To an outside world accustomed to viewing Iranian politics as a conclave of like-minded mullahs, the current turmoil within Iran’s political and religious establishment defies explanation. The conflict between two regime insiders, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi, has created the most profound political crisis in the Islamic republic’s 30-year history. Both men proclaim their fealty to the ideals of the 1979 Islamic revolution, both claim the backing of senior clergy, and both appeal to Iranians’ sense of Shi’ite justice to rally support.
(See pictures of the lasting influence of Ayatullah Khamenei.)
The fact that such discord is possible among factions that all claim allegiance to the principle of guidance by the clergy is rooted in the distinct nature of Shi’ite Islam. Shi’ism differs from the Sunni tradition in a handful of important ways — not only in its belief in who was the legitimate heir to the Prophet Muhammad’s leadership of the community of the faithful after his death, but also in its attitudes toward political authority and devotion. But one of the most important differences is the Shi’ite tradition’s unique practice of ijtihad — the use of independent reasoning to pass new religious rulings. While Sunni Islam effectively abandoned ijtihad in the 10th century, the practice remains an essential core of Shi’ism. The result is that virtually every aspect of Shi’a doctrine, from the principle of clerical rul…
