تاریخ نامه انقلاب
سال یکم شماره 1 (پاییز 1393)

Unlike all other revolutions of the type, Islamic Revolution of Iran took place with the participation of all walks of life. All people from all regions and cities had their contributions to this revolution. A review of the developments in the cities and villages can help elucidation of discussions and analyses on revolution. This research paper intends to review the way of the formation and expansion of Islamic and revolutionary beliefs and ideals in Borujen, as well as the incidents and events that led to the victory of Islamic Revolution in this small city. In this connection, following an explanation of the administrative and social developments in 60s and 70s in this city, the paper uses library method (documents, books, newspapers) and various interviews to survey the 1979 Islamic Revolution developments and the role of people from various walks of life in revolutionarydevelopments in this city. Based on the findings, the religious texture of the city, coupled with the migration and travels by a number of committed clergies from Qom and from other regions to this city, as well as their enlightening speeches brought about familiarity of people with the nature of the Islamic Revolution. As inside the city, the cultural activities of popular institutions such as “Center of Muslim Youths” were influential in education, training and upbringing of the wakeful revolutionary forces and in creation of a revolutionary atmosphere in Borujen. The role of the teachers and students in expressing opposition to the regime and in staging demonstrations in 1979 in this city is worthy of attention. In addition to the regional unrest, the people of this city poured onto the streets under the influence of the developments in other cities (such as Isfahan).

Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) was one of the political and secret organizations established in 1965 with a religious approach in Pahlavi reign. The founding members were from among Muslim youth with an ideal to fight the government. They resorted to armed conflict and rejected any peaceful strategy. The key founders of MKO were Mohammad Hanifnejad, Saeed Mohsen and Abdolreza Nikbin. Upon a shock the Organization of Intelligence and National Security (SAVAK) imposed on the MKO, the chief members were executed in 1971. Upon the membership of Marxists in the leadership team of MKO, they came to the conclusion that Islam is unable to meet the demands of the organization for armed and guerilla operations. They introduced Marxism as a substitute for Islamic ideology. The change in ideology, therefore, from Islam to Marxism was theintellectual schism in their organization. Upon this schism, religious members like Seyed Majid Vaqefi left the Marxist group and expressed their opposition to MKO in various ways and means. After the assassination of Sharif Vaqefi by the Marxists, the religious wing officially branchedoff. Here is the scientific question of this paper: What was the reaction of the religious wing of MKO to the schism in the organization? What were the fractions, their thinking and beliefs, and their role in the Islamic Revolution? Using interviews, library sources and documents, this study intends to provide responses to the above questions with a descriptive-analytical method. Therefore, the paper hypothesizes that following 1975 schism, the religious groups within MKO worked for the victory of Islamic Revolution each with their own thinking and belief. Some of these groups namely Mahdaviun, Faryad-e Khalq (The Call of the Nation), Hastehay-e Mazhabi (Central Religious Bodies), Meysami and Ummat-e Vahedeh (United Umma) inspired by Imam Khomeini and Dr. Ali Shariati’s opinions and thoughts joined the true revolutionary forces under the leadership of Imam Khomeini and some others like Rajavi Group opposed the revolution and considered themselves the real owners of revolution with the idea of leadership contest and the vanguard principle.

Credential is a document according to which the victory of a candidate in the elections is officially recognized and announced to the center. The MPs of the First Parliament or the National Assembly did not have the credentials. The first credentials were issued for the MPs in the Second National Assembly. The credentials were changed in form and content from tenure to tenure. In the earlyrounds of the National Assembly the credentials did not follow any rule or law in form and content. With the lapse of time and in the closing years of the National Assembly, the credentials became orderly and consistent. However, generally speaking, in all credentials the Board to Supervise Elections along with a state authority have introduced the MP belonging to their constituency and approved the elections’ conformity to the election rules and regulations. This paper intends toreview the changes in form and content of the credentials issued during the past 24 rounds of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Iranian Parliament) and compare and contrast these credentials in a descriptive way based on the documents, i.e. credentials.

