Ayatollah Modarresi’s Message to Arbaeen Pilgrims
Here is the full text of the message:
O travelers to the shrine of Imam Hussein (AS)!
1) You have been granted a golden opportunity and God has bestowed you with a chance to eliminate your sins and prejudices. So, we should clear ourselves from anything that causes bitterness in life, division among dear ones, and difficulties; and we should make our path towards Imam Hussein (AS) a clean and pure one.
2) We should free ourselves from resentment, bias, personal interests, and narrow-minded views as they are among the most dangerous things for us; these are chains of Satan that bar us from elevation to the realm of truth. And we should also remain loyal to each other and establish honest relations.
3) According to the Holy Quran, true believers ask God to not put any form of resentment against other believers in their hearts. Furthermore, we read in ziarat Ashura: “Surely I am at peace with those who are at peace with you and I am at war with those who are at war with you and I am a friends to those who are friends to you and I am an enemy to those who are enemies to you.” Love and true Wilayat of Ahl al-Bayt (AS) should be like this and this is the Wilayat of Allah. If we reach this Wilayat, we will be kind to each other. Kindness and love will lead to cooperation and accordingly, major dreams and aims can be realized.
4) Our Ummah is in need of more coherence and advice. God Almighty in the Holy Quran invites believers to offer advice to others. “By the time of the afternoon! Surely, the human is in a (state of) loss, except those who believe and do good works and charge one another with the truth and charge one another with patience.” (Surah Al-Asr, verses 1-3) Advising is related to all and no one should see himself exempt from that.
5) God Almighty has ordered us to enjoin the good and forbid the wrong. We have a responsibility to cooperate with each other. Major aims cannot be achieved unless with honest determination and national cooperation.
6) Dear pilgrims! It is our duty to study Risalat al-Huquq by Imam Sajjad (AS) to get acquainted with our responsibilities and their different aspects. On the path of pilgrimage to Imam Hussein (AS), it is better for us to think about our responsibility and the way to honor it.
7) When we are connected to this divine approach in the Husseini movement and attain a deep belief and strong determination through Imam Hussein’s heavenly thoughts and pure soul, we have actually shoulder a great responsibility for confronting corruption and reforming society. At the same time, we should not forget good morals and good interaction with others.
We ask God to offer more prosperity and blessing to this year’s pilgrimage compared to previous years and bestow us the honor of obeying and following the tradition of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the approach of Imam Hussein (AS).
