Tehran – Iraq’s Shitte cleric Hadi Al-Modarresi who claimed that the novel Coronavirus is “God’s punishment against Chinese people” was reported to be infected with Coronavirus.
The 63-year-old cleric during his stay in Iran’s Qom city in February said that, “the coronavirus outbreak was undoubtedly an act of God that is divine punishment against the Chinese for their treatment, mockery, and disrespect towards Muslims and Islam”, reported MEMRI-TV.
“It is obvious that the spread of this virus is an act of God. How do we know this? The spread of the coronavirus began in China, an ancient and vast country, the population of which makes up one seventh of humanity”, said Al-Modarresi.
Iraqi Islamic Scholar Hadi Al-Modarresi, Prior to Being Infected with Coronavirus: The Virus Is a Divine Punishment against the Chinese pic.twitter.com/7NiQki6qBy
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) March 9, 2020
However, reports have suggested that Al-Modarresi has himself contacted the virus, and he tweeted his picture on March 10, wearing a surgical mask while mentioning about improvement of his health condition.
"اللّهم صلّ على محمد وآل محمد، واكشف عنّي بهم كل كرب، ونفّس عنّي بهم كل همّ، وفرّج عنّي بهم كل غمّ واكفني بهم كلّ خوف، واصرف عني بهم مقادير البلاء، وسوء القضاء، ودرك الشقاء، وشماتة الأعداء"
— السيد هادي المدرسي (@HadiAlModarresi) March 7, 2020
تنويه: صحة سماحة السيد في تحسّن ملحوظ ولله الحمد والمنّة. دعواتكم له ولسائر المؤمنين
يا عمتاه وهذا الشوق في كبدي
— السيد هادي المدرسي (@HadiAlModarresi) March 10, 2020
ما حيلتي ليت شباك الهوى بيدي
في كل يوم لنا شوقٌ نكابده
ما دام في القلب نبضٌ فالوصال ندي
فأنتم الماء للأحياء قاطبةً
يا سادتي أولياء الله يا مددي pic.twitter.com/pqGSUPcdnD
Iran is one of the badly hit countries from the coronavirus infection with a death toll reaching upto 853 and a total of 14,991 people are infected across the country.
On March 10, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran said he had asked Tehran to free all political prisoners temporarily from its overcrowded and disease-ridden jails to help stem the spread of coronavirus.