Attack on Critical Clerics; A Long-standing Tradition Among the Leader's Associates

The attack by students of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, on critical clerics has been a tradition that existed even before his leadership. This tradition has continued vigorously during the leadership of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current leader, and now the scope of attacks on critical clerics has expanded to include non-aligned clerics as well. The threatening letter from Mohammad Yazdi to Ayatollah Mousa Shabiri Zanjani has brought this cleric's name into the public sphere in Iran. Yazdi claims that even before the victory of the 1979 revolution, he was attacking Ayatollah Kazem Shariatmadari, a Shia cleric, from the pulpit and has reportedly played a significant role in the physical attacks on supporters of this cleric as well as the attacks on the offices and homes of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri and Ayatollah Ahmad Azari Qomi, leading to their house arrest. According to Mohsen Kadivar, Yazdi was also the author of two statements from the Society of Teachers of Qom Seminary regarding the 'dismissal' of Ayatollah Shariatmadari and Yusuf Sanei. Besides Yazdi, who is among the right-wing students of Khomeini, his leftist students have also played a role in attacking critical clerics. Even during Khomeini's exile in Najaf, his students took actions against other clerics who did not openly support him. Ibrahim Yazdi recounts in his memoirs that some clerics close to Khomeini in Najaf, including Mahmoud Dowai, stated that Mehdi Karroubi, Hamid Rouhani (Ziyarti), and Ali Akbar Mohtashami Pour were 'the standard bearers of the movement against' Ayatollah Abolqasem Khoei and Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir Sadr. The former leader of Iran himself practically authorized attacks on clerics who 'did not cooperate' and urged the youth to 'remove their turbans.' He stated: 'I do not say to kill them; they are not worth killing... It is not necessary to beat them too much, but their turbans should be removed.' The attackers of Ayatollah Abolhasan Shamsabadi, which led to his murder, also cited these words of Khomeini as their justification. After the 1979 revolution, some clerics and clerics opposing Khomeini, including Ayatollah Shariatmadari and Ayatollah Mohammad Sadegh Rouhani, were placed under house arrest. The attacks on clerics were not limited to 'non-revolutionary' clerics; during Ali Khamenei's leadership, some clerics who were themselves famous students of Khomeini, including Montazeri and Azari Qomi, also experienced house arrest. Ayatollah Yusuf Sanei, another student of Ruhollah Khomeini, has also faced attacks on his office by supporters of the leader, and the Society of Teachers of Qom Seminary has declared that he 'lacks the necessary criteria for holding the position of marja' (source of emulation). However, Ayatollah Shabiri Zanjani has never publicly criticized the government like these clerics and prominent clerics, although he does not believe in the concept of Velayat-e Faqih like his teacher Ayatollah Khoei. There has been widespread protest and reaction to Yazdi's 'insulting' letter to Shabiri Zanjani. In recent years, he has gained fame for mediating for the release of political prisoners and issuing confidential warnings to Ayatollah Khamenei. His last public mediation was regarding the release of Ahmad Montazeri, and prior to that, he had mediated for the release of Ali Shekouri Rad, a member of the 'Islamic Participation Party,' with Ayatollah Khamenei. This Shia cleric had close relations with Ayatollah Montazeri. After Montazeri's house arrest was lifted, he quickly visited him and prayed over his body after his death. Additionally, after security agencies attempted to shut down Ayatollah Montazeri's office, he issued written permission for Ahmad Montazeri. Mohsen Kadivar has also written that he had requested the lifting of Ayatollah Montazeri's house arrest at least twice in meetings with Ayatollah Khamenei and warned him about the suppression of protesters in 2009. Shabiri Zanjani, however, holds a special position in the seminary, and some active media on seminary issues have referred to him as 'the Sayyid of the Jurisprudents of Qom School.' As Ali Ashraf Fathi has written, Ayatollah Mohammad Momen, Hassan Taheri Khorram Abadi, and Reza Estadi from the prominent clerics of the government were among the first generation of his students, while figures such as Ahmad Khomeini, Mohammad Khatami, and Abdollah Nouri were his second-generation students who attended his advanced classes in the early 1970s. Yazdi's attack on Shabiri Zanjani comes just weeks after the retreat of young clerics supporting Ayatollah Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the face of protests from two clerics supportive of the government and the dismissal of the commander of the Qom Corps and the 'Imam Sadiq Brigade.' It seems that after this retreat, Khamenei's supporters want to take another bite out of the critics and assert their power against traditional clerics while emphasizing the necessity of a 'revolutionary seminary.' In this context, 'Ayatollah Khamenei visited Qom for the third time in a month.' The tightening of the siege around 'Shirazi' clerics, the Shiite marja' after the February 1979 revolution in Iran, the cultural showdown of principlist clergy with Rouhani's government, Khamenei; court clerics, foreigners, and secularists, severe governmental repression, and the danger of 'underground' protests are all significant issues.