Ayatollah calls on Iranian government not to interfere with Islam

Aug 7, 2010, 15:56 GMT

Berlin - A senior Iranian Ayatollah has repeated his call on the government to avoid interfering in Islamic issues, ISNA news agency reported Saturday.

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, deputy head of the powerful clerical body Experts Assembly, warned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, not to make remarks on Islam, saying they were beyond his professional jurisdiction.

Rahim-Mashaei, widely regarded as the closest aide to the president, said this week in a meeting with Iranian expatriates that the country should introduce the ideology of Iran, rather than Islam, to the world.

Khatami said that his remarks were a 'confrontation between Islam and Iran' and could lead to misinterpretations and discord.

The president's chief of staff countered that what he meant was that the country only acknowledged the 'pure Islam implemented in Iran and not how Islam is interpreted in and by other countries.'

Khatami last month called on Ahmadinejad to avoid entering into the debate on controversial religious issues.

The president had incurred the Ayatollah's wrath by having said there should be less pressure on women to keep to the Islamic dress code and that men should be allowed to wear neckties and women to attend football matches.

The clergy in Iran do not generally favour nationalism in the belief that this could lead to secularism. Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on all affairs of state.

It is not the first time that Rahim-Mashaei, whose daughter is married to Ahmadinejad's son, has caused controversy.

During Ahmadinejad's first presidential term he said that Iran was the enemy of the Israeli government but a friend of the people of Israel. The comments sparked strong protests from Iran's clergy.

Ahmadinejad appointed him vice-president after his re-election last year despite protests from the clergy and parliament and even from among his own supporters

Only an order from supreme leader Khamenei forced Ahmadinejad to accept Rahim-Mashaie's resignation as his first deputy.