Sociological Construing of the Role of the Ulama in the Social and Political Changes of Contemporary Iranian Society

In this qualitative study, which was prepared by the hermeneutic method, we tried to answer this question, “what is the role of ulama in contemporary developments in Iranian society?” The result was that; during the wars of Iran and Russia, the Qajars demanded the participation of ulama in war due to the despair of internal and external factors. The Ulema issued a fatwa for Jihad for eliminating the risk of foreigners dominating the Muslim community. People responded enthusiastically to the request and sincerely to their fatwa. But with the belief that these victories were to be recorded in the name of the ulama, the Qajar leaders retreated and signed the shameful treaties. However, the Ulema backed the people against the privileges of the Naseri age and by issuing the Fatwa, started the first contemporary social movement of Iran against domestic tyranny and foreign colonialism. This movements provided the basis for the Constitutional Revolution. The Ulema in the Constitutional Revolution, through a new reading and a new interpretation of religion, formalized constitutionalism to reduce the powers of the Shah. During the Pahlavi era, the Ulema stood against the making of a non-religious community by the Pahlavi kings, so some of them were killed, imprisoned and exiled. Finally, Imam Khomeini, was inspired by the tobacco movement, the Constitutional Revolution, forty-two revolt, and the elimination of the weakness of the political thought of the Ulema, by intruducing the Velayat-e Faqih thought, leading the ulama to the great revolution of Iran. In sum, ulama played a corrective role during the Qajar period. In a sociological reduction, they called the kings deputies of the imams, which meant that Shah's authority was reduced in the people's spiritual and intellectual status. But during the Pahlavi period, the Ulema assumed the role of the opposition of power by a theory of choosing the Shah, by a group of prominent scholars. This role ultimately culminated in the ulama political rule and leadership.