Khamenei Prays for His Appointees; From Praising Raisi to Seeking Forgiveness for Hashemi Rafsanjani

Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, who has a long-standing tradition of performing the "funeral prayer" for his appointees and close associates, prayed for Ibrahim Raisi on Wednesday, June 2, and testified to his "goodness," in contrast to his prayer for Rafsanjani, for whom he sought "forgiveness" from God. Khamenei has performed the "funeral prayer" for his officials at least ten times since he assumed leadership in 1989, with the most recent being on June 2, 2023. The prayer took place at Tehran University for a president he called "valuable" and for a foreign minister whose efforts to "advance resistance" or stir chaos through proxy groups in the region he appreciated. Khamenei repeated the phrase "O God, we do not know anything about them except good" during the prayer for the deceased, which included the representative of Khamenei in East Azerbaijan Province, the governor of the province, and the crew of a downed helicopter. Two months prior, on April 16, he had also performed the "funeral prayer" for seven commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who were active in Syria and Lebanon and were killed in an airstrike attributed to Israel. Khamenei's prayer for Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, in the winter of 2019 was, however, the most sorrowful for him and his supporters. During the prayer over Soleimani's body, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike, Khamenei repeated the phrase "O God, we do not know anything about them except good" and broke into tears. Supporters of the regime see this crying and prayer as a symbol of Khamenei's appreciation and full endorsement of Soleimani's services and character. The most notable and controversial prayer by the leader of the Islamic Republic was for someone many believe brought Khamenei to power: Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Khamenei, who once referred to Rafsanjani as a "long-time companion," did not recite the phrase "O God, we do not know anything about them except good" during the funeral prayer for Rafsanjani due to evident disagreements in the last years of Rafsanjani's life as the head of the Expediency Discernment Council, instead reading a section of repentance with the phrase "Your forgiveness" mentioned nine times. This change in the recitation of the funeral prayer and the nine requests for forgiveness for the former president led to various reactions and faced widespread criticism from reformist factions of the government, being seen as a symbol of political and personal disputes between the two leaders. The funeral prayers for other high-ranking officials, such as Hossein Hamadani, Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani, Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, Ahmad Kazemi, and Mohammad Baqir Hakim, are also viewed as symbols of internal relations at the highest levels of the Islamic Republic's leadership, showing Khamenei's consistent effort to express respect and appreciation for their services and sacrifices. Khamenei prayed surrounded by numerous guards and did not allow Hassan Khomeini to be in the front row. The government is exerting pressure for public mourning, mandating the closure of businesses to participate in the "mourning" for Raisi. Amnesty International stated that Raisi's death should not hinder the Iranian people's right to achieve justice, truth, and compensation. The security and judicial apparatus of the Islamic Republic continues to confront the public in response to Raisi's death.