The Constitution of Iran

This work offers an insight into the ideology and practice of an Islamic state. Political life in Iran is analyzed and chronicled, showing the gradual transformation of the state from intended theocracy and republic to a heirocracy in which Islam and the shari'a play a subordinate role. The book takes as its starting point the major contradictions inherent in the constitution - between its legalistic and democratic components and between the alleged potential of a legally and ideologically interpreted Islam as a means of solving social problems, and the growing evidence that this Islam is an inadequate legal and political basis for government in present-day Iran. It charts the gradual replacement of Islamic legalism with the interest of the state as the key criterion for dealing with problems arguing that in this manner a separation of state and religion is taking place. Finally, the book points to a growing crisis of the shari'a and the religious seminaries as the self-appointed guardians of the shari'a. This crisis has opened the way for possible developments in the Islam of the future.