A Call to Prayer
Tehran Bureau / Dr Sahimi
14-Jul-2009 (4 comments)

After a long absence from leading Friday prayer, Rafsanjani is supposed to lead it again on July 17. Due to his support of the reformists, and in reaction to the Supreme Leader’s Friday June 19 speech, in which he declared the election valid and threatened the reformists and even the public at large, the reformists have decided to turn the upcoming Friday prayer ceremony into a show of support for Mousavi and Rafsanjani.

Mousavi’s official Facebook page has called for a massive turnout for the upcoming Friday prayer. (It is believed that this has been called for by Rafsanjani himself.) Supporters of Mousavi have asked people to attend the Friday prayer in large numbers — at least a million strong. It has announced that both Mousavi and former president Mohammad Khatami, a strong supporter of Mousavi who has accused the current government of staging a “velvet coup” against the vote of the people, will attend the prayers.

Note that whenever the Supreme Leader leads the Friday prayers, it is obligatory for all the important political figures and leaders to attend the prayers. But neither Rafsanjani, Khatami, Mahdi Karroubi nor Mousavi attended Friday prayers on June 19. Thus, the presence of Khatami, Karroubi and other reformist leaders in a Friday prayer led by Rafsanjani is expected to have enormous symbolic meaning.

The reformists also hope that the Friday prayer will signal to both hard-liners and the world that the democratic movement is n... >>>

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IranFirst

Dear Hamvatan

by IranFirst on Tue Jul 14, 2009 09:07 PM PDT

Dear Irandokht (what a nice name/Alias), thank you for your initial
post. I agree, I don't trust Rafs. either. He is a compromiser, and can
easily make a deal with the robah-e makAr (Khamenei). It all deepens on
Mousavi (who unlike Khatami, has courage). If he backs down, I think
the movement will still go on, but it will be much much harder in the short term.


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IRANdokht

Iranfirst

by IRANdokht on Tue Jul 14, 2009 08:14 PM PDT

When I saw the ads about the prayer that are circulating via email I felt the same way. I am just not comfortable with dragging so many people in one place and announcing that they'll be there, and I also don't trust rafsanjani.

A friend of mine recommended this article to show the bright side of this event and stop me from worrying...

IRANdokht


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IranFirst

I hope Rafs. does NOT save Khamenei in this event

by IranFirst on Tue Jul 14, 2009 06:09 PM PDT

I hope I am wrong , I have a bad feeling about this. Why would IRI let this go ahead, they may have made  deal. No Ashti-e Meli with criminals of IRI.


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Fred

His red-robed highness

by Fred on Tue Jul 14, 2009 04:53 PM PDT

The Islamists want to recast the “His red-robed highness” in the role of Godfather of reform & reformers. The Islamists specially the nuke loving ones should at least pace themselves out because unlike the Islamists the multitudes of Rafsanjani’s victims are still in full command of their faculties and memories.   


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