Ahmad Khatami

For the professor of Persian language and literature, see Ahmad Khatami (professor).
Ayatollah
Seyyed
Ahmad Khatami
احمد خاتمی
Khatami in 2019
Tehran's Temporary Friday Prayer Imam
Incumbent
Assumed office
18 December 2005
Appointed byAli Khamenei
Member of the Assembly of Experts
Incumbent
Assumed office
24 February 1999
ConstituencyKerman Province
Majority873,584 (55.96%; 3rd term)[1]
Personal details
Born (1960-05-08) 8 May 1960
Semnan, Imperial State of Iran[2]
PartySociety of Seminary Teachers of Qom

Ahmad Khatami (Persian: احمد خاتمی; born 8 May 1960) is a senior and prominent Iranian Muslim cleric,[3] member of Guardian Council and a senior member of the Assembly of Experts.[4] In December 2005, Ali Khamenei appointed him as Tehran’s substitute Friday prayer leader.[5] He is also a conservative and principlist politician.

Biography

Khatami was born in Semnan, Imperial State of Iran on 8 May 1960. He studied at Sadeghieh Seminary of Semnan for two years before switching to Qom Seminary in 1975.[6] He works as a public speaker, delivering speeches every Friday in Qom. Khatami is respected by leaders of IRGC and conservative circles, he has very strict stances on social issues, like compulsory hijab for women in the country.[7] Khatami is a hardliner cleric and was reportedly a loyalist of the former Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei.[8]

Khatami became prominent in 1997 by sharing the same surname as Mohammad Khatami, unrelated politician who won the presidential election and became president of Iran. In 1999, Khatami won an election and became a member of Assembly of Experts in Kerman province. In 1990s, Khatami claimed that Qasem Soleimani invited him to participate in multiple promotional events, which further increased his prominence. In 2005, at the age of 45, he was appointed as interim Friday prayer leader in Tehran, becoming the youngest individual to hold this position.[9] The decision to appoint him was personally made by Ali Khamenei.[10]

Khatami has six daughters, he said they are all married to clerics. He has no sons, Khatami is considered to be brother in law of a man named Mohammadreza Saeedi, who was imprisoned and killed prior to the Islamic revolution.[9]

Political views

Khatami has ultraconservative political stance.[11] In 2006, during the Pope Benedict XVI Islam controversy, he asked the Pope to "fall on his knees in front of a senior Muslim cleric and try to understand Islam".[12] In 2007, he addressed the death sentence issued by Ruhollah Khomeini against Salman Rushdie, saying "In the Islamic Iran that revolutionary fatwa of Imam [Khomeini] is still alive and cannot be changed."[13]

In regard to the 2009 Iranian election protests, Khatami denounced demonstrators as rioters who wage war against God ("mohareb"), (a capital crime in Islamic law).[14] He also threatened Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, saying he would lose legitimacy if he continued to ignore the Supreme Leader's orders. During a Friday prayer, he said that the one of the core foundations of the Iranian government is following the instructions of Ali Khamenei.[15] Khatami accused reformist presidential candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi of Mohareb as "leaders of sedition" in 2011.[16]

Khatami has conflated Jews with Zionists and once accused "Zionists" of committing crimes against Muslims since the early days of Islam.[17] During a sermon aired by Iranian-state radio in January 2026, Khatami called for the death penalty for those involved in the 2025–2026 Iranian protests and threatened U.S president Donald Trump.[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Assembly of Experts members" (in Persian). Assembly of Experts. Archived from the original on 2014-10-20. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  2. ^ Biography of Seyyed Ahmad Khatami -- self-writing parsine.com
  3. ^ "Iran cleric: Mideast unrest replay of our 1979 Islamic revolution". Haaretz. 2011-01-28. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  4. ^ "Senior Iranian Cleric Calls For Setting Up Of New UN". RTT News. 2010-06-11. Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  5. ^ "Ahmad Khatami meets Leader". Mehr News. 2005-12-18. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  6. ^ "His Holiness Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami". Supreme Council of Seminaries. December 26, 2024.
  7. ^ Al Smad, Fatima (March 21, 2015). "Who Will Succeed Khamenei and How?" (PDF). Al Jazeera Center for Studies.
  8. ^ "Iranian Hardline Cleric Says Khamenei Should Not Be Accountable". Iran International. September 30, 2023.
  9. ^ a b Mehrabi, Ehsan (December 5, 2024). "The Fall of an Ayatollah: Whispers of Succession in Iran". IranWire.
  10. ^ Gambrell, Jon (January 16, 2026). "Iranian cleric, demanding protesters' executions, says 350 mosques were damaged". The Times of Israel. ISSN 0040-7909.
  11. ^ "Senior Iranian cleric: Trump only wants negotiations for his re-election". Al Arabiya English. May 20, 2020.
  12. ^ "Pope tells Muslims he is 'deeply sorry' for crisis", Malaysia Star, September 17, 2006
  13. ^ "British Muslims". This is London. 2007-06-22. Archived from the original on 2009-06-20. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
  14. ^ "Iranian Cleric: Protesters at War With God". VOA News. 2009-07-01. Archived from the original on 2009-07-18. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
  15. ^ "Hard-line cleric ups pressure on Iranian president". The Jerusalem Post. July 24, 2009.
  16. ^ Dareni, Ali (February 16, 2011). "Iran opposition leader ready to 'pay any price'". Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 19, 2011 – via Yahoo News.
  17. ^ Litvak, Meir (2017), McElligott, Anthony; Herf, Jeffrey (eds.), "Iranian Antisemitism and the Holocaust", Antisemitism Before and Since the Holocaust: Altered Contexts and Recent Perspectives, Cham: Springer International Publishing, p. 209, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-48866-0_9, ISBN 978-3-319-48866-0, retrieved 2025-06-16{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  18. ^ Gambrell, Jon (January 16, 2026). "Prayer leader in Iran and the faithful call for executions over protests, a red line for Trump". PBS News.
  • Media related to Ahmad Khatami at Wikimedia Commons
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