Although Rafsanjani delivered his two sermons seemingly in the framework of unifying the nation, it was unmistakeably highly critical of the hard-liners. Even when he was talking about unity among people, he was implicitly critical of the hard-liners. Practically everything that he said was contrary to the official propaganda; he even peppered his sermons with examples of how Prophet Muhammad and Imam Ali [Shiites’ first Imam and a highly revered figure] acted in times of crisis, to contrast them with how the hard-liners are handling things now.
He reminded the hard-liners of what the holy Quran said about Prophet Muhammad:
He [the Prophet] is one of you [the people]. He is so kind that if you feel any hardship, he suffers as well, and shares in your sadness and happiness. Another of his characteristics is that he is after protecting your interests and happiness, and has a heart full of kindness for the Muslim people.
This was seemingly a response to what the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in his June 19 Friday prayer sermon, when he warned, “If you [the people] demonstrate and get killed, you are responsible for your blood being spilled.” In another part of his first sermon, Rafsanjani said,
The Prophet dealt with injustice and oppression against people, [he did] not [use] power against them. It was due to this [behavior] that people were loyal to him and helped him run society and stood against the enemies [with him]. The import… >>>
