This is a study of hudud - Islamic 'fixed penalties' - as they appear in Iranian law and courts. It first presents the codified laws and underlying elements from Twelver Shi‘i law (as interpreted by the Iranian legal community) governing the penalties of stoning for adultery, amputation of four fingers for theft, and execution for sodomy and certain variants of fornication (illicit carnal congress between unmarried males and females). It subsequently observes how these laws and concepts are used in practice by analysing previously unavailable court documents pertaining to theft, sodomy, fornication and adultery trials. It thereby seeks to discover opportunities for avoiding these hadd (singular of hudud) penalties, which are termed ‘irreversible’ because they change the condemned irrevocably by killing or maiming them. The material collected suggests several patterns characterising the application of hudud in Iran. The law itself provides so many opportunities for lenience that in most cases, irreversible penalties could theoretically be avoided. However, the law is often so vague that judges have enormous discretion about how to interpret and apply it. This is exacerbated by the fact that the codified law is underlain by Shi‘i texts which jurists, judges and lawyers acknowledge as the true and authoritative source of law. The law’s vagueness necessitates recourse to these texts, but different texts and interpretations thereof can be used in court, leading to unpredictable sentencing. Furthermore, in the cases analysed it was commonplace for laws to be contravened outright. Socioeconomic forces also affected, or were revealed by, some of the cases. As well as many opportunities for lenience, the law contains fundamental obstacles to it, many of which are difficult to abrogate in an ‘Islamic Republic’ because they originate from authoritative Shi‘i texts. Some jurists suggest ways to overcome even these, one being Khomeini’s doctrine whereby state interests can override Islamic orthodoxy to protect the Muslim community and hence Islam itself. The project serves as a ‘handbook’ of codified Iranian hadd law in light of its underlying Shi‘i concepts as understood by Iranian legal specialists. Through a systematic analysis of hadd cases, it shows how these ideas are applied in practice, and could also have practical applicability in the field of human rights.

Shīʿī aḥādīth, particularly on women, are an immensely understudied area. Studies on Shīʿī aḥādīth on women usually centre on Fāṭimah al-Zahrāʾ, and little research explores pre-Islamic sacred female figures in Shīʿī aḥādīth. At the same time, there an urgent interest in Shīʿism as well as women in Islam, and a desire for new methods to be applied as well as new questions to be asked. This thesis will analyse Shīʿī aḥādīth about women in pre-Islamic sacred history who appear in the Qurʾān (focusing on Eve, Sārah, Hājar, Zulaykhā, Bilqīs, and the Virgin Mary), and apply the methodologies of ideological criticism and feminist hermeneutics (to be explained in Chapter 1) to explore the subtexts about the essential nature and role of women communicated through these narrations. In addition to exploring the roots of these ideas, it will compare them against the contemporary Shīʿī ideology of gender referred to as the ‘separate-but-equal’ ideology to explore how well this ideology corresponds to Shīʿī narrations. (What constitutes an ‘ideology’ will be explored in Chapter 1.) Rather than attempting to derive the ‘authentic’ teachings of the Prophet or the Imāms, this study will take a stance of inauthenticity with respect to narrations and treat narrations as socio-cultural artefacts representing the diversity of views and beliefs of the Shīʿī community. This distinguishes it from other works which either attempt to derive the ‘authentic’ teachings of the Prophet, or else which presume that all narrations equally reflect what the Prophet and Imāms actually said. This avoids the sticky question of which narrations are actually ‘true’ and allows them to be treated equally as cultural artifacts in negotiating a Shīʿī ideology of gender. Because this study focuses on sacred female figures shared with the Judaeo-Christian tradition, it allows for the exploration of how ideas about women from outside the Islamic tradition were integrated into the Shīʿī corpus through isrāʾīlīyāt, particularly through the intertextual synthesis of pre-Islamic material (such as the Bible) with post-Prophetic notions (such as normative paradigms of jurisprudential discourse). Two trends will emerge from these narrations. The first heavily reinforces patriarchal norms, such as women’s seclusion, the need for male authority, and male guardianship over women. These narrations reflect jurisprudential discourse and are largely found in two of the four most prominent books of Shīʿī ḥadīth, al-Kāfī and al-Faqīh. However, in the second, other narrations form a ‘counter-narrative’ in which women and men are portrayed as equals; these narrations invoke the imagery of esoteric Shīʿism and focus on the narrative of wilāyah (loyalty to and love of the Prophet, Fāṭimah al-Zahrāʾ, and the Shīʿī Imāms). Since both sets of narrations address uniquely Shīʿī concerns, such as the Imāmate, it can be deduced that these differing portrayals of women reflect competing concerns in the early and mediaeval Shīʿī communities with respect to determining Shīʿī identity and orthodoxy, and may also reflect the spread of and resistance to Arabization. Lastly, because many narrations attributed to Imam ʿAlī convey strikingly different views about women, the penultimate chapter will explore whether Imam ʿAlī was misogynistic through a comparison of two foundational Shīʿī texts: Kitāb Sulaym ibn Qays al-Hilālī (c. 100 AH) and Nahj al-Balāghah (c. 400 AH).

