View source for Association of Combatant Clerics

{{Distinguish|Combatant Clergy Association}}
{{Duplicated citations|reason=[[User:Polygnotus/DuplicateReferences|DuplicateReferences]] detected:<br>
* https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/sa/sa_dec00als01.html (refs: 18, 19)
* https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100035755 (refs: 21, 22)
* https://web.archive.org/web/20060210063745/http://www.ahram.org.eg/acpss/eng/ahram/2004/7/5/EGYP1.HTM (refs: 25, 28)
|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox political party
| colorcode        = {{party color|Association of Combatant Clerics}}
| name             = Association of Combatant Clerics
| native_name      = مجمع روحانیون مبارز
| logo             = Association of Combatant Clerics logo.svg
| logo_size        = 150px
| general_secretary = [[Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha]]
| spokesperson     = [[Majid Ansari]]
| leader1_title    = Head of Council
| leader1_name     = [[Mohammad Khatami]]
| foundation       = {{start date and age|1988|3|16}}
| legalized        = {{start date and age|1989|2|7}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parstimes.com/politics/legally_registered_parties.html|work=Khorasan Newspaper|title=List of Legally Registered Parties in Iran|publisher=Pars Times|access-date=21 August 2015|number=14759|page=4|date=July 30, 2000}}</ref>
| split            = [[Combatant Clergy Association]]<ref name="Global Dialogue">{{cite journal|first=Hossein |last=Bashiriyeh |author-link=Hossein Bashiriyeh |url=http://www.worlddialogue.org/print.php?id=143 |title=Civil Society and Democratisation during Khatami's First Term |journal=Global Dialogue |volume=3 |number=2–3 |pages=19–26 |date=Spring–Summer 2001 |issn=1986-2601 |publisher=[[Centre for World Dialogue]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507001037/http://www.worlddialogue.org/print.php?id=143 |archive-date=2016-05-07 }}</ref>
| headquarters     = [[Tehran]], [[Iran]]
| ideology         = '''Currently:'''<br />[[Islamic democracy]]<ref name="Ali Banuazizi 2001">Ahmad Ashraf and Ali Banuazizi (2001), "Iran's Tortuous Path Toward "Islamic Liberalism"", International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society , 15 (2): 237–256,</ref><br/>[[Reformism]]<ref name="Badamchi, Meysam 2017 p. 3">Badamchi, Meysam (2017). Post-Islamist Political Theory: Iranian Intellectuals and Political Liberalism in Dialogue . Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations. Vol. 5. Springer. p. 3. ISBN 978-3-319-59492-7.</ref><br />[[Liberalism in Iran|Liberalism]]<ref name="Ali Banuazizi 2001">Ahmad Ashraf and Ali Banuazizi (2001), "Iran's Tortuous Path Toward "Islamic Liberalism"", International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society , 15 (2): 237–256,</ref>
<br />[[Republicanism]]<ref>
Mohseni, Payam (2016). "Factionalism, Privatization, and the Political Economy of Regime Transformation". In Brumberg, Daniel; Farhi, Farideh (eds.). Power and Change in Iran: Politics of Contention and Conciliation . Indiana Series in Middle East Studies. Indiana University Press. p. 201–</ref><br/>[[Clericalism in Iran|Clericalism]]<br />[[Secularism|Anti-secularism]]<ref name="Wright, Robin 2008, p.300">Wright, Robin, Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East, Penguin Press, 2008, p.300</ref><br />[[Anti-liberalism]]<ref name="Wright, Robin 2008, p.300">Wright, Robin, Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East, Penguin Press, 2008, p.300</ref><br />'''Under the [[Presidency of Muhammad Khatami]]:'''<br />[[Islamic democracy]]<ref name="Ali Banuazizi 2001">Ahmad Ashraf and Ali Banuazizi (2001), "Iran's Tortuous Path Toward "Islamic Liberalism"", International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society , 15 (2): 237–256,</ref><br/>[[Reformism]]<ref name="Badamchi, Meysam 2017 p. 3">Badamchi, Meysam (2017). Post-Islamist Political Theory: Iranian Intellectuals and Political Liberalism in Dialogue . Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations. Vol. 5. Springer. p. 3. ISBN 978-3-319-59492-7.