Statements at the Meeting with the Faculty Members of the Fifth Global Congress of Imam Reza (peace be upon him)

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

Firstly, the formation of this congress and this gathering is a very good initiative; because we, within the Shia community; now before reaching out to others — have many deficiencies in the knowledge of our Imams. Sometimes attention is given to one aspect with exaggeration and without certainty, while neglecting other aspects; and sometimes even that is not attended to, and superficial matters and appearances are relied upon.

In my opinion, as Shia, as a collective of the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt, one of our great responsibilities is to introduce our Imams to the world. Now, some of the Imams (peace be upon them), like Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) and Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him), have been introduced for various reasons; others have been written about, spoken of, and a certain recognition of them exists in the non-Shia world and even in the non-Islamic world; however, most of the Imams (peace be upon them) remain unknown. Imam Hasan Mujtaba, with his greatness, is unknown; Hazrat Musa ibn Ja'far, Hazrat Hadi, Imam Ja'far Sadiq, with their great apparatus and extraordinary activities, are unknown in the world. If anything has been said about them by non-Shia — naturally, if it is from non-Shia, it takes on a non-sectarian aspect — it is very limited. For instance, a certain writer mentions Imam Ja'far Sadiq among the mystics, perhaps discussing him for half a page or less as a mystic and so forth; this is the extent of the introduction, no more.

I believe that regarding the lives of the Imams (peace be upon them), work should be done from three dimensions: one is the spiritual and divine aspect, that is, their sanctity; the aspect of the sanctity of the Imams (peace be upon them); this cannot be overlooked; discussions must be held about this, but they must be precise. Sometimes statements are made, narrations are brought as support for those statements, but the statements are weak. We must express the celestial aspect of the Imams (peace be upon them), their spiritual and divine aspect; this is not something we should shy away from or hide; no, we must convey this spiritual and divine aspect of the Imams; just as we have done regarding the Prophet. The issue of their infallibility, their connections with God Almighty, their connections with the angels — these exist — their guardianship in its spiritual sense, these must be articulated; this is an area where a strong scholarly effort must be made.

The second aspect is the words and teachings of these Imams — the very thing that you gentlemen also referred to — in various fields; in the realm of life issues, various matters needed by humans: ethics, social interactions, religion, rulings; our Imams have teachings, a school that must be articulated.

Some of these aspects that we do not pay much attention to have relevance in the world; for instance, consider the issue of animal rights; look at how much discussion there is in our narrations from the Imams regarding the care and protection of animals; if this were to be raised in the world, spoken of, recognized, it would be significant. Now, who among us thinks about this? Which of us is pursuing this matter? Or the topic of social interactions, the themes regarding relations with non-Shia and non-Muslims; there is so much in our narrations in this regard, following the Holy Quran; like "God does not forbid you from those who do not fight you in religion"; these are statements we have repeated and reiterated. These must be articulated and transmitted from the words of the Imams.

Well, we have so many books; for instance, Bihar al-Anwar is more than a hundred volumes; and there are many such books, but they are confined to a specific scope. I read a poem the other day:

Noble wine, but from the solitude of the barrel What benefit is there if it does not come into the cup?

The noble wine of our life teachings from the Imams has remained in the barrel; we have placed a brick on its top — in the past, they used to place bricks on the top of barrels and seal them — we have acted in this manner. This cannot continue; it must be reflected in contemporary language, in a technical language, with proper methods to the world. Today, communication with the world has become easy; you sit here, press a button, and in ten minutes, in the farthest point of the world — in Australia, in Canada, in America, in wherever — anyone you wish hears your words. This is very significant. In this endeavor, this method must be utilized; however, the language is important; [that is] what language you wish to express it in. This is the second part of what must be pursued for the introduction of the Imams.

The third part is the issue of politics; this is the very thing that I have primarily pursued in examining the lives of the Imams, what they did and what they intended to do. The political aspect is very important. What was the politics of the Imams? That the Imam, with all his ranks, with all the divine status he possesses and the divine trust in his hands, would suffice with merely stating some rulings and some ethics and similar matters, this does not seem comprehensible for a person who pays proper attention; they had great objectives. Their main goal was to establish an Islamic society; which cannot be achieved without establishing an Islamic governance; thus, they sought Islamic governance. A significant aspect of Imamate is this; Imamate means the leadership of religion and the world, the leadership of the material and the spiritual. Well, the material aspect consists of this very politics and the administration of the country and governance. All the Imams sought this; that is, without exception, all the Imams sought this; however, with different methods, in different periods, with various short-term goals; [but] the long-term goal was one.

Now, regarding Imam Reza (peace be upon him), I will mention a sentence. Now, for instance, consider during the time of Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him); people would come to him asking why he did not rise; we repeatedly have in narrations and you have seen that [they would ask] why do you not rise? The Imam would give each person a reasoning or a type of answer. Well, why do so many people ask the Imam why he does not rise? The reason is that it was understood that the Imam was supposed to rise; this was known among the Shia, it was certain among the Shia.

