Cleric rising to lead Iran’s new wave of hard-liners
As a new generation of right-wing conservatives emerges in Iran, well-known cleric Alireza Panahian is upping his game as a vocal critic of Reformists and moderates.
In Iran, when the fall months of Muharram and Safar arrive, people hold ceremonies to pay homage to the decedents of the Prophet Muhammad, especially his grandson Imam Hussein ibn Ali and a number of other Shiite imams. These months, which roughly correspond with September and October, are sacred for Shiites.
But the mourning ceremonies have become opportunities for hard-liners to advance their political agenda. Eulogists, or religious singers, are paid huge amounts of money, and the practice has drawn public scrutiny.
The hard-line eulogists and speakers in the mourning ceremonies have been used in the past two decades to attack the Reformists and moderates, a move employed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his presidency, from 2005 to 2013. However, as the proverb says, “You reap what you sow.”
Following a serious falling out with hard-liners and conservatives in his second term, Ahmadinejad came under fire from the same eulogists and speakers who were empowered by his own government. The same wave of verbal strikes during the mourning ceremonies have been repeated again and again against moderate President Hassan Rouhani, who came to office in 2013.
