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Islam in Iran (Islamic Studies)

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  1. Introduction
  2.  
  3. The terms “Persia” and “Persians” are seldom used in the early 21st century except in the United Kingdom or in reference to ancient, pre-Islamic Iran and Iranians, or in reference to “cultural” phenomena. “Iran” and “Iranians” are the terms used by Iranians themselves since at least 1935, when Reza Shah (d. 1941) ordered that “Iran” be used in all official correspondence. “Persia” and “Persians” have been revived in the post-1979 Iranian diasporic community. As to the Islamic conquest, although Sassanian and Muslim forces first clashed in 633, the Muslim defeat of Sassanian forces at Qadisiyyah in 636, southwest of modern-day Hilla and Kufa in Iraq, is generally understood to have been the decisive battle that opened the door to the Muslim conquest of Iran. The 642 battle of Nahavand, south of modern-day Hamadan, marked the final breakup of Sassanian military and political response to the invading forces. By 674 the Muslim armies had conquered Khurasan, Transoxiana, and Baluchistan. Both before this time and even afterwards Iranzamin (“The Land of Iran” or “Greater Iran”)—that is the sociocultural and, at different periods, the political region comprising the Iranian plateau, as well as the lands to the west, north, and east, especially into Central Asia and down into the Indian subcontinent—has always been home to many non-Iranian ethnic and non-Muslim groups. Even in the early 21st century the population of the Iranian nation-state comprises Persians (just over 50 percent) as well as Azeri Turks, Mazanderani elements, Kurds and Arabs, such tribes as Lurs, Baluch, Turkman, and Bakhtiari and such non-Iranian, non-Turkish elements as Georgians, Armenians, and Assyrians. Among the latter are many “Eastern” Christians, but there are also Protestant Christian Iranians, Jewish Iranians, Baha’is and some Zoroastrians. Over the centuries following Qadisiyyah until today, Iran may be said to have become Islamized but not Arabized. Iranzamin’s peoples increasingly accorded themselves and their affairs in reference to an Islamic religiocultural axis, even as a sense of Iranian-ness, which includes dimensions both of non-Arabness and a strong sense of pre-Islamic heritage non-Muslimness, has remained ever-present. This has remained the case even after the establishment of Twelver Shiʿi Islam as the polity’s national faith by the Safavid dynasty in the early 16th century and in the years following the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic.
  4.  
  5. General Overviews and Textbooks
  6.  
  7. Of these texts, Keddie 2006 and Abrahamian 2008 deal mainly with the modern period, while Daniel 2000, Garthwaite 2005, and Axworthy 2008 discuss the country’s history and culture from ancient times to the present, all with reference to the concept of Iranzamin. Curtis and Stewart 2009, the fourth in a series of volumes on Iran, addresses the commencement of Iran’s adaptation to Islam. Arjomand 1984 offers a sociological approach to Iran’s association with Twelver Shiʿism, and Petrushevsky 1985 discusses Islam’s relationship with Iran until the early 16th century. Corbin 1971–1972 remains a seminal view of Iran and Islam.
  8.  
  9. Abrahamian, Ervand. A History of Modern Iran. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
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  11. Excellent coverage and analysis of the key trends and events in Iran’s history since the start of the last century. A paperback edition is also available.
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  13. Arjomand, S. A. The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam, Religion, Political Order, and Societal Change in Shiʿite Iran from the Beginning to 1890. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.
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  15. Utilizes a Weberian sociological approach to both the nature of Persian civilization and history and the nature of the interaction with the Twelver faith and its history, focusing especially on the period during and since the establishment of the faith in Iran in the 16th century. Arjomand’s volume had as its underlying argument the depiction of genuine Shiʿism as characterized by “pious antipathy toward political power,” and the argument that the Ayatollah Khomeini utilized earlier “mahdi-istic” tendencies within Shiʿi Islam to promote his own political agenda.
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  17. Axworthy, Michael. Iran. Empire of the Mind: A History from Zoroaster to the Present Day. London: Penguin, 2008.
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  19. An overview of Iranian history through the 1979 Iranian Revolution, stressing the traditional Iranian tolerance of a broad range of cultures balanced with a deep sense of self-identity.
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  21. Corbin, Henry. En Islam Iranien: Aspects spirituels et philosophiques. 4 vols. Paris: Gallimard, 1971–1972.
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  23. A comprehensive vision of Islam in Iran, dealing with Twelver Shiʿism, Islamic philosophy in Iran, the compatibility of Shiʿism and Sufism, the philosophical legacy of 17th century Safavid Iran, and the Shaykhi school. The work is dated, but Corbin’s ideas remain influential.
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  25. Curtis, Vesta, and Sarah Stewart, eds. The Idea of Iran. Vol. 4, The Rise of Islam. London: I.B. Tauris, 2009.
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  27. Articles by well-established scholars on how Iran commenced the process of negotiating the adoption of Islam and the retention of its distinctive identity.
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  29. Daniel, Elton. The History of Iran. Westport, CT, and London: Greenwood, 2000.
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  31. Covers some 2,500 years of Iranian history, with an extensive and very useful bibliographical essay.
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  33. Garthwaite, Gene R. The Persians. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2005.
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  35. A paperback edition appeared in 2006. A Kindle (e-book) edition is also available. An accessible overview of Iranian history from the earliest times.
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  37. Keddie, Nikki R. Modern Iran: Roots of Revolution. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006.
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  39. This is an updated version of the 1981 original, which itself went through several revisions. This volume, which commences with the 19th century, remains a very popular textbook at a number of US universities.
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  41. Petrushevsky, I. P. Islam in Iran. Translated by Hubert Evans. London: Athlone, 1985.
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  43. Covers Islam in Iran up to the beginning of the Safavid period (1501–1722).
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  45. Encyclopedias
  46.  
  47. Several encyclopedia-style publications are available. The multivolume Cambridge History of Iran (Frye, et al. 1968–1991) is especially useful as a basic (if detailed and somewhat dated) reference. Encyclopedia Iranica, available free online, pays special attention to all manner of subjects. The Anthology of Philosophy in Persia (Nasr, et al. 2008a; Nasr, et al. 2008b) series contains original material in translation.
  48.  
