An Analysis of the Political Stances of Behbahan Clerics in the Course of the Islamic Revolution

The stances and record of the Iranian clerics in their relations with the governments has been one of the important issues from the Constitutional Revolution till date. The intellectual and political concerns of the clerics about the government policies have had direct consequences in political and social arenas of the country. The clerics, as influential social groups whose viewpoints have been effective in the political society of Iran, from long time past until the Islamic Revolution, have taken various stances in sociopolitical developments of Iran. The present paper is an attempt to study the intellectual principles and political stances of the clerics of Behbahan city regarding the developments leading to the victory of the Islamic Revolution. Descriptive–analytical method has been employed to analyze the data. The clerics of the city may be classified into four groups: traditional (apolitical) clerics; conservative clerics; revolutionary clerics; and pro-Shah clerics. The stances of difference groups of clerics reflect their jurisprudential and political viewpoints that have materialized in the form of different political approaches. The viewpoints of the clerics were quite multifaceted in the course of political and revolutionary struggles.