I The Guardian anmelder James Buchan en 900-sider tykk bok: Ahmad Kasravis “Tarikh-e Mashrute-ye Iran”, eller som den heter på engelsk: ”History of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution”. Boka er ikke ny. Den kom ut på arabisk i 1921, og deretter på persisk utover 30-tallet. Nå foreligger den altså på engelsk.
Kasravis bok gir et grundig bakteppe for å forstå røttene til dagens konflikt mellom liberale krefter og religiøst konservative i Iran. Buchan sammenfatter det slik:
Kasravi recounts how the spontaneous alliance of clergy, bazar, craftsmen and intellectuals forged in 1905-6 disintegrated when the Shia clergy became aware of some of the wider consequences of Enlightenment ideas. They were shocked to learn that liberty included liberty not to pray or wash, and equality might even be extended to Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians. In short, the new parliament, instead of merely interpreting and enforcing the divine law known as sharia, would actually give law to the Muslims. As Kasravi writes: “The interests of the mass of people diverged from those of the mullahs and village owners, particularly in Tabriz, where liberal ferment was more effective.” Meanwhile, the liberals had the bit between their teeth: “Those who had visited Europe recalled things about the European way of life which they brought home like souvenirs.” Many of the clergy turned against the revolution, including the most learned and courageous of the Tehran divines, Sheikh Fazlollah Nuri, who was to be a firm influence on Khomeini. Sheikh Fazlollah was executed by the constitutionalists on 31 July 1909.
This break in the alliance between clergy and liberals is the dominant theme or tragedy of modern Iranian history. It has permitted a succession of government coups d’etat, first when the Qajars’ Cossack forces bombarded the parliament in 1908, and then in 1921 when a Cossack officer named Reza Khan seized power and established the Pahlavi dynasty. Reza, and then his son Muhammad Reza, imposed despotic government for much of the period from 1925 to 1979.
Under the Pahlavis, the clergy conspired in the royal coup against the popular government of Muhammad Mossadeq in 1953, while the liberals turned a blind eye to the persecution of the clergy both in the 1930s and after Khomeini took on the Pahlavi court in 1963 and was driven into exile. The two groups composed or papered over their differences in the late 1970s, when it seemed that for a second time Iran was being sold to foreigners under Muhammad Reza. Together they were able to mobilise millions of demonstrators over the winter of 1978/79 and send Muhammad Reza into exile. The Iraqi invasion of 1980 and the eight years of war forged a solidarity that persisted into the 1990s.
These two wings split apart again soon after polls closed on 12 June this year.
