by Jalal Al-i Ahmad

including his father, older brother, and a brotherin- law, were all Muslim clerics. Early in the 1930s when the Ministry of Justice under Reza Pahlavi (also Reza Khan; ruled 1921-41) began to regulate the activities of the clergy, Al-i Ahmad’s father went into voluntary retirement. His decision forced young Jalal Al-i Ahmad to leave school and work at various jobs in the marketplace (such as watchmaking and selling leather goods). Despite his father’s expressed wishes that his son become a clergyman and succeed him, Al-i Ahmad secretly attended a secular school at night and in 1943 obtained his diploma. In 1946 he received the equivalent of a Bachelor’s degree and the next year began to teach literature in high school. Al-i Ahmad’s break with his family’s religious traditions occurred when he was in...