Statements in Meeting with Members of the Supreme Council of the World Assembly of Ahlul-Bayt (peace be upon them)

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

First, I extend my sincere gratitude to the gentlemen who have come, especially those who have traveled from afar. Truly, this is a significant and grand gathering, and one wishes for the leisure to sit for extended hours in such meetings with such companions and benefit from them. This assembly that I now observe, truly and justly, we do not have such an assembly. The gentlemen, each of whom is a source of hope for great tasks, have now gathered for this work; this is truly of great value. As much as possible, we must utilize the gentlemen for this work.

The work is very important. In my mind, this is one of the most important tasks that the current Islamic Republic, its politicians and scholars, should have thought about and should have carried out. This is a very high goal.

Regarding the Ahlul-Bayt (peace be upon them), I will not say much, except to mention that these noble ones have always been oppressed - "and the Ahlul-Bayt have always been oppressed" - and they continue to be oppressed because for many Muslims, their teachings are unknown and their path is not clear. It is our responsibility to do whatever we can to introduce the Ahlul-Bayt, clarify their path, organize their followers, and guide the Shia youth towards the goals of the Ahlul-Bayt. We wanted this World Assembly of Ahlul-Bayt (peace be upon them) to act as a center in this regard.

It is evident that all the tasks that need to be done in this area are beyond the capacity of a single assembly; however, this assembly can be a center for many tasks and guide many other works. What is expected by me, you, the Shia in other parts of the world, and many of our own people who are aware of this issue, is the very announcement of this matter. This in itself raises expectations. They are waiting to see what will follow this work.

In my opinion, this assembly has two main types of work, and if we can start these two types of work and not wait for anything else, the rest of the work can gradually be accomplished.

One task is formal work. Formal, not in the sense of administrative arrangements - although this is also in the preliminary stages and can gradually be done - but in the sense that we must keep alive the very feeling of connection among all the Shia of Ahlul-Bayt around the world; that is, they must feel that this connection has been established. All parties are like this. This is not a party; but any center that wants to deal with a wide assembly, one of its main tasks is to keep the feeling of connection alive. That is, the Shia of India, the Shia of Pakistan, the Shia of Africa, the Shia of Latin America, the Shia of Europe, and the Shia of the Middle East must feel that there is a connection with them from this Shia center and this global assembly; at least twice or thrice a year, some booklets, publications, writings, or material from this center should reach them, so they feel connected. Like electrons that are constantly moving in electrical wires and establishing a connection, this flow must constantly be connected, and this place must be the center, and work must be done and delivered. Once the switch is turned off and the flow is cut, they will feel a void; they will become cold and separated. If it is like this, work cannot be done. We must set this as a goal. Of course, it is a difficult task, and in my opinion, it will take a long time for the Assembly of Ahlul-Bayt to reach this point.

We must think about what needs to be done. Should special booklets be sent? Should offices be established there? Should clear and explicit answers to their current issues be placed before them; which is the next and higher stage.

Suppose now if the Shia of Kashmir, who are part of the Muslim community of Kashmir and a minority, ask us what we should do in a certain matter, this World Assembly must have a prepared response from a position of studied and considered reflection and present it to them. And similarly, the Shia of other regions - in Europe and other places - who are often in the minority, face issues for which we must always have answers ready; whether their political questions, their jurisprudential questions, or other issues that arise for them. This is the highest level of connection; more than this connection is really not possible. There must be the utmost connection with them, so that this center of yours holds that assembly in its hands. This is formal work; that is, constantly maintaining this connection. Because the connections that deal with these considerations are not physical, material, real, and tangible connections; there must constantly be an emanation of connection from that source of consideration; otherwise, if the emanation is cut, the connection becomes outdated and the relationship is severed.

