Ahmad Kasravi

Ahmad Kasravi

Sayyed Ahmad Kasravi ( Persian احمد کسروی Ahmad Kasrawi ; * September 29, 1890 in Tabriz ; † March 11, 1946 in Tehran ) was an Iranian linguist , historian , lawyer ,trainedas a mullah , but from a young age a secular critic of religion and philosopher . Kasravi succumbed to an assassination attempt after senior clerics issued a fatwa against him.

Life

Ahmad Kasravi was born in Hokmavar - a small village near Tabriz. Ahmad came from an Azeri family. The nickname Sayyed means that his family was related to the Prophet Mohammed . He first attended an Islamic elementary school and learned Persian and Arabic. After the early death of his father, Ahmad Kasravi had to finish school and take over his father's carpet business. At the request of his family, he enrolled in the theological seminary in Tabriz and completed a four-year training course as a preacher. From a young age, Ahmad Kasravi criticized the lifestyle of the preachers, who “make a comfortable life by telling lies, while the uneducated population lives in poverty”.

Kasravi was 16 years old when the Constitutional Revolution began in Iran. He took an active part in the movement and later documented the history of the constitutional movement in a standard two-volume work on the constitutional revolution. When Russian troops occupied Tabriz in 1911, Ahmad Kasravi used his position as a preacher and agitated against the Russian occupiers and for the constitutional revolution. Some conservative clergy in Tabriz, who spoke out against the constitutional revolution, said that Kasravi had fallen from the right faith, which led to the end of his activity as a preacher. Kasravi gave up his life as a minister and began teaching Arabic at the American Memorial School in 1915 at the age of 25 . His employment also enabled him to learn English. Ahmad Kasravi later accepted a position as a teacher of Arabic at the only state high school in Tabriz. In 1919 Ahmad Kasravi moved to Tehran to work as a teacher for Arabic at a state high school.

In 1920 he began a career at the Ministry of Justice. Kasravi trained to be a judge and worked for the Iranian Ministry of Justice for ten years in various posts in Tabriz, Mazandaran and Chusestan . In addition to his work for the Ministry of Justice, Kasravi dealt with the languages ​​spoken in his district and published numerous articles and books in the field of linguistics. These publications made Kasravi known worldwide among the most linguistically oriented orientalists. Kasravi proved that the old Azerbaijani language , in contrast to modern Azerbaijani , belonged to the group of Iranian languages .

After the Qajar dynasty was replaced by Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1925, the new Justice Minister Ali-Akbar offered Davar Kasravi the post of Attorney General. Davar persuaded Kasravi to finally take off his turban. Kasravi bought "a hat, suit and tie, had a picture taken of himself in his new outfit and sent it to Davar". After twenty days, however, he gave up the position of Attorney General at his own request to work as a lawyer paid by the Justice Department. In his spare time he published other linguistic articles.

In 1930 Ahmad Kasravi took over the position of Inspector General in the Ministry of Justice. In popular writings he turned against the Shiite clergy and also criticized the Iranian literary canon and especially the overemphasis on Hafez . After founding the University of Tehran , he was offered a professorship. The condition, however, was that he would withdraw his critical articles on Iranian literature. Kasravi refused.

His main criticism of the Shiite clergy was directed against their claim to political power. Kasravi recognized that the attempts of the Shiite clergy to exert direct influence on political decisions or to take on political offices themselves posed a threat to the Iranian state. Milani writes:

“Four decades before the establishment of the Islamic Republic, Kasravi pointed out that the Shiite clergy claimed that power in the state was theirs and that any other form of government was ultimately illegal. His warnings were ignored. "

Critical societal analyzes

In his writings based on positivist considerations , Ahmad Kasravi developed his own idea of ​​how Iran's social problems could be solved. In his analyzes he proceeded scientifically and systematically and developed solutions to problems that were tailored to the particular social and political situation in Iran. The basic assumption of his social science analyzes was the idea that human behavior depends on a person's ideas and attitudes. Another assumption by Kasravi was that Iran's problems were intertwined and could therefore only be solved in a comprehensive social reform. Kasravi's third assumption was that Iran's problems had evolved over the centuries and could therefore only be understood and solved by taking historical references into account. With these assumptions, Kasravi opposed the prevailing socio-political opinion, which assumed that Iran's problems were caused by outside interference. Kasravi made it clear that Iran's problems were solely due to the inner nature of Iranian society. For Kasravi, the main culprits for the underdeveloped situation in Iranian society were the Shiite clergy, who, in his opinion, deliberately led the population into ignorance with false doctrines. Kasravi also thought little of trying to solve the problems in Iran with the help of political concepts developed in Europe, such as communism. Iran's problems are “homemade” and therefore also require an “Iranian way”. Kasravi named the main problems of the poor development of Iran:

1. The Shiite religion and its harmful heresies
2. Materialist ideologies, especially communism
3. Linguistic diversity
4. Nomadic way of life
5. Inadequate education, lack of science and technology
6. Inadequate upbringing and education
7. Inadequate legal and administrative system
8. Wrong ideas about the economic laws
9. Poorly developed agriculture and underdevelopment in rural areas
10. Poor public health

By criticizing religion as the main problem facing Iranian society, Kasravi made the Shiite clergy an enemy. Kasravi's criticism was taken up by Ruhollah Khomeini in the book Kašf al-asrār ( Unveiling the Secrets ), published anonymously in 1944 . Without naming Kasravi directly, Khomeini formulated an alternative to Kasravi's ideas in his criticism of the secular state and the separation of state and religion. According to Khomeini, only a government of the clergy could solve the problems of Iranian society.

Kasravi was however neither intimidated by Khomeini nor by other critics of his writings. In numerous articles he attacked the heresies of the Shiite clergy and called Shi'aism a sect that would have made a business out of religion. The title of his book Schi'igari, in which Kasravi summarizes his criticism of Shi'aism, literally means shop Shi'aism .

After Kasravi could not be silenced with arguments, it was decided in the circles of the Shiite clergy to have Kasravi killed. Ayatollah Shahabadi, the teacher of Khomeini, affirmed Kasravi's apostasy . That was his death sentence.

Analyzes critical of Islam

Kasravi's critical debates on Islam are based on two assumptions:

1. There are two types of Islam: Islam, which was founded by Mohammad and has existed for several hundred years, and Islam today, which manifests itself in many different forms and sects. These two versions of Islam have little in common and in many cases contradict each other.
2. The original form of Islam, as it was founded by Mohammad, is not able to grasp the complexity of the modern world and to solve its social and spiritual problems.

According to Kasravi, Mohammad's Islam consists roughly of two components: an ideological and a political component. Kasravi claims that the original tenets of belief that make up the ideological component of Islam lost their original strength because Muslims developed new ideas and religious concepts that contradict the old tenets. What is meant here is mainly Shi'aism, which contradicts Sunniism in many beliefs. According to Kasravi, the political dimension of Islam has lost its relevance because the Muslims gave up the idea of ​​a unified Islamic state a long time ago. Muslims live in separate nation states. This applies even to the Arab states, which are linked by a common language but not by a common belief. Islamic laws have been superseded in many states by laws based on Western legislation, and any attempt to reintroduce the old Islamic laws would lead to considerable social conflict. To the argument that one only has to introduce “true Islam” in order to solve all social and spiritual problems, Kasravi used to reply: “Do you know what 'true Islam' is? And why did you give up 'true Islam' centuries ago when you can allegedly solve all social problems with 'true Islam'. "

Kasravi did not stop at the Koran in his criticism. He argued that the Quran would not solve a single problem on its own. As evidence, he cited the life of Mohammad and the fact that Mohammad first had to take up arms to convince his compatriots of Islam. So the power of the word alone was not enough to turn unbelievers into believing Muslims. Kasravi also attacked the claim that the Koran is valid for all time. He recalled that the Koran allowed slavery, rejected democracy as a form of government and contained claims that were clearly scientifically refuted, such as that the earth is flat .

