International Journal on Criminology Volume 7, Number 2, Spring 2020 | Page 44

Secularization Versus Secularization: Understanding the System in the Islamic Republic of Iran
of undermining the legitimacy of the monarchy (under the Qajars formerly, and
even more so under the Pahlavis).
The 1970s witnessed the emergence of ideologues who undertook to think
the unthinkable: regarding the legitimacy of power or a reinterpretation of major
figures and major religious principles. In this context, rethinking the immutable
and the absolute truth is not blasphemous, it is a paradigmatic symptom of secularization,
in the sense of the secular application of religion. Several of the great
pillars of Shia Islam were immanentized in order to be politicized: the figure of
the Imam was embodied in the Supreme Leader; the Ummah become the nation;
the traditional wait-and-see attitude was redirected in favor of revolutionary then
political action; and, finally, the martyr of God become the martyr of the state,
falling for the nation.
The secularization of Shiism in the sense of the literal application of religion
in the secular world is therefore, on the one hand, the expression of Iran’s entry
into modernity, and, on the other, a circumstantial response to resentment, an affect
studied in particular by Jalal Al-e Ahmad 8 under the name “Westoxification”
(gharbzadegi). 9
Secularization as the Immanentization of the Main Pillars of Islam
The figure of the Imam is central to Shiism, creating its nature, its dynamic,
and its eschatological framework. The centrality of the Imam is such that it
defines the various branches of Shiism 10 and forms its very essence. The figmadreseh
ghadim (the old school, modeled on the maktab, the traditional Islamic school). “This
new school was at the heart of the reformist project and the modern discourse in Iran, symbolizing
progress throughout the nineteenth century .... The Iranian new school was independent of the
religious establishment and taught secular material while maintaining the obligatory religious and
moral teaching.” (“La religion d’état à l’école”).
8 Jalal Al-e Ahmad (an Iranian essayist, critic, writer, and translator, 1923–1969) developed the idea
of gharbzadegi (a term first used by Ahmad Fardid, which can be translated into English as “Westoxification”
or “Occidentosis”). See also Morteza Motahhari Dah goftâr (Tehran: Sadr, 1361/1982).
9 The term was initially coined by Ahmad Fardid, a Heidegger expert and professor of philosophy,
but the concept of Westoxification was primarily developed by the writer and translator Jalal Al-e
Ahmad in an essay published in 1962, entitled Gharbzadegi.
10 The largest branch is Twelver Shiism (present in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, among other countries).
This branch is based on the recognition of twelve Imams, the first being Ali and the last Mahdi,
for whom no successor could be accepted because of his disappearance. We also have the Ismaili
branch, originating on the death of the sixth Imam, Ja’far al-Sadiq. His succession led to a schism:
Ismailis believe that the eldest son, Isma'il, was the successor to the leadership of the community,
while Twelver Shiites consider that the Imamat was delegated to Musa al-Kadhim, the younger
brother of Ja'far al-Sadiq. Zaidi Shiites (mainly present in Yemen), acknowledge only the first five
Imams (they believe that Zayd ibn Ali was the fifth and final Imam). These various currents themselves
have internal divisions that may be caused by nuances of mystical belief (for instance, the
Nazarite current in the Ismaili branch) or, more radically, by claims of separation from Shia Islam,
as is the case with the Druze (stemming from the Ismaili branch) and the Alevis (from the Twelver
branch. Alevism, it should be noted, as well as identifying as a breakaway from Shia Islam, is also a
mystic current).
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