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The Myth of Early Islamic Government: The Legitimization of the Islamic Regime

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Haggay Ram
Haggay Ram*
Affiliation:
Department of Middle Eastern and African History, Tel Aviv University
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Extract

In January 1988, the Speaker of Parliament, Hojjat al-Islam ‘ Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, delivered a lengthy Friday sermon (khuţbah) in which he discussed a “very important message” previously issued by the “leader,” Ayatollah Khomeini. The message, as expounded by Rafsanjani, was a reiteration of Khomeini's well-known views on the nature and function of Islamic Government and, specifically, on the duties and privileges of the ulama as the political leaders of the Muslim community. The gist of the sermon was that “it is the jurists (fuqahā’) who determine the Muslims’ way of life under every condition and at any given time.” In a world where “people extract economic minerals from the depths of the earth,” where “war is waged for the conquest of space and Mars,” and where “atom [bombs] are built … as weapons of intimidation,” the Qur'an could not provide answers to all problems and issues.

Type
Research Article
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 1-4 , 1991 , pp. 37 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 1991

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Footnotes

*

I wish to thank professors Peter Chelkowski, Farhad Kazemi, and Ami Ayalon for their review of the article and for their many valuable suggestions and cogent comments.

References

l. Iṭṭilā'āt (daily, Tehran), 16 January 1988.

2. On political legitimacy in Shi'ism and on Khomeini's innovative political thought see Rose, G., “Velayat-e Faqih and the Recovery of Islamic Identity in the Thought of Ayatollah Khomeini,” in Keddie, N. (ed.). Religion and Politics in Iran: Shī'ism from Quietism to Revolution (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1983), 166-88Google Scholar; Calder, N., “Accommodation and Revolution in Imami Shi'i Jurisprudence: Khumaini and the Classical Tradition,” Middle Eastern Studies 18 (January 1982): 1-20CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Enayat, H., “Khumaini's Concept of the ‘Guardianship of the Jurisconsult',” in Piscatori, J. (ed.), Islam in the Political Process (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 160-80Google Scholar; Bayat, M., “The Iranian Revolution of 1978-79: Fundamentalist or Modern,” Middle East Journal 37 (1983): 30-42Google Scholar; Akhavi, S., Religion and Politics in Contemporary Iran (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1980)Google Scholar; Hairi, A., Shi'ism and Constitutionalism in Iran: A Study of the Role Played by the Persian Residents of Iraq in Iranian Politics (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1977)Google Scholar; A. Arjomand (ed.), Authority and Political Culture in Shi'ism (New York: State University of New York Press, 1988); idem, The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam: Religion, Political Order, and Societal Change in Shi'ite Iran from the Beginning to 1890 (Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 1989); Lambton, A., “Quis Custodiet Custodos? Some Reflections on the Persian Theory of Government,” Studia lslamica 5 (1955): 125-48Google Scholar; Algar, H., “The Oppositional Role of the Ulama in Twentieth Century Iran,” in Keddie, N. (ed.), Scholars, Saints and Sufis (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1972), 231-55Google Scholar.

3. All Tehran sermons which were delivered from 27 July 1979 (the date marking the reinstitution of Friday worship in Islamic Iran) to 28 May 1982 were found in a four-volume collection entitled, Dar maktab-i jum'ah: majmū'ah-yi khuṭbah-yi jum'ah-yi Tihrān (hereafter Maktab), published by the Iranian Ministry of Islamic Guidance. The volumes were published separately, the first two in 1985 (1364 S.), the third in 1986 (1365 S.), and the fourth in 1988 (1367 S.). All subsequent Tehran sermons, delivered from June 1982 through December 1989, were collected from the Iranian dailies Iṭṭilā'āt and Kayhan.

4. Kazemi, F., Politics and Culture in Iran (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1988), 23Google Scholar.

5. See Eliade, M., Myth and Reality (New York: Harper & Row, 1968)Google Scholar. Eliade discusses the process of decline, death and rebirth more thoroughly in The Myth of the Eternal Return (New York: Harper & Row, 1954).

