Islamism and Modernism

An Iranian scholar and political scientist examines the role of religion in Iranian culture and politics through the twentieth century and beyond.  Islamism and Modernism captures the metamorphosis of the Islamic movement in Iran leading up to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, as well as its changing influence in the country today. Its analysis ranges from encounters with Great Britain and the United States in the 1920s to today’s struggles between reformers and hardliners. Capturing the views of four generations of Muslim activists, Farhang Rajaee describes how the extremism of the 1960s gave confidence to Islam-minded Iranians and radicalized the Muslim world.   Presenting thought-provoking discussions of religious thinkers such as Ha’eri, Burujerdi, Bazargan, and Shari‘ati, along with contemporaries such as Kadivar, Soroush, and Shabestari, Rajaee sheds light on contemporary Islamic thinking in Iran. A comprehensive study of politics, religion, society, and identity, Islamism and Modernism offers crucial new insight into the aftermath of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution—and its ramifications— for the newest generation of Iranians to face the crossroads of modernity and Islamic discourse.