Introduction
Since its beginning, the regime of Iran's Islamic Revolution has
championed the idea of exporting its Revolution to the entire Muslim
world. This doctrine is rooted in the thinking of the Revolution's
founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, particularly in his book
Al-Hukuma Al-Islamiyya ("The
Islamic Government," Beirut, 1979). In the book, he presented his
perception negating the existence of peoples and states in Islam, and
aspiring to actualize Islamic unity. Khomeini defined himself as a
Muslim, not as an Iranian or a Shi'ite, and the Revolution as Islamic,
not Iranian or Shi'ite. In his view, nationalism is an imperialistic
plot to weaken and divide the Islamic world, and Islamic unity is the
way to restore Islam to its greatness. The regime in Iran is the
jumping-off point for a "comprehensive Islamic Revolution," and
exporting the Revolution is the tool for attaining Islamic unity.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (image: Fars)
This concept, which Iranian revolutionary ideologues have called Umm
Al-Qura – one of the names of Mecca – considers Iran the true Mecca,
that is, Iran is the religious, spiritual, and political center of the
Muslim world. These ideologues have set out a vision and a mission to
spread revolutionary Shi'ite Islam across the geographic and religious
region of the Islamic world.
According to this doctrine, Iran appropriates the leadership role of
the Sunni Islam that is based on Mecca and on that city's historic role
in Islamic history, as part of the generations of political and
religious struggle between the Shi'a and the Sunna. This constitutes
also an additional layer in the intra-Islamic philosophical discussion
on what form an Islamic regime should take, and of how to rebuild the
Islamic world after centuries of repeated defeat by Western
civilization.
In principle, it is an overall Islamic view, shared by both Sunnis
and Shi'ites, that Islam not only defines sovereign borders but also
demands the loyalty of Muslims living outside the borders of the Islamic
state and their obedience to this state's ruler.
[1]
Thus, it is no wonder that the concept of Umm Al-Qura as the
political-religious center of the entire Islamic world was developed in
the modern era by the Sunni thinker Abd Al-Rahman Al-Kawakibi in the
late 19th century, on the eve of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the
last Islamic caliphate. In his book
Umm Al-Qura, published in
1901, Al-Kawakibi proposed a doctrine for rehabilitating the status of
Islam and the Muslims, which centered on restoring the Arabs, who have a
separate and unique ethnic identity not shared by the other Muslim
peoples, as leaders of the Islamic world, and also on bringing Muslims
back to the original Salafi Islam. In Al-Kawakibi's thought, two
ideological aspects had nourished two different movements in the Arab
and Muslim world of the modern era: the anti-imperialist national Arab
movement, and the Islamic Salafi movement, from which emerged the
various Islamic jihadi movements.
Al-Kawakibi (image: Aljazeera.com)
The Umm Al-Qura concept was espoused, and upgraded, by Iranian
revolutionary ideologues, who adapted it to the needs of Iran's Islamic
Revolution. For example, Ayatollah Sadeq Taqi Mesbah Yazdi published, in
the autumn of 1996, an article titled "The Authorities of the Ruler of
the Jurisprudent [Vali-e Faqih] Outside The Borders [Of the State]," in
the
Islamic Regime journal of the Center of Scientific Research of the Assembly of Experts.
[2] In his article, Mesbah Yazdi stressed that Muslims are obligated to pledge allegiance (i.e give
ba'ya)
and obey the worthy Islamic ruler regardless of geographic borders,
ethnic affiliation, linguistic association, or anything else. He said:
"From the point of view of Islam, the main element for the unity of the
ummah and Islamic society is the unifying of faith, and there is no
validity at all in the unity of states and in the existence of
geographic borders, whether natural or agreed-upon... If a certain
Islamic state is run by the Rule of the Jurisprudent, its ruler has
supremacy... Therefore, his order is binding for every Muslim, and even
Muslims in non-Islamic countries must obey him."
