Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani Underscores  Muballeghin's Crucial Mission in the Present Critical Time

In a gathering of  muballeghin (religious propagators) and clerics from the Islamic seminary of Qom who are dispatched to different deprived areas of Baluchistan province and Bandar-e Lengeh city, Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani expressed his emphasis on the crucial duties of muballeghin in the present critical time.

Having expressed his thanks to the clerics for their taking part in the gathering His Eminence said: “Your purpose of this journey which you are going to have is to bring people close to the family of Ahlulbayt (a.s.) It is a spiritual and a valuable journey and I see that at this time all other sects have risen up against Shia as you can see it with Iraq and the attacks being carried out on Shia despite its being the only sect which speaks out the truth.  Definitely, there are some people who want to eradicate Islam itself. That is why, for the time being our obligations differ from that of the past. Our duties have increased to a hundred fold and it is a matter of pity that they are using the media, satellite  and internet to drive them towards disbelief.”  His Eminence added, “ The day the vice-president of Iraq came here, I told him that the thing which upsets me in addition to the current situation of Iraq is that the world arrogance has been spreading its decadent  and irreligious culture since it has entered Iraq.  If such a situation continues to exist, they will make the Iraqi youth so  shaky that they will pass the shrines of the Imams without entering them and without performing pilgrimage.  That is why it is disturbing.”

 His Eminence added, “Absolutely, the Wahabis and the Al-Qaida are the opponents and enemies of Shia. They have belittled us with all these things that they have made accessible for the youth to rob them of their faith. Therefore, we cannot be like the students of twenty years ago. We are now in an era  in which we are faced with various spells and conspiracies and our enemies’ plans are worked out in such manner that they will have their influence in the future. Therefore, if someone is indifferent or lethargic, or if he has the ability to propagate yet he stays indoor, I swear on God that he is responsible and he must be answerable. First of all, you should do this job as a religious duty and you should not think that you are unable to carry out such a task all alone. Because, we witnessed Imam (Khomeini) stand alone against the world arrogant. We are now living in a situation which is much more critical than it was before the revolution. Because, these propagating media were not there at that time but at present  there are different websites on the internet which are propagating against Shia. So  we must work for the interest  of  the Shia religion as far as we can.  But we should confront Shia enemies with reason, logic and polite behavior.

 Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani added, “ I remember the time when I traveled for the first time to Mecca and met the Imam Jamaa’t (leader of congregational prayer) of Masjidul Haraam. I asked him “do you consider the gate of Ijtehad closed or open.” He said, “Open”. Then I said, “Whose verdicts are you following?"  He said, "Shafei." I told him, "You are considering yourself a Mujtahid, then you should not be following other's verdicts?"  Then he asked me, "Why are you following the opinions of your Marja's (jurisprudents) and why don't you follow ours?" I told him, "because we believe our marjas are more knowledgeable than yours." Then I asked, "do you have any Shia books in your library when you are claiming to be knowledgeable whereas there are Sunni books in our libraries."  He gave no answer. Anyhow, we are held responsible in the hereafter and we will be answerable to the issues in our surrounding as well as things related to the issue of Tabligh (propagation). We will be even asked about the ins and outs of our work such as 'you were able to do Tabligh and propagate the righteousness of the Shia religion but you were derelict.'

His Eminence said, "We are grateful to God Who through the Imams have granted us the loftiest meanings and stages of science."  We have such an Imam like Imam Jawad who in his childhood replied to thirty thousand jurisprudential issues.  We must be proud of this and I hope that you are successful in this way and you return insha Allah full handedly.  I pray to God to help you because God is your goal. And I also pray to God to make your journey an asset for your hereafter. I should like to thank all those who are running this institution. May Allah reward all of them. Since we are the soldiers of Imam-e Zaman so our rewards are also with him."  

Also, Mr. Tabasi expressed thanks to the audience on behalf of Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani and explained disptachment progams for the muballeghin ( the religiouis propagators).

It is to be mentioned that the clerics are sent from the office of Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani  to the deprived areas of  Baluchistan province and  Bandar –e Lengeh city.