Category Archives: Islam

The ‘Abbasid Revolution

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The outcome of the ‘Abbasid Revolution of 747-750 CE was unambiguous: the ruling Umayyad dynasty was deposed from the caliphate, at that time the supreme political and religious authority in the Islamic empire, and in their place was installed a member of the ‘Abbasid family, which traced its origins back to the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle al-‘Abbas. As for the rest, there is considerable confusion, particularly over the basis of the ‘Abbasid family’s claim to be legitimate rulers of the empire. In order to make sense of this confusion, and to properly understand the events of 747-750, it is necessary to appreciate the nature of authority in Islam, and in particular the divide between Sunnis and Shi’a on this issue, as well as the particular political situation in the Middle-East in the 8th century.

The Muslim World Divided

The Sunnis and the Shi’a make up the wider nation of Muslims. The divide between the two is essentially political in origin, dating from the debate over who should succeed Muhammad as leader of the ummah(Islamic nation). The Shi’a are so named because they descend from the shi’at ‘Ali, the Party of ‘Ali, Muhammad’s nephew and son-in-law. This party proposed that the religious and political leader of the Muslims, whom they called the imam, should be a descendant of the Prophet. In time, mainstream Shi’ism would insist that the imam be descended from Muhammad through the line of ‘Ali and his wife Fatima, Muhammad’s daughter. At the time of the ‘Abbasid Revolution, however, there was not such a fixed Shi’i orthodoxy regarding the lineage of the imam. Indeed, to talk about Sunnis and Shi’a at this point at all is something of an anachronism, as there was by no means the clear split that one sees today. What is most important to remember is that in the mid-8th century there were several proto-Shi’i movements who stirred up rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate in the name of a member of the noble family of the Prophet.

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Sufism – The Mystical Path of Islam

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By the mid-8th Century, the Islamic world had reached a moment of spiritual crisis. The Umayyad Caliph, the successor to the Prophet Muhammad as leader of the Muslim community, ruled like an old-style Persian king, and there was general consensus that Muhammad’s vision, articulated in the Qur’an and his own life, was in abeyance.

In response, many Muslims proposed a new society run on a more explicitly Islamic form of piety. Whilst some looked to a newly-conceived religious law, the Shari’a, and others to Greek rationality, a third group, centred in modern day Iraq, proposed that the true Islam consisted in turning away from all else but God. In time, these renunciants were to be named “Sufis”, on account of the woollen cloaks that they donned.

The formative stage of Sufism

The early Sufism of the Basran school was characterised by asceticism, the rejection of the trappings of the material world. Soon, other forms of Sufi piety developed amongst the mystics of 8th and 9th century Iraq. Rabi’a, the greatest female Sufi, was the first to stress unconditional love of God, rejecting the concern of the Shari’a-minded for the rewards of Paradise in favour of direct vision of God in the here and now.

Also around this time were Junayd and Bayazid Bistami, who came to represent respectively the “sober” and “intoxicated” forms of mysticism, the former more closely adhering to the law, and the latter based upon the quest for a trance-like state of God consciousness, for which the repeated chanting of God’s name (dhikr) was employed. One disciple of Junayd’s who became particularly notorious in his own day, and a model for later Sufis, was Hallaj, who, on realising the Sufi’s goal of seeing no separation between himself and God, famously declared, “Ana al-Haqq!” (I am the Truth!), for which he was executed (pictured) by the authorities. This concluded the formative stage of Sufism.

Ghazali

Between the 10th and 12th centuries, great effort was made both to transmit the wisdom of these early masters, and to reconcile the Sufi path with the Shari’a. This latter task was most famously attempted by the great theologian Ghazali who found solace in Sufism at a time of spiritual crisis but rejected the more extreme tendencies of Hallaj. Though his masterful Revival of the Religious Sciences won much approval in intellectual circles, the tension between the Shari’a-minded and the Sufis never fully disappeared. During this middle period and afterward, Sufism was to play a central role in the conversion of non-Muslims to Islam, notably the Seljuk Turks, tribal warriors from Central Asia, who would come to make the first Islamic inroads into Anatolia, and Berber nomads in North Africa. Thus followed the incorporation of non-Islamic and local folk traditions into Sufi piety, which gave Sufism a rich diversity that lasts until this day.

