The dictatorship’s Executives’ Institutes

Mehriran.de - The ‘University of Religions and their Different Interpretations’ (URD), sounds harmless. However, can there be free inquiry and open exchange of views on religious questions in an Islamic dictatorship? The Potsdam University (Germany) cooperates with the URD, and in the Tagesspiegel of 24th August, we read that the German Akademic Exchange Services (DAAD) stood behind this cooperation of the Iranian ‘religious high school’ in the hope that intellectual exchange can ‘act as a remedy for rigid ideologies’.

The following text should make it clear that the University of Potsdam and the DAAD certainly pursue lofty goals, but that their Iranian partners are among the representatives of the rigid ideology of the totalitarian dictatorship in Iran. The Islamist regime doesn’t only fight religious minorities, but also different interpretations of its own ideology of Islam, such as Sufism. To fight this battle is also the task of universities like the URD.

The situation of the Gonabadi dervishes in Iran is deteriorating daily. These dervishes or people named Sufis mix their spiritual practice not with politics, but take part in the election of the ‘Islamic Republic of Iran’. Four million Iranian dervishes voted in the last presidential elections for Karoubi. This alone is an indication that this group acts in the frame of the legislation of the ‘Islamic Republic of Iran’. Yet there life is in danger in Iran.

Ideology as a tool to justify persecution
The Iranian website related to security circles 'Borhan News' published a nine-part article which focuses on the history and the current presence of Sufis in Iran and on the risks for the system they present in the opinion of the regime. The same can be found at the website "Adyan News", which was removed from internet and whose successor is "Adyan.net". These sites operating from Qom admit that the Sufis are present in all Iranian cities. They describe how a part of the Iranian population visits the houses of worship of the Sufis and the so-called "Hosseinye" and how the popularity of the peaceful and selfless minded Sufis is increasing. The Sufis have established cooperatives, homes for elderly and hospitals, and are successful, especially in large cities of Iran. The rulers of the Islamic Republic, who are against such diversity, have a serious and intractable problem with the Sufis.

Dr. Mostafa Azmayesh, Islamic scholar in exile with close ties to Iran, who campaigns for the rights of various religious minorities in Iran, spoke in an interview with Radio Farda about the continuing threat to the Sufis which actually can result in the prohibition of Dervish centers in Iran. "The fact that the houses of worship of the dervishes have not been banned yet is due to our efforts to make the problem known internationally." Azmayesh says that sites like 'Adyan News' and 'Borhan News' ceaselessly spread anti-Sufi propaganda.

The reactions of the rulers of the ‘Islamic Republic’ are also clear: increasing pressure on dervishes in Iran. For example, for years, the Sufis had an information site called "Majzooban Noor" (those attracted to the light). The office of this site in Tehran has been closed down. Dr. Azmayesh, who lives in Paris, said: "They have arrested immediately all operators and staff of this site, who are lawyers, jurists and writers, in order to ban the website. For a year now, they have all been in jail without being convicted and without having done something wrong."
When asked where Dr. Azmayesh sees the actual cause of the anti-Sufi policy in Iran, he replies that he is looking at different ruling groups, which he characterizes as follows: "Some groups are slightly less fascist than others."

The constructed traditions
Dr. Azmayesh criticizes that these religious-fascist groups are opposed to both rationality and Islamic mysticism and also to inspirations (vahjie). This group is called by the religious scholar Dr. Azmayesh "Rewayatgarân". "Rewayatgarân" are people who refer to "traditions of words from sacred people by arbitrary statements of these persons." The Muslims, who must be counted among the 'Rewayatgarân' and who have monopolized the state power in the past 33 years in Iran, express, for example, a personal opinion, when they say that "Women must cover their head" But they force with violence the veiling upon women. As a matter of fact, there is no sentence in the Koran that would legitimize the forced veiling of women, says Dr. Azmayesh. These people refer to any bogus tradition and then claim that the Shia Imams have said this and that and therefore women must cover their hair.

Dr. Azmayesh reacted in the interview also to the group ‘Amariyoun’, which is in fact one of the most extreme fascist groups in Iran. People like Mehdi Taeb, Alireza Panahian, Saeed Ghassemi, Mehdi Hassan Abbasi and Nassirian belong to this circle. Their mental focus has the same tendency; they limit and call for violence. The website of ‘Amariyoun’ headed by Mehdi Nassirian, is in reality, the ideological department of the ‘Hadian Basij’ (leader of the Basij). Moreover, Azmayesh counts other sites like 'Borhan News' to the extremist fascists in the power structure of Iran as well.

The network of the ideological staff
If you look closely to the website ‘Borhan News’, you come to the conclusion that there are currently two centers in Qom which deal with other religious denominations. These two are the ‘Islamic Centre for the Study of Religions and their Different Interpretations’ (Markaze Taqribe Adjân wa Mazâheb Islami) and the ‘International Center of Ahl-e Beyt’ (Majma-e Jahânie Ahl-e Beyt). The staff of Majma-e Jahanie Ahl-e Beyt engages in dialogues with other religions about Shiism, f.ex. they are sent to the pope in Rome. In contrast, the employees of Markaze Taqribe Adjân wa Mazâheb Islami are focusing on the Muslim countries and cooperate with Muslims in the West. Both centers are run by Mohsen Araki, a former director of the Islamic Centre in London.

Basically, the various centers, university institutes and staff training schools are intertwined. All these centers instituted thorough changes in their leadership in order to accelerate the Islamization in the education. As an example, the religious leader Ali Khamenei removed the head of the ‘Islamic University of Religions and their Different Interpretations’ (Dâneshgah-e wa Adjân wa Mazâheb Islami dar Qom) Abulhassan Navab, although he is a disciple of Mesbah Yazdi, an extremist ideologue of violence, about a year ago because Navab did allow a professor of Sufism. Obviously Navab was not extremist enough.