6. Fredrich, C. and Brzezinski, Z., Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy (New York & London: Praeger, 1961), 99.Google Scholar

7. It is important to note that the Iranian case is by no means unique. Like the Islamic revolution, previous great revolutions have also invoked the myth of a primordial event in order to present themselves as reenactments of it. For example, the French Revolution sought to reenact ancient Roman institutions, just as the Bolshevik Revolution derived its imagery from the great French Revolution.

8. See Taleqani, M., 24 August 1979, Maktab 1: 29-30Google Scholar; ‘A. K. Ardabili, Iṭṭilā'āt, 11 August 1984.

9. A. Jannati in a speech before sermon, Iṭṭilā'āt, 2 June 1984.

10. 15 February 1980, Maktab 2: 35-7.

11. ‘A. Khameneh'i, 21 March 1980, ibid., 78.

12. Khameneh'i, 6 February 1981, ibid. 3: 85. Also see idem, 13 June 1980, ibid. 2: 183-5; and idem, Iṭṭilā'āt, 7 February 1987.

13. ‘A. A. Rafsanjani, 25 December 1981, Maktab 4: 155.

14. Ibid., 155-62. For similar expressions see Khameneh'i, 14 March 1980, ibid. 2: 67-8; idem, 6 February 1981, ibid. 3: 85-90; and Falsafi, before sermon, Iṭṭilā'āt, 20 April 1985.

15. Khameneh'i, 20 June 1980, Maktab 2: 195-6; idem, Iṭṭilā'āt, 16 April 1983.

16. See Taleqani, 7 September 1979, Maktab 1: 49-50; Khameneh'i, 20 June 1980, ibid. 2: 195-6; idem, 17 April 1981, ibid. 3: 171-2; and Rafsanjani, 25 December 1981, ibid. 4: 160-2.

17. Kayhān, 4 December 1982. Also see Khameneh'i, Iṭṭilā'āt, 20 April 1985.

18. See Taleqani, 7 September 1979, Maktab 1: 49; Khameneh'i, 23 May 1980, ibid. 2: 155-7; and Khameneh'i, Kayhān, 4 December 1982.

19. 7 September 1979, Maktab 1: 49-50.

20. Khameneh'i, Iṭṭilā'āt, 20 April 1985. For similar expressions see idem, Iṭṭilā'āt, 1 January 1983; F. Harandi, before sermon, Iṭṭilā'āt, 8 January 1983; and Khameneh'i, Iṭṭilā'āt, 17 December 1983.

21. Harandi, before sermon, Iṭṭilā'āt, 8 January 1983.

22. Khameneh'i, 15 August 1980, Maktab 2: 266-7. It is noteworthy that the regime's pledges to operate on the basis of “revelation only” were especially typical of the first two years of the revolution, when the new and inexperienced leaders had not yet had the opportunity to confront social and economic problems for which revelation provided no answer. Statements of this kind subsided significantly in later years, as the regime found itself more and more compelled to come up with concrete measures to resolve Iran's mounting problems and to allay the resulting social discontent.

23. Khameneh'i, 23 May 1980, ibid., 155-6. For similar statements see idem, 7 March 1980, ibid., 62-3; and idem, Iṭṭilā'āt, 1 January 1983.

24. Iṭṭilā'āt, 8 January 1983.

25. 8 January 1982, Maklab 4: 182.

26. 14 May 1982, ibid., 415-6.

27. Iṭṭilā'āt, 24 June 1989.

28. Rafsanjani, 24 July 1981, Maktab 4: 316.

29. Khameneh'i, 1 August 1980, ibid., 246. For similar expressions see Taleqani, 24 August 1979, ibid. 1: 30-32; and Rafsanjani, 23 October 1981, ibid. 4: 51.

30. Hatemi, Hojjat al-Islam Dr., for instance, stated in August 1986, that “The government [of Iran] takes pride in being able to follow the Commander of the Faithful… . This government is following the Commander of the Faithful” (Iṭṭilā'āt, 23 August 1986)Google Scholar. For similar expressions see Jannati, Iṭṭilā'āt, 2 June 1984; Falsafi, Iṭṭilā'āt, 16 May 1987; and Ardabili, Iṭṭilā'āt, 5 May 1988.