Sufism Today

Sufism as we know it today, as a collection of distinct, structured orders (tariqahs) with a shaykh at their head and their own specific rituals, is recognisable from around the 13th century onwards. It is from this time that we find many of the great saints who were the eponymous founders of, or at least inspiration for, the various orders, including ‘Abd al-Qadir, Shadhili, and the most famous Sufi of all, the Persian Jalal al-Din Rumi. This last figure is celebrated throughout the world as one of the great mystical poets, and initiated the famous dance of the whirling dervishes (pictured) of his Mevlevi order in Anatolia. Near contemporaries of Rumi from the Arab world are Ibn al-Farid, the most profound Sufi poet of the Arabic language, and Ibn al-’Arabi, who developed the philosophy of “The Unity of Existence” (wahdat al-wujud), which proposed the oneness of God and the entirety of creation.

Alongside this profound intellectual tradition, the special knowledge of Sufism was increasingly made available to the general populace, both through the local orders, and through the efforts of wandering dervishes and folk poets like the Turk, Yunus Emre. Amongst these there developed a folk tradition that made fun of the formal piety and seriousness of the self-proclaimed orthodox, and criticized the political ruling class. To this day Sufi orders have remained vibrant centres of local piety and social criticism.

The Sufi tariqahs spread throughout the Islamic world during the early modern period, often, as at the height of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, situating themselves along important trade routes, thus attracting ever more followers. The role of the tariqah, though always primarily connected with mediation of the divine grace, developed according to the particular needs of the locality. Some, as in the rural regions of the Morocco or West Africa, where Islam and Sufism went almost hand in hand, took on the governance of entire communities. Others came to be almshouses for the poor or even outposts of military activity. The latter fact reflects the ever-important political role played by the orders. Safavid Iran was founded by the leader of a Sufi order, whilst such prominent military leaders of recent history as Uthman Dan Fodio, the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate in modern Nigeria, and the Algerian freedom fighter ‘Abd al-Qadir were members of Sufi orders.

In modern times, Sufism suffered from the rise of the twin threats of Wahhabism and secularism. The former is a conservative approach to Islam that seeks to rid the faith of elements not practiced by the earliest Muslims of Muhammad’s time. The latter ideology, first adopted in the Muslim world by Mustafa Kemal, the founder of modern Turkey, who banned the Sufi tariqahs in Turkey, has seen in Sufism a backward attachment to local custom and myth, as well as a potential political threat. At the same time however, there has recently been a great upsurge in interest in Sufism, both amongst moderately inclined yet pious Muslims, and western scholars and spiritual seekers. Many hope that the wonderfully diverse, yet authentically Islamic, form of piety that Sufism proposes will serve to counter negative stereotyping of Islam and the suggestion that there is some necessary clash between the West and Islamic civilisation.

Fitzroy Morrissey
See also The ‘Abbasid Revolution
See Fitzroy’s blog: fezsufifestival.tumblr.com
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The Iranian Revolution of 1979

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In Part One we read about the Road to the Iranian Revolution. Here, in Part Two, Rowena Abdul Razak describes the return in February 1979 of the Ayatollah Khomeini.

On February 1st 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini descended an Air France jet at Tehran Airport, stepping on his native soil for the first time after 18 years in exile. Looking solemn in his black robes, he arrived to lay the foundations of the new government.

For many years Khomeini had been the figurehead for opposition to the reign of Mohammed Reza Shah. Groups from socialists to nationalists put aside their ideological differences to unite under his leadership. In the previous article, we discussed the dissatisfaction and anger in Iran that led to the 1979 revolution. But how was Khomeini able to spearhead and guide the uprising from his exile in France?