  49. Encyclopaedia Iranica.
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  51. Established in the late 1970s and edited by Professor Ehsan Yar-shater of Columbia University, Encyclopaedia Iranica is a basic reference work on aspects of Iranian history and civilization—life, land, culture, and history—for those regions where Iranian languages have been or are spoken. This includes the modern-day countries of Iran as well as Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Baluchistan, Kurdistan, the Pathan regions of Pakistan, Parsi communities of India, the Ossetic and Talish regions of Caucasus; also included are areas in Central Asia, Mesopotamia, and the Indian subcontinent, where Persian or another Iranian language (such as Soghdian) has predominated during important periods of their history. It is invaluable for basic information on all periods of Iran’s history, including Islamic Iran. The first fascicles appeared in 1982.
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  53. Frye, Richard Nelson, John Andrew Boyle, Peter Jackson, Laurence Lockhart, Peter Avery, Gavin Hambly, and C. P. Melville. The Cambridge History of Iran. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1968–1991.
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  55. Although the seven volumes in this series are now dated, the articles therein— which cover various aspects of Iran’s political, economic, religious, and cultural (literature, art, and architecture) history—offer a usable, detailed overview of the period. Volumes 4–7 cover the Islamic period.
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  57. Nasr, S. H., M. Aminrazavi, and M. R. Jozi, eds. An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia. Vol. 1, From Zoroaster to ‘Umar Khayyam. London: I.B. Tauris, 2008a.
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  59. Part 2 contains selections from works of early Islamic Iran up to and including material from Ibn Sina (“Avicenna”) (d. 1037) and Omar Khayyam (d. 1123).
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  61. Nasr, S. H., and M. Aminrazavi, and M. R. Jozi, eds. An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia. Vol. 2, Ismaili Thought in the Classical Age, From Jabir ibn Hayyan to Nasir al-Din al-Tusi. London: I.B. Tauris, 2008b.
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  63. This volume contains selections from materials produced over five centuries.
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  65. Journals
  66.  
  67. The journals below are published by the field organizations of Britain (Iran), the United States (Iranian Studies), and France (Studia Iranica, Abstracta Iranica). Tables of contents are available at the publications’ respective websites.
  68.  
  69. Abstracta Iranica.
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  71. An annual bibliographical reference work of articles and books published on all aspects of Iranian history and culture. It is sponsored by the CNRS in Paris and the Institut Français de Recherche en Iran-IFRI. Issues since no. 25 (2002) may be accessed at the website.
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  73. Iran.
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  75. This is the annual journal of the British Institute for Persian Studies, founded in 1961. The journal first appeared in 1963. Tables of contents of recent volumes are available on the website.
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  77. Iranian Studies.
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  79. The quarterly journal of the International Society of Iranian Studies, based in the United States, and formerly known as the Society for Iranian Studies. Tables of contents dating to the first issue in 1967 are accessible at the website.
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  81. Studia Iranica.
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  83. This is the biannual journal of the Association pour l’Avancement des Etudes Iraniennes (Paris). Recent tables of contents (since 1985) and selected abstracts (since 1995; full texts require subscription) may be accessed on the website.
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  85. The Period of the Rashidun (632–661) and the Umayyad Dynasty (661–750)
  86.  
  87. The Muslim defeat of Sassanian forces at Qadisiyyah in 636, southwest of modern-day Hilla and Kufa in Iraq, opened the door to the Muslim conquest of Iran. The 642 battle of Nahavand, south of modern-day Hamadan, marked the cessation of the Sassanian military and political response to the invading forces. By 674 Muslim armies had conquered Khurasan, Transoxiana, and Baluchistan. Over the Umayyad period the Arab armies gradually settled in the Iranian plateau and beyond and then developed local ties. The growing numbers of mawali (non-Arab converts to Islam) became discontented with the continued privileged position of the Arabs within the expanding empire, with their own continued liability for taxes not levied on Muslims, and their exclusion from positions of civil and military authority. Gradually, the Umayyads imposed Arabic as the imperial language. The conversion of Iranians to Islam during this period, especially in rural areas, was probably limited; in fact, Iranian mawali were key supporters of the ‘Abbasid movement that eventually toppled the Umayyad dynasty. In their discussions of the Islamization of Iran, Bulliet 1979 and Daniel’s entry in Encyclopaedia Iranica discuss conversion in this period. The articles in Madelung 1988 address the manner in which Iran became Islamized but not Arabized during this period, and the extent to which Iranians’ discontent with these processes was manifested in religious movements.
  88.  
  89. Bulliet, Richard. Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period: An Essay in Quantitative History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979.
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  91. The author discusses how Iranians, in the process of converting to Islam and becoming mawali, changed their names following the Muslim invasion in order to create fictive associations with Arab Muslim tribes; also discussed are the implications of this process for Islamic rule. The author also notes that the urban population converted more quickly than farming/rural elements.
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  93. Daniel, Elton L. “Conversion. ii. Of Iranians to Islam.” Encyclopaedia Iranica.
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  95. Notes that physical coercion was not a factor in conversion, as all treaties included clauses protecting existing faiths, including Zoroastrianism. Social and economic factors were important.
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  97. Madelung, Wilferd. Religious Trends in Early Islamic Iran. Albany, NY: Persian Heritage Foundation, 1988.
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  99. A series of articles on the manner in which Iran adapted to Islam and Islam to Iran in this and the Abbasid periods.
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  101. The Abbasid Period (750–1258)
  102.  
