Democratic authority, public Islam, and Shi’i jurisprudence in Iran and Iraq: Hussain Ali Montazeri and Ali Sistani

This article compares the democratic thought and practice of two influential Shi’i Muslim theologians in Iran and Iraq. It argues that a new conception of Shi’i traditional authority has been developed by senior clerics Hussain Ali Montazeri and Ali Sistani offering a new model of clerical authority closely connected to the democratic values of popular sovereignty and accountability: ‘democratic Usulism.’ Such a new paradigm envisions a form of religious legitimization that is led by elected rulers who are ultimately ‘guided’ by the sacred law of Islamic legal norms, while being held accountable to the people. The paradigm operates either as a counter-discourse to theocratic authoritarianism, currently prevalent in Iran, or as a democratic theology of citizenship and electoral participation, as in the case of Iraq. In broad terms, the two cases represent a major trend in Shi’i political theology that can be viewed as part of the global upsurge of public religions, some of which serve to counter authoritarianism (both secular and theocratic) and promote democratic rule.