Iran makes headlines again for all the wrong reasons. The death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s morality police has led to widespread protests in the country where women are cutting off their hair and burning their hijabs — a solid act of defiance to Khamenei’s regime.
Curbing the rights of women in Iran isn’t enough. President Raisi abandoned his CNN interview because the news presenter wouldn’t take up hijab. Had she appeased his request, then it would have been easier to quell the protests in Iran as a western woman covered her head. How did Iran reach this point?
The post-1960s Iran saw a rise in religious opposition to the Pahlavi state that is not to say that secular elements did not exist. These groups often overlapped. Nickki Keddie uses the term “cultural Westernization” in her book, Modern Iran: roots and revolution, whereby Western ideas were backed by the Shah’s regime which had negative economic impacts and attacked the Iranian sense of identity.
The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was unique as religious clerics had a leading role in it. No Iranian ruler ever attacked the position and prestige of the ulema, and devalued Islam in the process of its own monarchical glorification, in the way the Pahlavi regime did. During the Shah’s regime, there were anti-clerical secular intellectuals who wrote extensively against the clergy. Hence, as a response, Iran saw a rise in Islamic fundamentalists of the likes of Khomeini and Navvab Safavi. Also, certain centric elements were present who advocated for a combination of Western and Islamic traditions, such as Ali Shariati.
Khomeini called for the enactment of sharia law. The question is what is sharia? Literally it means God’s law. The idea of sharia law as positive law basically negates sharia as a normative system. This means that positive law is human made. But the maulvis say that sharia is God’s law made by Him only.
Ayatollah Khomeini, the mystic turned politician in the years of 1930s, gave public lectures against the Pahlavi regime and wrote against the anti-clerical intellectuals. However, it was in 1942 that Khomeini’s conception of an Islamic State takes shape when he anonymously published, Kashf-al-Asrar (The Discovery of Secrets). According to him, a government is legitimate as long as it upholds the Law of God, i.e., the sharia. Hence, the form of government does not matter as long as sharia is imposed.
Nevertheless, the Iranian clergy, at the time, were indifferent to political affairs. After the death of Ayatollah Borujerdi, the senior most respected cleric, Khomeini began his campaign to unite religion and politics and became a ‘political molla,’ as Baqer Moin wrote in Khomeini: life of an Ayatollah.
Khomeini the mystic is not separate from Khomeini the politician. He was inspired by the concept of Perfect Man supported by many mystics such as Ibn Arabi, Mollah Sadra, Hafez, and Rumi. Khomeini wrote that the Perfect Man “is God’s great sign, created in God’s image. Whoever knows the Perfect Man has known God.” This concept of Perfect Man, which is quite mystical, can have political connotations which can be seen from the concept of wilayat-al-faqih.
The Concept Of Wilayat-Al- Faqih
Hamid Mavani explained in detail in Ayatullah Khomeini’s Concept of Governance (wilayat al-faqih) and the Classical Shi‘i Doctrine of Imamate. In the 1970s, Khomeini gave a series of lectures in Najaf outlining his conception of the guardianship of jurisconsult (wilayat-al-faqih) whereby the long occultation of the 12th Shia Imam has left the jurisconsult as the indirect deputy of Iman. Hence, the jurisconsult can make rulings, based on Islamic traditions, not only on personal affairs but also on social and political affairs. The jurisconsult (supreme leader) derives his legitimacy from God, not from the public.
Muvani writes, “in other words, the jurisconsult’s authority is an extension of that enjoyed by the infallible Imams.” Hence, the Iranian constitution gives full power to the Supreme Leader who is not accountable for any of his actions and can hire and fire the entire cabinet, if he wishes to.
Abdullahi-An-Naim explains that what we call sharia today is the slow and gradual interpretation of the Holy Quran and Sunnah taken place in the 7th -10th centuries by the Muslim jurists, according to the regional, political, and social circumstances.
This is where the concept of Perfect Man comes in. The Supreme Leader is supposedly the Perfect Man who enjoys his authority from God. However, this model of governance is in contrast to the one adopted by the Shia Imams, who are considered the epitome of perfection by Shia doctrine, whereby Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib sought public approval to validate his caliphate, even though he is the rightful heir of the Prophet (PBUH) and has divine mandate, according to Shia worldview. Within Shia jurisprudence, the clergy has never agreed on the scope and nature of power given to the jurisconsult. They do believe that they are the Imam’s deputies and have some level of authority in terms of administration and providing legal advice and opinion, but there is no consensus over the jurist’s political authority.
Is An Islamic State Viable In Contemporary Times?
In Sharia and Positive Legislation: is an Islamic State Possible or Viable (1998), Abdullahi-An-Naim asserts that this is a historical fallacy to think that the Medinan society of the Prophet (PBUH) enforced sharia law. The Prophet’s state, if it can be called a state in a modern context, involved a community of close-knit tribal communities of enthusiastic newly converts; hence, “the Medinan state was based more on the moral authority of social conformity than the coercive power of the state in other human societies.”
Khomeini called for the enactment of sharia law. The question is what is sharia? Literally it means God’s law. The idea of sharia law as positive law basically negates sharia as a normative system. This means that positive law is human made. But the maulvis say that sharia is God’s law made by Him only.
Hence, there is an impossible role of human agency in sharia law. Even the most literal approach is a form of interpretation of the Holy Quran and involves human agency. Abdullahi-An-Naim explains that what we call sharia today is the slow and gradual interpretation of the Holy Quran and Sunnah taken place in the 7th -10th centuries by the Muslim jurists, according to the regional, political, and social circumstances.
Thus, laws, in the contemporary world, need to be in accordance with the time and context.
