Religion in the First Year of the Pandemic: Shi'i Jurisprudence on Covid-19 in the Islamic Republic of Iran

ABSTRACT

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in Iran forced considerable changes in many parts of Iranians' personal and social lives, including their religious lives, as health-related precautions affected places of worship. The pandemic has also been an important issue for Iranian religious authorities, for whom overseeing sacred spaces and mass rituals constitute an important element of strengthening the nation's religious identity and legitimizing political power. This article examines the positions of Shi'i clerics toward various problems arising from the Covid-19 pandemic in its early phases, based on fatwas and other public statements.