Religion in Iran
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Parviz Daneshvar, Religion in Iran, Houndmills: Macmillan Press Ltd., 1996, bahai-library.com.
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Revolution in Iran

Parviz Daneshvar
First published in Great Britain 1996 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
I dedicate this work to the memory of
Houndmills. Basingstoke. Hampshire RG2 I 6XS                           all those Iranians who
and London
Companies and representatives                                             gave their lives for
throughout the world
their country
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
ISBN 0-333-65965-1

First published in the United States of America 1996 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division.
175 Fifth Avenue.
New York. N.Y. 10010
ISBN 0-312-16270-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Daneshvar, Parviz, 1946-
Revolution in Iran I Parviz Daneshvar.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-312-16270-7 (cloth)
I. Iran-Politics and govemment-1979- 2. Iran-Politics and
govemment-1941-79. I. Title.
DS3 J 8.825.D36 1996
955.05-dc20                                          %--8633
CIP
© Parviz Daneshvar 1996
All rights reserved. No reproduction. copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or
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the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988,
or und!!r the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
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Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham. Wiltshire
70                           Revolution in Iran                                                        Dictatorship and Pseudo-Modernism                      71

3) That merit rather than connections be recognized as the basis for           he owed his prominence to his affiliation to Bahaism and informal
promotion and responsibility. (JJ.S.E Documents, Vol. 7, Document              contacts, rather than purely to his abilities and experience. However,
No. 76-10017, p. 73)                                                           while this may be true in part, it was mainly his close friendship with
Hassan Ali Mansur and his membership of the same dowreh as Mansur
Empress Farah's recommendations not only showed the extent of the                which contributed to his success.
problem facing the Shah in 1976 but that those recommendations must                     The word dowreh is widely used in Iran to describe an informal but
have been ignored. The date of the CIA reports is also significant, for             regular gathering of people who have a common purpose or interest
at the time the Shah was still very much in charge.                                 The group's common factor may be anything - political, religious, pro-
fessional, family or simply poker or bridge playing. What is significant
about the dowreh is that its members may come from different social
INDIVIDUALS AND INSTITUTIONS                                                        backgrounds. The dowreh is a normal means of exchanging ideas and
information in a society which is addicted to gossip because of lack of
It is often said that Iran is a 1000-family country. If the 1000 refers to          public information and free media Some prominent dowrehs were
the number of elite families, it is a great exaggeration. Below the Shah            known to be affiliated to foreign governments, and several dowrehs
and his family, there were only 'a relatively small group of elite families         were associated with Freemasonry. Some very prominent and influen-
which wielded power and influence not only in politics but also in                  tial politicians were known to be Freemasons and members of dowrehs-,
business, commerce and the professions' (US.E Documents, Vol. 7,                    these included Hossein Ala, Manouchehr Eqbal and Dr Jafar Sharif-.
Documents No. 76-10017, p. 20). They held key positions within the gov-             Emami. It was also significant that when Eqbal was prime minister in
ernment, political appointments and private pursuits. They moved                     1958, eleven members of his cabinet belonged to a dowreh associated
from one to the other and indeed kept their monopoly of important                   with Freemasonry, the Hafez Club (US.E Documents, Vol. 20, Docu-
posts. Bill has estimated that the top national elite families numbered              ment No. A-351, pp. 16-17).
no more than 40, with an additional 15~0 provincial families whose                       Hoveyda had become a member of the dowreh that Mansur had organ-
influence was deep in a relatively limited area (Bill, quoted in US. E               ized in 1959. That dowreh had been formed from a 'youngish group of mid-
Documents, Vol. 1, Document No. 76-10017, p. 21).                                    dle-level bureaucrats interested in the problems of the Iranian
One of the key players in the Shah's political system was his longest             development' (U S.E. Documents,Vol. 1, pp. 11-20). Within two years, it be-
serving prime minister, Amir Abbas Hoveyda. Hoveyda was appointed                    came a progressive club and had received the Shah's approval; by 1964 it
to the post after the assassination of Hassan Ali Mansur in 1965. He                 had developed into the Iran-e Novin Party, which was later headed by Ho-
survived his 13 years of tenure not only because of his complete subser-             veyda who succeeded Mansur in 1965. The dowreh system shows the im-
vience and obedience to the Shah, but because of his ability 'to man-                portance of such institutions in the formation of the political elite and the
oeuvre among conflicting personal ambitions of other officials who                   Iranian political system. One dowreh was the 'French-doctorate group',
were in at least covert competition for his job; to avoid any serious er-            which met weekly for 25 years. In a 'three-year period its eleven members
rors in interpreting and carrying out the Shah's wishes; and, perhaps                included a prime minister, three cabinet ministers, three ambassadors,
more important; the ability to play second fiddle to the Shah' (JJ.S.E               the director of the NIOC and the president of the Teheran Chamber of
Documents, Vol. 7, Document No. 76-10017, p. 11).                                    Commerce' (U S.E Documents,Vol. 1, Document No. 76-10017, p. 20).
Hoveyda came from humble origins. His father, having served as a                      The Iran-e Novin Party (INP) remained the largest party in the
secretary to a Bahai leader, entered the diplomatic service. Hoveyda's               country. Ostensibly, the Mardom Party was in opposition to the INP,
affiliation to Bahaism, a religious sect regarded by the ulama as hereti-            but neither the Shah nor the prime minister tolerated the criticism of
cal, was something that was not openly publicized However, his reli-                  its party chief, Nasser Ameri.
gious background did much damage to the Shah's standing amongst               A          Despite its lack of influence over foreign policy, the INP wielded
the ulama. Hoveyda's rise to power illustrated a rare case of upward          '1f     power throughout the country through its network of influential mem-
mobility in the Iranian system. It was widely believed at the time that               bers in high places. According to the US embassy in Teheran,
-- Religion in Iran (Used by permission of the curator)