By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

 

Yesterday the anniversary of the Grand Event of Ghadeer-Khom was celebrated throughout the Islamic Republic of Iran with public expression of joy and thanks-giving to God Almighty for granting the most excellent form of leadership, which if properly adhered to, ensures the spiritually sound and materialistically marvelous progress of human societies, even if devilish forces were to gang up together against the independence and path of development of people of firm faith.

This same festive atmosphere of gratitude to the All-Merciful Creator was also evident in Iraq, especially in the holy city of Najaf, where pilgrims flocked from throughout the country as well as from neighbouring lands and even from the farthest parts of the world to pay homage at the shrine of the person who because of his dynamic qualities, especially faith, truthfulness, trustworthiness, wisdom, piety, prudence, courage, and sense of justice was on Divine commandment proclaimed by the Seal of Messengers as the Leader after him.

Yemen, particularly its independent north, as well as south and east Lebanon, along with parts of the Subcontinent, also witnessed large public celebrations on this grand occasion, with people reaffirming of obedience to Prophet Muhammad’s (SAWA) universal message of Islam and allegiance to his Vicegerent, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS).

As scholars, including conscientious non-Muslims, have acknowledged, except for these two above mentioned persons, no one throughout history has ever set the precedent of the perfectly ideal universal state where all ethnicities and people re equal – the former during his ten-year governance from Medina, and the latter during his four-and-half year administration based in Kufa.

It should be noted that public displays of tribute to the Most Perfect Prophet and the Most Immaculate Imam that are now the norm in Iran, Iraq, and other lands of freedom, were banned by the tyrannical Pahlavi and the Ba’thist regimes.

Today also, the unrepresentative rulers in our region who greatly fear the awakening of the Muslim masses and their quest for legitimate leadership based on the immortal values taught by the Prophet and his Ahl al-Bayt, ban the people from open celebrations of the Ghadeer-Khom anniversary and other important Islamic days, such as the heartrending tragedy of Ashura.

Reports are rife of the brutal suppression of public celebrations on these occasions from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Jordan, Egypt, and other western client states.

These repressions, however, will not last long, and sooner or later the dynamic legitimacy of leadership, as bequeathed by Ghadeer, will emerge to liberate lands and people from the despotism of the cultish and clannish rulers – as was the case in Iran.

As a matter of fact, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), had hailed Ghadeer as the perfect pattern on the basis of which the relationship between the people and the God-oriented leadership is determined.

He had hailed the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran, where the system of government is based on justice and independence in the face of the most satanic plots of the US and its cohorts, as continuation of the message of Ghadeer.

The present Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, has also emphasized the grand event of Ghadeer-Khom as the perfect model for the proper governance of Muslim societies, which ought to be independent of such flawed systems, as monarchy, dictatorship, capitalism, communism, socialism, fascism, and racism.

The genuine teachings of Islam, as taught by the Prophet and his Ahl al-Bayt, negate all such types of oppression that deprive people of their God-given rights and make them hostages to foreign hegemonic powers.

If today the Islamic Republic of Iran has continued to scale the pinnacles of progress in various fields in the face of the devilish plots of the US, including war, sanctions, and terrorism, it is because of the legitimacy of its leadership, which is based on the immortal event of Ghadeer-Khom.

The same is true of Lebanon’s legendry anti-terrorist movement, the Hezbollah, of Yemen’s popular Ansarullah Movement, of the Hashd ash-Sha’bi or Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) of Iraq, and of other grassroots Islamic organizations elsewhere – all of whom have succeeded in frustrating the designs of their enemies, because of their clarity of the concept of the legitimate leadership. 

It is these dynamic values which will eventually unite the Ummah and make it triumph over the unjust world order – as prelude to the reappearance of the Saviour of mankind, Imam Mahdi (AS), and establishment of the global government of peace, prosperity, and justice.