# The Promise and Paradox of the Islamic Republic | Deep Dive: Iran Ep. 2 |  Imam Tom Facchine

**Author:** Tom Facchine
**Series:** Imam Tom Live
**Published:** 2026-04-08
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/jMSf6DLfFo4
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/irans-political-system-explained-deep-dive-iran-ep-2-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine
**Topics:** History, Politics & Practical Theology

## Summary
This video by Imam Tom Facchine addresses the widespread Islamophobic claim that Muslims are religiously permitted — even encouraged — to lie to non-Muslims through a concept called 'taqiyya.' Imam Facchine explains that this distorted version of taqiyya was not derived from Islamic scholarship but was invented and spread by Orientalist writers, Islamophobic propagandists, and political actors seeking to portray Muslims as inherently untrustworthy. He identifies three key motivations behind spreading this lie: undermining Muslim credibility in public discourse, justifying surveillance and suspicion of Muslim communities, and supporting a political narrative of Muslims as a dangerous 'fifth column' — a recycled trope previously used against Jews, Catholics, and Japanese Americans. In contrast, Imam Facchine clarifies what taqiyya actually means in the Sunni tradition: it is a narrow, emergency allowance for a Muslim who faces death to conceal their faith in order to preserve their life. This concept is rooted in a Quranic verse [An-Nahl 16:106], revealed in the context of early Muslims in Mecca being tortured, specifically referencing the companion Ammar ibn Yasir (رضي الله عنه) who was forced under torture to renounce Islam. The verse clarifies that forced verbal denial of faith does not constitute true disbelief if the heart remains firm. Imam Facchine emphasizes that taqiyya is not discussed in mainstream Sunni fiqh or aqeedah manuals, was never encountered during his five years of Sharia studies in Saudi Arabia, and has nothing to do with deceiving non-Muslims or spreading Islam. The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) strongly condemned lying and praised truthfulness as a path to paradise. The Islamophobic framing inverts Islamic teaching entirely — treating deception as the norm and honesty as the exception — and functions as an unfalsifiable, self-reinforcing accusation designed to silence Muslim voices.

## Key Points
- The Islamophobic claim that Muslims are religiously obligated to lie to non-Muslims is false and not rooted in Islamic theology.
- The distorted version of taqiyya was invented by Orientalist writers and Islamophobic propagandists, not derived from Islamic sources.
- The taqiyya accusation is unfalsifiable by design — both a Muslim's truthful statements and their denials of the lie can be dismissed as 'taqiyya.'
- Spreading the taqiyya myth serves three purposes: undermining Muslim credibility, justifying surveillance and suspicion, and supporting a political narrative of Muslims as a dangerous internal threat.
- In Sunni Islam, taqiyya refers only to one narrow scenario: a Muslim under threat of death may conceal their faith to preserve their life.
- The Quranic basis for taqiyya is found in [An-Nahl 16:106], revealed in the context of early Muslims being tortured in Mecca, including the companion Ammar ibn Yasir (رضي الله عنه).
- Taqiyya is not a general license to lie, not a strategy for spreading Islam, and is rarely if ever discussed in classical Sunni fiqh or aqeedah manuals.
- The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) strongly praised truthfulness and condemned lying, making honesty the foundational rule in Islam.
- The taqiyya trope is part of a broader pattern of recycled conspiracy theories used historically against minority groups such as Jews, Catholics, and Japanese Americans.

## Transcript
**[0:00]** Is Iran really an Islamic Republic? And how did an insurgent political ideology come to govern territory and head a state? Today we're looking at Iran from the lens of political theory.

**[0:15]** But first we need to understand the anatomy of political authority within Shi'ism. Who should be in authority? As we said that with the Shi'a system it's based off of lineage. If you look at how Abu Bakr was appointed, and then Umar, and then Uthman, and then Ali. Each of them came to power in a different way.

**[0:30]** This is what distinguishes the Khilafah, which is the Sunni terminology, from the Imamah, which is the Shi'a terminology. But today we're talking about the political crisis. The sense of political authority in Twelver Shi'ism is very, very different from Sunni Islam. When we think about what force is like a safeguard or a mechanism from the community going astray.

**[0:49]** That force within Sunni Islam is the community itself, the jama'ah. We believe in the Sunnah of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And we also follow the jama'ah, the concept of ijma', that there is consensus. And the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, saying that his community or his ummah would not agree on a mistake.

