"Behind the Minarets: Unraveling the Political Dynamics of Mosque Development in Iran"

An article By Mehdi Beigi@Radio Farda

Recent remarks by Alireza Zakani, the Mayor of Tehran, regarding the municipality's plan to build mosques inside parks have ignited heated debates. Many Iranian social media users speculate that the government's motive behind erecting mosques in parks is to establish additional surveillance bases for monitoring citizens and quelling dissents. Mehdi Beigi, a correspondent from Radio Farda, delves into the intricacies of mosque usage by the Islamic Republic.

Public outcry intensified last week as images and reports circulated online, revealing the initiation of mosque construction in Qeytarieh Park, located in northern Tehran. Responding to critics on March 25th, Mayor Alireza Zakani stated emphatically:

??“ We will definitely construct mosques in parks and we will make good mosques and we do not cut any trees!”

Qeytarieh Park already houses a prayer room, which local residents claim sees limited use. Despite the presence of seven mosques within a radius of 500 meters to one and a half kilometers from the park, the municipality's decision to build an additional mosque within its premises raises questions. Zakani's insistence on constructing mosques in parks aligns with the government's comprehensive plans to enhance and rejuvenate mosque functions.

Recent statistics from the Cultural Monitoring Center indicate 85,000 mosques in Iran, approximately one mosque per thousand people. However, congregational prayers occur in three shifts in only 30% of these mosques, with 16% not conducting congregational prayers at all. Hojatollah Zaker, the cultural and social deputy of the Tehran Province Mosque Affairs Center, previously highlighted that over a thousand of Tehran's 3,500 mosques remain inactive for most of the year. Nevertheless, in recent years, the government has allocated a significant amount of the country's budget to mosques. This budget has been distributed not in a lump sum but partially within the budgets of many governmental institutions.

For instance, in the budget for the last year (Iranian calendar), 98 billion Tomans ( 1.3 million USD) was allocated to the Mosque Affairs Center, 160 billion Tomans (2.5 million USD) to the Islamic Propagation Organization, and 97 billion Tomans(1.5 million USD) to the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution for the organization and supervision of Quranic activities and cultural and artistic centers of mosques. These are just a few examples, and other institutions have also allocated significant amounts under various headings to mosques.

However, no one knows exactly where these budgets are spent, and there is no specific auditing published. Furthermore, utilities such as water, electricity, and gas for mosques have been free for years. According to reports, some mosques also generate income from these free utilities. Almost 5 years ago in June 2019, with the intensification of power shortages in the country and repeated blackouts, Homayoun Haeri, the deputy minister of electricity and energy of the ministry of energy, stated that the launching of digital currency mining is proceeding in a way that some centers benefiting from free electricity tariffs, such as mosques and schools, are involved in Bitcoin mining.

Despite the numerous mosques in Iran and the economic burden they impose, why does the government still emphasize their construction and development?

In recent years, from the Leader of the Islamic Republic to the President and the commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, there has been an emphasis on transforming mosques into the focal point and primary base for public activities.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei once said:

“The mosque serves as a base for various social activities. It is a place where ideas are promoted, responsibilities are distributed, and people are motivated to engage in various tasks.”

Through the development of mosques, the regime aims to have greater control and surveillance, even over smaller parts of cities, namely neighborhoods. During the protests of recent decades, mosques have played a significant role in organizing Basij forces and using them to suppress protesters. Here is the Leader's recommendation to Basij members for permanent presence in neighborhoods and utilizing the experience of Islamic Revolutionary Committees in the 1980s:

"Basij should have tactics and strategies prepared in all neighborhoods across the country. Don't be caught off guard. The experience of the committees in the 1980s is valuable. Make use of that experience."

One of the primary aims of mosques is to draw in adolescents and young individuals to cultivate allegiance to the regime. In the protests sparked by Mahsa Amini's death a year and a half ago, the involvement of students in demonstrations, advocating for liberal values by defacing images of the Supreme Leader and the founder of the Islamic Republic, and participating in other forms of protest have raised concerns within the government about this demographic. Last spring, the Leader of the Islamic Republic issued a request to teachers:

“My other recommendation is to encourage students to attend places of blessing, such as mosques."

The recommendation is now being practically implemented in some areas of the country.

For example, in Birjand, a city in South Khorasan province in Eastern Iran, one day a week, second-grade students have classes in mosques instead of schools. This program, known as "Mosque, School and at Home," is held with the aim, according to officials, of safeguarding youth and adolescents against moral and ideological "abnormalities" in society.

Mosques also aim to control the cultural domain by delving into arts, conducting theater and acting classes, as well as theater and music festivals, etc. Mohammad Mehdi Esmaeili, the Minister of Guidance, even requested mosques to train journalists.

During elections, mosques serve as primary bases for the government. Some analysts believe these are the centers where clerics and the Revolutionary Guard Corps can easily engineer elections.

Officials utilize every trick to draw people to mosques, from installing recreational equipment like foosball and ping pong tables, and sports gear to screening movies and organizing celebrations, etc.

On the April 2, Mehdi Chamran, the head of Tehran City Council, stated that Tehran lacks mosques and that 400 more mosques should be built in the city.

However, the general public, knowing the government's use of mosques, has no tendency to attend them. Now, however, officials have decided to construct mosques in recreational centers such as parks . In the country's next year vision document, it is predicted that the number of mosques in the country will reach 92,000.

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