Patterns of clerical political behavior in postwar Iran, 1941–53

Abstract

The advent of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 has raised a number of important questions concerning the complex interrelationship between religion and politics in Iran and in Muslim societies in general. The clerical class, the ruhaniyyat,l because of the crucial role that it played in the revolution and its total dominance of the present Iranian political scene, has become a particular focus of interest. Despite the growing postrevolutionary literature on this subject, there is still little analysis available on many important aspects of clerical political behavior.2 What motivates the clergy to become involved in politics? What circumstances, religious as well as political, facilitate or forbid clerical political involvement? What factors determine the political orientations of the clergy? How do issues of political significance affect intra-clerical relationships? Another important shortcoming of the existing literature is the presence of a strong tendency to treat the clergy as basically a politically monolithic group, while historically there have existed different and distinct patterns of behavior within the Iranian clergy. The present paper attempts to provide some answers to the questions raised above through an analysis of the clerical role in the political developments of postwar Iran. More specifically, it focuses on the 194153 period which is particularly important since it reflects the interactions among various political forces, including the clerics, in a relatively free but highly charged political atmosphere. The goal here is to demonstrate the existence of different patterns of clerical political behavior which may be explained in terms of different sources of motivation for political action among various clerical groups. Also through an examination of the clerical politics in the nationalist era, the increasing involvement and influence of the clergy in the process of the revolution can be placed within the proper context of the changing religious and political circumstances. Furthermore, the experience of this period may shed some light on the roots of some of the major post-revolutionary developments, especially the tension between religious and nationalist political forces. To facilitate a more systematic analysis of the sources of variation in clerical political behavior, the following analytical framework will be utilized in this study.