Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi
Encyclopedia
Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi (born 31 January 1934 in Yazd
) is a hardline
Iran
ian Twelver Shi'i cleric
and politician
who is widely seen as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's spiritual advisor. He is also a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts
, the body responsible for choosing the Supreme Leader
, where he heads a minority ultraconservative faction. He has been called "the most conservative" and the most "powerful" and "influential ... clerical oligarch" in Iran's leading center of religious learning, the city of Qom
.
Mesbah Yazdi advocates Islamic philosophy
and in particular Sadra Mutahillin's Transcendent School of Philosophy (Hikmat-e Muta`aliya). He believes Iran has strayed from the values of the 1979 Iranian revolution
and strongly opposes democratic rule and the Iranian reform movement.
, and then moved to Qom
, where he continued his education in fiqh
(Islamic Jurisprudence). He studied works of Avicenna
and Mulla Sadra
. In the 1950s he joined pro-Khomeini students in Qom. His teachers included prominent figures such as Ayatollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Bahjat Foumani
. He was also among the students of Ayatollah Allameh Tabatabaei
, the author of Tafsir al-Mizan
, the influential shi'a exegesis of Quran. He graduated in 1960. Before the Islamic revolution, he assisted the other clerics, i.e., Mohammad Beheshti and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in publishing two journals called "Mission of Prophet Muhammad" and "Revenge", while he was responsible for all the publishing activities in the latter.
, Mesbah Yazdi encouraged Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Hezbolli
to put a stop to the reform agitation by any means, including violence. After decline of the reform movement in 2003, his supporters made gains in local and parliamentary elections. In 2005, Mesbah Yazdi supported Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidential bid and subsequently gained "direct influence" in the Iranian government through the appointment of loyal supporters "to high posts" after Ahmadinejad's victory. By 2011, however he was sharply critical of Ahmadinejad saying that he was behaving “unnaturally” and needed to be “saved.” After Ahmadinejad fired intelligence minister Heydar Moslehi without consulting Supreme Leader
Ali Khamenei
, Mesbah-Yazdi stated, "That a human being would behave in a way that angers his closest friends and allies and turns them into opponents is not logical for any politician."
According to some sources, Mesbah-Yazdi is rumored to have ambitions to succeed Ali Khamenei
as Supreme Leader
." Some clerics and some newspapers feared Mesbah-Yazdi was trying to expand his already growing power by "packing" the Assembly of Experts
with "loyalists." In October 2006, an acolyte of Mesbah-Yazdi, Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi
, was appointed head of the election commission, supervisor of the poll for the Assembly of Experts
, and many of the candidates in the 2006 Assembly of Experts elections
were Mesbah-Yazdi loyalists (though they ran as independent candidates to avoid revealing their affiliation to Mesbah Yazdi). However, his group failed to achieve a majority in that election, leaving the assembly in the hands of pragmatic-conservatives
. Mesbah-Yazdi himself won a seat but finished only in sixth-place in Tehran municipality where he ran, and now heads the minority ultraconservative faction in the assembly
He has been named by investigative journalist Akbar Ganji
as "having encouraged or issued fatwas, or religious orders" for the 1998 Chain murders of Iran
assassinations of five Iranian dissidents.
in favor of his follower, president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The information came from an open letter issued by a group of Ministry of Interior
employees, who described the cleric as "one of the Qom
Seminary School professors, who also heads a research institute there and previously spoke at the Tehran Friday prayers". In part the fatwa read:
On June 22, a few days after security forces broke up one of the biggest election protests, Mesbah-Yazdi "addressed a gathering" of Revolutionary Guards and told them:
According to Alarabiya news Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi has issued a fatwa
calling for the murder of Mir-Hossein Mousavi
following the election. The fatwa itself has, however, not been provided as evidence.
(also Haqqani) in Qom to train the future cadres of the regime, and is (or was) a member of the school's board of directors. The Haghani School is very influential and has been described as "a kind of Ecole Nationale d'Administration for the Islamic Republic" whose alumni "form the backbone of the clerical management class that runs Iran's key political and security institutions."
