Abstract:
Since the period of Reza Shah, there has been a lot of propaganda on the polarization of "science and religion" or "development and religiosity", so much so that this issue is still raised by default in intellectual gatherings. The purpose of this research is to answer this question: What was the position of the scholars of the Qom Seminary in the first and second Pahlavi era with regard to such widespread propaganda? To answer this question, the writings and speeches of some prominent scholars and graduates of the Qom Seminary from the era of Reza Khan to the Islamic Revolution were analyzed and it was found that the Qom Seminary strongly opposed any suspicion of populism and fueling the said rumor. The scholars of the Qom seminary firstly wrote books to emphasize that science and religion have no conflict and contradiction. Secondly, by explaining the extremely chaotic economic, political and social situation of Iran, they exposed the dishonesty of the government's slogan of development to the people. And thirdly, by explaining their theories about the necessity of progress based on the foundations of religion and combining justice and prosperity in the Islamic model, they encouraged people to confront the first and second Pahlavi regimes. The Islamic revolution can be considered as the result of the failure of western development in Iran and the popularity of the opinions of the seminarians.