Iranian clerical rule breaks new ground in Islamic history

Evidence

Proponents of this view concede that there is no priesthood in Islam in the sense of an ordained intermediary performing some sacred office between God and man, but they claim that there is a very important priesthood in a sociological sense. It consists of a class of professional men of religion whose status is acquired by learning rather than by ordination and hierarchic rank, but who nevertheless function in most respects as a clergy. And these men of religion, the theologians and the jurists (the two in Islam are intimately associated), represent God and God’s law for most practical purposes, and therefore in a very real sense exercise authority, though not the ultimate political authority, which until the present regime in Iran has never been exercised by the professional men of religion. In this respect, the Iranian Mullahs are not, as they claim, restoring the order that existed in antiquity; they are creating something entirely new in Islamic doctrine or history. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1481

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: the Islamic Revolution as an unprecedented innovation in doctrine — Iranian clergy claiming restoration while actually inventing political clerical authority. Contradiction between revolutionaries’ own legitimating narrative and historical fact.
• ADDENDUM: Connects to ‘On Sacrifice’ I… actually no connective text needed here. Connects to theocracy/clerical authority theme which parallels the sacrificial kingship discussion in ‘On Sacrifice.’
• XREF: connects to: Iran’s constitution sacralized state power by subordinating even religious ordinances to state interests — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 1728