On Sunday, November 14, 2021, the Secretary-General of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly delivered a speech for the officials of the Shiite centers in Belgium at the Al-Rahman Mosque in Brussels.
Referring to a hadith from Imam Baqer (a.s.), Ayatollah Reza Ramazani stated, “According to the hadith of Imam Baqer (a.s.), prayer refers to man’s relationship with God; fasting refers to man’s relationship with himself, Zakat refers to man’s relationship with other people to solve their problems, and Hajj refers to international relations. Therefore, if a person wants to strengthen his relationship in all matters, he must develop and strengthen his Velayat relationship.”
According to reason, jurisprudence and the Quran, unity is necessary
Referring to the need for unity of Muslims, he said, “Today, more than ever, Muslims must be united. Because unity is necessary according to the intellect, Fiqh, and Quran.”
“The Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) has two interpretations: “moral beauties” and “moral virtues”. The beauties of morality are related to the type of human relationship with other people, and the virtues of morality go back to the training of human nature and his within. We should be proud that there is a moral rule in the verses of the Qur'an, such as the verse “قُولُوا لِلنَّاسِ حُسْنًا” (speak kindly to mankind) (Quran, Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse: 83). In this verse, God asks us to have good treatment with all human beings; good treatment include not only and Muslims, but also followers of other religions, and this is a golden rule. In his letter to Imam Hassan (a.s.), Imam Ali (a.s.) also points to an inclusive moral point and says, “Do for others what you like for yourself, and do not like for others what you do not like for yourself,” he said, regarding ethics in Islam.
There are all golden roles in Islam
Ayatollah Ramazani added, “Swiss philosopher Hans Küng has written “A Global Ethics”. We can say that the global ethics are golden rules, all of which are found in Islam.”
“We should introduce Islam by our behavior,” he continued, “Sometimes we preach for hundreds of hours, but sometimes a moral act can influence more than a hundred books. Some assert that the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) developed Islam with the wealth of Khadijah (p.b.u.h) and the sword of Ali (p.b.u.h). While what caused the spread of Islam was the morality of the Prophet (p.b.u.h), an issue that had a huge impact in the shortest possible time.”
“If we study Christianity, we see that three hundred years after Jesus (p.b.u.h), Islam has just emerged. Before that, some worshiped secretly in the mountains. But after the Prophet of Islam (p.b.u.h), Muslims were proud of their religion. If we read all the history books, we will understand that during the thirteen years of the Prophet’s presence in Medina, no internal war took place. Because in Medina there was an expression of opinion. Everyone is free to express his opinion and people can accept an opinion or not,” stated the professor of the high levels of the seminary of Qom.
“Our teacher, Allameh Javadi Amoli, divided politeness into three parts: “Politeness with the soul” means to educate ourselves; “Politeness with creation” means that our relationship with others must be determined, and the Holy Quran is a teacher of politeness; “Politeness with God” means strengthening our relationship with God and finding divine attributes,” he said, regarding Ayatollah Javadi Amoli’s views on ethics.
“In a hadith, Imam Reza (a.s.) said about a perfect believer, “The believer does not understand the truth of faith unless he has three characteristics: a characteristic of God, which is to hide people’s secrets, a characteristic of the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h), which is tolerance of people, and a characteristic of the Guardian of God, which is patience in the face of hardships.” Just as God does not reveal man’s secrets, so should a believer, and we must be patient and gentle in hardships,” added the Secretary-General of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly.
In Shiite centers, there is a golden opportunity to introduce the school of AhlulBayt (a.s.)
“There is a golden opportunity in Shiite centers to introduce the AhlulBayt (a.s.) school,” he added, “If we all have the Velayat of AhlulBayt (a.s.), we should be friendly with each other and avoid disagreement, and certainly the discord is not justifiable for us. In the interpretation of the verse “جَاءَ الْحَقُّ وَزَهَقَ الْبَاطِلُ” () (Quran, Surah: Al-Isra, Verse: 81) Allameh Tabatabai raised a question, “Although Islam is a true religion, why are there differences and problems in it, but there is no difference in the world of Kufr (infidelity)?” In response to this question, he said, “Because the content of Islam is complete and comprehensive, but Muslims are not on the right track on unity issue, and the same issue has caused discord in Islamic societies. But the content of Kufr is based on falsehood, but in one thing they are right, and that is their unity.”
“Islam is the religion of mercy, rationality and importance to society, and what ISIL is doing is their own invention and has nothing to do with Islam,” Ayatollah Ramazani stated.
“God willing, we will be able to use the opportunity, especially cyberspace, to introduce Islam to the world,” he said in the end.