Ahmad Khatami
| Ahmad Khatami | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1960 Nīr, Iran |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Religion | Usuli Twelver Shi'a Islam |
Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami is a senior Iranian Ayatollah,[1] as well as a senior member of the Assembly of Experts.[2] In December of 2005, Ali Khamenei appointed him as Tehran’s substitute Friday prayer leader.[3]
He was born in the town of Nīr, Northern Iran. He studied at seminaries in Qom and Semnan.
In 2006, during the Pope Benedict XVI Islam controversy, Khatami asked the Pope to "fall on his knees in front of a senior Muslim cleric and try to understand Islam."[4] In 2007, he addressed the death sentence issued by Imam Khomeini against Salman Rushdie, saying "In the Islamic Iran that revolutionary fatwa of Imam [Khomeini] is still alive and cannot be changed."[5] In regard to the 2009 Iranian election protests, Khatami denounced demonstrators as rioters who wage war against God ("mohareb"), (a capital crime in Islamic law),[6] and more recently accused reformist presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi of Mohareb as "leaders of sedition."[7]
[edit] References
- ^ "Iran cleric: Mideast unrest replay of our 1979 Islamic revolution". Haaretz. 2011-01-28. http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/iran-cleric-mideast-unrest-replay-of-our-1979-islamic-revolution-1.339796. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
- ^ "Senior Iranian Cleric Calls For Setting Up Of New UN". RTT News. 2010-06-11. http://www.rttnews.com/Content/GeneralNews.aspx?Id=1331803&SM=1. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
- ^ "Ahmad Khatami meets Leader". Mehr News. 2005-12-18. http://www.mehrnews.com/en/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=267401. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
- ^ "Pope tells Muslims he is 'deeply sorry' for crisis", Malaysia Star, September 17, 2006
- ^ "British Muslims". This is London. 2007-06-22. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23401632-details/British%20Muslims%20burn%20St%20George's%20flag%20at%20anti-Rushdie%20rally/article.do. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
- ^ "Iranian Cleric: Protesters at War With God". VOA News. 2009-07-01. http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-06-26-voa14.cfm. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
- ^ Iran opposition leader ready to 'pay any price', by ALI AKBAR DAREINI, AP, 16 February 2011, accessed 4 March 2011