[3]
Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi (image: Farsnews.com)
It should be noted that the Iranian ideologues' view of the Umm
Al-Qura concept is not aimed against the imperialist West – that is, the
U.S, Israel, and so on – as it is camouflage for Iran's effort to
expand the hegemonic Iranian-Shi'ite territory within the Islamic world
at the expense of the historic Sunni hegemony that has prevailed in the
Middle East for 14 centuries. Although hatred for America, the Great
Satan, and Israel, the Little Satan, as well as antisemitism, are
central elements in the ideology of the Islamic revolutionary regime in
Iran, the concept of Umm Al-Qura, which deals with the historic
Shi'ite-Sunni conflict, is not directed against them.
Burning Israeli and American flags (image: ISNA, Tasnim, Iran, July 1, 2016)
The hatred for the U.S. and Israel are two ideological focal points
that serve the concept of Umm Al-Qura as camouflage for the
Iranian-Shi'ite aspiration to expand Iranian hegemony at the expense of
the Sunni hegemony in the region. Dialogue with the U.S., the Great
Satan, and even with Israel is possible and has been carried out in the
past when necessary, but the Iranian-Shi'ite hostility towards Sunni
Islam in the region and the struggle against are existential issues as
far as revolutionary Iran is concerned.
Iranian spokesmen take care not to present the Umm Al-Qura concept as
an Iranian doctrine aimed at expanding Iran's hegemony. In order to
conceal their real aim, and to keep Sunni Muslims in the dark and
recruit them to join the Iranian struggle for regional hegemony,
Ayatollah Khomeini coined the saying "The path to Jerusalem goes through
Karbala" – that is, the struggle for the ultimate Islamic goal
(Jerusalem) goes through Iranian control of areas that historically been
part of Sunni hegemony (Karbala in Iraq). This slogan is reiterated by
Iranian regime officials and the Iranian military leadership today as
well. Thus, even Iranian-Shi'ite involvement in fighting the Sunni
Islamic State (ISIS), which is presented by the Iranian regime as a
justified struggle against terrorism, constitutes effective cover for
the Iranian-Shi'ite striving for regional hegemony, by deliberately
eliminating every center of Sunni power in the arena of the fighting –
Iraq, Syria, and Yemen – so as to create a contiguous swath of Iranian
hegemony from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean.
[4]
This strategy was not completely clear, because Iran had refrained
from direct involvement in Sunni-Shi'ite conflicts, acting only via
proxies – and its spokesmen have publicly denied such action and
stressed that Iran has never started a war against its neighbors. But it
was recently revealed when Iran began direct military involvement in
Sunni-Shi'ite areas of conflict. In the past few years, senior Iranian
officials have begun to express this strategy openly.
Thus, for example,
Ali Younesi, advisor to Iranian President Hassan Rohani and
a former intelligence minister, stated, in March 2015, that Iran was
once again an empire as it had been in the past, and that its capital,
Iraq, was "the center of Iranian heritage, culture, and identity." He
stressed that the Iranian Islam is the pure Islam, with no Arabism,
racism, or nationalism.
[5]
Ali Younesi, advisor to Iranian President Hassan Rohani (image: En.alalam.ir)
Ali Akbar Velayati, advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei,
said in February 2013: "Iran has planned defensive positions outside
its borders and linked its fate to the fate of the Islamic countries,
and therefore will support people such as [Syrian President] Bashar
Al-Assad to the end."
[6]
Ali Akbar Velayati (image: Farsnews.com)
Ayatollah Mohammad Baqr Kharazi, director-general of Hezbollah Iran and
part of the elite of the Iranian regime, presented a plan in 2010 for
establishing "Greater Iran" in the Middle East, Central Asia, the
Caucasus, and Afghanistan, in the first stage, and for creating a union
of Islamic countries under Iran's leadership.
[7]
In 2013, he promised that if he were elected president he would restore
Tajikistan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan to Iranian sovereignty.
