Modernization, Democracy, and Islam Book

I have written a book review on this brilliant research in Persian waiting to be published (follow this link ). I found this book very useful for understanding the internal power struggle between the Islamists and the leftists in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution. It also contains a lot of thought-provoking ideas about how the Iranian revolution could be situated in the broader political movements that have been labelled as 'modern Islamism'. The author's standpoint is that the whole ideas and political theologies brought about by Muslim thinkers such as Al-Afghani, Qutb, Shariati, and of course, Soroush are bound to historical contingencies. Some might argue that the author's overemphasis on historical contingency has led to a sort of positivist historiography. Actually, I don't agree with this criticism.

In my view, the most revolutionary idea of the book is that the leading theory of the post-revolutionary state in Iran is also a consequence of historical contingencies. Velayat-e Faqih, in Ghamari-Tabrizi's historiography, had not been planned to be the state ideology. It emerged as the state ideology in the turmoil of a power struggle in a state of chaos caused by several regional rebellions.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in modern political Islamic movements; those who are working on current political issues of Iran; those who are interested in the history of global Middle East; and those who have major preoccupations for making a basis for democratic change in the countries with strong religious tendencies.

If you read Persian, please take a look at my book review on Virgool: