Ahmad Khatami

For the professor of Persian language and literature, see Ahmad Khatami (professor).
Ahmad Khatami
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) May 8, 1960 (age 64)
Semnan, Iran[2]
Political partySociety of Seminary Teachers of Qom

Ayatollah 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.

He was born in the city of Semnan, Iran.[6] He studied at seminaries in Qom and Semnan.

In 2006, during the Pope Benedict XVI Islam controversy, Khatami asked the Pope to "fall on his knees in front of a senior Muslim cleric and try to understand Islam."[7] In 2007, he addressed the death sentence issued by Imam Khomeini against Salman Rushdie, saying "In the Islamic Iran that revolutionary fatwa of Imam [Khomeini] is still alive and cannot be changed."[8] 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),[9] and accused reformist presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi of Mohareb as "leaders of sedition" in 2011.[10]

  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. ^ Biography of Seyyed Ahmad Khatami -- self-writing parsine.com
  7. ^ "Pope tells Muslims he is 'deeply sorry' for crisis", Malaysia Star, September 17, 2006
  8. ^ "British Muslims". This is London. 2007-06-22. Archived from the original on 2009-06-20. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
  9. ^ "Iranian Cleric: Protesters at War With God". VOA News. 2009-07-01. Archived from the original on 2009-07-18. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
  10. ^ Iran opposition leader ready to 'pay any price', by ALI AKBAR DAREINI, AP, 16 February 2011, accessed 4 March 2011