The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran

By telling the story of the life and thought of one individual, a mullah, and weaving into it patches of history and of the thought of influential figures of the past from Avicenna to Mossadegh and Ali Shariati, Professor Mottahedeh makes possible a deeper understanding of the Khomeini revolution and of the intertwining of religion and politics in Iran than any of the current crop of political science treatises can provide. The contemporary characters are semi-fictitious composites, but their views and experiences are those of real people whom the author knew. That fact, plus the grace of the writing, make this book wonderfully convincing.