Iran and the International System

Anoushiravan Ehteshami, Reza Molavi

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780415559669
• eBook ISBN: 9781136673405
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Much attention in the West has focused on Iran as a problem country. This book challenges the representations of Iran as a hostile regional power led by ideologues, and goes further by discussing how international relations are viewed from inside Iran itself, outlining the factors which underpin Iranian thinking on international relations and considering what role Iran, as a large and significant country in the Middle East, ought to play in a fairly constructed international system.

The book is written by leading scholars and policy makers from inside, as well as from outside, Iran and includes academics with unparalleled access and insights into the world-views of the Iranian leadership. Subjects covered include: the rationale of Iran's Islamic constitution, including its electoral system, and the impact this has on international relations; Iran's view of the ideal international system, including the place therein of ethics, justice, and security; Iran's international interests, including energy needs; and relations with the West, including the clash between Iranian and Western views of the world order.

1 Iran’s religious fundaments and principles in interaction with the international system

Ali Akbar Alikhani

Introduction

Every society has its own beliefs, attitudes, and tenets, on the basis of which the political system appropriate for that society is shaped. Today, there are about 50 Muslim countries in the world whose attitudes and beliefs come from Islam, though they differ in their compliance to Islamic principles and their interpretation of Islam in a political context. The Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) is one of the countries that has based its political system as well as domestic and foreign policies on Islamic and Shia teachings. This chapter aims to explore Islamic principles and fundaments to which the Islamic Republic of Iran complies in its interaction with the international system and acts upon them.

“Fundament” here means non-revocable Islamic beliefs which constitute the theoretical and ideological infrastructures of all Muslims. These beliefs on which Muslims have consensus are fixed and unchangeable from the advent of Islam to eternity. “Principles” mean macro and basic strategies that can be applied at any time. These principles are constant within a certain period of time, but can change according to social conditions over the course of history. Of course, some principles can remain constant for long periods of time and new ones may be extracted from fundaments due to conditions of time and place. Principles that are rooted in fundaments are the link between “fundaments” and “policymaking.” They should be defined in such a way as to both preserve unchangeable fundaments and give rise to policies that conform to conditions of time. “Interaction with the international system” means any form of relationship between a Muslim country and other countries, especially non-Muslim countries. Priority should be naturally given to political relations, which dominate other relations. “Religious” means principles and fundaments that exist or are capable of being taken from the Quran, the Prophet Mohammad’s (S) Sunnah, and conduct of Imam Ali (AS), which delineate the Shia approach as laid out in this chapter. Therefore, principles and fundaments arise from the above three sources.

We will first discuss each of these fundaments before attending to the principles arising from them. Each fundament and principles has been analyzed by the author on the basis of original Islamic sources, especially the Quran and Sunnah. At the end of each discussion, principles and fundaments arising from Islam are explained. We will also point to some articles of the Iranian Constitution which have their roots, directly or indirectly, in those fundaments and principles and which reflect the Islamic style of governance. Some fundaments are such that it has not been possible to include them in the Constitution, but they are among the indisputable points for the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Preamble and Article 4 of the Constitution have clearly stipulated that the Iranian government is based on Islamic criteria. Article 2 of the Constitution has also noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran is based on God and Divine revelations and the sixth paragraph of the same article has pointed to the Quran and Sunnah as the main sources for the extraction of rules and principles.

Fundament 1: Respectful Attitude to all People

Types of human Dignity

Human dignity can be divided into two types, “inherent human dignity in this world” and “acquired human dignity in the Afterworld.” Inherent human dignity in this world has been bestowed upon humans by God and is part of human nature. It will accompany them as long as they are alive and belongs to all human beings equally without having anything to do with religion, race, color, or gender. With regard to the inherent dignity in this world, besides God’s stipulation in the Holy Quran that all human beings have been given dignity and superiority over other creatures,¹ other verses of the Quran have indicated in other ways that dignity and superiority by saying that God’s spirit has been breathed into man,² man is God’s surrogate on Earth,³ and everything on Earth has been created for humans: these are all cases that denote the inherent dignity of human beings in this world.⁴ The Quran has further stressed the negation of violence and bloodshed as evidence of the dignity of human beings.⁵ The most important feature of this form of dignity is that it is constant and similar for all human beings because it belongs to mankind.

