Historians trace Iran’s history of endowments back to the Samanid era. By the time of the Constitutional Revolution, a structured oversight of mosques and endowment properties was in place.
This dynamic evolved under Shah’s dictatorship, leading to the inception of the ‘Ministry of Education, Endowments, and Fine Arts Industries’. A crucial pivot occurred when the Shah segregated the endowment organization from the Ministry of Culture. It was during Khomeini’s era that the endowment’s trajectory took a darker turn, entwining it with the government’s economic machinery.
The opacity of its operations, especially concerning assets and income, deepens the mystery. Recent figures suggest that in the past five years, around 2.166 trillion tomans were allocated to the Waqf and Charitable Affairs Organization. Despite this, accurate asset figures remain undisclosed.
A 2010 report from the regime’s Parliament Research Center unveiled over 110,000 endowments across the nation. Yet, the accurate scale might be even more staggering. Mehdi Khamushi, the regime’s endowment head, quoted an astounding figure of 3.5 million endowment properties distributed nationwide. Categories span residential to kindergarten and even orphanage properties. Such disclosures hint at the organization’s vast reach, making it one of Iran’s largest landowners.
However, the tale has a sinister undertone. Recent exposes highlight the endowment’s involvement in large-scale looting, with Khamenei at the center. One such instance involves the Damavand mountain range. Through a Supreme Court decision, the organization procured rights to 18,000 hectares of land. Notably, these lands traditionally don’t qualify for endowment.
Their recent occupation echoes the ever-expanding shadow of endowment-driven exploitation even as villagers resist these appropriations, as seen in the Aghmashad in Sari, the regime’s actions persist, exemplified by their recent annexation of 400 hectares of the ‘Imamzadeh Gazou’ forests.
Several confrontations, as in Daniyal village, have culminated in tragic outcomes, with regime agents resorting to violence. Moreover, insiders of the regime aren’t exempt from these transgressions. Khamushi’s relative received vast tracts of endowment land at nominal prices. And in 2016, a sprawling endowment in Mashhad, spanning over a thousand hectares, was entrusted to Ahmad Alamolhoda, Khamenei’s representative.
Further revelations include the creation of financial empires from religious endowments, such as Fouad Ray, a conglomerate with over 200 subsidiary companies, even venturing into the oil and gas sector.
As endowments in Iran drift further from their noble origins, they paint a disturbing portrait of unchecked power and a stark departure from their altruistic intent.
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