Sociology of Shia

The Ritual Role among Religion Intellectual's Audiences

• Author: Elham Shahsavarzade
• Degree: Master Thesis
• Academic field: Sociology
• University: University of Tehran
• Faculty: Social Sciences
• Supervisor: Dr. Sara Mazinani Shariati

Abstract:

The religion intellectual is one of the active intellectual current in the Iran which has been criticized in different ways. One of the critical aspects is how to deal with rituals and religious' practices. Most of these criticisms are general and theoretical without regard to the audiences.

The issue of this research is the ritual of audiences and their understandings' and perceptions'. This research was performed with qualitative methods and techniques of observation, interview, study the speech of religious intellectuals and finally analysis of all data content. Husseiniye Ershad, one of the most important religious intellectual bases, had been chosen and the intellectuals who were active there in 2000-2010 and their audiences' had been studied. 

The results show religious intellectuals have imprecise stance about ritual which can be because of response to the current formalism in country, limitation in accumulation and use of media, and not having clear pattern. The most important internal reason is not having clear pattern about ritual, and it can be explained with some arguments; first, criticism of formalism and originality of the content of religion and therefore trivialized form of religion, second, individualism and importance of individual choosing and directly relationship with God, and finally, rationalism which has created utilitarianism, goal oriented and original oriented.  

Key words: Religion Intellectual, ritual, Hoseiniye Ershad, Formalism

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