A Constant Tension Between Nationalist and
Islamist Identities
Iranian culture is especially complicated because it is a constant tension between nationalist and Islamic identities. The nationalist aspect of Iranian culture is related to the Ancient Persian civilization and Zoroastrian heritage that date 3000 to 2000 BC but are still prevalent in the society. On the other hand, the Islamic and subsequently Shia aspects are relatively younger and date the 7th and 16th centuries. Historically, the Persian and Islamic elements have been in constant interaction and have evolved together. After the Islamic conquest of Iran in the seventh century, many aspects of Iranian culture were affected by Islamic teachings. Reciprocally, the original version of Islam was highly enriched by the Persian culture and civilization. Some scholars go further and claim that much of the greatness of Islamic civilization stems from the Persian culture and its inputs, especially during the Abbasids dynasties in Mesopotamia or the current Iraq.1 The Iranian social psyche is marked by a twist between Iranian and Islamic identities. On the one hand, Iranians consider themselves Muslim and share many values, customs, and traditions with other Islamic nations; on the other hand, they attach a great importance to their ancient Persian identity and distinguish themselves from the rest of the Muslim community. Which one should prevail? This is a controversial question that has been addressed in different ways. Seculars and ultranationalists attach importance to the Persian culture and civilization. Their radical supporters argue that the ancient Persian culture is a model for a strong, independent, and successful Iran. They qualify the Arab-Islamic conquest as a disturbing event that brought about cultural and political decline. In contrast, the Islamists, clerics, and religious leaders consider that Islam and Iran are narrowly intertwined. They highlight the importance of Islamic identity and emphasize the benefits of Islam for the country. They are proud of Islamic ear and maintain that Iran’s greatest scientific, philosophical, and literary achievements appeared after the Islamic conquest. The tension between Islamic and nationalistic dimensions can be observed very clearly in Iran’s main language Farsi. While Farsi (Persian) is essentially an Indo-European language, it has been enriched by many Arabic or Islamic words. Interestingly, over the course of history, Iranians have struggled to preserve their grammatically distinct language, although they have accepted and digested a lot of Arabic words. The blend of Persian and Islamic elements can be found in many aspects of Iranian society including architecture, calligraphy, literature, education, economy, and urbanism.
Iranian Nationalism
Few nations in the world have been able to preserve their cultural distinction as well as Iranians.2 According to the 2000 World Values Survey, Iranians are ranked as strongly nationalistic.3 As an ancient civilization on the Eurasian crossroads, Iran has long fostered both ambitions of primacy and a sense of cultural superiority.4 Indeed, despite all the criticism that they make of their society, the Iranian people remain fervent nationalists who yearn for recognition and believe that their country deserves a higher place on the world stage.5 The development of Iranian nationalism has been associated with its historical experience as a vast empire witnessing foreign invasions and the Western imperial interference particularly in the past two centuries. While Iran has never been formally colonialized, every Iranian leader has felt the vital need to protect the Iranian identity and fight against foreign influence.6 Nationalism is a recurrent theme in Iran’s culture, politics, literature, art, music, and cinema. While Iranians are Muslims, they consider themselves different from the neighboring countries due to their linguistic, racial, and religious differences. As such, there is a sense of national solitude, as Iran has difficulty to find natural affinities with other Muslim or neighboring countries. Furthermore, most Iranians view themselves primarily as the descendants of the Persian civilization and take great pride in their historical and cultural achievements.7 Even, the pious Iranian Muslims maintain that Islam hugely benefited from the Persian culture to achieve its cultural, scientific, and artistic glory.8 Since Iran is such a multiethnic and multilinguistic country, sometimes it is very difficult to delineate one single national identity. From one perspective, the Iranian national identity is inclusive and comprises all the Iranian ethnic groups such as Persian, Azeri, Kurd, Arab, Lur, and Turkmen. However, there is another exclusive perspective that limits the Iranian national identity to Shia Persian speakers. This exclusive national identity has led to assimilating large numbers of ethnic minorities into the Persian culture under the Pahlavi and the Islamic Republic regimes.
