DATE=2/11/99
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-42586
TITLE=IRANIAN ANNIVERSARY / RELIGIOUS DIMENSION 
BYLINE=HASAN JAVADI
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
NOT VOICED: 

INTRO:  AT THE BEGINNING OF THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION IN 1979 THE 
GRAND AYATOLLAH OF IRAN WAS SHARIATMADARI, BUT HIS LIBERAL VIEWS 
WERE IN SHARP CONTRAST WITH THOSE OF AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI, WHO 
QUICKLY EMERGED AS THE RELIGIOUS LEADER OF THE REVOLUTION.  
SHARIATMADARI DIED IN 1985, BUT HIS SON IS NOW ONE OF THOSE WHO 
WANT A MORE LIBERAL IRAN.  VOA'S HASAN JAVADI RECENTLY SPOKE WITH
THE SON, WHO LIVES IN HAMBURG, GERMANY, AND OTHER IRANIAN EXPERTS
ABOUT THE REVOLUTION AND ITS EFFECTS ON ISLAM AND DEMOCRACY IN 
IRAN TODAY.

TEXT:  HASSAN SHARIATMADARI SAYS THAT WHILE THE IRANIAN 
REVOLUTION BEGAN IN PROTEST AGAINST THE DICTATORIAL POLICIES OF 
THE SHAH, THE DISPARITY BETWEEN THE WAY OF LIFE OF IRAN'S 
WEALTHY, WESTERNIZED ELITE AND OTHER IRANIANS GAVE THE REVOLUTION
ADDED IMPETUS.  HE SAYS THAT WHILE HIS FATHER WANTED CHANGES IN 
IRAN THAT WOULD CLOSE THE GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR, HE THOUGHT 
THAT THE BEST WAY TO DO THIS WAS BY REFORMING THE SYSTEM,  NOT  
BY OVERTURNING IT.

                 /// HASAN SHARIATMADERI ACT ///

         HE BELIEVED THAT WHATEVER WAS NEEDED FOR THE COUNTRY 
         COULD BE ACHIEVED FROM ECONOMIC REFORM AND 
         LIBERALIZATION IN IRAN.  BUT OF COURSE THERE WAS  NO  
         FREEDOM.  WHEN THE POWER OF THE SHAH WAS WEAKENED THESE 
         FREEDOMS COULD HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED ONE BY ONE AND MADE 
         PART OF THE CONSTITUTION.  AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI DID  NOT  
         THINK IN THIS MANNER.  HE BELIEVED IN AN ISLAMIC 
         REVOLUTION AND CHANGE OF EVERYTHING FROM THE ROOT.

                         /// END ACT ///

SHARIAT MADERI, HIS SON SAYS, BELIEVED IN SEPARATING THE STATE 
AND RELIGION, WHILE AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI WANTED TO MAKE THE ISLAMIC
CLERGY AN ESSENTIAL PART OF GOVERNMENT.  DURING HIS YEARS IN 
EXILE IN IRAQ, AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI WROTE A BOOK -- VILAYAT-I FAQIH
-- ON THE ROLE OF THE SUPREME RELIGIOUS LEADER IN AN ISLAMIC 
GOVERNMENT. 

THE RIVALRY BETWEEN THE TWO LEADERS LED SHARIATMADERI TO CREATE 
HIS OWN PARTY -- HIZB-I KHALQ-I MUSALMAN -- TO OPPOSE THE 
HIZBULLAH OF KHOMEINI.  BUT NOT TOO LONG AFTER KHOMEINI'S FORCES 
GAINED POWER, SHARIATMADERI WAS CHARGED WITH BEING PRO-AMERICAN. 
THOUGH NEVER OFFICIALLY ARRESTED, HE SPENT THE REST OF HIS LIFE 
UNDER HOUSE ARREST.  (OPT) IRONICALLY, IT WAS AYATOLLAH 
SHARIATMADERI WHO SAVED KHOMEINI FROM THE WRATH OF THE SHAH IN 
1963 BY NAMING HIM A GRAND AYATOLLAH. (END OPT)

BEFORE AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI BECAME THE LEADER, SHIITES IN IRAN 
ALWAYS HAD THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE FROM SEVERAL HIGH RELIGIOUS 
AUTHORITIES.  GIVING ULTIMATE POWER TO A SINGLE CLERIC IN THE 
ISLAMIC GOVERNMENT HAD NEVER OCCURRED BEFORE.  WHAT MADE THE 
CHANGE POSSIBLE WAS KHOMEINI'S FORCEFUL PERSONALITY, COMBINED 
WITH THE REVOLUTIONARY ATMOSPHERE THAT SWEPT IRAN AT THAT TIME.  

NOW, AFTER TWENTY YEARS, THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ISLAMIC 
GOVERNMENT ARE BEING HEATEDLY DISPUTED BETWEEN THE LIBERALS AND 
POLITICIANS WHO SIDE WITH THE CLERGY.  SOME LIBERAL CLERICS HAVE 
EVEN CHALLENGED THE THEORY OF VILAYAT-I FAQIH, SOMETHING THAT 
WOULD HAVE BEEN UNHEARD OF A FEW YEARS AGO.  

