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“The Evolutionary Course of the Qur'an” the Cultural Foundation Of An Introduction to Mehdi Bazargan’s “The Evolutionary Course of the Qur’an” The Cultural Foundation of Mehdi Bazargan 1 Table of Contents Preface (The Cultural Foundation of Mehdi Bazargan) Introduction: Mehdi Bazargan – Life, Thought and Works (Bagher Asadi) The Evolutionary Course of the Qur’an (Bagher Asadi) - The Genesis of an Idea - Part I – Temporal Evolution - Part II- Thematic Evolution - Part III - Substantive Evolution Bibliography Annexes (Tables) The Chronology of the Qurʾān: A Stylometric Research Program (Behnam Sadeghi) 2 Preface “The Evolutionary Course of the Qur’an” (Seyr-e Tahawwul-e Qur’an), a two-volume work, is widely considered as one of the major intellectual works of the late Mehdi Bazargan (1907-1995), the prominent reform-minded Muslim thinker, university professor, public servant, entrepreneur, political activist, and the first prime-minister of the post-revolutionary Iran. He wrote the book – in Persian - during the years 1344-45 (1965-1966) while serving a ten-year sentence as a political prisoner under the Pahlavi regime. The first volume was published in 1355 Solar Hijri (1977). The preparation of the second volume, comprising charts and curves, by Bazargan’s elder son, Abdolali Bazargan, took a number of years and came out in early 1981. Bazargan’s method of research, and more importantly, his illuminating findings in deciphering – and explaining - the evolutionary course in the revelation of the Holy Qur’an, goes beyond all historiographical works in the Muslim world as well as those of prominent Western Orientalists such as Theodore Nöldeke and Regis Blachere. It represented a major step forward in this important field at the time. The work is the product of rigorous research with historical significance and import; equally a solid foundation for further exploration and analysis. Despite some valuable efforts during the past decades to translate the book into English, most notably in the 1980s by Dr. Ali Asghar Agah, a Muslim researcher and activist in the United States, it has not yet been made available to English-speakers. A Turkish translation of the book was published in 1998. An Arabic translation has also appeared in recent years. The Cultural Foundation of Mehdi Bazargan (established 1995), in charge of collection of his works, has thus far compiled and published 30 volumes, inclusive of books, pamphlets, essays, articles, and lectures, and expects to publish 4 more volumes within the next two years. Following an 8-year expert review, including through the use of advanced computer softwares, all the quantitative data, statistical tables and charts, and curves in the original 2-volume version of “The Evolutionary Course of the Qur’an,” have been checked and reviewed to ensure accuracy in reproduction. The outcome of the review has been compiled and re-arranged in Volumes 12 and 13 of the Collected Works. Volume 12, containing volume I of the “Seyr-e Tahawwul-e Qur’an,” includes the ‘temporal sequence of the Qur’an’ and all relevant tables and diagrams, and the rationale for their calculation. Volume 13 includes ‘thematic evolution’ and ‘substantive evolution’ of the Qur’an (See Note 2 on page 12). The Cultural Foundation, acutely aware of the obvious lacunae in regard with an English translation of the late Bazargan’s work, has addressed the matter at different junctures of time. However, considering the fact that an English rendition of the detailed two-volume book – now Volumes 12 and 13 -- replete with numerous mathematical equations, hundreds of tables, charts and diagrams, and corresponding complex argumentation, could simply prove too technical and cumbersome for general, non-technical readership, the Foundation ultimately resolved to settle for a brief, compact introduction of the work. The principal objective of the preparation of the present book is to open a window into Bazargan’s intellectual journey. The Foundation believes the synopsis presented in this book, based on the material in Volumes 12 and 13, will serve to familiarize non-Persian-speaking readers, both Muslims and non-Muslims, and more specifically, Qur’anic scholars, with a succinct expose of Bazargan’s valuable contribution and his quite 3 enlightening findings and conclusions. And, needless to say, the elaborate presentation of Bazargan’s intellectual journey, as fully demonstrated in Volumes 12 and 13, will remain the enduring, and sole authoritative source on the detailed discussions of the subject matter. The Foundation has also decided to include in the present volume the rather recent research article of Dr. Behnam Sadeghi entitled “The Chronology of the Qur’an: A Stylometric Research.” The Foundation deems it necessary to express its gratitude to Dr. Seyyed Ali Mahmoudi for his kind cooperation in the preparation of the present volume. We are also thankful to Amb. Bagher Asadi, a retired career Iranian diplomat, for his dedication and hard work throughout the preparation of this book, including, in particular, for writing: 1- a compact Introduction