RNA – “Today the imperialist powers are the biggest obstacle to the spiritual and divine guidance to the contemporary man,” Hujjat al-Islam Sayyed Ebrahim Raeisi, the Custodian of the Holy Shrine of Imam al-Ridha said, referring to the anti-religious attempts of the imperialist powers.
In a meeting with a number of seminarians competent in foreign languages from the international affairs department of Islamic Seminary of Qom and al-Mustafa International University, Hujjat al-Islam Raiesi said, “Today, the Western countries and especially Western youth are quite eager for the divine teachings of Islam and the reason why the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution [Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei] addressed the youth in his message to the youth of the West is that the disposition of the youth is pure.”
The Custodian of the Holy Shrine of Imam al-Ridha viewed the mission of the religious preachers and scholars in introducing the Islamic injunction and the words of the Household of the Apostle of God highly crucial and important and pointed out, “Due to the chaos created by ISIL and the Salafists across the world, the attention of the world has directed increasingly to the Muhammadian and rational Shi’a religion and many found out that the only saviour is the Islam of the Infallible Imams.”
Stressing on using the modern tools of communicating and propagating religious ideas, the member of board of directors of the Assembly of the Experts reiterated, “A significant requirement for propagation today is familiarity with different languages and making use of modern devices. Mastery of foreign languages for conveying the ideas to the audiences is inevitable.”
Noting that preaching in the language of every nation reinforces the impression of the words, Hujjat al-Islam Raeisi recounted the mission of Islam as guidance of the entire world and recommended, “Besides attempting to grasp religious concepts, try to learn also foreign languages with a high motivation.”
Self-refinement and sincerity, two effective factors in scholars’ remarks
The Custodian of the Holy Shrine of Imam al-Ridha also said, “Self-refinement, recourse to the Household of the Apostle of God, and sincerity in affairs is the secret of effectiveness of the words of the late Imam Khomeini, the Supreme Leader, and the religious scholars. Self-refinement is also an immunizing factor against the mistakes and devil temptations.”
Regarding ‘openness of breast’ as the loftiest human position, Hujjat al-Islam Raeisi asserted, “According to the Holy Quran, God bestowed this position to the prophet and this indicates that there is no loftier position for man than the openness of breast.”
“The openness of breast is a must and the most essential device for preaching that cannot be obtained but in the shade of submission to God and using the instructions of the Infallible Imams,” the Custodian of the Holy Shrine of Imam al-Ridha said.
In conclusion, Hujjat al-Islam Raeisi recommended the seminarians to learning and making use of the opportunities ensued by the revolution for propagating the religious affairs and remarked, “Thanks to the Islamic revolution a good situation has been provided for learning and raising the insightfulness, and the seminarians are advised to make the utmost use of this capacity for spreading the divine instructions,” he said.
At the beginning of the meeting, Hujjat al-Islam Sayyed Mohiyeddin Ghavami, the head of the Office of International Conferences and Training of the Islamic Seminaries, delivered a report of the performances of preachers versed in foreign language in the international domain and declaring the holding of the international conference of seminarians competent in foreign language in Mashhad.
He said, “One of the main objectives of holding the training course for seminarians in the international domain is cultural work and involvement of the seminarians and the scholars into international issues and training preachers in these domains.”
R111/112/E