[8]
Ayatollah Mohammad Baqr Kharazi, director-general of Hezbollah (image: ISNA, Iran, February 9, 2013)
On May 2, 2014,
Yahyah Rahim Safavi, security advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
and former commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC), said: "Iran's line of defense against Israel stretches to South
Lebanon, and our strategic defensive depth reaches to the Mediterranean
and above Israel's head."
[9]
Ali Saeedi, Khamenei's representative in the IRGC, said in August 2015 that Iran's strategic depth is in Yemen, Lebanon, Gaza, Bahrain, and Syria.
[10]
Ali Saeedi (image: Press.tv.ir)
IRGC commander Ali Ja'fari said on September 15,
2014 that "the missions of the [IRGC elite unit] Qods Force are outside
Iran's borders and it aids the revolutionary movements, the resistance
movements, and the oppressed worldwide. Whether in Syria, Iraq, or
Lebanon, if there is a need for help, we will help."
[11]
IRGC commander Ali Ja'fari (image: En.trend.az)
Mohammad Ali Falaki, retired IRGC general and an associate of the Iranian military elite, discussed,
in August 2016, the Shi'ite Liberation Army that Iran established for
the war at its three battle fronts in the Middle East – Syria, Iraq, and
Yemen – under the command of Qods Force leader Qassim Soleimani and the
oversight of Leader Khamenei.
[12]
Hossein Hamdani, former IRGC commander in Tehran,
revealed, at a May 2014 regime conference in Hamadan, the extent of
Iran's involvement in Syria. He said that Iran was operating in Syria
out of concern for the interests of the Islamic Revolution and that it
had established popular militias, called the Second Hizbullah, in 14
districts in Syria, with a total of 70,000 members.
[13]
Hossein Hamedani (image: Iranbriefing.net)
Mehdi Taeb, head of Khamenei's Ammar Base think tank
and the brother of IRGC intelligence director Hossein Taeb, said in
March 2013 that Syria is "the 35th district [of Iran] and a strategic
district for it," and stressed that losing it would lead to the loss of
Tehran.
[14]
Mehdi Taeb (image: Nowruziran.wordpress.com)
Additionally, the escalation in the Iran-Saudi clash in its various
aspects, both political and military, has also exposed additional
aspects of this strategy (see
Appendix: MEMRI Reports On Iran-Saudi Conflict).
Beyond these verbal statements, Iran's approach is manifested on the
ground in its military involvement in the various areas of the fighting
in the region – Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen – and in its tremendous
investments and in the heavy price it is paying in Shi'ite casualties,
from both Iran and the entire Muslim world.
[15]
This paper is in two parts: Part I, below, will review the Umm
Al-Qura concept, while Part II, forthcoming, will review its
implementation by the Iranian regime in the Islamic region.
Part I – The Concept Of Umm Al-Qura
The Concept Of Umm Al-Qura In The Thought Of Mohammad-Javad Larijani
In the winter of 1996, Mohammad-Javad Larijani, a senior Iranian
regime official, who is the secretary of Iran's Judiciary High Council
for Human Rights and an advisor to Khamenei, as well as a member of the
prominent Larijani family, three of whose members hold top positions in
Iran, published an article titled "The Political Boundaries" in the
Islamic Regime journal of the Center of Scientific Research of the Assembly of Experts.
[16]
He described the article as an expansion of Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi's
Autumn 1996 article "The Authorities of the Ruler of the Jurisprudent
[Vali-e Faqih] Outside The Borders [Of the State]" in the same
publication. Larijani wrote:
Mohammad-Javad Larijani (image: Press.tv.ir)
"A state in which the Islamic regime is in complete control has a
select status, called Umm Al-Qura. The most important, and the major,
unique aspect of Umm Al-Qura is that the Islamic regime was established
[in that state] and that its leader the worthy one and his authority
extends throughout the entire Islamic ummah. That is, this leader is
worthy of leading the entire Islamic ummah, even though in practice his
leadership is only actualized, for now, in Umm Al-Qura."