**[1:07]** Today we're looking at Iran from the lens of political theory. My first degree. To answer these questions and more. But first we need to understand the anatomy of political authority within Shi'ism. Previously we had talked about the epistemic and theological crisis of Twelver Shi'ism.

**[1:24]** That if you're going to have particular claims of the Qur'an is not complete. Or the companions left Islam. Then this tremendously undermines the strength of the deen. And sets you up to have, let's just say, a not very well vetted corpus of so-called hadith.

**[1:43]** That is collected much later. But today we're talking about the political crisis. So the sense of political authority in Twelver Shi'ism is very, very different from Sunni Islam. When we think about what force is like a safeguard or a mechanism from the community going astray.

**[1:59]** That force within Sunni Islam is the community itself. The jama'ah. That's why sometimes it's called Ahl al-Sunnah wa'l-Jama'ah. Because these are distinguishing features of Sunni Islam. We believe in the Sunnah of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And we also follow the jama'ah. The great plurality or majority of the Muslim community.

**[2:19]** That the concept of ijma'. That there is consensus. And the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, saying that his community or his ummah would not agree on a mistake. So there's this almost populist, decentralized element you could say to Sunni Islam.

**[2:35]** Where it's kind of bottom up. It's kind of organic. The community has enough of a beating heart within it. That it is collectively saved from error. If that makes sense. Whereas individuals of course are not. Within Twelver Shi'ism it's actually completely the opposite.

**[2:51]** Where the imam, the appointed ruler through descendant. Through the house of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and Ali. That is the hujjah. That is the infallibility. That is the mechanism by which the community does not go astray. So some of the commentators were correct when they said that the recent assassination of the Ayatollah Khamenei.

**[3:11]** Or the supreme leader Ali Khamenei. It's like assassinating the Pope. It's not just like a temporal leader. Like this is the person who is considered infallible. This is the person through which religious doctrine is granted and crafted.

**[3:26]** When it comes to authority in particular. There's also a different sensibility of who should be in authority. As we said that with the Shi'a system it's based off of lineage. And what's interesting historically is that this is perhaps something that comes about from being in a dialectic relationship with the Umayyads.

**[3:43]** Remember the Umayyads put forth their legitimacy as we have a certain proximity. Lineage proximity to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And we are now going to pass that down from one to the next.

**[3:59]** It was almost like the Shi'a came back with like, oh you want to play the lineage game? Well we've got lineage too. And our lineage is actually closer to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, through the descendants of Ali. Both of those are outside of what Sunni orthodoxy would say.

**[4:14]** Which is that authority is more about merit. It's more about who's most qualified for it. That's why there's different ways that are acceptable of appointing a leader within Sunni Islam. If you look at how Abu Bakr was appointed and then Umar and then Uthman and then Ali. Each of them came to power in a different way.

**[4:31]** And they're not the same. They have different relationships and different kinship groups and they're from different families. So it's not something that is necessarily inherited. It's really something that's about who's the best person for the job. And this is what distinguishes the Khilafah which is the Sunni terminology from the Imamah which is the Shi'a terminology.

**[4:50]** So of course naturally as a consequence within Twelver Shi'ism. Anybody who's a ruler or tries to be a ruler outside of the line of Ali is called a ghasib. He's a usurper. He's not allowed to have that position.

**[5:05]** This is a divinely appointed thing. And I want you to keep that in your mind because that actually creates a political crisis. Because then what do you do when you want to rule? How did Khomeini deal with that? When he's trying to make an argument for an Islamic revolution and an Islamic republic.

**[5:22]** If you're not allowed to rule unless you are one of these 12 Imams essentially. There's an issue there. It will be resolved in various ways as we will see. It also leads to rafd. So this is why in polemics, Twelver Shi'a are called Rawafid.

**[5:39]** Plural, Rafidi singular, which is the rejectors. And what they're talking about specifically is being rejected is Abu Bakr and Umar. So because Abu Bakr and Umar led the community after the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And they weren't one of the 12 Ahl al-Bayt Imams according to Twelver Shi'ism.

**[5:58]** Then by definition they are usurpers. They should not have been in those roles. Of course let's take a second to distinguish the Zaydis, the Fivers, that they actually accept. They don't have this same belief. They did not reject Abu Bakr and Umar in the same way that the Twelvers did.

**[6:15]** So as foreshadowed, one of the problems of making your political succession based on lineage and inheritance. Is that what happens when there's no clear heir? Chaos ensues. And so we see that every single time there's ambiguity or confusion in the lineage.

