The shrine has for centuries intermingled faith and money, collecting donations of cash, land, jewelry and works of art from the devout. Today, it is not only Iran's most sacred religious site but also, by some reckonings, the Islamic republic's biggest and richest business empire…. The dual role … helps explain how the power of Iran's aging clerical elite endures, nearly three decades after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The Imam Reza Shrine is part of a cluster of bonyads, nominally charitable foundations with huge holdings…. They publish no accounts and, in most cases, answer only to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This status gives bonyads an independent authority outside Iran's formal state bureaucracy and checks the power of elected officials….
Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Wall Street Journal Profiles Politically Powerful Iranian Shrine
This weekend's Wall Street Journal carries a lengthy report on Iran's Shrine of Imam Reza, titled Inside Iran's Holy Money Machine. Here are excerpts: