Iran

Historical Iran

Iran is home to one of the world's ancient civilizations. Throughout history, Iran has witnessed notable achievements in literature, philosophy, [Page 570]science, and art. In 632 CE, Arabs attacked Iran and paved the way for the Islamic conquest of Persia. In time, Iranians converted to Islam, but the country's scholars worked hard to protect and revive the Persian language and culture. Historians such as Richard Frye believe that it was Iranian culture that helped give birth to the great Islamic civilization during its golden years. Like most great civilizations, the trials and tribulations of history began to take a toll on the Persian Empire. In 1219, the Mongols attacked Iran, but after years of ruling Iran, they failed to have an impact on the Iranian culture. In fact, it was the conquerors who began to take to the Iranian way of life.

At the start of the 16th century, the Safavid Dynasty triumphed in reunifying the country as an independent state. Another historic decision by the Safavids at that time was to make Shi'a Islam the official religion of the country. From that point on, Iranians openly practiced the teachings of Shi'a Islam. However, Iranian intellectuals, particularly sociologist Ali Shariati, have harshly criticized the Safavids for their political use of religion. Shariati believes that this move dealt a devastating blow to Shi'i in terms of its originality and consistency with real Islam, which was practiced by the first imam of the Shi'i, Ali. The Safavids used force to compel the masses into practicing the new form of Shi'a, and Shi'ite credos were exploited to justify political ambitions.

By 1906, the rule of the corrupt and weakened Mozzafar-al-Din Shah led to protests, which ultimately resulted in the country's Constitutional Revolution and the establishment of the first parliament. When Mohammad Reza Pahlavi came to power in 1925, Iran was ready for a transition to democracy. Nevertheless, the new Shah proved to be little improvement over his predecessors, and his rule became increasingly autocratic. Reza Shah crushed all forms of political opposition with the help of his infamous intelligence agency, SAVAK (Sazamane Etelaat Va Amniate Kechvar, “Iranian Security and Intelligence Service”). It was during the reign of his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi that Iran's first democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, was deposed in a coup with the support of the British Secret Intelligence Service and the CIA. Ayutollah Ruhallah Khomeini seized the moment and invested in people's discontent with the Shah, publicly denouncing the monarchy. His criticism was not tolerated, and 2 days after a fiery speech on the Ashura of 1963, Khomeini was arrested and ultimately exiled. Following his exile, strikes and demonstrations literally paralyzed the country. The Shah fled Iran in January 1979, and Khomeini returned from exile to Tehran. On April 1, 1979, Iran became an Islamic Republic, and for the second time in history, Shi'a became the official religion of Iran with its teachings taking center stage. Today, Khomeini's teachings and precedents have evolved into a system of government that combines elements of Islamic theocracy with bits of democracy.

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