**[6:35]** And who should take over next? Boom, that's where we get a schism within Shi'a Islam. So you've got Ali, you've got Hasan, you've got Husayn. Then you've got Ali al-Sajjad who's known as Zayn al-Abidin. Who's the rightful inheritor of the Imamah after Zayn al-Abidin?

**[6:53]** That's where we get the split between the Zaydis on one side and the Twelvers and the Seveners on the other side. So the Zaydis who are known as Fivers, they say that Zayd is the leader after that. The Ismailis and the Twelvers, they say that no actually it's Muhammad al-Baqir.

**[7:11]** Then we get to Ja'far al-Sadiq. And who's supposed to take over after Ja'far al-Sadiq? He had a son Ismail. Problem was Ismail died before Ja'far al-Sadiq passed away. For some reason that was not a disqualifier for the Ismailis who are known as Ismailis

**[7:27]** because they attribute that line of Imams ending with Ismail. And that's why also they're known as Seveners because that stops the chain at seven. Now it's very convenient for the Ismailis and we're not here to talk about Ismailism but Ismailism as the most esoteric of the Shi'a sects.

**[7:47]** It's kind of convenient that you have someone who's already dead that then becomes the Imam because now you can get into a lot of esoteric things. But for the Twelvers, the Twelvers go with Musa al-Kadhim and then his descendants after that until they hit 12. And of course even the Ismailis and the Seveners and Twelvers they have their own sects and continue to disagree.

**[8:08]** Even when you introduce something that is like a safeguard against there being no actual successor. So this is where ghaybah comes in. This is the idea of occultation. So what do you do? How do you lead the community? Here's the open-ended question.

**[8:23]** How do you lead the community if you don't have an Imam? This is where the idea of well there's an Imam that's in hiding. And then when the Imam that's in hiding he can have a representative on earth who's living. And this is kind of the escape hatch through which Shi'a communities are able to get guidance.

**[8:43]** Of course you can disagree about who is the rightful representative of the hidden Imam just like you can disagree about who is the next Imam. So the Ismailis then they split between Nizaris and Dawudis and then even more after that precisely on these things. Who's the representative of the hidden Imam who's going to come back later.

**[9:02]** So we see that this creates a theology that is built upon and structured around an expectation of return. Which is why Shi'ism is very millenarian to use the technical term. It's always looking towards the return at the end times.

**[9:17]** And there's almost a deferral of responsibility you could say or leadership. That we're not necessarily responsible for everything that's going on now. Because in the end times the Imam is going to come out of hiding and he's going to set everything right.

**[9:35]** You could probably anticipate that this leads to a handicap in politics. And in trying to stand up for what is right or oppose oppression. Because if it's just pie in the sky wait for the Imam.

**[9:51]** What motivation do you have to stand up for justice here and now? What mandate do you have to lead or to take control? So Shiaism throughout its history had this tension that it had to resolve. And it resolved it in a couple ways, but I think you can put them under one umbrella.

**[10:07]** The Shia revolutions, whether we're talking about Abbasid revolution, and a lot of people don't realize that the Abbasid revolution had a large contingent of it that was Shia, to the Fatimids, to the Iranian revolution in 1979. It tapped into this expectation and longing for restoration that is associated with the hidden Imam.

**[10:29]** And just like we mentioned before in the previous episode about al-Mukhtar, and al-Mukhtar al-Thaqafi's rebellion, and how he used the figure of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah as the real authority, whereas Mukhtar was just the lieutenant, he's just the representative. That was the main mechanism by which Shia would launch political rebellions and uprisings

**[10:49]** and even justify political rule. That even if the Imam is in hiding, that there can be the representative of the hidden Imam, or the representative of the Mahdi, what have you. The Fatimids employed this as well. And this is a very similar thing to what Ruhollah Khomeini also instituted.

**[11:07]** Now he had a book. I couldn't find my copy, but I do have some copies here. Look at this thing. Islam and Revolution. Writings and Declarations of Khomeini. That his main intervention within the Shia Twelver tradition was this idea of Wilayat al-Faqih.

**[11:25]** It is the guardianship of the just jurist, or the rule of the jurist. So it's different. It's unprecedented in a way, because he's setting up a particular jurist. Spoiler alert, it's going to be him.

