Understanding Iran therefore requires more than studying military capabilities or diplomatic strategy. It requires taking theology seriously. Christians understand this because the gospel shapes lives, cultures, and civilizations. Our calling is not merely to analyze those competing stories but, more importantly, to proclaim the true King whose kingdom comes not through revolution or coercion, but through His death and resurrection.
For much of the twentieth century, Western intellectuals assumed religion was fading from public life. Modernization, economic development, scientific progress, and liberal democracy were expected to push theological convictions steadily into the private sphere. Wars might still be fought over territory, resources, or national ambition, but religion would gradually cease to be a decisive force in international affairs.
Samuel Huntington famously challenged that assumption in The Clash of Civilizations (1996). The defining conflicts of the post-Cold War world, he argued, would not arise primarily from economics or ideology but from civilizations shaped by deeply rooted religious and cultural commitments. His thesis was criticized when it appeared, yet events over the past three decades have made it difficult to dismiss. Whether one looks at Russia, China, or the Islamic Republic of Iran, theology on some level continues to shape how nations understand authority, justice, history, and even war.
Christians have good reason to pay attention. Scripture calls us to pray for rulers, love our neighbors, and bear witness to the truth. We cannot do that well if we misunderstand the beliefs that animate one of the most influential powers in the Middle East. Iran cannot be understood simply through the language of oil, sanctions, nuclear negotiations, or military strategy. Those realities matter, but they exist within a worldview shaped by Twelver Shia Islam.
A Different View of History
The split between Sunni and Shia Islam began as a dispute over Muhammad’s successor, but it eventually became a fundamentally different understanding of religious authority and history. Twelver Shiism teaches that God appointed twelve divinely guided Imams after Muhammad. The last of these, Muhammad al-Mahdi (born AD 869), did not die but entered what is called the Occultation. Though hidden from the world, he remains alive and will one day return to establish justice and vindicate God’s people.
This is more than an interesting theological curiosity. It provides a way of understanding history itself. Human events are moving toward the return of God’s appointed ruler. Present injustice is temporary. Political struggle becomes part of a much larger divine drama. Huntington’s point comes into focus here. Theology is not merely private belief. It shapes how societies understand where history is going.
Karbala and Political Imagination
If the Hidden Imam shapes Shia expectations for the future, Karbala shapes its understanding of the present. Every year millions of Shia Muslims commemorate the death of Husayn, the grandson of Muhammad, who was killed at Karbala in AD 680 after refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the Umayyad ruler Yazid. For Shia Muslims, this is not simply ancient history. Karbala became the defining story of righteous suffering in the face of tyranny.
Ayatollah Khomeini understood the power of that story. During the Iranian Revolution he repeatedly portrayed the Shah of Iran as a modern Yazid—the archetypal unjust ruler—and encouraged Iranians to see themselves as following Husayn’s example. The revolution therefore became more than a political uprising. It became a reenactment of sacred history.
This same imagery continued during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), when those killed in battle were celebrated as martyrs walking in Husayn’s footsteps. Western observers often calculate war in terms of casualties and material losses. A culture shaped by Karbala also evaluates sacrifice through theological categories. Again, Huntington’s insight proves remarkably useful. Religious convictions shape political imagination.
Who Rules Until the Mahdi Returns?
Belief in the Hidden Imam raises an obvious question. If the rightful ruler remains hidden, who governs in the meantime? Ayatollah Khomeini answered with the doctrine of velayat-e faqih, the “guardianship of the jurist.” During the Imam’s absence, qualified Islamic jurists possess both the authority and the obligation to govern Islamic society. This teaching became the constitutional foundation of the Islamic Republic after the revolution of 1979. In most modern states, political legitimacy ultimately rests on constitutions, elections, or hereditary succession. In the Islamic Republic, it is grounded in theology.
This explains why Iran’s Supreme Leader occupies an office unlike that of a president or prime minister. His authority is presented not merely as constitutional but as theological. Once again, doctrine shapes politics. Iran is not simply another nation-state pursuing national interests. It understands itself as the guardian of an Islamic revolution awaiting the return of the Hidden Imam.
Iran’s revolutionary vision was, nonetheless, never intended to stop at its own borders. The regime has consistently sought to export its revolution through allied governments, religious networks, and proxy organizations such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. Military strategy and national interests certainly play important roles, yet theology provides the moral imagination through which these conflicts are understood. These organizations are not merely geopolitical assets. Within Iran’s revolutionary worldview, they participate in the same struggle against oppression embodied by Husayn at Karbala. Political alliances become invested with religious significance.
A Christian Response
Iran is, of course, more than its theology. Strategic interests, economics, ethnic identity, and domestic politics all influence its decisions. Yet Huntington’s larger point remains. Nations do not simply pursue power; they pursue it according to stories they believe about history, justice, and their place in the world. In Iran, those stories are inseparable from Twelver Shi’ism. The result is a political vision that cannot be understood if theology is treated as little more than private belief.
Christians should neither caricature Iran nor ignore its theology. Twelver Shiism offers a compelling vision of history, suffering, authority, and justice. But it ultimately rests on false promises. Twelver Shiism waits for a hidden imam who will establish God’s righteous rule. Christianity proclaims that the true Messiah has already come. Christ has already defeated sin, death, and the devil through His cross and resurrection. We await His return, not to inaugurate His kingdom, but to consummate the kingdom He has already established.
That difference changes everything. It changes how we understand suffering, authority, hope, and history itself. Huntington was right that civilizations are shaped by ultimate beliefs. Christians know this better than anyone because Christianity has always insisted that ideas have consequences. Theology is never merely theoretical. It forms cultures, inspires nations, and influences the course of history.
Understanding Iran, therefore, requires more than studying military capabilities or diplomatic strategy. It requires taking theology seriously. Christians understand this because the gospel shapes lives, cultures, and civilizations. Our calling is not merely to analyze those competing stories but, more importantly, to proclaim the true King whose kingdom comes not through revolution or coercion, but through His death and resurrection.
