Friday, September 10th, was the celebration of Eid, ending the month of Ramadan, and a large group of worshippers gathered at the Imam Hussein Islamic Centre in Earlwood.  With them once again was the familiar figure of Sheikh Mansour Leghaei, offering encouragement and spiritual guidance to the group.  But this time he was (sadly) not with them in body but was joining in via the miracle of Skype.

In point of fact this was not the first time that Sheikh Mansour has addressed the congregation at the Imam Hussein Centre since he was deported on June 27th, 2010.  Current technology does in fact make it entirely straightforward for Mansour to be able to teach and to interact with the Earlwoood congregation whenever they choose – and it’s all done from the comfort of his study in Esfahan.

Rick Fenely reports for the Sydney Morning Herald