What this book does really well is bring together the most important Islamist ideologues of the Iranian Revolution into one place so the reader can get a better understanding of how and where these men developed this unique form of Islam, and in so doing gives the reader an extraordinary look into the evolution of this brand of Islam. This type of work is essential because it gives the reader a real sense of the evolutionary nature of revolution and the ideologies behind some of the most important people in creating this theocracy. Reading works on these individuals doesn't give the reader the whole picture in how each of these men affected the other. Simply reading about Jalal Al-e Ahmad and his work, in isolation, doesn't give the reader the more important understanding of how this man's work affected the intellectual milieu within which these other men operated and devoloped their own ideas. Without Ahmad would there have been as fertile ground for Shari'ati, and without Shari'ati's revolutionary ideas about thought and action within an Islamic context would there have been as fertile ground as others like Motahhari and Khomeini found for there ideas? This book helps the reader understand the answers to these and other questions.
One aspect of this book I truly respected was the author's tackling of tough problems in an honest way, and dealing with each man's ambiguities and contradictions lays out the bare facts giving the reader and honest look at the problems with their ideologies. Shari'ati is an excellent example of this in that the author shows his lack of ability to confront Marxist theory from within an Islamic context. More often than not Shari'ati found himself having to borrow from Marxist theory and language in order to combat his opponents. This created garbled rhetoric that at times validated the Marxist dialogue and interpretation of his opponents. Also Mr. Dabashi highlights how Shari'ati's style of freethinking and not ever really thinking through his ideas to a more sound conclusion caused some difficult scenes for the popular teacher. Even more than Shari'ati, the author also discusses how Khomeini's idea developed and the radical change that emerged from the man's early life and the more passive form of Shi'ism that he practiced and taught. The author doesn't shy away from really delving into these men and exposing them.
I think the author does a good job in parsing out and then highlighting each man's contribution to the Islamism that came to be. In so doing, though, the author has to limit his work to Islamic context, and thus limit his discussion of each of these men's contributions to strictly the Islamic context. It is important for readers to understand this distinction coming into this work. The author's intention was to highlight the theological aspects of the Iranian Revolution, and in doing this the author doesn't go into the contributions or other aspects of these men's lives. This means that a lot of the importance of each of these men is left out of this work, and Khomeini is a perfect example of this. While Khomeini is certainly important within the theological, Islamist context, his import in the political and secular context is just as important. Khomeini's importance as a populist politician par excellence in the context of the revolution is the deciding factor that ensured the fall of the government and the eventual ascendance of the Islamists to power, because his greatest political achievement was his ability to be all things to all Iranians. He was able to unite many Iranians behind him who would not be for his vision of a theocratic state, but he was able to do this with amazing acumen rarley seen in politicians.
One criticism is the author interjecting snippets of biographical information that was to limited to really add a greater understanding of the men but at the same time long enough to be a little bit tedious. The author offers discussions of their family histories and their upbringing, but the lack of depth offers the reader nothing which can give them value to the work. Also the author gets repetitive when discussing the rule of Reza Shah. With each man the author goes into how his oppresive rule towards the religious affected each of them. The problem is that each description reads almost exactly the same which makes sence since each man had so much in common, but after reading the same anecdotes over and over one can't help feel this could have been covered in the introduction without having to continually return to it over and over again.
With that said, this is a great book that will give great insights to those looking to understand the Iranian state, the revolution or the men who were so instrumental to both. It is important for the reader to understand the context of the work so they don't forget this is only a part that contributes to the understanding of the whole. While there are some minor problems, these are minor and do not take away from the overall readability of the work and the import of the material. I certainly recommend this wonderful book to anyone looking to get a greater understanding of Iran.
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