanding of the Muslim world today, as of the new relationships between religion, politics and democracy visible across the globe.Islam and politics a very important topic, especially re.Iran. Soroush is a key figure in Iran, and in Middle East generally. This title is recommended by star academics in the field of Islam and politics.

The Iranian revolution of 1979 overhauled not only the foundations of Iranian society, religion and politics, but also our understanding of the role of religion in modern government. This title shows that the revolution unintentionally opened up the public sphere to competing interpretations of Islam.

Table of Contents:1. INTRODUCTION: IDEOLOGICAL CERTAINTIES, PAST AND PRESENTTotality, Utopia, and FoundationalismFrom Fairytales to NightmaresThe Topic of this Book2. THE ISLAMIC ROOTS OF MODERNITY AND THE MODERN ROOTS OF ISLAMISMBritish 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 IslamAbul Ala Maududi (1903-1979): The Islamic State in PakistanSayyid Qutb (1906-1966): The Establishment of the State of IsraelThe Arab-Israeli War of 1967 and the Iranian Revolution of 19793. LEGITIMIZING THE POSTREVOLUTIONARY REGIME AND THE GENESIS OF THE NEW CONSTITUTIONThe Genesis of the Constitution and Its RatificationThe Politics of the Assembly of Experts & the Final Draft of the ConstitutionVel?yat-e Faqih and the Right of Self-DeterminationSources of Legitimacy: The Faqih Meets Rousseau and MaoNational Interests and the Interests of the UmmahLegislating and Ijtihad, the Constitution versus the Shari`ahThe Limits and boundaries of freedom and democracyThe Constitutional ReferendumFrom Sacralizing the State to Secularizing the Fiqh4. ABDOLKARIM SOROUSH, THE INTELLECTUAL VOICE OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLICSoroush, Marxists, and the "Eclectics"Anthropomorphism, Scientism and HistoricismElitist TotalitarianismSoroush and the Cultural RevolutionSoroush and the Cultural Revolution Council (CRC)ISoroush, the Purged President, and the Obliterated Left5. FROM THE REIGN OF TERROR TO LET A THOUSAND FLOWERS BLOOMFactions WithinThings Fall ApartMaslahat over Feq?hatAmending the Constitution: The Institutionalization of the Absolute Rule of the Faqih6. FROM LIBERATION THEOLOGY TO STATE IDEOLOGY ALI SHARI`ATI AND THE EMERGENCE OF NEW RELIGIOUS INTELLECTUALSIslam as IdeologyShari`ati the Iranian GramsciUmmah, Imamate, and the Ideological SocietyThe West and Gharbzadegi7. THE SILENCE OF THE SHARI`AH: SOROUSH AND THE THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF POLITICAL REFORMSoroush and the Critique of Islam as State IdeologyThe Return from Ideology to ReligionThe Theory of Shari`at-e S?met, The Silent Shari`ahHistory, Culture, and Religious KnowledgeSecularism, Democracy, and the Religious StateConceptions of Science and TechnologyOn Westoxication (Gharbzadegi)The Return to "Authentic Self"Responses: From Prodigy to Pariah8. ISLAM, DEMOCRACY AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISMStraight Paths and Religious PluralismReason and ReligionThe Eternity of the Qur'anThe Critics: Relativism, Secularism, and DemocracySoroush Versus SoroushWhither Soroush?9. CONCLUSION: SOCIAL CHANGE AND THE SYMBOLIC UNIVERSE OF RELIGIONBibliographyIndex