Islamic Revolution Research Articles

Iran 1979: Mission to Revolution

Introduction. The article examines the causes and course of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979. On February 1, 1979, the disgraced Ayatollah Khomeini returned to the country and took power into his own hands. The 1979 revolution was a series of events that led to the overthrow of the Pehi dynasty under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. It was actively supported by various Islamist and leftist organizations and student movements. The study of various aspects of the development of Iran at that time helps to objectively assess the uniqueness and relevance of its experience in terms of searching for optimal development options for each country, as well as relationships with the world community. Materials and Methods. The study was based on Iranian media materials. An analysis of the publications of the leading Iranian media of that time was carried out. Covering the violent upheavals through the eyes of eyewitnesses will significantly expand our understanding of those events. Discussion and Conclusion. Iran is a multinational state with a pronounced Islamic Shiite tradition, in which the principles of ancient Persian culture are still partially embodied. The fall of the Shah’s regime and the rise to power of the clergy, who were not associated with the desire for progress, reflected the desire of the revolutionary forces to create in Iran a socio-economic model that would take into account national and religious characteristics. The created Islamic form of government in Iran (Islamic Republic of Iran) was intended to harmonize the cultural heritage, Islamic traditions and the need for modernization.

THE MODERN OIL INDUSTRY IN IRAN: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE AND REVIEW

The production of petroleum substances has a long historical tradition in Iran. Glance (1970) reported that the “first man‐made oil well was dug” in the ancient city of Susa (present‐day Shush), about 40 km northwest of Ahwaz, in 500 BC during the reign of the Achaemenid emperor Darius I. Writing in the fifth century BC, Herodotus described petroleum production near a place called Ardericca, probably present‐day Masjed Soleyman, located 210 furlongs from Susa (Lees, 1950). The petroleum substances produced included bitumen which was used in construction and the waterproofing of ships. Sorkhabi (2005) detailed the petroleum history in Iran during ancient and medieval times.The modern quest for oil in Iran dates from the second half of the 19th century. From a historical perspective, this modern period can be divided into six distinct phases: (i) The early years, 1872–1900; (ii) The Anglo‐Persian years, 1901–1932; (iii) The Anglo‐Iranian Years and Nationalization, 1933–1953; (iv) The second Pahlavi years, 1954–1978 including the rise of OPEC; (v) The Islamic Revolution and Iran‐Iraq War, 1979–1989; and (vi) Buyback Contracts and US Sanctions, 1990–Present. The search for oil was singularly unsuccessful during the first of these phases and the early years of the second phase. However, after a difficult six‐year exploration campaign, oil in commercial quantities was struck in the early hours of 26 May, 1908 at Maidan‐e Naftun, which in later years achieved world fame as the Masjed Soleyman oil field. Since then, more than 120 oil and gas field discoveries have been made in Iran's onshore areas and its territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.The story of oil has always been an emotive and politically charged issue in Iran and has been the focus of great national interest and debate for over a century. Certainly, the discovery in 1908 marked a milestone in Iran's 20th century history: it ushered in a new era – an era not only of progress and prosperity, but also of social and political upheaval and turmoil that has not yet ended (Ala, 2007). In this paper, important events in each of the historical phases identified above are briefly reviewed. Emphasis is placed on the emergence of the modern petroleum industry in Iran, and the early phases are covered in particular detail.

Political Islam in Laila Lalami’s “The Fanatic” and Hanif Kureishi’s “My Son the Fanatic”

This article aims at comparing Laila Lalami’s short story “The Fanatic” and Hanif Kureishi’s “My Son the Fanatic”. Between the lines, it will discuss how Laila Lalami’s short story “The Fanatic” shows how the rise of political Islam in Morocco is partly responsible for conflicts between parents and their children. While the parents embrace what they perceive as a liberal Western culture, the children choose to support Islamic movements for political purposes. Hanif Kureishi, a Pakistani-British author, uses the theme of the generational gap, like Lalami, to critique the contentious environment that political Islam has created. Specifically, in his work “My Son the Fanatic,” he intentionally opens a debate on multiculturalism, cultural identity, and alienation to demonstrate how Western media’s misrepresentation of Islam easily creates a cultural struggle between parents and their children. Therefore, this article will compare the two short stories and eventually discuss how political Islam after the Iranian revolution in 1979 significantly had an impact on Muslim youths, whether at home or in diaspora.

