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| Volume X, Summer 2003, Number 2 |
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| EXCERPT: Iranian Shiism under Debate |
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| Mehran Kamrava |
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Dr. Kamrava is associate professor and chair of political science at the California State University, Northridge.
More than two decades after
its victory, Iran's Islamic
revolution has resulted in
profound theoretical and theological consequences for Shiite political thought. This unfolding discourse -- especially as represented by the writings of highly celebrated figures such as Abdolkarim Soroush, Hojjatoleslam Hasan Yosufi Eshkevari, Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari, and Hojjatoleslam Mohsen Kadivar -- revolves around two principal themes: the question of religion and reform, and religion and social and political freedom. These questions, which go the heart of Shiism's role in the larger polity, are, significantly, being asked by notable members of the clerical establishment and by other renowned thinkers. Equally important is the fluid political context within which these Shiite thinkers are gaining increasing intellectual popularity among the urban middle classes, therefore magnifying the relevance of their writings to evolving political circumstances. Already the consequences of the debate have proven to be more than merely philosophical. The discourse has had a significant impact on the formulation of public policy in Iran, on the larger Iranian polity, and even on Iran's relations with the outside world. Not surprisingly, the evolving nature of the discourse, and the direction in which the debate ultimately heads, will determine much in the future of Iranian politics.
THE DEBATE
In large measure, the current scholarly debate is an outgrowth of the 1978-79 revolution. More specifically, the gradual consolidation of the post-revolutionary regime, coupled with the ensuing political changes occurring in Iran over the last decade or so, have enabled many of the country's theologians and academics to openly write about and debate the proper role of religion in politics and the very essence of Shiite thought. Some of these debates and discussions revolve around Shiite hermeneutics.1 Others deal with the ideal role that religion ought to play in the contemporary polity.2 And still others are more pointedly political.3 In recent years, these debates have reached such depth and levels of mass currency that they have moved beyond the halls of the academy and religious seminaries and into popular journals, newspapers, book shops and the street. At both a theoretical and a practical level, Iranian Shiism appears to be undergoing a fundamental process of reformation. Future research will have to examine the parameters of the theoretical debate surrounding core Shiite precepts and their practical, political consequences for the Iranian polity. For now, we can detect several broad and consequential trends.
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