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Religion and state in Khumainī's Kashf al-asrār

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Vanessa Martin
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Extract

Āyatullāh Ruhullāh Khumainī's first major political work, Kashf al-asrār (The revealing of secrets), was published in about 1943, its purpose being according to the author, to repudiate attacks upon the ‘ulamā’ by writers in the press and printed leaflets during the Riḍā Shāh period, and to rectify the misconceptions that had arisen among the public as a result of the dissemination of these views. It would seem that the book, however, was primarily a refutation of one work, Asrār-i hizār sāla by ‘Alț Akbār Ḥakamțzāda, also published in 1943. Ḥakamțzāda accused the ‘ulamā’ of encouraging superstitious practice amongst their following in order to perpetuate their own power, and cited as examples belief in the intercession of the Prophet and his descendants, designated as shirk, and non-recognition of the legitimacy of the temporal power.

Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 56 , Issue 1 , February 1993 , pp. 34 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1993

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References

1 Khumainț, Ruhullāh, Kashf al-asrār (Tehran, n.d.), 8–9Google Scholar.

2 Richard, Y., ‘Sharțat Sangalajț: a reformist theologian of the Ridā Shāh Period,’ in Arjomand, S. A., Authority and political culture in Shț‘ism (Albany, N.Y., 1988), 160–1Google Scholar. The first edition of Kashf al-asrār has no date or place of publication, but since it was apparently written in refutation of Asrar-i hizār sāla, it must have been published in 1943 or soon after.

3 idem.

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10 Richard, ‘Sharțtat Sangalaji’, 164, 166, 168–9, 173–4.

11 Khumainț’ attacks the use of reasoning in the interpretation of religion, particularly in the guise of pious references to the Qur'an and the Prophet, Kashf, 7

12 See for example Akhavi, S., Religion and politics in contemporary Iran (New York, 1980), 163Google Scholar, where he notes that Khumainț undertook a mild defence of the monarchical system; Fischer, M. M. J., Iran: from religious dispute to revolution (Cambridge, Mass., 1980), 152Google Scholar, who considers Khumainț formulated a theory of ethical opposition not far removed from the opinions of those who would interpret ulu'l-amr as referring to sulṭān or king; and Rose's, G. view that Khumainț accepts the sharțn'a permissibility of monarchy, ‘ “Velayat-e faqih” and the recovery of Islamic identity in the thought of Ayatollah Khomeini’, in Keddie, N. R. (ed.), Religion and politics in Iran (New Haven, 1983), 186Google Scholar.

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16 ibid., 189.

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19 Martin, V. A., ‘The mujtahids of Tehran in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution 1905–9’, Ph.D. thesis, University of London, 1984, 35–8, 48–61Google Scholar.

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23 Shaikh Murtaḍa Anṣarț (d.1864) was the leading Imāmț jurist of the mid nineteenth century.

24 Calder, , ‘Legitimacy,’ 102Google Scholar.

25 idem. On the accommodatory views of al-Majlisț in ‘Ayn al-hayāt, a work written for the common man, see Lambton, A. K. S., State and government in medieval Islam (Oxford, 1981), 283Google Scholar

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30 ibid., 293–4.

31 ibid., 233.

32 ibid., 191.

33 ibid., 185.

34 idem.

35 For Shaikh Faḍlallāh's role in the drafting of Article II see Martin, V. A., Islam and Modernism: the Iranian revolution of 1906 (London, 1989), 117–20Google Scholar. Khumainț spent a period of his youth studying in Arāk under the patronage of Shaikh Muhsin ‘Irāqț, who was closely associated with Shaikh Faḍlallāh and the fundamentalist position during the Constitutional Revolution; Rose, , ‘Velayat-e faqih’, 1983, 183Google Scholar.

36 Khumainț, , Kashf, 189Google Scholar. For Na'ini‘s arguments see Rose, , ‘Velayat-e faqih’, 176Google Scholar; Hairi, A. H., Shi'ism and constitutionalism in Iran (Leiden, 1977), 194Google Scholar.

37 Moussavi, A. K., ‘The establishment of the Position of the Marja'iyyat-i Taqlțd in the Twelver Shțț community’, Iranian Studies, xvii, 1985, 40, 43–4Google Scholar; Hairi, , ‘Legitimacy’, 278–9Google Scholar. Hairi shows that Narāqț adopted both accommodatory and non-accommodatory views in different contexts.

38 Such a stance is not uncommon, for, as Rose has noted, the Imāmț ‘ulamā’ have generated an extensive speculative literature on the ideal government, Rose, G., ‘Velayat-e faqih’, 176Google Scholar. This is despite the constraints of both fundamental Shțț doctrine and the actual political system.

