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Tendencies of Change in the Intellectual Life of Iran After 1979 Within the Framework of Abdolkarim Sorous‟S Ideas a Thesis S

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Tendencies of Change in the Intellectual Life of Iran After 1979 Within the Framework of Abdolkarim Sorous‟S Ideas a Thesis S TENDENCIES OF CHANGE IN THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE OF IRAN AFTER 1979 WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF ABDOLKARIM SOROUS‟S IDEAS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY ECE ADVĠYE IġIK IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MIDDLE EAST STUDIES JULY 2017 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Tülin GENÇÖZ Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Assist. Prof. Dr. Derya GÖÇER AKDER Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet OKYAYUZ Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Mehmet YETĠġ (Ankara Uni., SBKY) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet OKYAYUZ (METU, ADM) Assoc. Prof. Dr. KürĢad ERTUĞRUL (METU, ADM) PLAGIRISM I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name : Ece Adviye IġIK Signature : iii ABSTRACT TENDENCIES OF CHANGE IN THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE OF IRAN AFTER 1979 WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF ABDOLKARIM SOROUSH‟S IDEAS IĢık, Ece Adviye M.S., Middle East Studies Program Supervisor : Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet OKYAYUZ July 2017, 159 pages The aim of this thesis is to shed light to the tendencies of change in the intellectual life of Iran with the framework of the development of a religious intellectual‟s ideas, who is Abdolkarim Soroush. In this context, the focal point of this thesis will be to show that Iran has a potential to be changed and to be freed from her Islamic nature in time. In other words, this thesis aims to show that Iran has the tendency to change its Islamic character. For this purpose, this thesis also provides a comparison of the intellectual life in Iran before and after the revolution. Abdolkarim Soroush was a „unique‟ intellectual‟ in Iranian context since he had the ability to construct his ideas different from the other intellectual figures in Iran. This thesis benefited from the ideas of some important intellectuals of Iran; who were Ali Shari„ati, Mehdi Bazargan, and Murtaza Mutahhari, and also it benefited from the concept of „Liberal Islam‟, which had defined by Abdolkarim Soroush to show his uniqueness. Under the shed light of all of these points, throughout this thesis, the development of the political thought in Iran (starting iv from the beginning of 20th century) will be evaluated within the framework of Abdolkarim Soroush‟s political and religious ideas. Related to this target, also the effect of the Islamic revolution in the development of Abdolkarim Soroush‟s ideas will be explained. Keywords: Iran, Abdolkarim Soroush, religious intellectualism, Islamic revolution, history of political thought in Iran v ÖZ ABDÜLKERĠM SURUġ‟UN DÜġÜNCELERĠNĠN ÇERÇEVESĠNDE 1979 SONRASI ĠRAN ENTELEKTÜEL HAYATINDA DEĞĠġĠME OLAN EĞĠLĠMLER IĢık, Ece Adviye Yüksek Lisans, Orta Doğu AraĢtırmaları Tez Yöneticisi : Doç. Dr. Mehmet OKYAYUZ Temmuz 2017, 159 sayfa Bu tezin amacı, Ġran‟ın entelektüel hayatının değiĢime eğilimli olduğunu dini bir entelektüel olan Abdülkerim SuruĢ‟un düĢünceleri çerçevesinde göstermektir. Bu bağlamda, tezin odak noktası Ġran‟ın Ġslami özünden zamanla özgürleĢebilecek potansiyele sahip olduğunu göstermektir. BaĢka bir deyiĢle, bu tez Ġran‟ın, Ġslami yapısının değiĢim eğiliminde olduğunu göstermektedir. Bu amaçla, tez Ġran da devrim öncesi ve sonrası entelektüel hayatın karĢılaĢmasını da içermektedir. Abdülkerim SuruĢ‟un, Ġran bağlamında, entelektüel olarak „özel‟ olmasının sebebi kendisinden önceki entelektüellerden farklı bir düĢünce geliĢtirme yetisine sahip olmasıdır. Abdülkerim SuruĢ‟un özel bir entelektüel olduğunu gösterebilmek için bu tez Ġran‟ın önemli entelektüellerinin, örneğin Ali ġeriati, Mehdi Bazergan ve Murtaza Mutahhari‟nindüĢüncelerinden ve ayrıca Abdülkerim SuruĢ‟un „Liberal vi Ġslam‟ düĢüncesinden yararlanmaktadır. Tüm bu noktaların ıĢığında, bu tez boyunca, yirminci yüzyılın baĢından itibaren Ġran‟da siyasi düĢünce hayatının geliĢimi, Abdülkerim SuruĢ‟un düĢünceleri çerçevesinde değerlendirilecektir. Bu hedefe bağlı olarak, Ġslam devriminin Abdülkerim SuruĢ‟un düĢüncelerinin geliĢimi üzerindeki etkisi açıklanacaktır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Ġran, Abdülkerim SuruĢ, dini entelektüalizm, Ġslam devrimi, Ġran siyasi düĢünce tarihi DEDICATION vii To my grandmother, mother and Ayda SUNAL... viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to