**[11:41]** That is representing the hidden Imam and preparing the way for the return of the hidden Imam and the Mahdi. But in another way, even though it's a novel innovation, it's also something that is on this earlier pattern of someone setting themselves up as a representative for the hidden Imam.

**[12:01]** And this very thing is actually enshrined in the Iranian constitution. You can go— I don't know if we can bring this up on the screen, but if you go to the constitution of the so-called Islamic Republic, you go to Article 5. Article 5, it says, during the occultation of the Wali al-Asr,

**[12:19]** may Allah hasten his reappearance, the wilaya and leadership of the ummah devolve upon the just and pious— sorry, the just and pious faqih, the 'adil, muttaqi faqih, who is fully aware of the circumstances of his age,

**[12:35]** courageous, resourceful, and possessed of administrative ability. He will assume the responsibilities of this office in accordance with Article 107. So there it is, right in the Iranian constitution. Now Khomeini didn't just stop there.

**[12:51]** So he declared in some of his works and writings that law is a tool of justice in society. And so there's a really interesting thing that's happening here, where the idea of what law is comes on to take a new meaning than maybe what it would traditionally seem to be within the shari'ah,

**[13:11]** both Sunni and Shia. Rather, the shari'ah as this overarching thing, and law is underneath the shari'ah, because any law or any government that any human being could lead is eventually accountable to the shari'ah. Whereas Khomeini is putting forth something a little bit different.

**[13:29]** Yes, the constitution is inspired by the shari'ah, and there's shari'ah elements that are part of the constitution and the government and the way that things are run, but at the same time it's a nation state. And this is a state that is able to establish law

**[13:46]** that it might be seen to be actually over the shari'ah and its dictates. So this is his ijtihadi approach that replaces the Islamic government above the shari'ah. And there's— no law higher than the state's law. This is Hallaq's point. If you haven't read Hallaq, at this point, The Impossible State, Restating Orientalism, Radical Separation of Powers, his latest book, this is Hallaq's whole point in The Impossible State that he then expands upon in later works that what makes an Islamic nation state impossible is simply the fact that you're inverting what is the ultimate authority. That in

**[14:29]** Khomeini's formulation, the ultimate authority is the republic, is the state and the law of the state, whereas the shari'ah is something that it informs, it's a source, it's an inspiration, it's there, but it's not overtop. It's not in control.

**[14:44]** It's simply that when you mix the state apparatus with the ulama apparatus and you gather the ulama apparatus under the state apparatus, you lose that independence.

**[14:59]** Now, I want to be absolutely clear, this is not saying that Islam and politics don't mix. And this is one of the unfortunate and really strange misreadings of Hallaq's work. This is not saying, and many people have come to say, reformists and secularists and modernists have tried to say that, oh, the Prophet's, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, mission was just spiritual, all the politics and stuff like that, that's just a human matter.

**[15:24]** There's this concept in this strain of thought of the second message of Islam. So the first message is the Meccan verses that are universal for everybody, whereas the Medinan verses are context bound and they're really not for everybody. And it was just kind of responding to circumstances as opposed to giving timeless political guidance.

**[15:46]** There are even some traditionalists who employ the idea of the Constitution of Medina to effectively make a similar argument that the constitution represents like the pluralism of the message, the original message of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, whereas the rest of Medina unfolds in a response to contingent circumstances that nobody's really obliged to follow or find as instructive.

**[16:08]** And if you want more on that, I strongly recommend Dr. Wael Hallaq's article, "Conjuring Sovereignty," to go through the history of that. So these opinions that I'm talking about right now are ones that justify complete secularism and liberalism, that it basically secularizes Islam into it's just your personal belief, it's ethics, it's these dangling principles that don't really, the politics stuff is not essential.

**[16:31]** Of course, that is highly disputed and problematic that many, many scholars, whether it's Maududi or Israr Ahmed from the subcontinent or others from across the Muslim world, have argued that Islam and politics are not separable.

**[16:47]** And non-Muslim scholars have argued this too when it comes to religion in general and Islam in particular. If you take William T. Cavanaugh's The Myth of Religious Violence, there was no concept of even separating, there was no definition of religion and politics whereupon you could separate them up until very, very recently.

**[17:05]** So of course they were not separable, of course Islam is a political religion and it has things to say about politics and governance and how things should be run. So all of that to say that the real critique here is not saying that Islam and politics shouldn't mix or that government shouldn't be informed by the shari'ah or Islam at all, that that shouldn't happen.