When they objected to Imam Hasan Mujtaba (peace be upon him) asking why he made peace, one of the statements repeatedly attributed to Imam Mujtaba is that he says: "You do not know; perhaps it is a trial for you and a provision for a time"; this [action] has a time, a duration, a limit. You do not know? This is a promise. At that time, in the narration of the Imam, this promise is specified; it is narrated that: God has decreed this matter to occur in the year seventy. Imam Mujtaba said this in the year 40 or 41, it was intended that the uprising would take place in the year 70 and an Islamic government would be established; in divine decree, it was intended that this would occur. Then he says: "When Hussein (peace be upon him) was martyred, the wrath of God intensified upon the people of the earth, thus it was delayed"; when in the year 61 — Muharram 61 — the Imam was martyred, this matter was postponed; this [action] was intended to occur in the year 70, [but] due to the martyrdom of Sayyid al-Shuhada and external factors that naturally resulted from this meaning, this matter was delayed. Now, in the expression of the narration, it is stated that "the wrath of God intensified upon the people of the earth", but we know that this "intensification of wrath" and what results from it corresponds with these apparent factors and ordinary causes; its ordinary factors are this, which is also in another narration that: "The people reverted after Hussein except for three"; "reverted" not in the sense that they turned away from religion, but rather after Imam Hussein, the Shia became hesitant about the path they were taking; that is, with this situation, how can one proceed; except for three people: Yahya ibn Umm Tawil [and two others]; only three remained. The Imam Sadiq says: "Then the people joined and increased"; thirty years of the efforts of Imam Sajjad and then Imam Baqir resulted in this [number increasing].

Well, then in [continuation of] the same narration that I was reading, God Almighty delayed the matter of governance, which was supposed to occur in the year 70, to the year 140; "thus, He delayed it to the year one hundred and forty". The year 140 is the year of the life of Imam Sadiq, after all; the Imam passed away in the year 148. This [matter] was spoken among the Shia, among the elite of the Shia, it was repeated. Then, of course, the Imam mentions the reason for the delay later in the same narration, stating that this is how it happened that the delay occurred. Therefore, you see — this is in the narration — that Zurara — who is among the closest ones; Zurara is in Kufa; you know he is from Kufa; he resided in Kufa — sends a message to the Imam, writes a letter to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) and says that one of our friends from the people, that is, from the Shia, here has fallen into debt and the government wants to arrest him due to his indebtedness, because of a heavy debt he has. This [individual] has been fleeing for some time; he has been away from his wife and children and has fled so that they cannot arrest him. [Zurara writes:] Now I ask you, if "this matter" — this "this matter" is frequently repeated in narrations; that is, this issue of governance — if "this matter" is supposed to occur in the next year or two, let us say this [individual] should remain until this matter occurs and you come to power and the issue is resolved; but if it is not supposed to happen, if this matter is not going to occur in the next year or two, let the friends gather, collect money, and pay this unfortunate person's debt so he can return to his home and life. This is what Zurara asks; this is not a joke. Why does Zurara think that this matter could happen in the next year or two?

Again, there is another narration from Zurara, he says: "By God, I do not see anyone on these pulpit columns except for Ja'far"; "columns" means the pulpit, he says: I do not see anyone other than Ja'far on these pulpit columns. He means he was certain that the Imam would come and sit on the pulpit of governance; this expectation existed. Then, well, "God erases what He wills and affirms, and with Him is the Mother of the Book"; divine decree is this, divine destiny is not that. The divine decree, that which is established, that which is definitively determined, that matter was not; due to specific factors and causes of this nature. Thus, the Imams were pursuing this matter; this is a very important issue.

Now, you see what role Imam Reza (peace be upon him) plays in this regard. Now, of course, I do not remember the contents of the speech that you mentioned; before that, I sent a message in the first year to Mashhad, and in that message, I analyzed the acceptance of the Imamate of Imam Reza. I said that this was, in fact, a struggle between the clever, astute, and very intelligent Ma'mun and Imam Reza. Ma'mun first said he would give the caliphate; it was not initially the issue of the Imamate; he said I will give you the caliphate. The Imam did not accept; he insisted; then he said now that you do not accept, then accept the Imamate. The reason Ma'mun did this was what? In that message, I mentioned four or five reasons and justifications for Ma'mun that he was thinking about these goals and pursuing these matters. The Imam (peace be upon him) accepted; I also mentioned five or six reasons for why the Imam accepted and why he did this and what the benefits of this action were. A great movement, an extraordinary non-military struggle, that is, a political struggle in fact, arose between the Imam and Ma'mun, and the Imam crushed Ma'mun in this struggle; that is, with this action, he defeated Ma'mun; to the extent that Ma'mun was forced to kill the Imam. Otherwise, initially, it was not like this; they respected him, prayed for him; they did such things. Now, there I explained why Ma'mun did these things and why he did them and what goals and benefits he had in mind; back then, we were like you, thank God, young and patient, we had patience and did these things; now we are completely distanced from these meanings.

Therefore, these three sections in the life of Imam Reza (peace be upon him) and the other Imams must be elucidated. Your art is to first extract these three sections; secondly, to purify them from excesses and unsubstantiated statements; thirdly, which is the most important, to express these with appropriate language, with contemporary language, with language understandable for non-Shia audiences and even Shia audiences — because the distance of some of our own youth from these teachings is not less than the distance of non-Shia and non-Muslims, and they have no knowledge — articulate these. In my opinion, if this work is done, it will not merely be a gathering and a speech and similar matters; rather, a tangible benefit will occur from it.

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