  103. The establishment of the Abbasid dynasty (750–1258) and, especially, the building of the capital of Baghdad, represented a shift of the imperial center away from the Arab heartland—Arabia in particular—to the East, and the consequent rise of Persian influence within the empire. This facilitated the gradual transition of the empire from an Arab to a Muslim polity. Nevertheless, within less than a century, regional polities had emerged throughout Iran and Iraq and these enjoyed considerable autonomy from Baghdad. One of these, the Buyids, originating in the Caspian Sea region, occupied the capital of Baghdad and ruled in the name of the Abbasid caliph. Some of these polities’ rulers promoted distinctively Persian traditions, albeit within an Islamic framework. By c. 950 perhaps as many as 80 percent of Iran’s population had become Muslim, though the majority were likely in urban areas. Choksy 1997 examines the processes by which Zoroastrianism was eclipsed in the period. There were pockets of Shiʿa in Iran in this period as well. For the most part, Iranian Muslims were Sunni, and many Iranians played key roles in establishing Sunnism. Siddiqi 1993 discusses the Shafiʿi scholar Muhammad b. Isma’il al-Bukhari (d. 870) and his contemporary the Shafiʿi Muslim b. al-Hajjaj (d. 875), born in Nishapur, who together compiled two of the great Sunni collections of hadiths. Bulliet 1972 examines the Islamization of Nishapur over this period. Mottahedeh 1976 examines the manner in which the Iranian sense of self-identity made itself felt in Islam in the period. The later Abbasid period especially is known for the presence of key Iranian-born figures who would leave their mark on Islamic intellectual thought as well as Sufi doctrine and practice. Netton 1992 introduces Abu Nasr al-Farabi (d. 950). Griffel 2009 discusses the theologian, philosopher, and jurist-turned-mystic Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 1111), and Amin Razavi 1997 introduces the philosopher Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi (d. 1191), the founder of the Illuminationist school. Several of the period’s most famous poets were Iranian, such as Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 1273). Lewis 2003 offers an exceptionally useful view of Rumi and his legacy. Lewisohn 1999 contains many useful essays on Sufism in Iran in this period.
  104.  
  105. Amin Razavi, M. Suhrawardi and the School of Illumination. Richmond, UK: Curzon, 1997.
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  107. An accessible introduction to Suhrawardi’s thought.
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  109. Bulliet, Richard. The Patricians of Nishapur: A Study in Medieval Islamic Social History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972.
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  111. Discusses the social history of this northeastern Iranian city from the 10th to the 12th century and, in particular, the ruling elite as composed of three main groups: the Shafiʿi and Hanafi religious scholars, the merchants, and the local landowners. The author also addresses the infighting between these that resulted in the city’s destruction in 1162.
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  113. Choksy, Jamsheed. Conflict and Cooperation, Zoroastrian Subalterns and Muslim Elites in Medieval Iranian Society. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
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  115. Covers the 7th to the 13th century and examines the process by which the Zoroastrianism, the dominant faith during the Sassanian Empire (224–641), gradually lost its status and hold on power and how the new Muslim community became the dominant social and political group. The author argues that this was a much slower process than is usually thought. He suggests that the upper and middle classes were among the earliest to convert, while it was mostly the rural poor who held onto their faith the longest.
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  117. Griffel, Frank. Al-Ghazali’s Philosophical Theology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
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  119. An up-to-date study of al-Ghazali’s life and his understanding of cosmology.
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  121. Lewis, Franklin. Rumi: Past and Present, East and West. Oxford: Oneworld, 2003.
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  123. The best single volume on the famous Persian poet to date. Lewis addresses and assesses the myth and reality of Rumi and his legacy in both the Islamic world and the West.
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  125. Lewisohn, Leonard, ed. The Heritage of Sufism: Classical Persian Sufism from Its Origins to Rumi (700–1300). Oxford: Oneworld, 1999.
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  127. The first volume of Lewisohn’s three-volume series on Sufism in Iran contains essays on the rise of Sufism in the first six centuries following the Islamic conquest. The essays discuss Sufi masters and schools, literature and poetry, spiritual chivalry, and divine love and Persian Sufi literature, including the works of Rumi and ‘Attar.
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  129. Mottahedeh, Roy. “The Shu’ubiyah Controversy and the Social History of Early Islamic Iran.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 7.2 (April 1976): 161–182.
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  131. Examines the manner in which Iranians came to conceive their identity as both Muslims and Iranian in the first centuries following the Muslim conquest.
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  133. Netton, Ian. Al-Farabi and His School. London: Routledge, 1992.
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  135. A succinct introduction to the man and his thought.
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  137. Siddiqi, M. Z. Hadith Literature, Its Origin, Development and Special Features. Cambridge, UK: Islamic Texts Society, 1993.
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  139. Excellent coverage of the main figures involved in the compilation of Sunni hadiths, including such Iranian-born figures as Bukhari and Muslim.
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  141. Primary Source Translations
  142.  
  143. In the latter section of Nasr, et al. 2008, selections of texts from key Islamic Iranian philosophers are available.
  144.  
  145. Nasr, S. H., M. Aminrazavi, and M. R. Jozi, eds. An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia. Vol. 1, From Zoroaster to ‘Umar Khayyam. London: I.B. Tauris, 2008.
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  147. Part 2 contains selections from works from early Islamic Iran up to and including material of Ibn Sina (“Avicenna”) (d. 1037) and the poet and philosopher Omar Khayyam (d. 1123).
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  149. Shiʿism in Iran in the Abbasid Period
  150.  
  151. A Zaydi Shiʿi state was founded along the Caspian Sea littoral c. 864 but survived only until a 900 defeat by the Samanid dynasty. Zaydism retained support in the region through the mid-12th century. Newman 2000 discusses Twelver Shiʿism in Iran in the 9th and early 10th century. Daftary 1998 covers Ismaili Shiʿi activity in Iran during this period.
  152.  
  153. Daftary, Farhad. A Short History of the Ismailis. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998.
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  155. An excellent, accessible overview of the history of the faith. Very good on Ismaili missionary activities in Iran during this period. Of special interest are coverage of the missionary Nasir Khusraw (d. after 1072) and the “Alamut period” in Ismaili history, famous in the West as the period of the “Assassins.” Daftary carefully dissects this movement.
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  157. Newman, Andrew J. The Formative Period of Twelver Shiʿism: Hadith as Discourse between Qum and Baghdad. Richmond, UK: Curzon, 2000.
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  159. Discusses the rise of distinctly Twelver Shiʿi religious discourse in Iran in the 9th and 10th centuries and its reception in contemporary Baghdad.
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  161. Primary Source Translations
  162.  
  163. Nasr, et al. 2008 and Khusraw 1986 offer translations of key Ismaili texts from this period.
  164.  
  165. Khusraw, Nasir. Nasir-e Khosraw’s Book of Travels (Safarnama). Persian Heritage Series 36. Translated by Wheeler Thackston Jr.. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1986.
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  167. Translation of the travelogue by the famous 11th century Ismaili traveler, philosopher, and poet.