</ref><br />[[Liberalism in Iran|Liberalism]]<ref name="Ali Banuazizi 2001">Ahmad Ashraf and Ali Banuazizi (2001), "Iran's Tortuous Path Toward "Islamic Liberalism"", International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society , 15 (2): 237–256,</ref><br />[[Economic liberalism]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/khatami-and-myth-reform-iran | title=Khatami and the Myth of Reform in Iran &#124; the Washington Institute }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://iranwire.com/en/features/64584/ | title=Khatami: The Reformist (1997-2005) }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3593430 | jstor=3593430 | title=Khatami, Political Reform and Education in Iran | last1=Mehran | first1=Golnar | journal=Comparative Education | date=2003 | volume=39 | issue=3 | pages=311–329 | doi=10.1080/0305006032000134391 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://merip.org/2001/05/khatami-and-his-reformist-economic-non-agenda/ | title=Khatami and His "Reformist" Economic (Non-)Agenda | date=21 May 2001 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/8982deaafd9b19f14d424187d1964f7c/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=43987 | title=Capitalism in Iran | website=[[ProQuest]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4330216 | jstor=4330216 | title=Khatami's Legacy: Dashed Hopes | last1=Amuzegar | first1=Jahangir | journal=Middle East Journal | date=2006 | volume=60 | issue=1 | pages=57–74 | doi=10.3751/60.1.13 }}</ref><br />[[Economic nationalism|Economic populism]]<ref name="ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu">https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/sa/sa_dec00als01.html</ref><br />[[Third Way]] ''(debateable)''<ref name="ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu">https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/sa/sa_dec00als01.html</ref><ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282449494_From_Marx_to_Giddens_via_Weber_and_Habermas_The_politics_of_social_thought_in_Iran</ref><br />[[Critic of capitalism]]<ref name="Muhammad Khatami">{{cite web | url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100035755 | title=Muhammad Khatami }}</ref><br />[[Anti-imperialism|Critic of imperalism]]<ref name="Muhammad Khatami">{{cite web | url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100035755 | title=Muhammad Khatami }}</ref><br />'''Before the [[Presidency of Muhammad Khatami]]:'''<br />[[Radicalism]]<ref name="Brumberg, Daniel 2001, p.162">Brumberg, Daniel, Reinventing Khomeini: The Struggle for Reform in Iran, University of Chicago Press, 2001, p.162</ref><br />[[Populism]]<ref name="Brumberg, Daniel 2001, p.162">Brumberg, Daniel, Reinventing Khomeini: The Struggle for Reform in Iran, University of Chicago Press, 2001, p.162</ref><br />[[State-owned enterprises|State-owned economy]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ahram.org.eg/acpss/eng/ahram/2004/7/5/EGYP1.HTM | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060210063745/http://www.ahram.org.eg/acpss/eng/ahram/2004/7/5/EGYP1.HTM | archive-date=10 February 2006 | title=Al-Ahram Center for Political & Strategic Studies }}</ref>
| position         = 
| newspaper        = ''[[Salam (newspaper)|Salam]]''<ref name="Global Dialogue"/>
| national         = [[Council for Coordinating the Reforms Front]]
| affiliation1_title = Other affiliation
| affiliation1     = [[Coalition For Iran]] <small>(2004)</small>
| website          = {{URL|http://rouhanioon.com/}}
| country          = Iran
}}
The '''Association of Combatant Clerics'''{{efn|The party's name has been alternately translated ''Association of Militant Clergy'', ''Assembly of Combatant Clerics'', and ''Combatant Clerics League''}} ({{langx|fa|مجمع روحانیون مبارز|''Majma'-e rowhāniyūn-e mobārez''}}) is an Iranian reformist [[Clericalism in Iran|clerical]] [[political party]]. It is regarded as a [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]] party within the Iranian political spectrum.<ref>
