Wasatiyya Discourse in Shi’i Islam: Ayatollah Montazeri and Human Rights Jurisprudence

Naser Ghobadzadeh

doi:10.3390/rel13020126

Abstract

There are significant differences of opinion about the successes and failures of Iran’s clerical government, but it can hardly be disputed that the experience has led to the flourishing of Shīʿī political thought. In the past four decades, aided by government support, extensive literature has been produced endorsing the political theology of “governmental Shīʿism” conceptualized by Khomeini in the early 1970s. Numerous other schools of thought have also emerged in opposition to the militant Shīʿī interpretation of religion by governmental Shīʿism. Using the concept of Wasatiyyah to conceptualize the most important counter-discourse to governmental Shīʿism, this article addresses the life and thought of Ayatollah Montazeri, one of the most prominent Wasatiyyah thinkers. Focusing on the issue of human rights in Montazeri’s thought, the article seeks to demonstrate how Montazeri instigated a fundamental reform of the seminary episteme, and by doing so articulated intra-religious reasoning in favor of the promotion of modern concepts such as human rights.

Highlights

IntroductionAccording to the seminary episteme, individuals are duty-bound human beings and a person’s rights are determined based on his or her religious beliefs
I demonstrate that Montazeri made fundamental changes to this episteme and was able to accommodate concepts such as human rights and democracy in Shııpolitico-religious thought using the accepted sources and methods of scholarly work in the seminary
Khomeini’s doctrine of wilāyat-i faqıh, for example, has very little in common with the politico-religious theories developed in the Sunnıworld by Sayyid Qutb and Abū al-A lā al-Mawdūdı

Summary

Introduction

According to the seminary episteme, individuals are duty-bound human beings and a person’s rights are determined based on his or her religious beliefs. For this reason, the accommodation of modern concepts such as human rights and democracy within this episteme faces significant challenges. I demonstrate that Montazeri made fundamental changes to this episteme and was able to accommodate concepts such as human rights and democracy in Shıı̄. In the second part of the article, after explaining Montazeri’s unique position among Wasatiyyah thinkers, I focus on the issue of human rights in his thought.

Khomeinism

Backlash against Governmental Shıism

The Significance and Status of Montazeri

The Founder of Human Rights Jurisprudence

Conclusions