Mesbah-Yazdi is the author of many books on fiqh
, Quran exegesis, divinity
and general issues of Islam
. His "Amuzesh-e Falsafeh" is used widely in the philosophy classes of Qom's hawza
. It broadly covers the same ground as Allameh Tabatabaei
's Arabic-language works in philosophy "Bidayat al-Hikmah" and "Nihayat al-Hikma". Mesbah-Yazdi's "Amuzesh-e Falsafeh" has been published in English translation by Mohammad Legenhausen and Azim Sarvdalir as "Philosophical Instructions," Binghamton University 1999.
He publishes the "archconservative" weekly Parto-Sokhan, is the director of the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute in Qom
, founded in 1995, and a member (since 1990) of the Iranian Assembly of Experts
. In addition, Mesbah Yazdi sometimes speaks before Khutbah in Tehran's Friday prayers.
After the presidential election of June 1997 in the relatively more open political atmosphere in that time, Mesbah Yazdi's students played an important role as the critics of the former president Mohammad Khatami
. As a result, Mesbah Yazdi's name appeared more often in the media and became more well known.
He issued a fatwa
in support of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidential bid, and meets with the president frequently. In December 2006, he was elected to the Assembly of Experts
, the group of Ayatollahs responsible for choosing a successor for the Supreme Leader
.
to kill author Salman Rushdie. He considers "the Zionists" to be the fundamental source of evil on earth.
In an article by the Associated Press, quoting from an 2005 book written by Yazdi, the AP asserted that Yazdi made a "rare public call for the producing the 'special weapons' that are monopoly of a few nations -- a veiled reference to nuclear arms."
In a lecture posted on his website, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi warns of Muslim of the "thugs of falsehood and the followers of the damned Satan" who have formed a
Mesbah-Yazdi supports a return to what he sees as the values of the 1979 Iranian revolution
. He believes an "Islamic republic" is a contradiction in terms, as a truly Islamic government would not hold elections as an opportunity for voters to make choices between representatives and policies, but to express their allegiance to the supreme faqih. He believes that "the republican component" was established in Iran as a concession to secular forces and should be "stripped" away to leave the true essence of the "Islamic system." He has been quoted as saying, "It doesn't matter what the people think. The people are ignorant sheep."
Mesbah-Yazdi is also a firm opponent of the Reformist movement in Iran which he believes an Islamic government must "combat ... because injecting misleading ideas [of reform] is like injecting the Aids virus!". He also claims that young Iranians who questioned the regime after studying abroad did so only because they had been trained in 'psychological warfare' by foreign universities. President Khatami once called him the theoretician of violence.
In 2005 he issued a fatwa urging Iranians to vote for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a former student and "protege", whom he is "considered a ideological and spiritual mentor" of, and with whom he reportedly meets with weekly. Following Ahmadinejad's election Mesbah Yazdi declared that Iran now had its first true Islamic government and there was no need for any more elections, which were incompatible with theocracy.
Mesbah Yazdi believes that a trial is not needed to convict and execute offenders. "If anyone insults the Islamic sanctity, Islam has permitted for his blood to be spilled, no court needed either". He has called for the execution of Dr Hashem Aghajari
for insulting Islam based on the blasphemy laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran
. This idea is considered by many, as an open avocation of terrorism.
On the issue of slavery
Mesbah Yazdi has said
In a lecture that was released on February 15, 2006, Mohsen Ghorourian
who is a well-known student of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi said that using atomic bomb has religious legitimacy. In 2005.
Like many prominent Shia clergies, he supports non-literal interpretations
of various verses of the Qur'an and narrations attributed to the Prophet and his followers. Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi opposes bida'a or innovations in religion which he believes includes new interpretations of the Sunna
and Qur'an
. He has been quoted as saying: "If someone tells you he has a new interpretation of Islam, sock him in the mouth."
In August 2009 he is reported to have warned Iranian opposition groups against undermining supreme leader Ali Khamenei
, stating,
group. Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi denies this and has denounced the rumor, saying that if anyone finds a connection between him and Hojjatieh, he will renounce everything he stands for. Ayatollah Khomeini actually frowned on the Hojjatieh and the group was nominally dissolved in 1983, yet they secretly continued to maintain and strengthen their network.
Yazd
Yazd is the capital of Yazd Province in Iran, and a centre of Zoroastrian culture. The city is located some 175 miles southeast of Isfahan. At the 2006 census, the population was 423,006, in 114,716 families....
) is a hardline
Hardline
In politics, hardline refers to the doctrine, policy, and posturing of a government or political body as being absolutist and sometimes authoritarian. The hardline position is usually extremist and uncompromising....
Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian Twelver Shi'i cleric
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
who is widely seen as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's spiritual advisor. He is also a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts
Assembly of Experts
The Assembly of Experts of Iran , also translated as Council of Experts, is a deliberative body of 86 Mujtahids that is charged with electing and removing the Supreme Leader of Iran and supervising his activities.Members of the assembly are elected from a government-screened list of candidates by...
, the body responsible for choosing the Supreme Leader
Supreme Leader of Iran
The Supreme Leader of Iran is the highest ranking political and religious authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The post was established by the constitution in accordance with the concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists...
, where he heads a minority ultraconservative faction. He has been called "the most conservative" and the most "powerful" and "influential ... clerical oligarch" in Iran's leading center of religious learning, the city of Qom
Qom
Qom is a city in Iran. It lies by road southwest of Tehran and is the capital of Qom Province. At the 2006 census, its population was 957,496, in 241,827 families. It is situated on the banks of the Qom River....
.
Mesbah Yazdi advocates Islamic philosophy
Islamic philosophy
Islamic philosophy is a branch of Islamic studies. It is the continuous search for Hekma in the light of Islamic view of life, universe, ethics, society, and so on...
and in particular Sadra Mutahillin's Transcendent School of Philosophy (Hikmat-e Muta`aliya). He believes Iran has strayed from the values of the 1979 Iranian revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
and strongly opposes democratic rule and the Iranian reform movement.
Education
Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi completed his primary and secondary education in YazdYazd
Yazd is the capital of Yazd Province in Iran, and a centre of Zoroastrian culture. The city is located some 175 miles southeast of Isfahan. At the 2006 census, the population was 423,006, in 114,716 families....
, and then moved to Qom
Qom
Qom is a city in Iran. It lies by road southwest of Tehran and is the capital of Qom Province. At the 2006 census, its population was 957,496, in 241,827 families. It is situated on the banks of the Qom River....
, where he continued his education in fiqh
Fiqh
Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
(Islamic Jurisprudence). He studied works of Avicenna
Avicenna
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
and Mulla Sadra
Mulla Sadra
Ṣadr ad-Dīn Muḥammad Shīrāzī also called Mulla Sadrā was a Persian Shia Islamic philosopher, theologian and ‘Ālim who led the Iranian cultural renaissance in the 17th century...
. In the 1950s he joined pro-Khomeini students in Qom. His teachers included prominent figures such as Ayatollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Bahjat Foumani
Mohammad Taghi Bahjat Foumani
Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Bahjat Foumani was an Iranian Twelver Shi'a Marja with political and social views close to fundamentalist schools. He was a student of the famous mystic, Sayed Ali Qadhi Tabatabaei, and also a student of Abulhasan Isfahani and Mirza Naini...
. He was also among the students of Ayatollah Allameh Tabatabaei
Allameh Tabatabaei
Allameh Seyyed Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaei was one of the most prominent thinkers of philosophy and contemporary Shia Islam...
, the author of Tafsir al-Mizan
Tafsir al-Mizan
Al-Mizan fi tafsiri'l-Qur'an, popularly known as Tafsir al-Mizan ,is a Shi'a Muslim tafsir written by Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Hussein Tabataba'i....
, the influential shi'a exegesis of Quran. He graduated in 1960. Before the Islamic revolution, he assisted the other clerics, i.e., Mohammad Beheshti and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in publishing two journals called "Mission of Prophet Muhammad" and "Revenge", while he was responsible for all the publishing activities in the latter.
Political activity
In 1997, after the election of reformist president, Mohammad KhatamiMohammad Khatami
Sayyid Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s...
, Mesbah Yazdi encouraged Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Hezbolli
Hezbollah of Iran
The Hezbollah, or Party of God, is an Iranian movement formed at the time of the Iranian Revolution to assist the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his forces in consolidating power...
to put a stop to the reform agitation by any means, including violence. After decline of the reform movement in 2003, his supporters made gains in local and parliamentary elections. In 2005, Mesbah Yazdi supported Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidential bid and subsequently gained "direct influence" in the Iranian government through the appointment of loyal supporters "to high posts" after Ahmadinejad's victory. By 2011, however he was sharply critical of Ahmadinejad saying that he was behaving “unnaturally” and needed to be “saved.” After Ahmadinejad fired intelligence minister Heydar Moslehi without consulting Supreme Leader
Supreme leader
A supreme leader typically refers to a figure in the highest leadership position of an entity, group, organization, or state, who exercises strong or all-powerful authority over it. In religion, the supreme leader or supreme leaders is God or Gods...
