*Photo: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei*
A world funeral is one in which mourners or sympathisers cut across the world’s major geographical and demographic categorisations and configurations while expressing a similar emotion or demonstrating a similar attitude towards the demise of a person or group of people.
As CR CON Palestina said in wonderment on 4 July, 2026, “Today is the first day of Ayatollah Khamenei’s funeral. And what you’re looking at behind me is the Saudi Arabian delegation, who was not on the guest list and who’s a historical rival to Iran. But they decided to fly to Tehran and pay their respects. Multiple rival Gulf States as well, the Chinese – the world’s biggest economy – and presidents of major Christian nations such as Georgia and the Prime Minister of Armenia.”
Furthermore, CR CON Palestina noted about what some have referred to as “Funeral Diplomacy”: “Today saw countries from every continent, every religion joining together in Tehran. This included the Indians, the Pakistanis, the North Koreans, the South Koreans, the Serbians from Central Europe – an Orthodox Christian country – countries from South America, like Guatemala and Venezuela, countries from North America such as Cuba, capitalist countries, socialist countries, communist countries, Christian countries, Sunni Muslim countries, Shia Muslim countries, everyone from around the world coming together essentially … to pay respect to Iran.”
From the arrangement of the five caskets, including that of the Supreme Leader’s 14-month-old grand-daughter (whose photograph, symbolically-significantly placed by her casket, showed her with a baby’s pacifier in her mouth), to the dutiful delivery of the military band, to the sombre recitation of the Qur’an, to the systematic ushering in and out of the different delegations, to the general sacred atmosphere they all created, the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his daughter, his son-in-law, his daughter-in-law and his grand-child who were assassinated on 28 February, 2026, was an epitome of order, sobriety and class.
In 1979, Iran conducted a referendum which decided that the country should be declared an Islamic state. Incidentally, the country has had to wait until 2026 to demonstrate the versatility of that choice and the guiding verses of the Qur’an – the primary source of Islamic thought – in an opportunity which, ironically, was provided by a Christian (US President Donald Trump) and a Jew (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) through the widely-condemned war they launched on Iran. For every Iranian or foreign delegation which was ushered in to pay their last respects to the martyrs, a carefully chosen verse of the Qur’an was recited in a solemn tone, in what has been described as “Qur’anic Diplomacy” in Middle East Eye.
Since charity begins at home, delegations of Iran’s leaders were the first to pay their respects to the martyrs, and the verses recited include Chapter 4, Verse 74 which enjoins: “Let those who would sacrifice this life for the Hereafter fight in the cause of Allah. And whoever fights in Allah’s cause – whether they achieve martyrdom or victory – We will honour them with a great reward.” Also recited, as a delegation of Iranian leaders stood before the caskets, is Chapter 3, Verse 169: “Never think of those martyred in the cause of Allah as dead. In fact, they are alive with their Lord, well provided for.”
The Qur’anic recitation which seems to have attracted the greatest global attention is that of Chapter 3, Verse 13 to mark the Saudi Arabian presence before the caskets of the martyrs. The verse admonishes: “Indeed, there was a sign for you in the two armies that met in battle [at Badr] – one fighting for the cause of Allah and the other in denial. The believers saw their enemy twice their number. But Allah supports with His victory whoever He wills. Surely in this is a lesson for people of insight.” This verse correlates with Chapter 2, Verse 249 which notes: “How many times has a small force vanquished a mighty army by the Will of Allah! And Allah is [always] with the steadfast.”
These two verses cohere with Chapter 37, Verse 173 which assures: “And … indeed, Our soldiers will be those who overcome.” Moreover, these three verses are relatable to Chapter 2, Verses 106-107 which ask rhetorically: “Do you not know that Allah is Most Capable of everything? Do you not know that the kingdom of the heavens and the earth belongs [only] to Allah, and you have no guardian or helper besides Allah?”
Reciting Chapter 3, Verse 13 as the Saudi delegation stood in honour of the martyrs is quite significant when a closer look is taken at the context. There has been long standing mutual hostility between Saudi Arabia and Iran. One manifestation of this is that during the Western-backed proxy war which Iraq launched against Iran, Saudi Arabia supported Iraq. This resulted in the killing of hundreds of Iranians who were protesting against the US and Israel on 31 July, 1987 beside the Grand Mosque in Mecca during Hajj or the Islamic Pilgrimage as the Iraq-Iran war was raging.
