Shi'i Reformation in Iran - 9781472434166

Taylor & Francis

In Shi'i Reformation in Iran, Rahnema offers a fresh understanding of Sangelaji\u2019s reformist discourse from a theological standpoint, and takes readers into the heart of the key religious debates in Iran in the 1940s. Drawing on the writings of Sangelaji, as well as interviews with his son, the book provides a comprehensive introduction to the reformist\u2019s ideas. As such it offers scholars of religion and Middle Eastern politics alike a penetrating insight into the impact that these ideas have had on Shi\u2019ism - an impact which is still felt today. > Shi 'ism caught the attention of the world as Iran experienced her revolution in 1979 and was subsequently cast in the mold of a monolithic discourse of radical political Islam. The spokespersons of Shi'i Islam, in or out of power, have not been the sole representatives of the faith. Nonconformist and uncompromising, the Shi\u2019i jurist and reformist Shari\u2019at Sangelaji (1891-1944) challenged certain popular Shi\u2019.