The Combatant Clergy Association ( fa, جامعۀ روحانیت مبارز, jâmeʿe-ye rowhâniyat-e mobârez) is a politically active group in
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, but not a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
in the traditional sense.
It has never been registered as a political party; however, it acts as a fragmented
caucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures.
The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...
and has actively operated in the electoral arena, competing for votes. Thus, it is considered an
elite party
An elite party is a political party consisting of members of the societal elite, particularly members of parliament, who agree to co-operate politically in the spirit of principles and goals.
Elite parties form as groupings of elite members parti ...
and can be classified as a political party according to the minimalist definition by Angelo Panebianco. The traditional conservative clerical association was the majority party in the fourth and fifth parliaments after the
Islamic revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...
.
The organization has great influence over non-elective institutions such as the
Judicial system
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
, the
Guardian Council
The Guardian Council, (also called Council of Guardians or Constitutional Council, fa, شورای نگهبان, Shourā-ye Negahbān) is an appointed and constitutionally mandated 12-member council that wields considerable power and influence i ...
and
Revolutionary Guard Corps
The Revolutionary Guard Corps (''Liwa Haris al-Jamahiriya'') or Jamahiriyyah Guard was a Libyan paramilitary elite unit that played the role of key protection force of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, until his death in October 2011. Composed of ...
.
History
After the
15 Khordad demonstration failed in Iran, it was felt that a coherence organization was needed.
The association was founded in 1977 by a group of clerics with intentions to use Islamic culture and traditions to overthrow
the Shah
Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
. Although the exact founding members of the group are unsure, some of them were said to be
Ali Khamenei
Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei ( fa, سید علی حسینی خامنهای, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia '' marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third presiden ...
,
Morteza Motahhari
Morteza Motahhari ( fa, مرتضی مطهری, also Romanized as "Mortezā Motahharī"; 31 January 1919 – 1 May 1979) was an Iranian Twelver Shia scholar, philosopher, lecturer. Motahhari is considered to have an important influence on ...
,
Mohammad Beheshti
Mohammad Hosseini Beheshti ( fa, سیّد محمد حسینی بهشتی; 24 October 1928 – 28 June 1981) was an Iranian jurist, philosopher, cleric and politician who was known as the second person in the political hierarchy of Iran after t ...
,
Mohammad Javad Bahonar
Mohammad-Javad Bahonar ( fa, محمدجواد باهنر, 5 September 1933 – 30 August 1981) was a Shia Iranian theologian and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Iran for less than one month in August 1981. Bahonar and other memb ...
,
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ( fa, اکبر هاشمی رفسنجانی, Akbar Hāshemī Rafsanjānī, born Akbar Hashemi Bahramani, 25 August 1934 – 8 January 2017) was an Iranian politician, writer, and one of the founding fathers of the Islami ...
,
Fazlollah Mahallati Fazlallah, also spelled Fadlallah, Fazlollah, Fazlullah etc. ( ar, فضل الله )) is a male Muslim given name, composed of the elements ''Fadl'' and ''Allah'', meaning ''bounty of God''. In modern usage it may serve as a surname. It may refer t ...
, and
Mohammad Mofatteh
Ayatollah Mohammad Mofatteh ( fa, محمد مفتح; 1928–1979) was an Iranian philosopher, theologian, and political activist, born in Famenin, Hamadan, Iran. After he finished his primary education in Hamadan, he left for the Islamic Semi ...
,
and its current members include founding member Ali Khamenei.
The Combatant Clergy Association was one of the few republican groups active before the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Counci ...
. A "free political atmosphere" was not provided in Iran due to the special conditions of wartime, and the Combatant Clergy Association was the only active political organisation after the dissolution of the
Islamic Republican Party
The Islamic Republican Party (IRP; fa, حزب جمهوری اسلامی, Ḥezb-e Jomhūrī-e Eslāmī, also translated Islamic Republic Party) formed in 1979 to assist the Iranian Revolution and Ayatollah Khomeini establish theocracy in Iran. ...
(All IRP clerics were members of CCA but not all CCA founders were members of IRP).
By the emergence of factional differences in government of
Mir Hossein Mousavi
''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...
, the organization was divided, and
Association of Combatant Clerics
The Association of Combatant Clerics ( fa, مجمع روحانیون مبارز, ''Majma'-e rowhāniyūn-e mobārez'') is an Iranian reformist clerical political party. It is regarded as a left-wing party within the Iranian political spectrum.
...
was formed.
Recent years
CCA is suffering from unresolved contention between its elites.
Hassan Rouhani
Hassan Rouhani ( fa, حسن روحانی, Standard Persian pronunciation: ; born Hassan Fereydoun ( fa, حسن فریدون, links=no); 12 November 1948) is an Iranian politician who served as the seventh president of Iran from 2013 to 2021. ...
, president of Iran since 2013, is a member of the faction although he has been inactive and not participated their regular sessions since the disputed 2009 presidential elections, a situation that applies to
Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri
Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri ( fa, علیاکبر ناطقنوری; sometimes spelt Nategh-Nouri, born 6 October 1944) is an Iranian politician, who served as the Chairman of the Parliament of Iran from 1992 to 2000. He was also the Minister of ...
and
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ( fa, اکبر هاشمی رفسنجانی, Akbar Hāshemī Rafsanjānī, born Akbar Hashemi Bahramani, 25 August 1934 – 8 January 2017) was an Iranian politician, writer, and one of the founding fathers of the Islami ...
as well.
The association however backed Rafsanjani and Rouhani in
2016 Assembly of Experts election and included both on its list, despite backing Rouhani's rival,
Ebrahim Raisi
Sayyid Ebrahim Raisolsadati ( fa, سید ابراهیم رئیسالساداتی; born 14 December 1960), commonly known as Ebrahim Raisi ( fa, ابراهیم رئیسی ), is an Iranian principlist politician, Muslim jurist, and the eight ...
, for president in 2017.
Goals and activities
The association brought together anti-
Shah
Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
clerics and ''bazaaris''.
It also aimed to preserve the
revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
and its achievements. Supporting the
Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist
The Guardianship or Governance/''Wilāyat'' of/by an Islamic Jurist/''Faqīh'' ( fa, , Velâyat-e Faqih; ar, وِلاَيَةُ ٱلْفَقِيهِ, Wilāyat al-Faqīh), is a concept in Twelver Shia Islamic law which holds that until the r ...
and state organization are some of the group's goals. The association does not recognize itself as a political party and hence does not have any written strategy or policy. The association mostly announces its political viewpoints around
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operat ...
time.
Members of the association have had important positions in the different governments of Iran. By 2004, four out of eight presidents of the executive branch of the government had been selected from this association. Also, the president of the judicial branch of the government was one of the members of the association,
Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, for two five-year periods, from 1989 to 1999.
Foreign policy
The association believes in making diplomatic relationships with all world countries except the United States and
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, and their criteria in this regard is avoiding both being dominated by other countries and domination over others. However, they believe that there can be relationships with
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
under defined conditions. The association believes that there are intrinsic differences between the value system of Iran and western societies.
Funding
The fourth chapter of the Combatant Clergy Association's statute deals with the financial issues of the association.
Election results
Assembly of Experts
List of General Secretaries
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Combatant Clergy Association
1977 establishments in Iran
Principlist political groups in Iran
Political parties established in 1977
Iranian clerical political groups
Political parties of the Iranian Revolution
Anti-Americanism