‘He was our imam’: Khamenei’s death lays bare Malaysia’s unease with its Shia community

Explore the challenges faced by Malaysia's Shia community amid state-sanctioned marginalisation and shifting public perceptions. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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KUALA LUMPUR – On the evening of March 1, a small group of Shia adherents gathered outside the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur, chanting “death to America” and holding portraits of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

A day earlier, a US-Israeli strike on Iran had killed Ayatollah Khamenei and other country leaders, while also targeting key security and military sites across the country.

The reaction to his death in Malaysia has since exposed a quiet tension currently at the heart of the country’s Muslim community – between the state’s official rejection of Shia as a “deviant sect”, and the sympathy some prominent Sunni voices have shown for the slain Iranian Shia leader.

For some in the Shia community, Mr Khamenei was not just a political leader but is considered the spiritual authority of adherents worldwide.

“Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was our imam and rahbar – leader. He was the viceroy or representative of the Imam Mahdi,” said a 65-year-old Malaysian Shia, who wished to be identified as Mr Zulfikar, for fear of being singled out in the country. “Imam Mahdi” refers to the messianic figure in Islam.