Religious statecraft the politics of Islam in Iran

393 Pages·2018·3.419 MB·English

by  Tabaar, Mohammad Ayatollahi

R E L I G I O U S
S TAT E C R A F T
The Politics of Islam in Iran
Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar
Religious Statecraft
COLUMBIA STUDIES IN M IDDLE EAST POLITICS
COLUMBIA STUDIES IN M IDDLE EAST POLITICS
Marc Lynch, Series Editor
Columbia Studies in Middle East Politics pres ents academically rigorous, well- written,
relevant, and accessible books on the rapidly transforming politics of the M iddle East for
an interested academic and policy audience.
The Arab Uprisings Explained: New Contentious Politics in the Middle East, edited by
Marc Lynch
Sectarian Politics in the Gulf: From the Iraq War to the Arab Uprisings,
Frederic M. Wehrey
From Resilience to Revolution: How Foreign Interventions Destabilize the Middle East,
Sean L. Yom
Protection Amid Chaos: The Creation of Property Rights in Palestinian Refugee Camps,
Nadya Hajj
RELIGIOUS STATECRAFT
The Politics of Islam in Iran
MOHAMMAD AYATOLLAHI TABAAR
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup . columbia .e du
Copyright © 2018 Columbia University Press
Paperback edition, 2019
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n-P ublication Data
Names: Tabaar, Mohammad Ayatollahi, author.
Title: Religious statecraft : the politics of Islam in Iran / Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar.
Other titles: Columbia studies in Middle East politics.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, 2018. |
Series: Columbia studies in Middle East politics
Identifiers: LCCN 2017014876 | ISBN 9780231183666 (cloth) | ISBN 9780231183673 (pbk.) |
ISBN 9780231545068 (e- book)
Subjects: LCSH: Islam and politics— Iran—H istory—20th century. | Islam and politics— Iran—
History—21st  century. | Shīʻah—I ran. | Iran—P olitics and government—1979–1997. | Iran—P olitics
and government—1997–
Classification: LCC BP173.7 .T32 2017 | DDC 322/.10955— dc23
LC rec ord available at https:// lccn. l oc . gov / 2017014876
Cover Image: Atefe Alemrajabi. Photograph of Molla Ismael Mosque (built circa 1800), Yazd, Iran.
Dedicated to those who have been persecuted in the name of Islam
or
for being Muslim

Contents
Preface ix
Introduction: The Politics of Islam 1
1. The Factional C auses and Religious Consequences
of Politics 17
2. A Shi’a Theory of the State 32
3. The “Islamic” Revolution 60
4. Institutionalizing Velayat- e Faqih 89
5. The Hostage Crisis: The Untold Account
of the Communist Threat 111
6. Religion and Elite Competition in the Iran– Iraq War 147
7. The Metamorphosis of Islamism After the War 186
8. The Factional B attle Over Khomeini’s Velayat- e Faqih 205
9. Media, Religion, and the Green Movement 227
[ vii ]
CONTENTS
10. Historical Revisionism and Regional Threats 256
11. The Domestic Sources of Nuclear Politics 273
Conclusion 299
Notes 309
Index 361
[ viii ]
Preface
I was in the second grade when the Ira nian Revolution occurred. The subse-
quent “Islamization” of the society, the hostage crisis, the civil wars, the
Iran– Iraq War, the economic and pol iti cal reform eras, and other events
pushed me and many of my peers to study the social sciences. This book is
perhaps above all a personal attempt to decipher what my generation went
through. I only hope that I provided an impartial analy sis of a country whose
local politics continues to influence global politics.
This book is rooted in my high school and college years, when I was first
exposed to many of the ideas discussed in the coming chapters. My thinking
branched out into term papers in the early years of my long gradu ate stu-
dent career at the New School for Social Research and the University of Chi-
cago, as well as into my dissertation at Georgetown University. It further
evolved as I straddled the academic, policy, and media worlds at this time.
The intensity of the “Iran debate” in the United States, as well as the ever-
changing po liti cal landscape inside Iran itself, challenged me to develop a
lucid framework that could explain the intricacies of factional politics, for-
eign policy, and the role of religion. I then re-e xamined the earlier (pre)rev-
olutionary phases as if they were happening in “real time” to better identify
the contingencies and options that actors faced at par tic u lar moments.
Throughout this voyage, many individuals and institutions helped ensure
the completion of this book.
[ ix ]