Larijani went on to explain that the Muslims in Iran, as well as
Iran's Assembly of Experts, must make decisions concerning the selection
of the leader and his actions, with the understanding that a worthy and
chosen leader serves not only them in Iran, but the entire Muslim
ummah.
This concept forces is actually forcing the worthy leader chosen by
Iran on the entire Islamic world. This is also a one-time selection; in
the case of Ayatollah Khomeini, it was made by the people, but this was
not so with the selection of Khamenei, who did not even have the
religious rank necessary to become Supreme Leader.
Larijani continued: "Although the leader of Umm Al-Qura officially
rules only a certain state [Iran], the entire Islamic ummah must obey
him... Any defeat or victory by Umm Al-Qura is a defeat or victory for
Islam. Therefore, if Umm Al-Qura is attacked, the entire Islamic ummah
must rise to defend it... The Islamic ummah is a collection of people
who have chosen Islam as the foundation of their actions, and believe in
it. Therefore, everyone in the Islamic ummah has a responsibility
towards Umm Al-Qura – even if they live in infidel lands and are distant
from it."
Larijani then analyzed various situations in which there is more than
one Islamic regime or worthy leader, and examined the question who
should be the leader worthy of ruling the Islamic state.
Ideologically confronting what he sees as the Western championing of
individualism aimed at promoting the hegemony of Western liberal
economic order, Larijani stated that under the Islamic doctrine there
must be "a unified Ummah with one consolidated regime." This, he added,
"will be seen as a peak for the new Islamic culture."
He then sets out several phases for actualizing this vision:
"Phase one: Creating awareness of the need to revive Islam in the life of the individual and society.
"Phase two: Making an effort to establish Islamic regimes in several
states in today's Islamic world. These efforts would naturally come from
the people... Sometimes it will be possible to use tools that already
exist, such as parliamentary elections and so on, and sometimes there
should be street demonstrations, so that this movement will achieve
results...
"The third phase begins when the people in several important states
in the Islamic world succeed in establishing an Islamic regime. In this
situation, the Islamic regimes should be …reorganized… and included in a
unified regime in the [Islamic] Ummah...
"Here we must pay attention to a critical foundation of our Islamic logic – that we are obligated to carry out this mission...
[17]
Mohammad Javad-Larijani's 2007 Interview With Iranian Daily Resalat
In a February 2007 interview, Larijani explained additional aspects of the Umm Al-Qura concept to the Iranian daily
Resalat, underlining
again the supremacy of the Islamic state and its existential interests
over the problems of oppressed Muslims at the edges of the Islamic
region and over dealing with them as a priority. Reiterating Ayatollah
Khomeini's saying, "The road to Jerusalem goes through Karbala," he
explained that the Umm Al-Qura concept is aimed at reconciling two
interests that appear to contradict each other: the interest of Iran as a
state with defined borders, and the overall Islamic interest which is
supranational.
He explained that what qualifies an Islamic state for the special
status of Umm Al-Qura is not how Islamic a state is, but whether its
defeat would be considered a defeat of all Islam. According to this
definition, he said, the fall of the Saudi or Pakistani regime would
have no ramifications for Islam as a whole, but the fall of the Islamic
rule in Iran would be a defeat for the entire Islamic world: "If we are
defeated, it will be said that the [entire] Islamic rule was defeated.
According to this view, we become Umm Al-Qura."
Larijani also reiterated that when a certain place, such as
present-day Iran, attains the status of Umm Al-Qura, all Muslims are
"obligated to defend it... Defending Umm Al-Qura is not a mission just
for the Iranians, but for every Muslim. If, God forbid, the Islamic
regime in Iran is destroyed and becomes a monarchy, as it was in the
past, Iran will no longer be Umm Al-Qura... Today, the logic of our
actions is the logic of Umm Al-Qura... [Therefore] we believe that if
Iran is attacked or if its interests are jeopardized, it is other
states' Islamic duty to assist it – because the defeat of Iran is the
defeat of Islam."
