Sanctifying the leadership

(From Nan Wright, St. Thomas' Episcopal in Houston & Teaching Comparative Blog)

When Ali Khamenei was chosen as supreme leader in Iran, he was not the first choice of the Assembly of Experts. Other, more renowned and revered ayatollahs did not want to be involved in politics. Most Shiite ayatollahs regard political involvement as beyond their religious duties.Khamenei, a secular politician and former president, was only named an ayatollah after the death of Khomeini. His choice as supreme leader was controversial. Now, it seems, his religious credentials are being polished.

Khamenei said ‘Ya Ali’ at birth

Unlike most babies who cry at birth, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei improbably voiced the name of the first Imam of the Shiites immediately after he left his mother’s womb, the Friday prayer leader of the Iranian holy city of Qom said. 

Ayatollah Mohammad Saeedi appeared in a video, circulated by the Iranian opposition, in which he is telling an audience that Ayatollah Khamenei’s half-sister said that the supreme leader said “Ya Ali” right at birth. The midwife responded saying, “May Ali protect you.”

Ali refers to Ali ibn Abi Taleb, a cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad. Ali is believed to be the first Shiite Imam…

Ayatollah Saeedi was appointed as the leader of Friday prayer in Qom by Ayatollah Khamenei following the controversial presidential elections in 2009, which led to the country’s worst social unrest in three decades.Ayatollah Saeedi also leads Qom’s cultural council and the committee to revive “the propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice.”…