The Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the Clerical Leadership of Khurasani

360 Pages·2015·3.316 MB·English

by  Mateo Mohammad Farzaneh

The Iranian Constitutional Revolution
and the Clerical Leadership of Khurasani
Modern Intellectual and Political History in the Middle East
Fred H. Lawson, Series Editor
Other titles in Modern Intellectual
and Political History of the Middle East
Becoming Turkish: Nationalist Reforms and Cultural
Negotiations in Early Republican Turkey (1923–1945)
Hale Yilmaz
The Essentials of Ibadı Islam
Valerie J. Hoffman
Ethnicity, Identity, and the Development of Nationalism in Iran
David N. Yaghoubian
A Guerrilla Odyssey: Modernization, Secularism, Democracy,
and the Fadai Period of National Liberation in Iran, 1971–1979
Peyman Vahabzadeh
The International Politics of the Persian Gulf
Mehran Kamrava, ed.
Mirror for the Muslim Prince: Islam and the Theory of Statecraft
Edited by Mehrzad Boroujerdi
Pax Syriana: Elite Politics in Postwar Lebanon
Rola el-Husseini
Raging Against the Machine: Political Opposition
under Authoritarianism in Egypt
Holger Albrecht
The Iranian
Constitutional
Revolution
Clerical
and the
Leadership
Khurasani
of
Mateo Mohammad Farzaneh
Syracuse University Press
Copyright © 2015 by Syracuse University Press
Syracuse, New York 13244-5290
All Rights Reserved
First Edition 2015
15 16 17 18 19 20 6 5 4 3 2 1
∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
For a listing of books published and distributed by Syracuse University Press,
visit www.SyracuseUniversityPress.syr.edu.
ISBN: 978-0-8156-3388-4 (cloth) 978-0-8156-5311-0 (e-book)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Available from publisher upon request.
Manufactured in the United States of America
For Maryam and Maya
Born in Iran, Mateo Mohammad Farzaneh migrated to Southern
California in 1984. After receiving a PhD from the University of Cali-
fornia Santa Barbara, he joined the faculty of history at Northeastern
Illinois University in Chicago, where he now teaches the history of
the Middle East and Islamic civilization. He has published articles on
history of Iran, Iraq, and the role of Shi‘i jurisprudence and ideology
in politics.
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Chronology xv
Introduction 1
PART ONE
The Iranian State and Religion
1. Tribal Fighters Become Shahs 19
2. Apprehensive Modernization and the Birth
of Iranian Intellectualism 37
3. Unhappy Merchants and the Revolution for Law 56
4. Shi‘ism and Key Institutions of Leadership 71
5. Shi‘ite Iran and the State 95
PART TWO
Khurasani and Constitutionalism
6. Akhund Khurasani: His Life and Works 119
7. An Islamic Jurist’s Thought, Politics, and Practice 131
viii Contents
8. Religious Justifi cation and Khurasani’s
Perception of Constitutionalism 152
9. Ijtihad and Politics 173
PART THREE
A House Divided
10. Shaykh Fazlullah versus Akhund Khurasani 191
11. Fundamental Differences between Nuri and Khurasani 207
Conclusion 225
Appendix A. List of articles presented at Khurasani’s
centennial conference in 2011 249
Appendix B. Article 27 (asl-i 27) of the supplement to the constitution signed
by Muhammad Ali Shah on October 7, 1907 253
Appendix C. Articles 71 and 72 (asl-i 71 va 72) of the supplement to the
constitution signed by Muhammad Ali Shah on October 7, 1907 255
Notes 257
Glossary 295
Bibliography 301
Index 319
Illustrations
Following page 235
1. Akhund Khurasani
2. Khurasani in classroom
3. Akhund Khurasani
4. Akhund Khurasani and Shaykh Mazandarani
5. Ayatullah Bihbahani and Shaykh Fazlullah Nuri
6. Ayatullah Tabataba’i
7. Pro-constitutionalist ulama
8. Khurasani, Tehrani, and Mazandarani
9. Shaykh Fazlullah Nuri
10. Shaykh Fazlullah Nuri’s execution
Maps
1. The Middle East in the nineteenth century xxiv
2. Iran and Iraq in western Asia today xxv
ix