Iran's first revolution : Shi'ism and the constitutional revolution of 1905-1909 / Mangol Bayat.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bayat, Mangol.

Series:

Studies in Middle Eastern history (New York, N.Y.)

Studies in Middle Eastern history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Iran--History--1905-1911.

Iran.

History.

Islam and politics--Iran.

Islam and politics.

Physical Description:

316 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1991.

Summary:

In order to understand Iran's religious revolution of 1978-1979, it is important to look closely at an earlier revolution in the country, the constitutional revolution of 1905-1909. This revolution, which resulted in the establishment of Iran's first parliamentary democracy, was a seminal event in the country's history. The most thorough and comprehensive history of the revolution to date, Bayat's book examines the uneasy alliance of clerical, bureaucratic, landowning, and mercantile elements that won the support of the masses for a more democratic government, especially the clerical dissidents that gave the revolution an aura of religious legitimacy. Bayat argues that the recent religious revival in Iran is much less surprising when one sees how constitutionalists at the beginning of the century had to couch their calls for reform in the language of the Koran, claiming that political reforms constituted a return to Islam.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

019506822X

OCLC:

23688395