Iran and the Muslim world

Description

In the contemporary Western mind, the term "revolution" conjures up images of militant Islamic fundamentalists marching in the streets. Yet before this century, both militancy and revolution were more characteristic of Europe. Addressing this phenomenon, Nikki R. Keddie here examines why Iran has, in modern times, seen so many revolutions. Skeptical of the traditional stress on the role of the Shii religious school, Keddie focuses on Twelver Shiism, illustrating how Iran's dominant religion has changed dramatically over the course of history. For centuries it was politically quietist, coexisting and cooperating with the powers that be. But, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a new clerical, economic, and political autonomy evolved, one allied with a nascent clerical hierarchy tied to the bazaar classes. These two forces, as well as Iran's semi-colonial status and its multi-urban geography, resulted in the oppositional Shiism so prominent today. . The first book to address extensively the revolutionary nature of Iran, of Shiism, and Muslim militant movements in comparative perspective, Iran and the Muslim World also explains why Islamic politics have become so popular recently in many parts of the Muslim world and considers the connection between anti-Western and anti-Israeli feeling, stressing the role of religious identity. The book will be of interest to anyone interested in revolution and social and political revolt, the Middle East, Iran specifically, and Islam in general.

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