Iran, a Shiite theocracy, is home to more than ten million Sunni Muslims from various ethnic backgrounds, including Kurds, Baloch, Turkmen and Arabs.
Ahmad Qadami, a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officer-turned-Shiite religious preacher, was live on Iran’s Channel 5 last week, celebrating the birth of a Shiite saint, when he launched into a tirade against A’isha, one of the wives of Prophet Mohammad.
Qadami described her as a “bastard” before attacking the Prophet’s three successors, revered by more than a billion Sunnis worldwide.
Shiite Muslims have an unfavorable view of A’isha because of her alleged quarrel with Mohammad’s cousin Ali ibn abi Taleb following the Prophet’s death 14 centuries ago.
Shiite Muslims say Ali was the only rightful successor to Mohammad as Caliph, while Sunnis say the succession of three other Caliphs before Ali were based on consensus.
Iranian authorities acted swiftly, firing the program’s entire production team and the head of Channel 5 over the weekend. Sunni parliamentarians are expected to grill the managing director of IRIB in the coming days.
Although Sunnis are represented in the Iranian parliament, they complain of systematic discrimination and face “exclusion from high-ranking positions,” according to Amnesty International.
Sunnis have also reported discrimination specific to their religious practice, “including restrictions on holding separate prayers for Eid al-Fitr celebrations,” the human rights monitor claims.
The broadcast caused huge controversy. Sunni parliamentarians and religious figures called on supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who heads the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) agency, to deliver on his pledge to promote Shiite-Sunni unity and to punish those responsible.
“If A’isha was a bastard, I announce that there is no legitimate in this world,” cleric Qader Qaderi said in his Friday sermon in Kermanshah province.
Darul Uloom Zahedan, the largest Sunni seminary in Iran, located close to the border with Afghanistan, condemned the verbal attack, calling on the supreme leader to take “serious action” in the interests of national unity.
Khamenei issued a fatwa (a religious edict) in mid-2016 stating that insulting A’isha, known as the mother of the faithful, is prohibited.
“Insulting figures and symbols celebrated by Sunni brethren, including the wife of the Prophet of Islam [A’isha] is prohibited. This includes the wives of all prophets, but particularly the master of all prophets Muhammad.”
Sunni parliamentarians were equally vocal about the insult. More than two dozen MPs signed a letter voicing “serious consternation” from their Sunni constituents.
Jalil Rahimi Jahanabadi, an MP from the northeastern province of Khorasan-e Razavi, offered a passionate defense of the Sunnis and urged Khamenei to put an end to the vitriol.
“Muslim brothers and sisters, how long [will] insulting the beliefs of the Sunni people continue in this country?” Jahanabadi said. “When will disrespecting the honor of the [wife of the] Prophet and the followers of the messenger of Allah stop in an Islamic country?”
Qadami is reportedly married to a niece of Iran’s former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and held some senior positions during his presidency.
Religious sectarianism continues to blight the wider region. A prominent Iranian Sunni cleric was gunned down in the city of Herat, northwest Afghanistan, near the Iranian border on May 17.
Mawlana Mohammad Ibrahim Safizadeh was shot several times by unknown gunmen as he left Herat’s main mosque. He later died in hospital on May 22.
Iran is locked in an escalating spat with Washington over its nuclear program and the destabilizing activities of the IRGC across the Middle East. Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani and Khamenei, have repeatedly said Iran can weather this storm through unity.
