Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad says that when he delivered
his speech at the UN General Assembly in September, he felt there
was a light around him and that the attention of the world leaders
in the audience was unblinkingly focused upon him. The claim has
caused a stir in Iran, as a transcript and video recording of
Ahmadinejad's comments have been published on an Iranian website,
baztab.com. There are also reports that a CD showing Ahmadinejad
making the comments also has been widely distributed in Iran. Is
the Iranian president claiming to be divinely inspired?
Prague, 29 November 2005 (RFE/RL) -- According the report by
baztab.com, President Ahmadinejad made the comments in a meeting
with one of Iran's leading clerics, Ayatollah Javadi Amoli.
Ahmadinejad said that someone present at the UN told him that a
light surrounded him while he was delivering his speech to the
General Assembly. The Iranian president added that he also sensed
it.
"He said when you began with the words 'in the name of God,' I saw
that you became surrounded by a light until the end [of the
speech]," Ahmadinejad appears to say in the video. "I felt it
myself, too. I felt that all of a sudden the atmosphere changed
there, and for 27-28 minutes all the leaders did not blink."
Ahmadinejad adds that he is not exaggerating.
"I am not exaggerating when I say they did not blink; it's not an
exaggeration, because I was looking," he says. "They were
astonished as if a hand held them there and made them sit. It had
opened their eyes and ears for the message of the Islamic
Republic."
Baztab.com reported that during the meeting, Ayatollah Amoli said
that "carrying out promises and restraining from fooling people" is
the most important duty, presumably of officials . However, it is
unclear whether that comment is made in reaction to the claim made
by Ahmadinejad.
Critics And Skeptics
Iranian legislator Akbar Alami has questioned Ahmadinejad's
apparent claims, saying that even Islam's holiest figures have
never made such claims.
Alami told ILNA news agency that it is hard to imagine that someone
who is delivering a speech can at the same time focus his attention
on the eyelashes of all the people sitting at a distance from him
and categorically tell a leading Qom cleric that they did not
blink.
Alami said he hopes the film of Ahmadinejads comments has not been
distributed by people close to the president to make criticizing
him "taboo among ordinary people."
However, FardaNews.com, a conservative website, reported that the
meeting between Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Javadi Amoli was private.
[Editor's note: FardaNews.com has no relation to RFE/RL's Radio
Farda.] The website accused unspecified Ahmadinejad opponents of
distributing the CD of the meeting to insult him.
Hossein Bastani, an Iranian journalist based in France, told RFE/RL
that Ahmadinejad's comments can be interpreted in two ways.
"One analysis is that this government believes that it came to
power with the votes of the so-called lowest class of the Iranian
society and these are classes that believe more in such
supernatural tales," Bastani said. "Therefore, this government
tries, by propagating such rumors, to gain a dogmatic, charismatic,
and holy status among those whom they think support them. The
second view is that despite the fact that they are trying to fool
people, maybe they also believe in these things that are being
repeatedly published about them and said by them. This is more
dangerous.
Growing Trend
Since the presidential elections in Iran, many bizarre stories and
rumors have circulated about Ahmadinejad. Many of them are related
to his devotion to the 12th Imam, also known as Imam Mahdi, who
according to Muslims has disappeared and will return at the end of
time to lead an era of Islamic justice.
During his September speech at the UN, Ahmadinejad called for the
reappearance of the 12th Imam.
In mid-November, during a speech to Friday prayers leaders from
across Iran, Ahmadinejad said that the main mission of the
revolution is to pave the way for the reappearance of the 12th
Imam.
In recent weeks, the president's aides have denied a rumor that he
ordered his cabinet to write a pact of loyalty with the 12th Imam
and throw it down a well near the holy city of Qom, where some
believe the Imam is hiding.
Ahmadinejad's supporters said such rumors are being circulated
about the president by opponents in efforts to defame him.
Tacit Approval?
But journalist Bastani said that many of the reported stories are
based on comments made by Ahmadinejad and his cabinet
members.
"Inside Iran, no one in a news [organization] takes the risk of
publishing incorrect information about the president, who also
controls the Information Ministry, [so] spreading lies about him
has serious consequences," Bastani said. "In recent weeks and
months, there has been much news similar to the meeting between
Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Amoli. These [reports] include the
allocation in at least two cases of heavy budgets for the Jamkaran
mosque [at the well where some believe that Imam Mahdi is hiding]
or comments by the president that have been quoted by the Iranian
media in which he had said in an official meeting that the Hidden
Imam will appear in two years."
There has been no reaction from President Ahmadinejad to the
distribution and publication of his claim that a light surrounded
him while he was addressing world leaders at the UN.
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, an adviser to former Iranian President
Mohammad Khatami, has warned against the misuse of religious
sanctities and written on his website that it is natural that, at a
time when the world is expecting a plan to end the deadlock over
Iran's nuclear issue, attention is paid to the comments by the
country's president.
Ahmadinejad has been criticized inside the country for his seeming
lack of tact and his confrontational style on the international
stage. His comments about his mystical experience at the UN could
well lead to further criticism.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/11/184cb9fb-887c-4696-8f54-0799df747a4a.html
Any comments?