Conventional Wisdom vs. the Inside Scoop

Conventional Wisdom: The clergy are securely stationed at all levels of the power structure and have a stranglehold on the population.

View From the Inside: These days, the clergy are not winning elections. They may be involved in screening candidates, but clerics have shied away from putting their names on the ballot after suffering continual defeats. Representation has dropped to 15 percent in the most recent parliament, down from 52 percent after the revolution.

Fewer clerics are also being appointed to administrative offices, and today only 10 percent of cabinet positions are held by clergy.

“Putting a cleric in charge of a ministry is not going to do any good. You need expertise,” says Mehrzad Boroujerdi, a political science professor at Syracuse University who studies the Iranian political system. Boroujerdi says many clerics try to maintain their influence by getting involved in business ventures and organizations that provide funding for city projects.

The two most popular movies in Iran last year both dealt with the concept of senior clergy who are grossly out of touch with the citizenry. “It was standing room only; you couldn’t get a seat in the theater,” says journalist and scholar Afshin Molavi, a fellow at the New America Foundation.

“Clerics in a sense have not delivered for Iranians,” observes Molavi. “When I’m in Egypt or Jordan, I still hear language like 'Islam mohel' (Islam is the solution); in Iran you don’t have a lot of that language being used because they’ve seen that Islam is not part of the solution.” Many citizens are exploring Sufism, and relaxing traditions such as fasting, says Molavi.

Age is an undeniable enemy as well. “Since 1979 the same ruling inner circle has run Iran. This group today does not rest easy,” notes retired Ambassador John Limbert, a longtime U.S. diplomat who was taken hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Iran in 1979.

A new generation is asserting itself, and many who served at the feet of the clerics during the revolution are now poised to assume positions of power. The new generation of mullahs themselves are acting on their own to assist individuals and groups pushing ahead on human rights issues.

Omid Memarian, an Iranian journalist who has done prison time for his outspoken stories, would like to see more positive stories about these clerics. “A person who actually saved my life was an ayatollah. If you study different cases, you can see how many are trying to reach out and be on the side of society.”

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