A Comparative Study of the Structural-Ethical Content Comprehensiveness in the Theory of the Islamic Revolution with the Theories of Marxist Revolutio

Karimian Karimi, Noorallah; Shlehi, Ali Akbar

doi:10.22059/jikt.2026.400339.1027

A Comparative Study of the Structural-Ethical Content Comprehensiveness in the Theory of the Islamic Revolution with the Theories of Marxist Revolutio

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Noorallah Karimian karimi ¹

ali akbar shlehi ²

¹ Arak university

² alameh tabatabaei university

10.22059/jikt.2026.400339.1027

Abstract

This study examines and compares the place of ethics in the theories of the Islamic Revolution and Marxism through the analytical framework of ethical structural-content comprehensiveness. Employing a comparative library-based methodology, the research draws upon qualitative content analysis of authoritative primary and secondary sources in both Persian and English. The findings demonstrate that, within the theory of the Islamic Revolution, Islamic ethics—grounded in tawḥīd (Divine Unity), divine justice (al-ʿadl al-ilāhī), and human dignity (karāmat al-insān)—is not regarded as a secondary or instrumental element; rather, it constitutes the normative and structural core that permeates and directs all substantive dimensions of the revolutionary paradigm. By contrast, in Marxist theory, ethics is generally conceived as part of the ideological superstructure, determined by the material relations of production and class interests. Consequently, moral values are either employed instrumentally in the service of historical and class struggle or denied any independent and objective status. This fundamental divergence distinguishes the theory of the Islamic Revolution as a morally grounded and transhistorical model, in contrast to the materialist framework of Marxism. The study concludes that ethical comprehensiveness constitutes a key criterion for understanding both the identity and the theoretical legitimacy of competing theories of revolution.

Keywords

Ethical Comprehensiveness

Islamic Revolution

Marxism

Political Ethics

Comparative Study

Structure and Content of Revolutionary Theory