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Friday Surprise in Iran?
Although Rafsanjani has been associated with both the Combatant Clergy Association, a centrist clerical organization that has been outspoken in its condemnation of the elections, and the Kargozaran party, which last week called the Ahmadinejad government “illegitimate,” most Iranians balk at labeling Rafsanjani a “reformist.” In fact, Rafsanjani has flipped back and forth between reformist and conservative camps whenever it has suited him.
Still, Rafsanjani’s deep and unbridled loathing of Ahmadinejad, and Ahmadinejad’s ceaseless attacks on his character and his family’s questionable business ties, has made the two men bitter enemies. (In the election aftermath, five members of Rafsanjani's family, including his outspoken daughter, Faezeh, were arrested and detained by the government.) By all accounts, Rafsanjani has been the main force behind the scenes trying to annul the elections. What’s more, he has spent the last few weeks in Qom, Iran’s religious capital, ostensibly trying to convince his fellow clerics on the Assembly of Experts to dismiss Khamenei and replace him either with another ayatollah or with a committee of three or five ayatollahs (as Iran’s constitution allows). That is what makes his invitation to deliver the Friday Sermon so unusual. After all, the invitation could only have come from one man—Khamenei.
In the end, the only thing that Rafsanjani truly cares about is Rafsanjani, which is why no one knows if he will use the Friday Sermon to call for an end to the protests or to renew his criticism of Ahmadinejad. It may all depend on what’s best for Rafsanjani.
Nevertheless, it is no exaggeration to say that whither Rafsanjani goes, so goes the future of Iran.
Stay tuned.
Reza Aslan, a contributor to the Daily Beast, is assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside and senior fellow at the Orfalea Center on Global and International Studies at UC Santa Barbara. He is the author of the bestseller No god but God and How to Win a Cosmic War.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Reza Aslan, a contributor to the Daily Beast, is assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside and senior fellow at the Orfalea Center on Global and International Studies at UC Santa Barbara. He is the author of the bestseller No god but God and How to Win a Cosmic War.
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Reza Aslan, a contributor to the Daily Beast, is assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside and senior fellow at the Orfalea Center on Global and International Studies at UC Santa Barbara. He is the author of the bestseller No god but God and How to Win a Cosmic War.
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Reza Aslan, a contributor to the Daily Beast, is assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside and senior fellow at the Orfalea Center on Global and International Studies at UC Santa Barbara. He is the author of the bestseller No god but God and How to Win a Cosmic War.
Like a science-fiction story.
We now find out that the present government of Iran is composed not only of cruel, vindictive men, with no use for democracy, but who are also -- and we thought that clerics would at least have SOME basic honesty -- liars, thieves and cheats.
Is this the face they want to represent Shia Islam? And as for any upcoming "trials" with "voluntary confessions", no one will be fooled. We shall be reminded of the Volksgericht in Nazi Germany, the "confessions" in the 1930's during the purge trials in Soviet Russia, the "confessions" by McCain and others in Vietnam, etc. Iran has a medieval regime which lusts after power at all costs. What's next? Will the terrible recent plane crash or any future earthquake now be blamed on the West, too? SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!
Sounds like a real show down could occur. Great write-up, Reza!
Reza, my friend. Let's not kid ourselves. The struggle in Iran is between the people and the entire regime. Rafsanjani, Khomenei, and even Mousavi are all cut from the same cloth. They are having internal conflicts but they don't really have the interest of the Iranian people in mind.
Mousavi is an accidental "leader."
Remember that our dads used to say after the revolution that the mullahs and the regime won't last for more than a year? The struggle against the Islamic regime in Iran started from the day it was established.
Let's not over analyze the situation. Iranians hate the entire Islamic republic and the founding fathers of the revolution are doing their best to maintain control and project an image to that ensures their existence.
I fear the worst. I think Khamenei will harm Rafsanjani's family if he doesn't concede the opposition.
Wow. It looks like no matter what happens, democracy will not win. From what Mr. Aslan is saying, Rafsanjani is doing this for his own, not the people's, benefit. It certainly will be interesting to watch, though.
Thank you for your continued excellance in reporting, Mr Aslan.
The author of this hatchet job Reza Aslan is a shameful man. To base his work on that of Akbar Ganjii shows that he is more dedicated to the destruction of Iran and cares little about the fate of the common people of Iran. it figures that he is a California College Professor. I would love to see him relocate (maybe Evin prison Tehran or Tel Aviv) we don't need his kind here in the US
Barry O'Connell
Dear Mr. Aslan, on Reuters and LATimes ?
It is a big deal that Rafsanjani is publicly speaking again for the first time since the election, and your analysis is quite to the point, but there are some facts that are not correct here :
Rafsanjani did deliver the friday sermons about 2 months ago. It has not been years. There are 4 people right now who do it in turn : Khamenei, Jannati, Khatami (Ahmad) and Rafsanjani. Among Which Rafsanjani is the more moderate. Jannati is also the head of the guardian council and a fierce conservative, as is Ahmad Khatami.
Although it is Khameni who chooses the other clerics who can deliver friday sermons in Tehran (he never let Mohammad Khatami do it), he does not decide who goes which week. there is a comitee for that, so it is not a direct invitation.
Kharroubi and Moussavi has declared clearly on their official sites that they will be attending. Why are you talking about
If you read persian, this is the website of the friday sermon comitee: http://namaz-jomeh.ir/
If this dirtbag is Iran's best hope for democracy, it would appear that the fascists will be running the country for a long time to come
Reza, you are incorrect about the Constitution. You say, "a committee of three or five ayatollahs (as Iran's constitution allows)."
In fact, while the original Islamic Republic Constitution allowed a Leadership Council (Showray-e Rahbari), the 1989 revisions to the constitution eliminated that provision. This was part of the same set of revisions to the constitution, by the way, that, allowed for a non-Ayyatollah-e Ozma (Grand Ayatollah) or non-Marja' (Source of Emulation) to become the Supreme Leader, paving the way for Khamene'i to become Leader.
Thank you.
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