Every year the Rahbar, as leader of the Islamic Revolution, delivers his message to the hujjaj in Makkah. This year, his message has particular resonance because of the Islamic awakenings sweeping the Muslim East and attempts by Islam’s enemies to subvert these noble efforts by entangling them in petty squabbles. He describes Hajj as a process of self-reform and an opportunity to reform the Ummah.
Sectarianism exists on both sides of the divide. It is imperative to understand the root problems to overcome it, urges Abu Dharr.
Innocent people are always the victims of wars over which they have no control and towards which they did not contribute. The plight of Syrian refugees once again highlights this reality.
Muslims in Myanmar are subjected to terrible persecution and a campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide but even the west’s poster girl for democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi is silent about their plight.
A Friday sermon I attended curbside on an oppressively hot day earlier last month turned out to be a long-sought breath of fresh air.
We, “all of us Muslims” have to start saying we are “Muslims.” As the Almighty Allah (swt) states in ayat 33:5, 9:11, 49:10, a Muslim is a brother to a Muslim.
Muslims occupy a vast swathe of the earth’s surface. From Morocco in the west to Indonesia in the southeast, Muslims reside in a part of the globe that acts as a bridge between Europe and the vast archipelago of Southeast Asia.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the brutal war imposed on Bosnia-Herzegovina.
With notable exceptions, dictators rule much of the Muslim world. They carry many fancy titles: kings, amirs, presidents, prime ministers and, of course generals and colonels. What is common between them is that they are all subservient to the West even while they terrorize their own people.
For many Muslims and Islamic activists around the world, in so many different places and fields of work, the unity of the Ummah is a basic premise of everything we do. At the same time, differences of understanding, approach and methodology are inevitable in a global Ummah of more than 1.5 billion people.
We must define the term “independence” accurately to fully grasp the Muslim world’s current situation. Possessing territory, having a government, army, etc, do not necessarily mean independence.
It is that time of the year again. Muslims from far and near prepare themselves for the lifelong journey to Ibrahim’s (a) final destination, to the emigre home of Hajar, to the life-threatened birth of Isma‘il (a), to the expatriate city of Muhammad (pbuh) and to the cradle of Islam — to Makkah al-Mukarramah.
Imam Sayyid ‘Ali Khamenei addressed the inaugural session of the First International Conference on Islamic Awakening, held in Tehran on 9-17 and 9-18-2011. Below is a translation of his remarks.
Some two million Muslims are assembled in Makkah al-Mukarramah for the performance of Hajj. If the past is any guide, this Hajj will also be performed as a set of rituals in which the hujjaj go through various motions without realizing why they are doing this.
As for the US economy, despite optimistic statements by President Barack Obama that it is on the mend — what else can he say? — statistics paint a very different picture.
Throughout history, Americans have targeted minorities in their midst — Native and African Americans, Chinese and Japanese, to name a few — and blamed them for all their troubles. Muslims in the US are the latest victims.
The New Year is traditionally a time when people reflect on their situations in life, as well as contemplating the possibilities of the year to come. This New Year in the Gregorian calendar coincides (more or less) with a new year, 1432, in the Hijri calendar; Muharram 1 fell on December 7, 2010.
Even as US-Zionist agents were attacking ‘Ashura ceremonies in Pakistan and Iran, in Turkey something remarkable was taking place. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s appearance at an ‘Ashura commemoration ceremony of Imam Husayn’s martyrdom sent a powerful message of Muslim unity.
Early last month, Imam Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Rahbar (Leader) of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, issued a fatwa of far-reaching importance for the unity and solidarity of the Ummah. It was immediately welcomed by leading scholars in the Muslim world.
"Only they shall tend to the masjids of Allah that make a firm commitment to Him..." (9:18–19) Pondering over the above ayaat, it appears as if they were revealed specifically to describe the behaviour of the present rulers in the Arabian Peninsula.
