RNA – Speaking during his advanced jurisprudence class at Qom’s Grand Mosque, Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Nouri-Hamadani referred to the Sermon of Shaqshaqiyyah which was delivered by Imam Ali in 659 CE and said, “Imam Ali said that God has taken a covenant from the scholars that they stand against the oppression of the oppressors and assist the dispossessed and oppressed people.”
The revered source of emulation added, “On this basis, scholars cannot remain silent in the face of oppression, they must raise their voice in every place in the world where there are oppressed people in order to assist them. A scholar must not sit quietly in the face of oppression but rather, he must perform his duties by understanding the conditions of his era and the people of his community.”
Ayatollah Nouri-Hamadani explained that after being excluded for 23 years during the caliphates of Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman, the people came to Imam Ali and asked him to accept the responsibility of the caliphate and said, “Imam Ali said that if there wasn’t a divine treaty between God and the scholars, the people didn’t request it and the proof wasn’t finished, he would not have accepted it. In authority, both legitimacy and acceptance exist and legitimacy comes from God but acceptance is determined by the people.”
The prominent professor in the Islamic Seminary of Qom said that the political situation is very sensitive today and we should pay attention to it and added, “Unfortunately, people tried to beautify the United States, the European Union and the arrogant powers and went to them and signed an agreement with them, while the Quran tells us not to trust in the oppressors, saying, ‘Do not incline toward the wrongdoers, lest the fire should touch you’ [11:113].”
He stated that although the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, stated that we must not trust the United States but some gave their trust and added, “After the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was signed, a lot of people were happy and even national medals were given to some individuals, including the Fatah al-Fatouhi [Victory of Victories] Medal, and then continued to talk about the JCPOA.”
Ayatollah Nouri-Hamadani said, “They claimed that there would have been years of war if the JCPOA wasn’t signed and they benefited without war. In short, they did a lot of work to beautify the deal and at the same time accepting the JCPOA, [former US president] Barack Obama imposed many sanctions on Iran while the JCPOA was supposed to remove them.”
He said, “On the one hand, the enemies were pushing for sanctions, and on the other hand, some continued to advertise what they created the JCPOA. Today, they say that the European Union is with us and say that they accept the JCPOA. Besides the European Union, who are these people? Germany, the United Kingdom, France and the European Union are with the United States.”
His Eminence stressed, “All those from the European Union who have supported the JCPOA have spoken about Iran’s missile program and say that if we accept that Iran doesn’t have a missile program. One should never trust the words and treaties of the arrogant powers and the enemies and must rely on the people of the nation until we achieve results.”
Ayatollah Nouri-Hamadani added, “The Resistance Economy should also be brought out of the meetings and brought to the people. We must solve the problems by relying on the people and we must be vigilant against the beautifiers.”