Ali Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
, Mesbah-Yazdi stated, "That a human being would behave in a way that angers his closest friends and allies and turns them into opponents is not logical for any politician."
According to some sources, Mesbah-Yazdi is rumored to have ambitions to succeed Ali Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
as Supreme Leader
Supreme Leader of Iran
The Supreme Leader of Iran is the highest ranking political and religious authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The post was established by the constitution in accordance with the concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists...
." Some clerics and some newspapers feared Mesbah-Yazdi was trying to expand his already growing power by "packing" the Assembly of Experts
Assembly of Experts
The Assembly of Experts of Iran , also translated as Council of Experts, is a deliberative body of 86 Mujtahids that is charged with electing and removing the Supreme Leader of Iran and supervising his activities.Members of the assembly are elected from a government-screened list of candidates by...
with "loyalists." In October 2006, an acolyte of Mesbah-Yazdi, Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi
Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi
Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi is a "senior adviser" to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and deputy interior minister for political affairs. He is said to have "strong ties to the Revolutionary Guard Corps and to the intelligence services" and to be "a constant presence at the president's side, in...
, was appointed head of the election commission, supervisor of the poll for the Assembly of Experts
Assembly of Experts
The Assembly of Experts of Iran , also translated as Council of Experts, is a deliberative body of 86 Mujtahids that is charged with electing and removing the Supreme Leader of Iran and supervising his activities.Members of the assembly are elected from a government-screened list of candidates by...
, and many of the candidates in the 2006 Assembly of Experts elections
Iranian Assembly of Experts election, 2006
The Iranian Assembly of Experts election of 2006 was held on December 15, 2006. People elected representatives for the Assembly of Experts, the mujtahid that elect the Supreme Leader....
were Mesbah-Yazdi loyalists (though they ran as independent candidates to avoid revealing their affiliation to Mesbah Yazdi). However, his group failed to achieve a majority in that election, leaving the assembly in the hands of pragmatic-conservatives
Militant Clergy Association
The Combatant Clergy Association or , is a political party in Iran. It is a pragmatic-conservative clerical party, and was the majority party in the fourth and fifth parliaments after the Islamic revolution. It was founded in 1977 by a group of clerics with intentions to use culture to overthrow...
. Mesbah-Yazdi himself won a seat but finished only in sixth-place in Tehran municipality where he ran, and now heads the minority ultraconservative faction in the assembly
He has been named by investigative journalist Akbar Ganji
Akbar Ganji
Akbar Ganji is an Iranian journalist and writer. He has been described as "Iran’s preeminent political dissident", and a "wildly popular pro-democracy journalist" who has crossed press censorship "red lines" regularly...
as "having encouraged or issued fatwas, or religious orders" for the 1998 Chain murders of Iran
Chain murders of Iran
The Chain Murders of Iran , or Serial Murders, were a series of murders and disappearances from 1988-1998 by Iranian government operatives of Iranian dissident intellectuals who had been critical of the Islamic Republic system in some way.The victims included more than 80 writers, translators,...
assassinations of five Iranian dissidents.
2009 Presidential Election
Mesbah-Yazdi supported Ahmadinejad in 2009 and declared his election a miracle and a gift from the Hidden Imam. According to the website roozonline, an unnamed cleric that could only have been Mesbah-Yazdi reportedly issued a "religious decree to manipulate the results" of the 2009 electionIranian presidential election, 2009
Iran's tenth presidential election was held on 12 June 2009, with incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad running against three challengers. The next morning the Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's official news agency, announced that with two-thirds of the votes counted, Ahmadinejad had won the election...
in favor of his follower, president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The information came from an open letter issued by a group of Ministry of Interior
Ministry of Interior (Iran)
The Ministry of Interior of the Islamic Republic of Iran is in charge of performing, supervising and reporting elections, and policing, among other responsibilities related to the interior....
employees, who described the cleric as "one of the Qom
Qom
Qom is a city in Iran. It lies by road southwest of Tehran and is the capital of Qom Province. At the 2006 census, its population was 957,496, in 241,827 families. It is situated on the banks of the Qom River....
