The Appointment of Raisi as the New Custodian of Astan Quds: What Message Does It Convey?

The selection of Ebrahim Raisi, the Attorney General of the country, as the new custodian of Astan Quds is a significant event in the political arena. Unlike his predecessor Abbas Vaez Tabasi, Raisi does not belong to the moderate and traditional conservatives. Raisi is an old figure with a long judicial and security background in the Islamic Republic, having nearly 35 years of continuous activity in mid-level and senior judicial positions. Raisi is loyal to the leadership and close to the hardline factions of the conservatives, but at the same time, as a member of the Combatant Clergy Association of Tehran, he has a good relationship with the traditional conservative factions. Monitoring Raisi's positions places him among those who advocate for Shiite-centric Islamic fundamentalism and authoritarianism. Currently, in addition to serving as the Attorney General, he is the prosecutor of the Special Court for Clergy, a representative of South Khorasan Province in the Assembly of Experts, and a member of the board of directors of this assembly. A brief overview of Raisi's background and starting point sheds light on the political significance and reasons for his selection; Raisi was raised in a clerical family and, like his father, went to the seminary in Mashhad for his studies. After completing his preliminary studies in 1975, he went to the Qom seminary and continued his religious studies at the schools of Ayatollah Borujerdi and Pasandideh. His teachers included Fazel Harandi, Mousavi Tehrani, Dozdouzani, Abolqasem Khazaeli, Seyyed Ali Mohaghegh Damad, Hassan Taheri Khorram Abadi, and Sotoudeh. He also studied philosophical and non-jurisprudential subjects under Morteza Motahhari, Ahmad Beheshti, Nouri Hamadani, and Ali Moshkini. After the revolution, he continued his studies while performing judicial responsibilities and learned advanced jurisprudence from Mohammad Reza Modarresi Yazdi, Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, Seyyed Mohammad Hassan Marashi, Mojtaba Taherani, and Seyyed Ali Khamenei. He claims to have participated in the Supreme Leader's advanced jurisprudence classes for 14 years. He is the son-in-law of Alim al-Huda and holds a doctorate in jurisprudence and private law from Motahari Higher School. Therefore, Raisi completed his seminary education under the clerical officials of the Islamic Republic. Raisi joined revolutionary activities in the late Pahlavi regime. He has no revolutionary background. However, after the revolution, he was attracted to the Islamic Republic Party. Raisi was among the 70 selected seminarians whom Ayatollah Beheshti chose at the beginning of the revolution for training cadres and education who would later hold political responsibilities in the system. Raisi's first place of activity was in the city of Masjed Soleyman, where he helped Sheikh Hadi Marvi organize and manage the activities of the revolutionary court in this city. After returning from Masjed Soleyman, he established the ideological political complex of the Zero-Two training camp in Shahroud and managed it for a short period. He was then appointed by Qodsi to the prosecutor's office in Karaj. After a while, he became the revolutionary prosecutor of Hamadan Province. In 1985, he became the deputy prosecutor of the revolutionary court in Tehran. In 1988, he received special and direct orders from Ayatollah Khomeini to address judicial problems in some provinces, including Lorestan, Kermanshah, and Semnan. He played an active role in the widespread extrajudicial executions of 1988. After Ayatollah Khamenei became the leader, his position in the judiciary was elevated. From 1989 to 1994, he was the prosecutor of Tehran Province. From 1994, he held the presidency of the General Inspection Organization for ten years. From 2004 to 2014, he served as the first deputy of the judiciary and has been the Attorney General since 2014. Observing this background shows that Raisi has been a trusted force of the hard core of power throughout the life of the Islamic Republic and is one of the important judicial figures of the Islamic Republic. He belongs to the hardline tendencies of the system that advocate a closed environment and security strictness. Based on some reports, his views in the 1980s regarding mistreatment and severity against opponents and political prisoners were even relatively harsher than those of Assadollah Lajevardi. He has rigid views regarding the judiciary's adherence to religious rulings and opposition to adhering to the requirements of living in the modern world and modern judicial standards, to the extent that he has defended the punishment of amputating body parts in public and considers it 'a source of pride for the system.' Raisi has had direct responsibility for the execution of a large number of political prisoners. During the 2009 election protests, he was one of the members of the three-person committee investigating allegations of sexual assault in prisons, which ultimately rejected the claim and called for action against Mehdi Karroubi. He took a hardline stance against the Green Movement and emphasized the necessity of prosecuting Mousavi and Karroubi. Raisi is a close associate and confidant of the leadership. His elevation in the political and religious power hierarchy reflects a clear meaning that the leadership's will is to maintain and strengthen the views of extremists and conservatives in the appointed sections of power. After the rift that occurred between the leadership and Vaez Tabasi during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency, the appointment of Ahmad Alamolhoda as the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad was an attempt to manage the limited gap that had emerged. It now seems that with Raisi's appointment, the official political and religious management of Khorasan Razavi Province will become more unified. This alignment, considering the appointment of Ahmad Alamolhoda as the representative of the Supreme Leader in Khorasan Razavi Province, provides a special opportunity for the political forces known as 'Velayatmadar' to strengthen their position in Khorasan Razavi Province. The removal of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's photo from the entrance of the Razavi Islamic Sciences University affiliated with Astan Quds by some students known as justice seekers just three days after Vaez Tabasi's death symbolically displays the shift in the balance of power. Astan Quds is the largest wealth and power of the country's endowments and also constitutes one of the most important financial and political agents influencing the institution of Velayat-e Faqih. This religious-economic foundation not only expands the religious authority of the Supreme Leader but also creates a special propaganda position for him in the largest religious center in Iran, serving as a powerful financial tool for promoting the discourse and cultural views desired by the leadership. The vastness of this complex and the large number of positions and jobs under its umbrella allow for significant job opportunities to be made available to the political forces favored by hardline conservatives. This selection, after the results of the first round of elections became clear, which were not favorable to the hardline conservatives, strengthens the hypothesis that the dominant power structure has not been influenced by the election results, especially the votes of the citizens of the capital, and that selections within the power structure are made in such a way as to continue to control the elected sections and render them ineffective.