Iran’s Educational Diplomacy in the Muslim World: Activities of Al-Mustafa International University in Malaysia and Afghanistan

Abstract

Ayatollah Khomeini after the 1979 Revolution contemplated the promotion of Shia core doctrinal values in the Muslim world. A strategy to instill these values in young minds and academic community in the largely Sunni majority Muslim states was needed. Khomeini used 'exporting revolution' instead of 'exporting Shia core values' to avoid resistance in the Sunni dominant communities. The Islamic Republic of Iran founded al-Mustafa International University (MIU) with branches across the Muslim world. The MIU's strategy and activities in Malaysia and Afghanistan suggest that it is engaged in proselytizing followers of Sunni theology and recruiting Sunni academia as propagandists and sympathizers of Shiism. In Afghanistan, the Islamic Republic also aims to penetrate policy-making circles.

Theory of geocultural technologies in international relations

“…Other researchers have considered culture in the context of public diplomacy (Scott-Smith, 2020;Zaharna, 2020). A significant number of scholars have paid attention to various aspects of cultural diplomacy as a practice of using culture to realize the national interests of the state and ensure its participation in global governance (Cull, 2010;Espada, 2020;Constantinou, 2018;Bulur, 2016;Murray, 2018;Banikamal & Ra'ees, 2018;Turchetti & Lalli, 2020;Brown, 2020;Berrin, 2021;Kuri, et al, 2020;Winter, 2017;Rockower, 2020;Dubé-Senécal, 2022;Hjorthén, 2023;Kaya & Drhimeur, 2023). An analysis of the works on the role and place of culture in international relations has made it possible to state the lack of research on the technological dimension of cultural global governance.…”

“…At this level, we can distinguish cultural diplomacy as an institutionalized practice that is well understood in the scientific literature (Mark, 2010;Gienow-Hecht & Donfried, 2010;Goff, 2020). Within cultural diplomacy, there are music diplomacy (Espada, 2020), cinema diplomacy (Cull, 2010), visual diplomacy (Constantinou, 2018), fashion diplomacy (Dubé-Senécal, 2022;Bulur, 2016), arts diplomacy (Brown, 2020), sports diplomacy (Murray, 2018), educational diplomacy (Banikamal & Ra'ees, 2018), science diplomacy (Turchetti & Lalli, 2020), exhibition diplomacy (Berrin, 2021;Hjorthén, 2023), tourism diplomacy (Kuri, et al, 2020), heritage diplomacy (Winter, 2017), religious diplomacy (Religious soft diplomacy..., 2021; Kaya & Drhimeur, 2023), gastrodiplomacy (Rockower, 2020).…”

Iran’s Aid Diplomacy in Afghanistan: The Role of Imam Khomeini Relief Committee

“…In Iran, the delegation met with the representative of the Supreme Leader and some officials from Al-Mustafa International University (MIU) (IKRC, Annual Statistical Report 2012–2013 , 465). It is necessary to note that MIU is also a public diplomacy institution which is the in-charge of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s “educational diplomacy” (see Ra’ees & Bani Kamal, 2018). The very composition of the Comorian delegates, and introducing them to MIU authorities clearly show how a relationship which had initially been established on humanitarian ground, in its later stage was deliberately manipulated for political purposes.…”