**[17:27]** No, what Hallaq's critique is, is that when you get a nation state, the way that a nation state is built, it amalgamates power, it gathers power in a very unique way, in a very absolute way, in a way that allocates sovereignty for itself, that dominates any other thing that it controls.

**[17:49]** If you want to go to Carl Schmitt's work, this is what he calls the state of exception. So think about military martial law, think about suspending habeas corpus, think about dissolving parliament. You can have your little parliament, you can have this, you can have that, but at the end of the day, who gets to impose the state of exception? Who gets to suspend the rules? Whoever gets to suspend the rules has the ultimate power.

**[18:13]** And so if you look at the Islamic, quote unquote, Islamic Republic of Iran, where's the ultimate power? Who gets to impose the state of exception? Is the shari'ah something that is autonomous, such that it can bring into line the republic if it goes astray?

**[18:31]** Or is the republic kind of the last source and the last authority and it gets to dictate what is valid interpretation of the shari'ah and it gets to dictate how the shari'ah is supposed to work and how scholars are supposed to opine and things of this nature.

**[18:48]** By the way, I mentioned Hallaq has a new book, Radical Separation of Powers, that I highly recommend. His whole point with the fact that he was saying that Islam and the nation state don't go together because the nation state is always going to completely dominate Islam.

**[19:04]** And it's going to dominate and lord over the shari'ah and it's going to instrumentally use Islam in a way that's going to justify national security or whatever, whatever the nation wants to do, it will find a justification for, basically led to his latest book, which is talking about how you can't actually have Islamic governance without a very radical separation of powers, a type of separation of powers that doesn't actually exist in nation states.

**[19:29]** That you have to have, you know, if the shari'ah is legislative, then that has to be autonomous and separate. And if the ulama are the ones who get to interpret the shari'ah, then that has to be, to a large degree, autonomous and separate. Once it becomes under the shadow of the state, then there's a conflict of interest and it's only a matter of time until things go awry. And certainly when it comes to the behavior of the Iranian Republic in general, if you look at things such as censorship, if you look at things such as suppression, these are real things.

**[20:07]** Is this what the shari'ah calls for, right? Now you're making a bad name for Islam. Or is this the work of a nation state? Even if we wanted to grant that there's foreign meddling and that foreign meddling actually is very intentional and meant to produce paranoia and meant to provoke totalitarian tendencies. So this is actually a very, very deliberate tactic that's used by the United States and other governments.

**[20:31]** If you want to look at Cuba, for example, the United States attempted to assassinate Castro dozens of times, maybe over a hundred times. And that type of really intense atmosphere creates paranoia and the paranoia brings out totalitarian tendencies. And then that creates more justification for more regime change and things of that nature. So these types of policies are very, very much intentionally pursued by certain powers.

**[20:56]** But when nation states react in that way and they become more totalitarian and they suppress dissent and they homogenize internally, right? And we'll talk about that even more in just a second. Is that Islam? Is that the shari'ah? No, it's not. That's a nation state acting, right? That's a nation state that is acting within its own interests or the interests of its leaders. That's not necessarily what the shari'ah calls for.

**[21:20]** Speaking of homogenization, many, many scholars have pointed out that nation states have a natural impetus to homogenize because there's foreign meddling, because nation states are usually ethno-nation states. They're usually set up upon a certain, at least privileged ethnicity.

**[21:36]** Then all of the ethnic minorities or religious minorities are potentially treasonous factions. And sure enough, you're going to have foreign powers that are going to try to leverage those minority populations against you. As we see now, Trump is talking about arming the Kurds and trying to have the Kurds come in and mess with the current Iranian regime.

**[21:59]** It's funny that the Kurds have, I think, wised up and they're probably not going to get sucked into that because they realized that the U.S. abandoned them in Syria. The important point is that those differences are always leveraged and always exploited by enemies. So there creates a push towards homogenization.

**[22:16]** Turkey is a classic example. The policies against Armenians, the policies against Kurds, the policies against other types of non-standard citizens, meaning non-Turks, because those other populations are seen as a threat. America and the United States are exactly like this.

**[22:33]** When people say, oh, we speak English in this country, you know how much of the country speaks Spanish? Spanish should be an official language because, first of all, a good chunk of this country used to be Mexico before the United States stole it. And then even throughout the country, this is part of the Americas. The language of the hemisphere is Spanish, to be frank.

