Salaam dear young friends, and heartfelt condolences to you all on the anniversary of a very tragic day, from the consequences of which the world is still suffering, with tyrants and charlatans in power all over the world – through military coups, through inheritance, and through elections during which they fool the unsuspecting majority of masses with deceptive slogans.
Tomorrow is 19th of Ramadhan, the day on which in the year 40 AH, the Leader of the Pious, the Commander of the Faithful, the Barometer of Belief, the Epitome of Justice, the Symbol of Valour, the Manifestation of Magnanimity, the Master of Eloquence, and the Gateway of Knowledge and Wisdom, suffered the fatal blow on his head, resulting in his martyrdom three days later that ended the only instance in history of the model government of social justice.
As is clear to you, he was none other than Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), the dear cousin, ward, son-in-law, and Divinely-Designated Heir of the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger to all mankind, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA).
The whole of Iran will be draped in black after spending the First Night of Qadr in prayers, supplications, recital of the holy Qur’an, and listening to discourses and elegies commemorating the anniversary of that deathly blow to humanity, as the only person to have ever been born in God Almighty’s Symbolic House, the holy Ka’ba, was in the act of prostration to the One and Only Lord of the universe during the ritual Morning Prayer in the Grand Mosque of Kufa, in Iraq.
Imam Ali (AS) was Virtue Personified. The Ruler of a vast political realm that today includes some twenty countries spread across Asia and Africa, his clothing was simple, his shoes patched in several places, and his meagre food made up of dried bread, some vinegar and a few dates.
He set the finest example of good governance that has continued to inspire reformers and revolutionaries in every age and place. The Islamic Republic of Iran strives to follow his ideals, and so also various movements and organisations in different countries of the world, whether Shi’a or Sunni.
The personality of Imam Ali (AS) remains transcendental and is not limited to any creed, as evident by volumes of books on his unsurpassed merits written by many non-Muslim intellectuals and writers, including Christians, Hindus, Zoroastrians, and even the so-called Free-Thinkers.
You youngsters are well aware that Ibn Abi’l-Hadid Mu’tali, the exegete of the “Nahj al-Balagha” which contains Imam Ali’s (AS) Sermons and Letters was a Sunni, while George Jordac, the author of the 5-volume work on the unparalleled superiority of Imam Ali (AS), compared to Socrates, Aristotle, Arab Intellectuals, Thinkers of the French Revolution, and Voices of Human Justice, was a Christian.
Let us raise our hands and pray to God Almighty to keep us steadfast on the brilliant path blazed out for the proper progress of humanity by Imam Ali (AS), so that the contemporary world be saved from the modern-day Ibn Muljam’s that raise their murderous heads here and there in the form of Takfiris and Zionists.
Goodbye and God bless you until we meet again next week.