Amid ongoing political and economic depression in Iran, the most influential Iranian Sunni leader considered \u201cjustice\u201d and \u201cserving people\u201d as the main duties of Islamic and democratic systems and governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Shaikh Abdol-Hamid called on the officials to submit to the well of the overwhelming majority of people. He considered humility and serving the people as big characteristics of rulers in any kind of popular system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Friday prayer leader of Sunnis in Zahedan was talking to tens of thousands of male and female audiences watching his live speech on the net, and in Zahedan\u2019s biggest Friday gathering on Sept 8, 2023. Mawlana Abdol-Hamid added: \u201cPower and sovereignty should not cause pride and arrogance, because power is a blessing and a test from Allah. Maybe some people who were in power yesterday, today they have lost everything, even their houses. No blessing is eternal. In the past, when some people came to power, they used to be humble before people; because they saw the power as a good opportunity to serve their people. On the other side, when someone got power they became arrogant, and treated people very bad. So governance is valuable when it serves the people.\u201d Imam of the Grand Makki Mosque of Zahedan insisted on getting people\u2019s support, and said: \u201cNo ruler has absolute authority. Absolute sovereignty belongs only to Allah Almighty. Allah is the real ruler of the whole world. All governments in the world should move within the framework of the divine laws. In Islamic systems, the law must be abiding to the Shari\u2019ah. Absolute sovereignty belongs only to Allah. Almighty rules with no conditions; because He has absolute authority. Others are Allah\u2019s servants, and cannot rule beyond the Shari\u2019ah and against the law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe people, directly or indirectly, have elected all rulers. I am not addressing a specific government, but I speak generally. In Islam and democracy, no government can move the country towards a trend that is against national interests; this is one of the limitations. It is important that the nation should support the ruler, and the ruler should serve the nation. The ruler should pay attention to different tendencies of the people, and the demands of people must be vital for him,\u201d the president of Darululoom Zahedan referred to the main duties of power-holders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added more: \u201cThe ruler should be humble and benefit the people. Unfortunately, in our country, many officials are not humble before the people. An official should be humble before the task and should not say, \u2018I am a minister, a governor, representative of the parliament, etc.\u2019 In Iran, some authorities used to say that they were at the service of people, but when they came to power, they did not act on their words.\u201d \u201cAll officials know that the people of Zahedan were innocent and free from guilt on the bloody Friday. Officials have admitted repeatedly; from the supreme leader to the lower officials know that people were not at fault. When people had committed no crime, you should have carried out justice. They were your citizens. Protecting people\u2019s lives is one of the duties of the rulers,\u201d said the president of Darululoom Zahedan. \u201cThe answer to stone is not a war bullet. The scholars should answer, what is the punishment of those personnel who shot the protestors for no reason?\u201d Shaikh Abdol-Hamid underlined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDoes the police officer have the right to shot at people? If a police officer has no right to open fire on innocent people, he must be tried. If it were the government of the holy Prophet or the government of the Righteous Caliphs, including the Caliph Ali, would they treat the protestors like this?\u201d he questioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat is happening in the detention centers with the detainees? These issues should be taken into consideration. If you don’t solve these issues today, we know Allah exists, and the field of accountability is ahead. We are patient and people have been patient with the case, but this patience does not mean they have given up their right; but in the hope of getting their right,\u201d said Mawlana Abdol-Hamid. \u201cIn many systems of the world, inspectors and research teams ask the opponents their opinions. All over the world, criticism is taken into consideration, but in our country, critics are considered as enemies; while this is not the case. The critic is sort of sympathizer and well-wisher of the country. A critic who criticizes impartially should be heard,\u201d said the Friday Khateeb of Zahedan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shaikh-ul-Islam Mawlana Abdol-Hamid concluded his Friday speech of Zahedan, saying: \u201cI dare to say that I do not pursue any personal interest in what I say from this tribune. I pursue the interests of the country, the interests of the ruler and the dignity of the people of Iran. The critic is not your enemy, but your benefactor. If you do not listen to critics, you will regret one day, and will look for the critic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are with those whose rights have been lost, and we will keep expressing their demands, as it is our duty and responsibility,\u201d he underlined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Amid ongoing political and economic depression in Iran, the most influential Iranian Sunni leader considered \u201cjustice\u201d and \u201cserving people\u201d as the main duties of Islamic and democratic systems and governments. Shaikh Abdol-Hamid called on the officials to submit to the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-speeches"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abdolhamid.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abdolhamid.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abdolhamid.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abdolhamid.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abdolhamid.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3080"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/abdolhamid.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3089,"href":"https:\/\/abdolhamid.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3080\/revisions\/3089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abdolhamid.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abdolhamid.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abdolhamid.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abdolhamid.net\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Power and government have value if they serve people
<\/strong> The eminent Iranian Sunni cleric continued his speech by saying: \u201cAllah Almighty warns humanity not to be deceived by the material things of the world. Sometimes capital and wealth, and sometimes lineage, high ranking positions and jobs cause people\u2019s pride, while all these things are Allah\u2019s blessings. We should be grateful to Allah for these blessings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ruler must be humble and serve people; this is the spirit of Islam and democracy
If people are dissatisfied, it becomes difficult for the ruler to maintain governing<\/strong>
The Iranian top Sunni leader went on to compare commonalities between Islam and democracy, stating: \u201cIslam and democracy have many commonalities. For instance, refusing tyranny is common between Islam and democracy. In governance, popularity is the spirit of Islam and democracy, and people choose the ruler. The ruler can stay in power as long as the overwhelming majority of people support him. If the people are unpleasant with the ruler, it becomes difficult for the ruler to maintain governing and power. As the majority of votes elects the ruler, it is only possible to continue ruling with the same votes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everyone knows that the people were not at fault during the Bloody Friday of Zahedan\/it was your duty to go to the mourners and affected people to solve their problems
<\/strong>The prominent scholar of Iranian Balochistan alluded to the Friday Bloody case of Zahedan which left about one hundred people dead and three hundred injured, and said: \u201cA provincial official was asked why the authorities did not take care of Zahedan’s Bloody Friday, he answered: \u2018people did not come to me to solve their problems, but went to others; while I had the power to solve their problems\u2019. It was your duty to go to the affected people and solve their problems. It was your job to follow up the issue. When an official is able to do something, he should fulfill his duty, and not expect others to come to him. You had to go to the mourners and take care of the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If there is no “justice” in the Islamic system, its number is up
<\/strong>He went on to urge on freedoms and implementation of justice, saying: \u201cIn any system, whether it is Islamic or non-Islamic, if there is no justice, the system will be destroyed. Democratic governments are based on justice. If there is no justice, democracy is invalid. Freedom of expression, pen, and thought are among the main axes of the Islamic and democratic systems. Not all across the country, those who have been killed, amputated, and maimed in protests, have been carried out any weapon with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The critic is not your “enemy”; rather, he is your “well-wisher”
<\/strong>During his Friday sermons of Zahedan, the most influential Iranian Sunni leader complained that the officials do not respond to people\u2019s problems and said: \u201cOne of the problems that we have been suffering from is that the authorities are not responsible to the people. So many letters have been written to high-ranking officials, but they had not responded to the letters. Many officials have not allowed people to meet them and share their problems with them. Nowhere in the world, people are treated like this. Officials should listen to people and respond to their letters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n