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Viewing cable 06DUBAI1319, IRAN'S HOJJATIYEH SOCIETY (C-NES-01487)

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06DUBAI1319 2006-03-08 16:12 2011-08-30 01:44 SECRET Consulate Dubai
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
S E C R E T  DUBAI 001319 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  3/8/2016 
TAGS: IR PGOV PHUM PINR
SUBJECT: IRAN'S HOJJATIYEH SOCIETY (C-NES-01487) 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Jason L. Davis, Consul General, Dubai, UAE. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
1.(C) Summary: Iran's Hojjatiyeh Society is a secretive, 
anti-Baha'i religious-economic group, reportedly centered in 
Mashhad, Shiraz, and Tehran. Sheikh Mahmud Halabi founded the 
group in 1953 and remains its leader, but it is unclear if 
members view him as a marja-e taqlid (source of emulation). The 
secrecy surrounding the group makes it very difficult to 
identify possible members and a precise agenda.  There are 
differing views on whether President Ahmadinejad is an adherent, 
and on who his "source of emulation" is. End summary. 
 
Who They Are 
------------ 
 
2.(C) According to a Dubai-based Iranian businessman who claims 
to have relatives who are members of the group, Iran's 
Hojjatiyeh Society is a formally organized group with an 
economic, religious, and political agenda. Society members are 
very secretive and have no outward symbols, such as rings or 
medallions, that would publicly identify them as Hojjatiyeh 
members. The businessman had no additional information on how 
the group is organized or where or how often it meets. However, 
he indicated that the key centers for the group are Shiraz 
(where his family lives), Mashhad, and Tehran. 
 
3.(C) Regarding details of their agenda, the businessman could 
only speak to their economic goals. He said they share the 
general desire of bazaaris to open up the economy and reduce the 
state's role. The businessman estimates -- without indicating 
the basis of the estimate -- that about ten percent of bazaaris 
in Iran are members of the Hojjatiyeh Society. He stated that 
these merchants provide monetary support to the group. He 
asserted that several years ago he personally witnessed a 
receipt from a bazaar merchant paying "zakat" (the amount that 
every Muslim must pay to support the poor) to the group. 
 
4.(C) According to reporting by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 
(RFE/RL), the Hojjatiyeh religious agenda is messianic in 
nature, maintaining that a "true Islamic government" must await 
the return of the hidden 12th Imam or Mahdi. Until that time, 
the group favors collective leadership of the religious 
community and opposes religious involvement in political 
affairs. It is widely believed that the group believes that only 
through chaos will the Twelfth Imam return to the world, and it 
is willing to contribute to manufacturing that chaos to 
precipitate his return. 
 
5.(S) The historic anti-Baha'i leanings of the Hojjatiyeh 
Society are well-documented. An Iranian Baha'i FSN at ConGen 
Dubai recently told Conoff that the Hojjatiyeh Society retains 
these anti-Baha'i tendencies. It is not known, however, what 
role, if any, the group is playing in recent arrests of numerous 
Baha'is in Iran. According to information provided to post by an 
American Baha'i group, Iranian government harassment of Baha'is 
has recently increased, accompanied by a fatwa by clerics in Qom 
(nfi) that the killing of Baha'is is "a meritorious act" as they 
are considered apostate and are preventing the return of the 
12th Imam. It is unknown if any of these clerics have ties to 
the group. (Note: According to Encyclopedia Iranica, Hojjatiyeh 
leaders are committed to a non-violent, persuasive strategy in 
dealing with Baha'is. The group's founder, Sheikh Halabi, was 
allegedly distraught by violence against Baha'is and repeatedly 
warned his followers that violence was not "their" way. End 
note.) 
 
6.(S) A Jewish leader from Esfahan told PolEconChief that the 
Hojjatiyeh do not have an anti-Jewish agenda.  He also said that 
he has Baha'i friends in Iran, and that in his view, the overall 
situation for Baha'is has improved over time. (He did not 
comment on whether their situation might have worsened in recent 
weeks or months.) 
 
7.(C) Reports of renewed Hojjatiyeh Society activism began 
appearing in the Iranian press in 2002. The majority of these 
reports were anti-Hojjatiyeh. According to an RFE/RL report, 
Friday prayer leaders throughout Iran warned their congregations 
in early July 2004 of renewed Hojjatiyeh activities. According 
to Iranian press reports, an ayatollah in Shahrud in Khorasan 
province stated that Hojjatiyeh members were recruiting new 
members in the city's mosques. It is unclear what was new at the 
time - renewed activities by the group or publicity about the 
group. Since its resurgence, the Society's anti-Baha'i 
orientation has reportedly widened to encompass anti-Sunni 
activities as well, mainly as a means of fomenting chaos in 
order to bring about the return of the Mahdi. In two 
commentaries in Iranian newspapers in 2004, Rasul Montajabnia, a 
prominent member of the Militant Clerics Society - a key 
reformist clerical group - claimed that Hojjatiyeh members have 
actually stopped their fight against the Baha'i faith and turned 
their attention to creating divisions between Shi'a and Sunni 
Muslims. 
 
