The warning from Abulhassan Navab, rector of the University of Religions and grandson of one of the founders of the Islamic Republic. The “strange passion” for Zoroastrianism or the “membership” of a domestic church. The loss of “authority” of religious leaders. The police are looking for the young women who danced without a veil on Women’s Day.
Tehran () – “We must bring back” to Shiite Islam “all those who have converted to Christianity” or other religions. The warning was issued in Qom by a respected Iranian Shiite leader, just as Tehran and the Vatican are discussing religious freedom and peace, backed by the meeting between Pope Francis and Abulhassan Navab, rector of the University of Religions. Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Javad Alavi Borujerdi (pictured), whose grandfather was one of the founders of the Islamic Republic, spoke at a public meeting with a group of students in Qom on March 9, lashing out at those who have abandoned the faith. muslim
“Some people who have separated from us [han abandonado el Islam chiita] “They have come to see me,” said the religious leader. “Some of them, especially some young people,” he added, “have felt a strange attraction to Zoroastrianism. Others told me that they belonged to a house church in Qom, and the number of wahabis [islam sunita, vinculado a Arabia Saudita]. Some have even become Buddhists! These are real problems.”
“God knows that a child, even if he has become a Christian – continued the ayatollah – always remains attached to us and the responsibility for him falls on my shoulders. This child will always be a Shiite” and it is our common duty to “bring him back. I have no right to abandon it. We can’t stay calm because he’s gone!” He acknowledged that today religious leaders have lost authority and influence in the population, but also and above all because of the story of Mahsa Amini, and invited people to come back. “Young people of the new generation, he wonders, do they have anything to do with us? We are strangers. They follow everyone except us!”
Commenting on the ayatollah’s words, Mansour Borji, director of the Christian activist website Article18, points to the “loss of religious credibility and respect” of the Muslim clergy, who seem increasingly “distanced from the new generations.” Instead of pointing fingers at the youth, he added, one should take a closer look at Iran’s autocratic religious leaders, acknowledging the “abuses” committed against the faithful. Although the Iranian regime claims that 95% of the population is Shia Muslim, a 2020 survey by a Dutch research team found that less than a third of those interviewed identified as Shia. Nearly half said they no longer have faith, while others say they have converted to Zoroastrianism or Christianity.
At this time in Iran, the hunt continues for the five young women who danced without a veil, in open defiance of Tehran’s laws, on the occasion of International Women’s Day. The gesture has won the appreciation of many netizens, but angered the authorities and the religious wing. The young women, wearing baggy clothes, dance in the street of the Ekbatan neighborhood, in the western part of Tehran, one of the areas where the protest against the government is strongest.
