Political Islam in Post-Revolutionary Iran: Shi'I Ideologies in Islamist Discourse by Majid Mohammadi

Author:Majid Mohammadi [Mohammadi, Majid]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Ideologies, Middle Eastern, Political Science, World, General
ISBN: 9781786739698
Google: D7-qDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 17328693
Publisher: I. B. Tauris
Published: 2013-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

MILITARIST/MESSIANIST ISLAMISM: MOHAMMAD TAQI MESBĀH YAZDI

Known as the theoretician of violence in Iran, Mesbāh Yazdi1 has been the most vocal ideologue of using force against anyone who does not think and behave according to what he conceives of as the ruling clerics' expectations. Despite their influence in the coercive powers of the state, he and his followers in Iran's security system and IRGC do not believe in a monopoly of violence in the hands of the government. Instead, they have extremely trenchant views when it comes to non-believers and non-conformists.

This ideology was partly established to fight Baha'ism in the 1960s and 1970s. They were organized and well funded in order to oppose Baha'i communities and received very high membership all around the country. The Anjoman-e Hojjatiyyeh (Hojjatiyyeh Society) was a political/religious organization that was opposed to Baha'ism in Iran and did not have any other discernable agenda. Most of the followers of Mesbāh have at one time or another been the members of this organization. Since the Iranian Revolution, the members of these circles have gravitated towards the security and military forces of the Islamic Republic and have often advocated using force against “enemies” in any circumstances.

Mesbāh is the spiritual leader and ideologue of a new caste of Iranian high-ranking military and security officials that had a lot of power during Ahmadinejad administration. It can be argued that Ahmadinejad looked at his presidency as an opportunity to realize Mesbāh's ideas and used state resources to support Mesbāh's foundations. He also supported Mesbāh and his plans to make the government an absolute state.2 Beside Dorri Najaf Abadi (ex Attorney General), Gholam Husein Mohseni Eje'i (ex Minister of Intelligence), and Mustafa Pourmohammadi (ex Minister of Interior and later the Head of General National Inspectorate), Mesbāh is one member of a circle who issued fatwas against some of the Iranian secular and religious intellectuals and political activists who were killed in the 1990s.

Mesbāh is seen by Khamenei, the leader of the country from 1989, as the ideologue of the state,3 very similar to Motahhari's intellectual and ideological position during Khomeini's era. He is often referenced as the spiritual mentor of high-ranking commanders of IRGC and is a constant presence as a speaker at meetings of the IRGC and Tehran Friday prayer ceremonies.

Before the Iranian Revolution of 1979, he ran an institute in Qom (Dar Rah-e Haq/On the Route to Truth), which used to publish theoretical and propaganda booklets against Marxism and religious intellectuals such as Shari‘ati. Because of his harsh attacks against religious intellectuals and his closeness to the Anjoman-e Hojjatieh, he had no place in the close circle of clerics around Khomeini.4 Since the 1990s, he has been running a university/seminary in Qom (Bager al-‘Ulum) which is indirectly funded by the leader's office and directly funded by the government and its mission is to train authoritarian-minded clerics who are for the most part supposed to believe in messianism and militarism.

Mesbāh believes that any true believer is responsible for promoting virtue and prohibiting vice and if people do not listen and obey, there will be fierce consequences.

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