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  169. Nasr, S. H., M. Aminrazavi, and M. R. Jozi, eds. An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia. Vol. 2, Ismaili Thought in the Classical Age, From Jabir ibn Hayyan to Nasir al-Din al-Tusi. London: I.B. Tauris, 2008.
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  171. This volume contains selections from materials produced over five centuries, including extracts from outstanding Ismaili Shiʿi works of the period.
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  173. The Mongol, Ilkhanid, and Timurid Periods (1258–1501)
  174.  
  175. From the early 1200s Iran was swept by a series of invaders from Central Asia who later settled in the region. These invaders included the Mongols (from 1219) and their successors, the Ilkhanids (1256–1335); there was also the invasion of Timur (from 1381) and various Turkish tribal state-lets established themselves in the region after Timur’s death in 1405. The rulers of different parts of Iran during this time all espoused a heterogeneous, universalist spiritual discourse. Gradually, however, the Mongol, Ilkhanid, and Timurid “foreign” rulers adopted Islam as the dominant spiritual discourse and sponsored various “projects” that attested to their regard for the faith. Lane 2003 and Morgan 2007 cover the Mongols and their arrival in Iran. Blair 2004, and Golombek and Wilber 1988, respectively, examine aspects of the Islamic cultural legacy of the Ilkhanids, the Mongols’ successors, and the Timurids. Jamal 2002 carefully notes that Ismailism did not disappear from Iran following the Mongols’ 1256 capture of the fortress at Alamut, and the essays in Daftary 1996 address Ismaili history and thought during this period. The Qara-Koyunlu (Black Sheep) and Ak-Koyunlu (White Sheep) Turkish state-lets that established themselves in different parts of Iran from 1375 to 1468 and 1378 to 1508, respectively, pursued similarly inclusive “projects”: Islam was their religion and Persian was the language of their cultural discourse, as it was of the Ottoman Turks farther west. Such inclusiveness was also a feature of the spiritual discourse of both polities. This agenda was advanced in the midst of the various discourses of a mass of both quietist and militantly pantheistic, messianic, and egalitarian Sufi orders and other spiritual movements. The polemics of these Sufi orders often exhibited a distinctly Shiʿi, anti-establishment tinge and all were swirling throughout the region, especially in the aftermath of the political fragmentation following Timur’s death in 1405. Many important mystical orders had their origins in the region in this period. The Safavid order, which would establish Twelver Shiʿism in Iran from 1501, was then mainly a quietist Sunni Sufi order based in Ardabil until, following a mid-1400s influx of Turkic tribal elements into the order, its leaders came to promulgate a complex blend of messianic Sufi-Shiʿi discourse. Newman 2006 provides an overview of Iran’s complex political, social, and religious life from the Timurid period to the late 15th century, and Woods 1999 discusses aspects of these in greater detail. Lewisohn 1999 includes essays on various important Sufi figures and orders of the period, as well as music and philosophy.
  176.  
  177. Blair, Sheila. “Il-khanids. ii. Architecture.” In Encyclopaedia Iranica. 2004.
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  179. A comprehensive overview of the manner in which Mongol and later Il-khanid architecture adapted to Iran and Islam.
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  181. Daftary, Farhad, ed. Mediaeval Isma’ili History and Thought. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
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  183. An excellent collection of essays covering all aspects of Ismaili thought in this period.
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  185. Golombek, Lisa, and D. N. Wilber. The Timurid Architecture of Iran and Turan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988.
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  187. A monumental source on the Timurid architectural legacy that illustrates the distinctly Persian dimension to the Islamization of the last of the Central Asian “invaders” of Iranzamin.
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  189. Jamal, Nadia Eboo. Surviving the Mongols: Nizārī Quhistānī and the Continuity of Ismaili Tradition in Persia. London: I.B. Tauris, 2002.
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  191. Argues that Ismailism in Iran survived the immediate aftermath of the Mongols’ successful assault on Alamut.
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  193. Lane, George. Early Mongol Rule in Thirteenth-Century Iran: A Persian Renaissance. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003.
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  195. Excellent discussion of the manner in which the Mongols adapted to the “high culture” of the Iranian plateau.
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  197. Lewisohn, Leonard, ed. The Heritage of Sufism: Legacy of Medieval Persian Sufism (1150–1500). Oxford: Oneworld, 1999.
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  199. The second of Lewisohn’s edited volumes on Sufism in Iran, this volume includes essays on Rumi and other key figures and Sufi orders, as well as Sufi music and Neoplatonic influences.
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  201. Morgan, David. The Mongols. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2007.
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  203. An excellent overview of the Mongols, including their activity in Iran.
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  205. Newman, Andrew J. Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire. London: I.B. Tauris, 2006.
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  207. Covers the pre-1501 religious life of Iran, with an emphasis both on popular, messianic Sufi orders that had their origins among the region’s various tribal groupings and elite efforts to associate themselves with these movements. Cites basic sources on these movements as well.
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  209. Woods, John E. The Aqquyunlu: Clan, Confederation, Empire. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1999.
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  211. Superb discussion of the life and legacy of one of the region’s most important pre-1501 Turkish state-lets. Woods’s coverage of the role of religion merits particular attention.
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  213. Primary Source Translations
  214.  
  215. Gamard (Rumi 2008) offers an accessible translation of the well-known poet Rumi (d. 1273).
  216.  
  217. Rumi, Maulana Jalal al-Din. The Quatrains of Rumi: Complete Translation with Persian Text, Islamic Mystical Commentary, Manual of Terms, and Concordance. Translated by Ibrahim W. Gamard and A.G. Rawan Farhadi. San Rafael, CA: Sufi Dari, 2008.
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  219. This is the first complete English translation of the nearly two thousand quatrains attributed to Rumi (d. 1273).
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  221. The Safavid Dynasty (1501–1722)
  222.  
