You may have heard: Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, Iran’s preeminent cleric and a stunningly outspoken opponent of the regime, died in his sleep on Sunday night — and in an odd, even uncanny way, his death reads almost like a final gift to the hard-pressed opposition movement now struggling to bring change to Iran in the wake of June’s contested elections.
Montazeri was an architect of the 1979 revolution, and the Ayatollah Khomeini (under whom Montazeri once studied) went so far as to name him his successor — but Montazeri came quickly to oppose the government he had helped to create, most notably decrying the secretive executions of some 4,500-5,000 political prisoners in 1988/9. His relationship with Khomeini severed, Montazeri retreated to the holy city of Qom, only rejoining the political fray with the rise of the reform movement in the mid-1990s. He came not only to support the reformers, but served as one of the movement’s most important voices — and for his pains, was placed under house arrest from 1998 to 2003.
His confinement did nothing to dampen Montazeri’s commitment to reform, however, and in 2005, he proved himself that rarest of individuals: a powerful figure willing to admit to error, telling Reuters that the constitution he had helped author was flawed from the outset. In the aftermath of this summer’s election, the frail, 87-year-old cleric released a steady stream of sharply worded condemnations of the Iranian government’s actions, going so far as to deny the Islamic Republic’s very legitimacy:
A political system based on force, oppression, changing people’s votes, killing, closure, arresting and using Stalinist and medieval torture, creating repression, censorship of newspapers, interruption of the means of mass communications, jailing the enlightened and the elite of society for false reasons, and forcing them to make false confessions in jail, is condemned and illegitimate.
“This regime,” he said,” is neither Islamic nor a republic; it is a mere dictatorship.”
Though the government attempted to down-play his influence and position, Montazeri’s credentials as one of Iran’s most highly respected religious scholars served to protect him from the fate (jail, or worse) that met so many of the regime’s opponents in recent months. His funeral on Monday drew tens of thousands of mourning supporters to the streets of Qom, where a wave after wave of chants against the government could be heard.
How can I possibly posit the loss of such a figure as a “gift”?
This is how: Shi’ite mourning rites include a cycle of commemorations, coming seven days, a month, and forty days after death.
Montazeri died exactly seven days before the Shi’ite holy day of Ashura — an annual day of collective mourning for Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, martyred in battle in the 7th century. Ashura has always served as a potent symbol to Shi’ites of the power of martyrdom and sacrifice, a moment in the year in which believers hold most tightly to the notion that the world’s oppressed will someday overcome their oppressors.
Montazeri, a revered religious leader who championed the oppressed Iranian people in the face of their oppressive government, will now be mourned alongside the great hero of Shi’ite Islam, his death folded into the story of Ashura, his years of struggle joined to the sacrifices that serve as the very foundation of his people’s faith. Already, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is being publicly compared to Yazid, the corrupt ruler responsible for Imam Hussein’s death.
Ashura is this Sunday. Keep your radios and televisions on that day; listen closely, and keep listening in the days that follow.
Whatever happens — good or bad, blessed or bloody — it will be huge, and it will involve thousands upon thousands upon thousands of Iranians.
There is a very real possibility that this Ashura will be the day on which Iran’s story changes.
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Some additional sources:
- Photo gallery of Montazeri’s funeral – note in particular the stunning third picture, of the Ayatollah under his burial shroud.
- About Montazeri and the role he played (and the role his death may play) in Iran’s opposition movement:
“Cleric wields religion to challenge Iran’s theocracy” – New York Times (published before Montazeri’s death)
“Cleric’s funeral becomes protest of Iran’s leaders” – New York Times
“Cleric Montazeri stood tall in Iranian opposition movement” – Christian Science Monitor
“Iran opposition energized by Montazeri funeral in Qom” – Christian Science Monitor
“Popular dissident Hossein Ali Montazeri mourned in Iran” – Los Angeles Times - About Iran/Shi’ite Islam:
Iran Reading List – my earlier list of recommended books
After the Prophet – Lesley Hazleton’s exceptional account of the Shia-Sunni split in Islam, including a powerful section on the story of Ashura, and the role it plays in Shi’ite thought.
The Grand Panjandrum
/ December 23, 2009I hope what we have seen over this past many months is the beginning of a freer and more open Iran. Time will tell.