Economic theology in the thoughts of Sayyid Jamal al-Din "Va'iz" Esfahani

Document Type : .

Author

PhD in cultural sociologyUniversity of Guilan,.

10.30465/sehs.2025.48685.1978
Abstract
One of the backgrounds of Iran's constitutional revolution was the emergence of theological discourse that affected the economy and politics of that time. Iran's economic weakness and powerlessness against the expanding global capitalism became evident in the era of privileges, especially with the tobacco privilege, and reached its peak. The incident of tobacco was the confrontation of theology against tyranny and colonialism. After the tobacco movement and related to it, a type of economic theology was formed, whose claim was economic self-sufficiency against foreigners, reliance on national production, emphasis on work culture and wealth production. Its teachings were not dissimilar to the teachings of the Protestant religion and the action aimed at the worldly salvation of believers, as well as its impact on the formation of capitalism and western production enterprises. Here, just like what happened to the Protestantism movement, we witness the formation of a type of economic theology that declares its goal to be worldly salvation and self-sufficiency of believers. This article, using Max Weber's analytical and explanatory method regarding the teachings of Protestantism and the conditions for the emergence of capitalist business enterprises in the West, examines the impact of the economic theology of Seyyed Jamaluddin Vaez Esfahani on the formation of economic action and its concrete embodiment in the establishment of " Islamic company".

Keywords


Adamiyat, Fereydoun (1983), Amir Kabir and Iran (amirkabir va iran), entesharat-e kharazmi. [In Persian].
Adamiyat, Fereydun & Nategh, Homa (1977), Social, political and economic thoughts in unpublished works of the Qajar period, Tehran: Agah Publishing. [In Persian]
Adamiyat,Fereydoun,Nategh,Homa‏‏‏ (1981) Shūrish bar imtīyāzńāmah-ʾi Rizhī: taḥlīl-i sīyāsī,, Tehtan, Entesharate Payam. [In Persian]
Agamben, Giorgio (2023) The kingdom and the glory: For a theological genealogy of economy and government, translated by Yahya Sanati, Tehran: Image Publishing House. [In Persian].
Ajand,Yaghub(1998) Ghiyam - i Tanbaku [ The Tobacco Revolt ], Tehran,Amirkabir. [In Persian]
Bashiriyeh, Hossein, mabaniye jameashenasiye mazhabiye weber, Faculty of Law and Political Science,1987,23. [ In Persian]
Bendix, Reinhard, Max Weber an Intellectual Portrait, Translated by Mahmoud Rambod (Tehran: Hermes Publishing, 2008). [In Persian].
Coser, Lewis A (1993) Masters of sociological thought: ideas in historical and social context, translated by Mohsen Salasi, fourth edition, Tehran: Scientific Publications. [In Persian].
Ettadhieh, Mansoureh (1982), The emergence and Evolution of Constitutional Political Parties, First Edition, Tehran: Gostareh Publishing House. [ In Persian].
Hosseini Tehrani, Jalaluddin (1942), Habal al-Mateen Newspaper, Calcutta, No. 19, page 17.
Jamalzadeh, Seyyed Mohammad Ali (1956), Ganje Shaygan or the Economic Situation of Iran, Berlin: From the Kaveh Administration Publications Series.
Jawaher Kalam, Ali (1977) Seyyed Jamal al-Din Isfahani, Armaghan Magazine, Volume 40, Issue 1, April 1, 1975, p. 56.
Isfahani, Mirza Mohammad Hossein (1907) Al-Jamal Newspaper, 13 Safar al-Muzafar 1325, first year, issue 3. [ In Persian]
Issawi, Charles (1983) The economic history of Iran, 1800- 1914,Nashre Gostareh [In Persian].
Majdol-e-Islam Kermani, Ahmad (1968), Safarnameye Kalat, a Chapter in the History of the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, Isfahan University Press. [In Persian].
Malekzadeh, Mehdi (2004), History of the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, Volume 1, Tehran: Sokhan Publications. [In Persian].
Va'iz, Sayyid Jamal al-Din (1974), Labas al-Taqavi, by the efforts of Sadegh Sajjadi and Homa Rizvani, Tehran: Tarikh Iran Publishing House. [In Persian].
Weber, Max (2006) Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism, translated by Abdul Karim Rashidian and Parisa Manouchehri Kashani, Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publications. [In Persian].
Weber, Max (2017) Methodology of Social Sciences, translated by Hassan Chavoshian, 7th edition, Tehran, Center Publishing. [In Persian].
Yaghmai, Iqbal (2537) Martyr of freedom, Seyyed Jamal-e Vaez Esfahani, with an introduction by Seyyed Mohammad Ali Jamalzadeh, Dr. Bastani Parisi, Tehran: Tous Publications. [In Persian].
Parvesh, Mohammad Ali (1937) Soraya newspaper, first year, Egypt. No. 33, page 11. [In Persian].
Parvaresh, Mohammad Ali, (1937) Soraya newspaper, first year, Egypt, number 50, page 16. [In Persian].
Parvaresh, Mohammad Ali, (1937) Soraya newspaper, first year, Egypt, number 47, page 1 and 2. [In Persian].
Parvaresh, Ali Mohammad (1939), Parvaresh newspaper, number 23, pp. 13 and 14. [In Persian].
Tabrizi, Mirza Mehdi Khan (1938) Hikmat newspaper, 1 Rabi al-Thani 1317: 10 and 8. [In Persian].
Torabi Farsani, Soheila (2012) Emergence of modern Iranian capitalism: a case study of Islamia Company, History of Islam and Iran, New Volume, Winter 2013, Number 20 (110 series) [In Persian].
Hayek, Maryam (2015) An analysis of the Islamic company, the experience of resistance economy in Iran during the Qajar period, Journal of History 12th Winter 2015 number 45[In Persian].
Hosseini Tehrani, Jalaluddin (1938) Habal Al Matin newspaper, Calcutta, number 18, page 16. [In Persian].
Zamani, Mahdi (2022) The main elements emphasized by Seyyed Jamaluddin Vaez Esfahani in Jamal newspaper, pezhvakejameejournal, third year, spring and summer 1401, number 1. [In Persian].
Farahani, Adib al-Mamalek (1939), Adab newspaper, Mashhad, number 16, first year, pages 126 and 125. [In Persian].
Shakeri, Khosrow (2023) The socio-economic background of the constitutional movement and the development of social democracy in that era, Tehran: Akhtaran. [In Persian].
Bayat, Mangol (1991) Iran's first revolution: Shi'ism and the constitutional revolution of 1905-1909, New York, Oxford University Press.
Dean, Mitchell (2023) what's left of Carl Schmitt’s political theology? political theology today 100 Years after Carl Schmitt, edited by Mitchell Dean, Lotte List and Stefan Schwarzkopf, first published in Great Britain, Bloomsbury Academic.
Delanty, Gerard (2002) social science, beyond constructivism and realism, open university press, Buckingham.
DOHERTY, SEAN (2014) Theology and Economic Ethics, Martin Luther and Arthur Rich in Dialogue, United Kingdom, Oxford University Press.
Schwarzkopf, Stefan (2020) the Routledge Handbook of Economic Theology, London New York, Routledge.

  • Receive Date 14 April 2024
  • Revise Date 28 December 2024
  • Accept Date 19 January 2025