The second issue is the content matter. We must do work for the elevation of the word of Ahlul-Bayt; firstly, we must introduce the Ahlul-Bayt themselves, secondly, we must strive to promote their thoughts. Are there books today in the Islamic world about the Ahlul-Bayt (peace be upon them) that are suitable for this time and written in an appropriate language, or not? Of course, my assumption is that we do not have them completely. Now, perhaps there are some things here and there. If there are, we should distribute and make them available to students, to the youth in general, to the clergy, to the general public, to those who have been influenced by propaganda. Both in terms of introducing the personality of the Ahlul-Bayt (peace be upon them), books and writings should be published and extensive cultural work should be done, and in terms of the opinions, thoughts, and teachings that have been received from them in the field of Islamic issues - that is, in Islamic principles and Islamic rationalities and other teachings.

We have many things from the Ahlul-Bayt (peace be upon them); things that if presented today, would truly astonish the world; like this Nahj al-Balagha. Work should be done on Nahj al-Balagha, its important points should be extracted, separated, its contents interpreted and analyzed, and its narrations examined. We have so many high teachings that humanity today is in need of them. These are from the words of the Ahlul-Bayt, as the words of the Ahlul-Bayt and as the Islam that the Ahlul-Bayt introduce. So, promoting the thoughts of the Ahlul-Bayt is also a point.

The next issue is the jurisprudence of the Ahlul-Bayt. The jurisprudence of the Ahlul-Bayt, on the one hand, is fundamentally debatable; that is, we should discuss in this that if someone wants to obtain the correct Islamic jurisprudence, which path is the safest and most accurate, to reach the conclusion of what the path of the Ahlul-Bayt is. This is a thought and an idea; this idea must be spread in the Islamic world. On the other hand, the text of the jurisprudence of the Ahlul-Bayt is also debatable. The books that have been published from us in the Sunni world today, for example, the book "Mukhtasar al-Nafi" by the late Muhaqqiq, which is a brief and non-argumentative booklet. Some other brief books have also been published, and since I do not remember, I cannot say. In general, what I know is that few books from us have been published among the Sunnis. We must introduce this advanced, rich, deep jurisprudence of ours in the Islamic world.

The books that they bring from the jurisprudence of other schools for us, sometimes I see some very superficial and low-value things among them from a scientific point of view, which have been researched, corrected, indexed, worked on, and presented; while our jurisprudence is not like this. For example, "Mabsut" by Sheikh Tusi with this grandeur - which is printed in Tehran, but apparently has another print, but I have not seen it - which does not have a proper and accurate index, nor a correct and comprehensive index, to whom should we present it? This is selling cheaply the capital we have. If we want to present this book just like this to a Sunni jurist or a Sunni lawyer who is familiar with jurisprudential issues, we have really belittled our own book. This book must be corrected, indexed, and worked on technically. These are the presentation of the jurisprudence of the Ahlul-Bayt.

That jurisprudential thematic issue that Mr. Hashemi is pursuing, in my opinion, is one of the examples of this work. It is an important and great work that is being done and should be done of this kind.

I asked the library of the Astan Quds Razavi in Mashhad to send us the list of their unpublished jurisprudential books; they sent me about three hundred and some titles. One sees some of these books, but does not know them; but it is clear that it must be an important book. Suppose a well-known scholar like Sheikh Ja'far Kashif al-Ghita, for example, has researched an issue; this is presumably full of content. Among those books, there are books from both the ancients and the moderns. There are books that no one knows about and no one is aware of; they have just remained there. We must bring these out and work on them. Or the common books that we have - those that have even been printed and poorly printed - should be reviewed in the same way. So, this is also a kind of work, which is the introduction of the jurisprudence of the Ahlul-Bayt. These must be done and this World Assembly must have oversight over these things.

Another issue is the proof of the Ahlul-Bayt and their guardianship; the same work that the late Sayyid Sharaf al-Din (may God's mercy be upon him) did with that breadth of vision and power, and before him, the late Mir Hamid Hussain and others did these important works. This work must be done in today's language and appropriate for today and without quarrel and without conflict. After all, the speech of Shi'ism must be presented; others are doing this work.

