Religionization of Political Power: A Preface to the Status of Security in the Thinking and Practice of Shii Jurisprudents in the Safavid Era

Following the domination of Caliphate current especially after its transformation into monarchy, we witnessed the deprivation of the Shii denomination from having a government. Consequently, the pattern of “spoiled government” was introduced as the dominant discourse for the analysis of the conditions and proposing solutions. Although the prevalence of this discourse lasted for a long time due to political circumstances, the rise of the Safavid dynasty provided the grounds for the appearance of a new discourse in the area of the Shii political thinking. The author has described this new discourse as making political power religious. This discourse is founded on three principles including: Principle one: circulation of power which implies the production of soft power and its reproduction within the framework of the Shii political jurisprudence organization. Principle two: circulation of method which indicates the transition of Shii jurisprudents from mere realism to committed idealism.Principle three: circulation in the ideational organization of power which implies the presence of Shii jurisprudents instead of political philosophers in the production of political theory creating or supporting the government.On this basis, the author addresses the reasons for and quality of the Shii jurisprudents’ attention to political power and support for it. Then, he traces and extrapolates the place of security in the new discourse drawing on the main thrusts of political thoughts of scholars such as Mohaghegh Karki, Moghaddas Ardabili, Feyz Kashani, Mohaghegh Sabzevari and Allameh Majlesi.