Iran: From Religious Dispute to Revolution

by Michael M.J. Fischer

Unlike much of the instant analysis that appeared at the time of the Iranian revolution, From Religious Dispute to Revolution is based upon extensive fieldwork carried out in Iran. Michael M. J. Fischer draws upon his rich experience with the mullahs and their students in the holy city of Qum, composing a picture of Iranian society from the inside—the lives of ordinary people, the way that each class interprets Islam, and the role of religion and religious education in the culture. Fischer’s book, with its new introduction updating arguments for the post-Revolutionary period, brings a dynamic view of a society undergoing metamorphosis, which remains fundamental to understanding Iranian society in the early twenty-first century.

Genres: Iran, Nonfiction, Anthropology, Middle East, History, Academic

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Michael M. J. Fischer is Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Anthropology and Science and Technology Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also a Lecturer in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His most recent books include Mute Dreams, Blind Owls, and Dispersed Knowledges: Persian Poesis in the Transnational Circuitry and Emergent Forms of Life and the Anthropological Voice (winner of the American Ethnological Society’s Senior Book Prize).

Reviews

[Saeed Sarraf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apart from many scholar books which they seek to answer why a revolution happened in Iran in 1979 in a politically and historically way, this book instead focuses more on Culture and especially old educational school of thought in Iran, religious schools.
This book is an anthropological journey to Qum and includes many discussions with Shiite clerics that they later become famous through Revolution, like Ayatollah Makarem.
Reading this book helps you to understand how Pahlavis Moderation policy lacked a meaningful relationship with the powerful group of clerics and why their untrusty toward Pahlavis lead them to go for a revolution against Shah.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1980, shortly after the Iranian Revolution, this book is by an anthropologist who spent years in the Shia seminaries in Qom. He writes about the history of the seminaries and religious students, and explains how and why they were involved in the revolution. The book provides an insider's perspective, that isn't available in many other places, but the author is quite naive about the Iranian clergy's intentions.

[Orkid · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone interested in history, Iran, Islam and anthropology...

[Bekki Fahrer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a slog until the last 2 chapters.