An Iranian Sermon Primer

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

Sermons airing on Iranian TV channels starring the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei; the secretary of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati; the head of the Iranian Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Ali Meshkini; the head of the Iranian Expediency Council, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and a handful of other ayatollahs appear on any given Friday night in Tehran and on Saturday in Qom.

It should be noted that the words of the Iranian ayatollahs who run the country carry significant weight.

Responding to the sermons, frenzied crowds of Iranians chant, “Death to America,” “Death to England,” and “Death to Israel,” with the occasional “Death to Saddam.” Other popular chants include “America will be annihilated,” “Islam will be victorious,” “Woe to the enemy if Khamenei commands me to wage jihad,” and countless other curses against the West.

The sermons focus on threats against the “Great Satan,” America, and the “Little Satan,” Israel, and their coming collapse. Other themes are attacks on President Bush, praise for jihad and martyrdom, Iraq, and support for Iran’s nuclear program.

Below are excerpts from some of the more notable sermons over the past two years. They will be shown at a MEMRI lecture sponsored by members of the Senate next week on Capitol Hill.

Ayatollah Jannati

“Western culture and civilization – and especially criminal America – are heading toward a serious collapse …”

– Channel 1, February 17, 2006

“The other possibility is that the English government itself caused this situation [the explosions in London]. This possibility was also raised regarding September 11 – that the Americans themselves caused it …”

– Channel 1, July 15, 2005

“These actions by our people will lead America to death … and to eternal hell …”

– Channel 1, June 10, 2005

“Every Muslim and every honorable man who is not a Muslim must stand against the Americans, English, and Israelis, and endanger their interests wherever they may be …”

– Channel 1, June 4, 2004

Ayatollah Meshkini

“The government of Libya … surrendered to America … the equipment of what it wanted to build [i.e. nuclear facilities] … Gadhafi did not read the Koranic verse that says that they are the leaders of heresy … we will never reconcile [with America] …”

– Channel 2, February 5, 2005

“My Lord, end the lives of three people shortly: Bush, Sharon, and Blair … And the lives of their followers …”

– Channel 2, December 4, 2004

Ayatollah Kashani

“If you [Americans] behave with disrespect … [the Iranian people] will punch you in the mouth so hard that all your devouring teeth will fall off …”

– Channel 1, January 28, 2005

“I say to you, the American people … your lives are lost … America will collapse.”

– Channel 1, July 30, 2004

Ayatollah Khamenei

“The Americans should know: If they take any aggressive action against … Iran, Iran will harm their interests wherever possible in the world …”

– Channel 1, April 26, 2006

“The freedom of speech about which the [Westerners] talk so much does not permit anyone to doubt the myth about the massacre of the Jews, known as the Holocaust …”

– Channel 1, February 7, 2006

“The American politicians, who are liars and hypocrites, conceal their satanic goals by accusing Iran of trying to make nuclear warheads … When this nation’s honor and this homeland’s interests are at stake, we will sacrifice ourselves …”

– Channel 1, March 21, 2005

“Our people say ‘Death to America,’ and this is like saying, ‘I seek God’s refuge from the accursed Satan,’ which is recited before any chapter of the Koran, even before ‘In the name of Allah the compassionate, the merciful …”

– Channel 1, March 14, 2005

Hashemi Rafsanjani

“The biggest problem of the Islamic world today is global Zionism and the Great Satan, America. They are our enemies … they have no religion and they do not accept God. … Some are called Christians and some Jews … every passing day the people’s hatred festers, especially among the youth in Islamic countries. This hatred of the Great Satan and global Zionism constantly intensifies …”

– Kerman TV, April 17, 2005

“We … advise the distinguished people of Europe not to befoul themselves by tolerating the American pressure because eventually, they will fall into this trap and collapse like it.”

– Channel 2, June 19, 2004

MEMRI is the only organization in the world that tracks, documents, and provides excerpts of translated segments of Iranian sermons. Hundreds of hours of them are archived and can be viewed by visiting www.memritv.org.

Steven Stalinsky is the executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute.


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