Chapter 1 outlines the theoretical foundation of this book. It elaborates on the reading of the secular and how it is calibrated to fit Shiite Islam in the context of post-revolutionary Iran. It puts forward the main argument of this book, which contends that the secularity spawned in the past four decades of Islamic rule does not denote an absence of religion, but rather, the construction of a new religion which is secular in essence. The traditional religious foundations upon which the Islamic Republic of Iran was built remain. Yet their meanings and practices have evolved and their content and distinctiveness have transformed. Moreover, this chapter will examine the three elements of Khomeini’s revolutionary religiosity (Khomeini as an Imam, jihad and martyrdom, and ascetic equality) and how these elements rendered the very notion of an election an anomaly in Iranian collective understanding during the Islamic Republic’s first decade.