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Mosques in Iran Are Empty
(Wall Street Journal) Reuel Marc Gerecht - Is Islam in Iran losing its appeal as a unifying political force? There is no great Iranian cleric, philosopher or writer who can attract large crowds with a brilliant defense of clerical rule. But plenty of thinkers could fill a stadium with withering critiques of religious dictatorship - if they were permitted. If all dissident political action in Iran can be labeled as moharebeh, or warring against God, then what room exists for healthy political debate? The mullahs' system is stuck: It can't evolve into a real democracy, and it can't resuscitate the religious militancy that once sustained the theocracy. Iran's seminaries have seen plummeting enrollments. Mosques all over Iran are empty at prayer times. In 2015 a Revolutionary Guard commander, Ziaeddin Hozni, revealed that only about 3,000 of the country's 57,000 Shiite mosques were fully operational. And of the 3,000, some were only functioning during the religious months of Ramadan and Muharram. The lack of attendance is striking in a state run by mullahs. The writer is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.