Seyyed Morteza Bakhtiari, in the News Special Dialogue of Channel 2 commented on the two-year-old Astan Quds Razavi’s actions and congratulating the occasion of the birthday anniversary of Hazrat Zahra (S.A.) said, “The public has the right to know what has been the performance of Astan Quds Razavi in the last two years because Imam Reza (A.S.) belongs to everyone.”
“Serving the pilgrims and facilitating the pilgrimage is one of the main missions of Astan Quds Razavi, which was included in strategic planning of the new term of custodianship to cover all activities” he added.
“In the second paragraph of the Supreme Leader’s decree to appoint the Grand Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi, the needy and the oppressed are highlighted, which is one of the new missions of Astan Quds” the Deputy Custodian of the Astan Quds Razavi stated.
“These are new missions, which are bestowed to the Astan Quds Razavi and on this basis, the pilgrim from source to source was put forward as a major policy” he reiterated.
Bakhtiari stating that the pilgrim with the intention of visiting Imam Reza’s (A.S.) Shrine must be supported by Astan Quds Razavi from the point of beginning of the journey across the country until he returns to the source said, “In this regard, we have to take a lot of measures, and a great deal of planning and activities have been done before.”
The Second Phase of Razavi Pilgrim’s City Will Be Opened September 2018
“35 hectares of land near the city of Mashhad 250 years ago was dedicated to serving the pilgrims, so that the pilgrims visiting Mashhad could rest there, which became the Razavi Pilgrim City” he noted.
“This pilgrim city was designed in three phases, part of the first phase of which was opened in the Karamat Ten-Day Celebrations in 2017, and to this day more than 30 thousand pilgrims have been settled there, and by the end of this year, the entire first phase including 28 blocks of 25 units and six social halls is being exploited” Deputy Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi enunciated.
“The second phase will be exploited by the end of September 2018, which will be similar to the first phase, comprising 28 blocks and 6 social halls” he added.
Bakhtiari stating that the third phase will begin as a new sector with the participatory endowment and assistance from the people and the benefactors said, “The entire complex can accommodate 20,000 pilgrims”
“This pilgrim city is dedicated to pilgrims and because of the intention of the donator, no one will be received there but the pilgrims” he pointed out.
“Razavi Pilgrim House, with a capacity of 8,000 people is under construction, the first phase of which is being exploited by the end of the year, and the first phase has been constructed with the help of the benefactors” Bakhtiari also said about construction of Razavi pilgrim house.
In response to the question of the program's host about circulation of pilgrims to the Razavi Holy Shrine he stated, “The subway station of Mashhad has been established up to the Razavi pilgrim city, and by correspondence with the municipality of Mashhad, from Abuzar District to the pilgrim city, which is about 2 km will be connected to the subway, while also we use the capacity of the bus company to prevent the traffic by personal vehicles.”
Deputy Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi, emphasizing that the base of the pilgrim city activity is acting according to the intention of the donators, not financial gain, said, “Since the beginning of the appointment of the Grand Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi until last month, more than 600,000 first-time pilgrims had a trip to Mashhad and they have been guests of Imam Reza (A.S.) for three days. This great work was carried out with the help of the Basij and the Relief Committee and with the support of Astan Quds Razavi.”
“Razavi pilgrim city does not hurt any hotel-related occupations because it is the host of pilgrims who if there were no such pilgrim city, would be settled in tents in the street and this pilgrim city and pilgrim house is set up to honor the pilgrims” he said on the type of pilgrims who use the pilgrim city.
Astan Quds Razavi’s Anti-Deprivation Mission Covers the Entire Country
Bakhtiari, stressing that the Supreme Leader, in the appointing decree of the Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi has emphasized the treatment of the deprived and the oppressed in four sections, said, “Today, this mission has been undertaken for Astan Quds Razavi and all the capacities of this sacred establishment ought to be prepared to address the deprived.”
Pointing out that the anti-deprivation mission of Astan Quds Razavi is not just for neighbors, but covers the whole country, he said, “Today, despite the passing of several months, the servants of Imam Reza (A.S.) are still based in Kermanshah, and as the headquarters of Imam Reza (A.S.) serve the earthquake-stricken.”