[18]
Iranian Regime Officials Talk About Implementing The Concept of Iran As Umm Al-Qura In Our Time
IRGC Deputy Commander Hossein Salami said in a
November 27, 2016 interview with Basij Week TV: "In fact, the idea to
create the Basij was a divine prophecy [delivered] to the Imam
[Khomeini], and can be seen as a wondrous miracle, as it is an
innovation by the Imam. That is, the creation of the Basij was not based
on any previous model or experience; it was created out of Imam
Khomeini's profound internal understanding, true prophecy, profound wise
thought, and view of the future. The Imam Khomeini envisioned a Basij
of the Islamic world. This idea and thought was later realized by the
leader of the Revolution [Khamenei], and, gradually, this great defense
institution has crossed the borders of Iran.
"If you look today at the arena of regional developments, you will
clearly see the blessed tree of the Basij at different points of the
Islamic world. For instance, Hizbullah in Lebanon has become a powerful
defensive apparatus in the eastern Mediterranean, and defender of the
honor and independence of the people in Lebanon – even of other Muslims
and of the Palestinians. This is an example of a Basij in a different
country in the Muslim world.
Deputy Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami(image: Press.tv.ir)
"Additionally, when you currently look at Ansarollah – the fighting
Muslim people in Yemen – which stands against America's criminal policy
that is being implemented by Saudi Arabia, [you can see] that they have
created an infinite and powerful channel of resistance near the Yemeni
Red Sea. This is another example from the blessed tree of the Basij in
the Muslim world.
"Likewise, if you look at the developments in Syria... Without the
expansion of the Basij model in the society in Syria, which recruits the
people's desires and beliefs to support national security [there] and
the regime that rules in Syria – the current developments in Syria would
have benefitted the Zionist regime, and America and its regional
allies...
"Obviously, also in the other Islamic countries, like Bahrain and
Afghanistan, we are seeing the first signs of the Basij. The Basij is
broadening its reach and presence in the political, security, cultural,
and social arenas of the Muslim world and within its expanding borders.
Therefore, we have gained a prominent role in this global creation, and
this process is unstoppable.
"We have exported the Basij philosophy or the Basij model...
According to the Basij philosophy, the Muslim world does not think much
of geographic borders. The borders are being removed. The Basij is the
symbol of globalization of religious and revolutionary faith in the
Islamic world; therefore, according to the Basij logic, geographic
borders [are set by] faith in the goals, beliefs, and thoughts [of
Islam]...
"In our society, the Basij is mightier than all political streams,
that is, the Basij is not within or in the framework of [any] political
stream. Rather, it is part of the Islamic Revolution's discourse, which
is rooted in the philosophy, thought, and discourse of the Rule of the
Jurisprudent."
[19]
Ayatollah Ahmad Alam Al-Hoda, Khamenei's representative in Khorasan,
said on November 24, 2016: "Restricting [the role of] the Basij and
IRGC [just] to the military level [inside Iran] is a plot [against Iran
and against Islam]... [since] today, our fighters are fighting in Iraq
and Syria, because this is not just defense of Iran, but rather of Islam
and the Revolution. The true goal is the spread of Islam and the
Revolution – and the Basij defends them."
[20]
Ayatollah Ahmad Alam Al-Hoda (image: Ifpnews.com)
Yahya Rahim Safavi, advisor to Khamenei, said at a
November 29, 2016 commemorative service for the 500 Iranians who died in
Chalus during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War: "Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and
Yemen have copied their models from the Iranian Basij. In Syria, our
youth have created a popular Basij comprising the Syrian people, who
have fought terrorist elements for 68 months... Allah willing, in this
century we will witness the revelation of the might of Islam, made up of
[an Islamic] government [in Iran] and Islamic nations. Iran will be the
central axis of this tremendous might."