On 15 August, 1987, UPI (United Press International) reported the incident as follows: “Saudi authorities have said at least 275 Iranian pilgrims – and 402 people overall – died July 31 in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, in what Iran repeatedly has said was a U.S.-backed plot to avenge recent American ‘defeats’ in the Persian Gulf.” It is noteworthy that the President of Iran at the time was Ali Khamenei who later became the Supreme Leader after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.
UPI further reported President Khamenei as remarking at a Friday prayer at Tehran University: “The facts about the incident, though at the time being somewhat distorted, will eventually be found out and recorded in the history of Islam.” He was also quoted to have said at the Friday service: “This catastrophe was an attack against the guests in the House of God … by your (Saudi) savage police.” In protest, the Iranian government banned its citizens from going to Mecca to perform Hajj from 1988 to 1990, and the ban was only lifted in 1991 when diplomatic relations were restored between the two countries.
The Saudi rethinking of its relationship with Iran seems to be the aftermath of the Iranian drone and missile attacks on Gulf countries which host US military bases or have been seen to be providing logistical support to the American and Israeli attacks on Iran. It is reported, for example, that after Iran had destroyed key US intelligence infrastructure in the Gulf States and alternative facilities had been procured from other US military bases outside the Gulf region, the facilities were not deployed to defend these vulnerable states, but to defend Israel. Iran has therefore seemed to show that the US military bases in the Gulf States offer only fickle defence.
When the high-powered Saudi presence in Tehran is considered along with the fact that even Iraq sent a high-powered delegation to Tehran and Khamenei’s body was taken to Najaf and Karbala in Iraq where he was venerated as a Shia leader, the following injunction of Chapter 3, Verse 103 seems to be operative: “And hold firmly together to the rope of Allah and do not be divided. Remember Allah’s favour upon you when you were enemies, then He united your hearts, so you – by His grace – became brothers.”
With respect to the funeral procession, Sky News reporter Dominic Waghorn, noted on 7 July, 2026: “The Supreme Leader’s funeral cortege swarmed on the streets of Tehran by huge crowds. From the air, the funeral procession stretching through the capital for mile after mile. On the ground among the enormous crowds, there was intense grief and anger. The familiar cry from Iranians, ‘Death to America,’ from people who now want revenge for their fallen leader. … There was also a sense of relief and pride. Iranians have made it through this war. … Iran is used to huge funerals but this was on a scale and intensity we haven’t seen here in decades. …[T]his was a massive show of support for the government from millions of Iranians that seems only to have grown because of the war and the assassination that started it.”
Seemingly in an attempt to take the shine off the incomparable funeral, President Donald Trump, at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, said on 8 July, 2026: “We attacked very powerfully last night the very dangerous people from Iran. … There’s something wrong with them. We said, ‘Go and do your funeral stuff.’ And instead of that, they started shooting at ships yesterday. And so we hit them very hard last night. … And I told them, ‘Every time you hit, we hit.’ And of course, they’re dirty players. So, they go after everyone, probably including me. I’ve been number one on their list for years.” In response to America’s reported 80 strikes, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that Iran had swiftly launched 85 strikes on US facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait.
Trump further said about Iran: “And they’re a bunch of scum. You want to know the truth? They’re scum. And so we don’t like them. I don’t like them. And they’re evil people. … [T]hese are evil, sick people. And we have to rid their cancer. They’re cancer. And you know what you do? You got to cut out cancer early.” In response to the vituperations, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, retorted in an X post on 8 July, 2026: “Addressing the Civilized and Courageous Nation of Iran with derogatory language does not diminish its Greatness. Iranians are known for their civility, culture, and strong moral values. We do not answer vulgarity with vulgarity, but with action: fearlessly and with great valor.”
As Alireza Zahedpour surmised, “These past few days, the entire nation of Iran has turned into a moving ocean, from Tehran to Qom, from Qom to Najaf and Karbala, and from there to Mashhad. Over 15 to 20 million people in Tehran alone came out to say goodbye to their martyred leader. Some even travelled more than a thousand kilometers to pay tribute to the martyred leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei.”
Following the final burial prayer led by his eldest son, Mostafa, the epoch-making event ended on Thursday, 9 July, 2026 with the interment of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose “image was shaped around simplicity, resistance and service to the Islamic Republic,” as True Reporter 24 on Fox News described him.