**[22:51]** But there's a feeling a certain way because there's a certain normative expected citizen that's English speaking, that's white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, probably. And if you don't adhere to that, then there's almost like this suspicion and panic.

**[23:08]** This is all to say that nation states tend to homogenize or they tend to try to homogenize because they see that as a security risk. They see that the non-standard citizens within their territory are potential threats. And I actually have direct experience with this. When I was in Medina, I actually had a very good friend who was studying there with me who was from Iran.

**[23:30]** Actually, he was from the border of Iran and Afghanistan. He was Sunni. He was from a Sunni village. And when he came to Medina, he couldn't go back until he was done his studies entirely. So he was separated from his family for years and years and years. And they would write letters back and forth.

**[23:51]** And if his uncle and his father made umrah, they would meet up and he would get pistachios from his family's farm and saffron and we'd sit on the floor of his dorm and drink saffron tea together. But he couldn't return to his homeland until he was finished studying in Medina because if he tried to go back, they would seize his passport and remove his freedom of movement and stop him from going anywhere because he's a Sunni.

**[24:22]** And there's other things that are well known that happen inside Iran that are discriminatory practices towards ethnic minorities and towards also religious minorities as well. So that being said, there's other articles of the Iranian constitution that are of interest and that indicate something else.

**[24:48]** Our original question that we wanted to ask, what about how Islamic is the Islamic, quote unquote, Republic of Iran? If you have access to this online, look up Article 11. Article 11 is fascinating. Within the constitution, it says, in accordance with the sacred verse of the Qur'an, your community is a single community. All Muslims form a single nation. And the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has a duty of formulating its general policies with a view to cultivate the friendship and unity of all Muslim peoples.

**[25:21]** And it must constantly strive to bring about the political, economic, and cultural unity of the Islamic world. Huh. That is very, very interesting. And if you go to the next article, Article 12, it gets a little bit more into the details.

**[25:37]** The official religion of Iran is Islam and the Twelver Ja'fari school in usul al-din and fiqh, and this principle will remain eternally immutable. Other Islamic schools, including Hanafi, Shafi'i, Maliki, Hanbali, Zaydi, are to be accorded full respect, and their followers are free to act in accordance with their own jurisprudence in performing their religious rites.

**[25:57]** Insha'Allah, right? Insha'Allah. That's not what I hear from the Iranians that I know, but it's a nice sentiment. It's there in the constitution. And one of the things that we will explore throughout the rest of this series, did Iran make good on its promise?

**[26:13]** You find there's a pan-Islamic sentiment in the constitution of Iran. It had high hopes. You read Article 11 and Article 12, and it's like, wow, this is hopeful. But then when you go down the history and you see what has happened, another story can be told.

**[26:31]** So if we're looking at what's our verdict, is Iran really an Islamic republic, or how Islamic of a republic is Iran? The answer is sort of, not really. I mean, if you take Hallaq's argument seriously, any government that exerts for itself sovereignty and complete authority over the religion itself and its interpretation and its scholarship, Islam becomes a tool.

**[26:57]** Islam becomes a tool of that government, and there's no situation in which Islam or the shari'ah or the ulama have the right to impose the state of exception. Rather, the ones that are imposing the state of exception are those in the government.

**[27:12]** We're also going to see how the sectarian content of Twelver Shiaism that we covered in episode one ends up being the limit to the stated pan-Islamic goals and identity that's laid out in the constitution.

**[27:27]** So next episode, we're going to cover Iran from a nomadic lens, the history of the ummah, and the history of the ummah trying to set itself free and live in dignity and autonomy from all of its external and internal enemies. Where does Iran fit into that? We'll explore it next time.

