Statements at the Meeting with the Members of the International Conference of Hazrat Hamza, the Lord of Martyrs

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon Muhammad and his pure family, and God's curse upon all their enemies.

I truly thank you, esteemed gentlemen, for having thought of this and for undertaking this great initiative. Of course, this is a prelude; that is to say, your action and this commemoration of Hazrat Hamza (peace be upon him) is a groundwork and a source for future works. The main work must be done through art, and certainly, performing arts, linguistic arts, and visual arts must be employed for this matter so that the purpose of honoring and commemorating a personality like Hazrat Hamza is achieved; otherwise, mere commemoration will not yield results. Now, it may be that because it is broadcasted in the media, for a period of time, the name of this great figure will be mentioned; however, the work you want to do, the cultural building and modeling you wish to achieve, cannot be fully accomplished without artistic work and will remain incomplete. Therefore, your work is very good. As much as you can — as you have also pointed out, and it is correct — focus on precision and raise the quality; this will ensure that those who want to engage in artistic work have the necessary resources and documentation at their disposal.

But a few words about Hazrat Hamza (peace be upon him). Truly, he is one of the noble companions of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family), especially with the role he played. At the time of his conversion to Islam, the quality of this great man's faith is that he openly declares, "I have become a Muslim" and announces his Islam, after he reportedly gives a thorough beating to Abu Jahl — as Ibn Athir states in Asad al-Ghabah — then comes the issue of migration, entering Medina, and the impacts his personality had on the establishment of this magnificent Islamic edifice that the Prophet wants to build in that small environment; then, according to a narration, the first expedition that the Prophet sends is led by Hazrat Hamza, for whom a flag is raised, and he is sent to battle; then in the Battle of Badr and that great movement he and those two other great men undertook, and then in the Battle of Uhud. When Hazrat Hamza fought, he had a sign with him; in his clothing and appearance, he had a sign — apparently in the Battle of Badr — one of the captives asks, "Who was the owner of that sign?" They said it was Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib; he said, "Whatever happened to us was due to him; he was the one who struck the father of the enemy forces in Badr!" This was such a personality; with this situation, this great man is unknown, his name is not mentioned, his biography is not discussed, his characteristics are not highlighted; he is truly a stranger.

And may God have mercy on Mustafa Akkad, and we must thank him for portraying this great personality in the film "The Message" — it is indeed a remarkable work; especially the part related to Hamza, which, well, the actor is also an extraordinarily famous and important actor, truly has a representation — he has been able to depict the life of this great man to some extent; of course, to some extent. And this work must be done. Of course, this work should also be done regarding other companions of the Prophet: the same should be done for Ammar; the same should be done for Hazrat Salman; the same should be done for Hazrat Miqdad. Who knows Miqdad? Who knows what he did? Even regarding some of the first-rate companions, it is said that after the Prophet, "Hasa Haysah," except for Miqdad; he was the only one who did not waver; these are very important; these must be revived, brought back to life. Or Hazrat Ja'far ibn Abi Talib is the same; especially since the life of Hazrat Ja'far has a lot of artistic capacity and — in their own words — dramatic capacity; that journey to Abyssinia and its quality, going and returning, and so on; it is a very high-quality work and can be well developed artistically. Therefore, what can be said in the first place is that this great man is indeed a stranger.

In addition to these works, in my opinion, the saying of Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) and that narration about Hazrat Hamza, which Nur al-Thaqalayn narrates from the characteristics — I have seen it in Nur al-Thaqalayn, I did not refer to Khisal — is an important narration. Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) narrates from Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) — the narration is detailed, and one part of it is this — "I had made a covenant with God Almighty and His Messenger that I, my uncle Hamza, my brother Ja'far, and my cousin Ubaydah. This Ubaydah ibn al-Harith, whom no one knows; he was one of those three who went to the battlefield in the Battle of Badr, and later was martyred. No one has any news about him; Amir al-Mu'minin mentions his name [and says]: I and my uncle Hamza and my brother Ja'far and my cousin Ubaydah, we agreed on a matter with God and His Messenger; that is, they sat down and made a pact. The young Amir al-Mu'minin, with his older uncle Hazrat Hamza — who is two years or according to a narration four years older than the Prophet and is also the Prophet's foster brother — sat down with that brother and that cousin and made a contract on a matter that is presumably "Jihad until martyrdom"; that is, we will go forward in this path, in this movement, fearlessly until the moment of martyrdom. Then the Imam says: "My companions advanced ahead of me; and I lagged behind them for what God Almighty wanted, and God revealed about us: 'Among the believers are men who have been true to what they promised God.'" Until the end of the verse. Then he says: "Hamza, Ja'far, and Ubaydah; these three men have 'fulfilled their promise' and I, by God, am waiting." Well, these are very important; that such personalities are praised and elevated by the tongue of Amir al-Mu'minin, and brought to the forefront, indicates the greatness of this matter and the greatness of this personality.

