In the Panorama of contemporary literature and writings that attempted to dismantle the mysteries of the Iranian revolution, the book “The Glory of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran” is attended by a united historian Roy (published for the first time in 1985) as an exceptional act that dives in the depths of the Iranian spirit and is not satisfied with political analysis as most of the writings and research works that are studying contemporary Iran.
In a unique narrative style, a united biography of a Shiite science student named “Ali Hashemi” presents. Through his personal journey, he draws a rich historical and intellectual painting for Iran, revealing the cultural and religious roots that fueled the revolution in 1979. The book was widely admired, described as a milestone that succeeded in providing a deep human image, away from the stereotypes that restricted the Iranian scene to the circle of violence and intolerance.
Rafiz is united (1940-2024), a prominent American historian of Iranian origin, and one of the most prominent specialists in Islamic history and Iranian culture. Graduate Harvard University He worked as a professor at the University of Bernston and Harvard, where he held the position of director of the Middle East Studies Center. It was characterized by his ability to historical narration in a new literary style without giving up academic accuracy.
Narration, estate and Persian hair
He is weaved his book through interconnected levels that are brilliantly mixed between personal, social and national, to present to the reader a comprehensive understanding of Iranian society, and is distinguished from purely political studies by being a comprehensive civilized narration that links thought to history with society, and provides Iran as a multi -dimensional mosaic plate.
The story revolves around “Ali Hashemi”, a young man from the city of Qom, who belongs to the Prophet’s dynasty ﷺ (Sayyid) that arises in the confines of a religious family and receives his education in the scientific estate to become “Mulla.” The reader continues the path of his intellectual and spiritual composition, and shares his conflicting feelings between anger and joy, suspicion and faith. His convictions are shaken when he reads about atrocities French colonialism In Algeria, then he is experiencing a deep “customary” experience that leads him to a mystical vision in which “lights” are manifested in everything around him, in reference to the status of the special mysticism in Iranian culture, despite the preservation of the official religious establishment.
Hashemi’s journey intersects with political turmoil, and he is briefly imprisoned, as he touches despair before he renews his faith. With the victory of the revolution, his pride is mixed with seeing the green banner of Islam with an existential anxiety about the future of his country. The personality of Ali, which lives tension between piety, suspicion, tradition and modernity, becomes a clear mirror that reflects the transformations of Iranian society in the twentieth century.
The book opens a wide window to the world of scientific seminars and traditional education methods in Iran. The author draws a vivid picture of the city of Qom as a holy center of Shiite education, where Hashemi learns grammar, rhetoric and logic at the hands of the traditional mullahs, in an educational system similar to the essence of European curricula in the Middle Ages. The book provides examples of the personal piety of the clergy, such as Sheikh Marashi (Professor Hashemi), who was waking up two hours before dawn to repeat the supplication of “I ask forgiveness from God” 300 times, which gives the reader a glimpse of piety and discipline in the life of the estate. The book also reveals a “gray area” of tolerance, where intellectual suspicion coexisted with faith, and currents such as Sufism and inner Shiism remained quietly within a very conservative society.
The book explores the role of Persian heritage, especially poetry, as the emotional habitat of the Iranians, and their field to express their passion for ambiguity and metaphor away from the control of the authorities. The author cites verses of the great Persian poets such as Hafez, Saadi and Ferdosi, which gives the narration a literary depth. He believes that “love of ambiguity” is the essence of Iranian culture, which is reflected in their ability to coexist with contradictions, such as combining pride in ancient Persian history (such as the legendary hero Rustam) and the Shiite Islamic identity.
The way to the revolution
The book reviews Iran’s modern history, and how the entry of Western education during the era of the Shah created a cultural double among Iranian youth. Hashemi found himself torn between the worlds of the estate and the secular university. Then the narration is transferred to analyzing the historical path of the political institution’s activity. After the scholars remained on the sidelines of power, their role emerged in articulated stations such as tobacco uprising (in 1891) and the constitutional revolution (1906).
