Tafsir As a Political Legitimacy: The 1979 Iranian Revolution and Muḥammad Taqī Al-Mudarrisī’s Political Notions in Min Hudā Al-Qur`ān
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12928/taqaddumi.v5i1.13143Keywords:
Muḥammad Taqī al-Mudarrisī’s Political Notions, Min Hudā al-Qur`ān, Human Freedom, Sharia-Based Governmental System, HegemonyAbstract
In Islamic political activism, religious sacred texts have been frequently instrumentalized to achieve certain interests. However, regarding the Iranian Revolution, there is a lack of studies on how religious texts were instrumentalized to justify the political movement. In addition, the existing research is only focused on a classical Shia tafsir and a classical issue, namely the Imamate of ‘Alī. It left a gap in the relationship between modern Shia tafsir and modern political turmoil. Given that, this article aims to examine a Shia tafsir which appeared amidst the 1979 Iranian Revolution, namely Min Hudā Al-Qur`ān by Muḥammad Taqī al-Mudarrisī. Employing Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, this paper does not only describe al-Mudarrisī’s political notions but also reveals whether or not there was an attempt to establish hegemony. This article analyzes the interpretation of Qur`anic verses related to the political terms and finds that al-Mudarrisī favored human freedom and a new governmental system based on Sharia values. Additionally, the discourse in his tafsir tended to be provocative as he invited people to realize them and eradicate authoritarianism and dictatorship, showing an effort to establish a counter-hegemony against the domination of the state ruler at that time. Additionally, this article reassesses Mohammed Ayoob’s statement that Shiites maintained a status quo and made peace with unfair conditions.
References
Abidin, Ahmad Zainal. “Shi’ite Ideology Bias in Al-Qummi Tafsir: Study of Ali Imran and Al-Nisa’ Chapters.” ESENSIA: Jurnal Ilmu-Ilmu Ushuluddin 19, no. 2 (October 23, 2018): 185–97. doi:10.14421/esensia.v19i2.1594.
———. “Tafsīr Al-Qummī Dan Politik: Telaah Atas Kecenderungan Tasyayyu’ Dalam Penafsiran Surat al-Baqarah.” Al-Tahrir: Jurnal Pemikiran Islam 16, no. 2 (December 22, 2016): 439. doi:10.21154/al-tahrir.v16i2.483.
Abū Zaid, Naṣr Ḥāmid. Al-Khiṭāb Wa-l-Ta`wīl. Beirut: Al-Markaz al-Thaqāfī al-‘Arabī, 2008.
Ansari, Ali, and Kasra Aarabi. “Ideology and Iran’s Revolution: How 1979 Changed the World.” Tony Blair Institute For Global Change. Accessed December 26, 2024. https://institute.global/insights/geopolitics-and-security/ideology-and-irans-revolution-how-1979-changed-world.
Aṣfahānī, Al-Rāghib al-. Mufradāt Alfāẓ Al-Qur`ān. 4th ed. Damascus: Dār al-Qalam, 2009.
Ayoob, Mohammed. The Many Faces of Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Muslim World. Reprinted. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2010.
Ayoub, Mahmoud. Redemptive Suffering in Islām: A Study of the Devotional Aspects of (Āshūrā) in Twelver Shīʻism. Religion and Society ; 10. The Hague: Mouton, 1978.
Cliteur, Paul, and Afshin Ellian. “The Five Models for State and Religion: Atheism, Theocracy, State Church, Multiculturalism, and Secularism.” ICL Journal 14, no. 1 (2020): 103–32. doi:doi:10.1515/icl-2018-0056.
Dhahabī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. Al-Tafsīr Wa-l-Mufassirūn. Vol. 2. 3 vols. Cairo: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 2012.
Herlambang, Saifuddin, and Syamsul Kurniawan. “Hegemony of Involvement of Tafsir in Political Identity.” ESENSIA: Jurnal Ilmu-Ilmu Ushuluddin 19, no. 1 (May 22, 2018): 83–96. doi:10.14421/esensia.v19i1.1489.
Iyāzī, Muḥammad ‘Ali. Al-Mufassirūn Ḥayātuhum Wa Manhajuhum. Vol. 3. 3 vols. Teheran: Wizārah al-Thaqāfah wa al-Irshād al-Islāmī, 1996.
Khomeini. Wilāya Al-Faqīh: Baḥth Istidlālī Min Kitāb al-Bay’. Beirut: Al-Dār al-Islāmiyya, 2000.
Lapidus, Ira M. A History of Islamic Societies. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Mouffe, Chantal, ed. Gramsci and Marxist Theory. London: Routledge, 2014. doi:10.4324/9781315794396.
Mudarrisī, Muḥammad Taqī al-. Min Hudā Al-Qur`ān. Vol. 3. 13 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-‘Arabī, 2008.
———. Min Hudā Al-Qur`ān. Vol. 2. 13 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-‘Arabī, 2008.
———. Min Hudā Al-Qur`ān. Vol. 1. 13 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-‘Arabī, 2008.
———. Min Hudā Al-Qur`ān. Vol. 8. 13 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-‘Arabī, 2008.
———. Min Hudā Al-Qur`ān. Vol. 4. 13 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-‘Arabī, 2008.
Mumaththiliyyah al-Marja’iyya. Al-Marji’ Wa-l-Ammah: Iṭlāla ‘alā al-Sīra al-‘Ilmiyya Wa-l-‘Amaliyya Li Samāḥat al-Marji’ al-Dīnī Āyatillāh al-‘Uẓmā al-Sayyid Muḥammad Taqī al-Mudarrisī, 2008.
