Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa on his Web site, demanding that the Shiites obey him as the ultimate spiritual leader on earth. In his words, Khameini said he was the earthly "deputy" of both the Prophet Mohammad and the Hidden Imam, who is the 12th imam Shiites believe will return to earth one day to save the world.
Some theologians believe no one can claim to represent the Prophet on earth. There is now a full blown rift between Khamenei and many of the conservative and traditional clerics who once supported him, or at the very least, did not publicly oppose him.
It was Khameini who declared Ahmadinejad the winner of the June 12, 2009, disputed presidential election.
Brother of Iranian Leader Khamenei Warns Against Second Islamic Revolution by Messianic Circles Led by Khamenei and Ahmadinejad
In a May 2010 speech at the Organization for Honoring the Imam Khomeini, Hadi Khamenei, the younger brother of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, harshly criticized his brother's policy of allowing members of the messianic Hojjatieh circle to infiltrate the ranks of the regime – in clear contravention of the instructions of Islamic Revolution founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
In 1980's, the Hojjatieh circles in Iran, which held that no Islamic government should be established until the Hidden Imam (the Shi'ite messiah) appeared, clashed with Ayatollah Khomeini. In 1983, the Hojjatieh announced that they were stopping their activity due to his vehement religious opposition to their views, and thereafter they remained on the political and religious margins in Iran. After Ali Khamenei's appointment as supreme leader, and especially after the rise to power of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, they began to act in the open again, and today, their influence on the regime's centers of power is significant. Ahmadinejad is apparently affiliated with the Jamkaran group within the Hojjatieh, which is led by his mentor, Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi.
Hadi Khamenei's criticism of his brother, Supreme Leader Khamenei, focuses on the leader's legitimization of the messianic Hojjatieh circles in their penetration of regime circles, their inculcation of their messianic outlook, and their takeover of the centers of power. These messianic circles make frequent statements about the imminent appearance of the Hidden Imam; for this, they are criticized by Iran's traditional ayatollahs who reject the legitimization and politicization of the messianic stream in the Shi'a.
In his speech last month, veteran oppositionist Hadi Khamenei warned against a messianic coup within the Islamic Revolutionary regime, by the very same figures who had in the past opposed the path of Islamic Revolution founder Ayatollah Khomeini.
It should be noted that Hadi Khamenei's daily newspaper Hayat-e No was shut down by the regime in December 2009 because of its opposition to Ahmadinejad.
Sources:
Abdo, Geneive and Aramesh, Arash (August 6, 2010). The widening rift among Iran's clerics. International Herald Tribune.
Middle East Media Research Institute [MEMRI] (June 19, 2010). Brother of Iranian Leader Khamenei warns against second Islamic revolution by messianic circles led by Khamenei and Ahmadinejad. http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4387.htm
