Top Iranian Cleric Urges Officials to Stay Away from Aristocracy

Mohammad Mohammadian, the representative of Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei at Iranian universities, says aristocracy will chip away at social assets.

He reiterated that managers as well as the clergy should steer clear of aristocracy and should lead a simple life, reported the Persian-language Tasnim News Agency.

Mohammadian said if a Friday Prayer Imam makes a

mistake, he should be criticised.

“If a Friday Prayer Imam has been to a party which was beneath his dignity, we should tell him that what he did was wrong while respecting him; we should criticise and ask why he behaved that way,” said the official.

“If a Friday Prayer Imam is taken to task for spending billions [of rials] on his election campaign, he mustn’t become worried and upset because this is transparency,” the Leader’s representative underscored.

“Our youth and university students should be bold enough to criticise,” he said.

However, he underlined that criticism is different from bias, and “a line needs to be drawn between a person who speaks and acts with prejudice and the one who criticises sympathetically.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Mohammadian rhetorically asked, “How can we sit idly by and simply watch when somebody at … university is clawing at the establishment and wants to gouge out its eyes?”

“The university is no place for such acts,” he underlined.

He said logical criticism and argumentation are different from insulting and fighting the establishment.

“Criticism is different from mudslinging and insulting,” he said.

The Leader’s representative then touched upon the importance of cultural activities at universities, urging university authorities in charge of cultural affairs to discharge their responsibilities and promote cultural activities.

The comments came after the Leader’s representative and Friday Prayers Imam of Ilam in western Iran was harshly criticised for using an SUV car, and refusing to accept the criticisms.