Political Islam, the Ideology of the Islamic Revolution

The contemporary history of Iran has witnessed the presence of different political ideologies, including liberalism, socialism, and nationalism, in conjunction with Islam. Referring to competing ideologies, this article deals with Islam, as the established ideology of the Islamic Revolution, and the reasons why the Islamic Revolution succeeded in achieving its goals. The common elements between the above-mentioned ideologies are their being non-native, foreign, imitative, and incompatible or incongruent with religious thinking and culture. Due to the presence of inspiring and epoch-making doctrines of Islam like leadership and the guardianship of the Muslim ShiÝi jurists in the Occultation period, the idea of taking despotic rules illegitimate and the congruity of the political thought of ShiÝism and religious and national culture of Iran, the Islamic thought, despite its ups and downs throughout history, has been the most effective ideology in making changes in the contemporary history of Iran, especially in the Islamic revolution.