The principal religious identity of the majority of Iranians, before, during and since the Qajar period, has consisted of a devotion (of varying intensity in different elements of the population) to Twelver Shia Islam. This was the legacy of the Safavid adoption of Twelver Shiism as the state religion, and the slow, but widespread adoption of this belief system by most of the population under Safavid control during the subsequent centuries. There are a number of issues which deserve attention in an examination of the relationship between Twelver Shia Islam and the state. First, there is the problematic legitimation of state activities by religious authorities. Assessments vary as to whether or not Twelver Shia belief inevitably leads to a rejection of the religious legitimacy of any state in anticipation of the return of the hidden Imam. Different sources (biography, jurisprudence, political theory, chronicles, etc.) offer differing indications. Some religious scholars co-operated with the Qajar state, while others avoided any contact with it. Some wrote works in praise of the Shah, dedicating their endeavours to him, while others described his rule as simply a ‘loan’ from the Imam.9 This has been an area of dispute among academics and Shia intellectuals, the implications of which reach beyond the Qajar period and include within their purview the ideological currents within the Islamic revolutionary movement of Iran in the late twentieth century. Second, there is the influence of religion on the workings of government, in particular the institutions connected with the judiciary in the Qajar period. The general picture is of a gradual secularisation of the law through the process termed ‘modernisation’. Under this umbrella term, a number of bureaucratic changes can be listed including financial, judicial and military reforms. Of particular relevance to the subject of this volume was the dual system of religious and secular courts, both of which were, theoretically, under the power of the Shah. He appointed judges from the ranks of the Ulema and from the officials of local government, though the extent of royal control and the nature of the law administered in these courts has not yet been fully analysed. Furthermore, the emergence of a non-religious legal cadre in the Qajar period had momentous effects on relations between the ulamå – particularly low ranking clerics – and the state (Source: Religion and Society in Qajar Iran).
Shia Islam and Beginning of a New Era in Early Modern History of Iran