Muqtada, Muhammad Rikza. “Utopia Khilāfah Islāmiyyah: Studi Tafsir Politik Mohammed Arkoun.” Jurnal Theologia 28, no. 1 (September 14, 2017): 145–64. doi:10.21580/teo.2017.28.1.1410.
Mustaqim, Abdul. Epistemologi Tafsir Kontemporer. Yogyakarta: LKiS, 2010.
Nawas, John A. “A Reexamination of Three Current Explanations for Al-Mamun’s Introduction of the Miḥna.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 26, no. 4 (1994): 615–29.
Nawwaf, Aufa Varrassyah. “Epistemologi Tafsir Min Huda Al-Qur’an Karya Muhammad Taqi Al-Mudarrisi.” Undergraduate Thesis, STAI Al-Anwar, 2023. (Sarang, Rembang). http://repositori.staialanwar.ac.id/view/creators/Nawwaf=3AAufa_Varrassyah=3A=3A.html.
Olsen, Nathan. “Revolutionary Religion: Shia Islam and the Iranian Revolution.” E-International Relations, September 3, 2019. https://www.e-ir.info/2019/09/03/revolutionary-religion-shia-islam-and-the-iranian-revolution/.
Purnama, Fahmy Farid. “KHAWARIJISME: Pergulatan Politik Sektarian Dalam Bingkai Wacana Agama.” Al-A’raf : Jurnal Pemikiran Islam Dan Filsafat 13, no. 2 (November 15, 2016): 213. doi:10.22515/ajpif.v13i2.156.
Quṭb, Sayyid. Fī Ẓilāl Al-Qur`ān. Vol. 1. 6 vols. Cairo: Dār al-Syurūq, 2003.
Sadzali, Ahmad. Relasi Agama Dan Negara: Teokrasi-Sekuler-Tamyiz. Yogyakarta: Pusat Studi Hukum Islam Fakultas Hukum Universitas Islam Indonesia, 2018.
Shihab, M. Quraish. Tafsir Al-Mishbah Pesan, Kesan Dan Keserasian Al-Qur’an. 1st ed. Vol. 2. 15 vols. Tangerang: Lentera Hati, 2002.
Ṭabarī, Abū Ja’far Muḥammad bin Jarīr al-. Tārīkh Al-Rusul Wa-l-Mulūk. Vol. 8. 11 vols. Cairo: Dār al-Ma’ārif, n.d.
———. Tārīkh Al-Rusul Wa-l-Mulūk. Vol. 5. 11 vols. Cairo: Dār al-Ma’ārif, n.d.
Ṭabarsī, Abū ‘Alī al-Faḍl Ibn Ḥasan al-. Majma’ al-Bayān Fī Tafsīr al-Qur`ān. Vol. 9. 10 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Murtaḍā, 2006.
Ṭabāṭabā`ī, Muḥammad Ḥusain al-. Al-Mīzān Fī Tafsīr al-Qur`ān. Vol. 9. 22 vols. Beirut: Muassasah al-A’lamī, 1997.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Aḥmad Ḥasan Al-Bakr | Iraqi Leader, Ba’athist, Prime Minister | Britannica.” Britannica, January 1, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ahmad-Hasan-al-Bakr.
Al Jazeera. “The Iraqi Baath Party.” Accessed January 14, 2025. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2005/6/23/the-iraqi-baath-party.
‘Umar, Muḥammad al-Rāzī Fakhr al-Dīn Ibn Ḍiyā al-Dīn. Mafātih Al-Ghaib. Vol. 10. 32 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1981.
Woolcock, Joseph A. “Politics, Ideology and Hegemony in Gramsci’s Theory.” Social and Economic Studies 34, no. 3 (1985): 199–210.
Zuḥailī, Wahba al-. Al-Tafsīr al-Munīr Fī al-‘Aqidah Wa al-Shari’Ah Wa al-Manhaj. 10th ed. Vol. 6. 16 vols. Damascus: Dār al-Fikr, 2009.
———. Al-Tafsīr al-Munīr Fī al-‘Aqidah Wa al-Shari’Ah Wa al-Manhaj. 10th ed. Vol. 3. 16 vols. Damascus: Dār al-Fikr, 2009.
———. Al-Tafsīr al-Munīr Fī al-‘Aqidah Wa al-Shari’Ah Wa al-Manhaj. 10th ed. Vol. 13. 16 vols. Damascus: Dār al-Fikr, 2009.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Aufa Varrassyah Nawwaf, Ahmad Musonnif Alfi, Abdul Ghofur Maimoen, Muhammad Najib
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
License and Copyright Agreement
In submitting the manuscript to the journal, the authors certify that:
- They are authorized by their co-authors to enter into these arrangements.
- The work described has not been formally published before, except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, thesis, or overlay journal. Please also carefully read the Taqaddumi Author Guidelines at http://journal2.uad.ac.id/index.php/taqaddumi/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions
- That it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere,
- That its publication has been approved by all the author(s) and by the responsible authorities – tacitly or explicitly – of the institutes where the work has been carried out.
- They secure the right to reproduce any material that has already been published or copyrighted elsewhere.
- They agree to the following license and copyright agreement.
Copyright
Authors who publish with the Taqaddumi Journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