Seminary School professors, who also heads a research institute there and previously spoke at the Tehran Friday prayers". In part the fatwa read:
"if an election of a presidential candidate, would cause the islamic principles, although it's rising in the countries like LebanonLebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, PalestinePalestinePalestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, VenezuelaVenezuelaVenezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
and other parts of world, start diminishing it is HaraamHaraamHaraam is an Arabic term meaning "forbidden", or "sacred". In Islam it is used to refer to anything that is prohibited by the word of Allah in the Qur'an or the Hadith Qudsi. Haraam is the highest status of prohibition given to anything that would result in sin when a Muslim commits it...
[forbidden by Islam] to vote for that person. We shouldn't vote for that person and we should inform the people not to vote for him either, or else. For you, as administrators of the election, everything is permitted to this end."
On June 22, a few days after security forces broke up one of the biggest election protests, Mesbah-Yazdi "addressed a gathering" of Revolutionary Guards and told them:
"Do not be worried about the events and earthquakes that have occurred. Know that God created this world as a test, ... The supreme leaderSupreme Leader of IranThe Supreme Leader of Iran is the highest ranking political and religious authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The post was established by the constitution in accordance with the concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists...
holds a great many of the blessings God has given us and at a time of such uncertainties our eyes must turn to him."
According to Alarabiya news Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi has issued a fatwa
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
calling for the murder of Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh is an Iranian reformist politician, artist and architect who served as the seventy-ninth and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He was a Reformist candidate for the 2009 presidential election and eventually the leader of the opposition in the post-election...
following the election. The fatwa itself has, however, not been provided as evidence.
Career
Mesbah-Yazdi has been described as close to Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, Khomeini's first designated heir who was assassinated in 1981 (despite being considered a moderate). Mesbah Yazdi helped Beheshti establish the Haghani SchoolHaghani Circle
Haghani school is a Shi'i school of thought in Iran by a group of hardliner right-wing clerics based in the holy city of Qom and headed by Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, an influential theologian. The Haghani Circle has its origin in the Haghani seminary, founded in 1964, which previously...
(also Haqqani) in Qom to train the future cadres of the regime, and is (or was) a member of the school's board of directors. The Haghani School is very influential and has been described as "a kind of Ecole Nationale d'Administration for the Islamic Republic" whose alumni "form the backbone of the clerical management class that runs Iran's key political and security institutions."
Mesbah-Yazdi is the author of many books on fiqh
Fiqh
Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
, Quran exegesis, divinity
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
and general issues of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. His "Amuzesh-e Falsafeh" is used widely in the philosophy classes of Qom's hawza
Hawza
Hawza or ḥawza ʻilmiyya is a seminary of traditional Islamic school of higher learning. It is a term used mostly by the Shi'a Muslims communities to refer to a traditional Shi'a centre where clerics are trained...
. It broadly covers the same ground as Allameh Tabatabaei
Allameh Tabatabaei
Allameh Seyyed Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaei was one of the most prominent thinkers of philosophy and contemporary Shia Islam...
's Arabic-language works in philosophy "Bidayat al-Hikmah" and "Nihayat al-Hikma". Mesbah-Yazdi's "Amuzesh-e Falsafeh" has been published in English translation by Mohammad Legenhausen and Azim Sarvdalir as "Philosophical Instructions," Binghamton University 1999.
He publishes the "archconservative" weekly Parto-Sokhan, is the director of the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute in Qom
Qom
Qom is a city in Iran. It lies by road southwest of Tehran and is the capital of Qom Province. At the 2006 census, its population was 957,496, in 241,827 families. It is situated on the banks of the Qom River....
, founded in 1995, and a member (since 1990) of the Iranian Assembly of Experts
Assembly of Experts
The Assembly of Experts of Iran , also translated as Council of Experts, is a deliberative body of 86 Mujtahids that is charged with electing and removing the Supreme Leader of Iran and supervising his activities.Members of the assembly are elected from a government-screened list of candidates by...
. In addition, Mesbah Yazdi sometimes speaks before Khutbah in Tehran's Friday prayers.
After the presidential election of June 1997 in the relatively more open political atmosphere in that time, Mesbah Yazdi's students played an important role as the critics of the former president Mohammad Khatami
Mohammad Khatami
Sayyid Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s...
