Ayatollah Mohammad Alavi Gorgani, a Marja’ in Qom city said: “Building apartments was started by the British in order to get women out of the house and spread moral corruption.”

He called apartment building an “enemy ploy” and said: “They have achieved their goal and spread the construction of apartment buildings in Iran.”

Gorgani also said: “They have made it so when someone enters Mashhad or Qom cities, they cannot see the holy shrines.”

Previously some Ayatollahs had also criticized apartment building and open concept kitchens in architecture.

A few years ago, Ayatollah Javadi Amoli, a favorite Marja of the regime, suggested that the open concept kitchens are “against Islamic” and said kitchens that “cannot hide the host from the eyes of the guest are against Islam.”