Iran’s Friday Prayers: One week before the elections
(Photo: Arash Mirsepasi/YJC)
One week before general elections for the parliament and the Assembly of Experts, Friday prayers’ sermonizers did not spend much time on other subjects and were more explicit in their speeches of Friday 19th.
In Tehran, Hojjatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi called elections an announcement by the people that “they believe in … the causes of the revolution: justice, Islam, and aid for the poor and bare-footed.” Seddighi also indirectly referred to BBC Persian, the most loathed media by IRI officials, and its assumedly biased coverage of the elections, including a controversial article on what pattern of voting would stop high-profile hardliners from entering the Assembly of Experts. “This year, they have become kind and caring towards us and call for everyone to come to the polls. But they are also undermining bases [of the establishment] including the Guardian Council.”
Tehran’s Friday prayers’ leader of this week also addressed Hashemi in a thinly veiled manner, slamming him for his criticism of the Guardian Council. “Where have you brought your credibility from?” Seddiqi asked. “By casting doubt over the conduct of the Guardian Council, you will lose your credibility among the people,” he said. Ayatollah Al-e Hashem in Tabriz in northwestern Iran voiced similar concerns and backed the Guardian Council. “The enemy failed to abolish the Guardian Council, and now it is trying to question the conduct of this council, it is up to people to stop their destructive efforts in unison,” he said.
In Shiraz, Aboufazel Razavi warned about the danger of “infiltration by the enemies”, particularly in the Assembly of Experts. “During the last two years, we have seen figures overblown and groomed for the Assembly of Experts” most probably referring to Ayatollah Khomeini's grandson Hassan Khomeini. “Even foreign radio channels encourage people to support them. We should be suspicious about that. The time has passed when the US and the UK appointed representatives for us.” Razavi also warned about formation of another Sixth Parliament, the 1999-2003 parliament dominated by the Reformists, calling it “a disgrace”. The Friday prayers’ sermonizer of Semnan in northeastern Iran, Ahmad Panahi, also warned about “infiltration” in the Assembly of Experts. “We should choose candidates whom we are sure about their loyalty to the leader. If someone is efficient, but is intellectually susceptible to ‘sedition’, he will not be useful.”
“American and Western theorists believe that if they send their agents inside Iran’s decision-making centers they can contain Iran” said Mohammad-Mahdi Hosseini Hamedani, leader of the prayers in Karaj, west of Tehran. Warning that the nuclear agreement was part of the United States’ larger stratagem to reach its goals in Iran, Hosseini Hamedani stated that “the US has plans for Iran’s elections in order to create domestic problems [for Iran] and reach its evil goals.” He also reminded the congregation of the Sixth Parliament where some MPs “made every effort to undermine the Supreme Leader.” Hosseini Hamedani also slammed promises by Reformist candidates to solve the issue of the Green Movement leaders’ house arrest. “This is browbeating for the establishment,” he said.