A Traditional and Collectivist Culture
According to the World Value Survey, Iran is categorized as a traditional culture emphasizing values and ideals such as the importance of parent–child ties, deference to authority, seniority, and absolute moral standards.9 While these traditional values and behaviors are in conformity with Islamic and Shia teachings, some date back to ancient times and are common among most of the Eastern societies, notably India and China.10 The traditional values are particularly rampant among the lower and uneducated classes whereas they seem to be fading in the upper classes and Westernized families. Very similar to many Eastern and traditional cultures, in Iran the elderly people are much respected. The youth are supposed to treat their elders politely and consult with them about important life decisions such as education, marriage, and investment. Furthermore, the youth are expected to refrain from drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes in the presence of their elderly parents. While arranged marriages are not very common in Iran,11 the seniors, especially grandmothers and aunts, still play an important role in finding suitable wives or husbands for the young in the family. It is common for the youth to seek moral and financial help from their parents, aunts, or uncles in matters concerning marriage. Like other traditional cultures, the gender gap is quite high, but the urban and upper level classes generally treat both sexes as equal at home and in the workplace. Not surprisingly, male children are still preferred especially in the poor or rural families that rely on their sons as a source of financial and moral support. In 2013, a United Nations report ranked Iran 107 out of 148 countries on the Gender Inequality Index that measures reproductive health, empowerment, and economic activity of women. Over the course of the past 20 years, women literacy and school enrollment rates have improved and currently women constitute 65 percent of university students.12 Similarly, the gender gap has been declining in Iran as more women have shown presence in the educational institutions and job market.
A very fundamental issue in every society is the priority given to the interests of individuals versus those of groups. In an individualistic society, beliefs and behaviors are determined mainly by the individuals; whereas in a collectivist society, the attitudes and behaviors are shaped by loyalty toward one’s group.13 In that sense, Iranian culture is marked by a high degree of collectivism as one’s identity is shaped mainly by the group’s interests and private life is often invaded by others. Collectivism may have its antecedents in resource scarcity and the presence of large and extended families that were quite prevalent in Iran until the 1970s.14 We may suggest that under difficult circumstances people tend to embrace collectivism as their survival depends on communal efforts. By contrast, when living conditions are more comfortable, people can survive individualistically and conduct their lives on their own.15 The collectivist orientation of Iranian culture is confirmed with the centrality of the family. As a collectivist culture, Iranians view the family relations more important than other social arrangements. One can see that economic and political organizations are significantly shaped by family ties.16 These ties include not only the nuclear family of parents and offspring but also the near and distant relatives and friends. Successful persons are expected to help the members of their extended family in a wide range of matters like education, employment, and business. Those without family ties are hugely at a disadvantage and suffer from a lower status. In a collectivist culture, such as Iran, this kind of nepotism is morally accepted and appreciated.17
Hierarchical Distance
Historically, Iran’s society was divided into tiers: the first tier was devoted to the upper classes, the second to the middle classes, and the third to the lower classes.18 Herodotus in the fifth century BC reported that the relative rank of two Iranians meeting on the street could be determined simply by observing the greetings they exchanged.19 The class culture is still quite prevalent. Many scholars and travelers have reported that Iran is a highly hierarchical society in which there are huge differences in the distribution of power, wealth, and resources.20 The antecedents of high hierarchical distance are deeply rooted in many aspects of Iranian mythology, history, politics, religion, and family structure. For instance, associated with the hierarchical distance is a very strong sense of class and status. In the postrevolutionary era, the old order of society changed and many Islamists from lower classes ascended to important government positions, got education, and accumulated wealth; however, the class-based culture remained almost intact. The hierarchical distance has many bases and forms including income, professional status, place of birth, urban or village origin, education, title, family, kinship, and genealogy.21 For instance, low income and high income families are visibly separated along cultural, linguistic, and spatial lines. In the Iranian families, the high degree of hierarchical distance is manifested as a patriarchic order as the head of the household is generally the husband or father who expects respect and obedience from the members of his family.22 Hierarchical distance is important in marriage as many people view it as shameful marrying into classes lower than their own. In such a hierarchical culture, title, education, and ascription are widely used to enhance the influence and social status. In postrevolutionary Iran, a large number of government officials who had humble family origins, rushed to colleges and universities—and in some cases—obtained forged university diplomas and professional titles to enhance their status and recognition. In 2008, a public scandal over the fake doctorate degree of Iran’s interior minister resulted in a political crisis and ultimately led to his resignation.
The high hierarchical distance is translated into authoritarianism in the Iranian political system. As Hoveyda23 pointed out the Iranian leaders act paternally; they seem compassionate on the one hand and stern and cruel on the other. In his famous book The Great Civilization, former Shah of Iran maintained that “A king in Iran represents people … he is the teacher, the master, the father, in short he is everything.”24 Likewise, the collection of Iranian mythology Shahnameh (Book of Kings) is marked by exaggerations about miraculous achievements of powerful kings and superheroes such as Rostam, Jamshid, and Keykhosrow. Not surprisingly, for over 2500 years, monarchy and dynastic rule were the norms of political life in Iran. By one count, there have been 46 such dynasties and over 400 ruling Shahs (kings) in Iran.25 This long and old monarchical tradition was interrupted in 1979 with proclamation of Islamic Republic and the adoption of a republican constitution. Nevertheless, shortly after a popular uprising, a similar hierarchical order of theocratic guardianship was restored.
Gaze at the Past
Traveling across Iran in the 1860s, the French novelist and anthropologist, Count de Gobineau, reported that the past was a favorite subject of conversation among people. This observation points to the past orientation of Iran’s national culture. Iran represents one of the most traditional countries of the world that has always been haunted by the shadow of its long history. Many mythological beliefs both from pre-Islam and Islamic eras are still present in the collective psyche of Iranians and affect their behaviors.26 Before revolution, ancient Persian Empire and its legends were considered as guiding principles for the Shah who was assuming the role of Cyrus the Great in leading the country toward the so-called Great Civilization. After the Islamic revolution, Islamic Shia tradition and its Imams were chosen as the role models for moving toward a utopia full of justice and perfection. Thus, it seems that both the Pahlavi monarchy and the Islamic Republic have overemphasized the past to push forward their respective agendas. The objective of Islamic Republic as stated by its founders was to create a society very similar to the Prophet Mohammad’s era. Indeed, all religions, to some extent, are fueled by the past and rely on their historical myths. The Shia and Islamic religious ceremonies are associated with veneration of martyrs, pilgrimage to shrines, commemoration of the martyred Imams, and their passions, which all imply a constant gaze at the past.27 While the Shah and the Islamic agendas might seem quite different, both are marked by a constant gaze at the past.
Short-Term Orientation and the Pick-Axe Society
Another trait of the Iranian culture is its remarkable short-term orientation. Future, and by extension, long-term planning and preparation do not receive enough attention in Iran and social arrangements are driven by short-termism. To better describe the short-term character of Iranian culture, Katouzian28 refers to the short life cycle of buildings in Iran that is almost 20 to 30 years. The 30-year-old buildings may be sound in foundation and structure, but lose their market value due to their outdated exterior and interior designs. In other words, the common practice of constructing and demolishing a building within a 30-year period is an indication of the prevalence of short-termism in Iran’s culture. Katouzian29 labels it as the pick-axe society (Jameheh-ye Kolangi), the society where economic, political, and social arrangements are constantly receiving the pick-axe treatment by short-term caprices. Therefore, one may notice that many economic activities, business enterprises, and institutions operate on short-term basis and are regarded as personal privileges that seldom last more than one generation. For example, many businesses have a short life expectancy and are closed down after the demise of their founders and owners. By the same logic, architecture, urban development, strategic planning, and investment are often driven by short-term objectives.
An Evolving and Fading Religiosity
A glimpse at the Iranian society reveals the centrality of Islamic religion in all aspects of life including architecture, dress code, education, literature, art, and above-all political system. According to a study conducted by the World Values Survey in the 1990s, 82 percent of Iranian respondents considered themselves as religious, 99 percent believed in God, 90 percent considered God as important in life, and 87 percent sought comfort and strength from religion.30 According to the same study, only 1.3 percent of the respondents were atheist. Based on these results, Iran is considered a highly religious society among some 56 countries included in the study.31 No matter the ethnicity, education, age, or intellectual and philosophical orientation, almost all Iranians consider religion as something important in their lives.32 This tendency toward religiosity or spirituality may lead to exaggerated, and even superstitious, beliefs. Obviously all the leaders of Islamic Republic are fervent religious Muslims or clerics, but even before the Islamic Revolution, Iranian leaders and politicians were mainly religious. For instance, despite his Western education and liberal ideas, the former Shah of Iran was a faithful Shia Muslim. In his interview with the Italian journalist, Oriana Fallaci, the former Shah expressed his religious convictions very frankly and claimed to be saved or protected by Shia Imams.33 Even Iranian secular intellectuals, scientists, and physicians have a remarkable tendency toward religiosity and spirituality and see all world affairs as the manifestations of God’s power. It is important to mention that while Iran scores high on religiosity, it is ranked less religious than many other Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Egypt. While the data for other countries is not available, it is plausible to suggest that Iran is possibly less religious than many other Muslim countries. While Iran is the world’s only constitutional theocracy, it is one of the least religious countries in the Middle East.34 The American author and television personality Rick Stevens reported how he was surprised by the general mellowness of the atmosphere in Iran compared to other Muslim countries.35 Based on his experience, despite a highly theocratic political system, Iran ironically seems less religious than neighboring Muslim countries that he has visited. Rick Stevens reports that in Turkey, mosques spill over with people during prayer times, but in Iran one can hardly hear a call to prayer and minarets are not seen in the skyline.36 Indeed, many observers suggest that the actual level of religiosity in Iran is much lower than what it was reported by the World Values Survey in the 1990s. Increasingly, there are signs and symbols in pop music, literature, and cinema indicating that the younger generations are becoming less religious. Part of the explanation may be attributed to the adverse effects of an aggressive theocratic political system over the past 35 years. A lower level of religiosity could be viewed as an antithesis to the state-supported and forceful Islamization campaign that started after the revolution. An alternative explanation is that according to Modernization theorists, secularity is an outcome of human development and as the standards of living, educational levels, and urbanization rates improve, the societies abandon their religiosity and instead move toward more rationality and secularity.37 In the past three decades, Iran’s Human Development Index and by extension, standards of living and educational levels have been constantly growing. Thus, one may speculate that the passage toward secularity will be accelerated in the coming years.
