Shahin Najafi, 32, already had a $100,000 bounty on his head for his song “Naqi” about the tenth Shia Imam. Millions of Iranian Shias have found Najafi’s song irreverent and insulting.
Najafi raps that Iranians are ready to sacrifice themselves with the Imam’s help to solve such problems as “shallow slogans” and “Chinese-made prayer rugs.” His song cites a number of social issues facing Iran and invites the 10th Imam to return to earth to resolve them.
Shia Muslims believe the 12th and last Imam will eventually return to earth in the second coming, so the invitation to Imam Ali al-Naqi, the tenth Imam, is thus blasphemous and the satirical tone of the song is offensive to many.
Najafi contacted German police May 8 when threats began to appear against him. But a day later, the website Shia-online.ir carried the bounty offer in a Farsi-language post and said the funds had been offered by a resident of an Arab country on the Persian Gulf.
“That’s when I realized it was really serious,” Najafi said.
The first fatva against Najafi was from Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi-Golpayegani, one of the half dozen most senior religious figures in the regime establishment.
Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi, another regime cleric based in Qom, also issued a fatva against Najafi, saying, “Any outrage against the infallible imams … and obvious insult against them would make a Muslim an apostate.”
Grand Ayatollah Moham-mad-Ali Alavi-Gorgani’s fatva followed next, calling Najafi an “apostate” for insulting Imam Ali al-Naqi, according to Mehr News.
“Insulting the Prophet’s household is harem [forbidden] and those who intentionally insult it should know that such action is an offense and that he is an apostate,” Alavi-Gorgani said in a response to a question about Najafi’s song.
The Iranian government has neither commented on the issue nor renounced the fatvas. But all three clerics are recognized as “grand ayatollahs” by the regime, which indicates they are all fully accepted politically by the regime.
Imam Ali al-Naqi is a direct descendant of Prophet Muham-mad through his daughter Fatima al-Zahra, who was married to the first Shia imam, Ali. Together, the 12 Imams are considered infallible, as are the Prophet Mohammad and Fatima al-Zahra, making them the “14 Ma’ssoum” or infallibles.
Najafi remains defiant. “Each person has to pay a price for what they want. I will never apologize for my art and for speaking the truth about Iran’s government,” he said.
“I wrote a song like I always do. I didn’t aim to provoke religious people or Islamic radicals,” Najafi told the Associated Press via a phone interview. “I just want to live in freedom.”
While Najafi’s song have touched off a firestorm of fury, some in Iran also think his song portrays the problems facing Iranian society and government. Sobh-e-Farda, a Tehran University student newspaper, carried an article in support of Najafi May 17, prompting the ire of university administrators. All copies of the paper containing the article, estimated between 100 and 150, were recalled and the newspaper “immediately banned,” according to the Fars news agency.
Separately, the police have said they will intensify actions against those who organize concerts without permission, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported. “We will deal with singers, musicians and those providing space for organizing illegal concerts,” ISNA quoted Commander Ruzbahani as saying.
Security officials arrested members of a musical band in the Mahabad Township of the northwestern province of West Azerbaijan May 19, according to the Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
The band, Erteash, which composed rock and pop songs, was charged with “devil worship.”
For their part, German police have said they are taking the threats against Najafi seriously and are offering Najafi protection.
Najafi’s case has recalled that of the Indian author, Salman Rushdie, who was also sentenced to death for blasphemy by Ayatollah Khomeini after he wrote his book, “The Satanic Verses.”
Like Rushdie, Najafi could also spend years in hiding.
“I’m in a safe place, reading and playing my guitar,” Najafi said.