RNA – In a meeting at Qom’s Jamkaran Mosque with officials from women’s seminaries from throughout Iran, Grand Ayatollah Ja’far Sobhani referred to verse 41 of Surah al-Hajj and explained that those who were given power must realize that after power, they have responsibility as well.
“After the victory of 1979 Islamic Revolution which placed all power in the hands of the clergy, responsibility over the cultural affairs of society belongs to the clergy,” he said.
He added before the Islamic Revolution, the clergy rarely had a voice because the Pahlavi regime did not allow the clergy to speak openly but Imam Khomeini, placed all power in the hands of the clergy, who now have responsibilities to establish prayer, facilitate alms funds and enjoin the good and forbid the wrong.
Ayatollah Sobhani stressed that raising one’s children in a proper and effective religious manner and protecting religion in society has become a very important duty because of the enemies’ ongoing cultural invasion through satellite television networks and the internet.
The revered source of emulation added that the enemies are always speaking on their satellite channels encouraging Muslims to fight with each other and bombarding Muslims with harmful issues. “We must generate cultural content to strengthen Islamic culture among the people,” he suggested.
Remarking on the dangers of the dissemination of anti-religious propaganda, Ayatollah Sobhani said that in 1943, an individual by the name of Ali-Akbar Hakamizadeh wrote an essay entitled “The Thousand Year Mystery” against Islam and the role of clerical authority and it had a significant influence on society, but Imam Khomeini took a two-month break from his studies and wrote a response, entitled “The Unveiling of Secrets” which had a great and successful effect.
In regard to this, His Eminence said that today, we need seminarians who can answer the doubts propagated by satellite networks and women’s seminaries must train missionaries and not teachers in order that they can respond to the doubts and propagate Islam.
The teacher in the Islamic Seminary of Qom stressed the importance of raising the necessary issues in the classroom, especially in regard to new issues in theology, and added that classes on Wahhabism should be taught as well. “Currently, Wahhabism is our main enemy and now that Islamophobia has begun in the West because of the barbarism of Takfiri groups like ISIL, and we must combat this ideology,” he said.
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