Religious and Historical Roots of Power Taboo-making

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor, Tarbiat Modaress University

Abstract

This article claims that we are facing "taboo making" and not the inherent taboo of power. We have followed the issue by focusing on a familiar and close example and have shown that anti-state movements are not necessarily and exclusively derived from antagonism and may even lead to state building. Since the claims involving condemnation of power are usually based on religious and historical obstacles, we have necessarily investigated these fields in Iran and Islam.



In the review of the literature denouncing power, we came across the historical theories of "Oriental tyranny", "Asian mode of production", "rentier state" and "Orientalism" which were presented on the basis of the specialization of the East, Asia and Iran, and in the recent reflections of religious studies, with theories about "The place of religion in society", "Islamic fundamentalism" and "Islamic authoritarianism". The review of these theories has confirmed the existence of an open and hidden competition in gaining power and working against it in order to eliminate possible rivals and possibly the West and modernity.

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