Analysis: Soleimani’s last will and testament

[Valin]

FDD's Long War Journal

Amir Toumaj

May 12, 2020

More than four months after the US killed Qods Force commander Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike, debates about his legacy continue. His last will and testament, published in February 40 days after his death, has not received much attention in the US. The will reflects the mentality of a dedicated Islamist who believes, or at least wants the reader to believe, that the regime faces existential threats. Declaring the state itself a religious marker, he directly tied the survival of Islam to the Islamic Republic. Tailoring his message to a variety of audiences, he wanted to inspire and mobilize support for the government.

Soleimani began the will by expressing gratitude to God for being a Shiite Muslim and follower of “righteous servant” Islamic Republic founder Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his successor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He beseeched forgiveness and for the acceptance of deeds such as “taking up arms to defend [God’s] religion.” He expressed sorrow that he has been long left behind the “caravan” of his comrades who have fallen in battle, referring to the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980’s to the Iraq and Syria wars of the 2010’s.    

Soleimani tied the Islamic Republic to the survival of Islam itself. Addressing “my mujahid brothers and sisters,” he wrote that “the base of Hossein ibn Ali is Iran,” referring to third Shia Imam Hossein whose death at the battle of Karbala in the 7th century at the hands of the forces of Umayyad dynasty Caliph Yazid sealed the Shia-Sunni schism. Shiites call the Imam the “master of martyrs,” or Seyyed ol-Shuhada, and believe his sacrifice at Karbala in the face of certain death to stand against injustice sets the ultimate example for humanity. Soleimani called the Islamic Republic “the center of Islam and Shiism,” saying that the state is “the shrine […] if the enemy destroys this shrine, no shrine would remain, neither Abrahamic nor Muhammadean.” Crediting Khomeini with “reviving Islam,” Soleimani called the guardianship of the jurisprudence – the founding ideology of the Islamic Republic that puts the spiritual and material affairs of the state at the hands of a cleric until the arrival of the 12th Shiite Imam Mahdi – as “the only prescription for saving” the Islamic community. He addressed Shias who believe in the ideology as a matter of religious belief, as well Sunnis who believe in it as a matter of “rational belief” – an interesting phrase because fully accepting the ideology would translate to converting to Twelver Shiism, or belief in line of succession of 12 Imams after the Prophet Muhammad, because the Supreme Leader is in charge of affairs while the 12th Imam is in occultation. Soleimani called on Shias and Sunnis alike who support the Islamic Republic to defend the state. He told to not abandon the Supreme Leader’s “tent,” which is “the tent of the Prophet of Allah.” Soleimani continued that “the enemy’s hostility with the Islamic Republic is to set fire and destroy this tent.” If the Supreme Leader falls, then the Ka’ba, the Prophet’s mosque in Medina, and other holy shrines would “not remain,” and “Quran is harmed.”    

(Snip)