  223. In 1501, at the head of the Qizilbash, a coalition of the region’s Turkic tribes, the leader of the Safavid Sufi order, Ismail I (r. 1501–1524), captured the former capital of Tabriz and declared Twelver Shiʿism to be the faith of his new realm. Within a decade Ismail had taken control over territory whose boundaries roughly resemble the modern Iranian nation-state. Later sources depict Ismail and his several immediate successors as having rapidly extirpated Sunnism from the realm and ruthlessly imposed Shiʿism upon the populace, with the assistance of large number of Arab Twelver Shiʿi clerics who are said to have quickly flocked to Iran after Tabriz’s capture. In fact, the Shiʿitization of Iran during this period was gradual; few such clerics immigrated and pockets of Sunnism remained throughout the 1500s. Newman 2006 and Abisaab 2004 examine the processes by which Shiʿism spread in Iran during this period. Rahmati 2008 addresses the career of a prominent early 17th century Arab scholar who came to Iran as a youth and became a key religious official in the Safavid period. The growth in the Iran-based Twelver clerical class encouraged a reexamination of long-standing matters of concern in Shiʿi doctrine and practice. Newman 1992 translates and comments on a key text describing the differences between Akhbari and Usuli scholars and the practical implications of these differences, and Gleave 2007 addresses Akhbarism in greater detail. Lewisohn 1999 examines developments in Sufism and philosophy, and Rizvi 2007 looks at the work of Sadr al-Din al-Shirazi (d. 1640), an important contributor to Shiʿi and Islamic philosophy. Seventeenth-century Iran, in particular, witnessed an influx of foreigners into the country, encouraged by the Safavid shahs eager to enhance ties between Europe and Iran in the face of the common Ottoman threat. Missionaries, political and economic emissaries, and a host of foreign travelers were among those who settled in or traveled through Iran during this period. Some interacted with local Iranian Christians and Jews. Ghougassian 1998 covers the emergence of the Armenian community in 17th century Iran. Moreen 1981 reviews the status of religious minorities in Shiʿi Iran. Newman 2006 provides an integrated overview of Safavid political, socioeconomic, cultural, and religious life.
  224.  
  225. Abisaab, Rula J. Converting Persia, Religion and Power in the Safavid Empire. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004.
  226. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  227. Discusses the propagation of Shiʿism in Iran over the two centuries of the Safavid period.
  228. Find this resource:
  229. Ghougassian, Vazken. The Emergence of the Armenian Diocese of New Julfa in the Seventeenth Century. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1998.
  230. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  231. Explores religious life among Iran’s Armenians in the period following their transportation to the Safavid capital of Esfahan. Notable for carefully contrasting the experiences of the well-to-do merchant class with those of poorer Armenians.
  232. Find this resource:
  233. Gleave, Robert. Scripturalist Islam: The History and Doctrines of the Akhbari Shiʿi School. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2007.
  234. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  235. A detailed study of key texts in Akhbari Shiʿi jurisprudence with a view to charting Akhbarism’s major tenets. The author argues the Akhbari/Usuli polemic was strictly jurisprudential in nature and had little practical impact.
  236. Find this resource:
  237. Lewisohn, Leonard, ed. The Heritage of Sufism: Late Classical Persianate Sufism (1501–1750). Oxford: Oneworld, 1999.
  238. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  239. A collection of essays offering a comprehensive overview of major developments in Islamic mysticism and philosophy during the period.
  240. Find this resource:
  241. Moreen, Vera. “The Status of Religious Minorities in Safavid Iran 1617–1661.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 40.2 (1981): 119–134.
  242. DOI: 10.1086/372866Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  243. An overview of the status of a variety of non-Shiʿi religious groups in early 17th century Iran.
  244. Find this resource:
  245. Newman, Andrew J. “The Nature of the Akhbari/Usuli Dispute in Late-Safawid Iran. Part One: Abdallah al-Samahiji’s ‘Munyat al-Mumarisin.’” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 55.1 (1992): 22–51.
  246. DOI: 10.1017/S0041977X00002639Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  247. Translation and commentary of a key early 18th century text on the differences between the two discourses. Argues for the inherently practical impact of disagreement on seemingly esoteric jurisprudential matters. “Part Two: The Conflict Reassessed” continues in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 55.2 (1992): 250–261.
  248. Find this resource:
  249. Newman, Andrew J. Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire. London: I.B. Tauris, 2006.
  250. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  251. An integrated discussion of Safavid political, socioeconomic, cultural, and religious life. Comprehensive bibliography in key secondary and primary source material.
  252. Find this resource:
  253. Rahmati, Muhammad Kazem. At the Nexus of Traditions in Safavid Iran: The Career and Thought of Shaykh Bahā al-Dīn al-’Āmilī. Qom, Iran: Academy of Islamic Sciences and Culture, 2008.
  254. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  255. A collection of essays by Devin Stewart, Rula Abisaab, Newman, and others on this important early 17th century Arab who came to Iran as a young boy and the more general role of the Arab Shiʿi clerics in spreading the faith throughout the realm.
  256. Find this resource:
  257. Rizvi, Sajjad. Mulla Sadra Shirazi: His Life, Works and Sources for Safavid Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
  258. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  259. A discussion of the life and legacy of this important early 17th century Iranian Shiʿi philosopher.
  260. Find this resource:
  261. Nadir Shah and the Zands (1722–1795)
  262.  
  263. The period from the 1722 Afghan capture of the Safavid capital of Esfahan to the establishment of the Qajar dynasty was marked by political fragmentation on the Iranian plateau and some degree of discontinuity in spiritual affairs. Nadir Shah Afshar (d. 1747) was a member of the one of the founding Qizilbash tribes of the Safavid dynasty. Initially military commander under Tahmasp II (d. 1740), son of Shah Sultan Husayn, in 1732 Nadir forced Tahmasp to abdicate in favor of an infant son to whom Nadir became regent. Nadir himself ascended the throne in 1736. During his reign, Nadir dis-established Twelver Shiʿism in the belief that the Safavid expression thereof had only accentuated hostilities with the Sunni Ottomans. He campaigned continuously (but unsuccessfully) for Ottoman acceptance of Shiʿism as the fifth Muslim legal school—all in the hopes of peace with the Ottomans and guarantees of safe passage through Ottoman territory for Iranian pilgrimages to the Hijaz. Lockhart 1938 and Axworthy 2006 offer useful overviews of Nadir. Tucker 2006 examines Nadir’s strategy in dis-establishing Shiʿism. Cole 2002 looks at Nadir’s policies toward those Shiʿi clerics who remained in Iran after 1722. The 1722 Afghan sack of Esfahan forced many Shiʿi clerics to decamp to the Ottoman-controlled Iraqi shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala, where Akhbarism became dominant. Others left Esfahan for different Iranian cities and towns, and still others left for Awadh (Oudh, whose capital is modern-day Lucknow) and Bengal in India. Gleave 2000 examines the jurisprudential dimensions of the Akhbari/Usuli dispute. Cole 2002 explores practical developments in the Akhbari/Usuli conflict as well as Nadir’s policies toward those Shiʿi clerics who remained in Iran. The leadership of the Zand dynasty (1750–1794), whose founder was a general under Nadir Shah, were devout Shiʿites. Cole 2002 covers Shiʿism during the Zand period. Algar 1991 is a usable overview of the period’s religious life.
