Ali-Akbar Raefipour

Ali-Akbar Raefipour is an Iranian lecturer and commentator from Tehran, and the founder and head of the Masaf Institute. ¹ He is known for controversial university lectures on religions and sects, the end of time, Mahdism, Satanism, Freemasonry and conspiracy theories. ² His official Instagram page, run for him and the Masaf Institute together, counted 1,002,269 followers in November 2026 per an on-platform profile read — a dated platform figure, not a measurement the museum makes itself. ³

Ali-Akbar Raefipour was born in Tehran on 8 Ordibehesht 1363 SH, corresponding to 28 April 1984. ² He holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from Payame Noor University. ² He has no seminary education, and the Persian article traces his interest in religious questions to his two grandfathers, who were mosque prayer leaders. ² He describes himself as a university lecturer and a researcher in apocalyptic topics and cults. ¹

Raefipour founded the Masaf Iranians Institute and launched the Masaf Movement analytical website with it; Masaf is an acronym of "Combating Zionism, Humanism and Freemasonry". ² The two articles differ on the founding month in 2011, the Persian giving Bahman 1389 SH and the English June 2011. ^{2 1} The institute has units including a Mahdism unit, a sects and religions unit, a media-training unit and a family unit. ² The institute is extensively active on social media, and studies quoted by English Wikipedia accuse it of mobilising hundreds of accounts in coordinated propaganda campaigns. ¹ Raefipour entered politics as secretary-general of the Sobh-e Iran (Morning of Iran) Front, which fielded candidates in the 2024 legislative election. ^{2 1}

Researchers of the Stanford Internet Observatory's Cyber Policy Center and other research bodies, as English Wikipedia reports, describe Raefipour as a conspiracy theorist and a propagandist with ties to extreme elements within the Iranian regime — descriptions the article attributes to their authors. ¹ He is an advocate of Mahdism, and his institute has the stated goal of "acquainting Muslims with Mahdist topics and teachings". ¹ Twitter suspended several of his accounts in May 2020, and in 2022 suspended his account for incitement of violence against participants in the Mahsa Amini protests, according to the article. ¹ In July 2023, while visiting Saudi Arabia, he was banned from leaving the country and stayed in the Iranian consulate while the Iranian foreign ministry worked for his release. ¹ Persian Wikipedia reports that he has called parts of his own Wikipedia page "nonsense" and "lies" and denied statements attributed to him there. ²

The official Instagram page of Raefipour and Masaf stood at 1,002,269 followers when read on the platform on 7 November 2026. ³ An earlier harvest read of the page gave 1.1 million followers from post metadata dated 15 October 2026; the fresher read replaces it in this record. ³

• The English Wikipedia article on Ali-Akbar Raefipour, read in full on 7 November 2026. ¹
• The Persian Wikipedia article on Ali-Akbar Raefipour, read in full on 7 November 2026. ²
• His official Instagram page (@raefipoour), profile read on the platform on 7 November 2026. ³