Mistrust and Conspiracy Theories
As mentioned in the previous chapters, the history of Iran is marked by many foreign brutal attacks and as a nation; Iranians have always felt under threat of foreign forces, their invasions, and particularly their plots. It is not surprising that the social life has been structured accordingly and this has resulted in a feeling of suspicion and a need for mistrust toward outsiders. Most of the conspiracy theories are directed to the foreign powers, notably Great Britain, the United States, Israel, and Russia for harming the nation’s interests and exploiting its wealth. Iranian psyche is suspicious especially of Great Britain because of its meddling during the 19th century and of the United States because of its role in overthrowing the popular and democratically elected Prime Minister Mossadegh in 1953. Iranians, on the one hand, look at the ruins of Persepolis and remember their ancient glory. On the other hand, they remember their contemporary humiliations by the West. Due to their tragic history, they are still mourning, are pessimistic, and have good reasons to distrust foreigners. It is not uncommon to see ordinary Iranians putting the blame on foreigners for many social and even natural problems such as narcotic addiction, diseases, droughts, and earthquakes. Some Islamic and Shia religious notions and teachings such as the inherent contradiction between the appearance (Zaher) and the inner truth (Baten) provide support for mistrust and conspiracy theories. Iranians are the firm believers in the saying that the things are not always as they seem because appearances can be deceiving. The conspiracy theories offer quick reliefs from harsh realities that bother Iranian social consciousness, however they create some relief. The conspiracy theories provide a fatalistic outlook of a world in which people cannot change anything because everything is determined by the invisible hands of some evil powers. The prevalence of mistrust and conspiracy theories are well shown in a popular novel My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad.
The Dichotomy of Good Versus Evil
A very predominant theme in the Iranian culture is the dichotomy between good and evil and their mutually exclusive natures. To understand this dichotomous conflict, we should remember that the ancient religion of Iran is Zoroastrianism, which consists of a monotheistic worship of Ahura Mazda (the Lord of Wisdom) and an ethical dualism opposing good and evil spirits. This duality of good and evil is a central theme in Iran’s culture. One of the most well-known forms of ethical dualism in the Iranian culture is the commemoration of Ashura tragedy in which Imam Hossien was martyred by Yazid. Shia Muslims recognize the symbolic importance of this tragedy by supposing that Imam Hossein scarified himself in order to clarify the path of good from evil. It is often believed that the incessant battle between good and evil is inevitable and it will continue until the coming of the 12th Imam who will restore justice and order in the world. Not surprisingly in order to enhance their success, in 1979, revolutionaries used this notion to label Ayatollah Khomeini as Imam or Angel and former Shah as Yazid or Evil. Similarly, they used the appellations of Yazid and the Great Satan respectively for former Iraqi president and the United States. The dichotomy of good and evil may explain the quest for the universal justice in the Iranian culture.
Attitude Toward the West
Iranians have an ambivalent attitude toward the West in general and the United States in particular. This attitude is a mixture of hate and admiration, like and dislike. First of all, they have good reasons to hate the West because they have unpleasant memories of their relationships with the Western powers during the 19th and 20th centuries and in the recent years. In the 19th century, after bloody wars, large parts of Iranian territory were annexed to the Russian Empire. In the 20th century, the national sovereignty of Iran was violated and the country was invaded by the British and Russians armies.38 In the past decades, the West in general and the Americans in particular have not respected the Iranian Revolution and supported Saddam Hussein in a long and destructive war against Iran.39 In the Iranians’ view, the Western powers are hypocrite, because they talk about human rights, but wage wars and conflicts and plunder Iran’s resources. Similarly, they believe that the Western powers have used and accumulated the most lethal and dangerous weapons, but continue to deny the Iranian national rights to develop a peaceful nuclear technology. The resentment of the West—and by extension of the Western culture—has received support from both religious and secular groups mainly from leftist intellectuals. Despite this resentment, many Iranians, chiefly the middle class urban population, have a high admiration of the Western, particularly American, culture.40 They maladroitly apply the American styles in their urban development, architecture, education, literature, movies, and even food and clothing. They are fascinated by the American role models and send their children to American universities.41 We may propose that even their anti-Western rhetoric, to some extent, is affected by the Western intellectuals.
