look news india
As the time for the final farewell of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approaches, the heartbeat of security agencies from Tehran to Mashhad has increased. His mortal remains, which have been preserved in cold storage for the last four months, are to be laid to rest on July 9. But before this historic funeral, Iran is more afraid of the ‘mob’ than any attack or political instability, which often leads to tearing of the shroud in Iran.
The scary history of the funerals of Khomeini and Suleimani
The Iranian administration is reminded of the deadly accidents that occurred during the funerals of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 and Qassem Soleimani in 2020. On both the occasions, dozens of people lost their lives in the stampede caused by the uncontrollable crowd. This time, religious rituals lasting five days are planned in Iran and Iraq for Khamenei’s funeral, in which lakhs of people are expected to turn up. The administration is very cautious about how to control the crowd so that no untoward incident happens.
Five-day grand ritual and burial place
Khamenei’s body will be kept for last rites at the Mosallah prayer complex in Tehran for three days. After this, the body will be taken to the holy cities of Shia community, Najaf and Karbala in Iraq. After the trip to Iraq, the body will be taken back to Qom city in Iran and finally to his birthplace Mashhad. He will be buried at the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth Imam of Shia Islam. It is not yet clear who will offer the funeral prayers, although there is talk that his son Mojtaba Khamenei, who has been away from public life since his father’s death, can take over this responsibility.
Suspense amid tight security arrangements
At present the Iranian authorities have not opened their cards regarding the funeral prayers, but the security cordon is being made so impenetrable that there is no scope for any mistake. After keeping the body safe in extremely cold temperatures for the last four months, preparations have now been completed to take it out on its last journey. The entire world’s eyes are on whether Iran succeeds in its ‘crowd management’ test this time, or whether this historic farewell will turn into a tragedy.
