A Sceptical Islamist

Paper on the thought of Ali Shariati (September 2007)

In a footnote to the paper on Imam Khomeini that I posted a few days ago, I referred to a paper on Ali Shariati that I had written in 2007. A couple of people have asked that I post that as well. So here it is.

Dr Ali Shariati, who died in London in June 1977, was among the most important figures of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, which unfortunately he did not live to see; and yet, 30 years after his death, his contribution and legacy are largely forgotten. During the 1970s, his lectures and writings played a crucial role in preparing young Iranians, brought up during the secularising and “Westoxicated” policies of the Shah’s regime, for the possibility of Islamic rule. This paper analyses major elements of his thought, particularly his belief that Muslims need what Dr Kalim Siddiqui would later call “an intellectual revolution” in their understanding of Islam.

My introduction to a book on Imam Khomeini (June 2009)

In June this year, to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of Imam Khomeini, Crescent International and the Islamic Books Trust, Kuala Lumpur, published Imam Khomeini: Life, Thought and Legacy, a book of essays on his life and thought. I contributed the introduction to this volume. This is an abridged version of that introduction, as published in the June issue of Crescent International.

Iran’s real crime: refusing to venerate the West’s holy cows

"In the West, and in the westernised elites of the rest of the world, even those who criticise the policies of Western powers, and the working of international institutions, seldom question the myths on which they are based. Iran’s real crime is that it does precisely that. Its refusal to allow the Western powers to dictate its energy policy, through the spurious authority of the UN and the IAEA, is bad enough. The fact is it is doing so not only on grounds of its interests, but because it rejects the mythical moral foundations of that authority (the same foundations that supposedly legitimise the zionist state) makes it not just an outlaw, but a revolutionary threat..."