o - Aceh Books website

*J&r*
PERSIANS 607
urban social system. Despite sharp differentiation into social and economic levels,
the Bazaaris are the most cohesive segment of Iranian society. Culturally
traditional and deeply religious, they have developed a close alliance with the
clerical class in opposition to the excesses of secular authorities.
Ever since the introduction of Shiism as the national religion of Iran in the
Safavid period (1501-1722), the ulama as the interpreters and practitioners of
Islam have played an increasingly important role in the social and political life
of the nation. They have been, at least for the past 100 years, the vanguard of
significant protest movements against despotic rulers or policies which compromised
the cultural and political integrity of Iran. The success of the Constitutional
Revolution (1905-1911), for example, owed much to the ulama supported by
the Bazaaris and secular liberals. The subsequent process of secularization of
education and judicial system by the Pahlavis gradually undermined the social
and moral leadership of the ulama. Nevertheless, they still enjoy the respect and
devotion of a sizable segment of the Iranian population.
In the early 1960s the relationship between the bureaucratic state and the
ulama entered a new phase when Ayatollah Khomeini began challenging the
legitimacy of the Pahlavi regime on grounds that monarchy is incompatible with
Islam. The Quran and Tradition, he stressed, contain all the laws needed for
human guidance. It is incumbent upon the ulama to purify Islam and apply its
laws. Furthermore, in the absence of the last infallible Imam, who is in occultation,
the Islamic jurists must accept the responsibility to govern. Ayatollah
Khomeini was imprisoned and then exiled to Iraq. He returned in 1979 to topple
the monarchy.
A fifth urban category is what might loosely be called the middle class. A
relatively recent phenomenon, the middle class is different from all other social
groups in Iran in a number of respects. Although predominantly Shia Muslim
and Persian, it incorporates other ethnic and religious elements. It includes a
large proportion of the educated white collar workers, civil service employees,
doctors, teachers, engineers and a wide variety of specialists in both public and
private sectors, including the military. The middle class is growing in size and
political importance. With a far better standard of living than ever before, the
middle class is attempting to rectify the enormous economic disparity that has
always existed between the elite and the rest of the population. Those more
affluent can now attend universities abroad.
The urban proletariat form the sixth social category. They comprise between
one-third and one-half of the city inhabitants and include factory and construction
workers, city service employees and menial laborers. They inhabit the older
sections of the city, often in run-down, crowded quarters. The urban proletariat
is also ethnically heterogeneous, although not to the same degree as the middle
class.
Finally, there is the sub-proletariat, unskilled and often under-employed or
unemployed. Largely Persian, the bulk of this group consists of landless villagers
and some impoverished pastoral nomads who come to the city in search of