*{{cite journal|first1=Hossein|last1=Asayesh|first2=Adlina Ab. |last2=Halim|first3=Jayum A.|last3=Jawan|first4=Seyedeh Nosrat|last4=Shojaei|url=http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jpl/article/download/9606/6898|title=Political Party in Islamic Republic of Iran: A Review|journal=Journal of Politics and Law|volume=4|number=1|pages=221–230|date=March 2011|issn=1913-9047|publisher=Canadian Center of Science and Education|doi=10.5539/jpl.v4n1p221 |doi-access=free}}
*{{citation|title=Islam in the World Today: A Handbook of Politics, Religion, Culture, and Society|editor=Werner Ende |editor2=Udo Steinbach|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2010|isbn=9780801464898|quote=Left-wing Islamists can be separated into three groups that cooperate with one another, the most important being the aforementioned MRM.... Initially left-wing Islamists pursued a strict policy of economic austerity. They subjected the economy to rigorous state controls...}}
*{{cite book|last1=Golkar|first1=Saeid|title=Captive Society: The Basij Militia and Social Control in Iran|date=2015|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=Washington D.C.|page=15|quote=after a split in the Militant Clergy Association [Jame'e-e Rohaniat-e Mobarez], Rahmani joined the left-wing party known as the Assembly of Militant Clerics, or Majma'-e Rohaniun-e Mobarez.}}
*{{cite encyclopedia|title =JAMʿIYAT-E MOʾTALEFA-YE ESLĀMI ii. Jamʿiyat-e Moʾtalefa and the Islamic Revolution|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|date=February 20, 2013|orig-year=December 15, 2008|publisher=Bibliotheca Persica Press|location=New York City|url =http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/jamiyat-e-motalefa-ii|volume= XIV|last1= Rahnema|first1=Ali|access-date=March 15, 2016|series=Fasc. 5|pages=483–500|quote=...Society of Tehran's Militant Clergy, became largely overshadowed by the left-leaning clerical faction of Society of Tehran's Militant Clerics (Majmaʿ-e ruhāniun-e mobārez-e Tehran).}}
*{{cite book|author=Yadullah Shahibzadeh|title=Islamism and Post-Islamism in Iran: An Intellectual History|publisher=Springer|pages=94|date=2016|isbn=9781137578259|quote=With Khomeini's backing, the leftist faction within the Society of Militant Clergy (Jameeh-ye Rouhaniyat-e Mobarez) left the organization and established the Association of Militant Clerics (Majma-e Rouhaniun-e Mobarez).}}
*{{cite journal|first=Hossein |last=Bashiriyeh |author-link=Hossein Bashiriyeh |url=http://www.worlddialogue.org/print.php?id=143 |title=Civil Society and Democratisation during Khatami's First Term |journal=Global Dialogue |volume=3 |number=2–3 |pages=19–26 |date=Spring–Summer 2001 |issn=1986-2601 |publisher=[[Centre for World Dialogue]] |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507001037/http://www.worlddialogue.org/print.php?id=143 |archive-date=2016-05-07|quote=...Association of Combatant Clerics, which was an important party in the left wing}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:MajmaRohaniunMobarez.jpg|thumbnail|left|Party's old logo]]
The Association of Combatant Clerics was founded in 1987 after abolition of the [[Islamic Republican Party]], the last political party of that time. The association was originally radical, populist,<ref>Brumberg, Daniel, ''Reinventing Khomeini: The Struggle for Reform in Iran'', University of Chicago Press, 2001, p.162</ref> rather than reformist in orientation, and favored a focus "on exporting the revolution and calling for the state's monopoly over the economy,"<ref>Mneisi, Ahmad. {{cite web |url=http://www.ahram.org.eg/acpss/eng/ahram/2004/7/5/EGYP1.HTM |title=The power shift within Iran's right wing |access-date=19 April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060210063745/http://www.ahram.org.eg/acpss/eng/ahram/2004/7/5/EGYP1.HTM |archive-date=10 February 2006 |url-status=dead }} At the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.</ref> rather than democracy and freedom of expression.  As of 2007, it advocated limits on clerical power in Iranian politics and extending individual freedoms—though not to the extent that might "lead to secularism or liberalism."<ref>[Wright, Robin, ''Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East'', Penguin Press, 2008, p.300]</ref>

