In Islamic Iran where clerics rule, unofficial “prayer sellers,” who promise to intercede with the divine to solve all manner of life’s problems, are seeing their business boom.
Iran’s clerics also believe in the power of prayer but they advise people against using prayers that lack a religious basis. Magic and superstition are both illegal under Islamic law.
“Writing prayers quoting Shia’s immaculate Imams and receiving money for that has no legal obstacle,” said Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani when asked about the religious legitimacy of the prayer sellers.
“But referring to prayers written by hustlers without reliable sources is not permitted, and getting money for those kinds of prayers is (religiously) forbidden,” he told news website hawzah.net.
Despite what Iranian clerics say, none of YaAli’s customers ask him about the basis of his knowledge, which he says is founded on the Koran.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/28/AR2010062801351_pf.html
