Shahrekord Friday Prayer Leader:‎

Sanctions don’t stop our progress in space!‎

Hujjat al-Islam Nekounam praised the valuable actions of the IRGC and said, “The Nour-1 ‎satellite was launched into orbit in a situation where the Islamic Republic of Iran was under ‎sanctions.”‎

News ID: 450028

Date: 24 April 2020 - 23:17

RNA – Hujjat al-Islam Mohammad-Ali Nekounam issued his weekly statement via the internet ‎in place of the cancelled Friday prayer sermon to the people of Shahrekord.‎

Friday prayers have been cancelled in Shahrekord and many other cities throughout Iran due ‎to the outbreak of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) with the aim of preventing the spread of the ‎Coronavirus and maintaining the health of the people. ‎

Referring to the arrival of the holy month of Ramadan, he said, “In Khutbah al-Sha’baniyyah ‎‎[the sermon given by the Prophet Muhammad on the last Friday of Sha’ban], the Noble ‎Prophet offered fifteen important lessons on the three axes of blessing, mercy and ‎forgiveness for all believers. If we place these three axes as the basis of our actions during ‎each period of ten days of this holy month, then we will definitely achieve the success of our ‎worthy guests.”‎

Hujjat al-Islam Nekounam said that in previous years, we invited people to participate in ‎religious gatherings during the holy month of Ramadan, such as Friday prayers, ‎congregational prayers and International al-Quds Day marches and said, “This year, given ‎the prevailing conditions in the country and the outbreak of the Coronavirus, our duty is to ‎maintain ‘social distancing’ to help the medical staff and the health of the people.”‎

His Eminence emphasized that observing “social distancing” doesn’t mean cancelling religious ‎rituals and said, “Believers can attend and worship in mosques by observing health ‎protocols. Also, congregational imams (prayer leaders) can be present in the mosques to ‎answer the religious questions of believers and mosques can be active by observing all ‎aspects of the health guidelines.” ‎

Emphasizing that people should not expect congregational prayers to be held in mosques in ‎the current situation, he added, “We must respect the rules of the Coronavirus headquarters ‎and offer the prayers individually.”‎

Hujjat al-Islam Nekounam noted that mosques must be the centres of cultural, social, ‎financial, moral and emotional services for the people in this situation and said, “Mosques ‎have huge potentials for social and cultural activities. Hot food can be cooked in mosques ‎and distributed among locals with the priority of the poor. Also, if they are able, the people ‎can share some of their iftar meals with their neighbours when it’s not possible to break their ‎fast in the same manner as before.”‎

In other remarks, he said, “Today, we see how this epidemic has shown the world the ‎weakness of the arrogant powers that once claimed their security has been provided with all ‎kinds of military weapons and scientific power and how they are incapable of confronting ‎this virus.”‎

Referring to the launch of the space defence satellite, Nour-1, by the Islamic Revolutionary ‎Guard Corps, he said, “This astonished everyone. The satellite was launched into orbit in a ‎situation where the Islamic Republic was under sanctions, but thanks to God, this multi-‎purpose defence satellite was successfully launched into space.”‎

Rasa News Agency

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