Iranian cleric Sayed Mahdi Tabatabaei looks at stray dogs outside his shelter as they are being fed, outside the city of Qom, 80 miles south of the capital Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 21, 2023. It's rare these days for a turbaned cleric in Iran to attract a large following of adoring young fans on Instagram, but Tabatabaei has done it by rescuing street dogs in defiance of a local taboo.
But that hasn't stopped Tabatabaei from opening a shelter in the city of Qom — home to several major religious schools and shrines — where he takes in street dogs and strays and nurses them back to health. He has become an unlikely advocate for animal rights in a society deeply divided over the role of religion in public life.
Tabatabaei, an animal lover who wears the Shiite black turban signifying he is a descendant of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, seeks to bridge the divide. “We take in dogs with disabilities that cannot survive in the wild and have a hard time finding adoptive homes," he said. "Many of them are dogs I’ve personally nursed back to health. They stay here until they fully recover and regain their strength.”
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