Regional and Global Stability of the Islamic Revolution
As far as the regional and global consequences of the Revolution of Iran is concerned, there are four main theories all of which feature the influence of Islamic and religious factors and ideological attitudes toward foreign policy in post-revolution Iran.
A) John Esposito, the President of the Middle East Studies Association and the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies, believes that the Iranian Revolution created a new movement in the Islamic world with which the Islamic states could survive and have more independence from the West. According to him, the Iranian Revolution had several major features that led to its expansion. Islamic universality and the export of the Revolution are among these features, and the leaders of the Revolution considered the latter not a revolutionary movement, but the result of the former. Other features of this Revolution, such as idealism and popularism, gave the people and especially the oppressed hopes and aspirations.
B) The Iranian Revolution was an ideological one. Shirin Hunter believes that this Revolution, by proposing unique ideological concepts, has, in fact, expressed opposition to liberalism and Marxism. The reason for the opposition of the East and the West to this Revolution at that time can be summarized as follows: 1) the high potential of this Revolution to be spread to other parts of the world, especially the Middle East; 2) the presence of many Shi’ahs in the Persian Gulf region which in turn was seen as a threat to the allies of the West in the region. Moreover, introducing The Iranian Revolution as the last important revolution in the Third World, she considers its compatibility with external realities as a condition of its survival.
C) The Iranian Revolution represents political Islam in the world. “By introducing ‘political Islam,’ The Iranian Revolution showed that the powerful dictatorial regimes also fall with popular movements, and according to that Islam, countries can grow and prosper using domestic resources; also, because of such spirit of independence-seeking and the power of the popular movement, the West and United States is very concerned about the expansion of that movement,” said Robert Bekhart, the correspondent of the International Community Institute, who was in Iran after the success of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
D) The Islamic Revolution of Iran completely changed the socio-political situation and foreign policy of the country. Gary Sick, the former adviser to the United States National Security Council, believes that although The Iranian Revolution did not bring about similar changes in regional governments and they did not follow Iran’s example, Iran has always maintained itself as a powerful country in the Middle East.
Exporting the Islamic Revolution to other Parts of the World
According to Imam Khomeini (ra), the phenomenon of exporting the Revolution is rooted in its Islamic nature and a movement for Islam cannot be confined to one country, and even the Islamic countries. Therefore, we must export our Revolution to the world, support the oppressed, and put aside the view that we should not export our Revolution because Islam does not differentiate between Muslim countries and supports all the oppressed people.
Reflections of the Islamic Revolution of Iran
Islamic Revolution influenced the Islamic movements in three ways:
1) Providing the religious movements with intellectual and ideological nourishment: Islamic Revolution strengthened the intellectual and ideological foundations of these movements and assisted them in advancing their struggles by reviving Islam and its key concepts and promoting the spirit of martyrdom among Islamic movements along with highlighting concepts such as “martyrdom” and “jihad.”
2) Creating a spirit of anti-oppression and anti-authoritarianism among these movements: also, the Islamic Revolution created a spirit of anti-oppression and anti-authoritarianism among the Islamic movements by presenting policies and strategies such as inviting Islamic nations and movements to return to the original Islamic values and presenting its experience in fighting imperialism as well as inviting the anti-imperialist Islamic movements to follow the Islamic Revolution as a role model.
3) Introducing the methods of struggle to these movements: the emphasis of the Islamic Revolution on Islam as the axis of struggle places it at the center of the attention of the Islamic movements, and hence mosques and religious leaders began to enjoy a special position among the members of these movements.
Islamic Movements in Central Asia
Islamic Movements after the Collapse of the Soviet Union
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, three movements in Central Asia expanded their activities: 1) the Islamic Movement of Tajikistan, 2) the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and 3) Hizb at-Tahrir.
In order to recognize the roots, ideas and objectives of these movements, one must first determine the type and typology of such movements. All Islamic movements originate from the Islamic Awakening Movement founded by Sayyed Jamaluddin Asadabadi. By calling on Muslims to unite and put aside their differences, this movement considered confronting colonialism a way that leads to the success of Muslims while introducing the return to the teachings of Islam and reviving the Islamic traditions and values as the best way of struggle.
When studying the Islamic movements and their affiliated organizations and groups, one can divide them based on their approach towards the reason for returning to Islam. Some believe that the reason for returning to Islam is solving the problems of Muslims, while others state that the problems of Muslims will be resolved by returning to Islam. These two groups have created a wide movement in the Islamic world such that one may use the two terms Islamic Revolution and Salafism for describing them.
