Morteza Agha Tehrani

Biography

Addressing a congregation in the small town of Zarand, he famously remarked about the Iranian reform movement: "Throw away these filthy reformists as you would a tissue that you use to wipe a baby's behind. And don't get close to them."

Agha-Tehrani led a raid on Sufi mosques in Qom. In 2006, authorities in the city of Qom arrested more than 1,000 followers of the mystical Sufi tradition of Islam. On 14 February 2006, Iran's hard-line daily "Kayhan" quoted senior clerics in Qom as saying that Sufism should be eradicated in the city, while the Reuters news agency reported that in September one of Iran's hard-line clerics, Grand Ayatollah Hosein Nuri-Hamadani, called for a clampdown on Sufis in Qom. In 2006, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched a plan to suppress what he called "indecent religious associations that work under the cover of spirituality and Sufism." Agha-Tehrani was among the group of clerics sent abroad by Mesbah-Yazdi to study and obtain degrees from Western universities. Agha-Tehrani studied in Canada for a while before transferring to New York as a student. There, he continued his studies at Binghamton University in upstate New York, and also became the religious leader of the Islamic Institute of New York. He was able to finish his studies with the help of couple of other people and get a Ph.D. in philosophy. Though he has an advanced degree from an American institution, it is said he cannot speak English fluently. He employed the services of a translator for his mosque sermons. He obtained a U.S. green card to facilitate travel, but his attitude to the West and especially the U.S. has been harsh and unfriendly. Reportedly, he did not approve of Iranians living in the U.S and encouraged them to go back to Iran. He sent his own son back to Iran at the age of 14 to undertake seminary studies in preparation for a clerical career. Like his mentor Mesbah-Yazdi, Agha-Tehrani takes a harsh stance towards people and groups that do not share his ideas.