According to Kasravi, the Koran has lost its magical effect on people today. It is only quoted by people who believe it will benefit them. Anyone who claims that all human knowledge is in the Koran is like a man who claims that a tree grows in his garden that can produce all the fruits of this world. If one then wants to check this assertion, he first goes to a fruit shop, buys the fruits of the season, ties them to the branches of the tree and calls the people to carry the news of the miracle tree all over the world.

Critique of the Velayat-e Faqih

Ahmad Kasravi dealt intensively with the political leadership claim of the Iranian clergy and the concept of Velayat-e Faqih . In summary, the idea of Velayat-e Faqih can be described as follows:

1. The only true ruler is God.
2. In his name his prophet, Mohammad, ruled the world, followed by the twelve imams.
3. The twelfth Imam disappeared in 874, only to return when God instructs him to.
4. In his absence, all secular rulers are illegitimate. By definition, they are fa'er (oppressors) and ghaseh ( usurpers ), whom Muslims are supposed to refuse to obey .
5. The spiritual jurists ( fuqaha ), as representatives of the twelfth imam, are the only legitimate leaders of the believers.

This claim to leadership, initially limited to religious questions, was gradually extended to the political level. As a representative of the clergy, Khomeini also unequivocally claimed political power in Iran. In this respect, the Islamic Republic of Iran, which incorporated the principle of Velayat-e Faqih into the Iranian constitution, can claim to be the first state to put this theoretical concept into practice.

Ahmad Kasravi was the first to make the Iranian political class aware of the Iranian clergy's claim to power and to publicly deal with it. In an article entitled Message to the Tabriz Mullahs published in 1942 , Kasravi attacked the clergy's demands as unfounded. In addition, he considered the religious laws of Sharia to be completely unsuitable for governing a complex 20th century society. He also stated that a constitutional revolution had taken place in Iran in order to replace the absolutist monarchy with a democratically legitimized government, so that the demands for a government of the clergy that legitimized itself on the basis of purely religious ideas were in contradiction. Kasravi thought it impossible for the Iranians to want to see this form of government, for which they had fought from 1906 to 1911, replaced by an Islamic government led by the clergy.

In 1943 Ali Akbar Hakamizadeh, who knew Kasravi well, published his book The Secrets of a Thousand Years , in which he took up Kasravi's arguments and reformulated them as questions to the clergy. In 1944 Khomeini responded with the book The Revelation of Secrets , in which he attacked Kasravi's arguments directly, but without naming him personally. Khomeini spoke only of the adventurer from Tabriz .

assassination

On March 11, 1946 Kasravi was supported by two members of the of Abol-Ghasem Kashani initiated and Navváb Safavi founded Fedayeen-e Islam shot and killed with 27 stab wounds. His assistant who had accompanied him was also killed.

A few months earlier, high-ranking clerics had issued a fatwa stating that Kasravi was a " doomed man on earth" ( Mofsed-e fel Arz ), which amounted to a death sentence. Clergymen recruited Navvab Safavi, paid him for the trip to Tehran and ordered him to kill Kasravi. Safavi came, met Kasravi and discussed Islam with him. On April 28, 1945, Safavi shot Kasravi with a revolver. The first shot, however, was not fatal. With the gun stuck, Kasravi escaped and survived the assassination attempt.

Prime Minister Mohsen Sadr released the assassin from prison after three weeks. A little later, at the instigation of Prime Minister Mohsen Sadr and Parliament President Mohammad Sadeq Tabatabai, a case of “anti-Islamic views” was opened against Kasravi . On March 11, 1946, Kasravi and his assistant went to the Justice Department to testify about the allegations against him in an office on the third floor of the Justice Department. But it shouldn't come to that. The murderers, among them Hossein Emami, member of Fedajin-e Islam, entered the room and carried out the verdict that the clergy had illegally passed on Kasravi.

With the early release of the murderers Kasravis, the Iranian legal system embarked on a path that virtually challenged further politically motivated murders that would ultimately lead to the Islamic Revolution . The clergy put Prime Minister Ahmad Qavām under pressure by arguing that Kasravi was an apostate. According to the laws of Islam, he would have deserved death. The demands were discussed in the cabinet, and Tudeh party member Iraj Eskandari and finance minister Abdolhossein Hazhir approved the demands of the clergy. Only Justice Minister Allahyar Saleh , a member of the Democratic Party of Iran and later the second most important person after Mohammad Mossadegh in the National Front , contradicted the demands of the clergy and wanted Kasravi's murderers to be condemned for what they were, murderers. Qavam reshuffled his cabinet, Saleh was released, and the new Justice Minister Ali Akbar Musavizadeh released Kasravi's murderers from prison.

