JAMʿIYAT-E MOʾTALEFA-YE ESLĀMI (Society of Islamic Coalition), was a religious-political organization founded in 1963 to propagate Ayatollah Khomeini’s vision of an Islamic-Iranian state and society and to mobilize the population to implement that vision. This society was initially entitled the Islamic Coalition of Mourning Groups (Hayʾathā-ye moʾtalefa-ye eslāmi; hereafter, Hayʾathā-ye moʾtalefa). These small religious mourning groups (hayʾathā-ye ʿazādāri), were originally formed to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Ḥosayn and other religious rituals in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Deeply inspired by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, when he rose to prominence as the “sole political” source of emulation (marjaʿ-e taqlid) in the early 1960s, this coalition of religious groups played an important role in the uprising of 1963 and the assassination of prime minister Ḥasan-ʿAli Manṣur in 1965. They participated in the Islamic Revolution of 1977-79 and emerged as the most organized and coherent political force in the powerful right-wing fundamentalist faction in the Islamic Republic. They changed the name of the organization first to the Society of Islamic Coalition (Jamʿiyat-e Moʾtalefa-ye eslāmi) in 1987, and formed the Party of Islamic Coalition (Ḥezb-e moʾtalefa-ye eslāmi) in 2004. This article is divided into the following two sections:
i. Hayʾathā-ye moʾtalefa-ye eslāmi: 1963-79.
ii. Jamʿiyat-e moʾtalefa-ye eslāmi and the Islamic Revolution.
(Ali Rahnema)
Originally Published: December 15, 2008
Last Updated: April 10, 2012
This article is available in print.
Vol. XIV, Fasc. 5, pp. 483-500
