Mobilizing and Framing Construction Jihād and Islamic Development in Revolutionary Iran

Abstract

Based on extensive fieldwork and original research in Iran, this article examines the establishment and evolution of the Islamic Republic's rural reconstruction and development organization, Construction Jihād (CJ), during the Iranian Revolution and the Iran‐Iraq War. By invoking populist and pious concepts, newly ascendant religiopolitical elites facilitated CJ's mobilization and expansion to gain support from rural residents and to consolidate power against political opponents. As CJ transitioned from a revolutionary organization to a government ministry, some of its members underwent a motivational and existential transformation that complicated and contradicted their initially anti‐bureaucratic and anti‐materialistic ethos and worldview – a trajectory that paralleled that of other revolutionary and wartime activists and volunteers. This article makes a scholarly contribution by exploring a significant yet understudied Iranian institution, its multifaceted interpretation and conceptualization of non‐military jihād and faith‐based development, and the potential of religion to be a force for both cohesion and contention.