How Islam Rules in Iran
Theology and Theocracy in the Islamic Republic

Examines the jurisprudential justifications that underlie the continuous and ever-changing relationship between state and religion in Iran.

Mehran Kamrava (Author)

9781009460842, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 May 2024

366 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.55 kg

'This book is well written and contains a useful analysis of what is happening in Iran today. … Recommended.' G. M. Farr, CHOICE

This study provides a comprehensive examination of the evolution of Islam as a ruling framework in postrevolutionary Iran up to the present day. Beginning with the position and structure of Iran's clerical establishment under the Islamic Republic, Kamrava delves into the jurisprudential debates that have shaped the country's political institutions and state policies. Kamrava draws on extensive fieldwork to examine various religious narratives that inform the basis of contemporary Iranian politics, also revealing the political salience of common practices and beliefs, such as religious guardianship and guidance, Islam as a source of social protection, the relationship between Islam and democracy, the sources of divine and popular legitimacy, and the theoretical justifications for religious authoritarianism. Providing access to many Persian-language sources for the first time, Kamrava shows how religious intellectual production in Iran has impacted the ongoing transformation of Iranian Shi'ism and ultimately underwritten the fate of the Islamic Republic.

Preface
1. Introduction
2. The Setting
3. A Question of Jurisprudence
4. Social Protection and Guidance
5. Rethinking the Islamic Republic
6. Theorizing Islamic Democracy
7. Legitimate Authority
8. Khameneism and the Absolute Velayat-e Faqih
9. Whither the Islamic Republic?
Appendix
Glossary
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Constitution: government & the state [JPHC]