Addresses the ideological context preceding the emergence of the post-revolutionary religious intellectuals and the articulations of Shiʿi Islam as a utopian political force with a radical conception of socio-political change and decided commitment to capturing the Iranian nation-state. The chapter focuses on three key political figures and ideologues, their respective historical contexts, and their distinct contributions to the debate over the nature and mandate of the Islamic state. These include radical Islamist group the Fadaʿiyan-e Islam (Devotees of Islam) and its leader, Navvab Safavi; the future leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini; and the French-educated intellectual and activist ʿAli Shariʿati. These political ideologues and actors, as well as a number of others who appear on the margins of the chapter, were crucial to forging a new political identity and foundation for Shiʿi Islam in the second half of the 20th century, which paradoxically saw the will of man and the artefact of the state as integral to the realisation of the sacred law.