  264.  
  265. Algar, Hamid. “Religious Forces in Eighteenth-and Nineteenth-Century Iran.” In The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 7, From Nadir Shah to the Islamic Republic. Edited by Peter Avery, Gavin Hambly, and Charles Melville, 705–731. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
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  267. A basic overview of Iranian spiritual life over these two centuries.
  268. Find this resource:
  269. Axworthy, Michael. The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from Tribal Warrior to Conquering Tyrant. London: I.B. Tauris, 2006.
  270. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  271. An interesting biography of Nadir Shah using well-known and more recently available sources.
  272. Find this resource:
  273. Cole, Juan. “Jurisprudence: The Akhbari-Usuli Struggle.” In Sacred Space and Holy War. London: I.B. Tauris, 2002.
  274. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  275. An updated version of a 1985 article, this essay examines the migration of Shiʿi clerics from Iran after 1722 and the resulting growth of the Shiʿi centers in Iraq. Includes detail on the restrictions Nadir placed on those Shiʿi clerics who remained in Iran, in his drive to placate the Ottomans. Also discusses the return of key Shiʿi figures to Iran in the Zand period and the efforts to advance Usulism. By the end of the century the Akhbari presence in the Iraqi shrine cities had been severely curtailed, though some remained in Kerman, Bahrayn, and southern Iraq.
  276. Find this resource:
  277. Gleave, Robert. Inevitable Doubt: Two Theories of Shiʿi Jurisprudence. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2000.
  278. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  279. A detailed examination of the Arabic-language jurisprudential discourse of two leading Twelver clerics, one an Akhbari and the other an Usuli. The latter, Muhammad Baqir Bihbihani (d. 1791–1792), is usually identified as having breathed new life into Usuli discourse; he was also said to have been instrumental in the demise of Akhbarism.
  280. Find this resource:
  281. Lockhart, Lawrence. Nadir Shah. London: Luzac, 1938.
  282. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  283. Still an excellent study of the man and his times.
  284. Find this resource:
  285. Tucker, Ernest. Nadir Shah’s Quest for Legitimacy in Post-Safavid Iran. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2006.
  286. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  287. The best examination of Nadir Shah’s vain effort to legitimize Twelver Shiʿism as the fifth Muslim legal school—so as to achieve recognition of his rule by, and peace with, Iran’s Sunni Ottoman neighbors.
  288. Find this resource:
  289. The Qajar Period (1795–1925)
  290.  
  291. Like the Afshars, the Qajars were one of the original Safavid-period Qizilbash tribes. The early Qajar shahs deferred to the Shiʿi clerics in the Usuli tradition. The Iraqi shrine cities of Karbala and, especially, Najaf continued to be the primary centers of the faith in these early years. Fath Ali Shah Qajar (d. 1834) was complicit in the final triumph of the Usulis over the Akhbaris in Iraq. With the Akhabaris gone, further hierarchical expansion of clerical authority in matters of doctrine and practice also occurred during the period. Litvak 1998 discusses the links between Iranian and Iraqi Shiʿi clerics. Cole 1983 addresses key developments in the hierarchy of authority within the Shiʿi community. The expansion of clerical authority was associated with increasing clerical involvement in politics. Clerics in Iran and Najaf were especially active, for example, in their opposition to the growing role of foreign companies and governments in Iran by the Qajar government, which opposition culminated in the successful overturning of the Tobacco Regie during a nationwide boycott in 1891–1892. The Iranian Constitutional Movement of 1905–1908 split the clergy: some supported a constitutional monarchy, while others argued that a constitution might weaken the role of the faith. The constitution approved by the shah in 1907 recognized the Twelver faith as the country’s official religion and provided for a council of religious scholars to vet all legislation; but this document was voided in June 1908 by the newly crowned shah, Muhammad ‘Ali. Keddie 1966 remains the classic work on the tobacco boycott. Haeri 1977 is the classic work on the constitutional movement. The 1840s and 1850s witnessed the rise of the Babi movement and the Baha’i faith, both opposed by the clergy, in alliance with the state. The latter years of this period also witnessed the beginnings of the revitalization of Qum as a key religious center of Shiʿism in Iran. A Sufi revival in Iran in the period was opposed by a number of clerics. Amanat 1989 offers insights into Babism and the rise of the Baha’i faith. Schmidtke and Pourjavady 2006 discusses clerical refutations of Christianity and Judaism. An overview of the period’s socioeconomic, political, and religious life is provided by Algar 1969.
  292.  
  293. Algar, Hamid. Religion and State in Iran, 1785–1906: The Role of the Ulama in the Qajar Period. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969.
  294. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  295. One of the earliest arguments that the Twelver clergy played a positive political role in Iranian history.
  296. Find this resource:
  297. Amanat, Abbas. Resurrection and Renewal: The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 1844–1850. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989.
  298. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  299. An excellent analysis of the movement in the context of Iranian socioeconomic and political life in Iran of the period.
  300. Find this resource:
  301. Cole, Juan. “Imami Jurisprudence and the Role of the Ulama. Mortaza Ansari on Emulating the Supreme Exemplar.” In Religion and Politics in Iran. Edited by Nikki Keddie, 33–46. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1983.
  302. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  303. The key essay on the development of clerical authority in the Twelver Shiʿi community in this period.
  304. Find this resource:
  305. Gleave, Rob, ed. Religion and Society in Qajar Iran. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2005.
  306. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  307. Contains a range of articles on trends and events in the religious sphere—including essays on religious thought, religious minorities, and Western missionaries, philosophy and the clergy and state institutions.
  308. Find this resource:
  309. Haeri, A. Shiism and Constitutionalism in Iran. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1977.
  310. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  311. The classic work on the constitutional period.
