The Islamic State according to the Feda'iyan
Even though the Feda'iyan seem to have been more about action than the establishment of a political-religious doctrine, certain characteristics of their concept of the relationship between religion and politics emerge. Accusing the ulemas of playing the game of the oppressors and enemies of Islam, they criticised their moderation and called on them to make fundamental changes to the degree courses in the religious seminaries. In accord with the Muslim Brotherhood, their belief was that Islam could govern all aspects of life and should not be restricted to the private sphere. Their programme called for the return of 'pure Islamic law' and the end of Western influence. Navvab Safavi was the first to use the term hukumat-i islami[1] . In his discourse all that was Islamic was 'ideal', whereas what was not Islamic was 'servile' or 'despicable'. In this document, produced in 1950, he presented a programme of what government should be. The influence of Hassan al-Banna is is clear here. He called for complete and systematic islamisation of the government and its departments. All of his thought is summarised in The Guide to Truth, also called “A short revelation of the enlightened Truth in the wide world” a work comprising of two parts, one called 'Findings' and the other, 'Proposed solutions'. Without being a precise programme of action, it reveals the thoughts of its author on the ideal Islamic state.
The text makes no mention of Sunnism; on the other hand, the clear influence of Shi-ism is apparent in many places: the clergy must be 'purified' and their level of instruction revealed; provisional marriage[2] should be honoured once again; coins should be struck 'in the name the 'Imam of the Time[3]' ; the shah should be a Shi'ite and take Ali[4] for his model.
A certain obsession with what Safavi considered to be 'moral decadence' is referred to many times in his text in the form of condemnation of what he called 'sexual debauchery' and the 'unleashing of sexual instinct' and 'sensual excesses'. On many occasions he reverts to stressing 'the roots of destruction' of the country in emphasising themes such as 'lust' (chawat), 'prostitution' (fahcha) 'nudity' ('aryan) and 'chastity' ('iffat). In relation to this, mixing of genders in all places which would encourage this should be forbidden, for instance in cinemas, seen as a 'school of vice'. Beyond that, mixing should also be suppressed in teaching and prayer introduced in schools.
Other measures, equally radical, advocated that the proposed ministries and legislative bodies should all be inspired by Islam, an integral Islam responsive to all the moral, economic judicial and political requirements of Iranian society, according to Safavi's beliefs. In so far as Safavi envisaged elections, they should, in his view, be open only to 'pious' Muslims, and should be supervised by an assembly of religious leaders who would ensure that they were carried out in conformity with Islamic practice.
To achieve this ideal the Feda'iyan, marginalised by the religious class and disappointed in their fruitless political alliances, adopted a strategy of violence which saw the representatives of the regime as carrying out measures they deemed contrary to Islam and infused with secularism.
In spite of the movement's brief existence and the disappearance of its founder, defeated more than twenty years before the installation of an Islamic regime in Iran, some see it as one of the principal influences on the development of the Islamic character of the Iranian revolution. Furthermore, after the revolution of 1979, the Feda'iyan were once again respected, especially in the publications of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (IRGC[5]) , which lauded their heroic struggle in their journal entitled Message of the Revolution (Payam-e enqelab). A metro station in Tehran is named after Navvab Safavi and several works and websites sponsored by the Republic give an account of his life .
