Dearborn Imam Sheikh Usama Abdulghani said in a May 23, 2024 memorial service for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, killed May 19 in a helicopter crash in Iran, that he was extending his condolences to "our leader" Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He praised Raisi, whom many Iranians call "the butcher (or hangman) of Tehran,"[1] for "how he worked tirelessly... How proud he was and unapologetic for Islam... He was a true soldier of the Imam Khamenei... to the extent that [if] he thought the Leader wanted something done, he would make sure that happened."
Abdulghani went on to say that President Biden is not the real U.S. president, going on to explain that it is "powerful Zionist" families that are the kingmakers and that there are videos of the Pope groveling to these Zionist families. He added that President Raisi was a true soldier of Khamenei. The memorial service was held at the Hadi Institute Youth Community Center in Dearborn, Michigan, and was streamed live by Light of Guidance on YouTube.
Other Dearborn-area mosques and imams, including Imam Ali Elahi of the Islamic House of Wisdom,[2] also expressed their grief and sympathies, praised Raisi and the others killed with him, and announced that they were commemorating Raisi. They included the Islamic Institute of America, its affiliate[3]the Karbala Islamic Center, the Islamic House of Wisdom, and the Light of Guidance.
Announcements of memorial services for Raisi at Islamic Institute of America and Karbala Islamic Center. Sources: Facebook
Announcements of memorial services for Raisi at Islamic House of Wisdom. Source: Facebook
Message of condolence by Imam Ali Elahi of the Islamic House of Wisdom. Source: Facebook
Message of condolence and announcement of memorial service, Light of Guidance. Source: Facebook
Usama Abdulghani was one of the speakers at an April 5, 2024 Quds Day rally in Dearborn, in which participants chanted "Death to America." At the rally, he had said that "Israel is ISIS, they are Nazis, they are fascists, they are racists,": adding, "The people of the world now know this."[4]
He said at a Dearborn rally praising the October 7 Hamas attack that "the operation Al-Aqsa Flood, that day when it took place, was definitely what we call 'one of the days of God.'" The Hamas terrorists he described as "those lions" who are "defending not just Palestine, but they are fighting on behalf of the entire nation of Muhammad the Messenger... The way that your youth have chosen, the way that your honorable soldiers have chosen is the only path to victory."[5]
In June 2022, Abdulghani praised the IRGC and Hizbullah leaders, saying: "Individuals like Shahid [IRGC Qods Force commander] Qassem Soleimani, Shahid Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis [who was killed together with Soleimani in a U.S. airstrike in January 2020] – these people were the true miracle of Imam [Ayatollah Ruhollah] Khomeini... The students of Imam Khomeini – one of them [Hizbullah secretary-general] Hassan Nasrallah... trained people to become giant killers."[6] The previous month, he referred to Zionists as "animals" and "baby killers."[7]
To view Usama Abdulghani's May 23, 2024 statements commemorating Iranian President Raisi in Dearborn, click here or below:
"Allow Me To Be The First To Offer My Condolences... To Our Leader Imam Khamenei... And To The People Of Conscious In The World, Who Are Waking Up [And Seeing] What Happens [When] Political Power Is In The Hands Of The Godly"
Imam Usama Abdulghani: "Allow me to be the first to offer my condolences, first of all, to the Imam of our time, on this loss. To our leader Imam Khamenei, our Maharaja. All of them – the entire Ummah of the Prophet. Alhamdulillah, as you saw there were 50 dignitaries from various countries, people coming in, many countries ended up holding a day of mourning, and also to the people of conscious in the world, who are waking up, who are seeing this. And it is playing out and it is showing what happens if political power is in the hands of the Godly.
[...]
"If you look now in Israel you will see every day the resistance. Their snipers are taking out more and more of these monsters. Netanyahu is sitting pretty, the monsters are dying. The abeed of the tawhid. The Quran is trying to warn humanity, don't be one of the abeed, don't be a slave.
[...]
"Biden Isn't The Raisi [Of the U.S.]; He Isn't In Charge; There Are Powerful Zionist Families That Are Real Kingmakers; These Guys, Even The Pope, Grovel Before The Real Kingmakers"
"Biden himself isn't the Raisi, he isn't in charge. There are powerful Zionist families that are real kingmakers. These guys, even the Pope, grovel before the real kingmakers.
[...]
"Abdul Raisi was something else. Here's a clause, 'how he worked tirelessly, how he worked. How proud he was and unapologetic for Islam. Whether that meant praying in the Kremlin, whether that meant taking the Quran and raising the Quran, whether that meant as the President of the country with a big picture of Qasem Soleimani, unapologetically Muslim.'
[...]
"He was a true soldier of the Imam Khamenei, as in, he's an Ayatollah. He has his PHD, he is the president, he's – not for him, everything was the leader to the extent that he thought the leader wanted something done, he would make sure that happened. Every time the leader would speak, he says it's us he's talking about. Whenever it came to taking a bullet for the leader, then that's what this man was."
[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11339, European Union Officials, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi – Together With Hamas, Hizbullah, And The Taliban – Express Condolences For The Death Of Iranian President Raisi, Who Was Responsible For The Murder Of Thousands Of Iranians In 1988 And Since, May 21, 2024.
[2] MEMRI has published a number of clips of statements by Imam Ali Elahi. See, for example, Dearborn, Michigan Interfaith Prayer Vigil In Honor Of U.S. Serviceman Aaron Bushnell Who Self-Immolated In Front Of Israeli Embassy: This 'Pure Martyr' Expressed His Opposition To The 'Hitlers Of The 21st Century', March 3, 2024; Dearborn Heights, Michigan Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi Mocks President Biden In Friday Sermon, Adds: Netanyahu Is Hitler Of The 21st Century, Committing A Holocaust Against The Palestinians, February 9, 2024; Michigan Imam Sheikh Ali Elahi On College Antisemitism Congressional Probe: AIPAC Is The Cancer Destroying American Democracy – Anyone Who Wants To Run For Congress Must Pay Money To AIPAC, December 15, 2024, and more.
[3] Detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2017/04/12/mission-new-mosque-dearborn-hts-islam/100354934, April 12, 2017.
[4] MEMRI TV Clip No. 1104, At International Al-Quds Day Rally In Dearborn, Michigan Protesters Chant 'Death To America!'; Speakers Say: America Is One Of The 'Rottenest Countries' On Earth; Israel Is ISIS, Nazi, A Cancer, April 5, 2024.
[5] MEMRI Clip No. 10861, At Dearborn, Michigan Pro-Hamas Rally Praising The October 7 Attack, Held In Front Of Henry Ford Centennial Library, Imam Abdulghani Says: October 7 Was A Day Of God, A Miracle, October 14, 2023.
[6] MEMRI TV Clip No. 9616, Michigan Islamic Scholar Usama Abdulghani: Khomeini Trained The Youth To Be 'Giant Killers,' Like Soleimani, Nasrallah, Al-Muhandis; Islam Is Supreme, June 3, 2022.
