Tehran, YJC. Faculty member of the Political Thought Research Center of the Institute of Islamic Sciences and Culture says a project is underway to evaluate the independence of the Hawza from the government.
Reza Isania said "All along history Shiite Hawzas have
considered independence from governments; this being one of the things that differentiate
them from Sunni Hawzas.”
"Although it is clear from the one-thousand-year history of the
Hawza that it has had interventions in and dealings with religious systems, the
nature of its relations and cooperation has had basic differences from what we
have in the Islamic Republic,” he believed.
Isania added "We must keep in mind that the Islamic Republic
is the first political system that is founded upon the Guardianship of the
Jurist and is approved of and settled by intellectual bases of the Shiite
clerical system.”
He then posed the question if the Hawza would be able to
preserve that point of difference, regarding the social situations prevailing
where impacts from politics are indispensable.
"Therefore,” he stated "major figures of the Hawza have
warned all along these three decades against possibilities that interventions
may enable the government to infiltrate.”
Speaking on the necessities for carrying out the research project,
Isania said "It can be said that due to lack of documented sources, especially
during the 30 years following the Islamic Revolution, this can be a strategic
research on this sensitive issue.”
He hoped that with the project, problems relating to Hawza-government
cooperation would be spotted and solutions could be found.