History of the Hojjatiyeh Society 
--------------------------------- 
 
 
8.(U) Sheikh Mahmoud Tavallai, popularly known as Sheikh Mahmoud 
Halabi, founded the Hojjatiyeh Mahdavieh Society in 1953 to rid 
Iran of the Baha'i faith, according to RFE/RL. According to 
Encyclopedia Iranica, the group was established in order to 
defend Shi'a Islam against the "theological challenge" of the 
Baha'i faith. Sheikh Halabi was a preacher from Mashhad who 
supported Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq. After the coup 
against Mossadeq later that same year, Shah Mohammad Reza 
Pahlavi allowed the group to continue its anti-Baha'i activities 
in exchange for the clerical community's support for his 
continued rule. The group's anti-Baha'i activities allegedly 
were non-violent in nature and included the creation of a number 
of different "teams of operations," including: 1) a "guidance" 
team which was to debate Baha'i missionaries, persuade Baha'is 
to return to Islam, and neutralize the effects of Baha'i 
missionary activity; 2) "instructional" and "authorship" teams 
which worked together to standardize instructional materials; 3) 
a "public speaking" team which organized weekly gatherings where 
they discussed Shia theology; and 4) an "intelligence" team 
which reportedly operated as a "fifth column" within the Baha'i 
faith and successfully penetrated the Baha'i leadership - with 
some "agents" even advancing to the rank of prominent Baha'i 
missionaries. 
 
9.(U) Hojjatiyeh philosophy opposes the velayat-e faqih, or 
Guardianship of the Supreme Jurisconsult, as the group opposes 
mixing religion with politics prior to the return of the Imam. 
Nonetheless, the group flourished immediately following the 
Islamic revolution of 1979 because Sheikh Halabi, fearing a 
communist takeover, urged his followers to vote in favor of the 
concept of velayat-e faqih in the December 1979 referendum on 
Iran's new form of government. Some cabinet members and other 
prominent clerics during this time allegedly had links to the 
Hojjatiyeh Society, including Ahmad Azari Qomi, Ali Akbar 
Parvaresh, Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani, Abolqasem Khazali, and 
former Majles speaker Ali Akbar Nateq Nuri. 
 
10.(C) Within a few years of the revolution, the Iranian 
leadership grew increasingly concerned about the group's 
secretiveness and its members' success (presumably political), 
 
SIPDIS 
according to a report by RFE/RL. During a speech in July 1983, 
Ayatollah Khomeini attacked the group and its conviction that 
chaos must be created in order to hurry the return of the Mahdi. 
He called upon the Iranian people to "get rid of this 
factionalism," and the group announced its dissolution the same 
day. Both press and contacts report that Khomeini actually 
banned the group. The group's dissolution, however, did not mean 
an end to its role in politics, and members reportedly continued 
to serve in key political positions according to Iranian press. 
According to the Dubai-based businessman, society members also 
moved into the Basij and, to some extent, the Islamic 
Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). 
 
Hojjatiyeh Divides into Three Groups 
------------------------------------ 
 
11.(S) Bijan Khajehpour (please protect), an Iranian political 
and economic analyst, told PolEconchief that after the 
Hojjatiyeh Society was dissolved, it broke into three separate 
groups. One group of non-clerics entered the Islamic Coalition 
Society (Jami'at-e Motalefeh-e Eslami) -- a traditional 
conservative group linked to the bazaar -- to focus mainly on 
economic issues. Another group formed the more politically 
oriented Mahdaviat group and set up camp in Mashhad. (Note: 
According to Iranian press reports, 30 Mahdaviat members were 
found guilty of an assassination attempt in 1999 against the 
chief of Tehran's justice department and plotting against then 
President Mohammad Khatami, Expediency Council Chairman Ali 
Akbar Rafsanjani, and Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi. 
At least two of these men were sentenced to death, including 
Hassan Milani, the grandson of Ayatollah Seyed Mohammad Hadi 
Miliani. End note.) 
 