I saw that recently Arab countries have summarized this book "Tuhfa Ithna Ashariyya" - which the book itself is a book of division and inciting differences and in fact against and condemning the Shia and in praise of the Ahlul-Bayt - and published it with the language of the era and with the best print and with an index and with correction. This book was perhaps written about one hundred and fifty years ago - that is, in the time of Shah Waliullah Dehlavi - for which the late "Mir Hamid Hussain" wrote the book "Abaqat" in response. We Shia still do not have a published version of the book "Abaqat" with this grandeur! Now if it is printed, can it be presented in the scientific circles of the world, with that grandeur and thickness and mixed Persian, Arabic? This itself is debatable.

One of the conspiracies that exist today is to separate the Shia from the Ahlul-Bayt. They want to say that the Shia have nothing to do with the Ahlul-Bayt; they have attached themselves to the Ahlul-Bayt! The content of "Tuhfa Ithna Ashariyya" is this. The author names this book after the twelve Imams and says: "I named it Tuhfa Ithna Ashariyya adhering to the twelve Imams." He mentions the names of all the noble ones - from the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) to Imam Mahdi (may God hasten his reappearance) - but says we have nothing to do with them - these are our Imams - we have to deal with this Shia who have attached themselves to them! They mention the words of the Ahlul-Bayt as the words of the Shia and then reject them!

All of these necessitate concentrated work in the Shia environment. In the Shia environment, based on the same sincerity and sense of responsibility, truly a lot of work has been done. Throughout history, scholars like "Qadi Nurullah" and others and others have sat down and written books with oppression; and God Almighty has blessed them and they have been published; but our treasure is much stronger than these.

Regarding the arrangements and organizations that Mr. Amini mentioned, naturally, the basis of work is organization. There is no doubt that without organization, nothing can be built on it; but in creating organization, one should not delay too much.

Since this work started, until now, a year and some have passed. A year is truly a long time for organization. These things should be finished quickly; even if it is not perfect. For example, suppose fifteen or sixteen people are sitting here and something is presented to us. We look and see that, for example, there are a hundred lines, but there are ten issues; that is, one-tenth of the lines have issues. If we say it can be solved in this session, fine; if not, we say very well, now ninety lines are good; we approve this and gradually correct it; unless there is a fundamental issue. That is, in such cases, in the face of the matter between good and better, one should not tear one's collar for better; if it happens, it happens; if not, do not delay the work, to reach the starting point. Where is the starting point? Establishing an active secretariat.

Mr. Amini said that the gentlemen spend little time. The time that the gentlemen spend is of two types: one type is the time for planning and drawing lines and showing the way; the same thing you mentioned. It may now be necessary for these individuals to gather once a month or once every fifteen days, and in the future, its necessity will reach once every six months. If we have an active executive apparatus that is working and we are assured, it does not matter whether this group sits down to plan or not. This group should be kept at the level of planning; if we bring it into execution, execution will falter. We must, as they say, separate this locomotive from the execution train, so that it can do its own work; keep this only for planning. Yes, now once every fifteen days, or once a month is enough for them to sit together and make general plans. As much as we can, we should put pressure on the execution part - whose center and peak is the secretariat.

If among the gentlemen there are those who have the enthusiasm for work and the anxiety of work, very well, they can help in the secretariat; there is no contradiction. Suppose someone here is a member of the supreme council; suppose in a matter he is the deputy secretary-general, or volunteers to do some work in the secretariat; there is no problem, he can do this work.

What I consider important is the part of Mr. Taskhiri. He is truly a blessed and fruitful force. God Almighty has bestowed many blessings on our dear Mr. Taskhiri. In my opinion - as you mentioned - it is not bad for him to divide his time; for example, one-third of the time for the Assembly of Ahlul-Bayt, one-third of the time for the work he has in the office - which many other works can also be gathered in these two-thirds - and the last third for other works. You have seen that in the budget, they put a section for others. If it is possible to organize time in this way and it becomes clear that we have, for example, one-third of the time of the secretary-general of this assembly, the work will reach a result sooner.

