RECONSTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN CONTEMPORARY IRAN AND ITS IMPACT ON ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION

Aside from internal historical and intellectual factors contributing to the stagnation of the Islamic civilization in the last two decades, this civilization has faced a challenge in the fast growing and spreading civilization of the West. Islamic thinkers, in tandem with reconstructing religious thought, have made strenuous efforts to find an internal religious answer for the emancipation of Islamic world from the yoke of western civilization and culture. This mode of reconstruction has undoubtedly broadened the horizons for the revival of Islamic civilization, the most important manifestation of which can be found in the Islamic revolution of Iran as the most advanced link in the chain of contemporary Islamic movements. Such endeavors have successfully prevented Islamic world from becoming isolated under current world conditions. In this essay an attempt is made to explore the process of reconstruction of religious thought in the context of the relationship between religion and politics and the idea of Mahdiism in cotemporary Iran, and explain its impact on the revival of Islamic civilization.