A Grand Ayatollah Ordered to Behave

A prominent conservative mullah has criticized another senior member of the clergy after he met with Iranian reformists, including former president Mohammad Khatami.

Grand Ayatollah Musa Shobairi Zanjani, a religious authority in the holy city of Qom, traveled to Tehran on October 12. During his stay in the capital he met with the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. But he triggered controversy when he visited the home of Abdollah Nouri, a reformist cleric and politician, and met with former President Mohammad Khatami and other reformists.

Following this, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a member of the Assembly of Experts and the secretary of the ultra-conservative Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom, reprimanded Shobairi Zanjani in a sharply-worded letter, and called on him not to meet with reformists again in the future.

In his letter, Yazdi referred to the reformist figures Shobairi Zanjani met with as “troublesome individuals” who have no respect for the regime of the Islamic Republic or for Ayatollah Khamenei.

“Your high position and status relies on having respect for the Islamic system, its leader, and the dignity of the position of being a religious authority,” Yazdi wrote. He warned Shobairi Zanjani to “respect the position and the requirements of a mujtahid [source of emulation] and take relevant measures to avoid such incidents." He reiterated that he had sent two other letters to Shobairi Zanjani in the past, but since he had not received a “satisfactory” answer, he was now making his third letter public.

An Ongoing Divide

The publication of this letter is only the latest sign of extensive disagreements between the two high-level clerics. Ayatollah Yazdi intends to put more political pressure on Grand Ayatollah Shobairi Zanjani – who has been close to reformists for many years. In 2009, Shobairi Zanjani performed the funeral prayer for Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, who was once heir apparent to Ayatollah Khomeini and who later fell out of favor with the founder of the Islamic Republic over the regime's repressive policies, including the massacre of thousands of political prisoners in the summer of 1988.

In 2010, Shobairi Zanjani successfully pleaded with the Supreme Leader to have Ali Shakouri-Rad released from prison. Shakouri-Rad, a supporter of Mir Hossein Mousavi during the disputed 2009 presidential election, had been arrested in the aftermath of the election. He is now the general secretary of the Union of Islamic Iran People Party, a reformist party that was founded in 2015.

In 2016, when Ahmad Montazeri, the son of the late Ayatollah Montazeri, was sentenced by the Special Clergy Court to 21 years in prison for “activities against national security,” “propaganda against the regime” and the “publication of secrets,” again it was Ayatollah Shobairi Zanjani who reportedly asked the Supreme Leader to have his sentence suspended – a request that Ayatollah Khamenei granted. Such appeals by religious authorities to Khamenei are not unusual.

Yazdi’s letter to Shobairi Zanjani was immediately met with a wave of protests. On social media, reformists referred to the letter as “insulting” and a “naked threat.” But, more importantly, figures inside the Islamic Republic’s political and religious establishment also joined in the protests.

Ayatollah Mohammad Andalib Hamadani, a member of the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom, announced that he would resign from the society in protest against Yazdi’s letter.

 

What Permission is Needed? 

In an open letter of his own to Yazdi, Ali Motahari, the maverick deputy speaker of parliament, wrote: “the position and the respectability of a mujtahid is not solely dependent of his respect for the Islamic Republic system. Anybody’s respectability is a function of his respectability and his commitment to justice and to what is right . . . Your mistake is that you think that the [regime] is immaculate.” Motahari also characterized Yazdi’s letter as “threatening,” asking: “does your excellency know the affairs of the sources of emulation better than they themselves? Must people have your permission to visit each other?”

In a tweet, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Abbas Salehi emphasized that a mujtahid is beyond reproach and that his reputation cannot be tainted for political reasons: “[Mujtahids] guarantee the preservation of the Shia identity. We must be careful not to confuse the unblemished mujtahids with the sacred commitment to preserving the [Islamic Republic] system and, thus, throw away the historical heritage of Shiism.”

It is unlikely, however, that any criticism or advice offered would make any difference to Yazdi’s position or behavior; he is openly known to treat his opponents harshly and often in a rude manner. Over the past two decades, Yazdi has been one of the most prominent opponents of the reformists and rejects any moves toward rapprochement with them. Nevertheless, his letter should not be interpreted as the collective view of the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom.

Currently, the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom is the most important political entity in the Qom seminary. Some of the 34 members of this society enjoy great influence in the establishment of the Islamic Republic: Sadegh Larijani Amoli is the chief of the judiciary; Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi is the chairman of Expediency Council – which has supervisory power over all branches of government — and some of its other members are also members of the Guardian Council, the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution and the Expediency Council. Over the last two decades, the society has announced a number of clerics as mujtahids – among them Shobairi Zanjani, whose name was put forward in 1994. His position as a Grand Ayatollah is currently announced on the society’s website, but now, 24 years later, political quarrels have resulted in the head of the society publicly rebuking Shobairi Zanjani.

 

Politics Disguised as Religion

In a tweet, the reformist Ali Shakouri-Rad reported that Shobairi Zanjani was unhappy with Yazdi’s letter. However, the important question is where this political fight will lead.

The case of Grand Ayatollah Yousef Sanei, a former chairman of the Guardian Council under Ayatollah Khomeini, bears some similarities. Like Shobairi Zanjani, Sanei is close to reformists, and in early 2010 the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom declared in a statement that he was no longer qualified to be considered a Grand Ayatollah. The announcement led to protests by traditionalist and conservative clergy, who said the society had no authority to make such decisions. A day later, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi said that Sanei was guilty of religious “innovation” — an act condemned by Shia jurisprudence — and of issuing fatwas that go against the general consensus of Shia jurists.

At the time the statement was made, the society claimed that it had taken this extraordinary action because of disagreements over Shia jurisprudence, but it was clear that Sanei’s support for Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi – leaders of the Green Movement in 2009 – and his continued closeness to the reformists played a deciding role in the decision to demote him.

It is unlikely Shobairi Zanjani will face the same fate as Ayatollah Sanei, but the incident shows that the flames of anger lit by the political events of 2009 are still consuming parts of the Islamic Republic establishment and that, even after 10 years, little has changed.

 

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Rouhani’s Meeting with Mostly Retired and Ineffective Reformist Activists, October 11, 2018

Reformists Must Stop Being Cowardly and Dangerous, July 29, 2018

The Iranian Reformists Need Reforming, July 19, 2018

People Have Left the Reformists Behind, January 2, 2018

Why Reformists Do Not Empathize with the Protesters, January 2, 2018

Reformists Should be Brave and Challenge Hypocrisy — But They Won’t, May 15, 2017

The Lessons of History, April 20, 2017

, November 17, 2016