The concept of secularization in the second Pahlavi discourse and its challenges (1357-1332)

Document Type : Research Paper I Open Access I Released under (CC BY-NC 4.0) license

Authors

1 Associate Professor at the Department of The History and Civilization of Islamic Nation, Payame Noor University (PNU), Tehran, Iran

2 PhD, Department of History, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran

3 , Assistant Professor, Department of History and Civilization of Islamic Nations, Faculty of Theology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.

4 Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The present study examines the process of secularization in the Pahlavi II era, emphasizing its relationship with the historical, cultural, and religious context of Iranian society. The main goal of the article is to analyze how the secular policies of the Pahlavi II regime were formed and failed to achieve legitimacy and social institutionalization. This study uses a descriptive-analytical method and historical and documentary sources to analyze the official discourse of the ruling party and competing discourses - especially religious and traditionalist discourse. The findings show that secularization policies in Iran, unlike Western societies that emerged from their historical developments, were of an adaptive and top-down nature and acted in conflict with the religious and cultural values ​​and beliefs of the society. This inconsistency led to the formation of a crisis in the semantic system, divergence between the government and social forces, and ultimately the loss of the political legitimacy of the regime. Religious discourse led by Imam Khomeini (RA) was able to become the dominant discourse of society by reinterpreting religious concepts and relying on Iranian-Islamic cultural identity and prepared the ground for the collapse of the Pahlavi regime.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Publisher: University of Tabriz       Copyright © The Authors   

   

 

This is an open access article distributed under the following Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

References

  1.  

