LONDON Iran's conservative establishment is defending Islamic principles and has no intentions of compromising religious beliefs to reach an accommodation with reformers, according to the guardian quoting Hojjatoleslam Rouhollah Hosseinian.
"We believe that Islam is an historical religion which can be adapted to all periods of time, but this ability toward innovation must come from within the faith," he said in his first interview with a British daily Monday.
"We consider it a miracle that Islam has the power to guide humans in all periods of time," the head of the Documentation Center of the Islamic Revolution said.
Presenting what the guardian described as reasoned arguments of Iran's conservative establishment, he was said to have blasted reformers for their absolutism and refusal to engage in constructive debate.
"What we reject today are religious intellectuals. These people see truth in terms of Western ideas and try to justify religion on the basis of Western ideas," Hosseinian said, adding "We don't feel threatened by them, but we have our concerns." He was quoted saying that his supporters were fighting to build a country based on indirect democratic rule, in keeping with Islam.
"Just as democrats in the West come with various qualifications, such as Christian democrats.
.. So the word republic' has the same flexibility for us. This is a guided republic. You should not compare the Islamic Republic with Western republics," he said.
The head of the Documentation Center also criticized the West saying it "never has taken a scholarly approach to Islam and Shia Islam, especially after the revolution," adding that "if they did, many issues would become clear to them." (IRNA)