Between Nation and Ummah: Navigating Iranian National Identity in Islamic Cosmopolitanism
Abstract:
National identity is a political construct that cannot be understood apart from the nation-state system under pinning international relations. The Pan-Islamism, in contrast, attempts to establish the whole Muslim nations under a united Ummah. In pre-Islamic revolution Iran, the Muslim intellectual critique of nationalism emerged in response to an ideology that sought to justify the royal regime based on Iranian nationalism. While this critique succeeded in redefining Islamic faith as integral to Iranian identity, it was itself unsettled by the broader Islamic cosmopolitanism that dominated the Muslim world for more than a century. This paper argues that Iranian iden tity cannot be reduced to nationalism alone; rather, it must be examined as a construct continually negotiated between the imperatives of statehood and the enduring cosmopolitan ideals of Islam. Drawing on international law, political theory, and Islamic studies, the study challenges the assumption of an inherent dichotomy between Islamic faith and historical nationalism in Iran. It further contends that the inability of contemporary Muslim intellectuals in post-evolutionary Iran to articulate a coherent interpretation of national identity has generated persistent challenges for Iran’s educational, political, and legal systems. The first section examines the theoreti cal foundations of competing narratives of Iranian identity, including Pan-Islamism that underestimate national particularities, and those that sought to elevate nationalism as the sole basis of cultural and political legitimacy. The second section explores the implications of the Islamic cosmopolitanism narrative, which has dominated post-Islamic revolution educational policy and the legal systems of Iran. Ultimately, the paper concludes that the Iranian national spirit remains suspended between national and global poles, reflecting the unresolved tension between the demands of the nation-state and the ideals of religious cosmopolitanism. This tension continues to shape Iran’s institutional and political development.