**[27:57]** you

## Other Episodes in "Imam Tom Live"
- [Sunnis vs. Shias | Deep Dive: Iran Ep. 1 | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/sunnis-vs-shias-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [Who's Your Real Enemy? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/who-is-your-real-enemy-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [How ‘Taqiyya’ Became an Islamophobic Talking Point | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-taqiyya-became-an-islamophobic-talking-point-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [Does Islam Actually Oppose Science? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/does-islam-actually-oppose-science-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [What Sharia Law Actually Means | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-sharia-law-actually-means-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [Why Not Every Seat is One Worth Taking | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/why-not-every-seat-is-one-worth-taking-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [Debunking the Myth of the ‘Oppressed Muslim Woman’ | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/debunking-the-myth-of-the-oppressed-muslim-woman-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [What ‘Allahu Akbar’ Really Means (And Why It Scares Them) | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-allahu-akbar-really-means-and-why-it-scares-them-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [How Does the Qur’an View the Bible? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-does-the-quran-view-the-bible-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [What the Qur’an Says About Christianity | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-the-quran-says-about-christianity-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [The Truth About AI’s Intelligence | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-truth-about-ai-intelligence-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [Amazon's Kill System & the Network Behind Sami's Detention | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/amazons-kill-system-and-the-network-behind-samis-detention-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [What Real Masculinity Looks Like | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-real-masculinity-looks-like-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [What Islam Reveals About Socialism and Capitalism | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-islam-reveals-about-socialism-and-capitalism-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [Kings Chased Thrones. He ﷺ Chased This Instead | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/kings-chased-thrones-he-chased-this-instead-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [Why You Can’t Escape Organized Religion | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/why-you-cant-escape-organized-religion-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [Why Some Scholars Critique Resistance | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/why-some-scholars-critique-resistance-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [Columbus Wasn't Just After Gold – He Wanted Jerusalem | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/columbus-wasnt-just-after-gold-he-wanted-jerusalem-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [How to Stop Falling for Fake Mahdis | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-to-stop-falling-for-fake-mahdis-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [How Should We View Gaza’s Celebrity Support? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/gaza-celebrity-support-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [Living Up to the Prophet’s ﷺ Final Speech | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-last-sermon-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [Israel’s Link to U.S. Anti-Terror Policy | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/israels-links-to-us-anti-terror-policy-focal-point.md)
- [Will Recognition Help Palestine? | Snapshots by Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/will-recognition-help-palestine-snapshots-by-imam-tom.md)
- [Modesty Is More Than What You Wear | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/modesty-is-more-than-what-you-wear-snapshots.md)
- [How Your Victim Mindset is Destroying You | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-your-victim-mindset-is-destroying-you-snapshots-with-imam-tom.md)
- [The Hidden Bias in Every History Book | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-hidden-bias-in-every-history-book-focal-point.md)
- [Islam Isn’t Just Therapy | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/islam-isnt-just-therapy-snapshot.md)
- [Is This Da’wah or Entertainment? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/is-this-dawah-or-entertainment-snapshots.md)
- [Representation Isn’t Working. Here’s Why. | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/representation-isnt-working-heres-why-focal-point.md)
- [How to Stop Chasing Validation | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-to-stop-chasing-validation-snapshots-imam-tom.md)
- [What Activism Is Missing Today | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-activism-is-missing-today-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [How Colonialism Hijacked the Muslim World | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-colonialism-hijacked-the-muslim-wor-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [Why the Islamic Calendar Matters | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/why-the-islamic-calendar-matters-snapshots-wit-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [How Islam Completed what Christianity Began | Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-islam-completed-what-christianity-began-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [The Multi-Million Dollar War on Islam | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-multi-million-dollar-war-on-islam-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md)
- [Hajj is the Great Equalizer | Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/hajj-is-the-great-equalizer-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [Malcolm X's Legacy We Forgot About | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/malcolm-xs-legacy-we-forgot-about-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [How Music Impacts Your Brain | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-music-impacts-your-brain-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [Debunking the 'Islamic Dilemma' | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/debunking-the-islamic-dilemma-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [The Ummah or the Nation? | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-ummah-or-the-natio-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [How Islamic History Was Frozen and Forgotten | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-islamic-history-was-frozen-and-forgotten-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [The Secret Cost of Individualism | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-secret-cost-of-individualism-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [The Dark Truth About Secularism | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-dark-truth-about-secularism-focal-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [Muslims Are a People of Principle | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/muslims-are-a-people-of-principle-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [When Did Ramadan Become a Festival | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/when-did-ramadan-become-a-festival-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [Why