By: Hamid Amidi
The Islamic revolution changed the way many scholars of the world wrote about world politics. The definition of the term ‘revolution’ was searched in previous revolutions. Credibility was not given to revolutions that appeared to be carried out in the name of religion. Before the victory of the Islamic revolution the term ‘spirituality’ was not found in any of their political analysis. But, with the advent of a revolution which was Islamic and had roots in religious assumptions caused a foundational change in their theory of revolution.
Shahid Murtada Mutahhari writes in the book Piramun-i Inqlab-i Islami: “There is a group that believes each factor must be explained separately while analyzing our revolution. They believe that some factors were purely economical; some were purely freedom-seeking motives, and finally some were purely religious and spiritual. In opposition, there is a group that believes that each one of these factors independently came together to create the revolution. Alongside these opinions, there is another opinion that exists – I accept this third opinion. The revolution in Iran, as many believe, is a unique revolution; no other revolution that took place in the world is similar to it.”
The Islamic revolution created the possibility of establishing a religious government based upon spirituality. The practical implementation of this ideology changed the political stance of the region. Now, Muslim and non-Muslim scholars mention the ‘religious theory’ alongside all other theories in regards to government.
The results of the Islamic revolution have been the presentation of new discussions in intellectual circles – discussions such as: social justice, Islamic international rights, Islamic politics, unity of religions, and the role and identity of a international reformer.
The Islamic revolution was able to create a new model of a public government based upon religious values.