31. 24 July 198i, Maktab 3: 318-21; Kayhān, 10 Juiy 1982.

32. References to the authority of Khomeini in his post as the vilāyat-i faqīh were usually made to counter allegations by the opposition that clerical rule violated the principle of “government by the people” and that it provided for “class rule” and for “a new dictatorship.” See, for instance, Montazeri, H. ‘A., 14 September 1979, Maktab 1: 56-60Google Scholar; idem, 30 November 1979, ibid., 158-62; Khameneh'i, 27 June 1980, ibid. 2: 207-8; idem, 6 March 1981, ibid. 3: 120-22; Rafsanjani, 23 October 1981, ibid. 4: 51-9; idem, 27 November 1981, ibid., 116-17; M. Rabbani-Amlashi, 11 December 1981, ibid., 136-7; Y. Sane'i, before sermon, Kayhān, 4 December 1982; Khameneh'i, Iṭṭilā'āt, 21 May 1983; Rafsanjani, Iṭṭilā'āt, 14 August 1983; A. Emami-Kashani, Iṭṭilā'āt, 12 November 1983; Rafsanjani, Iṭṭilā'āt, 14 November 1987; Jannati, before sermon, Iṭṭilā'āt, 16 January 1988, Khameneh'i, Iṭṭilā'āt, 6 February 1988; and Ardabili, Iṭṭilā'āt, 21 January 1989. The appointment of Khameneh'i to the post of the vilāyat-i faqlh after Khomeini's death in June 1989 revived references to the faqīh's political authority and his right to rule, for obvious reasons. See, for instance, Rafsanjani, Iṭṭilā'āt, 10 June 1989; M. Yazdi, Iṭṭilā'āt, 24 June 1989; and, ‘A. Q. Khaz'ali, before sermon, Iṭṭilā'āt, 1 July 1989.

33. See, for instance, Rafsanjani, 24 July 1981, Maktab 3: 316; and idem, 9 October 1981, ibid. 4: 198.

34. Fischer, M., for example, explains that on the eve of Khomeini's return to Iran in 1979, “This waiting for the return of the marja'-i taqlid led to elaborations of similarities between ‘Imam’ Khomeini and the awaited Twelfth Imam, who will usher in an era of justice before final judgment” ﹛Iran from Religious Dispute to Revolution [Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 1980], 177-8)Google Scholar.

35. Iṭṭilā'āt, 1 July 1989.

36. See, for instance, Khameneh'i, 18 January 1980, Maktab 2: 1; idem, 16 May 1980, ibid., 147-9; Emami-Kashani, 26 February, ibid. 4: 269; Khameneh'i, Iṭṭilā'āt, 12 February 1983; idem, Iṭṭilā'āt, 17 December 1983; Amini, before sermon, Iṭṭilā'āt, 13 October 1984; Khameneh'i, Iṭṭilā'āt, 3 March 1984; and Harandi, Ittila'at, 21 January 1989.

37. Khameneh'i, 30 May 1980, Maktab 2: 166-7; idem, 4 July 1980, ibid., 212- 13.

38. 4 July 1980, ibid., 212-13; idem, 12 September 1980, ibid., 301.

39. See ‘A. Mahfuzi, before sermon, Iṭṭilā't, 4 October 1986; and Khameneh'i, Kayhān, 6 November 1982.

40. Campbell, J., The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968)Google Scholar.

41. Ibid., 30.

42. Iṭṭilā't, 16 January 1988.

43. Emami-Kashani, 12 March 1982, Maktab 4: 292.

44. Rafsanjani, 25 September 1981, ibid., 9.

45. Khameneh'i, 12 June 1981, ibid. 3: 246-7.

46. Cited in Cohn, N., The Pursuit of the Millennium (New York: Oxford University Press, 1961), 51Google Scholar.

47. 14 December 1979, Maktab 1: 175-6.

48. 3 April 1981, ibid. 3: 153-4.

49. Rafsanjani, 9 October 1981, ibid. 4: 36. For similar statements see Khameneh'i, 20 March 1981, ibid. 3: 142.