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insistence on the enjoining of the good and forbidding of the evil went
a critical reinterpretation of the Shi'ite tenet of ta q;yya (self-protection
by dissimulation of faith) which clearly makes for quietism and non
assertiveness.
It is interesting to
duties (furu'al-din).92
and the House of the Prophet]) and taharra' (avoidance [of the enemies
of the House of Prophet-i.e., the Sunnis]) had been given currency
with the establishment of Shi'ism in Iran, and were emphasized through
They were
omitted from the Juru' a/-din during the reign of the first Pahlavi,
RiQa Shah.
The ideologues of the Islamic revolution have not restored the
elevated status of lavalla' and tabarra' as Juru'.
reinterpreted these terms in line with the central idea of a purely Islamic
theocratic state.
Tavalla' and tabarra' mean the friendship of the friends of God
and the avoidance of the enemies of God .... [they are] the foundation of
the indepen den ce of the Muslims. an independence based on faith and
belief which would cause their bondedness to other Muslims and their
lack of dependence on the enemies of God. "93
201
of the recent years should not make us ignore the fact that for many
centuries the tragedy of Karbala constituted an apolitical theodicy of
suffering.94
I:l usayn set in with the clerical agitation of the 1960s. In 1968, Ni'matallah
Salibi Najafabadi, a student of Khumeini's, published the Shahid-i
Jlivid (the Eternal Martyr), offering a radically politicized interpreta
tion of the events of KarbaIa.
rational
and
fairly
well-planned
attempt
at
overthrowing
of
Najafabadi
assassinated
Ayatallah
Shamsabadi.
the
Conclusion
The militant 'ulamii' who followed Khumeini in the 1960s and
1970s sought to defend and revitalize the Shi'ite tradition through a
political revolution. To secure the leadership of this political revolution
for themselves, they have revolutionized the Shi'ite political ethos