“Wherever incident occurs, Astan Quds Razavi is present; however, since the assets of the Astan Quds do not afford to satisfy the needs of all the deprived and the oppressed, we followed a new mission by the initiative of the Grand Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi, which is the development of the concept of servant, service, and the served” Deputy Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi remarked.
“The meaning of this development is that anyone can be considered to be the servant of Imam Reza (A.S.) by honorary serving the deprived in their area of residence across the country” he explained.
“In some provinces, specialist physicians treats patients for free under the name of Hazrat Reza (A.S.) and today the scientific, cultural and other servants throughout the country are serving the deprived and the oppressed” enunciated.
“An example of this service was the presence of a group of Mashhad specialist physicians as Razavi servant assistant in the Sarakhs border city, who provided medical services free of charge to more than 3200 patients, as well as the previous holy month of Ramadan with the help of the honorary servants of Imam Reza (A.S.), a great number of meals distributed in the deprived areas of the country” he commented.
In another part of his remarks, he mentioned the new structure of Astan Quds Razavi and said, “Due to the announcement of new missions of the establishment, we required new plans for the structure and future plans, which in the early months of the appointment of the Astan Quds Razavi’s Custodian, based on the specialized working groups, Astan Quds strategic policies were explained in six headings and 30 clauses, according to which all cultural, social, economic, vows, endowments etc. of this establishment will be conducted.”
Deputy Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi added: "Based on this, for the first time, we succeeded in extracting 175 critical factors and 485 indicators of success at the end of last year, based on which in all areas we allocated the budget of 2017, and again for the first time budgeting was based on the plan.
The Scope of Astan Quds Razavi Cultural Organization’s Activities Is Global
“One of the missing circles was cultural organization, which was formed by a special working group with the presence of cultural experts, and holding numerous expert meetings led to the creation of a cultural organization to organize islandic activities as a cultural organization” he emphasized, stating that despite these indicators there are no interference in the programs and the sphere of activity of each section is determined.
“In the past, the Deputy of Advertising of Astan Quds Razavi, also had cultural activities outside the Shrine; however, today the mission of the cultural organization is cultural activity outside the Shrine and in the global arena and the mission of the Deputy of Advertising is defined only as cultural activity inside the Razavi Shrine” he commented.
“Astan Quds is centered on economic activity based on resistive economy and solid support for domestic production, and for this reason, Razavi Economic Organization regarding the order of the Grand Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi has four missions to provide complete identity certificate for each company, pathology, identifying risk elimination solutions, and damage fixing schedules for each company” Bakhtiari expressed on the activities of Astan Quds Razavi companies.
“These four missions have caused a transformation in the companies of Astan Quds and steps have been taken to increase the companies’ productivity; today there are no delayed salary of any worker or employee working in the companies of the Astan Quds, and if in some sectors there exists some delays, will be paid by the end of the year and in the year 2018, we predict that the balance of subsidiary economic companies would be positive” he added.
Bakhtiari, saying that in the course of the mission to organize Astan Quds Razavi’s subsidiary companies, they had all the assemblies of these companies scheduled for 2016 and 2017, and the assemblies should announce their plans for the year 2018 and stated “We sought aid from Audit Institute Mofide Rahbar, which is one of the country's top institutions in auditing and has no affiliation to Astan Quds Razavi, so that all companies can be monitored and also the internal auditing company of Astan Quds Razavi is active and we monitor operations through assemblies and internal auditors.”
“Astan Quds Razavi companies are either endowed or made up of endowment’s incomes and that is why they differ from private-sector companies, but in order to avoid injustice and setting grounds for fair competition in the market, all and subsidiary companies pay the tax and therefore the private sector can compete with these companies” he noted.
“All senior managers of Astan Quds Razavi pursue their missions in Mashhad, and they have presence in Tehran to pursue the affairs for limited days” Bakhtiari emphasized, pointing out that there are no on-flight managers in Astan Quds Razavi.
