Two sides of the same coin?

Orthodox Shiite critics of the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, charge that he is deliberately undermining the clergy.

Iranian Shiites pray at the Jamkaran Mosque, east of the holy city of Qom.

TEHRAN // Undermining the role of the clergy in the Iranian theocracy is no small charge but surprisingly, that is an accusation now being levelled at President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's closest allies, if not the president himself.

Several prominent hardliners and clerics have recently warned that there are plans by an unnamed group to sideline the clergy not only in matters of state but also in theological matters. The issue is dividing a conservative grouping known as the Principlists, who came into being before the presidential elections of 2005. The president's critics are particularly concerned about how Mr Ahmadinejad and his advisers view the Twelfth Imam, a pivotal figure in Shia Islam.

Critics of the president also charge that he regularly snubs the clergy. In the past he has ignored their admonitions to stay away from appointing women to the cabinet. He has called for tolerance in enforcing a dress code despite protests by the clerical establishment. Furthermore, he has long refused to give in to demands that he dismiss his controversial chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie. Some analysts say snubbing the clergy may be a political tactic that Mr Ahmadinejad is using to expand his support among those who do not view the clergy favourably.

"He used the same method to overcome (Akbar) Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was a cleric with deep roots in the system" in 2005 presidential elections, says Mohammad Javad Akbarin, an Islamic scholar and political analyst who lives in France. Principlists, who supported Mr Ahmadinejad in last summer's disputed elections, seem to be more troubled by unorthodox beliefs the president may hold than by his occasional indifference to some of the clerics' demands, however.

On at least one occasion, the president has implied that he is protected by the Twelfth Imam - the Occulted, or hidden, Imam. During a UN General Assembly address in 2005, he began with a lengthy prayer to hasten the return of the Imam. When he returned from the UN, Mr Ahmadinejad claimed that he had been surrounded by a halo of light that stopped all the audience from even blinking during his address.

The orthodox have other reasons to be suspicious. Mr Ahmadinejad calls his government "The Government of the Occulted Imam" and has implied on several occasions that the return of the Imam might be near. The president's orthodox critics charge that Mr Mashaie fosters the unorthodox views. By publicly expressing those beliefs, he has repeatedly angered the orthodox establishment. The orthodox have demanded that he be removed from office, but the president has ignored them. Mr Mashaie frequently accompanies the president, as he did last week at a conference for expatriate Iranians in Tehran.

At the conference, Mr Mashaie talked about the supremacy of an Iranian version of Islam. That angered many clerics who found in it some suggestion of favouring nationalism versus Islam. The remarks were even called "heretical" by the hardline newspaper Kayhan. What seems to have caused bigger alarm is Mr Ahmadinejad's identification with one of the generals of the Occulted Imam at the time of his return and in his war against the infidels.

Certain pro-Ahmadinejad apocalyptic websites, blogs and even in some English-language Shiite blogs outside Iran have circulated the notion that the president is linked to the general. Shiite sources have over many centuries provided detailed descriptions of the appearance of the general. They even provide a name. Mr Ahmadinejad fits all descriptions, according to these websites. Neither the president nor any of his associates have denied the identification or even commented on it.

The president's silence on the issue "implies acceptance and acceptance means belief in some sort of mission and, therefore, direct contact with the Occulted Imam without need for the mediating role of the clergy. This obviously angers and scares them all," said an analyst who requested anonymity. @Email:[e-mail]