Arbaʿīn message from Ayatollah Muhammad Taqi al-Modarresi
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful:
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and may Allah bless Muḥammad and his guided family.
Peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, the Master of the Prophets and the Seal of the Messengers, whom Allah sent as a witness, a bearer of glad tidings, a warner, one who invites to Allah by His permission, and an illuminating lamp [of guidance].
Peace be up the Commander of the Faithful, the Master of the Successors, the Leader of the Resplendent.
Peace be upon the truthful and pure Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ, the Leader of the Women of the Worlds.
Peace be upon Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan al-Zakī, the Imam of the Muslims, and the Inheritor of the Messengers.
Peace be upon the Master of Martyrs, the Father of the Freemen, Imam al-Ḥusayn, and upon the people of his household, his companions, his adherents (Shīʿa), and his distinguished visitors.
And may peace be upon you all, O arrivals to the the resting place of the Martyred Grandson, O you who wish for his intercession and hope to reach the caravan of his devoted companions, O you who hurry to respond to his call of distress, thus exclaiming in unison: “I am here, O Summoner to Allah; I am at your service, O Ḥusayn!”
O brothers and sisters, surely the visitation of the Imam al-Ḥusayn (ʿA) carries great significance especially this year, for it has a blessed message, a message for each among us to himself, and our message for the reform of our country, and our message to the world and every country.
O esteemed visitors, you whom Allah Almighty has aided against his desires, and supported in overcoming his lusts, and made successful in reforming himself, and whom He had blessed and given overwhelming goodness: Does not our Lord Almighty say: “But as for him who is awed to stand before his Lord and restrains his soul from [following] desires, / his refuge will indeed be paradise”? (Q. 79:40–41)
And the Prophet (Ṣ) said: “The bravest person is the one who overcomes his desire.”
Indeed, we come to this purified land and bathe in the spring of Imam al-Ḥusayn (ʿA) in order to seek forgiveness from the forgiving and merciful Allah, by his noble shrine, for the sins we have committed. Here, by the grave of the Master of Martyrs, where the distance between heaven and earth is nearly non-existent, we say to our Lord: We have come to You penitently, and we seek a means of approach to You by Imam al-Ḥusayn (ʿA); our Lord, cleanse us of negative characteristics, beautify us with piety, and adorn us with the best etiquettes.
We came that we might borrow from the Lamp of Guidance a flame to light our path in the future, in order that we do not fall into sin once again.
O brothers and sisters! There is no shame in mankind going to the riverbank parched; the shameful thing is to return thirsty. Likewise, there is no shame in entering the pool of purity with the stain of sin, but it would be extremely shameful to return still impure. Never! Allah willing, we shall purify ourselves, with the blessing of Allah, from every evil characteristic or bad habit.
Do we not swear in the ziyāra of Ḥusayn (ʿA): “I bear witness that you are pure purity purified, and the offspring of purified pure purity, and the land where you are present is rendered pure, and the earth wherein you are resting has been purified”?
If we are now in a purified land, and a shrine which purifies its visitors, should we not then be cleansed ourselves?
Our relationship with one another is the scale of our own purity, so whoever has been cleansed of jealousy, fanaticism, and selfishness will not show hostility to the people, deride them, or backbite them, and he will avoid every slander. Or does our Lord Almighty not say: “O you who have faith! Let not any people ridicule another people: it may be that they are better than they are; nor let women [ridicule] women: it may be that they are better than they are. And do not defame one another, nor insult one another by [calling] nicknames. How evil are profane names subsequent to faith! As for those who are not penitent [of their past conduct] — such are the wrongdoers”? (Q. 49:11)
Surely we must love each other for the sake of Allah and be loyal to whoever is loyal to Imam al-Ḥusayn (ʿA), just as we must be an enemy of his enemies, and always reiterate these golden words at his noble shrine: “I am at peace with the one who is at peace with you, and at war with those who are at war with you; and I am loyal to the one who is loyal to you, and an enemy of the one who is an enemy to you.”
Indeed the banner of Imam al-Ḥusayn (ʿA) unites us, and it should not be that we divided our watchword of unity according to Satanic factionalism and ignorant fanaticism. Discord is the most evil of manners, and from it we seek Allah’s protection.
O brothers and sisters! Our responsibilities towards one another are:
First: To advise one another according to truth, patience, and every goodness; to command good and forbid wrong; to invite to Allah by wisdom and good advice. Surely all of these things are great blessings allotted by Allah to His righteous servants.
O loyalists [of Ḥusayn], be like the rose which always emits the aroma of righteousness and rectitude; be like the honeybee, which transfers the nectar of life from one flower to the other; and do not be like the filthy flies carrying disease and detriment.
Second: Consultation, for verily our intellects are incomplete and the intellect of each one of us is only completed by the others, and it is only [through] consultation that the minds of mankind are completed.
In this way, the Islamic worldwide community advances — when it advances — by reason, knowledge, and mature wisdom. Consultation had been enjoined amongst them, and the Prophet (Ṣ) and the successor [Imam ʿAlī] (ʿA) would seek the counsel of their companions, and Islam has decreed counsel. Today, we need desperately to revive this divine value in our lands, beginning from the highest strata, such as the religious authorities and the government, to every official — nay, rather every human being. Sticking stubbornly to one’s own view is a kind of disease, and it will lead one to ruin. We ask Allah Almighty to safeguard us from being prideful in our views, and despotic in our decision making.