SHAH MOHAMMED REZA PAHLAVI AND AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI: IN LIGHT OF SHI'I HISTORY

The Iranian Revolution talks about to happenings involving the rebellion of the Pahlavi dynasty under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was held up by the United States, and its subsequent removal with an Islamic Revolution of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was helped by various leftist and Islamist organizations and Iranian student movements. The Iranian Revolution was a mainstream, nationalist and Shi’a Islamic revolution that ousted an autocratic kingdom with a theocracy built on “Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists” (or velayat-e faqih). This research goes to light the relationship between Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran, in the context of Shi'i history. This research paper hypothesizes three types of human relationships which are grounded on, the exchange system, the integrative system, and the threat system. Reza Khan (the father of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi) had established it through a military coup d'etat in 1921; the threat system looked to lead in Iran throughout the Pahlavi rule which was finished in December, 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini. Under threat system, detachment and legality occur as major variables. Actions, events, writings, and vocalizations of main community figures are engaged to establish the inequality between intent and outcome of the Shah's policies, and between world views and consequent activities of the Shah and Khomeini. This paper also argues the nature of the rule of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, and into the role of Ayatollah Khomeini as voice of the opposition, charismatic leader, and as "prince" who legitimates his own threat system.

Decoding Trauma: A Cultural Ecological Reading of the Graphic Memoir Persepolis

Trauma is an amalgamation of repercussions happened and the effects of socio-cultural conflicts. Graphical novels always combine images and text to decipher the narrative by appealing to all senses. Persepolisis, a graphic memoir is also an autobiographical narrative written by Marjane Satrapi. This memoir covers the societal and cultural aspects through pictorial representation. It delineates Satrapi’s childhood and her adult years in Iran and Austria during the Islamic Revolution. Satrapi resists to accept the new changes happening in the society. Eventually, she forgets her real self who migrates abroad in search of hope but ends up in trauma. This research article sets out to analyse Satrapi’s existential crisis, identity trauma, self- discovery and how the ecology influenced her culture and life.

Another Third Worldism?

This article investigates Iranian–North Korean cooperation after the 1979 revolution in Iran as a case of sustained efforts effectively aimed at implementing Third Worldist ideas. Both Iranian revolutionaries and North Korean Communist officials referred to Third Worldism, although they held different views of it. Their alliance, however, did not rest on ideology alone: by analyzing respective links, the article shows how substate actors following their pragmatic interests have succeeded in bringing about a relatively stable alliance that was rationalized through Third Worldist discourse. In Iran, this relationship was driven by the radical factions of the Khomeinist regime, mostly the so-called Islamic Left. These factions, who controlled some government-affiliated organizations and agencies (e.g., the Revolutionary Guards), needed these foreign links to get the resources necessary to survive and prevail politically. The study is largely based on Iranian sources of the time and memoirs by Iranian officials and activists.

In search of decolonised political futures: Engaging Mahmood Mamdani's neither settler nor native

This text offers a brief overview of the Special Issue on Mahmood Mamdani's book, Neither Settler Nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities (2020), and a reading of the contributions and of Mamdani's plea for the historic importance of epistemological revolution and of learning to imagine a community of survivors. My reading is mediated through an autobiographical critique of political modernity and ongoing state violence. I explore more deeply what Mamdani calls ‘settler autobiography’ and a community of survivors, other than a community of memory that is unified and homogenised. By turning to unauthorised autobiographies, the autobiographies of those subjected to colonialism as annihilatory violence, I take up Mamdani's call to rethink political violence and the possibility of living together as survivors in Iran as a ‘decolonised political community’. In order to do so I turn to memories of irredeemable destruction, displacement and incalculable losses that live on in our (my mother's and my) deferred autobiographies, alongside the epistemological revolution in Iran—Women. Life. Freedom.