  312. Find this resource:
  313. Keddie, Nikki. Religion and Rebellion in Iran: The Tobacco Protest of 1891–1892. London: Frank Cass, 1966.
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  315. The classic work on the “tobacco boycott” that demonstrated the strength of the alliance between the Shiʿi clergy and the merchant class. This alliance can be dated from the Safavid period and was fundamentally important to the successful overthrow of Muhammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979.
  316. Find this resource:
  317. Litvak, Meir. Shiʿi Scholars of Nineteenth-Century Iraq: the ‘Ulama of Najaf and Karbala. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
  318. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  319. Also addresses the connections between Shiʿi clerics based in Iran and those in Iraq.
  320. Find this resource:
  321. Schmidtke, Sabine, and Reza Pourjavady. “Muslim Polemics against Judaism and Christianity in 18th Century Iran: The Literary Sources of Āqā Muḥammad ‘Alī Bihbahānī’s (1144/1732–1216/1801) Rādd-i shubuhāt al-kuffār.” Studia Iranica 35 (2006): 69–96.
  322. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  323. A good review of Muslim/non-Muslim discourse in Iran after the Safavid period, this article examines one of the refutations written against Christian missionaries. At the command of the Qajar ruler Fath Ali Shah (r. 1797–1801), this refutation was composed by the son of the cleric noted for his role in crushing the Nimatallahi Sufi order.
  324. Find this resource:
  325. Primary Source Translations
  326.  
  327. Al-Afghani 1983 offers commentary and a translation of a key text by this important 19th century anti-imperialist thinker.
  328.  
  329. Al-Afghani, Sayyid Jamal al-Din. An Islamic Response to Imperialism: Political and Religious Writings of Sayyid Jamal al-Din “al-Afghani.” Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.
  330. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  331. Anti-imperialist writings of the famous pan-Islamic cleric and scholar who died in 1897. Includes a translation of the “Refutation of the Materialists,” from the original Persian, by Nikki Keddie and Hamid Algar.
  332. Find this resource:
  333. The Pahlavi Dynasty (1925–1979)
  334.  
  335. In 1923 the Iranian colonel Reza Pahlavi seized power from the Qajars. Following his coronation as shah in 1925, Reza Shah launched efforts to curtail clerical influence as a part of his strategy to “modernize” Iran and, in the process, to curtail the power and influence of clergy. From his 1941 forced abdication by the Allies through 1953, the influence of Reza Pahlavi’s son Muhammad Reza (d. 1980) was eclipsed by political and religious groups. But following the failure of the 1953 coup against him, Muhammad Reza embarked on an absolutist and anticlerical agenda; components of his 1963 reform program (the “White Revolution”) continued this agenda and included additional measures that many interpreted as opening the country to greater foreign penetration. In 1963 the Shah ordered the arrest of a number of prominent clerics, including Ruhollah Khomeini (b. 1902–d. 1989). Initially sentenced to death, Khomeini was later deported. From 1963 an increasingly repressive state apparatus effectively muzzled the clergy. Akhavi 1980 discusses efforts by clergy and laypersons alike to “modernize” the faith in the context of clergy-state relations during the period. Fischer 2003 highlights the experiences of the clergy and religious students on the eve of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Jalal Al-e Ahmad (d. 1969) challenged the preoccupation with imitating the West and ‘Ali Shariati (d. 1977) addressed social issues from a Shiʿi perspective. Boroujerdi 1996 examines lay and religious intellectuals’ references to the West in the later 20th century. Rahnema 2000 offers a biography of Shariati. A January 1978 official attack on Khomeini precipitated riots and a police massacre; and this may have been the spark that ignited the year of events culminating in the shah’s downfall and flight a year later (and Khomeini’s return to Iran weeks thereafter). Abrahamian 1989 explores the class basis of Islamic Marxists active in the struggle against the shah. Aghaie 2001 examines the changing references to the death of Imam Husayn in 680 in Iranian politics during the last two decades of Pahlavi rule. Moin 1999 offers a biography of Ayatollah Khomeini. Ansari 2003 and Mottahadeh 1985 provide an interesting overview of the period.
  336.  
  337. Abrahamian, Ervand. Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin. London: I.B. Tauris, 1989.
  338. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  339. A key work on the “Islamic Marxist” movement in Iran. Also includes a discussion of the role of the writings and lectures of ‘Ali Shariati in galvanizing the urban middle-class youth who made up the group’s largest contingent.
  340. Find this resource:
  341. Aghaie, Kamran. “The Karbala Narrative: Shiʿi Political Discourse in Modern Iran in the 1960s and 1970s.” Journal of Islamic Studies 12.2 (2001): 151–176.
  342. DOI: 10.1093/jis/12.2.151Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  343. A discussion of the changing “political” role of the 680 killing of Imam Husayn, the third Shiʿi Imam, in Iran’s religiopolitical discourse in the decades prior to the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
  344. Find this resource:
  345. Akhavi, Shahrough. Religion and Politics in Contemporary Iran, Clergy-State Relations in the Pahlavi Period. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1980.
  346. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  347. Appearing just as the Islamic Revolution got under way, this is the best explanation of the inherently political nature of the Islamic faith over the 20th century. Contains an especially detailed account of the state-clergy confrontation between 1959 and 1963 and clerical-lay efforts to “modernize” the faith in Iran in the wake of the failure to oust the shah in 1963.
  348. Find this resource:
  349. Ansari, Ali. Modern Iran since 1921: The Pahlavis and After. 2d ed. London: Longman, 2003.
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  351. Coverage of the Pahlavi period through post-1979 trends and events. Any of Ansari’s work deserves attention.
  352. Find this resource:
  353. Boroujerdi, Mehrzad. Iranian Intellectuals and the West: The Tormented Triumph of Nativism. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1996.
  354. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  355. An excellent exposition of the fascination/preoccupation with the West among Iranian religious and lay intellectuals.
  356. Find this resource:
  357. Fischer, Michael M. J. Iran: From Religious Dispute to Revolution. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003.
  358. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  359. A new edition of the 1980 original, with an introduction updating his argument for the post-1979 period. The volume highlighted the lives and experiences of Iran’s religious teachers and their students based on fieldwork in Iran on the eve of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
  360. Find this resource:
  361. Moin, Baqer. Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah. London: I.B. Tauris, 1999.
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  363. A biography of the Ayatollah.