39 Khumainț, , Kashf, 284Google Scholar.

40 In the early nineteenth century Mțrzā Abu'l Qasim Qumț also refuted the view that the Shāh was the ulu'l-amr, and said the Shțț ‘ulamā’ were unanimously agreed, with the support of numerous hadțth, that the title of ulu 'l-amr is applicable only to the Twelve Shțț Imāms as they alone were infallible; see Hairi, , ‘Legitimacy,’ 275Google Scholar. On the whole there has been a generalconsensus down the centuries that ulu l-amr applies to the Imāms, though Arjomand considers itmay have changed with the constitution of the Islamic Republic, see Arjomand, S. A., ‘Ideological revolution in Shțism’, in Arjomand, (ed.), Authority, and political culture, 192–5Google Scholar. It is early to say if there has been any lasting change in Shțț jurisprudence. In Wilāyat-i faqih Khumainț was still holding to the traditional view that those in authority were the Imāms, see Algar, H., Khomeini: Islam and revolution (Berkeley, 1981), 91Google Scholar.

41 Khumainț, , Kashf, 237Google Scholar.

42 ibid., 255 ff.

43 ibid., 258–9.

44 Algar, , Khomeini, 42Google Scholar.

45 Khumainț, , Kashf, 242Google Scholar.

46 ibid., 245. That is to say for the purpose of offensive jihād, an Islamic duty considered lapsed in the absence of the Imām, who alone has the right to declare it, and of defensive jihād, which may be instigated by the mujtahids. On jihād see Lambton, A. K. S., ‘A nineteenth-century view of jihād’, Studia Islamica, xxxn, 1970, 180–92Google Scholar; Kohlberg, E., ‘The development of the Imāmț theory of the jihād’, ZDMG, cxxvi, 1976, 64–86Google Scholar. Khumain's emphasis on the defensive role of the army suggests that he is thinking in terms of compulsory military service as an Islamic duty in defensive jihād.

47 Presumably a reference to the significant military budget during the Riḍā Shāh period, which was funded by heavy taxation not always fully accounted for.

48 Khumainț, , Kashf, 245Google Scholar.

49 ibid., 245–6.

50 This may refer to the radio station opened April 1940 and used chiefly for instruction on citizenship and other doctrines of Riḍā Shāh's New Order, as well as to the Department of National Guidance formed to direct inculcation of a patriotism in which admiration for Ridā Shāh was a strong element, see Avery, P., Modern Iran (London, 1965), 306Google Scholar. Following the establishment of the Islamic Republic a number of organizations were founded as a machinery for patronage, mass mobilization, ideological education and the enforcement of ideological conformity. The Dayira-yi Amr-i bi Ma'ruf va Nahț-yi az Munkar (Centre for Combating Sin), in particular, functioned as a morals squad, Bakhashi, , Ayatollahs, 243Google Scholar. It is possible that the original idea for such organizations, suggested in turn by the instruments of the earlier Pahlavi state, was already present in Kashf al-asrār.

51 Khumainț, , Kashf, 181, 226Google Scholar. Whilst Islamic views on the legitimacy of the established power have varied, the necessity of the state is on the whole acknowledged. See Lambton, , Slate and government, especially 219–63Google Scholar.

52 Khumainț, Kashf, 239.Google Scholar This need not have any significance for the question of whether or not there can be a just ruler in the absence of the Imam in terms of jurisprudence, since Kashf al asrār is a political rather than a juristic treatise.

53 Mitchell, R. P., The Society of Muslim Brothers (London, 1969), and Enayat, Political thought, 85Google Scholar.

54 Khumainț, , Kashf, 77Google Scholar.

55 On Mawdūdț see Binder, L., Religion and politics in Pakistan (Berkeley, 1963), 87–94Google Scholar; and Adams, C. J., ‘Mawdudi and the Islamic state,’ in J., Esposito (ed.), Voices of resurgent Islam (Oxford, 1983), 99–133Google Scholar.

56 Khumainț, , Kashf, 186Google Scholar.

57 See Martin, , Islam and Modernism, 125–6Google Scholar.

58 Khumainț, , Kashf, 182, 222Google Scholar.

59 ibid., 290.

60 idem. There are here echoes of Marxism, which, however, Khumainț does not discuss directly. It is not uncommon for ideas clearly drawn from other writers both Islamic and European to occur in his work, but it cannot be certain whether he had read their works or was merely drawing on general knowledge for his comments.

61 Khumainț, , Kashf, 180Google Scholar.

62 ibid., 180–1.

63 ibid., 272.

64 ibid., 275.

65 ibid., 283.

66 ibid., 234. Khumainț is reported to have supported the views of Mudarris except in the matter of his opposition to Ridā Shāh's intention to declare a republic in 1924. Mudarris was forced into retirement in 1927 and later died under suspicious circumstances. For his life and views see Mudarris, ed. A., Mudarrisț (Tehran, 1366/1987)Google Scholar.

67 Khumainț, Kashf, 282.

68 ibid., 201.

69 ibid., 240.