This book examines one of the most influential movements in our recent history, the Iranian Revolution and offers a fresh analysis that aids the reader in understanding the reconciliation of Islamic laws with the practices of constitutionalism and parliamentary democracy in Iran. The author examines the two historical examples of how the Islamic authorities, the Ulama or the clergy, took over the ultimate political authority, the state; in both the 1906 Constitutional Revolution and the 1979 revolution, though it focuses mainly on the dynamics of the second revolution. The book deals with the institutionalizing of rational-legal rule in Iran and its connection to Islam and Islamic Law. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.