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Iran
Religious Institutions and Organizations
Historically, the single most important religious institution
in Iran has been the mosque. In towns, congregational prayers,
as well as prayers and rites associated with religious observances
and important phases in the lives of Muslims, took place in mosques.
Iranian Shias before the Revolution did not generally attach great
significance to institutionalization, however, and there was little
emphasis on mosque attendance, even for the Friday congregational
prayers. Mosques were primarily an urban phenomenon, and in most
of the thousands of small villages there were no mosques. Mosques
in the larger cities began to assume more important social roles
during the 1970s; during the Revolution they played a prominent
role in organizing people for the large demonstrations that took
place in 1978 and 1979. Since that time their role has continued
to expand, so that in 1987 mosques played important political
and social roles as well as religious ones.
Another religious institution of major significance was a special
building known as a hoseiniyeh. Hoseiniyehs existed in
urban areas and traditionally served as sites for recitals commemorating
the martyrdom of Husayn, especially during the month of Moharram.
In the 1970s, some hoseiniyehs, such as the Hoseiniyeh
Irshad in Tehran, became politicized as prominent clerical and
lay preachers used the symbol of the deaths as martyrs of Husayn
and the other Imams as thinly veiled criticism of Mohammad Reza
Shah's regime, thus helping to lay the groundwork for the Revolution
in 1979.
Institutions providing religious education include madrasehs
and maktabs. Madrasehs, or seminaries, historically have
been important for advanced training in Shia theology and jurisprudence.
Madrasehs are generally associated with noted Shia scholars
who have attained the rank of ayatollah. There are also some older
madrasehs, established initially through endowments,
at which several scholars may teach. Students, known as talabehs,
live on the grounds of the madrasehs and are provided
stipends for the duration of their studies, usually a minimum
of seven years, during which they prepare for the examinations
that qualify a seminary student to be a low-level preacher, or
mullah. At the time of the Revolution, there were slightly more
than 11,000 talabehs in Iran; approximately 60 percent
of these were studying at the madrasehs in the city of
Qom, another 25 percent were enrolled in the important madrasehs
of Mashhad and Esfahan, and the rest were at madrasehs
in Tabriz, Yazd, Shiraz, Tehran, Zanjan, and other cities.
Maktabs, primary schools run by the clergy, were the
only educational institutions prior to the end of the nineteenth
century when the first secular schools were established. Maktabs
declined in numbers and importance as the government developed
a national public school system beginning in the 1930s. Nevertheless,
maktabs continued to exist as private religious schools
right up to the Revolution. Since 1979 the public education system
has been desecularized and the maktabs and their essentially
religious curricula merged with government schools (see Education
, this ch.).
Another major religious institution in Iran is the shrine. There
are more than 1,100 shrines that vary from crumbling sites associated
with local saints to the imposing shrines of Imam Reza and his
sister Fatima in Mashhad and Qom, respectively. These more famous
shrines are huge complexes that include the mausoleums of the
venerated Eighth Imam and his sister, tombs of former shahs, mosques,
madrasehs, and libraries. Imam Reza's shrine is the largest
and is considered to be the holiest. In addition to the usual
shrine accoutrements, Imam Reza's shrine contains hospitals, dispensaries,
a museum, and several mosques located in a series of courtyards
surrounding his tomb. Most of the present shrine dates from the
early fourteenth century, except for the dome, which was rebuilt
after being damaged in an earthquake in 1673. The shrine's endowments
and gifts are the largest of all religious institutions in the
country. Traditionally, free meals for as many as 1,000 people
per day are provided at the shrine. Although there are no special
times for visiting this or other shrines, it is customary for
pilgrimage traffic to be heaviest during Shia holy periods. It
has been estimated that more than 3 million pilgrims visit the
shrine annually.
Visitors to Imam Reza's shrine represent all socioeconomic levels.
Whereas piety is a motivation for many, others come to seek the
spiritual grace or general good fortune that a visit to the shrine
is believed to ensure. Commonly a pilgrimage is undertaken to
petition Imam Reza to act as an intermediary between the pilgrim
and God. Since the nineteenth century, it has been customary among
the bazaar class and members of the lower classes to recognize
those who have made a pilgrimage to Mashhad by prefixing their
names with the title mashti.
The next most important shrine is that of Imam Reza's sister,
Fatima, known as Hazarat-e Masumeh (the Pure Saint). The present
shrine dates from the early sixteenth century, although some later
additions, including the gilded tiles, were affixed in the early
nineteenth century. Other important shrines are those of Shah
Abdol Azim, a relative of Imam Reza, who is entombed at Rey, near
Tehran, and Shah Cheragh, a brother of Imam Reza, who is buried
in Shiraz. A leading shrine honoring a person not belonging to
the family of Imams is that of the Sufi master Sayyid Nimatollah
Vali near Kerman. Shias make pilgrimages to these shrines and
the hundreds of local imamzadehs to petition the saints
to grant them special favors or to help them through a period
of troubles.
Because Shias believe that the holy Imams can intercede for the
dead as well as for the living, cemeteries traditionally have
been located adjacent to the most important shrines in both Iran
and Iraq. Corpses were transported overland for burial in Karbala
in southern Iraq until the practice was prohibited in the 1930s.
Corpses are still shipped to Mashhad and Qom for burial in the
shrine cemeteries of these cities.
The constant movement of pilgrims from all over Iran to Mashhad
and Qom has helped bind together a linguistically heterogeneous
population. Pilgrims serve as major sources of information about
conditions in different parts of the country and thus help to
mitigate the parochialism of the regions.
A traditional source of financial support for all religious institutions
has been the vaqf, a religious endowment by which land
and other income-producing property is given in perpetuity for
the maintenance of a shrine, mosque, madraseh, or charitable
institution such as a hospital, library, or orphanage. A mutavalli
administers a vaqf in accordance with the stipulations
in the donor's bequest. In many vaqfs the position of
mutavalli is hereditary. Under the Pahlavis, the government
attempted to exercise control over the administration of vaqfs,
especially those of the larger shrines. This was a source of conflict
with the clergy, who perceived the government's efforts as lessening
their influence and authority in traditional religious matters.
The government's interference with the administration of vaqfs
led to a sharp decline in the number of vaqf bequests.
Instead, wealthy and pious Shias chose to give financial contributions
directly to the leading ayatollahs in the form of zakat,
or obligatory alms. The clergy in turn used the funds to administer
their madrasehs and to institute various educational
and charitable programs, which indirectly provided them with more
influence in society. The access of the clergy to a steady and
independent source of funding was an important factor in their
ability to resist state controls and ultimately helped them direct
the opposition to the shah.
Data as of December 1987
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