A Qur’anic Elucidation of Resistance through an Assessment of Arrogance as Its Fundamental Other

The central problem of the present study is the conceptual elucidation of resistance. Since resistance is, by its very nature, a negative and relational concept, and acquires meaning only in relation to an “other” set against it, a proper understanding of this concept requires identifying and explicating that corresponding other. A review of the discourse of Ayatollah Khamenei, as one of the most important exponents and theorists of resistance, makes it clear that the fundamental other of resistance is arrogance (istikbār). Resistance, therefore, becomes intelligible through an understanding of istikbār.



Given that istikbār is a Qur’anic concept, this study adopts a thematic investigation of the Noble Qur’an in order to explicate both the semantic and substantive dimensions of istikbār, while also examining the manner in which it establishes hegemony and domination within the political and social spheres, and clarifying its modes of governance. Through rebellion against tawḥīd (Divine Unity), istikbār seeks to define itself independently as the very source and origin of truth within existence.



In the social domain, istikbār manifests itself in a condition in which the arrogant seek to impose their own will upon society as the organizing axis of social life, and to establish, as natural and normative, an order independent of the tawḥīdī order. Under such circumstances, resistance signifies the effort to bring about an order articulated through the religious sharīʿa—an order which, through intimacy and consonance with the Truth, is capable of realizing a humane and stable social order.