on the life and thought of Mehdi Bazargan as the necessary background for the volume, and 2 - the synopsis of Bazargan’s seminal work. A special word of thanks is also owed to Dr. Agah, for his invaluable effort in translating the bulk of the original work in the 1980s which, for a host of reasons, was left incomplete and never saw the light of the day. We also express our deep appreciation to a number of Iranian academics, inside the country and in diaspora, including Mr. Abdolali Bazargan, who have also read the draft synopsis and made extremely useful comments and observations of a lingual and substantive nature. Their valuable contribution has indeed helped enrich the final outcome. The Cultural Foundation of Mohandes Mehdi Bazargan Tehran 4 Mehdi Bazargan – Life, Thought, and Works Bagher Asadi* Life Mehdi Bazargan (1907-1995), born to a traditional merchant family in Tabriz in the heydays of the Constitutional Revolution (1906-1911), grew up to become a prominent reform-minded religious thinker, a reformist political activist, prime minister of the transitional government in the early days of the 1979 Revolution, and a vocal, principled critic of the post-revolutionary governance until his demise in January 1995. His long journey would, in a sense, epitomize the political and ideological challenges and struggles of the Iranian society in the 20th century. All through his long and eventful life, both as an individual and also as a Muslim thinker- political activist/statesman, Bazargan lived as a man of principle, piety, integrity, moderation, frankness with a peculiar touch of humor, and honesty – with himself and with the society at large. He practiced – strictly and scrupulously – what he preached. Over and above his quite pronounced intellectual impact as a prominent thinker of religious modernism on the thinking and politics of Muslim forces and currents prior to and after the 1979 Revolution, he has indeed left a legacy of an enduring, untarnished exemplary figure. The religious devotion and clear anti-dictatorial sentiments of Bazargan’s father against the rule of the Pahlavis - and later support for Dr. Mossadegh and the oil nationalization in the late 1940s and early 1950s - left an indelible imprint on his mind and helped mould his fundamental beliefs and character. Young Mehdi, a hard- working and high-ranking high-school graduate, was awarded a government scholarship in France in 1927. He returned to Iran in 1934 with an advanced degree in thermodynamics – hence ever since known with the title ‘Mohandes’ (Engineer) Mehdi Bazargan. Having served as a professor of mechanical engineering at the Faculty of Engineering, Tehran University, including as the dean of the Faculty for a number of years, Bazargan was appointed in 1951 by Dr. Mossadegh as the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), which he successfully carried out against all odds under the turbulent circumstances after the hurried departure of the British. Following the August 1953 coup which toppled Dr. Mossadegh and restored Mohammad Reza Shah to the throne, Mohandes Bazargan returned to teaching at the university and was appointed as the director of Water Board in the 5 capital city Tehran – which also proved to be another example of his successful public service performance. Bazargan’s second opportunity for public service – and in fact, the last until the fall of monarchy in February 1979 – soon came to an almost abrupt end when he and a number of other pro-Mossadegh activists openly criticized the un-democratic nature of the first post-coup parliamentary elections. He was subsequently fired from the Water Board and dismissed from the university. Later in 1953, he, along with Ayatullah Mahmud Taleqani and Dr. Yadullah Sahabi, co-founded the National Resistance Movement (Nehzat-e Muqavemat-e Melli - NRM), which was active until 1961 and provided the umbrella political formation for resistance against the increasingly repressive policies of the Pahlavi state. During the same period, he also engaged himself with establishing a number of private engineering firms – which remained operative during the following decades. Following a rather unsuccessful attempt at reviving the ‘National Front’ of the Mossadegh era – under the title of ‘Second National Front’ – in 1960 and as a result of growing fissures with the secular-minded nationalists, Bazargan, Taleqani and Sahabi decided to establish the “Nehzat-e Azadi-e Iran” (Freedom Movement of Iran - FMI) in May 1961 as an Islamic-nationalist political formation, which still continues to exist – even if officially banned since mid-1980s. In 1962, the three founders and a group of activists of the new party were arrested and tried in a military tribunal. Bazargan received a ten-year prison term. Having served half of his jail term – mostly in Borazjan Prison in southern Iran, he was released in 1967. Interestingly enough, he wrote his major intellectual work - “Seyr-e Tehawwul-e Qur’an (The Evolutionary Course of the Qur’an) – during the years 1344-45 SH (1965-66) while incarcerated in Borazjan Prison.
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