SHAFAQNA– An aide to Iranian Presidential Adviser on Ethnic and Religious Groups says Sunni teachers teach in schools in Shia-majority regions and rejects any sectarian or ethnic discrimination in Iran.
Abulfadhl Zolfaghar-Talab describes Islamic solidarity as of the significant aspects of the Iranian society, saying since 1979, the Islamic Revolution has paid special attention to various ethnicity and religious sects.
Zolfaghar-Talab tells Shafaqna, while the previous Shah regime had banned religious and cultural material from being educated at local schools, the Islamic Republic granted religious freedom to all Islamic sects. He says President Hassan Rouhani in a 2016 decree ordered the employment of educated Sunni individuals at state positions.
According to the Iranian official, after the Islamic Revolution many universities were established in provinces with ethnic and religious minorities such as West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Golestan, Sistan-Baluchestan and Kermanshah and almost 15 percent of the high-education institutions are now located in Sunni-majority regions.
Zolfaghar-Talab notes that both Sunni and Shia teachers are employed in districts with the respected populations and it shows the kindred spirit and trust between the followers of the two sects. He adds while before the 1979 revolution the Fiqh of Shafi’i was thought as only a major at the University of Tehran, today there is the University of Islamic Sects in Tehran.
The aide to Iranian Presidential Adviser on Ethnic and Religious Groups meanwhile charges the enemies and hegemonic powers of the world try to sow disunity in Muslim societies and calls it as one of the important challenges in the face of sectarian coexistence in Iran.
This text originally published by Shafaqna Farsi and translated by Shafaqna English.
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