Shaikh Abdol-Hamid shed light on the objectives of Hajj, Islamic pilgrimage, in his latest Friday sermon terming it an exercise to obey the commands of Shari’ah incontrovertibly.
He began his sermon of Sep. 12, 2014 by the Noble verse of the Qur’an: «وَأَذِّن فِي النَّاسِ بِالْحَجِّ يَأْتُوكَ رِجَالًا وَعَلَى كُلِّ ضَامِرٍ يَأْتِينَ مِن كُلِّ فَجٍّ عَمِيقٍ», (And announce among people about (the obligation of) Hajj, so that they should come to you on foot, and on every camel turned lean, traveling through every distant hilly pathway); [22: 27]
Pointing out to forereach of Hajj month, he said, “The months of Hajj start after the blessing month of Ramadan; Shawwal, Dhul-Qa’dah and Dhul-Hijjah are the months of Hajj. In the past time, due to lack of facilities people used to move towards the holy cities in Shawwal month dressing Ihram clothing. Even some Muslims of distinct countries used to spend a complete year to perform Hajj. They were facing lots of troubles to reach Makkah and Madinah; it is a fact the spirituality and purity in a Hajj of the past cannot be compared with today’s Hajj. The more we bear difficulties on the way of Hajj, the more we observe purity.”
Urging on the necessity of purity of the intention, Khateeb and Friday Imam of Sunnis in Zahedan stated, “Hajj is a divine order and the tradition of prophets; people who travel to perform Hajj must purify their intentions first of all. They should carry out this great obligation only to get the pleasure of Allah.”
“The obligatory of Hajj can be summarized in some points; the first one is the sanctity and obeisance of the symbols of Allah. The Noble Qur’an affirms: «وَمَن يُعَظِّمْ شَعَائِرَ اللَّهِ فَإِنَّهَا مِن تَقْوَى الْقُلُوبِ», (Having said that, if one observes the sanctity of the symbols of Allah, then such things emanate from the piety of the hearts.); [22: 32] Safa, Marwah and the rest places in Hajj including the earth of Makkah and Madinah are symbols of Allah and their sanctity must be preserved,” Shaikh-ul-Islam underlined.
He further said, “The second point which can be seen is exercise for obeying Allah without any laziness. A pilgrim must know he/she should obey all orders of Allah and His prophet in any condition; Hajj is to ease this duty for pilgrims. All rituals of Hajj based on that exercise. The prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon him, left his family in the desert of Makkah without any facility is one of the best examples of indubitable obedience.”
The rector of Darululoom Zahedan added more, “The methods of performing Hajj resembled the desert of Qiamah (Resurrection Day) closely; all pilgrims gather in Arafat bareheaded and afoot for supplication.”
At the end of this part of his sermon, he mentioned Hajj as an opportunity for pilgrims for revivification of their promises. These blest people should repent for their misdeeds and ask Allah for His forgiveness. Hajj has a great message for Muslims; they gather from different regions to be aware of each other’s conditions. There are many social and political interests for Muslims in Hajj as well.
War, Massacre Cannot be Durable Solutions for Security Crises
In the second part of his speech, , the outstanding Iranian Sunni leader denounced the bellicosity of the West and urged on ‘dialogue, logic and just reconciliation’ to resolve the ongoing security and political crises of the Muslim world.
Shaikh Abdol-Hamid alluded to the current crises of the Muslim world and said, “It is really hurting to see the Muslim world stuck in sectarian differences and strives. People are busy with bloody conflicts and the enemies of Islam misuse the situation.”
Showing his reaction to the recent statement of the US president who has said to target ‘extremist’ groups “wherever they exist,” and addressed him and the rest of Western officials, “It is true you can bomb your opponents wherever they exist; Allah has given you this power, but you must know by killing and invading people, you do not eliminate your enemies; you just create more enemies. You may kill one hundred of your enemies, but in the result you make thousands more your enemies.”
“If you want to resolve the crises only by force and shedding the blood of people, what will be the difference between you and the rest of extremists? If you consider yourself civilized and wise, then fight with extremism by sagacity and wisdom. A wise person can change his enemies into new friends or at least decrease the scale of enmity,” he added more.
The rector of Darululoom Zahedan counted ‘inappropriate support of the West to Israel’ one of the reasons people hate the Western rulers and said, “As the Western rulers back the criminal regime of Israel, people hate them; they do not see any logical, just and appropriate reason for the West in the case of supporting Israel. This sinister regime has been occupying the lands of Palestinians for decades, thousands of innocent men and women have been massacred or injured by Israeli army. Even they killed children and destroyed homes and worship places. Such policies give birth to terror and extremism.”
Pointing out to possible consequences of invading Muslim countries, Shaikh Abdol-Hamid addressed the invaders and said, “You have massacred thousands of innocent and defendless people; destruction has been the only fruit of your assault on Afghanistan and Iraq. Now the people in these states face more problems than the past. The Muslim world’s crises cannot be resolved by military assaults, bombardment and firing missiles.”
At the end of this part of his speech before tens of thousands worshippers in Zahedan, he underlined, “The Western powers are going on a wrong path; they should review their stances in the Middle East. I believe the policy which is based on war and massacre will not work out. Rather the policy of logic, dialogue, discretion and just reconciliation can end the ongoing crises.”
Officials should avoid ethnic & sectarian steps
In another part of his weekly sermon, the prominent Islamic scholar condemned sectarian and ethnic discriminative decisions of some government officials of Iran. He said, “All officials should take care of national interests; there must not be any difference between Shia and Sunni citizens. This country does not belong to any particular sect or ethnic community. Iran is the motherland of all inhabitants; if we witness some countries suffering from political problems and they are prone to division, the reason is discrimination and biased policies of some officials.”
He urged that current government and President Hassan Rouhani do not favor sectarian behaviors and stances. The ministers and lower officials must follow the policies of the current government. Their views should be national; they must not marginalize capable citizens of any particular community. It is necessary to behave with Baloch, Kurd, Fars, Turkmen, Arab and other ethnic communities justly and unbiasedly. Then they can stand together against any enemy protecting their country strongly.
Shooting incident on Zahedan-Khash highway, irritant & worrying
The chairman of the Coordination Council of the Sunni Seminaries in Sistan-Baluchistan expressed his deep concerns over the shooting incident took place few days ago on Zahedan-Khash highway where a man lost his life and his wife and son received injuries. In another incident, one day after the death of the shopkeeper, Abdullah Moradzahi, two more young citizens lost their lives following the shooting of security personnel and crash of their car.
He said, “Killing some young men on the highway is an irritant and worrying incident. Security forces of the police are responsible for safety and security of people; they should work as people respect them and feel easy by seeing them. If some personnel commit blunders and open fire on innocent people, it would be painful. The officials must try and punish the culprits.”
Mawlana Abdol-Hamid alluded to detention of accused personnel and said, “I must be thankful to the governor and police chief of the province as they arrested the culprits after the incident. We witness such incidents after some days; it shows the police department and security officials should be vigilant over the steps of infiltrating people. Such opportunists can be found in different classes of the society.”
Blocking entries of Zahedan city has no justification
Khateeb of Sunnis in Zahedan once again criticized the security personnel on stopping guests and religious citizens at the entry check points of the city and said check posts must not defame people of Zahedan who are famous for their hospitability. Sometimes, the security personnel behave with travelers in a manner which makes us ashamed.
He further said, “Zahedan is not an insecure city; it enjoys a good security and there is no need of controlling the entries of the city. The officials should consider this point that Zahedan was somehow insecure few years ago, but now it is safe. If they continue their behaviors, others may think it is because of religious measures.”