Develop the Concept of Servant, Service and the Served
Deputy Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi, in another part of his remarks noted the plans for the development of serving the deprived across the country and said, “Servant assistantship development is very important for us, for which the representative offices of Astan Quds Razavi across the country were founded to organize Razavi servant assistants, in order for the enthusiasts in all provinces to serve the deprived and the oppressed in the name of Imam Reza (A.S.) and in certain times of the year they will serve also in the Holy Shrine.”
“In this form, various specialties are employed, and regarding jihadi camps there were more than 2300 jihadi groups in various parts of the country that provided various services to deprived villages and through the measures taken, reaching a million Razavi servant assistants is at hand across the country” he reiterated.
We Are Waiting For the Approval of the Central Bank to Establish a Usury-Free Razavi Bank
Bakhtiari spoke about the efforts of Astan Quds Razavi to establish the Razavi Bank and said, “We want to show that it is possible to have an interest-free bank and an Islamic bank without usury.”
“The bank is seeking to serve the deprived through interest-free loans, which the request for its establishment was sent to the central bank and the process has been undergone. We are now waiting for the approval of the central bank to be reviewed and approved by the Money Supreme Council” he added.
“In this case, precise studies have been conducted with the participation of experts and we concluded that it is possible to establish a bank with these features, of course, we are not looking to establish branches across the country and only a few branches will be established in some parts of the country” Bakhtiari stressed.
Integrated System of Hazrat Reza’s (A.S.) Blessed Food Will Be Launched
“All lands belonging to Astan Quds Razavi are endowments, and there is no possibility of their sale and only by observing several conditions we can convert them into the best, which today all jurisprudents and the law does not allow us to sell the lands; however, in order to help the people, 700 hectares of gardens in Mashhad, which are protected as respiratory lungs of the city, and parts such as the Mashhad Mellat Park are used by the public” he asserted about the status of the endowed lands of Imam Reza (A.S.).
“Imam Reza’s (A.S.) blessed food is provided through the vows, and we served more than 7,500,000 meals in Razavi Holy Shrine Guesthouses in 2017, which increased the quantity of vows and in 2016, more than 24% compared to 2015 we had more vows” Deputy Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi stated in another part of his comments.
“Soon an integrated system for organizing the reception of blessed food will be launched, in which any pilgrim who intends visiting the Razavi Shrine can sign up and benefit from the blessed food of Imam Reza (A.S.). Also next to Razavi pilgrim city, the central kitchen of Hazrat Reza (A.S.) will be built, serving 50,000 meals so that any pilgrim of the Razavi Holy Shrine can enjoy a serving in this blessed banquet” he pointed out.
We Do Not Agree with the High Constructions around the Holy Shrine
“In the past, a comprehensive plan was arranged for Shrine’s surroundings, which was approved by the Supreme Leader and he emphasized that Shrine’s surroundings and whatever related needs to be checked out by Astan Quds Razavi; however, in the past two years there has been no consultation with the Astan Quds” Bakhtiari said, highlighting that the architectural texture surrounding the Razavi Holy Shrine does not belong to Astan Quds.
“The Grand Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi is discontented with the high buildings around the Shrine and even a written objection was made and in the future no license will be issued for high construction around the Shrine” he stressed.
He added that there are ongoing efforts to avoid future construction and today unfortunately, the situation around the Shrine is not suitably proportional to the Shrine itself.
Mashhad Should Become the Scientific Authority of the Islamic world
“200 different and new events have been conducted in these two years in Astan Quds Razavi, one of which is Mashhad becoming the scientific authority in the Islamic world” Deputy Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi reiterated.
“Astan Quds Razavi Scientific Deputy has also put forward some efforts with the assistance of the scientific servants of Hazrat Reza (A.S.), and we must endeavor to turn Mashhad into the scientific authority of the Muslim world with the participation of experts” he enunciated.
Razavi Universal University Will Be Founded
“One of the programs of Astan Quds is the establishment of Razavi Universal University that can accept students from everywhere” Bakhtiari noted.
“Relief Deputy has contributed 126 billion Tomans to the deprived and first-time pilgrims this year, of which 41 billion has been from the budget of the Astan Quds and more than 80 billion Tomans was provided by the charities and institutions and this aid has been done by developing the concept of service” he said at the end of the program.
Sunday 20 April 2025
