�y��vlog

Presidential spokesman George Charamba expressed his disappointment about the clerics' pronouncement, telling the state-run Herald newspaper the matter was now "dead and buried".

Abdullah Mohammad, a 40-year-old cleric handing out sweets and sugary tea to mourners, dismissed the notion that Hezbollah no longer posed a deterrent to Israeli attacks.

The seminary - where clerics are taught - also known as a madrassa, is considered one of the region's most renowned religious educational institutions and is an important academic centre of the Deoband school of thought.

Iran became an Islamic republic as the monarchy was overthrown and clerics assumed political control under Ayatollah Khomeini.

The 57-year-old cleric ran a mosque in Cape Town intended as a safe haven for gay and other marginalised Muslims.