The
mullahs, who even during the time of the Iranian monarchy positioned themselves as the authorities from whom the Shah of Iran derived the power as Defender of the Shi'a Faith to rule, opposed this move. But many of Reza Shah's programs were successful at diminishing the role of
Islam in Iran.
An emphasis on the creation of a new and powerful Iranian military brought about new military ranks and titles that rivaled the prestige of religious titles given to the
mullahs. The new Shah took measures to curb the influence of the clerics by dispensing with traditional ceremonies designed to show the close connection between mosque and state, and designed to demonstrate that the Shah depended on the
mullahs to grant religious legitimacy to his reign. The traditional male garb was changed to one reflecting a more European influence, men were ordered to shave their beards (keeping a beard has religious connotations in Iran) and the Shah even ordered
women to stop wearing the chador, the thick head-to-toe veil that was designed to ensure a
woman's modesty in keeping with
Islamic principles.
Reza Shah even went so far as to order his wife and daughter to appear without the chador so as to set an example for other Iranian
women. In keeping with the Shah's edicts, military officers went around and enforced the Shah's new rules on dress -- with drastic consequences for
women and
mullahs who stuck with their traditional garb (it is ironic that after the triumph of the
Islamic Revolution, fanatical basiji militia roam the streets of Iranian cities enforcing the strict dress code for
women and compulsory beards mandated for men by the
mullahs, as well as commands that men and
women not show affection in public, and not even hold hands).
In addition, Reza Shah sought to change the names of various towns to honor pre-Islamic Persian kings and mythological heroes, to rid the Persian language of as many Arabic words as possible, and to continue to reduce the power of the
mullahs by seeking to modernize Iran. The Pahlavi dynasty thus was set irrevocably down the road towards infusing the country with a form of secular nationalism, a path that would eventually bring it into conflict with the country's clerical class. Reza Shah's efforts to distance Iran from
Islam also brought about the advent of a number of public intellectuals who sought to advance his beliefs.
One such intellectual was a man named Ahmad Kasravi. Kasravi argued that
Islam had been degraded from the unified faith that it began as when first promulgated by the prophet Mohammad, and that the factionalism that plagued
Islam had undermined its message. As Amir Taheri notes in his biography of
Ayatollah Khomeini, Kasravi sought to substitute secular Iranian nationalism for
Islam as Iran's governing ideology. He argued that Iran should return to "Aryan purity" and that
Islam was an "historical setback" for Iran. Kasravi's fiery rhetoric ultimately brought about his assassination -- an assassination that was considered authorized by a fatwa issued by the young Hojat al-Islam Ruhollah
Khomeini -- who wrote the fatwa in 1942. (Hojat al-Islam is the title given to a junior cleric in the priestly hierarchy.)
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