ABDUL-KARIM SORUSH, A PROMINENT IRANIAN PHILOSPHER, SAYS IF 
ANYONE OTHER THAN KHOMEINI HAD ASSUMED CONTROL, THE COUNTRY WOULD
PROBABLY BE VERY DIFFERENT TODAY:

                         //SORUSH ACT//

         MOST OF OUR THINKERS AND WRITERS HAVE TAKEN THEIR MODEL 
         OF ISLAMIC STATE FROM THE IDEA OF VILAYET-I FAQIH.  AND 
         I TELL YOU THAT IT WAS AN ACCIDENT OF HISTORY, THAT THE 
         LEADER OF THE REVOLUTION OF IRAN WAS A MAN WHO WAS OF 
         THE OPINION OF VILAYET-I FAQIH.  THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT OF
         HISTORY, IT COULD HAVE BEEN OTHERWISE.  AND HAD HE BEEN 
         A DIFFERENT PERSON, THE MODEL OF THE RELIGIOUS STATE IN 
         IRAN WOULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT.  SO DO NOT TAKE 
         ACCIDENTS FOR ESSENCES.

                           //END ACT//

TODAY IN IRAN THERE ARE TWO MAIN THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT: 
TRADITIONAL, WHICH DOES  NOT  BELIEVE IN ANY CHANGES, AND 
"INQUISITIVE" OR "PROBING" -- FIQH-I PUYA -- THEOLOGY WHICH WANTS
TO RECONCILE MODERN ISSUES WITH RELIGION.  ONE OF THEM IS 
AYATOLLAH MARTEZA MONTAZERI, WHO WAS AN IMPORTANT DISCPLE OF 
KHOMEINI AND WHO IS NOW IN OPPOSITION.  HE BELIEVES IN A MODIFIED
CONCEPT OF VILAYAT-I FAQIH. HE SAYS THAT THE SUPREME LEADER 
SHOULD BE GUIDED BY THE PEOPLE AND SHOULD NOT HAVE ABSOLUTE 
POWER.

(OPT) MANY OF IRAN'S RELIGIOUS LIBERALS HAVE TAKEN DIFFERENT 
APPROACHES ON THE ISSUE OF RECONCILING ISLAM AND DEMOCRACY, .  
SORUSH, FOR EXAMPLE, BELIEVES THAT THE KORAN AND THE TRADITIONS 
OF THE PROPHET DO  NOT, BY THEMSELVES, PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR 
DEMOCRACY.  BUT SORUSH SAYS THAT SINCE EVERY RELIGION IS SUBJECT 
TO INTERPRETATION, THERE IS A WAY THAT IRAN'S ISLAMIC GOVERNMENT 
CAN INCORPORATE OTHER INFLUENCES.  HE  SAYS THAT IRANIAN CULTURE 
HAS THREE IMPORTANT SIDES: PRE-ISLAMIC TRADITIONS, ISLAMIC 
TRADITIONS AND WESTERN VALUES.  HE SAYS THAT, WITHOUT GIVING 
SPECIAL DOMINANCE TO ANY ONE OF THESE INFLUENCES, A 
RECONCILIATION THAT DOES NOT VIOLATE THE ISLAMIC RELIGION CAN BE 
REACHED.  SO FAR, HOWEVER, THIS RECONCILIATION HAS PROVED 
DIFFICULT.  (END OPT)

ALI SAJJADI, AN IRANIAN SCHOLAR WHO NOW LIVES IN WASHINGTON, SAYS
IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT IRAN'S LEADERS FIND A WAY FOR THE COUNTRY TO
BE ISLAMIC AND DEMOCRATIC:

                         //SAJJADI ACT//

         I BELIEVE DEMOCRACY IS A WAY OF LIFE.  A WAY OF LIFE IN 
         WHICH STATE AND RELIGION ARE SEPARATED.  TODAY MOST OF 
         THE LEADERS OF ISLAMIC REPUBLIC, WHO ARE CLERICS, USE 
         RELIGION AS A MEANS TO GOVERN.  THE ESSENTIAL QUESTION 
         FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO BRING DEMOCRACY TO IRAN, IS HOW DO
         THEY WANT TO DO THIS?...THE IRANIAN LEADERS SHOULD 
         REALIZE THAT SEPARATION OF RELIGION AND STATE IS IN THE 
         INTEREST OF THE LATTER.  AND MAKING THESE TWO INTO ONE 
         IN THE PAST TWENTY YEARS HAS CAUSED IRREPARABLE DAMAGES 
         TO RELIGION.  THE MAIN QUESTION FOR THE LIBERALS AND 
         MODERATES IN IRAN IS HOW TO DEAL WITH THIS SEPARATION.

                           //END ACT//

TO PERSUADE THE CLERGY TO SHARE POWER HAS TO BE VERY HARD.  THE 
ELECTION OF PRESIDENT KHATAMI WITH 75 PERCENT OF VOTES IN IRAN 
SHOWED THAT THE LIBERALS AND MODERATES ARE IN THE MAJORITY IN 
IRAN, BUT THE HARDLINERS STILL HAVE CONSIDERABLE POWER.  IT IS 
NOW LEFT FOR THE MODERATES TO WIN THE BATTLE OF INFLUENCE.  HASAN
SHARIATMADARI SAYS THAT IN SPITE OF MANY SETBACKS IN THE PAST 
TWENTY YEARS THE IRANIANS HAVE GAINED CONSIDERABLE POLITICAL 
AWARENESS.  THIS, HE SAYS, WAS THE ONLY POSITIVE RESULT OF THE 
REVOLUTION. (SIGNED)

NEB/AJ/KL

11-Feb-99 2:02 PM EST (1902 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.