This thesis addresses the relationship between sectarianism and state-making and nation-building in Iraq. It argues that sectarianism has been an enduring feature of the state-making trajectory in Iraq due to the failure of the modern nation-state to resolve inherent tensions between primordial sectarian identities and concepts of unified statehood and uniform citizenry. After a theoretical excursus that recasts the notion of primordial identity as a socially constructed reality, I set out to explain the persistence of primordial sectarian affiliations in Iraq since the establishment of the modern nation-state in 1921. Looking at the primordial past showed that Sunni-Shicite interactions before the modern nation-state cultivated repositories of divergent collective memories and shaped dynamics of inclusion and exclusion favorable to the Sunni Arabs following the creation of Iraq. Drawing on primary and secondary sources and field interviews, this study proceeds to trace the accentuation of primordial sectarian solidarities despite the adoption of homogenizing policies in a deeply divided society along ethno-sectarian lines. It found that the uneven sectarian composition of the ruling elites nurtured feelings of political exclusion among marginalized sectarian groups, the Shicites before 2003 and the Sunnis in the post-2003 period, which hardened sectarian identities. The injection of hegemonic communal discourses into the educational curriculum was found to have provoked masked forms of resistance that contributed to the sharpening of sectarian consciousness. Hegemonic communal narratives embedded in the curriculum not only undermined the homogenizing utility of education but also implicated education in the accentuation of primordial sectarian identities. The study also found that, by camouflaging anti-Shicite sectarianism, the anti-Persian streak in the nation-state’s Pan-Arab ideology undermined Iraq’s national integration project. It explains that the slide from a totalizing Pan-Arab ideology in the pre-2003 period toward the atomistic impulse of the federalist debate in the post-2003 period is symptomatic of the ghettoization of identity in Iraq. This investigation of the interaction between primordial sectarian attachments and the trajectory of the making of the Iraqi nation-state is ensconced in the project of expanding the range and scope of social scientific applications of the nation-building and primordialism lines of analysis.

Figura-chave da chamada \"Escola de Isfahān\", Mullā Ṣadrā (979 H. / 1571-2 d.C ) ocupou papel de destaque durante a renascença safávida do reinado de Abbās I (d. 1039/1629). Acredita-se ter sido ele o principal responsável por revitalizar a filosofia da iluminação de Sūhrawardi naquele contexto, além de consolidar a junção entre sufismo e neoplatonismo. Foi responsável, ainda, pela elaboração de metodologia própria para a compreensão da realidade, tendo por base fontes filosóficas, teológicas e místicas, além de mesclar raciocínio lógico, inspiração espiritual e meditação profunda. Ṣadrā aplicou tal metodologia às principais obras da tradição xiita duodécima. Do ponto de vista filosófico, Ṣadrā percebe o conceito aristotélico de \"substância\" como processo, em constante mudança; nesse aspecto, o filósofo aproxima-se da leitura de traço neoplatônico, já presente em al-Fārābī e Ibn Sīn&#257. O modo como Ṣadrā relaciona as noções de \"essência\" e \"existência\" deu novas feições à discussão metafísica de tradição árabe-islâmica. Em sua doutrina, Ṣadrā acaba por transformar a metafísica construída a partir da primazia das substâncias, como elemento primordial da existência, em outra, fundada e movida por atos de existência. Apesar de perpassar esses e outros temas, a principal contribuição d\'O Elixir dos Gnósticos diz respeito à ênfase do autor no autoconhecimento. Como Ibn Ἁrab&#299, Ṣadrā acredita que o conhecimento da alma / nafs - ou seja, o conhecimento de si mesmo - e o conhecimento de Deus estão interligados. Por esse motivo, o presente trabalho se preocupou principalmente em analisar a relação entre os existentes, a alma e a inteligência primeira, pois é a partir dessa relação que se tornar possível vislumbrar e compreender as questões fundamentais da origem e do retorno à fonte doadora de existência. Do ponto de vista histórico, vale destacar que à fundação do império safávida acompanhou-se a conversão em massa da população ao xiismo. Para responder à demanda por instrução da multidão de novos convertidos - e igualmente firmar as bases da nova religião oficial -, grande número de religiosos foi trazido de áreas xiitas respeitadas pela doutrina e pela ortodoxia, tais como Líbano e Iraque. Esse clero árabe recém chegado, que teve Ṣadrā como herdeiro, foi responsável por incorporar novos elementos ao