Superstition as Ideology in Iranian Politics

{{short description|2011 book by Ali Rahnema}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox book

| name = Superstition as Ideology in Iranian Politics: From Majlesi to Ahmadinejad

| author = Ali Rahnema

| image = File:Superstition as Ideology in Iranian Politics.jpg

| caption = First edition

| language = English

| subject = Iranian politics

| publisher = Cambridge University Press

| pub_date = 2011

| media_type = Print

| pages = 334 pp.

| isbn = 978-1-139-49562-2

}}

Superstition as Ideology in Iranian Politics: From Majlesi to Ahmadinejad is a 2011 book by Ali Rahnema in which the author examines the role of superstition in Iranian politics.

Content

Rahnema argues that superstition as well as mystical beliefs have shaped political ideology and strategy in Iran since the first days of the Safavid dynasty in the sixteenth century until today. As author shows through a close examination of the Persian sources and with sample instances from contemporary politics in Iran, the mysterious relation to the hidden sphere has allowed leaders such as Muhammad Reza Pahlavi and Mahmud Ahmadinejad to introduce themselves and their close people as representatives of the divine, and their enemies and rivals as the messengers of evil.{{cite book |title=Superstition as Ideology in Iranian Politics: From Majlesi to Ahmadinejad |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/RAHSAI |date=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}

Reception

The book has been reviewed in Iranian Studies and Archives de sciences sociales des religions.{{cite journal |last1=Sadeghi-Boroujerdi |first1=Eskandar |title=Superstition as Ideology in Iranian Politics: From Majlesi to Ahmadinejad (Cambridge Middle East Studies) |journal=Iranian Studies |date=4 July 2014 |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=662–667 |doi=10.1080/00210862.2014.906210 |s2cid=154275837 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00210862.2014.906210?journalCode=cist20 |issn=0021-0862}}{{cite journal |last1=Mervin |first1=Sabrina |title=Ali Rahnema, Superstition as Ideology in Iranian Politics. From Majlesi to Ahmadinejad. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2011, 320 p. |journal=Archives de sciences sociales des religions |date=30 December 2013 |issue=164 |pages=275 |doi=10.4000/assr.25597 |url=https://journals.openedition.org/assr/25597 |language=fr |issn=0335-5985|doi-access=free }}

References

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