The Prophet of Islam seems to have wanted to create a model from the very first moment he was martyred; that the Prophet gave him the title "Lord of Martyrs"; and then [when] they entered Medina and saw the women of the Ansar crying, lamenting, wailing — because in the Battle of Uhud, 70 were martyred, of which 4 were from the Emigrants and 66 from the Ansar — the Prophet listened for a while, then said that Hamza has no one to cry for him. This news reached the women of Medina, and they all said that before we cry for our own martyr, we will cry for Hamza. The Prophet compelled them; that is, he compelled all of Medina to cry for Hazrat Hamza. What does this mean? This means the Prophet wants to highlight Hamza. He is the Lord of Martyrs, and he is someone for whom everyone must cry. This modeling is not only for that day; it is for all of history and for all Muslims; therefore, your work is not only related to the inside of the country and Iran; you are doing a work that, if God willing, it turns out well — and I am hopeful that your work will turn out well — then it will be a service to all Islamic countries; Arab countries, countries with other languages, all of which must benefit and will benefit, and perhaps their artists will take the lead and carry out great works.

Well, now what we must do is to identify the elements that constitute the personality of Hamza; that is, one of the great works is to determine what happened and what characteristic it was that elevated this personality to this extent; in my opinion, this is one of the tasks. Then these should become models for us so that both we and others can benefit from them. And in my opinion, two of these important elements that constitute his personality are one "steadfast determination" and one "power of discernment"; these must be promoted as much as we can. Steadfast determination; sometimes a person is aware of something, accepts something, believes in it, but due to weakness of the self, does not act according to it; a strong will and steadfast determination is a determining factor here that this person acts with steadfast determination.

The day Hazrat Hamza embraced Islam — Hazrat Hamza embraced Islam in the eighth year of the Prophethood, which is documented in well-known sources; that is, Asad al-Ghabah and others have said the eighth year — was one of the hardest times for the Prophet; because Islam had become public, and they were attacking the Prophet from all sides, attacking the companions of the Prophet. Of course, it is true that Hazrat Hamza, even before he became a Muslim, was seriously defending the Prophet; he defended him from the beginning; and this is also true that, for example, when Abu Talib had problems and the Prophet accepted Amir al-Mu'minin, he [also] brought Hazrat Ja'far from childhood [to his home]; that is, there are such things in the life of Hazrat Hamza that are from before Islam. The hardships we have heard about are from those years when in such conditions, when Muslims are living in utmost hardship, this man shouts in the Sacred Mosque, next to the Kaaba, that I have become a Muslim and everyone should know that I have faith in his religion.

These, of course, show that courage and that steadfast determination and correct discernment; and this correct discernment is very important. Let us teach ourselves and our people to think correctly about issues and to discern correctly. And they said, "If we had listened or understood, we would not have been among the companions of the Fire"; that not listening, not thinking, not reflecting is a sin; the Quran states this explicitly. And now this great man, according to the saying of Amir al-Mu'minin, as narrated by Imam Baqir (peace be upon him), is an example of "They have been true to what they promised God"; then this "They have been true to what they promised God" — that is, behaving sincerely with the divine covenant — how is it? The complete and perfect form of it is that a person makes himself an example of divine knowledge and divine commandments and the path that God has determined and laid out; that is, he makes himself an example of that; may God willing, let us learn this.

And if the elites of society strive to produce such personalities, each of them will be able to save society in critical times; this is truly the case. Let us not settle for just training people, or preaching, or doing these things, which ultimately, for the sake of it, accept something; no, the efforts of the institutions should be — thanks be to God, Jamia al-Mustafa can be an active center in this regard; in Qom, the centers that have recently established effective management in the seminary can prepare such things; some of the propaganda institutions also work well in this regard — to create personalities that themselves are examples of divine knowledge, Islamic knowledge, and Islamic laws. If such personalities are created, then the establishment of an Islamic civilization will be a certain thing; that is, it will no longer be in doubt.

God willing, may He reward you, may He grant you success so that you can carry out this work and subsequent works in the best possible manner. I also, on my part, thank all of you gentlemen who are involved in this matter.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.