pensamento religioso vigente em terras persas e, assim, conformar ambiente propício para o desenvolvimento do pensamento filosófico de Ṣadrā. / Prominent figure of the \"Isfahān School\", Mullā Ṣadrā (979 H. / 1571-2 AD) had an important role during the Safavid renaissance in the reign of Abbās I (d. 1039/1629). He is believed to be the main responsible for the revitalization of the philosophy of illumination of Sūhrawardi in that context, as well as for the consolidation of the junction between Sufism and Neoplatonism. He also developed his own methodology for the comprehension of the reality, based on philosophical, theological and mystics\' sources, and which puts together logical reasoning, spiritual inspiration and deep meditation. Ṣadrā applied his methodology to the then major works of the Twelver Shi\'ism tradition. From the philosophical point of view Ṣadrā perceives the Aristotelian concept of \"substance\" as a process in constant change; in this regard the philosopher comes nearer to the Neoplatonic ideas instead, as did al-Fārābī and Ibn Sīn&#257. The way Ṣadrā relates the notion of \"essence\" and \"existence\" added new features to the metaphysical discussions in Arabic and Islamic philosophical tradition. In his doctrine, Ṣadrā ends up transforming the metaphysics built upon the primacy of substances as the primordial element of existence, in another one based on and moved by acts of existence. The most important contribution of The Elixir of the Gnostics however is the emphasis of the author on self-knowledge. As Ibn Ἁrab&#299, Ṣadrā believes that the knowledge of the soul / nafs - in other words, the knowledge of the self - and the knowledge of God are interconnected. For this reason the present work is more concerned in analyzing the relation between existents, soul, and the first intelligence, from which it is possible to comprehend the fundamental issues of the origin and the return to the donor source of existence. From the historical point of view, it is worthy to highlight that the establishment of the Safavid Empire resulted in the mass conversion of the Persians into Shi\'ism. In order to respond to the increasing demand for religious instruction - and also to stabilize the basis for the new official religion - a great number of clerics was brought from Shiite areas recognized for their doctrine and orthodoxy, such as Lebanon and Iraq. This newcomer Arab clergy was responsible for incorporating new elements to the existing religious thought in Persian lands, and for creating a propitious context for the development of Ṣadrā\'s philosophical thought.

Figura-chave da chamada \"Escola de Isfahān\", Mullā Ṣadrā (979 H. / 1571-2 d.C ) ocupou papel de destaque durante a renascença safávida do reinado de Abbās I (d. 1039/1629). Acredita-se ter sido ele o principal responsável por revitalizar a filosofia da iluminação de Sūhrawardi naquele contexto, além de consolidar a junção entre sufismo e neoplatonismo. Foi responsável, ainda, pela elaboração de metodologia própria para a compreensão da realidade, tendo por base fontes filosóficas, teológicas e místicas, além de mesclar raciocínio lógico, inspiração espiritual e meditação profunda. Ṣadrā aplicou tal metodologia às principais obras da tradição xiita duodécima. Do ponto de vista filosófico, Ṣadrā percebe o conceito aristotélico de \"substância\" como processo, em constante mudança; nesse aspecto, o filósofo aproxima-se da leitura de traço neoplatônico, já presente em al-Fārābī e Ibn Sīn&#257. O modo como Ṣadrā relaciona as noções de \"essência\" e \"existência\" deu novas feições à discussão metafísica de tradição árabe-islâmica. Em sua doutrina, Ṣadrā acaba por transformar a metafísica construída a partir da primazia das substâncias, como elemento primordial da existência, em outra, fundada e movida por atos de existência. Apesar de perpassar esses e outros temas, a principal contribuição d\'O Elixir dos Gnósticos diz respeito à ênfase do autor no autoconhecimento. Como Ibn Ἁrab&#299, Ṣadrā acredita que o conhecimento da alma / nafs - ou seja, o conhecimento de si mesmo - e o conhecimento de Deus estão interligados. Por esse motivo, o presente trabalho se preocupou principalmente em analisar a relação entre os existentes, a alma e a inteligência primeira, pois é a partir dessa relação que se tornar possível vislumbrar e compreender as questões fundamentais da origem e do retorno à fonte doadora de existência. Do ponto de vista histórico, vale destacar que à fundação do império safávida acompanhou-se a conversão em massa da população ao xiismo. Para responder à demanda por instrução da multidão de novos convertidos - e igualmente firmar as bases da nova religião oficial -, grande número de religiosos foi trazido de áreas xiitas respeitadas pela doutrina e pela ortodoxia, tais