Rare moment: India’s Sunnis and Shiites unite to mourn Khamenei’s death

New Delhi: The death of 86-year-old Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the latest US-Israeli attack on Tehran has triggered an unusual reaction among India’s Muslim community. Condolence meetings, absentee funeral prayers and online messages in Lucknow, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Aligarh showed that Shias and Sunnis appeared to be mourning the same leader in a rare move, despite a long-standing theological distance.Khamenei, who has led Iran since the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, is a Shia cleric rather than a Sunni religious authority. Reaction to his death, however, cut across sectarian lines. For many Sunnis, the sentiment has less to do with Iran and more to do with Palestine – a cause that cuts across South Asia’s sectarian divide.“The Iranian leader is respected even among Sunnis because of his clarity and consistency on the Palestinian issue,” said Mufti Ahmad Khan, a cleric in Okhla. “For many Muslims, the Palestinian cause is more important than sect.”Syed Sadatullah Hussaini, chairman of the Jamaat-e-Islami Party of India, said Khamenei’s life reflected both religious authority and political beliefs. His “martyrdom during Ramadan has deeply saddened millions across the Muslim world,” a statement said.Among some Sunni clerics, the outpouring of grief has fueled criticism of the Muslim government’s silence. Ghaziabad cleric Imam Humair said it was the only Shia-majority country whose leader “stood for his position and paid the price with his life.”Protests and condolence meetings were held across Shias from J&K and Ladakh to Lucknow, Aligarh, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi. In some places, black flags were hoisted outside Imbaras, a gesture usually to mourn the death of Karbala or a high-ranking cleric. In Lucknow, a Shiite-led rally included Sunnis and videos showed the crowd chanting slogans.For many Shiites, the language describing his death comes from Karbala, a defining event in Shiite history. Shiite activist SM Tahir Husain said Muslims often ignore sectarian boundaries. “The Ayatollah is not just the leader of the Shiites.”At Aligarh Muslim University, students held funeral prayers in absentia. Scholar Basharat Ali said that in the Shia political imagination, martyrdom became a source of unity and political strength.For many Shiites in India, Iran holds religious significance as the world’s largest Shiite-majority country and home to religious centers such as Qom and Mashhad. For Sunnis, the reaction has been largely political, surrounding Palestine and opposition to Israel.