Muhammad Khatami
- LAST REVIEWED: 24 April 2012
- LAST MODIFIED: 24 April 2012
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195390155-0127
- LAST REVIEWED: 24 April 2012
- LAST MODIFIED: 24 April 2012
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195390155-0127
Introduction
Muhammad Khatami was born on 14 October 1943 in the city of Ardakan in the Yazd Province in central Iran. He is a Shi’a cleric with a rank of Hojjatol Eslam (authority or proof of Islam), an honorific title applied to middle-ranking theologians in the Twelver Shi’ism. Known for his moderate and reformist views on religion and politics, Khatami served two terms as the president of the Islamic Republic from 1997 to 2005. Prior to his presidency, Khatami served the Islamic Republic in a number of capacities, including as a member of Parliament, or Majlis (1980–1982), two terms as the minister of culture and Islamic guidance (1982–1986 and 1989–1992), and as the head of the National Library of Iran (1992–1997). He is a graduate of Isfahan University with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and earned his master’s degree in educational sciences from Tehran University. In addition, Khatami received seven years of theological training in Iran’s theological seminaries in the holy city of Qum to become a mujtahid, thus allowing him to interpret religious doctrines and issue religious rulings. In addition to his native Persian language, Khatami speaks Arabic, English, and German. He is also a member of the Central Council of the Association of Combatant Clerics, the main reformist clerical association in Iran.
General Overviews
Notwithstanding Khatami’s positions in the Islamic Republic, he was a candidate little known by the general voting population of Iran and was viewed as a safe candidate by the country’s establishment to run against the odds-on-favorite, Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri, the speaker of Parliament. Khatami ran as a candidate of reform and promised individual freedom and rule of law. Khatami’s promise of inclusion (Iran for all Iranians) created an avalanche of support for his candidacy (Tazmini 2009), leading to an unprecedented voter turnout of 80 percent. Khatami was elected on the 2nd of Khordad 1376 in the Iranian calendar (23 May 1997), receiving 70 percent of the votes cast. The coalition that brought Khatami to power was composed of young voters, women, business leaders, and those who had grown tired of revolutionary excesses and wanted normalcy in their lives (Gheissari and Nasr 2006). This coalition became known as the “2nd of Khordad movement,” or the “reformist movement.” However, reform had not started with Khatami. In fact, the victory of the “reformist movement” marked the culmination of a century of popular struggle for democratic change in Iran (Ansari 2003, Azimi, 2008, Dabashi 2007, Keddie 2003). Khatami was elected president of Iran for a second term on 8 June 2001 with over 65 percent of the votes cast, and he finished his presidency on 3 August 2005.
Ansari, Ali M. Modern Iran since 1921: The Pahlavis and After. New York: Longman, 2003.
A readable overview of Iran’s political history during the 20th century. It highlights the struggle for power among the country’s contending forces and the popular response to the country’s autocratic governments.
Azimi, Fakhreddin. The Quest for Democracy in Iran: A Century of Struggle against Authoritarian Rule. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008.
One of the most detailed scholarly treatments of the struggle for popular democracy in Iran, from the Constitutional Revolution of 1906 to the early 21st century.
Dabashi, Hamid. Iran: A People Interrupted. New York: New Press, 2007.
A critical history of Iran since the 1990s that evaluates the Iranian people’s democratic struggles against dictatorship and highlights key events through the collapse of the reform movement.
Gheissari, Ali, and Vali Nasr. Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
DOI: 10.1093/0195189671.001.0001
This book examines Iran’s political history in the modern era and evaluates the prospects for establishing democracy in the country. The authors also evaluate various narratives and ideological debates on this topic.
Keddie, Nikki R. Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003.
A thorough analysis of modern Iranian history that seeks to establish continuity among the various protest movements against dictatorial rule in Iran.
Tazmini, Ghoncheh. Khatami’s Iran: The Islamic Republic and the Turbulent Path to Reform. London: Tauris Academic Studies, 2009.
