Mohammadreza Nikfar

Mohammad Reza Nikfar, born in 1956 in Arak, is an Iranian philosophy researcher, writer, translator, and journalist. In his adolescence, he briefly became acquainted with religious education and later, in the intellectual and political climate of the 1970s, gravitated toward leftist currents. After entering Tehran Polytechnic University to study chemical engineering, he continued his intellectual and political activities and moved to Germany following the revolution.

In Germany, Nikfar studied philosophy, political science, and Middle Eastern studies, earning his PhD in philosophy from the University of Cologne with a dissertation on Martin Heidegger. He served as editor-in-chief of Radio Zamaneh from February 2012 to July 2023, during which time he wrote on philosophy, religion, secularism, human rights, political economy, and the critique of ideology.

Nikfar's work revolves around several central themes: secularism, the critique of religion and political theology, human rights, civil society, violence, political economy, nationalism, and the question of identity in Iran. He is a critic of identity-centered approaches while simultaneously emphasizing minority rights, social justice, and the critique of discrimination.

In his philosophical and political writings, he has sought to analyze the relationship between religion, power, violence, and discrimination in Iranian society. Essays such as "The Theology of Torture" and his writings on secularism, religious intellectualism, and his critique of Aramesh Doustdar are among his most controversial works.