Woman, Life, Freedom: The Adlerian Conceptualization of the Woman-Led Revolution Against Tyranny in Iran

ABSTRACT: Adler was among the first feminists who opposed Freud’s views on the inferiority of women. He argued that it was society, not nature, which had hindered women’s affinity for Social Interest and that this oppression could be overcome through movements for social justice. He believed that women held the capacity and resilience to fight for themselves against gender-based tyranny. One such fundamental tyranny is against women’s bodily autonomy through the enforcement of strict dress codes, especially in autocratic countries such as Iran. The tyranny of the compulsory hijab in Iran is used to describe the mandatory dress code imposed on women, which involves covering their hair and wearing loose-fitting garments that conceal their bodies. This dress code, referred to as hijab , has been enforced since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. In September 2022, the murder of the Iranian woman Mahsa Amini for her supposed improper observance of hijab ignited the worldwide Woman, Life, Freedom movement. This movement calls for the preservation of women’s rights and a shift to secular democracy in Iran. Adlerian art therapy workshops inspired by this movement were held in Vancouver, Canada, to promote resilience and social justice in the Iranian diaspora. These workshops successfully echoed the Woman, Life, Freedom movement and encouraged ally-ship and advocacy for women.

Persepolis: The Depiction of Childhood and Maturity Journeys Through Visual and Verbal Analysis

Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical series Persepolis is a set of comics written originally in the French language; and it recounts her life journey from childhood to early adulthood in Iran and Austria during and after the Islamic Revolution. The narrative is written in the form of graphic novel which is a sort of comics that combines both words and images. The Islamic Revolution was a critical moment in the history of Iran, overwhelmed every Iranian citizen, and ended up transforming the country from monarchal to Islamic governance. In the light of this upheaval, Marjane Satrapi visualizes her childhood and maturity through her graphic novel Persepolis. She utilizes the story to be her platform to open up about her challenges to break constraints that are imposed upon her as a woman in this newly shaped society and to call for reform and mercy for war victims. The current study aims at studying the figure of Marjane, the heroine of the story, her perceptions of certain events, her reactions in various moments and how she manages to save herself from all the obstacles that surround her . It will analyze the hidden lessons delivered by this narrative in the light of visual and verbal frames. The researcher attempts to answer how one may act in such hostile environment? what are the significance of writing autobiographical novel in the light of historical context? And how the form of graphic novel helps the author to deliver her message?

The Role of Sufism in the Formation of Contemporary Iranian Music

Sufism has played a critical role, particularly in the past millennium, as one of the most significant cultural components in the history of Iran. And approximately all cultural factors, including arts, politics, economics, and the educational and training system, have been directly and indirectly influenced by the Sufi culture. One such factor is music, which has been uninterruptedly intertwined with Sufism for years. The present paper strives to investigate the extent to which and the ways in which Sufism has influenced contemporary Iranian music. The answer to this research inquiry is crucial for understanding the impacts of Sufism in the contemporary era and dissecting Iranian music, most specifically the Persian modal system (dastgāh). Despite the significant factors that contribute to the Persian musical system, the literature on the topic remains scarce. This research uses historical and research analysis, as well as the results of a field study conducted over the past two decades in the educational atmosphere of the Iranian musical system, to answer the research questions. The findings suggest that contemporary Iranian music has derived considerable influence from Sufi subjects, concepts, and teachings, and evolved thereafter, with dramatic impacts in two epochs: (1) throughout the thirties and forties HS; and (2) in the wake of the Islamic revolution.

Coup (September 12, 1980) in Turkey

The internal situation in Turkey worsened at the end of the seventies due to the conflict and clash of the Turkish left and right, in addition to the development of the Islamic movement, the Turkish left movement, and the armed Kurdish movement, and the emergence of economic problems such as widespread unemployment, deteriorating living conditions, decline in personal income, sit-ins and demonstrations by workers and the niqab. At the level of internal reasons that led to a coup (12 September 1980). In terms of external reasons, major political transformations occurred within the countries neighboring Turkey, such as the coming of Saddam Hussein to power in Iraq, the outbreak of the Iranian peoples’ revolution or the Iranian Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, and finally the occupation of Afghanistan by Soviet Union forces. (1980) At that stage, there were concerns among the military establishment Turkish and protector of Kemalist principles.The concern of the United States of America about the weakness of the Turkish political system in the face of riots, violence, demonstrations and clashes in the streets, as well as American concerns about the dominance of Islamic and leftist movements over the reins of government in Turkey led to an agreement and a signal to the Turkish military establishment of the necessity of... a military coup and the restoration of political stability to the country. Therefore, the military establishment in Turkey carried out a military coup on the morning of September 12, 1980, with a military statement, taking control of government institutions and the reins of government, sending party leaders and politicians to prisons, and declaring a state of emergency in the country.In this research, we attempted to study the coup (September 12, 1980) in Turkey, especially its influential internal and external causes. We divided the research into two sections, the first section entitled (Internal causes of the coup on September 12, 1980) and the second section (External causes of the coup on September 12, 1980). We concluded the research with summary conclusions at the end of the research.

