Kazem Rajabi Seddiqi ( Persian : کاظم رجبی صدیقی , born 4 March 1951, sometimes with the honorific Ayatollah , and surname anglicised as Sedighi) is an Iranian Shia scholar and Mujtahid currently serving as Tehran 's Friday Prayer Temporary Imam . A rival of President Ahmadinejad , Seddiqi was appointed as interim Friday prayers leader for Tehran by Ayatollah Khamenei in 1 August 2009. The New York Times characterized the appointment as part of an effort to "reinforce authority by cultivating divisions between factions" following the controversial June presidential election .