RNA – Ayatollah Afif al-Nablusi, the Friday prayer leader of the Lebanese city of Sidon, issued a message of condolences to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, on the demise of Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the Chairman of the Expediency Council and a former two-term president.
Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani passed away on January 8 at the age of 82 after having an acute heart attack.
Born on August 25, 1934, the influential Iranian politician and writer was the fourth president of the Islamic Republic, serving from 1989 to 1997.
The message reads:
His Eminence, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, the Guardian of the Muslims of the World,
We received the news of the demise of Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani, who was one of the pillars of the Islamic Revolution, in submission and humility toward divine providence.
He played a major role in the victory of the Holy Islamic Revolution and its stability and progress and despite the harsh conditions of war, sanctions, sedition and conspiracy, he engaged in defending the Revolution.
Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani was a loyal soldier of the Revolution and the Islamic Resistance [Hezbollah] and spent his life sincerely in strengthening the Resistance in the regional and global arenas and equations. We in Lebanon were completely familiar with this great man and his defense of the Resistance and his service to the weak and oppressed.
The absence of Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani is a great loss for knowledge, jihad, unity and the Palestinian cause in regard to which, he defended their national and Islamic values.
We are hopeful for God’s all-encompassing mercy and ask God Almighty to grant [Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani] a lofty status near the truthful and to the martyrs and we pray to God to bestow health and excellence to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution and grant victory to the believers as well as the health of all people in the world.
Afif al-Nablusi
January 9, 2017
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