Unprecedented yet gradual nature of first millennium CE intercontinental crop plant dispersal revealed in ancient Negev desert refuse.

Global agro-biodiversity has resulted from processes of plant migration and agricultural adoption. Although critically affecting current diversity, crop diffusion from Classical antiquity to the Middle Ages is poorly researched, overshadowed by studies on that of prehistoric periods. A new archaeobotanical dataset from three Negev Highland desert sites demonstrates the first millennium CE's significance for long-term agricultural change in Southwest Asia. This enables evaluation of the 'Islamic Green Revolution (IGR)' thesis compared to 'Roman Agricultural Diffusion (RAD)', and both versus crop diffusion during and since the Neolithic. Among the findings, some of the earliest aubergine (Solanum melongena) seeds in the Levant represent the proposed IGR. Several other identified economic plants, including two unprecedented in Levantine archaeobotany-jujube (Ziziphus jujuba/mauritiana) and white lupine (Lupinus albus)-implicate RAD as the greater force for crop migrations. Altogether the evidence supports a gradualist model for Holocene-wide crop diffusion, within which the first millennium CE contributed more to global agricultural diversity than any earlier period.

«Шиитский вопрос» в ирако-иранских отношениях при Саддаме Хусейне

The article analyzes the views of Saddam Hussein, based on his statements regarding the “Shiite question”, which was originally based on the ideological heritage of the Ba’th, set out in the Constitution of 1951. However, under the influence of the processes that took place in Iraq throughout the 1970s, in particular the Kurdish national movement and the “Islamic awakening” of Shiites under the influence of the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Saddam Hussein was forced to adjust the ideas of the Ba’th to new realities. As a result, Saddam was forced to recognize the multinational nature of Iraqi society and the rights of Shiites to worship, abandoning the Ba’th atheistic principles. The evolution of viewsthattook place, asthewarwith Iranshowed,contributedtotheconsolidation of Iraqi society around the Ba’th program and the personality of Saddam Hussein.

Styles of ‘religion’, ‘non-religion’ and ‘spirituality’ in post-revolutionary Iran: the ‘ironic’ impact of ‘Islam’ on people’s ‘religiosity’

ABSTRACT By changing the definition of ‘religion’, the Iranian Revolution of 1979 has posed serious challenges not only to Iran’s role in the Middle East and its relations with the ‘West’, but also to many social theories, such as differentiation, modernization and secularization. Indeed, there is no shortage of work on how post-revolutionary Iran has ‘Islamized’ its constitution and institutions. However, there is little work on the impact of the ‘Islamization’ process on people’s ‘religiosity’. This article is a response to this vacuum and takes as its central question: What has been the impact of the Iranian revolution on aspects of students’ ‘religiosity’ under the rule of an Islamist state? This question is tackled by drawing on the theoretical approach of ‘social constructionism’ towards ‘religion’, adopting Glock and Stark’s multi-dimensional model of ‘religious commitment’ and using quantitative research methods to examine the styles of ‘religion’ in 2001–02 among the students of a major national, research university: The University of Tabriz. A careful analysis of ‘religious commitment’ among a sample of 365 students provides evidence of the ‘individualization of religion’, ‘spirituality’ and ‘secularization’ rather than collectivism, ‘shari’a’-orientation and the rendition of ‘Islam’ as a political ideology or ‘Islamism’.

Beyond the Arc of Crisis: Jimmy Carter and the Arab ‘Radicals,’ 1978–79

ABSTRACT After signing the Camp David Accords, the Carter administration pushed to increase American security cooperation and military presence in the Middle East. Though often seen as a response to the regional instability caused by the Iranian Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the hardening of US policy toward the region was also due to the Arab rejectionist threat to the Egyptian-Israeli peace process that Washington saw as a prerequisite to regional stability. This essay highlights the connections between the peace process, the collapse of Soviet-American détente, and the reorientation of US policy in the region toward the Persian Gulf.

