درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The present research aims to examine the opportunities and challenges of Shia's culture and religion in the political development process in Iraq after Saddam. The research method is de-scriptive-analytical, and the results indicate that post-Saddam Iraq provided a new opportunity for Shia to participate in power and incorporate their cultural and religious components into governance and forward-looking politics. Shia religion, due to its distinct principles of justice and imamate, sets it apart from other Islamic sects, principles that result in rationality, dy-namic jurisprudence, and freedom, aligning with political development. The approaches of Shia authorities in recent years indicate the existence of rationality as a key element and indi-cator of political development. The attention of the people and obedience to the institution of authority in various fatwas and numerous crises witnessed by Iraq are evidence of political maturity and the growth of customary reasoning among the Shia community in Iraq. Howev-er, Shia in Iraq, due to years of staying away from power, lack of political governance experi-ence, different interpretations of Shia jurisprudence regarding intervention and participation in politics, and realities of society and the international system imposed on Shia culture, have not been entirely in harmony with the Western concept of political development with Shia religious components in this post-Saddam era.

Before the introduction of modern Western civilization, education in Iran was primarily under the control of the clergy and considered one of their main responsibilities. With the arrival of Western culture and civilization in Iran, particularly during the Pahlavi era, formal education, like many official governmental institutions, came to be managed by graduates of the new educational system. As a result, today some people view the clergy's involvement in official education as unconventional. The central question of this research is whether, with the formation of new schools and the informal status of old schools during the Pahlavi period, the clergy still played a role in formal education. The author's investigation indicates that a comprehensive and focused study on this topic has not been conducted. Although various academic works have touched upon the role of religious movements and clergy during the Pahlavi era, as well as memoirs related to active clerics in this area, these references are scattered and lack coherence. The present study, by descriptive and historical analysis methods, aims to explore this issue in historical documents. The findings indicated that after the reign of Reza Shah and with the opening of the political and cultural atmosphere, Shia scholars and clerics undertook two fundamental actions to play their role in education: The first was a gradual reform of the government’s new education system, conducted in four stages: Requesting the inclusion of religious subjects in schools, selecting suitable teachers for instruction, separating girls' and boys' schools, and the writing of textbooks by clerics with their presence to teach these books. The second action was the establishment and management of new private schools by clerics. This involvement of the clergy provoked a reaction from the Pahlavi regime, resulting in pressure on these schools and even the closure of some of them.