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10 - The Crossing Paths of Religion and Nationalism in Contemporary Iran

from Part V - Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2021

By
Ali Banuazizi
Edited by
Nadim N. Rouhana  and
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian
Nadim N. Rouhana
Affiliation:
Tufts University, Massachusetts
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Queen Mary University of London
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Summary

The chapter explores the relationship between religion and nationalism in Iranian politics in two periods. In the first period (1925–79), under the autocratic rule of Pahlavi monarchs, a state-centered, secular nationalism served as the dominant ideology in promoting Iran’s national sovereignty, political integration, modernization, and socioeconomic development. These secularization policies limited the influence of the clergy in Iranian politics and society. In the second period (1979–present), a theocratic political Islam has served as the hegemonic ideology of the clerically dominated state. The postrevolutionary leaders’ stance toward nationalism, however, has not been entirely consistent or coherent. At first, they tended to condemn nationalism as contrary to the Islamic ideal of unity among believers. But, when faced with resistance against abandoning popular national symbols and rituals or supporting war with Iraq in the 1980s, they adopted a religious-nationalist ideology that combined a theocratic and supremacist vision of Islam with an emphasis on Iranian cultural identity. The chapter shows how the prevailing domestic and international circumstances, as well as ideas, selective historical narratives, and traditional cultural symbols and rituals, have been used to foster nationalism, political Islam, or an amalgam of the two as hegemonic state ideologies.

Keywords

Iranian nationalismreligion and politicsreligious nationalismsecularismcultural identity
Type
Chapter
Information
When Politics are Sacralized
Comparative Perspectives on Religious Claims and Nationalism
 , pp. 247 - 272
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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