12.(S) The third group, comprised of clerics, realigned 
themselves around the Haqqani theological seminary in Qom.  The 
Haqqani seminary was founded in 1963 by four clerics with close 
ties to Ayatollah Khomeini, including Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi and 
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who currently heads the Council of 
Guardians. (Note: The Haqqani seminary was reportedly originally 
founded to modernize seminary training to equip clerics to deal 
with present day issues. Khajehpour's theory of the division of 
the group aside, Iranians still refer to Hojjatiyeh as an entity 
in Iranian society. For the purpose of our research, we use the 
term Hojjatiyeh in the sense of one entity.) 
 
Is He or Isn't He? 
------------------ 
 
13.(S) We have heard differing views on whether President 
Ahmadinejad is a member of the Hojjatiyeh Society. An Iranian 
Baha'i FSN at ConGen Dubai told Conoff that it is widely 
believed among Iranians that Ahmadinejad is a member of the 
 
Hojjatiyeh Society. The Jewish leader from Esfahan echoed this 
view.  This belief is likely the result of Ahmadinejad's 
apparently close ties to Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, head of the 
Haqqani seminary. Soon after the first round of Iran's 
presidential elections in June 2005, an Iranian blogger posted 
an Internet link to a website that claimed Ahmadinejad was 
Mesbah Yazdi's son-in-law. (Note: The Iranian government has 
since blocked this link. End Note.) 
 
14.(S) In contrast, Khajehpour claimed President Ahmadinejad is 
not a Hojjatiyeh believer, but instead a genuine populist. He 
said Ahmadinejad's driving force is more social than religious 
and that the president believes he is on a mission from God to 
bring social justice to the world. To achieve this, he wants to 
return the revolution to its ideological roots of revolutionary 
socialism. His view, Khajehpour said, is at odds with the view 
of the Mahdaviat, which is prepared to sacrifice society in 
order to create the necessary chaos to bring back the Imam. 
 
15.(S) Khajehpour claims that Supreme Leader Khamenei, not 
Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, is Ahmadinejad's source of emulation 
(marja-e taqlid), and his political model is the populist 
Mohammad Ali Rajai, prime minister in 1980, elected president in 
1981, then assassinated soon after.  The Jewish leader from 
Esfahan, however, echoed the probably more widely held view that 
Mesbah Yazdi was Ahmadinejad's source of emulation. 
 
16.(S) Khajehpour believes Ahmadinejad aligned with the Haqqani 
school during the presidential elections for its support, 
promising it more room to maneuver if he won. Under Khatami, the 
followers of the Haqqani school were marginalized. For instance, 
Khajehpour said the Haqqani school produced the first wave of 
intelligence officials in Iran and its students had held onto 
the position of intelligence minister until Khatami broke with 
tradition and appointed Ali Yunesi, who was not a Haqqani 
graduate. Prior to the elections, Mesbah Yazdi reportedly issued 
a fatwa calling on basij (Islamic militia) members to vote for 
Ahmadinejad, according to an Asia Times report. Once elected, 
Ahmadinejad brought in Haqqani students as both intelligence 
minister (Hojjatoleslam Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ezhei) and 
interior minister (Mostafa Pour Mohammadi). Because of this 
link, the Asia Times report alleges these two are possibly 
Hojjatiyeh. 
 
17.(C) Ahmadinejad is also suspected of links to the Hojjatiyeh 
Society because of decisions he undertook both as mayor of 
Tehran and as president. As mayor, Ahmadinejad reportedly 
instructed the city council to build a "grand avenue" from Qom 
to Tehran to prepare for the Mahdi. Since becoming president, he 
has reportedly begun the construction of a direct rail line 
between Tehran and Jamkaran - the location of a shrine dedicated 
to the Mahdi. His cabinet has also allocated $17 million to 
build a new mosque near the shrine. Whether or not Ahmadinejad 
is a member of the group, the Iranian government is very touchy 
about the subject of Hojjatiyeh Society influence. In late 
November 2005, the Iranian government spokesman vehemently 
denied any link between the Society and "Ahmadinejad's 
government," according to Iranian press. The Ministry of Islamic 
Culture and Guidance also denied rumors in October 2005 that the 
government had dropped a letter pledging loyalty to the Mahdi 
down the well at Jamkaran, according to Western press reports. 
 
Comment 
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18.(S) Although it remains unclear whether Ahmadinejad is a 
member of the Hojjatiyeh Society, at least some key members of 
his administration likely are, given their links to the Haqqani 
seminary. The question of their impact on policymaking remains 
open. While Iranian contacts with links to the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs recently claimed to Conoff that there has been 
no distinct shift in Iranian foreign policy since the change of 
administration (septel), in numerous ways Iran's policy has 
become more ideological and less pragmatic since Ahmadinejad 
took office. Perhaps this is a result of increased Hojjatiyeh 
influence. It is also possible that the up tick in arrests of 
Baha'is in Iran is the result of increased Hojjatiyeh influence 
in government. 
DAVIS