The Conception of Culture, Values and Identity of Iran in Shaykh Fazlallah Nuri's Writings

Abstract

The aim of this analysis of Nuri’s writings is the creation of a model of culture which is based on the semantics of the notions qanun, eslam, mosvat, horriyat, mashrute/mashru'e, qanun-e asasi. Investigations into the model of culture proposed by Nuri will allow us to distinguish its specific features and to discover its roots and condition at the time of confrontation with an alternative model. The word qanun ‘law’ is the central one in Nuri’s texts of the mashrute period. The history of its semantic transformation has its roots in the 1850s and the first contacts of the Iranian people with the West. Nuri inquired as to the semantics of the notions of qanun, mosavat, horriyat (azadi) and mashrute in discussions during the time of bast in Abdolazim mosque and in the conversations with representatives of the British embassy. He acted against these elements of law. He regarded himself as a religious leader for his community which, as a whole, constituted God’s people whose final purpose was salvation.