"Dahe-ye Karamat is a Great Opportunity for Spreading the Islamic Knowledge" Grand Ayatollah Makarem

Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi met the permanent staff of the Razavi birthday celebrations and some cultural authorities of Astan Quds Razavi and said, "The Islamic Eids and feasts are great opportunities for spreading the Islamic knowledge and this is a great success for the organizers of Dahe-ye Karamat (10 day dignity - Hazrat Masumeh birth till Imam Ridha birth) celebrations which they must appreciate and make the maximum use of this spiritual capacity."

He described the religious beliefs and the holy shrine of Imam Reza (A.S.) as two great capitals for deepening the religious beliefs of people and stated, "The Islamic Eids and feasts for its great capacity in attracting the common people and the holy shrine of Imam Reza (A.S.) for the presence of the divine being of the eighth Imam (A.S.) are great opportunities for deepening the religious beliefs."

He added, "These two great opportunities are collected in the celebrations of Dahe-ye Karamat and create an exalted spiritual capacity."

This Qur'an interpreter pointed to promotion of Astan Quds Razavi after the victory of the Islamic revolution and said, "There was no special cultural program in the Razavi holy shrine before the victory of the Islamic revolution; the pilgrims just came on pilgrimage to the Razavi holy shrine and enjoyed the blessings of this divine shrine but after the Islamic revolution changes occurred in Astan Quds Razavi and by innovations and endeavors of this organization in providing cultural programs, the pilgrims enjoy more from their presence in this illuminated shrine."

He added, "Although after the revolution, great achievements have been obtained in the holy shrine of Imam Reza (A.S.), we shouldn’t be satisfied with them. These achievements should be a starting point for greater innovations because the important responsibility of familiarizing the pilgrims with the Islamic-Razavi knowledge and principles is up to this holy Astan."

Pointing to the book 'Imam Reza (A.S.) and life' and its publication in 1 million copies by Astan Quds Razavi, he asserted, "this cultural movement and publishing this number of copies for this book during the days of Dahe-ye Karamat is a great and desirable work for spreading the Razavi knowledge."

Religious Belief is a Factor for Immunity of the Country

This religious authority (Marja' Taqlid) stated that religious beliefs and knowledge are great capitals for our country and reiterated, "If we lose our religious capitals, the enemies will definitely defeat us. What caused our nation to resist against the global arrogance in 8-year war were these Islamic beliefs and religious ideologies. Therefore preserving and reinforcing the religious beliefs is the cause of our country's immunity against the enemies' threats."

He stated, "Those who are indifferent toward the people's religious beliefs or weaken them knowingly or unknowingly betray their country because these beliefs save the country against any attacks and disappoint the enemies."

Cultural Invasion is the New Enemies' Weapon

Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi evaluated using different and various methods in spreading the Islamic knowledge as important and said, "Todays the enemies are defeated by the Islamic revolution in different domains and they conclude that the military and economical options are not influential in defeating Iran so they start the cultural invasion and they are trying to infect the religious moral and weaken the people's religious beliefs using the most various techniques and equipment."

This Qur'an interpreter pointed to the resistance of Gaza people against the Israel's aggression and said, "The global arrogance fought against Gaza with its complete military power and applied its best military weapons but confronting the limited number of Gaza people after 50 days they were defeated. The people of Gaza didn’t have anything except their religious beliefs in fighting against Israel and these beliefs caused their victory."

At the beginning of this meeting, Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslemin Sayyed Jalal Husseini, the Secretary of the Supreme Cultural Council of Astan Quds Razavi presented a short report regarding the activities and accomplishments of Astan Quds Razavi and the special programs provided for the days of Dahe-ye Karamat.

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