Iranian Online Shari’a
Charles Johnson
Thu Jun 2, 2005 at 4:57 pm PDT • Views: 265
Islamic clerics in the Iranian city of Qom are net-savvy: In Iran’s dotQom, cyber clerics and e-ayatollahs have the answers. (Hat tip: Kolumbo.)
QOM, Iran (AFP) - Want to have breast implants but worried they may not be so pleasing to God? Wondering if the marketing campaign devised to boost your business is spiritually sound?
If you are a Shiite Muslim looking for guidance, what you may find useful is your very own online ayatollah — a sort of electronic agony aunt with a broadband connection to God. In Qom, Iran’s spiritual nerve centre where religion is the biggest business, the clergy have been busy moving into the dotcom sector so as to stay with the times and keep Shiite souls on the right track.
“We set up the site because different people are discussing Islam and many of these points of view are not specialized. Regrettably there is only a superficial understanding,” explained Nematollah Daneshmand, webmaster for saneei.org — the site of Grand Ayatollah Yusuf Saanei.
Saneei — classed as a major moderate force leading something of a reformation of Shiite Islam — has one of the busiest Qom-based websites with around 2,000 subscribers and tens of thousands of hits every month. “Our site provides interpretations and points of view from a specialist, so people can log on and get the real Islam,” said Daneshmand, a turbaned 45-year-old.
OK, sure, but what about those breast implants?
“In summary, his eminence has ruled that if a specialist says that breast implants and liposuction are not harmful to the patient, they are permitted,” Daneshmand says with a grin.
Saw that one coming…
Frank says: