December 31, 2021
The leading hardline daily newspaper has surprisingly called on the government to stop paying funds to Shiite seminaries and by extension to many clerics.
Jomhuri Eslami (Islamic Republic), a newspaper that was established by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution, is now being run and edited by a non-partisan cleric, Massih Mohajeri. His political loyalty rests with Khamenehi, although he has been at times accused by hardliners of supporting Reformists and other moderate elements.
In its editorial November 21, Jomhuri Eslami argued that “seminaries have always been independent of governments in Iran and were funded by the people. It was this independence from government that lent an extraordinary spiritual influence to Shiite clerics.”
The daily said that “in recent years” the seminaries have become dependent on the government, and this has harmed the clerics’ credibility and undermined the seminaries’ independence.
The editorial is in fact referring to the fact that shortly after Khamenehi became Supreme Leader in 1989, he began to feed the seminaries with cash to purchase their loyalty. And he has been successful at doing so.
Now Jomhuri Eslami suggests the government should cut-off its hefty budget payments to the seminaries. Mohajeri, who is himself a cleric, insisted in the editorial that he is not against the clergy or seminaries. However, he said much of the money put at their disposal has been wasted on opulent buildings and questionable activities.
“They spend a lot of money for non-religious matters that not only have no benefit for Islam, but are sometimes even against the interests of the Islamic regime,” he said.
“Be brave and cut off their budget,” the editorial told the government, adding that this is a financially difficult time, and the economy needs such an approach to save the country.
Recently, it was reported by investigative journalists who claimed access to government information that the annual budget allocated to religious institutions, including seminaries, was around $500 million per year in 2018 and 2019.
Regardless of the hefty sums allocated to powerful seminaries, Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli said that small seminaries offered more knowledge and insight to the people during the years before the government started to allocate million-dollar budgets. He argued that luxurious seminaries which look like castles have nothing to offer to the public.
Some critics have charged that Khamenehi, who lacked the right religious qualifications when he became Supreme Leader and was looked down upon by senior clerics, has a grudge against the seminaries and has effectively ruined their reputation and those of top clerics by putting them on the government payroll.