Religious Presuppositions of Writers of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran and the Reflection of Those Presuppositions in the General Principles of the Constitution

The constitutions of many countries have been influenced by religious concepts, but it could be claimed that even among the religious countries, the constitution of Islamic Repulic of Iran has a uinque status. Because, though it is written by a spectrum of various writers with different thoughts and trends, this constituion has an essentially religious approach. A common belief in this regard is that the presence of a large number of religious scholars and their significant power in the “Assembly of Experts for Constitution” made the outcome so religious. But this explenation only exposes a part of reality, not all of it. Scrutinizing the details of discussions and negotiations in the process of writing the constitution shows that notwithstanding that the writers belonged to different groups and ideologies, they all shared a common conviction about the role of religion and the extent of its presence in the society. This common conviction is the main factor that led the constitution to be full of religious concepts so that more than forty principles of the constitution are writen under the direct influence of these religious concepts. By referring to the details of discussions in the Assembly of Experts for the Constitution as an original and first-hand source for understanding the ideas and thoughts of the writers of the constitution, I want to distinguish and rediscover their presuppositions about the role of religion and the extent of its influence in the worldly life.  Besides, I want to emphasize the commonalities and differences between the writers and their influence on the general principles of the constitution in order to clean the way for further researches on the mindset of the founders of the Islamic Republic of Iran and to display the differences between their understanding of religion and the understanding of the next generations.