RNA – In an interview with Rasa News Agency, Hujjat al-Islam Mahmoud Abdollahi, a member of the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom, discussed the relationship between the institutions of the Islamic Seminary and the Islamic system of governance in Iran. He described the Islamic Revolution as a product of the Seminary.
He explained that the late Imam Khomeini (RA), the founder of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, and all the sources of emulation and the scholars who built the Islamic Revolution were trained by the Seminary.
“The same way that a mother must train her children, the Seminary must train its students. Like children need nourishment to grow, the Seminary that gave birth to the Islamic Revolution must provide the Islamic system with the nourishment that it needs to grow. The Islamic system needs support, protection and preservation and even guidance. The mother cannot remain headless of the needs of her child,” Hujjat al-Islam Abdollahi stated.
He explained that Iran’s system of governance is based on Islamic religious teachings and that the clergy and the Seminary are the protective overseers of Islam and its religious teachings. He also added that because Iran’s system of governance is a system of culture, the Seminary must nourish the system in terms of culture as well. “The value of our revolution is that it is an Islamic system,” Hujjat al-Islam Abdollahi added.
The mission of the Islamic Seminary is to guard the culture of Islam and the religion itself. The Seminary must be continuously linked to the system in order to nourish it in terms of manpower and content. “The Supreme Leader and many sources of emulation have emphasized this,” Hujjat al-Islam Abdollahi noted.
The Seminary is the nourisher, the protector and guardian of the Islamic system but all these things must be done to maintain complete independence of the seminary. The Islamic Seminary should not be like a university, organ or organization under the control of the government.
Hujjat al-Islam Abdollahi explained that throughout history, the Seminary has sought to retain its independence. However, that was during an era where the government was not Islamic. Due to the 1979 Islamic Revolution which established an Islamic Republic where the guardian-jurisprudent was a source of emulation, the Seminary has a duty to train and provide the Islamic system with manpower and maintain its independence under these conditions.
He noted also the meaning of independence is that the Seminary has standards which it must apply just as other academic institutions do. However, the government must also define its support of the seminaries so it does not go out of line.
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