Mehdi Bazargan (مهدی بازرگان In Persian) (September, 1907? - January 20, 1995) (also spelled Mahdi Bazargan) was head of Iran's interim government, virtually Iran's first prime minister after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. He was one of the architects of the Iranian revolution. Persian (local name: FārsÄ« or PārsÄ« ) is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and by minorities in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, India, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Interm Government of Iran in 1979 (February 4–November 6) was the first government established in Iran after Islamic Revolution. ... As the result of an amendment to the Constitution of Iran in 1989, there is no longer a post titled Prime Minister of Iran, but Iran has had many prime ministers since the Qajar era, when the country was internationally known as Persia. ... Protestors take to the street in support of Ayatollah Khomeini. ... For the song by The Smashing Pumpkins, see 1979 (song). ...

Bazargan was educated in thermodynamics and engineering at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in Paris. Thermodynamics (from the Greek thermos meaning heat and dynamics meaning power) is a branch of physics that studies the effects of changes in temperature, pressure, and volume on physical systems at the macroscopic scale by analyzing the collective motion of their particles using statistics. ... Engineering is the design, analysis, and/or construction of works for practical purposes. ... École Centrale Paris is one of the leading French Grandes Écoles of engineering. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ...

A pro-democracy activist, Bazargan came back from France and became the head of the first engineering department of Tehran University in the late 1940s. In 1951 with the leadership of Dr. Mossadegh, Iranian parliament nationalized the Iranian oil industry (National Iranian Oil Company) and removed it from British control. Mr. Bazargan served as the first Iranian head of National Iranian Oil Company under command of Prime Minister Mossadegh. The 1940s decade ran from 1940 to 1949. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), under the direction of the Ministry of Petroleum of Iran, is an oil and natural gas producer and distributor headquartered in Tehran. ... A prime minister is the most senior minister of a cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. ... Mohammed Mossadegh (Persian: محمد مصدق‎) (May 19, 1882 - March 4, 1967) was prime minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953. ...

After the fall of the Mossadegh government, he co-founded the Liberation Movement of Iran and was jailed several times by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Shah is a Persian term for a monarch (king or emperor) that has been adopted in many other languages. ... His Majesty Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (اعلیحضرت محمدرضا شاه پهلوی; October 26, 1919 – July 27, 1980) also knows as Aryamehr, was the last Shah of Iran, ruling from 1941 until...

Bazargan was appointed to the prime ministership by Ayatollah Khomeini on February 5, 1979 after the revolution forced the Shah to leave Iran. Bazargan was seen as one of the figureheads of the democratic and liberal revolutionaries and increasingly came into conflict with the religious clerics including the leader of revolution Ayatollah Khomeini. He was against the formation of the Assembly of Experts and disputed the name Islamic Republic. Ayatollah Khomeini founded the first modern Islamic republic Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini (آیت‌الله روح‌الله خمینی in Persian) (May 17, 1900 – June 3, 1989) was an Iranian Shia cleric and the political... February 5 is the 36th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... For the song by The Smashing Pumpkins, see 1979 (song). ... Look up liberal on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Liberal may refer to: Politics: Liberalism American liberalism, a political trend in the USA Political progressivism, a political ideology that is for change, often associated with liberal movements Liberty, the condition of being free from control or restrictions Liberal Party, members of... Ayatollah Khomeini founded the first modern Islamic republic Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini (آیت‌الله روح‌الله خمینی in Persian) (May 17, 1900 – June 3, 1989) was an Iranian Shia cleric and the political... The Assembly of Experts (also Assembly of Experts for the Leadership) of Iran (Persian: مجلس خبرگان رهبری, Majles-e-Khobregan), is a congressional body for selecting the Supreme Leader and supervising his activities. ...

Bazargan resigned with his cabinet recently after the US Embassy takeover and hostage-taking on November 4. Though it was considered to be a protest to the hostage-taking crisis, it was also clear that his liberal views and resistance to the clergy had already convinced him that he could not make the democratic changes he had planned. A cabinet is a body of high-ranking members of government, typically representing the executive branch. ... The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis lasting from November 4, 1979, until January 20, 1981. ... November 4 is the 308th day of the year (309th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 57 days remaining. ... Demonstrators march in the street while protesting the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on April 16, 2005. ...

Bazargan was a member of the first Parliament (Majles) of the newly formed Islamic Republic. He died of a heart attack on January 20, 1995 while travelling from Tehran to Zurich, Switzerland. مجلس شورای اسلامی - The Majles; Irans Parliament. ... January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Location within Switzerland   Zürich[?] (German pronunciation IPA: ; usually spelled Zurich in English) is the largest city in Switzerland (population: 366,145 in 2004; population of urban area: 1,091,732) and capital of the canton of Zürich. ...

Research works and viewpoints

In 1992, Mehdi Bazargan expressed a new theological opinion on one of the most important issues that has been the concern of Muslim thinkers and interpreters of the Quran: the purpose of the mission of the prophets. He said that the only purpose of the prophetic mission was to inform people about God and the afterlife, and that religion is for securing the happiness of human beings in the next life. [1]

Bazargan’s intellectual production can be divided into two periods. In the first period, he tried to prove that the main mission of the prophets was to direct people’s affairs in this world. In the second period, which consists of the last 8 years of his life, Bazargan changed his mind and took the following opinion: the main mission of prophets was to inform people about God and the next life. It was not the prophets’ mission to teach people how to manage society, or what kind of government to have. That is to say, it is not necessary for Muslims to refer to the Quran in order to discover laws for politics, economics and society, or theories of mathematics or natural sciences, and so on. To discover these laws, Muslims, like non-Muslims, must refer to collective reason; that is, to rely on achievements in the fields of science and philosophy.[2]

Quotes by Mehdi Bazargan

Imam [Khomeini] wants Iran for Islam and we want Islam for Iran.

See also

• Intellectual Movements in Iran