RNA – In a letter to Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Sistani, Ayatollah Ali-Reza Arafi, the director of the Islamic Seminaries of Iran, offered his congratulations to His Eminence and to the Iraqi people on the eve of the liberation of Mosul.
Iraqis are getting ready for nationwide celebrations as government forces are just blocks away from battles raging in the last few districts in Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, where members of the Daesh Takfiri militant group are dug in.
The recapture of Mosul, located some 400 kilometres north of the capital Baghdad, would mark the effective end of Daesh in Iraq.
The text of the message from Ayatollah Arafi is as follows:
In the Name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
To the Grand Authority of the World of Shi’ism, Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani,
al-Salamun ‘Alaykum,
Today, the Muslim world, and especially the resistant and Muslim people of Iraq, through the blessedness and compliance with the vigilant religious authority and the timely jurisprudent [Ayatollah al-Sistani], have been able to take great steps to eliminate the roots of corruption of the mercenaries of the colonial and imperialist powers who are on the payroll of Hebrew and Western Zionists and remove the ties of Takfiris.
The Islamic world has been cleansed from their [Takfiris] filthy existence and thethe historic city of Mosul has been liberated and another clear victory from among the various conquests of the resistant and self-sacrificing companions has been marked.
Undoubtedly, the presence of the hand of God and His unseen assistance is apparent and obvious in the acheivement of this great victory and the sons of the Islamic ummah, from all religions and tribes and resistance to internal and external enemies, were able to create another honour for the followers of Islam through unity and resorting to ‘the firmest handle’ and the ‘sure cord of God’ and by putting aside the causes of dissension and dispersion.
With the order of “Oh you who have faith! If you help God, He will help you and make your feet steady” [Holy Quran 47:7] and by taking steady steps in the depths of the geography of the Islamic world, they proudly raised the flag of victory and planted the seeds of despair and disappointment in the hearts of the disbelievers and Takfiris and this marked a scandalous defeat for them.
It is hoped that by eliminating the internal enemies, the Islamic ummah considers their principle focus the elimination of Zionism and international hegemony and places the liberation of al-Quds al-Sharif (Jerusalem) and the land of Palestine on their agenda as the unifying factors of the Islamic world in the shadow of the preservation of Islamic unity within the framework of the Quranic divine principles.
The Islamic Seminaries, especially the Islamic Seminary of Qom, by following Islam and the great religious authorities and the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution [Ayatollah Khamenei], express their appreciation to all those honourably involved in this victory and stress upon the continuation of this path and for attention to be given to all divisive conspiracies and for resistance to the imperialist and Zionist powers.
First and foremost, I offer my congratulations to Imam al-Mahdi, to the knowledgeable and timely religious authorities and to the always victorious Islamic ummah, and I pray to God Almighty for the health of Your Excellency and for victory for thewarriors on the path of God.
Ali-Reza Arafi
Director of the Islamic Seminaries of Iran
July 5, 2017
112/930/577