Millions of mourners turned out for Saturday's burial in central Iran of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Golpaygani, the supreme leader of the world's 200 million Shiite Muslims, Iranian media reported.
Golpaygani died Thursday of lung disease in Tehran. He was 98.The government declared a national holiday to allow people to attend the funeral in the holy city of Qom, 80 miles south of Tehran.
The throng of mourners was so thick that the funeral cortege bearing his body was delayed several times before reaching the burial ground, said state-run Tehran radio, which estimated the turnout in the millions.
The radio, monitored in Cyprus, said a "sea" of black-clad mourners beat their chests and wailed in the traditional Shiite custom of grieving.
The Shiite sect's top scholars announced Friday that Golpaygani would be succeeded by Grand Ayatollah Ali Araki, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency said.