Mesbah Yazdi: Universities Must Become Islamic

Shervin Omidvar, Rooz Online:

Concurrent with his ambitions and steps to place his disciples in the Majlis Khobregan (Assembly of Experts for Leadership), ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, the conservative and vocal cleric from Qom who is also a member of Qom’s powerful Theology Seminary, has called the performance of the Supreme Council for the Cultural Revolution to be the impediment to the Islamization of the nation’s universities. His statements come at a time when university students are already complaining that the atmosphere in their institutions has already become security focused. During the last few months, most of the political and even cultural activities of students have been call off by authorities, while many have been summoned by courts or university disciplinary committees and given warnings about their activities. But none of these pressures seem to have been sufficient to Yazdi, who is now calling for the Islamization of the universities. It is noteworthy that Yazdi is one of the members of the Cultural Revolution Council.

In a meeting with Kamran Bagheri Lankarani, the Minister of Health, ayatollah Yazdi criticized the inattention of the Cultural Revolution Council to the Islamization of the universities, and called on all the agencies of the government to follow the fatwas (religious edicts) issued by the clerics. This call comes less than a month after the government appointed Amid Zanjani, a well-known hardline cleric as the new chancellor of Tehran University. Yazdi’s call may be related to the new appointment, which he feels is not sufficient to Islamicize the academic institutions of higher education.

In his talk, Yazdi made references to Khomeini’s speeches and words about Islamicizing the universities. “Nothing more than the production of a few pieces of paper,” is how he referenced the work of the Cultural Revolution Council. “No results have come from a project that had been identified 10 years ago for clerics to review and modify university books,” he said. He attacked the work and members of the Council by asserting that the group was formed merely to pay lip service to Khomeini’s call, while “no change was intended” right from its inception.

In recent past, Yazdi had also criticized the administrators of universities, accusing them of not being knowledgeable, and thus committing gross mistakes. He has also said that Islamic sciences are superior to others but this is not taken into account in the curricula. “Sciences such as physics, chemistry, and engineering can be acquired from outside, while Islamic sciences cannot,” he has said cutting down the value of the hard sciences and engineering.

Yazdi’s Islamization ideas include “retraining” of faculty members, which he has called for. “I had proposed that university faculty members be “re-educated” at a meeting in the presence of the Minister of Science,” he has said.

In an earlier meeting with Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps commanders, Yazdi had emphasized faith as the core of every aspect of life and thus called on them to stand firm against those who weaken it. In view of his past records and events, veteran political observers have interpreted these words to be an invitation to combat and disrupt student discussion meetings or others where the talks or viewpoints deviate from the narrow religious interpretations of the clerics. One should thus not be surprised if violence again erupts as any discussion meetings or talks. READ MORE

Yazdi is considered the father of the hardliners by many, and certainly their principal ideologue. He was the leader of the clerics opposing the views and policies of former president Khatami during his 8 year administration. Cleric watchers say that Yazdi was not in the lime light during Khomeini’s years, primarily because even Khomeini did not approve of his harsh views. But with Khatami as the chief administrator, Yazdi launched his campaign and came out in the open with his views and criticisms. He vehemently opposed the reformers during those years and used his teaching position at Haggani religious school to build a large and dedicated following. During the years when reformers were busy with their own agenda, he was busy with his, building new right wing centers such as Rahe Hag, Imam Khomeini Education Center, Office of Seminary and University Cooperation, etc. Some of the leading political personalities of the day, such as president Ahmadinejad and Hashemi Samareh are the products of his teachings.