Hawzah News Agency- Yusuf Tazgun, a cleric affiliated with Turkey’s Ahl al-Bayt Scholars Association and a graduate of the seminary in Qom, made the remarks in an interview marking the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
According to Tazgun, interpreting the 1979 Revolution merely as a political power shift from monarchy to republic would be a superficial reading of its essence.
“Undoubtedly, a regime change occurred with the transition from monarchy to the Islamic Republic,” he said. “But the primary transformation was not merely political; it was intellectual and doctrinal. The Revolution represented a reappearance of Islam in response to the modern claim that religion must be confined to the private and individual domain.”
He characterized the Revolution as Islam’s return to the stage of history in the modern age as an active civilizational actor. In his view, the movement demonstrated in practice that Islam is not limited to ritual and personal piety but possesses the intellectual and moral capacity to organize law, politics, economics, and social order.
“Civilization is not only about institutions and urban structures,” Tazgun noted. “It is about the image of the human being, the understanding of knowledge, the relationship between power and ethics, and the conception of justice. The Islamic Revolution intervened precisely in these areas.”
Independence Through Divine Sovereignty
Asked about the Revolution’s core message, Tazgun said its most fundamental principle is that independence and dignity can only be realized through servitude to God.
He explained that the Revolution simultaneously confronted domestic authoritarianism and foreign domination. The slogan “Neither East nor West” was not simply a geopolitical position, he said, but a declaration of independence grounded in divine sovereignty.
“In the twentieth century, Muslim societies were largely compelled to define themselves under the frameworks of capitalism or socialism,” he stated. “The Islamic Revolution declared: ‘We too have something to say.’”
Tazgun argued that the Revolution revived concepts such as sacrifice, martyrdom, patience, and resistance—principles that, he said, moved beyond rhetoric and were embodied during the Iran-Iraq war and subsequent decades of sanctions.
Imam Khomeini’s Synthesis of Spirituality and Politics
Reflecting on the intellectual legacy of Imam Khomeini, Tazgun described the late leader’s most distinctive contribution as integrating spirituality with governance.
“The most outstanding feature of Imam Khomeini was that he did not regard religion as solely concerned with the afterlife,” he said. “He saw it as a framework for organizing worldly life as well.”
Tazgun emphasized that Imam Khomeini combined mysticism with political theory and viewed Islamic jurisprudence not as a rigid set of rules but as a dynamic and comprehensive system encompassing all dimensions of life. Within this framework, the theory of Wilayat al-Faqih (Guardianship of the Jurist) represents, in his assessment, not merely a political model but a broader theory of religiously guided social leadership.
“In his thought, there was no rupture between politics and spirituality,” he added. “Politics was not simply a struggle for power, but an arena of moral responsibility.”
Tazgun also cited the intellectual influence of figures such as Ayatollah Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai and Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, noting their impact on contemporary Islamic thought and engagement with modern philosophical currents.
Overcoming the “Barrier of Fear”
According to the Turkish scholar, one of the Revolution’s most enduring contributions was psychological: overcoming what he described as a “barrier of fear” within Muslim societies.
“Imam Khomeini answered affirmatively the question of whether a politics grounded in truth is possible despite global power imbalances,” Tazgun said. “Many Muslim societies suffer not from a lack of resources, but from a lack of confidence.”
Addressing young people on the anniversary of the Revolution, he urged them to cultivate intellectual depth alongside moral discipline.
“Revolutions begin in the mind and the heart,” he stated. “If a young person does not know his or her own intellectual and spiritual sources, they will inevitably think through borrowed concepts.”
He stressed that meaningful engagement in the contemporary world requires mastery of both classical Islamic sciences and the language of modernity. “Effective presence cannot be built on slogans alone,” he concluded. “It must be grounded in knowledge and ethics.”
Tazgun’s remarks reflect a broader current of thought in parts of the Muslim world that views the Islamic Revolution not merely as a national political event, but as an ongoing civilizational project seeking to redefine the relationship between faith, governance, and modernity.
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