Harmony, Subjugation, and Pernicious Fatalism
Generally speaking, the Eastern cultures are marked by harmony and subjugation toward natural forces.42 Iran is no exception. Furthermore, Iran’s culture is traditionally pervaded by beliefs in religion and God that imply maintaining a harmonious and even passive relationship with natural forces. In Islamic teachings, after a horrific natural disaster such as earthquake, flood, or thunder, people are invited to pray and remember God’s superior might. In Iran and other Islamic countries, natural disasters are often seen as divine examinations or punishments for sinful behavior. For example, a few years ago, BBC reported that a top Iranian cleric blamed earthquakes on immodest women clothing. More recently in 2014, another leading ayatollah and politician has called on people to pray for rain.43 This traditional cultural orientation by virtue of religiosity considers human beings as subjugated to their destiny or their God and implicitly prescribes a pernicious fatalism. Like many other Muslim countries, Iranians use the famous word Inshallah (God Willing) to justify their fatalistic laziness, their lack of planning, and their neglect of responsibilities. The manifestations of harmony and subjugation cultural traits are seen easily in the Persian music and literature, as they are pervaded by calm, passive, sad, and even pathetic sensations. Kassravi, an influential intellectual, has lambasted this fatalistic worldview as the main cause of Iranian backwardness.44
A Tendency Toward Rebellion
Some may suggest that Iranians have a propensity toward revolt against authority. This rebellion orientation, which is very distinctive in the Middle Eastern countries, might be attributed to Iran’s historical experience. A glance at the nation’s history reveals some striking examples of social movements and civil unrest. For instance, despite the acceptance of Islam, Iranians revolted against the political supremacy of the Muslim Arabs at the very beginning in the seventh century. Later, they advocated relocation of the Islamic empire’s capital from Damascus to Baghdad, where they could better influence the political decision making. Eventually, Persians were instrumental in undermining the Umiyad dynasty and replacing it by more friendly Abbasids. The social revolt continued in the 8th and 9th centuries with nationalistic, brave men such as Abu Muslim, Babak and Mazyar, Assassins (Hassan Sabbah) against Arab Muslims and in the 14th and 15th centuries with Sar-bedaaraan and Hurufiyya movements against Mongols. In the modern times, the revolt and social movements have been crystallized against the Western powers such as Russia, Great Britain, and the United States. The Constitutional Revolution from 1905 to 1911, Oil Nationalization Movement (1953), Qom Revolt (1963), and the Islamic Revolution (1979) are some salient examples of this tendency toward revolt. National pride, honor, Shia ideology, and social justice can be seen as the main reasons explaining this rebellion orientation.
The Iranian Chivalry and Zeal
Traditionally, Iranians have a substantial tendency toward chivalry and qualities such as courage, graciousness, loyalty, hospitality, and compassion. While these cultural traits are essentially rooted in the pre-Islamic Persian culture, they have been affected and enriched by Sufism and mysticism.45 A chivalrous man is supposed to defend the weak, sacrifice his personal interests for the sake of others, and behave politely and graciously in his community. Among Persian characters, Rostam and Kaveh, and among Iranian-Islamic religious figures, Imam Ali and Imam Hossein are recognized as prime examples of chivalry and courage. Associated with the chivalry is a tendency toward spirituality, an appreciation of higher values, and a moderate contempt of world ephemeral vanities and enjoyments. While the new generations are gradually distancing from the old ethos of chivalry, it is possible to witness many manifestations of chivalry even among the Iranian youth.
Likewise, the Iranian zeal is regarded as an enormous passionate force that motivates people to protect moral matters such as honor, religion, homeland, and family. Iranians have relied on this cultural value to respond to personal and national affronts vigorously.46 A good example of this passionate force is the incredible and spontaneous sacrifice of population during the imposed war from 1980 to 1988 to defend their home country against the aggression of Iraqi forces. During the war, the deployment of highly motivated and zealous volunteers helped Iranian military overcome Iraq’s military and logistic superiority.