Third: Cooperation. No matter great our capacity is as individuals, we must recognize that grandeur, success, and salvation are achieved through cooperation. As our Lord Almighty has said: “Cooperate in piety and Godwariness, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression.” (Q. 5:2)
Fourth: Kindness, because kindness is aligned with justice. Did not our Lord Almighty say: “Indeed Allah enjoins justice and kindness, and generosity towards relatives, and He forbids indecency, wrongdoing, and aggression. He advises you, so that you may take admonition”? (16:90)
Surely our society has been blessed by the sunna of kindness to one another, and that is a great [source of] pride for this people, who learn from the Sinless Imams (ʿA) the manners of kindness and the best of etiquettes. Yet today we, O brothers and sisters, are in need of even more kindness because of the circumstances through which we are passing, and because the increase in the number of needy leaves us in desperate want of this value, about which our Lord Almighty has spoken: “Be good [to others] just as Allah has been good to you.” (28:77)
The land of Mesopotamia, O distinguished brothers and sisters, has fallen into an abyss of accumulated, complicated problems, the causes of which are three successive, destructive wars — and that was before the fall of the tyrant (Saddam); and then there is the war against against the terrorists, which has continued from the fall [of Saddam] until the present time, and grows daily in ferocity. This is in addition to the aftereffects of the occupation. So it is that we are in a sea of problems. Then [there is the fact that] the laws were in opposition to the religion, and backwards for the time in which we are living, and distant from the constitution chosen by the people. Then [there is] a one-dimensional economy based on oil, and all of the social problems and other issues requiring continuous reform protests, tirelessly established by all the people collectively, by the support of Allah.
Certainly we are a Ḥusaynī people following his path in reforming [the nation], and we hope to be a part of his caravan. Did not our master and leader, Imam al-Ḥusayn (ʿA), say: “I did not revolt for the cause of evil tyranny or corruption, but to reform the nation of my grandfather (Ṣ). I want to enjoin the good and forbid wrong”?
Indeed, persistent work is required [to address] the cumulative effects of periods of repression and corruption, by all strata of the society, and under the guidance of the religious authority upon the path of Imam al-Ḥusayn (AS), and at that time the believers can rejoice in the aid of Allah Almighty, Who has said: “O you who have faith! If you help Allah, He will help you and make your feet steady.” (Q. 47:7)
Our call to the world: Answer the Summoner to Allah!
As the world today undergoes these severe crises, terrorism exasperates everyone; poverty, underdevelopment, and slavery shake [the foundations of] security, and threaten international peace; unjustifiable military spending — not least of all the proliferation of nuclear arsenals and other weapons of mass destruction — is consuming the wealth of nations and pushing the world into a dark tunnel of fear and economic stagnation, just as global warming is threatening the planet Earth with gradual extinction.
As all of that is the reality of humanity’s situation, then salvation is not but in the religion of Allah, and the perfected faith is Islam, of which our Lord Almighty has said: “Today I have perfected your religion for you, and I have completed My blessing upon you, and I have approved Islam as your religion.” (Q. 5:3)
And the world has no choice but to answer the Summoner to Allah. But who is this summoner, about whom our Lord Almighty has said: “Our Lord, we have indeed heard a summoner calling to faith, declaring, ‘Have faith in your Lord!’ So we believed. Our Lord, forgive us our sins and absolve us of our misdeeds, and make us die with the pious”? (Q. 3:193)
Yes, indeed, the Summoner to Allah is the Messenger of Allah (Ṣ) and the people of his noble household, not least of all his martyred grandson, Imam al-Ḥusayn (ʿA). Have you not recited in his ziyāra: “I am here at your service, Summoner to Allah. If my body could not answer you [at the time you cried out for aid] then my heart has answered you, as has my hair, my skin, my vision, and my soul”?
Verily Imam al-Ḥusayn (ʿA) had sought our aid on the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ when he said: “Is there a supporter who will come to our aid?!” And today we say to him: “I am here, Summoner to Allah! I am at your service, O Ḥusayn!”
Imam al-Ḥusayn (ʿA) wrote his decisive call in letters of blood, and scrawled — in the Valley of Ṭiff by his noble corpse and the mutilated parts of his household — the greatest divine declaration for mankind, which called out: O people of the world! Return to your Lord, repent to your Creator, seek your Lord’s pardon so that He saves you from the tribulations of this life and an evil punishment in the hereafter.
Our procession [to Karbalāʾ] this year — and every year — is an invitation to the people of the world towards the path of Imam al-Ḥusayn (ʿA). It is a peaceful procession speaking in the name of the religion of Allah, and a day will come in which the [whole] world answers the call. It is our responsibility to remain continually increasing the size of this procession until its appeal and message reaches the ears of all the world’s people.
O brothers and sisters, your gathering around the shrine of Ḥusayn (ʿA) will be blessed by the Lord from above His throne so long as we are sincere to Allah Almighy, working for the sake of upholding the word of truth for which Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Ḥusayn (ʿA) sacrificed everything precious and beloved that he possessed; and what is our success but through Allah, the Most High and Exalted?
Holy Karbalāʾ
Muhammad Taqi al-Modarresi
1437 AH