Mohammad Elahi
About this Interview
On July 6th 2017, Mohammad Elahi, the pastor [Imam] of the Islamic House of Wisdom mosque in Dearborn Heights Michigan was interviewed by Camron Michael Amin and Tina Nelson in his home. This far-ranging interview covers his career as a cleric before, during and after the revolution of 1979. His journey from Isfahan to Tehran to Europe and, ultimately, to Michigan provides a window on the Iranian Diaspora from a devout religous perspective. He also dicusses navigating Iranian/American, Sunni-Shia and Iranian American/Arab American cultural settings.
Development Notes ▼
For Further Reading
Fischer, Michael M. J. "Becoming Mollah: Reflections on Iranian Clerics in a Revolutionary Age." Iranian Studies 13, no. 1-4 (1980): 83-117. Link.
Mesbahi, Mohammad. "Dynamic Quietism and the Consolidation of the Ḥawza ʿilmīyya of Qum during the Pahlavi Era." British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 50, no. 3 (2023): 627-647. Link.
Mottahedeh, Roy P., . The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran. 1st Pantheon pbk. ed. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986.
Saghafi, Nazanin, Joy Asamen, Daryl Rowe, and Rozalin Tehrani. "The Relationship of Religious Self-Identification to Cultural Adaptation among Iranian Immigrants and First-Generation Iranians." Professional Psychology, Research and Practice 43, no. 4 (2012): 328-335. Link.