Iranian Islamic scholar Mohammad Mousavi criticized Islamic extremism in Iran during a March 11, 2024 interview on DidarNews on YouTube. He suggested that the Islamic Republic let go of some of the restrictions in some areas of the country. Mousavi said that Islamic tradition does not give clerics permission to enforce the hijab. He continued to say that religious fanaticism has killed more people than the coronavirus or the world wars. Mousavi added that Iranian religious extremism is more dangerous than an atomic bomb. He said that Iran has spent trillions of dollars on annihilating Israel within 25 years, financing Palestinians, Iraqis, and Syrians, while it promises its own citizens rewards only in the afterlife. Mousavi said that the economic policy of the Islamic regime has brought Iranians to sell their organs and mothers to sell their bodies in order to afford baby formula.
Mohammad Mousavi: “I am sad to say that the Islamic Republic, with all its power all the sanctity attributed to it, is incapable of providing for the needs of the children born in the first and second decades of the 21st century,
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“The name of our country is the Islamic Republic of Iran. In other words, before being Islamic, it is a republic and represents the will of the public. In my opinion, we should let go of the Islamic character in some areas. We should make concessions, take a step back. Not everything we say is divine revelation. We should reverse course and say, for example, that there will be some free areas in our country. How many people in Iran must travel abroad, in order to enjoy a concert, have fun at the beach, or other things that are limited here?
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“We have tourist destinations in our country. How good will it be if some areas in our country would be unrestricted, and the Islamic laws would not be enforced there. No harm would be done by this.
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“The Lord has given human beings the ability to make choices. People have full agency and ability to choose what they like and to follow their own path. If the hijab were so important to God, He could have created women with a chador.
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“There is no tradition that says that when I see a woman without a hijab…I cannot even say without a hijab – a woman with a loose hijab… No tradition says that I should go to her and tell her to tighten her scarf. The Quran has ordered men to control their own eyes. That’s it. I do not have the right to take a club and beat an Iranian woman on the head, and tell her that she has to cover her head or to wear a chador.
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“See how many Shi’ite Muslims travel to visit [Sunni religious leader] Molavi Abdolhamid. The Shiite ulema might have led the public towards becoming Sunni.
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“Religious fanaticism and religious ignorance have killed more people than the coronavirus or world wars.
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“Our religious extremists are more dangerous than an atomic bomb. When a thief breaks into a home, he steals something and leaves, but religious scholars are stealing our property, as well as our lives and our faith. A thief is better than these people. The thief might have stolen a piece of gold, but these people have destroyed our economy, our faith, and our social relations. The whole world sees us as terrorists and warmongers.
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“When the Revolution took place, promises were made to the people. The founder of the Revolution [Khomeini] promised the people free water, cooking gas and electricity. He said: ‘Do not make do with these things. We will elevate you to the level of real human beings.’
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“The real human level we have reached is that of selling of kidneys and corneas. The real human level we have reached – and I apologize for saying this – is that women are selling their bodies for baby formula.
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“Our greatest pain and misfortune is that we are fighting to build a world for the Palestinians, the Iraqis, and the Syrians, while telling our own people that they should wait for God to reward them in the world to come. We are involved in religious embezzlement. We are spending our country’s reserves, money, and dollars on Palestine, Syria, and Iraq, but tell our own public to wait? We are building the world for the Arabs, for the Palestinians, but we have turned our own world into hell.
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“Why is it that instead of promising to annihilate Israel Mr. Khamenei does not promise our public that within 25 years there will be no inflation?
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“How much money lies behind the sentence ‘Israel will not live to see the next 25 years?’ How many thousands of missiles were built? How much money was invested? How many trillions of dollars does it cost Iran to say that Israel will not live to see the next 25 years?”