Religious-Nationalists

rdf:langString Religious-Nationalists

rdf:langString The Religious-Nationalists (plural form in Persian: ملّی‌مذهبی‌ها, romanized: Melli-Mazhabi ha, lit. 'The Nationalist-Religious Ones') or the National-Religious (Persian: ملّی‌مذهبی, romanized: Melli-Mazhabi as an adjective) are terms referring to a political faction in Iran that consists of individuals and groups embracing Iranian-Islamic nationalism, as an integral part of their manifesto. They self-identify as political followers of Mohammad Mosaddegh and their modernist religious outlook makes them advocates of coexistence of Islam and democracy, an idea distinguishable from those of ideologies such as Pan-Islamism or Islamism. The political lineage of this faction is traced back to the 1940s while its adherents have been off power with the exception of a brief period after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, during which the Interim Government of Iran was led by Mehdi Bazargan. Having opposed the rule of both Pahlavi dynasty and the current Islamic Republic system, they have for long sought democracy in Iran through reformism –rather than revolutionary means– albeit their aspirations of being accepted as the loyal opposition by the establishment have been fruitless. As a result, the groups within this faction have been outlawed and prosecuted throughout much of their history.