Political quietism

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Political quietism or quietist Islam (from the Latin quietus, “calm”, “silent”) describes that current of the Islamic clergy, especially the Shia , which rejects the active participation of the clergy in politics. Quietism sees the role of the clergy in an advisory role to political leadership instead of taking on leadership positions. Since, in the opinion of the representatives of political quietism, an Islamic state can only emerge with the reappearance of the 12th Imam , they do not advocate secularism . This stands for the separation of religion and state . Rather, in the opinion of the representatives of political quietism, the political leadership should behave in accordance with Islam in its actions.

Representative

Leading representatives of this current are the last generally recognized Marjah-e Taghlid , the Grand Ayatollah Hossein Borudscherdi , who died in 1961, and the present-day Great Ayatollah of Iraq, Ali Sistani . In 1949, after the assassination attempt on Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , and after Borudscherdi had been recognized as the absolute authority (or also: the source of imitation) by all Shiite Grand Ayatollahs, he summoned more than 2,000 religious scholars to a congress in Qom to follow the quietist tradition there to remind and renew the Shiite clergy. Borudscherdi demanded political restraint from his student Khomeini.

Marginality

After Boroudscherdi's death, the quietist position lost its influence in favor of the Islamic state propagated by Ayatollah Khomeini , in which the clergy are given the active political leadership role. The counter-position to quietistic Islam is of the Orientalists Bernard Lewis than activistic Islam ( activist Islam hereinafter).

Outside of Iran

The separation of spiritual from secular rule is most widely realized in the Turkish constitution of 1924 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk , whereas in Saudi Arabia the Koran is regarded as a constitution.

Quote

Hossein Borudscherdi is ascribed the following quote on the occasion of the fall of Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953:

“We, the clergy, should found an Islamic state? [...] We would be a hundred times bigger criminals than those who are now in power. "

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Federal Agency for Civic Education, Peter Philipp: Islam in power. State of God Iran
  2. ↑ Shahrough Akhavi: Religion and Politics in Contemporary Iran . State University of New York Press, Albany 1980, ISBN 0-87-395408-4 , p. 66.
  3. ↑ Heinz Halm: The Schia. Darmstadt 1988, p. 153.
  4. ↑ Houchang Chehabi: Clergy and State in the Islamic Republic of Iran. 1993, p. 19.
  5. ^ Ayatollah Khomeini: The Islamic State. Translated from Persian and edited by Nader Hassan and Ilse Itscherenska, Klaus Schwarz Verlag, Berlin, pp. 28ff.
  6. ↑ Bernard Lewis: Islamic Revolution . The New York Review of Books, Volume 34, Number 21/22, January 21, 1988.
  7. ↑ Bahman Nirumand, Keywan Daddjou: With God for Power. A political biography of the Ayatollah Khomeini . Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1989, p. 88.