‘Death to the Shah’

Despite the ban on political parties in Iran, revolutionary opposition existed in the form of a number of different groups: the Tudeh Party (a communist party founded in the 1940s), the Marxist Fedaiyan-e Khalq(‘Devotees of the People’), the Maoists, and the Islamic Mojahedin-e Khalq (‘Fighters for the People’). These parties had distinct ideologies but one common goal: the overthrow of the Shah. Their members came from the intelligentsia: some had been exiled, whilst others had been imprisoned or tortured by SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police. These parties had a strong following amongst high-school graduates unable to find a university place, and university graduates unable to find a job.

In 1978, these parties, together with displaced merchants from the bazaars and unemployed migrants from rural areas, began to demonstrate against the Shah, and the situation in Tehran became increasingly volatile.

On September 8th, 1978, the Shah imposed martial law in Tehran; the same day troops fired on demonstrators in the city’s Jaleh Square, killing more than 500 people. This incident, which became known as ‘Black Friday’, did not deter the demonstrators. The Shah condemned the killings, but demonstrations continued with slogans of ‘Death to the Shah’.

The Shah was forced to employ other methods to quell the protestors. He began to relax his control over the political arena by allowing more press freedom and releasing political prisoners. He also allowed the publication of SAVAK’s torture methods and ended full censorship of the press. In addition, he dismissed Prime Minister Hoveyda, who was seen as one of the causes of Iran’s economic problems. However, this was too little, too late.

The Charisma of Khomeini

Despite the many different opposition groups calling for the overthrow of the Shah, the uprising still needed a figure to rally and unite the disparate groups. It was a role Ruhollah Khomeini was well suited for. Born in 1902, Khomeini was a cleric by profession, a religious scholar and a member of the ulema (‘religious class’). He had obtained the rank of Ayatollah after he finished the highest level of religious study. In addition, Khomeini had been deeply involved in politics from a young age. In the 1960s, he began writing and preaching against the Shah, accusing him of promoting “Western decadence” at the cost of Islam. This led to his exile in 1964, first to Turkey, then Iraq, and finally to France.

Despite his exile, Khomeini continued to actively fight the Pahlavi dynasty, speaking out against the Shah and imperialism. He made recordings on tape cassettes in Iraq, which were smuggled across the border to Iran. These cassettes, like modern-day Twitter or Facebook, broadcast his messages to Iranians. He talked about their plight and voiced many of their grievances and hatred towards the Shah. As a cleric, he commanded considerable respect from the religious Iranians, and spoke in a simple and appealing manner that appealed to many of Iran’s poor and unemployed.

While Khomeini was in exile in France, many of the leaders of opposition groups began to call on him, to seek his support and to take advantage of his following. He was clever enough to play down his desire to establish an Islamic government in Iran and instead concentrated on uniting the different groups with the sole objective of overthrowing the Shah. Khomeini became the face of the 1979 revolution, a cleric at the head of a largely secular opposition.

The End

On December 11th 1978, a massive demonstration in Tehran officially called for Khomeini to lead Iran in the revolution and the overthrow of the Shah. Terrified, the Shah made last-minute efforts to form a new democratic government, and dismantled SAVAK in the hope of restoring his subjects’ faith in him. The crowds, however, ignored these efforts and called for Khomeini’s return from exile. Admitting defeat, the Shah, accompanied by his wife Farah Diba, left Iran forever on January 16th 1979.

Left to hold the crumbling fort, the Shah’s last Prime Minister, Bakhtiar, tried to stop Khomeini’s return by closing the main airport, but to no avail. Bakhtiar could not keep control of the demonstrators, or keep their leader away. Khomeini left France on a specially chartered flight and landed in Tehran on February 1st 1979 to formally lead the revolution. With the final defeat by armed opposition groups of the Shah’s army, the Imperial Guard, a coalition of Khomeini and the other leaders of the opposition came to power on February 11th1979. Iran was now a republic for the first time in two and a half millennia.

Rowena Abdul Razak

See Rowena’s blog, The History Cookbook, history presented as recipes.

