Shii Muslims

The Islamic Republic of Iran is founded on the idea that clerics should exercise political power by virtue of their ability to interpret the divine will, a principle questioned by theologians and intellectuals.

The second part of the analysis of the founding principles of the Hezbollah movement which for some time has been the uncontested master of the south of the country. At the roots of a radical and total militancy, an idea of the world ‘as a simple bridge that leads on to eternity’

From imam’s centrality to the jurisconsult’s government

Born as a revolutionary movement, Shi‘ite Islam saw the role of the ulama grow constantly and uninterruptedly during the course of its history until a genuine hierarchy, dominated by the authority of the marja‘iyya, was created from the nineteenth century onward

In the Gulf crisis, Ulama and preachers have aligned not according to religious but political orientation

It is a fundamental principle of Shi‘ite exegesis that the imam is the only person who may legitimately interpret the sacred Text, having been chosen and inspired by God for this purpose

To diffuse the conflict in the Islamic world, the religious and secular spheres should be differenciated

A discussion of how, in the last sixty years, there has been in Iran a transition from Shi’ite traditionalism to an indigenous religious and Marxist ideology capable of mobilising the masses up to the Revolution of 1979

Military jihad will return only at the end of history. And yet it is a battle that has already begun for all men, but some want to precipitate it

It was not Persian but Shi’ism that crystallised the unity of the modern State. And it was for this reason that the ousting of the Shah and the establishment of the Islamic Republic were able to base themselves on a tradition that is well rooted in national identity

Iran between messianic aspiration and the management of revolution

Following the fiasco of the secular nationalist experience in countries like Egypt and Iran, the radical components of each group have since the 1970s enjoyed great notoriety and exerted a notable influence. Their differing conceptions of jihad and martyrdom.