[21]
Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, a top military adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution (image: Press.tv.ir)
APPENDIX – MEMRI Reports On The Iran-Saudi Conflict
MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 6622,
Iran, Saudi Arabia Clash Swords In U.S. Press, September 21, 2016.
MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 6607,
Following
Rafsanjani Call To Moderate Iranian Policy Vis-a-vis Saudi Arabia,
Khamenei Delivers Virulently Anti-Saudi Speech, Sparking Increased
Conflict With Kingdom, September 12, 2016.
MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 6260,
Saudi-Iranian Tensions As Depicted In Cartoons, January 13, 2016.
MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 1215,
Unprecedented Tension Between Saudi Arabia, Iran Following Execution Of Shi'ite Cleric Nimr Al-Nimr, January 4, 2016.
MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 6251,
Iran Furious Over Saudi Arabia's Execution Of Shi'ite Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr, January 4, 2016.
MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 6183,
Iran Threatens Saudi Arabia:
'The IRGC... Will Take Vengeance' On The Al-Sa'ud Regime; 'Our
Responses Will Be... Harsh And Decisive', November 10, 2015.
MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 1144,
Iran Threatens Saudi Arabia; Khamenei: Iran Will Answer Saudi Arabia 'A Blow With A Blow', October 2, 2015.
MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 5918,
IRGC
Weekly To Saudis: 'Iran Has Many Options For Harming Saudi Arabia...
All [It] Needs To Do Is Use A Single One Of [Them] So That Nothing
Remains Of The Entity Named The Aal-Saud Regime Or
Of Saudi Arabia Itself', December 30, 2014.
MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 5858,
Associates
Of Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei: Saudi Arabia Is The Source Of
Scheming Against The Islamic World; The Al-Saud Family Is Of Jewish
Origin – And Its Turn To Fall Has Come, October 14, 2014.
MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 1108,
Iran's New Strategy Of Diversion: Persuading The Sunni Camp To Fight Israel, Not Iran, July 31, 2014.
MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 1068,
Iran Calls For Violent Shi'ite Reaction Against Saudi Arabia, February 12, 2014.
*A. Savyon is Director of the MEMRI Iran Media Project; Y.
Carmon is President of MEMRI; U. Kafash is a Research Fellow at MEMRI.
[1]
This is also the perception of the Sunni Islamic State (ISIS), which
demands an oath of allegiance from every Sunni Muslim outside its
borders.
[2]
Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, "The Authorities of the Ruler of
the Jurisprudent [Vali-e Faqih] Outside The Borders [Of the State]," in
the
Islamic Regime journal, Year 1, Part I, Autumn 1996, pp
82-96. The journal was published by the Assembly of Experts' Center of
Scientific Research; on July 24, 2006 it was posted on Hawzah.net.
[3]
Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, "The Authorities of the Ruler of
the Jurisprudent [Vali-e Faqih] Outside The Borders [Of the State]," in
Islamic Regime, Year 1, Part I, Autumn 1996, p. 85 and p. 92, respectively.
[6] Yjc.ir, February 8, 2013.
[9] Mehr (Iran), May 2, 2014.
[11] Tasnim (Iran), September 16, 2014.
[15]
It should be noted that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei emphasized
that the 2011 Arab Spring was in fact an "Islamic Awakening," in order
to apply Iranian Islamic Revolution terminology and goals to the Sunni
uprisings against dictatorships.
[16] Mohammad Javan Larijani, "The Political Boundaries,"
Islamic Regime journal,, Year
1,
Part II, Winter 1996, pp. 37-49. The journal was published by the
Assembly of Experts' Center for Scientific Research, and was posted on
July 24, 2006 on Hawzah.net.
[17] Mohammad Javan Larijani, "The Political Boundaries,"
Islamic Regime journal,, Year
1, Part II, Winter 1996, pp. 37-49.
[18] Resalat (Iran), February 12, 2007.
[19] Tasnim (Iran), November 27, 2016.
[20] Tasnim (Iran), November 24, 2016.
[21] ISNA (Iran), November 29, 2016.