Various political parties and groups were involved in the history of the struggles of Iranian people that led to the victory of Islamic Revolution. But their roleplaying in the events that resulted in the culmination of the Islamic Revolution was not identical. Each of them followed a certain struggling strategy. In this connection, the National Front tended more to parliamentary fight against the tyrant regime, but a few months before the victory of the Islamic Revolution they changed behavior in their fight. Considering this change of strategy, the current paper intends to evaluate the performance of the National Front in the heat of the revolutionary developments and respond to the question of why despite their own combat strategy they joined the religious revolutionaries under the leadership of Imam Khomeini. The authors are of the opinion that the National Front preferred a marginal role in the developments due to their understanding of the inefficiency of their combat approach in the new atmosphere on one hand, and the irreconcilability of the leadership of the Islamic movement on the other hand. These two factors made them fail in playing an outstanding role in revolutionary developments.

The quality and quantity of women’s participation in decisive and historic events, such as the revolutions, has not been identical. It has taken different forms depending upon the social and cultural conditions and situations. At the same time, women’s participation has brought gender type into the political conflicts and decision-making process.The Islamic Revolution, that is the most important event determining the political and social fate of the Iranian nation, is no exception to this rule. This is because only 15 years after granting women the right to vote in the context of the reformation plan of White Revolution, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi experie nced the ire and objection of the Ulema upon redefinition of the women’s roles by his government. Massive participation of the women in revolutionary developments with an imagequite different from the commonly accepted traditional or modern model of women in Iran attracted the attention of the foreign observers so that they termed it the“revolution of chadors”. The whys and wherefores behind contribution of women in revolutionarydevelopments are among the less attended areas in the theoretical and research studies on history of the Islamic Revolution. Therefore, this paper intends to show how gender, as a discourse construction, has managed to emerge high within two decades before the victory of Islamic Revolution in the light of linguistic capacities, power concepts and implied resistance, amidst political and social incidents and the usual determining frontiers of man/woman identity factors. To do this based on a discourse analysis method, this paper has focused on official documents produced by political elite and Iranian press in between the years 1963-1978. To that end, wewill picture a historical platform in which the signified man/woman emerges gradually from thousands of years old status to find a new meaning and structure in connection with central signifiers of current rivals’ discourse amidst political clashes including official discourse of the government, traditional clericalism, religious and revolutionary intellectualism.

The victory of Constitutional Movement marks a new age in the history of political thought in Iran. This historic event was not merely the breakout of developments in political and social scene, rather, it contained innovated conceptual elements from the beginning that upon necessity instigated reactions by two groups of ulema and religious jurists in agreement or disagreement with it. Sheikh Fazlollah Nouri was one of the religious jurists who supported the movement in the beginning but later changed his mind and rose in opposition of the Constitutional Movement.This paper intends to answer the key question of: What was behind Sheikh Fazlollah Nouri’s opposition to the Constitutional Movement, and on what basis did he rule on the illegitimacy of the movement? This paper hypothesizes that his opposition to the Constitutional Movement was not in defense of tyranny, but in defense of the authority of Sharia or religious law, that he thought had been neglected. On this basis, he had insisted on enforcement of religious law from the beginning due to his strong belief in Sharia and the fundamentals of Islamic jurisprudence as well as hissystem of religious traditions. He thought the Islamic law was to be enforced after the victory of Constitutional Movement. However, with the advancement of the movement and with the surfacing of the differences in the legislative duties and responsibilities of the Consultative Assembly, and the degree of the interference in or supervision of the jurists on legislation and in such issues as representation of constituencies, equality and freedom, led the Sheikh come to the conclusion that the new foundation had nothing in common with his theoretical and religious fundamentals. In the meantime, the canonical interpretation of the religious constitutionalists could not overcome his fundamental opposition to the movement.