Faculty of Social Sciences , University Of Tehran

Document Type : Research Article / Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

Abstract

Islamic unity has long been a foundational pillar of the power, stability, and cultural flourishing of Islamic civilization. Religious leaders and reform-minded thinkers have therefore treated unity not only as a moral virtue but also as a strategic necessity for the future of the Muslim ummah. Historic initiatives for the Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought (taqrīb)—most notably Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltout’s recognition of Jaʿfari jurisprudence—sought to narrow sectarian divides through religious rationality, institutionalized dialogue, and educational reform. In recent decades, however, the rise of extremist discourses grounded in takfīr (excommunication) has undermined coexistence and intensified intra-Islamic fault lines. Movements such as ISIS, relying on superficial and absolutist readings of scripture, have repudiated rational ijtihād and legitimized organized violence. Adopting a critical–analytical approach, this study examines the conceptual foundations and socio-political contexts of takfīr while assessing the operational capacity of Shaltout’s unificationist thought as a coherent framework for countering exclusionary and violent discourses. Ultimately, it proposes an implementable model to reinforce Islamic cohesion and contain takfīrī currents, grounded in religious legitimacy, rational jurisprudence, and structural reforms.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Abazari, Ali. (2008). Taqrib in the conduct and perspective of scholars. Educational Jurisprudence Studies, 6, 101–122. [In Persian]
Abdollahi Ziaoddini, Mehdi. (2021). Genealogy of Salafi terrorism. Political and International Approaches, 12(3), 175–203.
Abedini, Naser, Delafkar, Ali, & Tohidloo, Abbas. (2020). A comparative study of the contemporaneity of Qur’anic interpretation according to Mohammad Jawad Mughniyah and Mahmoud Shaltut. Qur’anic Studies, 93, 73–94. [In Persian]
Abolhasani, Reza. (2005). Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltut: A sign of courage. Andisheh-ye Taqrib, 115, 115–137. [In Persian]
Abu Zahra, Mohammad. (2007). Salafis (Translated by Ahmad Imani). In Fiqh of Ahl al-Sunnah (pp. 591–622). Nashr-e Adyan. [In Persian]
Adami, Ahmad, & Moradi, Ali. (2015). The nature of extremism in political Islam: Identity roots and normative action. Islamic World Political Studies Research, 5(3), 29–59. [In Persian]
Akvani, Hossein, Nikfar, Javad, Mojahedzadeh, Mohammad, & Karami, Majid. (2022). The ideological foundations of the Taliban based on Thomas Spragens’ interpretive approach: From collapse to regaining power. Political Sociology of the Muslim World, 21, 257–282. [In Persian]
Ali-Bakhshi, Alireza. (2015). Political typology of Salafi, Jihadi, and Takfiri groups. Alhoda International Publishing. [In Persian]
Alipour Gorji, Mahmoud, & Shabani-Kia, Shadi. (2018). Salafism from meaning to misinterpretations of its foundations. Journal of Crisis Studies of the Islamic World, 5(10), 152–179.
Alizadeh Mousavi, Mohammad. (2012). Salafism and Wahhabism: A genealogy. Islamic Propagation Office (Hawzah). [In Persian]
Al-Zarqawi, Ahmad Fadil Nazzal. (2006). Kalimāt muḍīʾah: Al-kitāb al-jāmiʿ li-khuṭab wa kalimāt Abī Muṣʿab al-Zarqāwī. Al-Buraq Islamic Network. [In Arabic]
Al-Zawahiri, Ayman Mohammad Rabie. (2002). Al-walāʾ wa al-barāʾ: ʿAqīdah manqūlah wa wāqiʿ mafqūd. Bina. [In Arabic]
Bakhshi Sheikh Ahmad, Mohammad, Bahari, Behzad, & Vahabpour, Peyman. (2014). An analysis of the ideology of the Takfiri–Wahhabi group “Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.” Quarterly Journal of Political Science, 16(6). [In Persian]
Barzegar, Ebrahim, Khorramshad, Mohammad Bagher, Rahbar, Ali, & Alishahi, Ali. (2020). The dysfunctions of Wahhabism and the widening gap between Mohammed bin Salman and Saudi Wahhabis. International Relations Research, 39, 177–204. [In Persian]
Barzegar, Ebrahim. (2004). The Palestinian issue in contemporary Islamic political thought and the Spragens exploratory method. Public Law Research Quarterly, 6(12), 45–75.
