From Tehran To Srinagar: Ayatollah Khamenei’s Jamia Masjid Visit That Transcended Sects | India News
Last Updated:March 03, 2026, 23:08 IST In 1981, Seyyed Ali Khamenei visited Kashmir, invited by Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Farooq. He joined Sunni prayers at Jamia Masjid and spoke at Imambara Budgam, promoting unity. Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei also spoke to a gathering in Imambara of Budgam in March month of 1981. In 1981, just two years after the Islamic Revolution in Iran toppled the Shah’s regime, a young cleric, Seyyed Ali Khamenei—a close confidant of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini—set out on a journey that would leave a lasting mark, connecting the revolutionary spirit of Iran with the enduring resilience of India. Ayatollah Khomeini himself had deep personal ties to Kashmir; during his exile in Iraq, he had received an invitation from Aga Syed Yusuf al-Moosavi al-Safavi, a prominent Kashmiri Shia leader from Budgam, to visit the valley if circumstances ever allowed. Khomeini, in an interview with a French journalist had even expressed his preference to seek refuge in Kashmir over other places, highlighting the profound affection between the Iranian leadership and the Kashmiri people. It was …