Regarding the European branches or other places you mentioned, of course, it is good; but I am now disappointed that such a thing will be created there; because we have no program. These are good for creating noise. If one's program is to create noise and create a propaganda atmosphere, of course, it is good to establish a branch; but now it is not clear that this noise is very necessary; even in some cases, it is very permissible; because sensitivities on issues related to the Ahlul-Bayt are high; not only from the Sunni side, no, colonialism knows where to fear. Truly, "the believer is not bitten from the same hole twice"; but sometimes the disbelievers "are not bitten from the same hole"! They have finally understood what the situation is where the school of Ahlul-Bayt is. They see Lebanon, they see Iraq, they see everywhere, they have also seen Iran. Therefore, I do not think it is free of sensitivity. Perhaps now it is not very necessary, but ultimately there is no choice and it must be done.

We are now really struggling to have at least one qualified cleric in a country and want to do some work there; which you yourself are now experiencing how much this problem is. If you want to set up an office that Zayd is for you and works, I think you will now face a problem. From now on, use those local forces and natural resources. Sometimes people go abroad; use them as a link in this matter. For example, we now have some of the greats and scholars and people of knowledge who go here and there on various occasions - like the occasion of the twenty-second of Bahman. If you have ready and prepared work, one of the missions of these gentlemen in these trips will be the work of this assembly; for example, it is said that you in this trip, contact this assembly, or present these issues.

In my opinion, one of the dangers that threaten such assemblies is becoming attached and dependent on superficial works, which in the essence of the matter is not work. For example, some gatherings, some positions, the establishment of some offices, sometimes someone goes and contacts someone, as long as it is not planned, it is not much work. If it is planned and guided, why not. It may be said that you should regularly contact five or ten personalities there every month; you should also be ready for others to contact you. This must have a program and it must be known in advance what we want to give and what we want to take in these meetings; what we want to assign to them and what we want from them. The purpose is that everything goes back to that executive section in the secretariat. Any of the gentlemen who can cooperate in that section, it is very good.

In my opinion, brothers who are abroad should not be pressured too much to necessarily be present. As you mentioned to Mr. Tabasi, for example, Mr. Fadlallah, or Mr. Sayyid Sajid also have as much work - sometimes perhaps even more - in their own country. In my opinion, they should be invited to the annual assemblies - at most twice a year - the rest should be used from these deputies. Mr. Fadlallah naturally comes to Iran once or twice a year - perhaps sometimes more. Mr. Sayyid Sajid comes to Iran once or twice a year. You should schedule your annual meeting when it is supposed that, for example, they come to Iran on the occasion of the twenty-second of Bahman or other occasions. Do not delay the meeting for them; continue the work like this. Or, for example, if Mr. Sayyid Jafar Murtaza comes here, it is good; but if he cannot be present, suppose Mr. Fadlallah tells him ten days before the meeting that these are the programs of this meeting; I am going, what do you say? Mr. Sayyid Jafar Murtaza also thinks ten days in advance and tells him his opinions; as a result, Mr. Sayyid Jafar Murtaza's opinions will be attached to his opinions and two opinions will be presented. In my opinion, we will not suffer from this aspect.

My main emphasis is on the executive part of the issue. That executive group in the secretariat must be active; the same managements that you mentioned; now whether it is called a deputy, management, or how it wants to be organized to match what is called a deputy or management, I do not know.

There are various sections. For example, suppose the international communications section is a section that requires an independent manager. This section must constantly think about communications; refer to different sections and acquire everything that is a means of communication from them; if not, create the means of communication itself; send a message, receive a message; ask them to, for example, gather in a certain matter, express an opinion in a certain issue; their elders should gather. Therefore, the international communications section is an important section.

The cultural section, which includes the same matters I mentioned - that is, the introduction of the Ahlul-Bayt (peace be upon them) - is a vast section that requires a large assembly. Then alongside it and within it, the same jurisprudential sections are necessary. Now, thanks be to God, a movement has really started in the direction of reviving the jurisprudential works of the Shia; both what is being done in Qom by the Society of Teachers - which is the best - and what is being spread in some other places - like Isfahan, Qom, Mashhad - in a scattered manner and is very good; but in my opinion, if the gentlemen have a kind of oversight in those matters - not oversight of interference; oversight in terms of giving opinions and helping - it is very good. Among the things you should do is this.