Don't Muslims Just Leave? | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/why-dont-muslims-just-leave-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [Will Celebrity Muslims Save Us? | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/will-celebrity-muslims-save-us-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [Trump Wants to Take Over Gaza | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/trump-wants-to-take-over-gaza-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [Doomscrolling is Rewiring Your Brain | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/doomscrolling-is-rewiring-your-brain-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [The Islamic Cure for Overconsumption | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-islamic-cure-for-overconsumption-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [What Does Trump's Second Term Mean for Muslims? | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-does-trumps-second-term-mean-for-muslims-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [Why Reps Matter More than Time | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/why-reps-matter-more-than-time-atomic-habits-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [Surah Al-Masad & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/surah-al-masad-atomic-habits-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [Surah Al-Ikhlas & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/surah-al-ikhlas-and-atomic-habits-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [Why You Can't Resist Cravings (and How to Take Back Control) | Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/why-you-cant-resist-cravings-and-how-to-take-back-control-atomic-habits-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [Surah An-Nas & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/surah-an-nas-and-atomic-habits-imam-tom-weekly.md)
- [Atomic Habits: Why Most Quit Early | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/atomic-habits-why-most-quit-early-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Surah Al-Kawthar & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/surah-al-kawthar-and-atomic-habi-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Allah Will Ask: What Did You Do With Your Freedom? | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/allah-will-ask-what-did-you-do-with-your-freedom-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Oct 7th Changed Everything | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/oct-7th-changed-everything-imam-tom-live.md)
- [All Praise Be to Allah in Every Situation | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/all-praise-be-to-allah-in-every-situation-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Muslim Votes Swing 2024 | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/muslim-votes-swing-2024-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Remembering Aysenur's Courage | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/remembering-aysenurs-courage-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Empowering Student Activism | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/empowering-student-activism-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Hypocrisy at the DNC | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/hypocrisy-at-the-dnc-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Falsehood is Bound to Vanish | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/america-unraveling-political-violence-imam-tom-live-2.md)
- [No Limits: Israel’s Growing Atrocities and Global Indifference | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/no-limits-israels-growing-atrocities-and-global-indifference-imam-tom-live.md)
- [What France & UK's Electoral results mean for Muslims | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-frances-and-uks-electoral-results-mean-for-muslims-imam-tom-live.md)
- [The Real Guise of 'Islamophobia' | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-real-guise-of-islamophobia-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Muslim Influencers Profiting from Apartheid | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/muslim-influencers-profiting-from-apartheid-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Israel's Ceasefire Rejection, Nurse Fired for Gaza, and the Law of Sacrifice | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/israels-ceasefire-rejection-nurse-fired-for-gaza-and-the-law-of-sacrifice-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Do Influencers Owe their Followers Advocacy? | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/do-influencers-owe-their-followers-advocacy-imam-tom-live.md)
- [University Raids, Fake Negotiations, Holocaust Remembrance? | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/university-raids-fake-negotiations-holocaust-remembrance-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Live Revolution: The West Rallies for Gaza | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/live-revolution-the-west-rallies-for-gaza-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Biryani Diplomacy: The Illusion of Political Influence & the "Flour Massacre" | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/biryani-diplomacy-the-illusion-of-political-influence-and-the-flour-massacre-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Unveiling Truths: Aaron Bushnell, NYT's Agenda, & Stopping Military Aid to Israel | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/unveiling-truths-aaron-bushnell-nyts-agenda-and-stopping-military-aid-to-israel-imam-tom-live.md)
- [What Will Ramadan be Like in Rafah? A Conversation About Sha'aban and Leadership | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-will-ramadan-be-like-in-rafah-a-conversation-about-shaaban-and-leadership-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Israel Bombs Rafah During Superbowl, that Biden Tweet, and Constructive Conversations | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/israel-bombs-rafah-during-superbowl-that-biden-tweet-and-constructive-conversations-imam-tom-live.md)
- [The Lives of Imams, Hate Crime in Texas, Israeli Humiliation, Ceasefire Resolutions | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-lives-of-imams-hate-crimes-in-texas-israeli-humiliation-ceasefire-resolutions-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Musk's Take, Columbia's Skunk Surprise, Islamic Unity, and India's Ram Revelation | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/musks-take-columbias-snake-surprise-islamic-unity-and-indias-ram-revelation-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Michigan Mosques Say NO! | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/michigan-mosques-say-no-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Does Protesting Work? | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/does-protesting-wok-imam-tom-live.md)
- [How to Develop Better Habits | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-to-develop-better-habits-imam-tom-live.md)
- [How To Become A Strong Muslim Leader | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-to-become-a-strong-muslim-leader-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Courage in the Face of Israeli Censorship | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/courage-in-the-face-of-israeli-censorship-imam-tom-live.md)
- [On the Gaza Ceasefire | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/on-the-gaza-ceasefire-imam-tom-live.md)
- [How to Fight the Israeli Backlash | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-to-fight-the-israeli-backlash-imam-tom-live.md)
- [Israel is Losing - and They Know It | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/israel-is-losing-and-they-know-it-imam-tom-live.md)