Gender Discrimination in Iran’s Capital Punishment System

This study explores gender discrimination and sex bias in Iran’s capital punishment system, reviewing the story of women on death row in Islamic and totalitarian criminal justice systems. It reaches back to the classical Islam to trace how and why sharia law discriminates against women. It discuses original findings and is the first research to focus on execution of women in Iran. A small but emerging body of literature focuses on capital punishment in Iran but does not examine gender in detail. The role of Iran’s Islamic criminal justice system for women, particularly in the context of changes and gender bias after the Islamic revolution, is examined. There is substantial literature on mariticide (women killing their husbands) and filicide (women killing their children), but insufficient literature on gender discrimination in Iran’s capital punishment system. This study provides a profile of 155 women and examines how decision-making in an Islamic criminal justice system has influenced these cases.

Discord in the Diaspora: Agonism in the Woman, Life, Freedom Movement for Democracy

The death of the 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Jina Amini in September 2022 sparked a movement that immediately captivated the Iranian diaspora around the world. The morality police had detained Amini in Tehran for allegedly improper hijab. Protests began in Iranian Kurdistan, where Amini was from, and spread across the country to regions and sectors of society that have historically been less involved in political protests than major urban centers like Tehran. What began as a street protest became a full-throated rejection of the status quo. Merchants, teachers, and students organized coordinated labor strikes, while protesters and security services clashed in the streets. Additional economic sanctions were implemented against Iran's government by the United States and Europe; the United Nations Human Rights Commission initiated an independent investigation of the government's response to the protests; Iran was expelled from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women; and the European Parliament cut diplomatic ties with Tehran. The United States has nearly abandoned the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) even as it was in the final stages of renegotiation, while calls by activists and the European Parliament to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist group are ongoing.1 We also saw significant global solidarity protests in numerous major cities in the United States, Europe, and Australia.

Ali Shariati and Crafting a Collective Revolutionary Islamic Identity for Women: A Socio-Historical Perspective

The literature on Ali Shariati, “the ideologue’’ of ‘‘the Iranian revolution,” and his arguments about women presents varied views, including rejection, criticism, and confirmation. While this literature is instructive, it primarily interprets Shariati’s texts from today’s socio-political perspective, and it thus lacks an analytical dimension that examines how and why Shariati’s ideas profoundly influenced numerous Iranian women in the 1970s. By revisiting the global and local socio-historical context of the 1970s and analyzing its influence on Iranian society, particularly the youth, as well as on Shariati’s perceptions and ideas about women’s social role within that socio-political context, this paper argues that Shariati crafted a “collective revolutionary Islamic identity” for women. This concept underscores the socio-historical and political significance of Shariati’s arguments about Muslim women in the political setting leading up to the revolution of 1979.

Ayatollah Khomeini’s approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and its longstanding ramifications

ABSTRACT This article examines the long term efforts made by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to create revolutionary opposition to the rule of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, while exploiting the evolving relations between Iran and Israel as a blueprint for his proclamations. Khomeini’s anti-Israel policies had both anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist components that contributed to mustering different segments of Iran’s opposition to the Shah and Israel. This intersection of the mutual animosities consolidated relations between Khomeini’s supporters and the PLO in Lebanon, despite their major theological differences. The change brought about by the Islamic Revolution led to a restructuring of identities, values, norms and policies, which affected Israel considerably and today still calls for a new framework of analysis. Currently, the Islamic regime continues to utilise the Palestinian narrative as leverage its attempts to achieve regional hegemony and maintain its leadership in the Muslim world.

Analysing the Rhetoric of Islam Needs Reforming: Tony Abbott’s Political Discourse in Response to Terrorism in Australia

One of the significant effects of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York was the politics of the US-led war on terror encompassing secularism and calls for Islamic reformation. The political discourse of war on terror was not limited to the Americas but was witnessed in other Western nations, such as Australia. The discourse of “Islam needs reforming” by the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, in response to the Lindt Café siege (labelled as “Islamic terrorism”) tacitly associates Islam with terrorism and represents Muslims negatively to the wider Australian society. This paper with the research question of “How does ‘Islam needs reforming’ discourse perpetuate Islamophobia?” carried out critical discourse analysis on the selected speeches of Tony Abbott in response to the Lindt Café siege in 2014 to find out the context and implications of Abbott’s discourse in relation to calls for Islamic revolution. The study found that Abbott through the example of al-Sisi’s (Egypt’s president) calls for Islamic reformation forwarded his stance of the need for change in Islam to counter terrorism. Therefore, the present paper argues that the calls for Islamic reformation in response to terrorism can associate Islam with terrorism, thus, perpetuating Islamophobia.