Day 1 - The Preamble of the Constitution

The Iranian constitution begins with an introduction that provides the background of the Islamic Revolution with comments on the new type of government the revolution has set as its goal to establish. Overall, the introduction may serve as a summary of the official view of the Islamic governing circles on the current state of affairs, expressing also a stressed negative view of the pre-Revolutionary regime.

  1. Curriculum
  2. Intermediate Persian Syllabus
  3. Week 6 - Legal Persian (The Constitution)
  4. Day 1 - The Preamble of the Constitution  

Reading: The text of Preamble (to the Constitution of the IRI): see pages 25-31 of the following PDF file. 

Listening: A short documentary by VOA Farsi about the process of drafting the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

If interested, the students can watch this video overview of the formation history of Assembly for the Final Review of the Constitution (Majles-e Khobregan) – the body responsible for drafting the document – and also get familiar with an original recording from one of its early sessions.

Subject of Conversation: The Importance of the Constitution in the IRI (اهمیت قانون اساسی در جمهوری اسلامی ایران)

In this session, students will discuss the role of the Constitution in shaping Iran’s political and legal system. They will reflect on the key ideas in the Preamble, the concept of Velayat-e Faqih, and whether the Constitution meets the current needs of Iranian society. The conversation will help students develop legal and political vocabulary, and express critical opinions in Persian.

Homework: 
- Please carefully read the today’s text, study the vocabulary and translate the sections assigned by the instructor.
- Watch the main listening video in full, as well as one of the additional suggested videos. Write down two interesting new facts you learned.
- Prepare for the next day’s discussion.