    1. Ābādīān, H. (1383). Do dah-e vāpasīn-e hokūmat-e Pahlavī. Tehran: Mo’asseseh-ye Motāle‘āt va Pazhūheshhā-ye Sīyāsī.
    2. Ābrāhāmīān, Y. (1388). Irān beyn-e do enqelāb (A. G. Mohammadi & M. E. Fattāhī, Trans.). Tehran: Nashr-e Nī.
    3. Aḥmadī Tāleshīān, M. R. (1388). Tahavvol-e mafhūm-e ḥākem-e jāyer dar feqh-e sīyāsī-ye Shī‘eh. Tehran: Markaz-e Asnād-e Enqelāb-e Eslāmī.
    4. Akhvān Monfared, H. R. (1381). Īdeʾolūzhī-ye Enqelāb-e Irān. Tehran: Enteshārāt-e ‘Oruj.
    5. Azghandī, S. ‘A. (1385). Nokhbegān-e sīyāsī-ye Irān beyn-e do enqelāb. Tehran: Nashr-e Qoms.
    6. Azghandī, S. ‘A. (1386). Tārīkh-e tahavvolāt-e sīyāsī va ejtemā‘ī-ye Irān (1320–57). Tehran: Enteshārāt-e SAMT.
    7. Afshār Kohan, J., Belālī, E., & Soleymān-Pūr, M. ‘A. (1390). Barrasi-ye vaz‘iyat-e ‘orfi shodan-e dāneshjooyān va barkhī ‘avāmel-e mo’asser bar ān. Jāme‘e-shenāsī-ye Kārbordī, 1, 135–158.
    8. Bāzargān, M. (1375). Shast sāl-e khedmat va moqāvemat: Khāterāt-e Mohandes Mahdi Bāzargān dar goftogū bā Sarhang Gholamrezā Nejātī. Tehran: Rasā.
    9. Berger, P. L. (1380). Mowj-e novin-e sekolārzdā’ī (Afshār Amīrī, Trans.). Rahbord, 20, 287–304.
    10. Pezeshkī, M., et al. (1379). Enqelāb-e Eslāmī va cherā’ī va chegūnī-ye rokhdād ān. Tehran: Nashr-e Ma‘āref.
    11. Pahlavī, M. R. (1371). Pāsokh be tārīkh (H. Ābūtorābīān, Trans.). Tehran: Nāshar-e Motarjem.
    12. Hezb-e Irān-e Nowin be revāyat-e Sāwāk. (1380). Tehran: Markaz-e Barrasi-e Asnād-e Tārīkhī (Vol. 1).
    13. Ḥoseynī-Zādeh, S. M. ‘A. (1389). Eslām-e sīyāsī dar Irān. Qom: Dāneshgāh-e Mofīd.
    14. Ḥoseynī, H. (1381). Rahbarī va Enqelāb (Naqsh-e Āmām Khomeynī dar Enqelāb-e Eslāmī-ye Irān). Tehran: Enteshārāt-e ‘Oruj.
    15. Jaznī, B. (n.d.). Tārīkh-e sī sāl-e Irān. [n.p.].
    16. Jafarī, A., & Abū‘Alī Aqdasi, A. (1392). Enqelāb-e Eslāmī: Te’oryāhā va kārbordhā, naqd-e nazariyeh-hā-ye gharb-gerāyaneh be Enqelāb. Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Zeytūn Sabz.
    17. Khomeynī, S. R. (1387). Ṣaḥīfeh-ye Āmām. Tehran: Enteshārāt-e ‘Oruj.
    18. Khomeynī, S. R. (1378). Velāyat-e faqīh: Hokūmat-e Eslāmī. Tehran: Mo’asseseh-ye Tanzīm va Nashr-e Āsār-e Emām Khomeynī.
    19. Rehdār, A. (1392). Barrasi va naqd-e te’oryāhā-ye Enqelāb-e Eslāmī-ye Irān (Te’orye-ye T. Skocpol). Qom: Daftar-e Nashr-e Ma‘āref.
    20. Serājzādeh, S. H., & Puyāfar, M. R. (1391). Motāle‘eh-ye ‘orfi shodan dar miyān-e Irāniān-e mosalmān: Moqāyesh-e beyn-e naslī dar Tehrān-e Bozorg. Nashrieh-ye Motāle‘eh-ye Tose‘eh-ye Ejtemā‘ī-ye Irān, 4, 65–88.
    21. Sullivan, W., & Parsons, A. (1375). Khāterāt-e do safīr (M. Tolū‘ī, Trans.). Tehran: Nashr-e ‘Elm.
    22. Shainz, L. (1379). Mafhūm-e sekolār shodan dar pazhūheshhā-ye tajrobī. (S. Serājzādeh, Trans.). Zabān va Adab-e Fārsi, 30–31, 99–121.
    23. Shīkhī, E. (1382). Rahīāfti-ye no dar tabyīn-e cherā’ī-ye Enqelāb-e Eslāmī. Isfahan: Dādiyār.
    24. ‘Azīmī Dowlat-Ābādī, A. (1389). Enqelābī-ye porjāzebe. Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Amīr Kabīr.
    25. ‘Eyvāzī, M. R. (1378). Roshd-e mabānī-ye fekrī va tahavvol-e farhang-e sīyāsī dar Enqelāb-e Eslāmī. Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Beyn-al-Melalī al-Mahdī.
    26. ‘Enāyat, H. (1377). Enqelāb-e Eslāmī: Mazhab dar qāleb-e īde’olūzhī-ye sīyāsī. (A. Sa‘īdollāhī, Trans.). Faslnāmeh-ye Ettelā‘āt-e Sīyāsī–Eqtesādī, 137–138, 42–51.
    27. Farātī, ‘Abdolvahhāb (Ed.). (1376). Daramadī bar risheh-hā-ye Enqelāb-e Eslāmī (Majmū‘eh-ye maqālāt). Qom: Enteshārāt-e Ma‘āref.
    28. Qarah-Bāghī, ‘A. (1360). Haqāyeq darbāreh-ye bohran-e Irān. Paris: Sāzmān-e Chāp va Enteshārāt-e Sohail.
    29. Kedi, N. R. (1377). Risheh-hā-ye Enqelāb-e Irān (A. G. Tavhī, Trans.). Tehran: Nashr-e Qalam.
    30. Kedīvar, J. (1378). Tahavvol-e goftemān-e Shī‘eh dar Irān. Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Tarh-e No.
    31. Kafāsh, O. (1391). Daramadī-ye taḥlīlī bar Enqelāb-e Eslāmī-ye Irān. Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Faranamā.
    32. Kūhestānī-Nezhād, M. (1383). Ekhtiyārāt va lavāyeh-ye qānūnī-ye Dr. Mohammad Mosaddeq. Tehran: Nashr-e Nī.
    33. Kiūpit, D. (1376). Daryā-ye Īmān (H. Kāmeshād, Trans.). Tehran: Tarh-e No.
    34. Gravand, M., Sūrī, I., & Sūrī Lakī, M. ‘A. (1396). Vākāvi-ye zamineh-hā-ye tārīkhī-ye forūpāshī-ye nezm-e soltānī va kāhesh-e maqbūliyyat-e hokūmat-e Pahlavī-ye dovom. Faslnāmeh-ye Sīyāsat, 4(13), 5–21.
    35. Gībernā, M. (1378). Mākāteb-e nāsyūnālism: Nāsyūnālism va dowlat–mellat dar qarn-e bistom (A. M. Ejtehādī, Trans.). Tehran: Vezārat-e ‘Omūr-e Khārejeh.
    36. Lakzā’ī, N. (1391). Tahavvolāt-e sīyāsī–ejtemā‘ī-ye Irān-e mo‘āser. Qom: Pazhūheshgāh-e Olūm va Farhang-e Eslāmī.
    37. Lakzā’ī, N., & Aḥmadī, M. (1377). Zamineh-hā-ye Enqelāb-e Eslāmī-ye Irān. Qom: Mo’asseseh-ye Farhangī va Enteshārātī-ye A’immeh (ʿA).
    38. Moshīrī, F. (1384). Dowlat va Enqelāb-e Ejtemā‘ī dar Irān. Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Qasideh-Sarā.
    39. Moṣābeh-hā-ye Emām Khomeynī. (1386). Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Tasnīm.
    40. Malek-Mohammadi, H. R. (1381). Az towse‘eh-ye larzān tā soqūt-e shetabān. Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Markaz-e Asnād-e Enqelāb-e Eslāmī.
    41. Nāmdār, M. (1376). Rahīāfti bar maktab-hā va jonbesh-hā-ye sīyāsī-ye Shī‘eh dar sad sāl-e akhar. Tehran: Pazhūheshgāh-e Olūm-e Ensānī va Motāle‘āt-e Farhangī.
    42. Nasrī, M. (1390). Dānestah-hā va nadānestah-hā-ye yek Enqelāb (60 porsesh va pasokh). Isfahan: Enteshārāt-e Ḥadīth-e Rāh-e ‘Eshq.
    43. Woblem, J. B. (1377). Jāme‘e-shenāsī-ye adiyān (A. G. Tavhī, Trans.). Tehran: Tebyān.
    44. Sāzmān-e Asnād-e Enqelāb-e Eslāmī. (n.d.-a). Shomāre-ye sanad 002387003.
    45. Sāzmān-e Asnād-e Enqelāb-e Eslāmī. (n.d.-b). Shomāre-ye sanad 002387005.
    46. Sāzmān-e Asnād-e Enqelāb-e Eslāmī. (n.d.-c). Shomāre-ye sanad 00609010.
Iranian History of Culture
Volume 2, Issue 2
September 2025
Pages 106-122

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 14 August 2025
  • Revise Date: 27 October 2025
  • Accept Date: 02 November 2025
  • Publish Date: 23 September 2025

Share

How to cite

Statistics