Tehran, October 16: Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi-Golpayegani has lashed out at Iran’s Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar for suggesting the appointment of female governors.
The criticism came after Mohammad-Najjar talked about the possibility of appointing female governors for a number of provinces last week.
“Unfortunately we see them [Najjar] come to the center of Shia Islam in Qom and announce that female governors will be appointed for a number of provinces,” Grand Ayatollah Golpayegani said in a meeting with a number of cleric lawmakers.
“Who are you trying to oppose? Are you trying to go against the laws of God and the fundamentals of religion?,” IRNA quoted the Ayatollah Golpayegani as saying.
Ayatollah Golpayegani added, “No other religion has placed such great value on women and it is only Islam that has bestowed the highest level of dignity on women and orders men to serve them.”
“Serving women doesn’t mean giving them men’s work [responsibilities] and our Islamic culture has many differences with the culture of the East and the West.”
The Ahmadinejad administration also faced oppositions when it nominated three women for ministerial positions.
In September, Iranian lawmakers gave their votes of confidence to one of the three female ministers proposed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad making Marziyeh Vahid-Dastjerdi the first woman minister in the 30-year history of the Islamic Republic.
“If certain parties decide to alter the sacred values of the Islamic Revolution, without taking into consideration the views of the scholars and those devoted to the Revolution,… they will face the wrath of God and the rage of the nation,” the Grand Ayatollah concluded.
—–Agencies