Barzegar, Ebrahim. (2006). The Palestine issue in contemporary Islamic political thought and Thomas Spragens’ interpretive method. Public Law Research, 6(12), 45–75. [In Persian]
Bi-Azar Shirazi, Kazem. (2000). Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltut as a pioneer of Taqrib. World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought. [In Persian]
Daneshyar, Ahmad. (2014). Challenges of Takfiri movements and strategies to confront them from the perspective of the Supreme Leader. Habl al-Matin, 3(9), 75. [In Persian]
Delafkar, Ali, Neistani, Naser, & Abedini, Naser. (2021). A comparative study of the comprehensiveness of the Qur’an in the views of Mohammad Jawad Mughniyah and Mahmoud Shaltut. Islamic Sects Studies Quarterly, 15, 230–257. [In Persian]
Derkhesh, Jalal, & Kazemi, Seyyed Mohammad-Sadegh. (2016). Power analysis in the political thought of Ayatollah Mirza Shirazi. Political Knowledge Quarterly, 12(2), 5–29.
Ebrahimnejad, Mohammad. (2014). Daesh: The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. Dar al-Eʿlam li-Madrasat Ahl al-Bayt. [In Persian]
Edalat-Nejad, Seyyed, & Nezam-al-Din, Seyyed Hossein. (2011). Takfiri Salafis or Jihadists: Origins and ideas. History and Islamic Civilization, 13. [In Persian]
Eimandar, Hamid, & Mozafari, Hossein. (2019). Internal challenges of Salafism in refining theological and doctrinal foundations with emphasis on takfīr and its dimensions. Mirror of Knowledge Quarterly, 58, 59–84.
Esmati, Seyyed Hossein. (2002). An introduction to the exegetical personality of Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltut. Golestan-e Quran, 139, 29–31. [In Persian]
Fairclough, Norman. (2000). Critical discourse analysis (Translated by Nasser Fairclough). Markaz-e Nashr-e Rasaneha. [In Persian]
Faqihi, Ahmad Ali. (1998). The Wahhabis. Esmaeiliyan Institute. [In Persian]
Faraji, Mohammad, & Ghasemi, Behzad. (2024). The nature and process of constitutionalism in Iran based on Thomas Spragens’ theory. Journal of Iranian History, 35, 75–103. [In Persian]
Foroughinia, Hossein, Hosseini-Far, Seyyed Mohammad, & Mohammadpour, Farhad. (2021). Political and social backgrounds and their impact on political advisory writing in Islamic-era Iran. Supreme Politics, 34, 121–136. [In Persian]
Golshani, Ali. (2008). Philosophical and historical understanding of political thought based on Skinner, Oakeshott, and Spragens. Philosophical Journal, 14(68), 93–108. [In Persian]
Haghighat, Seyyed Sadegh, & Hejazi, Seyyed Hamed. (2010). Critical review: A critical look at the application of Spragens’ crisis theory in political studies. Political Science Quarterly (Baqer al-Olum University), 9(49), 187–195.
Haghighat, Seyyed. (2014). Methodology of political science. Mofid University Press. [In Persian]
Haji-Yousefi, Amir-Mohammad. (2009). The Shi‘a Crescent: Opportunities and threats for the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Arabs, and the United States. Political Knowledge Quarterly, 5(1), 152–192.