The Road to the 1979 Iranian Revolution

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On January 16th 1979, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (pictured), accompanied by his wife, Farah Diba, stood at Mehrabad Airport facing a bleak future. He was leaving behind his throne and his country – a country he would never see again. In less than a month, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini would disembark from an Air France jet, after many years of exile, to take over and establish an Islamic regime that has ruled Iran to this day. But how did this revolution happen? How was an elderly cleric able to dethrone the Pahlavi dynasty?

The Pahlavi Dynasty

Our story begins in 1921 when Reza Khan, Mohammad Reza Shah’s father, together with the journalist Sayyed Zia, staged a coup d’etat in Tehran. Iran, until then under the rule of the Qajar dynasty, swiftly came under the control of Reza Khan, who quickly gained political power. In October 1925, he moved to dethrone the Qajars and through a parliamentary vote, crowned himself Shah (Persian for ‘king’) and established his own dynasty, the Pahlavis. Over the next decade, he modernised Iran’s infrastructure and its education system. Reza Khan looked to Europe as a model for industrialisation and sought to implement similar changes for Iran. However, in doing so, he sought the help of Germany and in 1941, Britain and Russia invaded Iran. He was forced to abdicate in favour of his son, Mohammad Reza.

“Oiling the wheels of chaos”

Mohammad Reza Shah was 21 when he ascended to the throne. Although the first few years of his reign were relatively uneventful, he faced his first major crisis in 1951 when his prime minister, Mohammad Mussadiq, nationalised Iran’s oil industry. This alienated Iran’s British allies who controlled the oil through the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Mussadiq was popular with the people, but Mohammad Reza Shah considered him a threat to his rule. With the help of the CIA, Mohammed Reza Shah staged a coup and Mussadiq was overthrown. This may have stabilised Mohammad Reza Shah’s position on the throne but the Iranian public saw it as an illegal act. Over the next two decades public resentment against the shah grew.

Reform and Dissatisfaction

In his years as Shah, Mohammed Reza Shah did his best to follow in his father’s footsteps and further modernise Iran. In 1962, he introduced several reforms that were collectively known as the ‘White Revolution’; these included land reforms, a plan to give workers a share of industrial profits, the enfranchisement of women, and the establishment of a Literacy Corps to teach those in the rural areas to read and write.

However, these reforms created their own problems. Although peasants were allowed to purchase land, the land they were allowed was often unsuitable for agriculture. Since the overthrow of Mussadiq, Mohammed Reza Shah had grown closer to the United States. Iran became a huge market for American grain and started importing American cattle and poultry, displacing local farmers and their produce. Hordes of young men left the countryside to seek work in the major cities, but were frustrated by the lack of jobs available.

Reform in a traditional society like Iran was not an easy task.  The bazaars, or markets, were the hubs of all Iranian cities. They were not only places to buy goods, but also to catch up on current events. The Shah wanted to reform the bazaars in order to emulate American-style markets. But in doing so, he alienated small producers in favour of factories, funded by foreign investment, which produced expensive consumer goods. The bazaar merchants were slowly put out of business by the opening of American-style shopping malls.

The regime was intent on modernising Iran to the detriment of its people and traditions, and the Iranians’ sense of dissatisfaction continued to grow.

“The Carrot and the Stick”

The Shah tried to portray himself as a ‘man of the people’, often being photographed distributing food and land deeds to ordinary Iranians. However, while he wanted to be seen to help his people, he was also fearful of opposition; concerned about the stability of his rule, and had faced several assassination attempts. Wielding considerable power over the government, he limited political freedom and appointed prime ministers who would be compliant to his demands. In March 1975, he merged all the political parties into a new single party, Rastakhiz (‘Resurgence’) and university and government employees were required to become members of this new party.

Mohammed Reza Shah also established his own secret police, the SAVAK, in 1957. Members were CIA-trained and known for their brutal tactics and cruel torture methods, infiltrating opposition groups within Iran and abroad. The SAVAK intimidated many out of direct opposition, but were widely resented by the Iranian people, who lived in constant fear.

A combination of these factors ultimately put into effect a chain reaction that made revolution inevitable.

Rowena Abdul Razak

In Part Two, Rowena explores the Iranian Revolution of 1979
See Rowena’s blog, The History Cookbook, history presented as recipes.