You use religion in politics, and eventually you get a backlash from … the believers!

MEMO FROM TEHRAN: “Iranian Clerics Tell the President to Leave the Theology to Them,” by Nazila Fathi, New York Times, 20 May 2008, p. A8.

Ahmadinejad likes to project his personal connection to the Imam Mahdi, the “hidden” 12th imam who plays a messiah-returning role in Shia faith much like Christ in Christianity. He says the Imam Mahdi guides his actions and keeps him safe and so on.

Quirky when the Super Bowl QB says his team won because “God was looking over us” and so on, and proclaiming his faith in Jesus Christ was the difference (certainly in his life, but most of us would say, not in actually deciding the game), but different when the claimant is a head of government casually shooting his mouth off about wars (and no, this post won’t devolve into a tempting comparison with Bush).

Ahmadinejad likes to do his own thing on religion, obeying some concepts deeply (too deeply) and blowing others off. You do that long enough and you’ll piss off the religious authorities.

Just another sign of his declining popularity.

The curious thing is, could Ahmadinejad win re-election with a deal with Bush or the next president? Of would that kill his ultimate rationale for continued leadership?

I do not underestimate the guy lightly. He is one clever politician. If a deal occurs, expect him to milk it vaingloriously.

Comments

[Louis Heberlein]

Maybe we are all better off hearing extremist ideas in the open and having them subject to public discussion, rather than conducted in private where they can indoctrinate youth and vulnerable adults. Isn't that the Wright way?

[David Stewart]

Isn't Ahmadinejad challenging the principle of veleyat-e-faqih (the rule of the right-guided cleric)? This is the basis of the Islamic republic. If he can re-interpret the principles of Islam in his own way, why can't anyone else? And so why should clerics (and one cleric in particular -- Khamenei) have a special place in the system?

Ahmadinejad will tread carefully, but it shows the biggest conflict within Islam right now is between the traditionalists and the radical right. (Moderates or reformers are still important, especially in Iran, but aren't in a position yet to grab at the levers of power.) These two camps say they want the same things (rule of sharia, etc.), but their way of doing things and who is permitted to do what are radically different. In this framework, Osama is in the radical right camp, not the traditional camp.