Feb 26, 2016

TEHRAN, Iran — He is only 25, and he’s running for the Assembly of Experts — the high-level body tasked with selecting Iran’s next supreme leader. Maysam Doost-Mohammadi may be one of the youngest clerics in Iran holding the title of mujtahid, which means he has obtained a sufficiently deep knowledge to formulate independent interpretations of Islamic law.

“When my father heard the news, he stayed silent for few minutes,” Doost-Mohammadi told Al-Monitor of his qualification by the Guardian Council, adding, “Then he smiled to me and said I’m proud that you were accepted for these elections, and that you obtained this level.” The young cleric was born in Qom, one of the holiest cities in Shiite Islam, situated some 140 kilometers (87 miles) south of Tehran. His father was a student at the seminary, where Doost-Mohammadi was introduced to the clerical community and started his studies when he was only 15.

“I submitted my candidacy to the Guardian Council, and then I was asked to attend a written exam,” he explained. “When I entered the examination room, it was a shock that everyone there was far older than me. I felt uncomfortable and a bit disturbed. Then I decided that I have to continue in order to achieve my goal because of the Revolution and to convey a message to the enemies of our Revolution: that the youth is also studying and will get older with more knowledge to preserve the line of Imam [Ruhollah] Khomeini.”

Doost-Mohammadi’s only competitor in Qom is Ayatollah Mohammad Momen — a conservative who is three times older than Doost-Mohammadi. Momen has secured the endorsement of the two main clerical bodies, while the young candidate has not. Yet Doost-Mohammadi prefers not to be on Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s rival moderate ticket. He said to Al-Monitor, “I told them I’m running independently; I respect Ayatollah Momen and the great ayatollahs backing him. Therefore, I won’t be on the other [Rafsanjani-led] list, but I’ll run to convey a message that young scholars are present and that the future is theirs.”

“I think it’s important to engage with the youth and build an infrastructure that’s ready to embrace their ambitions,” he told Al-Monitor while strolling in Tehran’s magnificent Niavaran Park in the north of the Iranian capital. “There’s a gap between the clerics and the youth. For example, in this area in Tehran, we have to talk to them and answer their questions so that we don’t lose them to Western culture.” Doost-Mohammadi believes this very issue should be high on the agenda, besides confronting what he called the “efforts of the enemies of the Revolution, who want to infiltrate [Iran] and try to harm [our] Islamic society.”