However, the biggest shift came with the forced policies of the modernization of Reda Shah Bahwi and his son, which targeted the reducing the influence of the religious establishment and the dismantling of the traditional “mystery zone”. These policies, which included the abolition of Sharia courts and the imposition of civil laws, forced many to take a clear position. As a result of the erosion of the legitimacy of the Shah’s regime due to tyranny and subordination to the foreigner, the clergy regained their role in leading the opposition, to become closer to the concerns of people than the ruling elite.
The book highlights how Imam Khomeini invested this popular anger, especially after the suppression of the Hawza students in Qom (1963) and the granting of judicial immunity to the Americans (in 1964) to present the theory of “the jurisdiction of the jurist” as an Islamic political alternative. With the fall of the Shah, the Iranians were forced to get out of the cultural confusion area and decide a decisive decision, so that the turbans turned from a symbol of spiritual guidance into a tool of political rule. Although the revolution achieved its slogan by expelling the Shah, he concluded his book with an anxious tone, noting that the ideological militancy that followed the revolution is threatening to undermine the legacy of tolerance and diversity that distinguished the Iranian culture for centuries.
Iranian thought and meeting
Although the central story of the book revolves in the middle of the twentieth century, the author links its events and concepts with distant roots in the past. It evokes, for example, Islamic intellectual figures, such as the Philosopher Ibn Sina (11th century), up to modern political figures such as Dr. Mossadeq and the thinker Ali Shariati in the twentieth century, to show the extension of the thread of reformist and religious thought through the ages, considering that Iranian revolution It was not an isolated event, but rather the culmination of a long historical development that included jurisprudence, social conflicts and colonial influences.
The book discusses, for example, the legacy left by Jamal al -Din al -Afghani in the late 19th century in calling for an Islamic renaissance against colonialism, and the impact of the Tanbak movement (protest in 1891) led by the references against the foreign domination of foreigners. The constitutional revolution in 1906 is also limited as the first attempt to establish a modern rule while preserving the role of religion, which also witnessed a division between the movement of conservative religious scholars and the modernist current. These historical and other stations give the background necessary to understand the slogans of the revolution in 1979 and its demands.
It also highlights the united social background of Iran before the revolution, describing population changes such as the wide migration from the countryside to cities during the 1960s and 1970s and the resulting escalation in religiosity between the poor classes as a way to adapt to the unfamiliar city environment. He believes that these explosive social conditions (such as millions of unemployed and marginalized rural youth such as Tehran) formed a fertile ground for the message of the Islamic revolution that promised social justice and restricted consideration of religious identity. The book also deals with the impact of international policies, such as support US The rule of the Shah and the regional conflict with Iraq, to stoke revolutionary feelings inside Iran.
On the intellectual level, the book appears united with multiple cognitive fields, as it is a historian and specialist in Islamic thought, which enabled it to read events with a perspective that combines social analysis and intellectual depth. It is clear to the reader’s knowledge of Islamic philosophy, mysticism and Shiite jurisprudence, as we find simplified explanations of ideas such as ijtihad (the efforts of jurists in deduction of rulings) and the role of religious reference in the life of the Shiites.
For example, he explains the development of the system of tradition, where the general public imitates higher references in the legal rulings, and how this system contributed to the cohesion of the Shiite society, but it also made it a force capable of political mobilization when the references resort to issuing political fatwas.
The book also discusses the issue of dual culture in Iran: a mixture of Persian and modern Islamic elements. The term “montage”, which some intellectuals used to describe the identity of the people, attends here Tehran As a vehicle of different imported pieces, in reference to the various Western influences that the Iranians have mixed with their identity.
The book received a great approval from critics and readers, and considered a unique contribution to understanding modern Iran. It was praised by the “Foreign Affairs” magazine for its ability to provide a deep understanding of the revolution that exceeded what was presented by traditional political studies. It was also described by the magazine “Iranian Studies” as “a pioneering study in the literature of the revolution” because of its comprehensive dealing with culture and history in an attractive fictional template. On the other hand, I criticized the book, most notably from the researcher Farid Hallidai, who saw that united by a romantic image of Iran, avoiding going into the details of the repression that followed the revolution.