  364. Find this resource:
  365. Mottahadeh, Roy. The Mantle of the Prophet, Religion and Politics in Iran. New York: Pantheon, 1985.
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  367. A sweeping vision of Iran’s socioeconomic, political, and religious history from the early years of the 20th century through 1979 as these impacted the life of a young cleric. A superb read.
  368. Find this resource:
  369. Rahnema, Ali. An Islamic Utopian: A Political Biography of Ali Shari’ati. London: I.B. Tauris, 2000.
  370. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  371. A biography of the influential Islamic modernist.
  372. Find this resource:
  373. Primary Source Translations
  374.  
  375. Algar (Khomeini 1981) offers an introduction to and translations of key works by Imam Khomeini. Arjomand 1988 offers translations of key texts on Shiʿism and authority from 1501 to post-1979 Iran.
  376.  
  377. Arjomand, S. A, ed. Authority and Political Culture in Shiʿism. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988.
  378. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  379. Contains translations of several key documents relating to clerical political authority from the Safavid period to the Islamic Republic.
  380. Find this resource:
  381. Khomeini, Ruhollah. Writings and Declarations. Translated by Hamid Algar. Berkeley, CA: Mizan, 1981.
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  383. Contains excellent translations of key texts and speeches, most unknown in the West until the early 1980s. Of special interest are Algar’s biography of the Imam, the Imam’s anti-Western statements from as early as 1963 (during the risings against the shah), and his famous multipart Islamic Government, originating from a series of lectures given in 1970 in Iraq.
  384. Find this resource:
  385. The Islamic Republic (1979– )
  386.  
  387. Within weeks of the February 1979 return of Ruhollah Khomeini to Iran, it became apparent that his goal of establishing an “Islamic Republic” led by the faqih was not favored by all those factions which united to force the shah’s flight. During the year, opposition to the framework was silenced, and the draft of the constitution of the republic published in November 1979—the same month that the US Embassy in Tehran was seized—containing provisions for such a role, was approved in a nationwide referendum in December. The next year saw a purge of secular or otherwise “un-Islamic” elements throughout the nation’s institutions; then in September 1980, Iraq invaded Iran. On his deathbed, Ayatollah Khomeini ensured the designation of Ayatollah Khamanei (b. 1939) as his successor. At present only the president—whose actual powers are limited—the Majlis, the Assembly of Experts, and local and provincial councils remain accountable to the electorate. Since the consolidation of the revolution, the manner in which developments in Iran’s socioeconomic, political, and cultural life are being mediated through a distinctly Shiʿi Muslim axis predicated on the concept of velayat-e faqih has preoccupied the political classes. Abrahamian 1993, Ansari 2003, and Martin 2003 all offer useful overviews of this period. Mir-Hosseini 2000 and Osanloo 2009 examine issues of gender under the Islamic Republic. Dabashi 1993 looks at key intellectuals whose ideas shaped aspects of the Iranian Revolution’s discourse. Kamrava 2008 discusses trends in Iranian intellectual thought since the revolution. Ghamari-Tabrizi 2008 addresses the career and contributions of Soroush, the Iranian philosopher and commentator.
  388.  
  389. Abrahamian, Ervand. Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
  390. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  391. An analysis suggesting that Khomeini’s vision spoke more to a populist, middle-class movement that embraced rather then rejected modernism. The author also examines the state’s historical revisionism and its projection of a populist self-image. Available online.
  392. Find this resource:
  393. Ansari, Ali. Modern Iran Since 1921: The Pahlavis and After. London: Longman, 2003.
  394. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  395. Discusses post-1979 trends and events. Sheds enormous light on the Khatami presidency, the effect of 9/11, the rise of the reform movement, the efforts to promote Islamic democracy, and the resistance to these processes.
  396. Find this resource:
  397. Dabashi, Hamid. Theology of Discontent: The Ideological Foundations of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. New York: New York University Press, 1993.
  398. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  399. With chapters on key revolutionary sentiments and ideas of such figures as Jalal Al-e Ahmad, Ali Shari’ati, and other key lay and religious intellectuals as well as the Ayatollah Khomeini.
  400. Find this resource:
  401. Ghamari-Tabrizi, Behrooz. Islam and Dissent in Postrevolutionary Iran: Abdolkarim Soroush, Religious Politics, and Democratic Reform. London: I.B. Tauris, 2008.
  402. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  403. A close reading of the writings of Soroush, a philosopher and a key figure in Iran’s post-1979 democracy movement.
  404. Find this resource:
  405. Kamrava, Mehran. Iran’s Intellectual Revolution. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
  406. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  407. Delineates the three competing sets of ideologies—conservative, reformist, and secular—and the spokesmen for each that the author and other analysts argue have emerged in Iran since the death of Ayatollah Khomeini.
  408. Find this resource:
  409. Martin, Vanessa. Creating an Islamic State: Khomeini and the Making of a New Iran. London: I.B. Tauris, 2003.
  410. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  411. Examines the broad range of ideological underpinnings of Khomeini’s vision of the Islamic Republic.
  412. Find this resource:
  413. Mir-Hosseini, Ziba. Islam and Gender: The Religious Debate in Contemporary Iran. London: I.B. Tauris, 2000.
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  415. Based on interviews with Shiʿi clerics, the author charts a growing liberalization with regard to both views on and leeway allowed women in post-1979 Iran.
  416. Find this resource:
  417. Osanloo, Arzoo. The Politics of Women’s Rights in Iran. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009.
  418. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  419. The author argues that the evolution of the position of women in Iran since 1979 is the product of a blending of liberal individualism and Islamic ideas of equality.
  420. Find this resource:
  421. Primary Source Translations
  422.  
  423. Soroush 2000 is a collection of key writings by this important Iranian philosopher and commentator on this period.
  424.  
  425. Soroush, Abdalkarim. Reason, Freedom, and Democracy in Islam: Essential Writings of ‘Abdolkarim Soroush. Translated and edited by Mahmoud Sadri and Ahmad Sadri. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
  426. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  427. Eleven essays that address such issues as the freedom of Muslims to interpret the Qurʾan, the inevitability of change in religion, the necessity of freedom of belief, and the compatibility of Islam and democracy.
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