تاریخ نامه انقلاب
سال دوم شماره 2 (زمستان 1393 و بهار 1394)

Kashf ul-Asrar is among the most important works of Imam Khomeini, which plays an important role in better understanding of his political, ideological viewpoints. This work is a response to about 30-page note in which some questions were raised about Shia beliefs. Indeed, the book is a multidimensional scientific work containing different themes in defense of ideological ideas and beliefs of Shiaism as well as some criticisms against the then ruling system of Iran and introduction of fundamentals of Islamic government. The present paper is an attempt to topically classify the sources and references used in Imam’s book. The findings of this paper indicate that a considerable spectrum of sources in different fields of Islamic sciences including rational, traditional and narrative sources as well as those dealing with religious schools of thoughts, culture, history, jurisprudence etc. have been used by the Imam.

Upon the strengthening probability of the fall of Pahlavi regime and the emergence of a new system of government on the threshold of the Islamic Revolution, the preparation of the Constitution drew the attention of the Leader of Islamic Revolution and revolutionary groups. Since the new Constitution was regarded as the basis for rearrangement and clarification of the relations between the branches of government in the new structure of power in Iran, various political movements with a share in Islamic Revolution got involved in the issue with full strength to have maximum role and share in administrative affairs of the country. It was on this basis that new confrontations emerged among various discourses rising to power after the revolution. The disputes over the way of approval of the Constitution by the people and the presence or absence of the Constituent Assembly, discourse disputes on “Wilayat Faqih” or Islamic jurisprudence and provisions for its inclusion in the Constitution, requests for dissolution of the parliament and reviewing the Constitution by the dominated discourse were among the serious confrontations. Finally, a referendum was held to garner people’s opinion and it was approved by the absolute majority of the people who caste “Yes” votes in the ballot boxes. It remained unchanged for a decade, when upon a decree of Imam Khomeini, some jurists were assigned to review the Constitution and make amendments.

This study uses a historical-analytical viewpoint in a constructive-functional framework to analyze the political functionality of various religious processions in Iran (in the Islamic regiment) and their role in alleviating political crises. Here different kinds of religious groups with various features have been identified; but if we look at their political functionality, we can divide them into two broad categories: groups believing in conventional Islam (meaning the separation between religion and politics) and groups believing in political Islam (advocating the union between religion and politics). With this definition, one can say that the first group lacks a political functionality and is passive and submissive in political crises. But the second group has certain functionalities and tries to affect the political situation. This study uses various features and a historical framework to deconstruct the political role of different religious processions in Iran.

In the study of the contemporary history of Iran, especially the victory of Islamic Revolution, establishment of the Islamic Revolution Council can be taken as the first step towards institutionalization of the Islamic Republic system. Studying the need for and performance of this council in the developments in Iran - with respect to the vital conditions in the early years after the victory of Islamic Revolution – in various fields such as legislative and executive forces as well as directing the course of revolution in the light of the leadership of the Islamic movement is very important. This Revolution Council was established upon the prudence of Imam Khomeini and his comrades, since with the culmination of the Islamic Revolution and the appearance of various political parties there was a need for creation of a center to prevent any deviation from revolutionary tenets and to organize the course of fights and administration of the country after the revolution. This paper has tried to review and analyze the above-17-month performance of the Council of Islamic Revolution in its various periods from new angles.

Despite the culmination of Constitutional Movement and the shift in government structure from despotic monarchy to constitutional government, as well as the efforts and endeavors of the majority of Parliament members in its early periods to play a role in political developments and their tendency toward decentralization, the role of provinces and regions in macro decision making level was gradually diminished. With the rise to the power of Pahlavi despotic regime, centralization turned to be one of the major pillars of Pahlavi government. In contemporary Iranian history, centralization and decentralization have been always associated with development and underdevelopment with short and long ups and downs. In this period, the country has experienced both getting closer to political development and getting far from it, but the relationship between centralization and political underdevelopment on one hand, and decentralization and political development on the other hand have been paid serious attention. It is clear that talking about political developments in contemporary Iranian history and studying the quality of these developments is rather difficult due to diversity of subjects and a wide spectrum of the discussable fields. Therefore, in this paper, we will try to understand the reasons for one of the major disputes in contemporary Iranian history, i.e. the highly discussed issue of centralization and decentralization, since there is no well-documented and firm study on this issue. The principal question of this paper is: What is the relationship between political development and centralization in contemporary Iranian history, and, what was the influence of Constitutional Movement and Islamic Revolution on reciprocal relationship between the two?

The highly circulated newspapers went on the longest strike ever in the last year of the regime of Pahlavi.The two-month strike began on Nov. 6, 1978 and ended on Jan. 6, 1979, concurrent with the premiership of Gholamreza Azhari. The invasion of the buildings of Ettela’at, Kayhan and Ayandegan newspapers, arresting journalists and issuing arrest warrants for a number of other press activists sparked the strike. This paper intends to study the consequences of the two-month strike in 1978-1979 based on the first-hand documents specially a large volume of the newspapers of the time. The paper has finally come to the conclusion that formation of the two-month press strike fuelled disputes and war of pens between the proponent and opponent journalists on one hand, and brought about development of other ways and means of information dissemination on the other hand. Large groups of people joined the strike who considered the press a new force in their fight against the regime. The result of this support was extreme public welcome and a sharp rise in the circulation of the newspapers. After resumption of publication, with respect to the new political atmosphere, the newspapers performed better information dissemination on the fateful events of that critical period of time.