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Legitimating Revolt: Classical Legal Thought And The Birth Of Political Islam, Andrew V. Moshirnia

Andrew V Moshirnia

Scholars typically identify the Tobacco Movement in Nineteenth-Century Iran as the key moment when the ulama, or Muslim clergy, emerged as a political force. While theorists have suggested that religious reform or the Marxist class struggle caused this event, these explanations fail to account for the Movement’s emphasis on the will of the individual, the need for systematized laws, and the involvement of women. These attributes are hallmarks of Classical Legal Thought, the dominant legal consciousness of the era. Two key reformers, Sayyid Jamal ad-Din (“Afghani”) and Mirza Malkum Khan (“Malcom”), used the language of Classical Legal Thought in painting …