The Transformation of the Friday Prayer Institution in Contemporary Iran: A Case Study on the Genealogy and Religious Authority of the Imam Jom‘e Family of Zanjan

Author

Department of History, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran

10.22111/jhr.2025.53770.3849

Abstract

This study traces the transformation and continuity of the Friday‑Prayer leadership (Emamat‑e Jom‘e) in Zanjan from the Qajar era to the Islamic Republic through the Hosseini‑Zanjani family. It argues that durable authority rested on a dual foundation:
Religious legitimacy—jurisprudential training, Sayyid lineage, and ritual mastery.
Strategic alignment with state power—state patronage, security institutions, and revolutionary organizations.
Using family and organizational archives, waqf deeds, seals, judicial endorsements, manuscript lists, library sources, press materials, and interviews, the article reconstructs the genealogy and institutional trajectory from Seyyed Mohammad Majtahid Sardani’s founding tenure to Seyyed Mohammad Azaddin Hosseini’s activist leadership and its post‑revolution reconfiguration.
The office evolved from a primarily ritual role into a multi‑functional religious, judicial, economic, and political institution, yet faced recurring legitimacy crises over endowment management, intra‑clerical rivalries, land transactions, and shifting state policies. Through a historical‑institutionalist lens, the analysis identifies path dependence stemming from early non‑local appointment choices, and critical junctures—including Babist uprisings, the Constitutional Revolution, Reza Shah’s centralization, World War I famine, the post‑1941 opening, and the 1979 Revolution—that reshaped roles and alliances.
The study shows how symbolic religious capital was converted into structured influence via documentation, rule‑bound waqf governance, court recognition, and alliances with marjaʿ networks. It further demonstrates institutional recombination across generations—including library building, seminary bylaws, civic education, and mobilization—that stabilized authority amid policy turbulence and security pressures. Ultimately, the Imam Jom‘e office became a key node linking religious legitimacy to local administration and social order by adapting governance practices to evolving expectations and broader societal needs.

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Main Subjects


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