ارشاد

What it is

وزارت فرهنگ و ارشاد اسلامی (vezârat-e farhang va ershâd-e eslâmi), the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. In conversation, simply ershâd (“guidance”). Founded in 1984 as the renamed successor to the pre-revolution Ministry of Culture and Arts. The ministry licenses publishers, books, periodicals, films, music recordings, concerts, music videos, theatrical productions, advertising, and (in coordination with other bodies) tourism and digital media.

The mechanics

Iranian publishers must submit each manuscript for pre-publication review. Reviewers (mâmurân-e momayezi) demand cuts: a sex scene, a political reference, a critical line about clerical figures, a phrase that “promotes” alcohol or unmarried relationships. A book can wait one to five years for a permit; many wait forever. Films require a script permit before shooting and a screening permit before release. Music permits are issued only to performers and lyrics the ministry approves. No female solo singer has been issued a public-performance permit since 1979 (women may only perform as part of a chorus, or for women-only audiences). Music videos with women dancing are routinely banned. The ministry also bars books critical of the Islamic Republic from international book fairs Iran participates in.

Sanctions and designations

Cultural ministries are not generally on terrorism sanctions lists, but individual ershâd officials have been sanctioned by the EU and US Treasury for their role in censoring journalism and arts during protest cycles. Article 19, PEN International, and Reporters Without Borders document the ministry’s record annually.

In our voice

Iranian writers know the joke. You finish a novel. You hand it to a publisher. The publisher hands it to ershâd. Ershâd hands it back with a list. You cut the list. You hand it back. Ershâd hands it back with a longer list. After three years of this, the publisher quietly tells you the project is dead. Marjane Satrapi, Shahriar Mandanipour, Houshang Golshiri, every Iranian writer of note has a story like this. The ministry’s censorship is sometimes called “soft,” meaning no one is shot for writing the wrong sentence. The cost falls instead on the slow death of Iranian literature in Persian, on the migration of writers to French and English, on the fact that the most interesting Iranian fiction of the last twenty years was written in exile or smuggled out for publication abroad. The morality of compulsory hijab and the morality of pre-publication censorship come from the same source: a state that cannot tolerate Iranians choosing what to read, what to wear, or what to sing. Different vans, same logic.

Why it’s in this glossary

Because “ershâd” appears in two regime contexts (the morality police and the culture ministry) and learners often conflate them. They share a root word and a worldview but operate as separate bureaucracies. Understanding both is part of reading Iranian news.

How to use it

• ارشاد مجوز نداد (ershâd mojavvez nadâd) “Ershâd refused the permit”
• کتابم در ارشاد گیر کرده (ketâbam dar ershâd gir karde) “my book is stuck at Ershâd”
• وزیر ارشاد (vazir-e ershâd) “the minister of culture”

References

• Dehkhoda: ershâd
• Article 19, Iran publishing restrictions
• Wikipedia, Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance
• PEN International, Iran banned books
• Reporters Without Borders, Iran press-freedom file