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Iran at the Edge of Orthodoxy: Dissent, Authority, and the Politics of Belief (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798188176501)
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Roberto Minichini
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Description
xVery large-format edition, designed as both a substantial reference volume and an elegant object for a personal library, collection, or gift.
"Iran at the Edge of Orthodoxy" - "Dissent, Authority, and the Politics of Belief" examines more than thirteen centuries of conflict over religious legitimacy, political loyalty, mystical authority, philosophical inquiry, and condemned belief. From the Muslim conquest of the Sasanian Empire in the seventh century to the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1911, the Pahlavi monarchy established in 1925, the Revolution of 1979, and the formation of the Islamic Republic, the volume traces the changing boundaries between orthodoxy and dissent.
The narrative begins with the vocabulary used to classify religious danger, including zandaqa, ilḥād, ghuluww, bidʿa, and rafḍ. These terms could identify theological error, political rebellion, secret allegiance, or cultural survival. Zoroastrians, Christians, Jews, Manichaeans, and other communities continued to shape Iranian society after the Arab conquests, while memories of Mazdakism and pre-Islamic kingship remained politically powerful.
The book then enters the contested worlds of Persian mysticism and Islamic philosophy. The ecstatic language of Bāyazīd Basṭāmī, the execution of al-Ḥallāj in 922, and the later canonization of controversial saints reveal how scandal could become authorized spirituality. Abū Bakr al-Rāzī, Avicenna, al-Ghazālī, Suhrawardī, and Mullā Ṣadrā illuminate disputes over creation, prophecy, divine knowledge, resurrection, reason, and revelation.
Particular attention is devoted to the Nizari Ismaili state centred at Alamut from 1090 until its destruction by the Mongols in 1256. Moving beyond the mythology of the "Assassins," the volume reconstructs the fortresses as religious, political, agricultural, administrative, and intellectual communities. Their fall introduces a wider study of defeated doctrines that survived through secrecy, migration, poetry, Sufi language, messianic expectation, Ḥurūfism, and Nuqṭavism.
The Safavid conquest beginning in 1501 transformed a militant Sufi lineage into a territorial monarchy and established Twelver Shiʿism as the official confession of Iran. Qizilbash charisma, immigrant jurists, shrine administration, Muḥarram mourning, philosophy, hadith scholarship, and royal authority gradually produced a durable confessional order.
Under the Qajars, Usuli jurists, Sufi masters, Shaykhis, Bābīs, and Bahāʾīs competed within a public sphere shaped by printing, telegraphy, pilgrimage, commerce, and diplomacy. The declaration of the Bāb in 1844, his execution in 1850, and the persecutions of 1852 forced the monarchy and clerical establishment to redefine apostasy, rebellion, minority status, and state violence.
The final section examines constitutionalism, nationalism, the centralizing policies of Reżā Shah after 1925, the criticism of Aḥmad Kasravī, the revolutionary thought of ʿAlī Sharīʿatī, and the development of Ruhollah Khomeini's theory of wilāyat al-faqīh. After 1979, one theory of clerical authority became a constitutional system with new institutions of doctrinal supervision and new classifications of loyalty and dissent. Author's Profile
Roberto Minichini, born in Mainz in 1973, is an Italian writer, poet, essayist, and independent scholar living in Gorizia. His work explores Iranian history, Shiʿi Islam, Sufism, philosophy, comparative religion, Russian culture, astrology, esotericism, literature, and the history of ideas. He has also published novels, poetry, and numerous cultural and philosophical articles.
Author: Roberto Minichini
ISBN-13: 9798188176501
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 07/20/2026
Pages: 494
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.87lbs
Size: 10.00h x 7.00w x 0.99d
"Iran at the Edge of Orthodoxy" - "Dissent, Authority, and the Politics of Belief" examines more than thirteen centuries of conflict over religious legitimacy, political loyalty, mystical authority, philosophical inquiry, and condemned belief. From the Muslim conquest of the Sasanian Empire in the seventh century to the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1911, the Pahlavi monarchy established in 1925, the Revolution of 1979, and the formation of the Islamic Republic, the volume traces the changing boundaries between orthodoxy and dissent.
The narrative begins with the vocabulary used to classify religious danger, including zandaqa, ilḥād, ghuluww, bidʿa, and rafḍ. These terms could identify theological error, political rebellion, secret allegiance, or cultural survival. Zoroastrians, Christians, Jews, Manichaeans, and other communities continued to shape Iranian society after the Arab conquests, while memories of Mazdakism and pre-Islamic kingship remained politically powerful.
The book then enters the contested worlds of Persian mysticism and Islamic philosophy. The ecstatic language of Bāyazīd Basṭāmī, the execution of al-Ḥallāj in 922, and the later canonization of controversial saints reveal how scandal could become authorized spirituality. Abū Bakr al-Rāzī, Avicenna, al-Ghazālī, Suhrawardī, and Mullā Ṣadrā illuminate disputes over creation, prophecy, divine knowledge, resurrection, reason, and revelation.
Particular attention is devoted to the Nizari Ismaili state centred at Alamut from 1090 until its destruction by the Mongols in 1256. Moving beyond the mythology of the "Assassins," the volume reconstructs the fortresses as religious, political, agricultural, administrative, and intellectual communities. Their fall introduces a wider study of defeated doctrines that survived through secrecy, migration, poetry, Sufi language, messianic expectation, Ḥurūfism, and Nuqṭavism.
The Safavid conquest beginning in 1501 transformed a militant Sufi lineage into a territorial monarchy and established Twelver Shiʿism as the official confession of Iran. Qizilbash charisma, immigrant jurists, shrine administration, Muḥarram mourning, philosophy, hadith scholarship, and royal authority gradually produced a durable confessional order.
Under the Qajars, Usuli jurists, Sufi masters, Shaykhis, Bābīs, and Bahāʾīs competed within a public sphere shaped by printing, telegraphy, pilgrimage, commerce, and diplomacy. The declaration of the Bāb in 1844, his execution in 1850, and the persecutions of 1852 forced the monarchy and clerical establishment to redefine apostasy, rebellion, minority status, and state violence.
The final section examines constitutionalism, nationalism, the centralizing policies of Reżā Shah after 1925, the criticism of Aḥmad Kasravī, the revolutionary thought of ʿAlī Sharīʿatī, and the development of Ruhollah Khomeini's theory of wilāyat al-faqīh. After 1979, one theory of clerical authority became a constitutional system with new institutions of doctrinal supervision and new classifications of loyalty and dissent. Author's Profile
Roberto Minichini, born in Mainz in 1973, is an Italian writer, poet, essayist, and independent scholar living in Gorizia. His work explores Iranian history, Shiʿi Islam, Sufism, philosophy, comparative religion, Russian culture, astrology, esotericism, literature, and the history of ideas. He has also published novels, poetry, and numerous cultural and philosophical articles.
Author: Roberto Minichini
ISBN-13: 9798188176501
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 07/20/2026
Pages: 494
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.87lbs
Size: 10.00h x 7.00w x 0.99d
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