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Imam Khamenei’s
message of unity and solidarity to the Ummah
Following
the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Imam Khomeini (r.a.)
established the tradition of issuing an annual Hajj
message to the Ummah. This year, Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei
went for Hajj and issued his message from the Hijaz
In
the Name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful.
All
praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. May
blessings and peace be upon our Master, Muhammad, and
the pure ones of his progeny.
Allah,
the All-wise, says in the Qur’an: "This ummah
(community) of yours is a single ummah, and I
am your Lord, so worship Me." (X:XX)
Once again
the Hajj season is back with its great pageant held
yearly in the land of revelation and prophethood, once
more with its wonderful and inspiring scenes. Like an
ocean it receives the torrential streams of Muslim peoples
from all over the world, giving a concrete expression
to the solidarity and amity of the one Ummah under the
banner of tawheed. The common sentiments of this
huge congregation express the hopes, needs, problems
and capacities of the great Ummah of Islam.
The Hajj
grounds are now playing host to visitors from Iran,
Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, the Indian subcontinent, North
Africa, Turkey, Bosnia, and from all over Asia and Europe.
Their eager hearts may be spokesmen of the heart of
the Muslim Ummah. One of the purposes of Hajj is to
bring about this nearness and exchange within the worldwide
Muslim community.
The bond
that connects all these hearts is the message that was
first proclaimed in this land. It then spread throughout
the world and history. It is the message of tawheed
and wahdah, the unity of God and the unity of
the Muslim ummah. Tawheed means negation of the
lordship of tyrants and despots and rejection of the
supremacy of wealth and might. The wahdah is
expressive of the honour and power of Muslims. More
than anything that may be said or written, the Hajj
rehearses this eternal message every year in the form
of its great congregation and sends it out to Muslims
all over the world. Once again in the Hajj season it
makes every Muslim, whatever part of the world he may
inhabit, recognize the fact that the prestige and all-round
success and welfare of Islamic countries can be attained
only under the light of these two principles: tawheed
in all its individual, social and political aspects,
and wahdah in its correct, feasible sense in
the contemporary world.
In the
great Hajj congregation of this year one may receive
scores of sweet and bitter reports from dozens of Islamic
countries. Each of these messages creates a responsibility
for other brothers, and together they set in perspective
before us the realities faced by the Ummah.
There
is the message of the people of Iraq, who face hardship,
poverty and humiliating conditions because of the the
wrongdoings of foreign intervention and the disruption
caused by it, as well due to the dictatorship and unwisdom
of its rulers. There is the message of the people of
Afghanistan, the fruits of whose past struggles have
been cast to the winds by prejudice and shortsightedness.
There is the message of the people of Bosnia whose Islamic
identity is threatened by the policies of de-Islamization
pursued by the Americans and their allies. There is
the call of the people of Palestine, who have firmly
held up the proud banner of the intifada and blunted
the sword of zionist oppression and cruelty with the
blood of their youth. There is the message of the glorious
resistance of the people of Lebanon, who have turned
to a jest the myth of the invincibility of the usurpers
of Palestine, making them accept humiliation and defeat.
There are the messages from the Muslims of Central Asia,
East Asia, Africa, the Muslim communities in Europe
and the United States, each of which bring reports of
their joys and sufferings, successes and hardships.
Ultimately there is the message of the proud people
of Iran, who with all their endurance, resourceful faith
and daily accumulating experience in confronting hostilities
and plots, convey to their admirers and enthusiasts
their unshakable determination to establish a truly
Islamic society.
The Muslim
governments and states have a great responsibility in
relation to these facts. The Islamic world is passing
through a critical phase in its history. Admission of
this responsibility and commitment to it can close a
sorry chapter of weakness and misfortune in the history
of Islam, and inaugurate another chapter of fame and
greatness for the Islamic world and its material and
intellectual glory.
The Western
world, which has been an aggravating agent of the weakness
and backwardness of the Islamic countries, is itself
entrenched in great and insoluble problems. The corrosive
influences of materialism and capitalism on the foundations
of that hedonist civilization have become gradually
evident. Step by step they expose the chronic maladies
that have remained hidden under the glitter of industry
and capital, giving warnings of an imminent crisis.
A breeze
of awakening caresses the bruised and vexed face of
the Islamic world. The signs of this awakening are visible
in its different parts, especially in heroic Iran and
in Lebanon and Palestine. The glow of hope illuminates
the hearts of young people everywhere. The spell of
indignity and the domination of the West has been broken.
This opportunity has not been obtained easily and cheaply.
Thousands of precious lives have been sacrificed for
its sake. The road ahead is still a long and arduous
one, but without uncertainty.
At the
present time, the people of Palestine are in the forefront
of opening this road and in advancing on it. We must
all assist that brave and oppressed people. Other peoples
and governments can fulfill their role in advancing
on this road by helping the heroic people of Palestine.
Our enemies,
whose illegitimate interests are threatened by the awakening
of the Muslim Ummah, are fighting our rising tide of
awareness by the weapon, above all others, of psychological
warfare. It consists of creation of despair and hopelessness
among Muslims, affronts to Muslim identity, flaunting
of its material power and capacities. Thousands of propaganda
means are active today, and will be tomorrow, to make
Muslims lose hope in their future and to allure them
towards a future that suits the enemy’s evil intentions.
This cultural propaganda and psychological warfare have
been the West’s most effective tool in its determination
to dominate Muslim countries. The targets of this barrage
have been the intelligentsia and educated elite in the
first place, and then the mass of the people. Struggle
against this ploy is not possible except by rejection
of the West’s domineering and self-imposing culture.
Western culture needs to be challenged and deconstructed
by our intelligentsia and scholarly elites. Its useful
elements may be absorbed and its harmful, destructive
and corrupting elements need to be wiped out from the
mind and practice of Muslim societies. The criterion
of judgement in this process of purification is the
Islamic culture and the fruitful, guiding and resourceful
ideas of the Qur’an and the Sunnah. This is a
basic part of the all-round and promising struggle that
lies before the scholars of religion, the intelligentsia
and the political elite throughout the world.
With the
hope that the Hajj this year will make everyone more
resolute in advancing on this worthy and blessed path,
I plead to Allah, the Most Exalted, to bless all the
pilgrims with the performance of a Hajj worthy of His
acceptance, and to enable them to profit from the blessings
and barakaat of this matchless observance. I
invoke blessings on the Baqiyyatullah (the Imam al-Mahdi),
blessings as vast as Divine mercy and beneficence, may
Allah appoint an early breakthrough for him and may
our souls be ransomed for him whose auspicious presence
is expected in this yearly ceremony, and I pray to Allah
to grant the supplications and prayers of all the pilgrims.
Was-Salamu
alayhi wa alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
Ali al-Husayni al-Khamenei,
6 Dhul Hijjah 1421
(3 March, 2001)
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