A) Salafism: This group believes that Islamic principles should be learned and expressed in the same way as in the time of the Companions and Followers of the Prophet’s Companions — according to the Holy Qur’an and sunnah — scholars should be prevented from referring to the sources and reasons other than Qur’anic arguments, and one cannot use rational and logical methods (philosophy and logic) to understand Islamic beliefs.
B) The Islamic Revolution: in contrast to the view of the Salafis, there is another view that accepts the return to Islam and Prophetic tradition and also takes into account the needs of human society and adapts them to Islamic principles, a view which is called the idea of the “Islamic Revolution”: this view includes both Sunni and Shi’ah religious groups. The government of Pakistan during the Zia al-Haqq administration — which had the idea of returning to Islam — and the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran can be considered the Sunni and Shi’ah examples of this idea respectively.
What distinguishes the Shi’ah and Sunni Islamic Revolution is the concept of ijtihad, a human tool for distinguishing right from wrong that can solve the needs of today’s human society by invoking Islamic principles.
Islamic Movement of Tajikistan
During the Soviet era and following the establishment of the Islamic Revival Party, politically active Muslims in Tajikistan, given their national characteristics, sought to establish the Islamic Movement Party in this republic in line with the Islamic Revival Party.
All intellectual groups in Tajikistan saw Iran as the source of inspiration for their cultural revival and, similar to other religious groups, were inclined toward this country. The Islamic Movement also views Iran as an ideological base, and Nour Khanzadeh emphasizes the expansion of his organization and the government of Tajikistan.
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, like the Islamic Movement of Tajikistan, constitutes a group of Uzbek forces who were familiar with the Soviet-led Islamic Revival Party. Two figures were the prominent leaders of this movement: first, Tahir Yuldashev, who was the religious and intellectual leader. Second, Juma Namangani was the military commander of the movement.
This movement had direct relations with the Taliban. The announcement that Juma Namangani is the amir (leader) of Central Asia meant that the Islamic State of Uzbekistan represented the Taliban. This factor enabled the group to train its forces in Taliban camps. They also received funding from the bin Laden-led al-Qaeda network.
Hizb at-Tahrir
In 1953, the Islamic Hizb at-Tahrir, known as Hizb at-Tahrir, first seceded from the Muslim Brotherhood by Taqiuddin al-Nahbani in Jerusalem and quickly spread through the Middle East, North Africa, and then Southeast Asia. According to its official website, Hizb at-Tahrir is a political party whose ideology is based on Islam. It aims to return the Muslim community of the world to an Islamic lifestyle in an Islamic society governed by the laws of shari’ah and under the banner of the caliphate.
The party denies using violence and states that it is pursuing its goals by making Muslims aware of the superiority of the Islamic state over the secular one.
The Islamic Revolution of Iran and the Islamic Movements in the Region
A) Regional Conditions
The regional conditions, which reduced the influence of Islamic movements in general and the ideological influence of Iran in the region in particular, include four factors.
More than 70 years of communist rule in these countries: the 70-years presence of communism in the region and the Soviet government’s efforts to propagate the ideology of communism along with the reduction of the presence of Islam in such societies, caused the personal life to be engaged with Islam and its rituals. Following such measures of the Soviets, the role of Islam in the region was regarded as a factor in restoring ethnic and cultural identity during the post-Soviet era.
During the post-Soviet period, in addition to the idea of the Islamic Revolution that was supported by Iran, two other ideas sought to expand their influence in the region and, as the rivals to the Islamic Revolution, significantly restricted Iran’s ideological influence: a) the fundamentalist Islam: after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Islamic extremist groups, largely backed ideologically and financially by countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan, began to operate extensively in the Muslim region of Central Asia and the Caucasus.
The United States tried to prevent the expansion of Iran as well as the spread of political Islam and revolutionary thinking in the region by presenting Turkey as a model for the separation of religion from politics and helping it to influence the region.
However, Iran’s approach to the region was dramatically devoid of ideological influence, and its ideological focus was on other regions, especially the Middle East.
The strategic importance of Central Asia and the Caucasus, the region’s oil and gas resources, the landlocked countries of the region, the emerging and intact economic-industrial market, the growth of ethnic-racial conflicts and civil wars in the region and the efforts of trans-regional countries such as the United States, Turkey, Israel and NATO to influence the region caused Iran to take advantage of the opportunities and partly eliminate the security threats by adopting a comprehensive foreign policy on the basis of its regional and supra-regional goals and interests.
Reference: Pazhuheshnameh Matin, Vol 10, No 39, September 2008, Pp 119-144.
Archive of The Thought of the Islamic Revolution
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