ABSTRACT
Having seen Fada’iyan’s political activities and thought, it is important to examine what social and political factors shaped their ideas. The Society of the Devotees of Islam, the Society of Socialist Theists and the Iran Freedom Movement were formed in, more or less, the same period of time. Hence, it is expected to see similar factors influencing their political and religious approaches, whereas their responses to these factors were different. An important consideration that probably caused such differences was the social background of the leaders of each group. Whereas the founders of the Iran Freedom Movement were from wealthy or middle class families and those of the Socialist Theists had middle class backgrounds, members of Fada’iyan-e Islam mainly belonged to the lower class of Iranian society. Navvab himself, due to poverty, was under his uncle’s guardianship, from his youth. Tahmasebi was an unskilled carpenter. Imami was a bazaar worker. The Vahedi brothers were from a clergy family. All came from the poverty-stricken masses.495 Another difference between Fada’iyan and the other two groups was the educational backgrounds of their members. Whereas the members and leaders of the Iran Freedom Movement and the Socialist Theists were educated in the West or in Western-style institutions, Fada’iyan’s leaders were educated at religious schools, and their lower ranks were not highly educated.
