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Modernity from Below: Making Sense of Post-Islamism in Iran
Abstract
This paper suggests that today’s Iran is on the brink of a “post-Islamist turn”, as the first post-Islamist civil society in the Middle East is in the making, underneath of the Islamic Republic. Over the past century, modern Iran has been a pioneer of progressive political changes in the Middle East: the home to the first constitutional revolution (1906–11), the first nationalist and parliamentary democratic movement in the post–World War II period (1950–53), and the first anti-despotic revolutionary change with an Islamic discourse (1977–79). Iran is home to the first civic social movement in the context of current social movements in the Middle East, known as the Green Movement (2009–present). The current Green Movement is marked by a new historical era toward post-Islamism in Iran. This paper is part of a larger book project based on fieldwork (context analysis) and text analysis (writings of post-Islamist intellectuals). The findings suggest that main features of post- Islamism in post-revolutionary Iran are threefold: first, it is an attempt to make modernity from below. It is a radial call for a critical dialogue between sacred and secular, faith and freedom, revelation and reason, tradition and modernity, religiosity and rights, and local and global paradigms. Second, post-Islamism in Iran is more than an intellectual discourse; it is deeply rooted in the civil society. The reform movement in the late 1990's and the current Green Movement symbolize the sociopolitical features of Iran’s post-Islamist movement. It represents Muslims’ disenchantment with the Islamist state. Third, post- Islamism in Iran is not monolithic; it can be divided into three main intellectual trends, with each trend subdivided into various views: a) quasi/semi post-Islamism; (b) liberal post-Islamism; and (c) neo- Shariati post-Islamist discourse. Post-Islamism in post-revolutionary Iran signifies the paradoxes of the Islamist state. This paper examines the nature and the diversity of post- Islamist trends in the country. I first briefly conceptualize and contextualize post-Islamist discourses in Iran and then analyze the sociopolitical origins of three trends of post-Islamism in post-revolutionary Iran. The conclusion problematizes nature and future success of post-Islamism in the country. It examines the contribution of Iran’s post-Islamist trends/discourses towards indigenous/authentic modernity –modernity from below – and sustainable social change from within.
Discipline
Political Science
Geographic Area
Iran
Sub Area
19th-21st Centuries