روح الله نصراللهی

The sociopolitical role of the ʿulamāʾ is a common element of most of the academic accounts on Shia. The scholars of political sociology of Iran have commonly crafted new theoretical frameworks to explain this unique element role in Iranian society. Here, I present a general framework for the study of the ʿulamāʾ in Iran based on their patronage networks among the political elites, bazar, and grassroots. Apart from their religious functions as spiritual leaders and as the authoritative source (taqlīd) of Islamic rulings, the ʿulamāʾ performed the role of patrons for their networks of clients existed among political elites, bazar merchants, and grassroots. Their religious capital facilitated the ʿulamāʾ with a solid social influence that turned them into a major source of grievance and support for these social networks. In this paper, I start with a critical analysis of the existing literature on Shia ʿulamāʾ, then I present a historical account of the sociopolitical patronage of the ʿulamāʾ which finally helps me to suggest a coherent theoretical framework for sociopolitical analysis of the role of the Shia ʿulamāʾ in the 19th century Iran. In order to social connections in my work, I also relied on the Weberian approach that concentrates on social alliances and group models.