{"id":1313,"date":"2018-10-11T20:19:03","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T20:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1313"},"modified":"2018-10-11T20:20:40","modified_gmt":"2018-10-11T20:20:40","slug":"1313","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1313","title":{"rendered":"Austria Ignores Threat of Iranian Islamism"},"content":{"rendered":"

A crackdown on Sunni Islam gives Shiite Iranians a free pass.<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

Oct.11.2018- Spectator – In June 2018, the Austrian government\u00a0announced\u00a0it would shut down seven mosques and expel sixty imams, because of their putative links to Salafi-jihadists or Turkish regime networks. The government\u2019s decision was made in the wake of a 2015 law that banned foreign funding of religious institutions and\u00a0required\u00a0Muslim organizations to express a \u201cpositive approach towards the society and the state\u201d of Austria.<\/p>\n

Austria\u2019s determination to clamp down on Sunni Islamist extremism and the Turkish regime network was applauded by some,\u00a0including\u00a0prominent think tanks, but\u00a0condemned\u00a0by a number of American media outlets. Few have noted, however, that while Sunni extremists are under the spotlight, Shiite Islamists continue to operate with impunity.<\/p>\n

Last week, for example, a procession by Shia mourners was held in Mariahilfer Strasse, in Vienna. The procession was led by Ayatollah Bushehri, the Friday prayer leader in Qom, the city known as the cradle of Shia theology in Iran.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bushehri was allowed to enter Austria to lead Shia rituals for the Arabic lunar month of Moharram, the holiest month in the Shia calendar. Every year, on the 10th of Moharram, Shiite faithful mourn the beheading of the Islamic prophet\u2019s grandson, Hussein, by his rival family members in the battle of Karbala. Some consider the mourning rituals to be brutal. The severity of the outburst of grief and sorrow expressed by the Shia on this day varies from place to place. Some beat themselves on the chest, some self-flagellate with chains, while a few go to the extreme of cutting their foreheads with a sword or machete, so that blood flows down their faces.<\/p>\n

Traditionally, these rituals have been limited to Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Pakistan, where sizable Shiite populations exists. In recent years, however, Moharram rituals have slowly crept into public places in major European cities, and even parts of the U.S. (particularly\u00a0Los Angeles).<\/p>\n

The Islamic Republic of Iran funds and encourages the displays of mourning, although it\u00a0purports\u00a0to oppose the most violent displays of self-flagellation. It supports Moharram demonstrations through its network of umbrella organizations in Europe \u2014 which are styled as \u201creligious\u201d or \u201ccultural\u201d centers \u2014 because the regime has long\u00a0intertwined\u00a0the day of mourning with the Islamic Republic\u2019s revolutionary zeal.<\/p>\n

Vienna\u2019s residents must have looked on with bewilderment at the spectacle. Few would have known who Ayatollah Bushehri is; most would have merely looked upon him and the crowds \u2014 whether happily or not \u2014 as just another sign of decades of European multiculturalist policies.<\/p>\n

But Ayatollah Bushehri is no ordinary Shiite clergy. He is very much part and parcel of the Islamic Republic\u2019s political establishment. Bushehri is a member of the so-called \u201cAssembly of Experts\u201d \u2014 a deliberative body (of which all but one of the members are clerics) to which the Supreme Leader is ostensibly accountable. Members of this council are elected by the people, but their candidacies first require the approval of the Supreme Leader himself. Unsurprisingly, the Assembly of Experts has never challenged a Supreme Leader\u2019s rulings.<\/p>\n

Bushehri is also the Friday prayer leader for Qom \u2014 appointed by Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, to deliver sermons that advance the Supreme Leader\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n

Every Friday sermon consists of two parts: religious and political. The faithful\u00a0are often encouraged\u00a0to chant \u201cDeath to America, Death to England, Death to Israel and Death to the Enemies of the Supreme Leader.\u201d Bushehri\u2019s sermons do not shy away from promoting and echoing the extreme, theocratic views of the Iranian regime:<\/p>\n

\u201cToday our people came on to the streets, in temperatures of 50 degrees, and chanted \u2018Death to America and Death to Israel,\u2019 to tell Trump we will not deviate from our goals.\u201d\u2014 June 10, 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the present conditions, Muslims must break their silence and rise up against the American and Zionist plots and Trump must know that the fire that he has ignited will soon engulf America and Israel.\u201d \u2014\u00a0Dec 8, 2017<\/p>\n

The Ayatollah is a prominent enforcer of mandatory hijab,\u00a0encouraging\u00a0his adherents to ensure women are fully observing the Islamic dress code: \u201cConfronting the improper observance of the Islamic dress code is not only the duty of the law enforcement forces.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Ayatollah Bushehri has been to Austria. On February 19, 2017, he\u00a0went on a \u201cmissionary tour\u201d to Vienna\u00a0and held a series of lectures at the Imam Ali Islamic Center, which\u00a0openly identifies itself\u00a0as a representative office of Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader. In 2017, an Austrian government report\u00a0concluded\u00a0that the Imam Ali mosque advocates \u201cthe destruction of the Jewish state\u201d and that its imams are teaching Austrian Shiites about \u201ca global conspiracy of Western and Arab states seeking to destroy Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Austrian government\u2019s recent decision to clamp down on the Turkish regime\u2019s network in Austria followed the widely-reported discovery that Turkish mosques in Austria were\u00a0being used\u00a0by the Ankara regime to promote Turkish Islamist ideology and conduct espionage. However, Iranian networks in Austria \u2014 led by hardline Shiite clerics and dozens of regime-aligned Islamic centers \u2014 are also promoting extremist ideology and conducting espionage. In fact, U.S. government\u00a0reports\u00a0have noted that Austria is the center for Iranian intelligence operations in Europe, with 100 agents from Iran\u2019s Ministry of Intelligence and Security reportedly stationed there, who spy on, harass and threaten anti-regime Shiite and Iranian activists.<\/p>\n

In violation of Austria\u2019s 2015 law, Iran\u2019s theocratic network in Austria certainly does not express a \u201cpositive approach towards the society and the state.\u201d And yet none of the regime\u2019s activities has led to any censure or restrictions on Iranian institutions or clerics in Austria. Hardline Shiites may be self-flagellating, but in the long term it is the Austrian authorities that are doing themselves the most damage.<\/p>\n

Potkin Azamehr is a writer for\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Islamist Watch<\/em><\/strong>, a project of the\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Middle East Forum<\/em><\/strong>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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A crackdown on Sunni Islam gives Shiite Iranians a free pass. Oct.11.2018- Spectator – In June 2018, the Austrian government\u00a0announced\u00a0it would shut down seven mosques and expel sixty imams, because<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1313"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1315,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313\/revisions\/1315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}