start by expressing my deepest appreciation and thanks to my dearest supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet OKYAYUZ for his patience, tolerance, guidance, encouragement, and advice throughout the research. I also would like to thank Assoc. Prof. Dr. KürĢad ERTUĞRUL and Prof. Dr. Mehmet YETĠġ for their reading and inputs to the thesis. In the second round, I want to express my tremendous gratitude to my grandmother and sister-in law, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ayda SUNAL, for encouraging me to have a master's degree and for supporting me throughout my research. Thirdly, I would like to thank my mother for believing in my potential. Her tolerance and support throughout my life helped me to find myself and to become passionate in what I believed. Without her guidance, I would not end up with such like thesis. I also would like to thank my aunt, Prof. Dr. Seyide Rümeysa DEMĠRDAMAR for her patience, advice, and guidance throughout my research. Lastly, I would like to thank my beloved sister and my love Berz for their tolerance, help, and support since the beginning of my master's degree. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIRISM ................................................................................................................ iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ iv ÖZ ................................................................................................................................ vi DEDICATION............................................................................................................ vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1.INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 2. ABDOLKARIM SOROUSH ................................................................................... 9 2.1. Life of Abdolkarim Soroush ............................................................................. 9 2.2. Development of Abdolkarim Soroush‟s Religious Ideas ............................... 13 2.2.1. Shi‟i Islam .............................................................................................. 14 2.2.2. Sufism ..................................................................................................... 17 2.2.3. Assessment of Abdolkarim Soroush‟s Religious Thoughts ................... 30 2.3. Development of Soroush‟s Political Thought ................................................ 33 2.3.1. Religion and Politics ............................................................................... 33 2.3.2. Soroush and Marx ................................................................................... 40 3. PRE-REVOLUTIONARY SETTING OF INTELLECTUAL LIFE IN IRAN................ 47 3.1. The Effect of Constitutional Revolution ....................................................... 49 3.2. Rule of Reza Shah ......................................................................................... 53 3.3. The Establishment ofTudeh Party ................................................................. 58 3.4. The Coup of 1953 .......................................................................................... 61 3.5. Intellectuals in Iran from 1960s to 1970s ...................................................... 66 3.6. Religious Intellectualism ............................................................................... 72 3.6.1. Ali Shari„ati ........................................................................................... 75 x 3.6.2. Mehdi Bazargan ................................................................................... 82 3.6.3. Ayatollah Mutahhari ........................................................................... 84 3.7. The Father of the Islamic Revolution: Ayatollah Khomeini ........................ 88 3.7.1. Constructing the Political Ideology of Khomeini ................................ 91 3.7.2. The Idea of Velayet-e Faqih ................................................................. 94 4.THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION AND ITS AFFECT ON INTELLECTUAL LIFE ...... 99 4.1. Political Atmosphere after the Revolution ................................................... 99 4.1.1. Politics and Economics under the Control of Khomeini ...................... 99 4.1.2. Factional Politics ................................................................................ 103 4.1.3. Rise of Khatami.................................................................................. 105 4.2. The Effect of Islamic Revolution on the Everyday Life of Ordinary People ...... 107 4.2.1. Cultural Revolution ..........................................................................
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