Hashemi, Seyyed Mohammad-Ali. (2019). Religion and state in Saudi Arabia: The identity and structural linkage of Wahhabism and the ruling family. Qom: Al-Mustafa International Translation and Publishing Center.
Heydari, Alireza, & Nakhaei, Naser. (2018). Analysis of the ideology of Daesh based on Thomas Spragens’ theory. Politics Quarterly, 4, 907–926. [In Persian]
Hosseinizadeh, Seyyed Mohammad Ali. (2007). Political Islam in Iran. Mofid University Press. [In Persian]
Ibn Taymiyyah, Taqi al-Din Ahmad ibn Abd al-Halim. (1971). Darʿ taʿāruḍ al-ʿaql wa al-naql (Edited by Mohammad Rashad Salem). Dar al-Kutub. [In Arabic]
Jalaeipour, Hamid Reza. (2020). Political sociology of Iran: Forty years of nation–state interaction (1979–2018). University of Tehran Press. [In Persian]
Jamshidi, Mohammad Hossein. (2011). Sheikh Shaltut. In Political thought of Muslim thinkers (Vol. 13). Institute for Cultural and Social Studies. [In Persian]
Karami, Mohammad. (1982). Al-Tafsīr li-Kitāb Allāh al-Munīr. Qom: Nashr-e Elmiyeh.
Kasraei, Mohammad-Salar, & Davari-Moqaddam, Saeedeh. (2015). The rise of ISIS in the Middle East: A sociological analysis. Foreign Relations Quarterly, 7(1), 191–216.
Kepel, Gilles. (2003). The prophet and the pharaoh (Hamid Ahmadi, Trans.). Tehran: Kayhan.
Laclau, Ernesto, & Mouffe, Chantal. (1985). Hegemony and socialist strategy: Towards a radical democratic politics. Verso.
Laclau, Ernesto, & Mouffe, Chantal. (2021). Hegemony and socialist strategy (Translated by Mohammad Rezaei). Nashr-e Salis. [In Persian]
Najafi-Firoozjaei, Abbas. (2003). Intellectual foundations of al-Qaeda and Wahhabism. Strategic Studies Quarterly (Rahbord), 27, 232–256.
Najaf-Zadeh, Reza. (2013). Transformations of radical political Islam. In Mohammad-Reza Hatami & Morteza Bahrani (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Islamic movements. Tehran: Research Institute for Cultural and Social Studies.
Nazari, Farzad, Golshani, Alireza, & Shiroodi, Morteza. (2018). A comparative study of the political foundations of the Taliban and ISIS based on discourse analysis theory. Journal of Political and International Studies, 10(40), 227–250.
Pishvaei, Seyyed Mohammad-Hadi. (2019). Neo-Salafi approach and the destruction of the civilizational capacity of Sunni political jurisprudence. Journal of Fundamental Studies of Islamic New Civilization, 2(2), 151–178.
Rostami, Abbas-Ali. (2018). The prohibition of takfīr of Ahl al-Qiblah from the perspective of Shi‘a and Sunni theologians and jurists. Journal of Theological-Doctrinal Research, 7(30), 71–92.
Sadati-Nejad, Seyyed Ali, & Sadati-Nejad, Seyyed Mohammad. (2022). The role of religious and cultural coalitions of Islamic scholars in confronting takfiri movements. Seraj-e Monir Journal, 12(45), 45–66.
Salehi, Ali-Agha, Momeni, Khosrow, Jafari, Mojtaba, & Saberian, Alireza. (2021). Explanation and critique of the jurisprudential foundations of takfīr and its consequences. Journal of Islamic Jurisprudence and Law Studies, 13(24), 199–220.
Shaltut, Mahmoud. (n.d.). Al-Islam: Belief and law (2nd ed.). Dar al-Qalam. [In Arabic]
Shaltut, Sheikh Mahmoud. (2000). Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-Karīm. Tehran: World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought.
Spragens, Thomas. (2015). Understanding political theory (Translated by Farhang Rajaee). Agah Publications. [In Persian].