Speaking during his jurisprudence class at Qom’s Grand Mosque on Wednesday, Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem-Shirazi cited a narration and said, “They consider property and wealth as the highest values in life are they are willing to do anything to achieve these aims.”
As an example of this, the revered source of emulation said that the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, removed Saudi Arabia from the list of violators of children’s rights because he was bribed by Saudi money and this hurt his reputation and dignity and as well as that of the United Nations.
He added that when a group of Americans wanted to complain over Saudi Arabia’s role in the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, Saudi Arabia threatened to withdraw their money from the United States and they also had this issue removed from the agenda.
Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi said people with character don’t act in such a way and added that Imam Ali wouldn’t even take food from an ant.
His Eminence said if we are followers of Imam Ali, we must know that such a situation exists in society and is not compatible with the actions of the followers of Imam Ali although many have not sacrificed their values for worldly gains.
In another part of his lecture, the renowned Iranian cleric referred to the Arba’in pilgrimage and said, “All praise be to God, this year the commemoration of the magnificent Arba’in pilgrimage will be held in greater glory as in previous years. Arba’in is not just limited to Shi’ah Muslims alone but Sunni Muslims and even non-Muslims, especially Christians, are also present in Holy Karbala.”
Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi added that this presence is a great capital for Shi’ism and a dagger in the eyes and throats of the Takfiri-Wahhabi phenomenon because with the presence of millions of pilgrims, they understand that their declarations have no benefit and that the love of the people for Shi’ism and for Imam Husayn increases every day.
His Eminence added that they are foolish and assume that through terrorist attacks and suicide bombings, they can remove Imam Husayn from the people’s hearts and weaken the people’s love for him.