This university forms the executives for the two above-mentioned institutions. Other important elite training schools are Moassesseie-Pajuheshi-e Emam Khomeini (Mesbah Yazdis Institute), Dâneshgâh-e Bâgher, the online university Jâme-a al-âlamieh al Mostafa with some subdivisions, all cooperating with the above institutions.
Another center in Qom is Markaze Pajuheshe Mazâheb wa Feraq dar Qom (Center for the Study of Religions and Sects in Qom). And another ideological University in Tehran is Dâneshgâh-e Sadeq, and is an executive training school for governmental jobs (Hedjan-e Sepah-e Padaran). Also the website http://www.adyan.net/ belongs to this network.

All these centers are the ideological backbone of the regime, representing their interests, when they do ‘religion researches’. They not only attack the Sufis and mystics as pestiferous Islamic sects, but all other religions are also represented as deviant and their followers depicted as devil worshipers. According to Dr. Azmayesh, even mullahs who are interested in Islamic philosophy and logic are attacked at ‘Borhan New’".

The intentions of the regime
Dr. Azmayesh also notes that the ‘University of Religions and their Different Interpretations" (URD) ​​in Qom maintain contact with several universities in the world. He answers to the question why speakers of the ‘University of Religions and their Different Interpretations’ were invited for political, religious, and academic forums in Europe and how he would see the exchange of students from German universities such as Potsdam and Paderborn with Qom: "The regime of Iran wants to send out research and dialogue envoys around the world. With relation to their international activities, they have created two pillars. One of them is the ‘Islamic Centre for the Study of Religions and Spiritual Paths' (Markaze Taqribe Adjân wa Mazâheb Islami) and the other is called the ‘International Center of Ahl-e Beyt’ (Majma Jahani Ahl-e Beyt). The leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Khamenei, has some time ago installed Mr. Mohsen Araki in the position of Director of the ‘Centre for Rapprochement of Religions’ (1). The former director of the Institute, Hojatulislam Mohamad Ali Tasskhiri, was appointed as Leader Ali Khamenei’s adviser for the interests of the Islamic world. "

Mr. Araki, who is fluent in English, Arabic and Persian is, as Dr. Azmayesh says, "a person who likes to discuss." Araki is responsible for the religious propaganda of the ruling regime in Iran in foreign countries. Due to his excellent contacts in the West, Araki is the mastermind behind the scenes when it comes to establishing contacts between Iranian and foreign universities. Araki chooses speakers such as Dr. Hassan Eslami, who teach at the ‘University of Religions and their Different Interpretations’ (URD)​​, says Dr. Azmayesh. These speakers hold lectures abroad in coordination with European universities. Dr. Eslami, for example, will hold a speech on September 12th at the Catholic Academy in Berlin.

When asked what the connection is with the ‘International Center of Ahl-e Beyt’, which was founded in 1990 with the approval of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, with the URD said Dr. Azmayesh: "The World Association Ahl-e Beyt is the backbone of the URD University.”

This means that the URD, by the mediation of Araki, send speakers to many countries of the world, Muslim and European countries, such as Germany to enable them to propagate outside Iran the state‘s interpretation of Shia and by doing so they are spreading the religious and political positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is Dr. Azmayesh’ opinion that the Potsdam University and other universities which cooperate with the URD, either "knowingly or recklessly are making a fundamental error."

Dr. Azmayesh says that the aim of the scientists of the URD is in fact to observe the other universities, with the intention to better dispute the West in the long run: "The aim of the URD University in Qom is to support the specialized lobbyists who are sent abroad and who have the potential and the ability to persuade Western intellectuals that Iran speaks the truth and that the opinion of others is wrong.”
He adds, "The ruling officials of the current system in Iran do not believe in an open society where different groups and communities coexist, tolerate each other and exchange different views. And because of this, the Sufis, the Bahaï's, the converted Christians and even the Sunnis are persecuted in Iran."

An example of the crackdown of religious minorities
A year ago, we witnessed that in the town of Kawar in the Fars province plainclothes security forces and Basij militias brutally attacked innocent dervishes. These attacks were in the same style as the attacks on the British Embassy. Armed security forces ended the action. Four Gonabadi dervishes were seriously injured and one of them, Vahid Banani succumbed to his gunshot wounds. The security forces accused the dervishes of being responsible for what happened. The dervishes were even accused of being ‘enemies of God’, i.e. people who arm themselves to fight against Islam.

Dr. Azmayesh says: "Fortunately, around the world, supporters of the human rights of religious minorities are very active and they try, for example, to draw the attention of the human rights centers of the United Nations, the European Parliament and human rights organizations like Amnesty International to the persecution in Iran. They hope that the heartbreaking persecution of the dervishes will not continue in other Iranian cities. "

It is a fact that the invitation of the propagandists of centers operating under the ‘Research Center for Religions and Sects’ (Markaze Pajuhesh mazaheb and Feraq), which according to Dr. Azmayesh are the “worst centers of Hoseye Elmiye”, the Shia Centre in Qom, doesn’t contribute to the opening of the Iranian society. Iranian society is suppressed by a closed political system. Rather, the exchange will open the doors to religious centers for the propaganda of the totalitarian dictatorship in Europe.

1) This is the covering organization for the ‘International Center of Ahl-e Beyt’ and the "Islamic Center for the Study of Religions and their Different Interpretations."

By: Wahied Wahdat-Haqq -

(Wahied Wahdat-e Haqq is a fellow of the European Foundation for Democracy (EFD)

Photo: Dr. S.M. Azmayesh