. As a result, Mesbah Yazdi's name appeared more often in the media and became more well known.
He issued a fatwa
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
in support of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidential bid, and meets with the president frequently. In December 2006, he was elected to the Assembly of Experts
Assembly of Experts
The Assembly of Experts of Iran , also translated as Council of Experts, is a deliberative body of 86 Mujtahids that is charged with electing and removing the Supreme Leader of Iran and supervising his activities.Members of the assembly are elected from a government-screened list of candidates by...
, the group of Ayatollahs responsible for choosing a successor for the Supreme Leader
Supreme Leader of Iran
The Supreme Leader of Iran is the highest ranking political and religious authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The post was established by the constitution in accordance with the concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists...
.
Views
Mesbah Yazdi has been described as "a theoretician of the radicals" in Iran, "extremely hostile towards the West" and "the first senior figure" in Iran to have "publicly endorsed a military nuclear programme." He advocates suicide bombings, the killing of "any person who insults Islam," and the carrying out of the fatwaThe Satanic Verses controversy
The Satanic Verses controversy was the heated and sometimes violent Muslim reaction to the publication of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses. Many Muslims accused Rushdie of blasphemy or unbelief and in 1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie...
to kill author Salman Rushdie. He considers "the Zionists" to be the fundamental source of evil on earth.
In an article by the Associated Press, quoting from an 2005 book written by Yazdi, the AP asserted that Yazdi made a "rare public call for the producing the 'special weapons' that are monopoly of a few nations -- a veiled reference to nuclear arms."
In a lecture posted on his website, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi warns of Muslim of the "thugs of falsehood and the followers of the damned Satan" who have formed a
coalition of the forces of infidelity and hypocrisy, the servants of dollars and euros/gold and silver, and influential oppressors and traitors to uproot Islam, to fight Muslims, to dominate their countries, wealth, and resources, to deny their glories and excellence, to destroy their relics and teachings, to wipe out their culture, to alter their identity, to put them in miserable conditions, and to force them into wretchedness in this world and God’s punishment in the hereafter.
Mesbah-Yazdi supports a return to what he sees as the values of the 1979 Iranian revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
. He believes an "Islamic republic" is a contradiction in terms, as a truly Islamic government would not hold elections as an opportunity for voters to make choices between representatives and policies, but to express their allegiance to the supreme faqih. He believes that "the republican component" was established in Iran as a concession to secular forces and should be "stripped" away to leave the true essence of the "Islamic system." He has been quoted as saying, "It doesn't matter what the people think. The people are ignorant sheep."
Mesbah-Yazdi is also a firm opponent of the Reformist movement in Iran which he believes an Islamic government must "combat ... because injecting misleading ideas [of reform] is like injecting the Aids virus!". He also claims that young Iranians who questioned the regime after studying abroad did so only because they had been trained in 'psychological warfare' by foreign universities. President Khatami once called him the theoretician of violence.
In 2005 he issued a fatwa urging Iranians to vote for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a former student and "protege", whom he is "considered a ideological and spiritual mentor" of, and with whom he reportedly meets with weekly. Following Ahmadinejad's election Mesbah Yazdi declared that Iran now had its first true Islamic government and there was no need for any more elections, which were incompatible with theocracy.
Mesbah Yazdi believes that a trial is not needed to convict and execute offenders. "If anyone insults the Islamic sanctity, Islam has permitted for his blood to be spilled, no court needed either". He has called for the execution of Dr Hashem Aghajari
Hashem Aghajari
Hashem Aghajari also Seyyed Hashem Aghajari is an Iranian historian, university professor and a critic of the Islamic Republic's government who was sentenced to death in 2002 for apostasy for a speech he gave on Islam urging Iranians to "not blindly follow" Islamic clerics...
for insulting Islam based on the blasphemy laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Blasphemy laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Iran is a constitutional, Islamic theocracy. Its official religion is the doctrine of the Twelver Jaafari School. Iran's law against blasphemy derives from Sharia. Blasphemers are usually charged with "spreading corruption on earth", or mofsed-e-filarz, which can also be applied to criminal or...
. This idea is considered by many, as an open avocation of terrorism.