Acquired otherworldly human dignity is gained through a criterion called righteousness and gives mankind superiority over other human beings in the other world. Although this kind of dignity is obtained in this world, its manifestation is seen in the Afterworld and the supremacy is manifested after death because nobody except for God can correctly measure or recognize it. This kind of dignity does not have a yardstick for assessment that can be understood in this world, and the Quran has stipulated that this form of dignity can be only given by God.⁶

Sin and disobedience to divine commands will not harm inherent human dignity in this world, and if God has drawn an analogy between infidels and animals,⁷ this will be manifest only in the other world and denotes that they would be punished in the Afterlife. Ibn Arabi noted that the Prophet Mohammad (S) had stood up out of respect for the dead body of a Jew and had said that he (the Jew) was a carrier of the spirit of God.⁸ He then concludes that the Prophet Mohammad (S) had, in fact, respected the holy spirit of the Jewish man and this proves that all human beings are alike in this regard.⁹ Ibn Arabi also noted that the situation of people whose abode is Hell is like that of people who have lost a loved one or their home in this world and are suffering the consequences. Therefore, the innate dignity of humans is alike both for the pious and criminals. Ibn Arabi quoted from a Qushairi treatise that “he who considers himself more dignified than Pharaoh has failed to understand.”¹⁰ “Penitence,” as an important principle of Islam, allows sinful human beings to have hope in the mercy of God. This shows that the essence of their humanity is intact and they can regain their lofty status when they want to.

Requirements of Human Dignity

The author maintains that human dignity is a right that cannot be taken from humans in this world under any condition. It is not that God has first created humans and then given them dignity; God has created them dignified from the very beginning, and depriving them of that dignity would change their true nature and existence.¹¹ Ayatollah Javadi Amoli believes that human dignity is not contractual, but a reality like the nobility of angels and the Quran, and all of them are symbols of dignity of God.¹² Therefore, committing any crime and sin or having any idea, thought and … will neither deprive humans of their dignity, nor allow others to ignore that dignity. A man sentenced to death can be punished, but his dignity cannot be ignored because it is his innate right.

If human dignity was just a blessing and a virtue, it would be subject to conditions and could be taken away. If, however, it is considered a right, it cannot be taken away from humans under any condition and will have two important political and social consequences: first, everybody will be obliged to observe the dignity of other human beings and, second, when there is a correlation with the government and power. Therefore “human dignity is an inner and unalienable right for humans in society and in all fields of life.”

Fundaments of Human Dignity in Islam

Intellect can be considered the main fundament for human dignity. Although many things have differentiated humans from other creatures, the most important distinction is human intellect. When interpreting the Quranic verse on “veneration”¹³ some interpreters have noted that God has venerated humans by bestowing intellect upon them.¹⁴

The second fundament for human dignity is mankind’s spiritual dimension and the spirit of God that has been breathed into him.¹⁵ Muslim scholars maintain that humans consist of “material and spiritual” or “mundane and heavenly” or “animal and human” dimensions. His mundane dimension is related to his carnal soul while his spiritual dimension is related to God. It is his spiritual dimension that has made him distinct from other creatures.¹⁶ The fundament of human dignity is his spiritual dimension. What imparts more significance to this dimension is the ability of the human spirit to evolve and soar.

The third fundament for human dignity is the power of understanding. Language—both meaning a means to speak and a system of concepts to make one understood—is an extraordinary power of which other creatures are deprived. In other words, humanity hinges on understanding through concepts, propositions, languages, and cultures, which are exclusive to human beings.

The fourth fundament for human dignity is the essential unity of humanity and ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures and tables
• Notes on contributors
• Editors’ acknowledgments
• Introduction: Anoushiravan Ehteshami and Reza Molavi
• 1. Iran’s religious fundaments and principles in interaction with the international system: Ali Akbar Alikhani
• 2. Political rationality of the Islamic Republic of Iran in comparison with contemporary fundamentalism: Morteza Bahrani
• 3. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the ideal international system: Dehghani Firooz-Abadi
• 4. Peace and security in the international system: an Iranian approach: Asghar Eftekhary
• 5. The Islamic republic of Iran and the international system: clash with the domination paradigm: Manouchehr Mohammadi
• 6. Transnational culture and international relations of Iran: Mohammad Javad Nateghpour
• 7. Two different faces of Iran–West relations: incompatibility of official levels with everyday life: Vahid Shalchi
• 8. Domestic politics and foreign policy in contemporary Iran: Anoushiravan Ehteshami
• 9. Foreign policy as social construction: Hossein Salimi
• 10. Discourse and violence: the friend–enemy conjunction in contemporary Iranian–American relations: Arshin Adib-Moghaddam
• 11. Energy security and Iran’s role in international relations: Paul Rogers
• 12. The impact of Iran’s tenth presidential elections on its relations with the EU and Mediterranean states: Mahboubeh Sadeghinia
• 13. The 2009 Iranian presidential elections in comparative perspective: Luciano Zaccara
• 14. Concluding thoughts: Nadir Gohari
• Select bibliography
• Index