The Role of Religious Clans in The Political History of Iran

Abstract

It has been 45 years since the popular movement that became known as the Islamic Revolution took place in Iran in 1979. The tradition of seizing power during a popular movement existed in the practice of Iranian clerics as early as the beginning of the 20th century, during the Constitutional Revolution. It is noted that religious organizations dominated the Khiyabani movement of 1918-1920 and the "21 Azer" movement of 1945. There is compelling historical evidence of how religious figures mobilized family members and kinship networks to establish themselves over a large geographical area, leading to institutionalization. Similarly, significant work has been done on the transformation of Shia Islam into Iranian Islam, creating a distinction from classical Islam. In this article, we attempt to create a general picture of how religious clans that formed in Iranian geography at the end of the Safavid dynasty became regional centers of power through their family ties in subsequent periods of rule. Similarly, using national and political protest movements occurring in the country, we attempt to summarize the history of how the concept of national religion first influenced the state as a local-regional force, and then took over and created a religious state. The article attempts to study the kinship and intra-family relations, as well as the traditions of inheritance of religious families operating in Iranian geography, within a historical framework.