After the resignation of [[Mehdi Karroubi]] from the post of secretary general, the party had no secretary general until late August 2005, when [[Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha]] was elected as the new secretary general. Former [[President of Iran]] [[Mohammad Khatami]] is the Chairman of the association's Central Council.

== Members ==
According to [[Muhammad Sahimi]], the party "has a significant number of followers and sympathizers among the younger clerics".<ref name="Tehran Bureau">{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2009/05/the-political-groups.html|title=The Political Groups|publisher=[[Tehran Bureau]]|author=Muhammad Sahimi|author-link=Muhammad Sahimi|access-date=21 August 2015|date=12 May 2009}}</ref>

=== Central council members ===
28 members of the party's central council are:
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-3}}
* [[Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha]] (Secretary-General)
* [[Majid Ansari]] (Speaker)
* [[Mohammad Khatami]] (Head of Council)
* [[Mohammad Hashemi]]
* [[Hadi Khamenei]]
* Ali Ajam
* [[Mohammad-Ali Abtahi]]
* Mohammad-Ali Ansari
* Mohammad Mousavi-Bojnourdi
{{Col-3}}
* Issa Velayi
* Mohammad Razavi
* Seyyed Mohammad Hashemi
* Ali-Akbar Ashtiani
* Mohammad-Ali Khosravi
* Taqi Durchih'i
* Serajeddin Mousavi
* [[Ali Mohammad Dastgheib Shirazi]]
* Fazel Ferdosi
{{Col-3}}
* Ali-Asghar Rahmani Khalili
* Assadollah Kian-Ersi
* Mohammad Moghaddam
* Mojtaba Nourmofidi
* Mohammad-Ali Nezamzadeh
* Mehdi Emam-Jamarani
* [[Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari]]
* Mohammad-Ali Sadoughi
* [[Asadollah Bayat-Zanjani]]
{{Col-end}}

=== Other members ===
*[[Mehdi Karroubi]] (former member)
*[[Sadegh Khalkhali]] (deceased)
*[[Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur]] (deceased)
*[[Hadi Ghaffari]]
*[[Rasoul Montajabnia]]
*[[Abdollah Nouri]]
*[[Mohammad-Reza Tavassoli]] (deceased)
*[[Hassan Sane'i]]
*[[Mahmoud Doayi]]
*[[Ghodratollah Alikhani]]
*[[Mohammad-Ali Rahmani]]

==See also==
*[[Political parties in Iran]]
*[[Clericalism in Iran]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[http://webneveshteha.com/weblog/?id=161848939 Mr Khatami, the Chairman of the Central Council of Militant Clerics Society], from Mohammad Ali Abtahi's weblog (in Persian)
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/story/2005/08/050828_sm-moosavi-khoeiniha.shtml Mousavi Khoiniha became the secretary general of the Militant Clerics Society], from BBC Persian
*[http://www.webneveshteha.com/weblog/?id=1124017451 First meeting notes of Militant Clerics Society], from [[Mohammad Ali Abtahi]]'s Persian weblog

{{Iranian political parties}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Association of Combatant Clerics}}
[[Category:1988 establishments in Iran]]
[[Category:Reformist political groups in Iran]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1988]]
[[Category:Iranian clerical political groups]]
[[Category:Long stubs with short prose]]

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