Ayatollah Mazaheri to seminarians:

“It is by God’s grace alone that Imam al-Mahdi (AJ) has accepted you to be his soldiers”

Rasa – Ayatollah Hoseyn Mazaheri, the director of the Islamic Seminary of Esfahan, spoke at a ceremony at Esfahan’s Madrassah as-Sadr marking the beginning the new school year. He discussed the value of being a seminarian and a scholar.

News ID: 1045

Date: 28 August 2014 - 18:42

Rasa News Agency reports – Ayatollah Hoseyn Mazaheri, the director of the Islamic Seminary of Esfahan, spoke at a ceremony at Esfahan’s Madrassah as-Sadr marking the beginning the new school year. He discussed the value of being a seminarian and a scholar.

He explained that scholars have a special value in society because the Quran gives them a position similar to that of the prophets but often they do not recognize the value of the opportunities before them and are unaware of their own value. He told them to understand the divine blessing God has bestowed upon them when they entered the seminary as there is no greater position in the world than to be a seminarian. It is by God’s grace alone that Imam al-Mahdi (AJ) has accepted them to be his soldiers. “When a seminarian understands their value, they will not change it for anything else in the world,” he emphasized.

Ayatollah Mazaheri explained that the Shi’ah, especially the scholars, are in grave danger due to the rise of Takfiri groups, who seek to annihilate the religion of the Ahlul-Bayt (A) and destroy the seminaries of Najaf and Qom. He encouraged all the scholars present to pray for Imam al-Mahdi’s assistance to defeat the so-called Islamic State. He emphasized that main aim of the scholars is nothing but the propagation of the faith of Islam. If a seminarian has true intentions to fulfill this divinely ordained mission, God has promised that he will be successful in his studies.

In reference to the great scholars of the past, such as Shahid al-Awwal (Shaykh Muhammad ibn Jamaluddin al-Amili), Ayatollah Mazaheri explained that many scholars suffered financially, socially and persecution, but they strived hard to study and write books which are the foundations of seminary studies. All their success was achieved due to their great efforts, piety and having divine goals. He expressed regret that the seminarians do not study as hard as those in the past did. Some would even be engaged in the studies on their wedding nights!

111/112