ABSTRACT
Political Islam in Iran is often depicted as contrary to secular nationalism, with the underlying assumption that the Islamists were not nationalist. This chapter aims at exploring the religious Islamic dimension of Iranian nationalism by analyzing the positions of three leading religious actors in Iran during the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1941-1979): Navab Safavi, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Mortaza Motahhari. Khomeini's attitude toward nationalism has been a matter of controversy among scholars. Motahhari's grappling with the issue of Iranian identity led him to produce a book on the subject, titled Khadamat-e Moteqabel-e Islam va-Iran. Motahhari's description of ancient Iran is fact-based and respectful, if not sympathetic. While he identifies Islam with progress, he does not consider Zoroastrianism as evil or out-and-out anti-Islamic heresy. Islamic thinkers, including Navab Safavi and Mortaza Motahhari, promoted the Islamic dimension of Iranian identity, but unlike those intellectuals who rediscovered Islam in the 1960s, their Islam was clearly defined and articulated.