For the clergy, this victory means that one could murder with impunity as long as one stayed within the legal framework of Islam. The secular criminal law of Iran developed under Reza Shah was no longer applicable in this case. The first step towards an Islamic understanding of law was taken. More should follow.

Books by Ahmad Kasravi

Ahmad Kasravi published over seventy books. Including:

• Tārikh-e Mashruteh-ye Iran (تاریخ مشروطهٔ ایران, 'History of the Constitutional Revolution of Iran', in Persian). Negāh Publications, Tehran, 2003, ISBN 964-351-138-3 .
• History of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution: Tārikh-e Mashrute-ye Iran . Volume I. Translated into English by Evan Siegel. Mazda Publications, Costa Mesa CA 2006, ISBN 1-56859-197-7 .
• Shi'igari (شيعيگرى). Available in the English translation by MR Ghanoonparvar at: On Islam and Shi'Ism . Mazda Pub, 1990, ISBN 0-939214-39-3 .

See also

• Assassination attempt on Hajj Ali Razmara
• Assassination attempt on Hassan Ali Mansour
• Assassinations of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi

literature

• Abbas Milani: Eminent Persians . Syracus University Press, 2008, pp. 947-950.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ موسسه مطالعات تاريخ معاصر ايران. IICHS
2. ↑ Iraj Parsinejad: A History if Literary Criticism in Iran . Bethesda 2003, p. 164.
3. ↑ Iraj Parsinejad: A History if Literary Criticism in Iran . Bethesda 2003, p. 171.
4. ↑ Abbas Milani: Eminent Persians . Syracus University Press, 2008, p. 949.
5. ↑ Mohammad Ali Jazayery: Kasravi, Iconoclastic Thinker of Twentieth-Century Iran . In: Ahmad Kasravi: Shi'igari (شيعيگرى). Translation by MR Ghanoonparvan: On Islam and Shi'Ism . Mazda Pub, 1990, ISBN 0-939214-39-3 , pp. 1 ff.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Gholam Reza Afkhani: The life and times of the Shah . University of California Press, 2009, p. 370.
7. ↑ Mohammad Ali Jazayery: Kasravi, Iconoclastic Thinker of Twentieth-Century Iran . In: Ahmad Kasravi: Shi'igari (شيعيگرى). Translation by MR Ghanoonparvan: On Islam and Shi'Ism . Mazda Pub, 1990, ISBN 0-939214-39-3 , pp. 25 f.
8. ↑ Mohammad Ali Jazayery: Kasravi, Iconoclastic Thinker of Twentieth-Century Iran . In: Ahmad Kasravi: Shi'igari (شيعيگرى). Translation by MR Ghanoonparvan: On Islam and Shi'Ism . Mazda Pub, 1990, ISBN 0-939214-39-3 , p. 27.
9. ↑ ^{a b} Mohammad Ali Jazayery: Kasravi, Iconoclastic Thinker of Twentieth-Century Iran . In: Ahmad Kasravi: Shi'igari (شيعيگرى). Translation by MR Ghanoonparvan: On Islam and Shi'Ism . Mazda Pub, 1990, ISBN 0-939214-39-3 , p. 20.
10. ↑ Mohammad Ali Jazayery: Kasravi, Iconoclastic Thinker of Twentieth-Century Iran . In: Ahmad Kasravi: Shi'igari (شيعيگرى). Translation by MR Ghanoonparvan: On Islam and Shi'Ism . Mazda Pub, 1990, ISBN 0-939214-39-3 , p. 23.
11. ↑ Gholam Reza Afkhani: The life and times of the Shah . University of California Press, 2009, p. 368
12. ↑ Mehdi Parvizi Ahmineh: The global capitalist expansion and Iran . Münster 1999, p. 256.