Sunni Kurdish clergies and the Concern of Recognition: A Qualitative Study of the Political action of Sunni clerics in Iranian Kurdistan

Despite the connection between religion and politics during the Islamic Republic of Iran and the active participation of Shiite clerics in politics, the political action of Sunni clerics in Kurdistan has taken on different aspects. The authors of the present study attempt to identify the forms of political action, the effective contexts and its consequences on the individual and social life of the clerics by analyzing the experiences and understandings of a sample of Sunni clerics in Sanandaj. This research is conducted using a grounded theory method. To do this, 27 clerics of  Sanandaj have been interviewed. Our results indicate that contexts such as "disruption of citizenship", "decline of religious and identity tolerance", "disruption of institutional relations", "political mistrust" and "limited available resources" have limited the arena for the political action of clerics in Sanandaj. Therefore, the clerics who were interviewed experience a feeling of political powerlessness and despite the political concern and the emphasis on political organization as the necessity of political activity, they are disappointed with the formal institutional channels to pursue their demands. They are politically isolated and disappointed with the ballot box, and inevitably, have turned to cultural actions. Political action for clerics has resulted in consequences such as "social deprivation" and "decline of public trust", which refers to the core category of "disruption and inequality in social recognition".