An even-handed treatment of Khatami’s rise to power and his presidency. The author analyzes the success and failures of Khatami’s presidency and places it in the context of factional groupings in Iran.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Abbasid Caliphate
- `Abdolkarim Soroush
- 'Abduh, Muhammad
- ʿAbdul Razzāq Kāshānī
- Abraham
- Abu Sayyaf Group
- Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP)
- Adoption
- Afghani, Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-
- Africa, Islam in
- Afterlife, Heaven, Hell
- Ahmad Khan, Sayyid
- Ahmadiyyah Movement, The
- Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar
- `A'isha
- 'A’isha al-Baʿuniyya
- 'Alī Ibn Abī Ṭālib
- al-Ḥallāj, Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr
- Alawis
- Alhambra
- Al-Maʿarrī
- Almohads
- al-Sadiq, Ja`far
- Al-Siddiq, Abu Bakr
- Amin, Nusrat
- Ḥanbalīs
- Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM)
- Animals
- Apostasy
- Arab Painting
- Arab Salafism
- Arab Spring
- Arabic Language and Islam
- Arabic Praise Poems
- Archaeology, Islamic
- Architecture
- Art, Islamic
- Ashʿariyya
- Ashura
- Australia, Islam in
- 'Aysha Abd Al-Rahman
- Ayyubids
- Azhar, al-
- Baha'i Faith
- Balkans, Islam in the
- Banna, Hasan al-
- Bektashi Sufi Order
- Berbers
- Body
- Bourgiba, Habib
- Britain, Islam and Muslims in
- Caliph and Caliphate
- Caucasus
- Central Asia, Islam in
- Chechnya: History, Society, Conflict
- Christianity, Islam and
- Cinema, Turkish
- Civil Society
- Clash of Civilizations
- Contemporary Islamic Popular Culture in Southeast Asia
- David Santillana
- Daʿwa
- Death, Dying, and the Afterlife
- Democracy and Islam
- Deoband Madrasa
- Disabilities, Islam and
- Dome of the Rock
- Dreams and Islam
- Dress and Fashion
- Druze
- Education
- Ethics
- Europe, Islam in
- European Imperialism
- Fahad al-Asker
- Fairuz
- Fana and Baqa
- Farangī Maḥall
- Fatima
- Female Islamic Education Movements
- Finance, Islamic
- Fiqh Al-Aqalliyyat
- Five Pillars of Islam, The
- Gender and Sexuality
- Gender-based Violence and Islam
- Ghadir Khumm
- Ghazali, al-
- Gökalp, Mehmet Ziya
- Gülen, Muhammed Fethullah
- Granada, Nasrids of
- Hadith
- Hadith and Gender
- Hadith Commentary
- Hadith: Shiʿi
- Hamas
- Hanafi School, The
- Hasan
- Hausa
- Hijaz
- Hijaz Railway
- Hilli, al-
- Hip-Hop and Islam
- Historiography
- History of Astronomy and Space Science in the Islamic Worl...
- Hizb al-Nahdah
- Homosexuality
- Human Rights
- Husayn
- Ibadiyya
- Ibn al-ʿArabī
- Ibn Baṭṭūṭa
- Ibn Bâjjah
- Ibn Khaldun
- Ibn Rushd (Averroës)
- Ibn Sīnā
- Ibn Taymiyya
- Ibn Ṭufayl
- Ijtihad
- 'Ilm al-Khilāf / Legal Controversy
- Indonesia, Islam in
- Inheritance
- Inji Efflatoun
- Internet, Islam and the
- Iqbal, Muhammad
- Iran, Islam in
- Iranian Revolution, The
- Islam, Environments and Landscapes in
- Islam in Ethiopia and Eritrea
- Islam, Nature, and the Environment
- Islamic Aesthetics
- Islamic Calligraphy
- Islamic Exegesis, Christians and Christianity in
- Islamic Law and Gender
- Islamic Print Media
- Islamic Salvation Front (FIS)
- Islamic Studies, Food in
- Islamic Trends and Movements in Contemporary Sub-Saharan A...
