Ayatollah Ali Khamenei presided over 37 years of death, despair, and misery in Iran – including the recent massacre of up to 30,000 protesters in the streets of Tehran – before he was dispatched to the afterlife by Israel Defense Force (IDF) bombs last weekend.
Mohammad Ali Elahi (pictured above), imam of the Islamic House of Wisdom (IHW) in Dearborn Heights, eulogized the supreme leader in a February 28 Ramadan program at his mosque, saying Khamenei would have loved to end his life this way – being killed by "the most wretched hands on Earth."
"That is an honor. That is a pleasure to be in the paradise of Allah, that you live a life of service," he said.
While Iranians worldwide celebrated the supreme leader's death, a mosque in the Michigan city held a gathering this week "to commemorate the martyrdom of the great leader of our time," in cleric Hassan Salamey's words.
"We ask Allah to accept this sacrifice, and I offer my condolences to each and every one of you," cleric Usama Abdulghani told those in attendance. "I also offer my congratulations on this ultimate honor that he received after 86 years of jihad in the way of Allah."
Dearborn has been at the center of a battle for the future of freedom in the U.S. as Muslims look to spread radical Islam and Sharia law. And as Abdulghani pointed out, they have the next generation in tow.
"I appreciate our sisters, especially those sisters who brought small children so that our children would grow up with this culture where we remember our martyrs and we're not ashamed of them," he said.
The clerics also took time to rant against America.
"The devil-worshiping Freemasons reached these shores, and the Zionist-minded Christopher Columbus … genocided the natives and put the one eye of the devil on their currency to put their plans in full sight, while the Statue of Liberty is actually Lucifer, the demonic bearer holding a torch of light," Salamey said.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) did not respond to AFN's request for comment, but terrorism expert Robert Spencer says the Trump administration needs to go after these radical Islamists in Dearborn who are openly eulogizing the Iranian supreme leader.
He says he is very familiar with Elahi.
"Back 10-15 years ago, he and I were on The Sean Hannity Show together several times arguing about Islam," Spencer notes. "He was claiming that Islam was peace, but he is, of course, a deceptive Shiite cleric."
Elahi was born in Iran but earned a B.A. in sociology from the University of Michigan and an M.A. from Wayne State University in Detroit. He served as religious director at the Islamic Center of America before founding IHW.
His mosque now operates a school, and Elahi has notably engaged with political figures like Kamala Harris, Gretchen Whitmer, and Bill Clinton. His close ties to Iranian leadership, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian, have drawn scrutiny.
Spencer says Dearborn has become hotbed of Islamist extremism, and Elahi and others like him need to be held accountable.
"This isn't really a matter of freedom of religion, because Islamic law is political," the Jihad Watch founder clarifies. "And it's not just political, but it's supremacist, violent, aggressive, and expansionist."
"These people are really agents of a foreign power that's hostile to the United States, and that's how they should be treated," Spencer concludes.
