Srinagar, July 7 -- Srinagar - It was more than a state funeral. It was more than a religious ceremony.

As delegations from more than 30 countries and movements filed past the coffin of Iran's late Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, at Tehran's Grand Mosalla, each was greeted not with a diplomatic statement but with a carefully selected verse from the Holy Quran.

To casual observers, the recitations may have appeared ceremonial. But to Islamic scholars, regional analysts and diplomats, they amounted to a sophisticated exercise in symbolic statecraft-one in which every Quranic verse appeared chosen to convey a distinct political message.

Analysts described the ceremony as "Quranic diplomacy", where Tehran u...