On the issue of slavery
Islam and Slavery
Islamic views on slavery first developed out of the slavery practices of pre-Islamic Arabia. During the wars between different states/tribes in various parts of the world, prisoners/captives were either killed or enslaved...
Mesbah Yazdi has said
Today, too, if there’s a war between us and the infidels, we’ll take slaves. The ruling on slavery hasn’t expired and is eternal. We’ll take slaves and we’ll bring them to the world of IslamIslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and have them stay with Muslims. We’ll guide them, make them Muslims and then return them to their countries.
In a lecture that was released on February 15, 2006, Mohsen Ghorourian
Mohsen Ghorourian
Mohsen Gharavian is an Iranian fundamentalist cleric who has openly advocated nuclear weapons to achieve Islamic objectives.He is a student of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi.-References and notes:...
who is a well-known student of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi said that using atomic bomb has religious legitimacy. In 2005.
Like many prominent Shia clergies, he supports non-literal interpretations
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...
of various verses of the Qur'an and narrations attributed to the Prophet and his followers. Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi opposes bida'a or innovations in religion which he believes includes new interpretations of the Sunna
Sunnah
The word literally means a clear, well trodden, busy and plain surfaced road. In the discussion of the sources of religion, Sunnah denotes the practice of Prophet Muhammad that he taught and practically instituted as a teacher of the sharī‘ah and the best exemplar...
and Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
. He has been quoted as saying: "If someone tells you he has a new interpretation of Islam, sock him in the mouth."
In August 2009 he is reported to have warned Iranian opposition groups against undermining supreme leader Ali Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
, stating,
"When the president is endorsed by the leader, obeying him is similar to obedience to God."
Controversy
Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi has been described as "affiliated" with the HojjatiehHojjatieh
Hojjatieh — also called Hojjatieh Society — is a semi-clandestine traditionalist Shia organization founded in Iran in 1953 by Shaikh Mahmoud Halabi with permission of Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi...
group. Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi denies this and has denounced the rumor, saying that if anyone finds a connection between him and Hojjatieh, he will renounce everything he stands for. Ayatollah Khomeini actually frowned on the Hojjatieh and the group was nominally dissolved in 1983, yet they secretly continued to maintain and strengthen their network.
Quotes by Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi
- "If someone tells you he has a new interpretation of Islam, sock him in the mouth."
- "The real and precious knowledge is the one that culminates in God fearing."
- "If it is impossible to uncover the hypocrites faces other than through sacrificing our souls, therefore we are supposed to do so."(In Persian)
- "We should know that 1,400 years ago the Koran said that the enemies of Islam will always fight while chanting peace-seeking slogans."
- "Islam cannot accept that a group of people congregate and decide to initiate laws for themselves" (Ettela'at, 1 Oct. 1993)
- " ...when protecting Islam and the Muslim `Ummah depends on martyrdom operations (suicide bombings), it not only is allowed, but even is an obligation... http://mesbahyazdi.com/english/index.asp?contact-us/afq/contact4.htm#عمليات+شهادت+طلبانه
See also
- Abbasali Amid ZanjaniAbbasali Amid ZanjaniAyatollah Abbasali Amid Zanjani was an Iranian politician and cleric. He was the only cleric president of University of Tehran, served from 2005 to 2008. -Early life:...
- Haghani CircleHaghani CircleHaghani school is a Shi'i school of thought in Iran by a group of hardliner right-wing clerics based in the holy city of Qom and headed by Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, an influential theologian. The Haghani Circle has its origin in the Haghani seminary, founded in 1964, which previously...
- History of fundamentalist Islam in IranHistory of fundamentalist Islam in IranThe history of fundamentalist Islam in Iran covers the history of Islamic revivalism and the rise of political Islam in modern Iran. Today, there are basically three types of Islam in Iran: traditionalism, modernism, and a variety of forms of revivalism usually brought together as fundamentalism...
- HojjatiehHojjatiehHojjatieh — also called Hojjatieh Society — is a semi-clandestine traditionalist Shia organization founded in Iran in 1953 by Shaikh Mahmoud Halabi with permission of Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi...
External links
- Official Site
- The rise of Prof 'Crocodile' - a hardliner to terrify hardliners
- Dariush Ashouri on: Ahmad Fardid and fascism in Iran
- His textbook "Philosophical Instructions"
- Iran's crocodile rocked
- Scholar with a dangerous bite