Cleric Mesbah Yazdi Talks of Separation

Rooz Online

A report under the headline “Mesbah Yazdi’s Goodbye with the Steadfast Front” Arman newspaper last week wrote, “Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, the spiritual leader of the Steadfast Front has made no political comments in public for quite some time now, strengthening the speculation that he may have left the hardline Front grouping [that supported former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. If he wanted to remain active in the Front he would have certainly been speaking out against the critical remarks that are made against his benefactors.” The newspaper story continued, “Members of the Front visit ayatollah Yazdi and Mahdavi Kani, who at one time viewed each other to be rivals. They have not mentioned Yazdi’s name in their announcement for the organization of a seminar.” In the report, Arman references Yazdi’s conversation with 9 Dey publication and the cleric’s positions.

In response to the question that 9 Dey raises with the cleric about his relationship with the grouping, “Are your relations with the Front the same as they were, enlightening and consultative or, as some media have suggested, that of a leader?” Yazdi says, “When I say we will do this or that it is because these friends come to us for consultation but I do not intervene in their initial decisions. They consult and we present our views. They used to come to us from the beginning. It is not that I went to them. They would come and ask for my opinion and we gave them our views.”

In the last presidential campaign, Yazdi initially supported Kamran Bagheri Lankarani and said he was “the most suitable person on earth and under the sky.” At that time, Alef website close to Ahmad Tavakoli, a conservative member of the Majlis, had posted an article titled “Why Is Ayatollah Mesbah Supporting the Losing Candidate” and wrote, “The possibility that Dr Lankarani will pass through the filters of the Guardians Council is slim but even if his qualifications were approved by the Council, he enjoys little public support. The writer responds to this question to conclude that in view of the support that Yazdi had provided to Ahmadinejad, and where that candidate eventually ended up, this time he wants to support the “losing” candidate so he will not have to pay the consequential costs. After it became clear that Lankarani would not be approved, Yazdi switched his support to Saeed Jalili. “His love for the velayate – rule of the clerics – and commitment to Islamic values is above average,” Yazdi said at the time.

The defeat of the Principlists – the group of hardline conservatives – who during the last presidential race were denied the electoral doping boost in the electoral process resulted in much criticism directed at Mesbah Yazdi. One of the complainants wrote on his weblog, “Problems began when some hizbullahis viewed Yazdi to be more important than the revolution itself. Those who believed there were no threats because reformers were not in the race – because they had been disqualified – in fact promoted the disunity among Principlists. They should be held accountable for their actions.”

A cleric from the Jame Rohaniyate Mobarez (by most accounts, the most important organization of conservative clerics in Iran) also criticized Yazdi. “Mr. Mesbah first stressed on Lankarani with full force but then threw his support behind Jalili. He most certainly also played a role in the defeat of the Principlists.” Ahmad Karimi Isfahani, the secretary of the bazaar guild (Jame Asnaf va Baazar) wrote, “Unfortunately ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi plays a separatist tune among the senior clerics of Ghom, which is wrong and uncalled for. It would be better if he stopped this divisive approach and worked for its repair.”

Later, another cleric, ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi provided an explanation for Mesbah Yazdi’s separatism. He revealed that he had discussed this with Mahdavi Kani and Yazdi during the elections. “In that meeting which lasted for more than an hour I asked Mr. Mesbah whether he would go along with (taking steps and positions) reducing differences so that the two groupings would unite thus reducing their differences, to which he said he would do as his religious duties required of him.” Yazdi said that he asked the same question three times and then changed the wording of the question, but Mesbah Yazdi was not willing to play along with the others. According to Mohammad Yazdi, “Three days later, Mesbah Yazdi held a gathering in a mosque in Tehran and announced his support for Lankarani, even as the Guardians Council had not yet announced its decisions on presidential applicants.”

After the presidential election Mesbah Yazdi remained silent while the Principlists have exerted the heaviest pressure on Rouhani’s administration. In his interview to 9 Dey, he said that if Islam was again “in danger” he would seriously re-enter the field.

Today, it seems that something is not well because Mesbah just broke his silence and seems to have put up his sleeps to battle the current administration. In his interview last week with Parto weekly, affiliated to his own center, he said, “I am sorry about what I hear about moderation which is a path between religion and people’s will. This means people should not insist on religion. This is real atheism. Something from here and something from there is not moderation. You call this moderation. There is no middle road between what is right and what is wrong.”

Mesbah’s reference seems to be Rouhani’s campaign slogan that stressed on moderation between the extremism of Ahmadinejad and that of the extreme reformers. According to Mesbah’s definition, any compromise over conflicting ideas that include religious ones at one end is rejected.