Salaam dear young friends and heartiest congratulations to you on the eve of a very blessed occasion. How are you today? Hope you are all fine by the Grace of Almighty Lord.
Yesterday we celebrated the auspicious birth anniversary of the Supreme Symbol of Faith, Piety, Justice, Valour, Wisdom, Eloquence, Magnanimity and all other human virtues that we celebrated.
The person who was born in the Holy Ka’ba – the Symbolic House of the Unseen but Omnipresent Creator – needs no introduction.
If the Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), is the Best of Almighty Allah’s creation, his cousin, son-in-law, and divinely-designated heir, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), is the next most Noblest Man that graced Planet Earth.
He was virtue personified and was hailed by the Prophet as the Barometer of Belief that draws the line between “Iman” (True Belief) and “Nefaq” (hypocrisy of those who claim to be Muslim and apparently practice many of the injunctions of Islam, but whose hearts are devoid of the essence of faith).
That is the reason the Prophet’s public proclamation of Imam Ali (AS) as his vicegerent on 18th Zilhijja, 10 AH at Ghadir-Khom on the express commandment of the Lord Most High (Holy Qur’an 5:67) to a huge gathering of over 100,000 pilgrims, while returning from the Hajj, brought swift tidings from heaven of the “perfection of faith, completion of (divine) favours, and approval of Islam as religion” (Holy Qur’an 5:3).
Ever since, the true believers have continued to rally around the banner of “Wilaya” (divinely-decreed authority) of Imam Ali (AS) in every age and place, drawing inspiration from his multi-sided personality in all spheres of life as humanity makes progress by refusing to yield to pressures, threats, sanctions, oppression, and wars, even if it means offering the sacrifice of one’s life for the love of God Almighty.
A prime example in this regard is the Islamic Republic of Iran, which strives on the brilliant path blazed out by Imam Ali (AS) to promote humanitarian values in society, undaunted by the devilish plots of its enemies.
Therefore youngsters, we ought to be thankful to the Almighty for His great blessing of making us cognizant of the merits of the Commander of the Faithful and the practical precedents he set for posterity to make proper progress, during his 63-year life, including the last four-and-a-half years of his model rule of justice.
His holy shrine in Najaf is the centre of pilgrimage for the seekers of truth from all over the world.
Well friends, as you all know, tomorrow will be the 15th of Rajab, and here in the Islamic Republic of Iran, mourners and devotees will pay their tributes to Hazrat Zainab (SA), the Heroine of Karbala, on her martyrdom anniversary, for having institutionalized, universalized, immortalized, and bequeathed to humanity the world life-inspiring mourning ceremonies for her brother Imam Husain (AS), who gave his life-blood, but refused to yield to injustice, in order to keep alive the straight and unwavering path of his grandfather Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) and Father Imam Ali (AS).
This was all for our weekly chat. Stay at home and please listen to the advices of the health authorities. Take care, see you all next week.