ABSTRACT
The reign of Muhammad Reza Shah was dominated by a particular discourse of Iranian national identity, namely that of 'positive nationalism'. The author aims to deconstruct how Islāmīyat is used in the construction of Iranian national identity by Al-i Ahmad, Shari'ati and Khomeini. He illustrates that the meanings attached to Islāmīyat are primarily a means of maintaining Iran's independence integral to which is a rejection of the Pahlavi regime and a reassessment of Iran's relationship with the 'West'. He shows how Khomeini's ideas were put into practice with the establishment of the Islamic Republic as reflected in the constitution. He addresses the fact that, during the Iran-Iraq War and in the subsequent presidency of Rafsanjani, Īrānīyat was combined with Islamiyat in the official reconstruction of Iranian national identity. The use of Islam as a means of resisting what is perceived to be imperialism as well as articulating resistance in Iran did not begin with the likes of Al-i Ahmad.
