‘Wahhabis can’t see Iran as an independent state’

In a meeting with two experts from Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs, Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem-Shirazi noted the position of religious minorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran said that when he was drafting the constitution after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, representatives from Iran’s Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian minorities were also present.

“At the time, we passed a law stating the official religion of Iran would be based on the overwhelming majority religion of the Iranian people – Shi’ah Islam. Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism were also included as recognized religions in the constitution,” he said.

According to Rasa, the revered source of emulation referred to the attempts by the Baha’is to be included as an official religious minority in the Islamic Republic of Iran. “We emphasized that the centre and support of the Baha’i sect is in [Haifa] Israel and thus Baha’ism is not considered an official religion but also rather a political party which is affiliated with Israel,” he said.

Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi referred to the very good relations between Shi’ahs and Sunnis in Iran and stated, “We have a good relationship with Sunni scholars and participate in common activities such as combating the Takfiri ideology together.”

He added that Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians also have full freedom, places of worship, participate in the country’s elections and send representatives to parliament and we have absolutely no quarrel with them.

Regarding the Western media campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran, His Eminence said that the enemies propagate that religious minorities in Iran have no freedom but you can go to their centres and see that they have complete freedom.

“This propaganda is completely full of lies and when some Western news agencies come to Iran, they express astonishment over that which is propagated in the media against Iran,” he explained.

The renowned scholars said criticized the severe attacks against the Shi’ism and said that that which is propagated against Shi’ism has political aspects, meaning Western news agencies with the help of Wahhabis have attacked Shi’ism because they cannot tolerate the existence of a strong and independent Shi’ah state and thus they engage in propagating doubts and false information against Iran.

In conclusion, Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi said, “We consider Indonesia as the largest Islamic country and an important and brotherly relationship exists between us and we hope that the relationship between us will improve. The world is ready to accept Islam and if we are united, certainly we will progress in the world.