Bob Woodruff in Iran: Day Six

I met my first Iranian Grand Ayatollah today and I have to say I was impressed.  Haj Sheikh Yusef Saanei was a protégé of Ayatollah Khomeini but he is, in the world of Ayatollahs here, a pretty moderate “reformist.”   We met him for an interview in the holy city of Qom.  His office is a two story building tucked away in an alley off one of Qom’s main boulevards.  As we waited in his office, a man entered with a burning tray of incense that he waved in the doorway to give the room a nice smell and prepare the air for the Ayatollah’s entrance.  His staff handed me his business card and a small pamphlet entitled “The biography of the Grand Ayatollah Saanei.”  They asked me for my business card and biography, too, but unfortunately I don’t carry my bio with me, so they made do with just the card. The most interesting part of the Grand Ayatollah’s biography is the list of his best fatwas.  A fatwa is a religious decree that can be issued by the most learned clerics in Islam and they are essentially interpretations of the rules of the religion.   Here are some of his best:#3.  On women’s sitting in judgment:  The condition of masculinity has no particular bearing upon judgment and there is no religious reason to support this either, and whoever is vested with authority to appoint judges may appoint them (women) to sit as judges specially in cases relating to women and family rights. #5.  On Qessass (an eye for an eye):  Grand Ayatollah Saanei believes in the generality in the all round application of Qessass for the murder of any individual whose life is protected under the Islamic rule, irrespective of the murderer or the victim being Muslim or non-Muslim. #7. About the question of music: His Eminence holds that the prohibition of music and lyrics is based on content and thus, any sound and lyric and music which does not promote laxity and immorality and does not misguide human beings or blemish the visage of Islam, is not forbidden.For Iran’s clergy, this is pretty liberal stuff.