• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Iranian cleric says high-speed mobile Internet and 3G services violate Sharia law and are “immoral and unlawful”

Sep 2, 2014 1:19 pm By Robert Spencer

Nasser Makarem-Shirazi“The Western technology is like muddy and unsanitary water. Water is the lifeblood, but when it gets murky and unsanitary it must be purified.” And so what the Post calls “Iran’s conservative clerics,” although nowadays it is Leftists who are the foremost foes of free speech, “would rather leave the Internet to the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, which was set up in 2012 to censor what Iranian eyes can see online.” In other words, the muddy and unsanitary water must be purified by government-led Sharia censorship. Barack “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam” Obama was seen nodding in agreement.

“Iranian cleric issues fatwa against the Internet,” by Gail Sullivan, Washington Post, September 2, 2014:

A prominent hard-line Iranian cleric has denounced high-speed mobile Internet and 3G services as “immoral and unlawful.”

Last week, Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi said 3G mobile services are against sharia law and violate “human and moral norms.”

He cautioned Iran’s information ministry against providing 3G mobile service before the technology is “purified” of its “negative features” to ensure “moral and psychological security” for users.

“The Western technology is like muddy and unsanitary water,” the senior conservative cleric told the Tehran Times on Sunday. “Water is the lifeblood, but when it gets murky and unsanitary it must be purified.”

Makarem-Shirazi isn’t against all technology. After all, he has a Web site where followers can ask for religious rulings, as one group of activists did in this case. In the past he’s passed judgment on a variety of subjects, such as the morality of pet food advertisements — devotion to the animals would result in “evil outcomes,” he warned.

Iran’s conservative clerics would rather leave the Internet to the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, which was set up in 2012 to censor what Iranian eyes can see online. The council’s concerns? Political opposition groups, Web sites that promote Western culture and Satan worship, the ability to share naughty photos, use of social media by protesters and other digital-age evils.

On Monday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who campaigned on the promise of better Internet access, stood by the Web. “We cannot close the gates of the world to our younger generation,” he said in a televised meeting with conservative clerics. “If we do not move toward the new generation of mobile today and resist it, we will have to do it tomorrow. If not, the day after tomorrow.”

The fatwa isn’t binding on the administration, but illustrates the opposition the centrist government is up against given that conservatives occupy key positions in judicial, intelligence and security branches and that conservatives hold a majority in parliament.

The debate over the Internet has gotten heated since Iran’s government awarded 3G licenses to three mobile broadband companies. After the first license was issued earlier this year, Makarem-Shirazi and three other ayatollahs expressed concern that 3G technology would “jeopardize public chastity” and allow men and women to speak to each other without oversight.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: free speech, Internet jihad, Iran Tagged With: featured


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. Ha Meshuga says

    Sep 2, 2014 at 1:39 pm

    Yes, I saw that in industry press….

  2. Peter Buckley says

    Sep 2, 2014 at 1:58 pm

    Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi knows very well that the Internet is destroying Islam…..that’s why he fears it so much:

    http://islamexposed.org/

    http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Wood/islam_beheaded.htm

    • mariam rove says

      Sep 2, 2014 at 1:59 pm

      you said that right!!!!!!!!!!!!! M

    • RKM says

      Sep 3, 2014 at 9:24 am

      Humans race on, get onboard.

  3. Tommy Guns says

    Sep 2, 2014 at 1:59 pm

    Well, there’s a new one. Internet and 3G services ‘violate human and moral norms’??!?!? How about ISIS, sweeping through Iraq, torturing and beheading innocent people. Does that violate human and moral norms??
    These old-fart ayatollahs and clerics are starting to show signs of dementia. They don’t make sense, time for them to step down, maybe do some lawn bowling or knitting instead.

    • gravenimage says

      Sep 2, 2014 at 9:34 pm

      This insanity isn’t demential, Tommy—it’s orthodox Islam.

  4. Bob Spinster says

    Sep 2, 2014 at 2:16 pm

    What does that mean, “Obama was seen nodding in agreement.”?

    You wouldn’t know a fact if one cut off your ….

    • gerard says

      Sep 2, 2014 at 7:49 pm

      “Obama was seen nodding in agreement.”
      No one, apart from you, took that literally.

  5. SKevin says

    Sep 2, 2014 at 4:14 pm

    And yet…..

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/world/asia/iran-speeds-up-cellphone-connections.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LargeMediaHeadlineSum&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

    • bernie says

      Sep 2, 2014 at 8:04 pm

      Strictly speaking, the technology isn’t exclusively “Western” anymore…countries such as Japan, Soouth Korea, India and China are at the forefront of innovations and improvements to the Internet.

  6. Fia says

    Sep 2, 2014 at 5:58 pm

    Technology HARAM, sexually violating the tiny un-matured bodies of male and female Childrenj, HALAL. Welcome to Satan’s Disney Land

  7. gravenimage says

    Sep 2, 2014 at 9:31 pm

    Iranian cleric says high-speed mobile Internet and 3G services violate Sharia law and are “immoral and unlawful”
    ……………………….

    The death penalty for “blasphemy”, “wiping Israel of the map”, and stoning women to death—all perfectly “moral” under Islam.

    High speed mobile internet? Now *that’s* “immoral”.

    God, I hate Islam.

  8. JP Sundharam says

    Sep 3, 2014 at 3:07 am

    Looks like Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi did not know that Mohammad thought that nothing could make water impure.
    >> Abu Sa’eed AI-Khudri narrated: “It was said, ‘O Allah’s Messenger! Shall we use the water of Buda’ah well to perform ablution while it is a well in which menstruation rags, flesh of dogs and the putrid are dumped?” Allah’s Messenger said: ‘Indeed water is pure, nothing makes it impure.'” [Jami at-Tirmidhi : Book 1, Hadith 66]

    • bernie says

      Sep 3, 2014 at 10:17 am

      Not even the toxic gumbo in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit, in 2005? Or the radioactive contamination from the damaged nuclear power plants in Japan?

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • Walter Sieruk on Iranian top dogs approve bill to end UN nuclear inspections, increase enrichment
  • Dude on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’
  • Infidel on Uighur leader: ‘We’re actually quite worried’ about what Biden might let China get away with
  • Infidel on Uighur leader: ‘We’re actually quite worried’ about what Biden might let China get away with
  • Mojdeh on Audio: Robert Spencer on Muslim Brotherhood influence in a Biden/Harris administration

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.