Despite its controversial nature, religious police forces are still common in some Islamic societies. These institutions have the powerful support of the conservative part of the population and government officials but are often met with opposition from its younger population and liberals. However, religious police forces often conflicts with local police. For example, the Nigerian State of Kano witnessed a rocky relationship between their religious police force and civil police force. Some religious forces only survived because of protection from the country's constitution, namely Iran and Saudi Arabia. Despite Hassan Rouhani's stern criticism of Iran's religious police, he did not have power to change anything as the acting president.
