Ayatollah Akhtari Reacts to Improper Conduct of Religious Police Regarding Hijab
“Ayatollah Mohammad Hassan Akhtari” expressed his reaction to the inappropriate conduct of religious police regarding hijab enforcement.
Last week, the circulation of a video showing a religious enforcer attacking a mother and daughter with a bucket of yogurt in a dairy shop for failing to observe proper hijab sparked widespread reactions.
Ayatollah Mohammad Hassan Akhtari, the CEO of the International Ashura Foundation, said regarding the promotion of virtue: “Devout people should not conduct themselves improperly toward those who do not observe religious directives. Scholars and clergy should clarify the method of promoting virtue and forbidding vice to the people. If intervention beyond verbal admonition is needed anywhere, it falls under the responsibility of the government.”
Ayatollah Akhtari also, in reaction to the incident of a person attacking two women with a bucket of yogurt, said: “This is not the act of a believing Muslim. If you speak closely with someone who distributed this film, you would confirm my words. The person who committed this act was not motivated by belief in religion and the promotion of virtue, and we oppose this action. If someone attributes this deed to a Muslim, followers of Ahlulbayt, and to a responsible person, we oppose it, consider it wrong, and it is unjustified.
Whoever has done or does this act is certainly not a faithful person, devout, a follower, or a supporter of virtue, but rather a sick or malicious person who wants to corrupt religion.”
Mohammad Hassan Akhtari reacted to this action while the Islamic Republic system sealed the dairy shop after the shop owner evicted the religious enforcer from the premises and protected the women present in the shop.
Furthermore, many videos circulated of this person on social media indicate that he harasses, torments, and insults women and girls in public places, and the system has taken no action to arrest or warn him.
