An Examination of the View of the Mosque in the Cultural Policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran

The goal of this article is to examine the view of the mosque institution in the framework of Islamic Republic of Iran’s cultural policies. Therefore, it first scrutinizes the notion of cultural policies and probes into its four-stage continuum (cultural theory, cultural policy making, cultural planning and cultural management). Due to the focus of this enquiry on the theoretical aspect of the view of the mosque in cultural policies, it then investigates the two first stages of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s four-stage continuum in the domain of the mosque (cultural theory and cultural policy making) according to the documents, cultural policy principles, the 20-year perspective document, the opinions of Imam Khomeini and the Supreme Leader as the “cultural theory” and the first to the fifth five year plans of development as the “cultural policy making”, so that it illustrates the various aspects of the view of the mosque, its importance and its status within the framework of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s cultural policy.