como Líbano e Iraque. Esse clero árabe recém chegado, que teve Ṣadrā como herdeiro, foi responsável por incorporar novos elementos ao pensamento religioso vigente em terras persas e, assim, conformar ambiente propício para o desenvolvimento do pensamento filosófico de Ṣadrā. / Prominent figure of the \"Isfahān School\", Mullā Ṣadrā (979 H. / 1571-2 AD) had an important role during the Safavid renaissance in the reign of Abbās I (d. 1039/1629). He is believed to be the main responsible for the revitalization of the philosophy of illumination of Sūhrawardi in that context, as well as for the consolidation of the junction between Sufism and Neoplatonism. He also developed his own methodology for the comprehension of the reality, based on philosophical, theological and mystics\' sources, and which puts together logical reasoning, spiritual inspiration and deep meditation. Ṣadrā applied his methodology to the then major works of the Twelver Shi\'ism tradition. From the philosophical point of view Ṣadrā perceives the Aristotelian concept of \"substance\" as a process in constant change; in this regard the philosopher comes nearer to the Neoplatonic ideas instead, as did al-Fārābī and Ibn Sīn&#257. The way Ṣadrā relates the notion of \"essence\" and \"existence\" added new features to the metaphysical discussions in Arabic and Islamic philosophical tradition. In his doctrine, Ṣadrā ends up transforming the metaphysics built upon the primacy of substances as the primordial element of existence, in another one based on and moved by acts of existence. The most important contribution of The Elixir of the Gnostics however is the emphasis of the author on self-knowledge. As Ibn Ἁrab&#299, Ṣadrā believes that the knowledge of the soul / nafs - in other words, the knowledge of the self - and the knowledge of God are interconnected. For this reason the present work is more concerned in analyzing the relation between existents, soul, and the first intelligence, from which it is possible to comprehend the fundamental issues of the origin and the return to the donor source of existence. From the historical point of view, it is worthy to highlight that the establishment of the Safavid Empire resulted in the mass conversion of the Persians into Shi\'ism. In order to respond to the increasing demand for religious instruction - and also to stabilize the basis for the new official religion - a great number of clerics was brought from Shiite areas recognized for their doctrine and orthodoxy, such as Lebanon and Iraq. This newcomer Arab clergy was responsible for incorporating new elements to the existing religious thought in Persian lands, and for creating a propitious context for the development of Ṣadrā\'s philosophical thought.

This thesis delineates the transformation of Iran’s so-called post-revolutionary ‘religious intellectuals’ (rowshanfekran-e dini) from ideological legitimators within the political class of the newly-established theocratic-populist regime to internal critics whose revised vision for the politico-religious order coalesced and converged with the growing disillusionment and frustration of the ‘Islamic left’, a constellation of political forces within the governing elite of the Islamic Republic, that following the death of Ayatollah Khomeini increasingly felt itself marginalised and on the outskirts of power. The historical evolution of this complex, quasi-institutionalised and routinized network, encompassing theologians, jurists, political strategists and journalists, which rose to prominence in the course of the 1990s, and its critical engagement with the ruling political theology of the ‘guardianship of the jurist’, the supremacy of Islamic jurisprudence, political Islamism and all forms of ‘revolutionary’ and ‘utopian’ political and social transformation, are scrutinised in detail. In this vein, the thesis examines the various issues provoked by the rowshanfekran-e dini’s strategic deployment and translation of the concepts and ideas of a number of Western thinkers, several of which played a pivotal role in the assault on the ideological foundations of Soviet-style communism in the 1950s and 1960s. It then moves to show how this network of intellectuals and politicos following the election of Mohammad Khatami to the presidency in May 1997 sought to disseminate their ideas at the popular level by means of the press and numerous party and political periodicals, and thereby achieve ideological and political hegemony. The thesis proceeds to demonstrate the intimate connection between the project of ‘religious intellectualism’ and elite-defined notions of ‘democracy’, ‘electoral participation’, ‘reform’ and ‘political development’ as part of an effort to accumulate symbolic capital and assert their intellectual and moral leadership of the polity.