Now these books that the Society of Teachers publishes, although they are important and valuable books and apparently are well printed, but still they are not in the international publication standard; while we will not print "Sarair" by Ibn Idris ten times; it was printed once a hundred years ago, now it has been printed once again. This "Sarair" by Ibn Idris, with all its content, with all its delicacy, deserves that we really have a complete and strong index of it, so that we can find any word we want there; likewise other books and the books of the ancients that are coming out.

This book "Al-Yanabi' al-Fiqhiyya" that Mr. Marwarid has printed, is a collection of ten, fifteen volumes. When this work was done, I was very happy; but every time I refer to it, because this book has so many errors, a sorrow sits in my heart! One is saddened when one sees this book with this luxurious print, with this good paper; but also sees all these errors! Sometimes a line of text is missing; it has not been done technically at all. These things affect a person.

If a book is to be printed, the gentlemen should supervise these; they should have a book-making consultant. Now book-making and how a book can be produced from start to finish is a craft; it has specialists, it has doctors, books have been written about it. I myself have one or two volumes of books about the craft of book-making in my library. It actually says how book-making is and how one should produce a book. There are people who are specialists in this work; you should have them here, consult with them and give them advice.

One looks and sees that the Sunni brothers are far ahead of us. These books they have printed, one sees that truly and justly everything about them is very good. Of course, they too are unfortunately not immune from errors; but their books have few errors; they have been well corrected, researched, and so on.

In any case, the cultural section is also an important section that must be done. Of course, there are various other sections - like the political section and others - that naturally must also be addressed; but in my opinion, these two sections are fundamental and should reach a result as soon as possible, God willing.

I sincerely and honestly say that if I had time, I would really become a member of your assembly and work myself; because this is a work that is truly without any doubt; there is no doubt in it. Any work that one does, perhaps a corner of it may go wrong; but this is truly the essence; work for the Ahlul-Bayt and the thoughts of the Ahlul-Bayt and bringing the Ahlul-Bayt out of oppression. Truly, what better work can there be than this? The sweetest works are these. Whatever is spent on this work, in my opinion, is appropriate.

Do not consider this budget issue as an important issue. In the matter of a budget that is accounted for and spent on a work that is commendable and acceptable, I do not set a limit; unless there is something that one has doubts about in calculations or in some of its goals; otherwise, in a work whose goal is so clear, in a work that is so good, the budget issue should really not be considered.

These formal works that are now common: unnecessary seminars, unnecessary trips, unnecessary comings and goings, false expenses, I consider these things beneath the dignity of this assembly. Of course, I am sure that such cases do not exist; but I say that it should not be dragged to those sides.

Regarding the use of Qom, let me say something. This issue of the Qom seminary in this sense is a very fundamental issue. We must truly use this treasure of Qom. Of course, there are two ways to interact with Qom: one way is to go to Qom and gather a group of scholars and say we want to do some work. Another way is to see what we want from Qom here; properly record it, then transfer it to Qom and someone from your assembly should be there and encourage a group of scholars to do this work part-time as you mentioned.

One or two years ago, it was discussed with Mr. Amini that a group of scholars and students should be gathered for a research work, which of course was not followed up. You yourself were almost like Mr. Taskhiri! Mr. Amini really has big works and cannot reach them; someone must be there to reach this work and this work should be done.

There is no problem in establishing a center called "Research Center" affiliated with the World Assembly of Ahlul-Bayt and attracting various individuals to meet its needs. There may be research works in progress that we are not aware of. Truly now in the seminary, there may be researchers who are doing some work themselves; but we are not even aware of it; very well, let them come and work in this center. I recently heard that one of the prominent scholars of Qom is quietly doing a work on the classes of narrators. The existence of this center itself can attract everyone.

Collecting the poetry of the poets of the Shia of Ahlul-Bayt and the like is also very important. These are works that have truly been neglected throughout our history. Of course, it cannot be said in this sense that they were neglected; they could not do it; but now they can. We immediately provide microfilm from distant libraries and bring it here; but they did not have such facilities and tools.

Truly, I benefited greatly from the presence of the gentlemen. The companionship with you gentlemen and visiting you is very enjoyable for me. May God reward you, God willing.

God willing, be successful

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings