Top cleric appreciates large turnout in Ayatollah Rafsanjani’s funeral

Speaking during his jurisprudence class at Qom’s Grand Mosque on Wednesday, Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Nouri-Hamadani appreciated the large turnout at the funeral and burial ceremony of the late Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council and a former two-time president.

Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani passed away on January 8 at the age of 82 after having an acute heart attack. Born on August 25, 1934, the influential Iranian politician and writer was the fourth president of the Islamic Republic, serving from 1989 to 1997.

The revered source of emulation said this mass turnout was a sign of the Iranian people’s loyalty to the Islamic Revolution, to the Islamic system of government, its leaders and the lofty ideals of the Islamic system, as well as a celebration of the struggles and services that Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani gave to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Ayatollah Nouri-Hamadani paid homage to Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s efforts, record and many services to the Islamic Revolution and the movement of the late Imam Khomeini and said, “If the people participated in the funeral of Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani it because he put a lot of effort into creating, establishing and stabilizing the Islamic Revolution.”

The source of emulation said that if a person is revolutionary and remains revolutionary, the people will definitely revere and glorify him. “Today, the duty of all of us is to strive with all our might to maintain and strengthen the Revolution,” he stressed.

Ayatollah Nouri-Hamadani referred to the emphasis given by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Sayyed Imam Ali Khamenei, on the importance of Iran’s Islamic system of government and its institutions remaining revolutionary, including the seminaries and noted, “All people, especially the authorities, should focus on protecting the system of Wilayat al-Faqih (Guardianship of the Jurisprudent) and the Leader of this system with all their might.”