Khateeb of Ahl-us-Sunnah in Zahedan underlined ‘Salah (prayers) holds the foremost position among the other worships’ and mankind can be prosperous by acting upon all commands of Shari’ah.
Shaikh Abdol-Hameed began his speech of May 31, 2013 by reciting the Qur’anic verses: «يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ارْكَعُوا وَاسْجُدُوا وَاعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمْ وَافْعَلُوا الْخَيْرَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ*وَجَاهِدُوا فِي اللَّهِ حَقَّ جِهَادِهِ هُوَ اجْتَبَاكُمْ وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجٍ مِّلَّةَ أَبِيكُمْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ هُوَ سَمَّاكُمُ الْمُسْلِمينَ مِن قَبْلُ وَفِي هَذَا لِيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ شَهِيدًا عَلَيْكُمْ وَتَكُونُوا شُهَدَاء عَلَى النَّاسِ فَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِاللَّهِ هُوَ مَوْلَاكُمْ فَنِعْمَ الْمَوْلَى وَنِعْمَ النَّصِيرُ» [حج: 77-78], (O you who believe, bow down in Ruku‘ and bow down in Sajdah, and worship your Lord and do good deeds, so that you achieve success. Struggle for (seeking the pleasure of) Allah, a struggle that is owed to Him. He has chosen you and did not impose any hardship on you in the religion, the faith of your father Ibrahim. He (Allah) named you as Muslims earlier and also in this (Qur’an), so that the Messenger becomes a witness to you, and you become witnesses to (other) people. So establish Salah, pay Zakah and hold fast to Allah. He is your patron. So, how excellent He is as a patron, and how excellent as a supporter!)
Explaining the Qur’anic verses, he said, “Allah Almighty has conveyed very vital and important messages to us. It is the last and foremost Divine book that leads mankind towards the straight path. Allah’s messages lead human beings to the way of salvation and prosperity. All words and sentences of the Qur’an contain guidance and prosperity. The Sublime underlines bow down and prostrate yourselves; it means offer Salah and worship Him all the time. Salah hold the foremost rank among the worships. When a servant is in Sajdah (prostration) s/he is closer to Allah; it is the best condition to show humility before the Almighty.”
Allah Almighty has mentioned Salah in the above-recited noble verses; it is the most important worship. Then He says: worship your Lord! So the worship of Allah is not limited to Salah (prayers); it includes Hajj, Sawm (fasting) and Zakah as well. All of these worships lead mankind towards the prosperity. The noble Qur’an emphasizes us to carry out good deeds; it is a vast field. Any Muslim can do good keeping in mind the needs of time and rounding circumstances, he added more.
“It is a sort of Jihad on the path of the Almighty to worship Allah; thus He said after mentioning Salah and other worships: ‘Struggle for (seeking the pleasure of) Allah, a struggle that is owed to Him.’ Establishing Salah needs struggle; when a Muslim wants to offer prayers humbly with full focus, Satan creates obstacles to get away his/her attention by temptations. So we need to fight the temptations of Satan and the human ego. A person must struggle to carry out all worships as they are owed to them. It is required from servants of Allah to worship Him as it should be. In this way, there must not be any kind of laziness.”
The rector of Darululoom Zahedan stated the beloved prophet, peace & blessings be upon him, and his Companions worshipped Allah the Almighty as it required. They did their best to please Him; they endured all sorts of difficulties to protect the religion of Allah. Holy prophet and his companions struggled to preach Islam; they never felt exhausted in that way. In response, Allah Almighty announced His pleasure from them in this world.
Considering the Muslim Ummah a chosen nation by Allah, he emphasized, “Allah says: ‘He has chosen you…’ the companions of Holy Prophet were the first addressees of this verse, of course it includes all Muslims until the last day. As the beloved prophet is a chosen prophet, his nation is also a chosen Ummah by Allah. Do not forget, the reason behind of this feature is the nice qualities. This nation gives sacrifices for the sake of Islam. It is a chosen nation, because it worships Allah as it is required. So as the position of Muslim nation is higher, the responsibility of Muslims is also greater and important.”
Pointing out to another part of the Qur’anic verses, Shaikh Abdol-Hameed underlined there was not any hardship on Muslims in the religion. Islam has come to make people prosperous; despite obligations like Salah, Zakah, fasting and Hajj there is no any hardship in Islam. Islam does not want people to be in straits. It is for the guidance and prosperity of people. Islam is an easy religion; we must not introduce it as a difficult one.
At the end of the first part of his speech in the Friday gathering of Sunni Muslims in Zahedan, Iran, Shaikh Isma’eelzahi called on people to observe fast and offer prayers more in Rajab and Sha’ban months.
We don’t expect closure of Zahedan for the guests of Darululoom
In the second part of his speech, Shaikh Abdol-Hameed announced the schedule of the graduation ceremony of Darululoom Zahedan castigating state obstacles on the ceremony.
He said, “At the end of each academic year in Islamic seminaries, mostly we see the graduation ceremonies. It is regrettable; some authorities create obstacles for people to not reach Zahedan. While our gathering is not any political meeting; it is only for spiritual and religious goals.”
“Such gatherings are against the interests of Zionists and global imperialism who are afraid of Islamic awakening. In some countries high-level officials take part in such Islamic meetings to get blessings and good prays of people. We expect, our officials will participate the gathering as well.”
Khateeb and Friday Imam of Sunnis in Zahedan further said, “We have condemned extremism and violence repeatedly; sobriety is our way. Our opponents are Shia and Sunni extremists. We will prove that only extremists are opposing us as fraternity is our method and principle.”
He went on to say more that as previous years, the governor, representative of the Supreme Leader and the chairman of the state-run World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thoughts have been invited to take part in the annual graduation ceremony of Darululoom Zahedan. If we were extremists, we would not have invited them.
Neither we are exterminators nor extortionate; we only want our legal rights. We talk about justice because we believe justice is the only way that leads to salvation and sobriety, the leading Sunni scholars underlined.
Talking to tens of thousands worshippers in Zahedan, Shaikh Abdol-Hameed criticized the role of the security officials saying, “The Iranian Sunni community does not expect security men to stop people of other regions and provinces at check points outside of the city in a Muslim regime! While they want to take part in a mere religious gathering; such behaviors are in contrast to principles of neighborhood and law.”
The member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars urged, “Our regime claims to be “Islamic Republic” but we do not see republicanism in Iran. People of Iran have not experienced democracy yet. In many states, there is no need of permission for political meetings and rallies. They freely hold meetings and rallies; on the other hand, our ceremony is only for religious goals holding the message of fraternity and Islamic awakening, but we face obstacles and problems to organize it. An Islamic university was established in India; they did not need to get permission and many of high-profile officials took part in the inaugural meeting proudly.”
He stated in the past some guests from foreign states used to participate the graduation ceremony. They and even the officials of Taqrib Forum admitted their presence in our gathering had great achievements for the regime. Now foreign guests are banned; if the process of their participation was continued, we would have seen more positive steps towards the unity of Muslims.
Addressing the authorities, Shaikh-ul-Islam said, “Do not close the way of Ahl-us-Sunnah, and let them carry out their religious rituals freely. If Iran’s Sunnis have freedom in their country, they will be the best ambassadors of Iran to convey the message of fraternity and solidarity to other Muslim states.”
It is noteworthy, the 22nd annual gradation ceremony of Darululoom Zahedan will be held on Thursday, June 06, 2013 near Darululoom Zahedan.