- Islamophobia
- Japan, Islam in
- Jesus
- Jewish-Muslim Relations
- Jihad
- Jilani, `Abd al-Qadir al (Gilani)
- Ka`aba
- Karbala in Shiʿi Ritual
- Khaled Al Siddiq
- Kharijites
- Kharijites and Contemporary Scholarship, The
- Khatami, Muhammad
- Khomeini, Ruhollah Mousavi
- Kurds, The
- Law, Islamic Criminal
- Literature and Muslim Women
- Maher Zain
- Malcolm X
- Malikis
- Maḥmūd Gāvān
- Marriage
- Martyrdom (Shahada)
- Mary in Islam
- Mawdudi, Sayyid Abuʾl-Aʾla
- Medina
- Medina, The Constitution of
- Method in the Study of Islam
- Middle East and North Africa, Islam in
- Mihna
- Miskawayh
- Modern and Contemporary Egyptian Art
- Modernism
- Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin
- Moses
- Māturīdī
- Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī
- Muhammad
- Muhammad, Elijah
- Muhammad, Tomb of
- Muharram
- Muslim Brotherhood
- Muslim Nonviolence
- Muslim Pilgrimage Traditions in West Africa
- Muslim Television Preachers
- Mutʿa
- Mu`tazilites
- Nana Asma'u bint Usman ‘dan Fodio
- Nation of Islam
- Nationalism
- Nigeria, Islam in
- Nizar Qabbani
- North America, Islam in
- Nursi, Said
- On the History of the Book in Islamic Studies
- Organization of Islamic Cooperation
- Orientalism and Islam
- Ottoman Empire, Islam in the
- Ottoman Empire, Millet System in the
- Ottoman Women
- Pamuk, Orhan
- Papyrus, Parchment, and Paper in Islamic Studies
- PAS
- People of the Book
- Philippines, Islam in the
- Philosophy, Islamic
- Pilgrimage and Religious Travel
- Political Islam
- Political Theory, Islamic
- Post-Ottoman Syria, Islam in
- Pre-Islamic Arabia/The Jahiliyya
- Principles of Law
- Progressive Muslim Thought, Progressive Islam and
- Purity
- Qaeda, al-
- Qaradawi, Yusuf al-
- Qur'an
- Qurʾan and Contemporary Analysis
- Qurʾan and Context
- Qutb, Sayyid
- Razi, Fakhr al-Din al-
- Reformist Muslims in Contemporary America
- Russia, Islam in
- Sadra, Mulla
- Safavids
- Sahara, The Kunta of the
- Saiyid Ahmad of Rai Bareli
- Salafism
- Sarekat Islam
- Science and Medicine
- Shafi`is
- Shari`a (Islamic Law)
- Shari'ati, Ali
- Shaṭṭārīya
- Shaykhism
- Shiʿa, Ismaʿili
- Shiʿa, Twelver
- Shi`i Islam
- Shi‘I Shrine Cities
- Shi'i Tafsir, Twelver
- Sicily, Islam in
- Sociology and Anthropology
- South Asia, Islam in
- Southeast Asia, Islam in
- Spain, Muslim
- Sīra
- Sufism
- Sufism in the United States
- Suhrawardī, Shihāb al-Dīn
- Sukarno
- Sunna
- Sunni Islam
- Tabari, -al
- Tablighi Jamaʿat
- Tafsir
- Tafsir, Women and
- Taha, Mahmūd Muhammad
- Taliban
- Tanzīh and Tashbīh in Classical Islamic Theological Though...
- Textual Criticism, Qur'an and
- The Babi Movement
- The Barelvī School of Thought
- The Nizari Ismailis of the Persianate World
- Theology
- Turabi, Hassan al-
- Turkey, Islam in
- Turkish Language, Literature, and Islam
- Twelver Shi'ism in Modern India
- Twelver Shi'ism in Pakistan
- Umayyads, The
- Wahhabism
- Women in Islam
- Yemen, Islam in
- Zaydiyya