Identifying the Patterns of Religious Democracy in the Ideas of the Second Pahlavi Thinkers

After the Islamic revolution of Iran and the establishment of a religious democracy, the question about the background of theoretical arguments of compatibility or incompatibility of Islam and democracy turned to a fundamental issue in the realm of legitimizing the new system, the issue that has not been fully answered relying on ideas and theories released by second Pahlavi thinkers. However, can the theory of religious democracy be traced back in the ideas of Islamist thinkers before the Islamic Revolution? (Question) Ideas of Allameh Tabatabai and Dr. Shariati about democracy, as representatives of both traditional and modern thoughts, can be pioneers of theoretical dialogues and preliminary theorizations in this field. (Hypothesis) This study aims at analyzing the theoretical bases some of the ideas of traditional and modern thinkers of Islamist trend before the Islamic Revolution which is applicable in the formation of religious democracy patterns. (Objective) By the use of a descriptive- analytical method, this study attempts to elaborate those ideas and suggest their relation of their ideas to the post-revolutionary elitism. (Methodology) Efficiency of the theoretical pattern of responsible democracy of Allamah Tabatabaei and efficiency of committed democracy of Dr. Shariati before the Islamic Revolution and the endency towards the pattern proposed by Imam Khomeini (RA) is the new point of the present paper. (Finding)