Rouhani: Police should not enforce Islam
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has been criticized by conservative clerics for saying the police should enforce the law rather than Islam.
Conservative clerics and media have criticized Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for saying that police should focus on enforcing the law rather than Islam.
At a gathering of Iranian police commanders April 25, Rouhani said: “Police do not have a duty to enforce Islam. No police officer can do something and say he did it because God commanded it, or the prophet had said so. It has nothing to do with the police.”
He continued, “The police only have one duty: to implement the law. That’s it.” He explained, “Some religious commandants are in the law, identically. And some are laws that parliament has approved that are not opposed to religious law. This is enough.”
As an example, Rouhani said that in Islam there is no commandment on whether someone should pray slow or fast. He said: “Can police interfere in this? Can he come into a bank and tell the bank’s president, ‘Close your doors, it’s noon and it’s the call to prayer.’ If someone is praying, can they go to him and say ‘Why did you pray fast?’ This has nothing to do with the police.”
