Sayyed Nasrallah’s Speech on the Commemoration of Sheikh Mohammad Khatoun

Local Editor

Full speech delivered by Hizbullah Secretary General, His Eminence Sayyed Nasrallah, on the commemoration ceremony held in honor of Sheikh Mohammad Khatoun, delivered on Sunday January 3rd, 2016.

In His Name

I seek refuge in Allah from the stoned devil. In the Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Most Merciful. Peace be on the Seal of prophets, our Master and Prophet, Abi Al Qassem Mohammad, and on his chaste and pure Household, and on his chosen companions and on all messengers and prophets.

Brothers and sisters, dear attendees, peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings.

Allah Almighty says in the Holy Quran: {Among the believers are men true to what they promised Allah. Among them is he who has fulfilled his vow to the death, and among them is he who awaits. And they did not alter by any alteration}.

First, I would like to welcome you all in this commemoration ceremony held in honor of the dear brother His Eminence Sheikh Mohammad Khatoun [May Allah have mercy on him]. I renew our condolences to his noble family and to his relatives and dear ones. I also console all the brothers and sisters in this blessed jihadi procession.

First, I also want to stress an idea which I will tackle later. I would like to express the feeling of condolences to the family of the martyr Sheikh Nimr Baqer al-Nimr. I also console our dear people in Qatif, Ihsaa, the eastern region, and all the Muslims in the world, as well as our senior authorities, Muslim scholars, the religious Hawzas, every person who calls for righteousness, the truth, and rights. I console them on the oppressed martyrdom of this dignified and brave religious man. I felicitate them on this martyrdom which is the trust of the prophets and holy men, and the school of Karbala to which martyr Sheikh Nimr belongs. Inshallah, I will tackle this issue again in the framework of my speech.

My acquaintance with the dear brother Sheikh Khatoun, who is known among us as Sheikh Mohammad, goes back to 1977. At that time, we were a group of young men; some were 17 and others 18 years old. We met in the Holy Hawza of Najaf. We did not know each other in Lebanon, but we were united by seeking knowledge in the Hawza of Najaf. Allah Almighty has blessed us - meaning Sheikh Mohammad and I along with a group of brothers - to be under the sponsorship and care of a faithful, loyal, pious, father, teacher, and mentor. He is our master, the master of the martyrs of the Islamic resistance, and our Secretary General, Martyr Sayyed Abbass al-Mousawi [May Allah have mercy on him]. This was one of the blessings Allah Almighty bestowed on us and on this group. We usually talk about those who died, and we do not talk about those [still] alive. This is our tradition. Some from this group died on this path, such as Martyr Sayyed Abbass al-Mousawi [May Allah have mercy on him], His Eminence Sheikh Ali Karim [May Allah have mercy on him] from the village of Khirbit Silim, His Eminence the late Sheikh Ali Khatoun who died in the plane crash in Cotonou, His Eminence the late Sheikh Ayman Hamdar, and the rest of this group are still waiting, and they never altered by any alteration. I ask Allah Almighty to let them stay steadfast on this path.

So as I said, Sheikh Mohammad Khatoun and I were friends, and a while ago, the report covered a side of this issue. We used to be not classmates only, but also brothers and friends. We were not only pupils in the sense that we used to take lessons together and then leave each other. No, we used to live together in Holy Najaf, and later on when we returned to Lebanon, we used to be together day and night. We used to accompany each other in our goings and comings, hunger, thirst, security, fear, home, expectations, pains, and aspirations. We were a group of people who have the same soul, the same culture, and the same breath. In fact, it was the soul, culture, and breath of Sayyed Abbass al-Musawi [May Allah have mercy on him]. We proceeded on our path until he died [May Allah have mercy on hi].

From the very beginning, Sheikh Mohammad Khatoun was the model of the serious, industrious, responsible, and pious pupil. In the Sermon of the Pious, Imam Ali [AS] says, "He is unwavering in his convictions and beliefs". Sheikh Mohammad was one of the pious whom the qualities mentioned in this sermon apply to him. One of these qualities is "unwavering in his convictions and beliefs". He was very cautious not to follow his whims and disobey his Lord. Thus that which was impermissible and permissible was very forcefully clear and observed by him.

In 1978, the regime of Saddam Hussein staged a broad arrest campaign against Lebanese students and scholars. A large number were arrested while some managed to flee the country without being arrested. His Eminence Sheikh Khatoun was among the group who were arrested, jailed, and tortured in Saddam Hussein's prisons. Indeed the crime the Lebanese students, including Sheikh Khatoun, were charged of was belonging to the Islamic Da'wah Party. Indeed, none of them were affiliated to the Islamic Da'wah Party. In fact, this party hadn't spread in Lebanon or was known among those Lebanese who were arrested. The other charge was working for the Syrian intelligence. This story is old and not new. By that time, the Islamic Revolution in Iran wasn't still triumphant, or else they would have been accused also of working for the Iranian intelligence and the Iranian community, or of being collaborators or agents to Iran. So their charges were similar to the charges weaved today against any religious man or fighter or religious knowledge seeker in any place in the Arab and Islamic world.

Anyway, His Eminence Sheikh Khatoun was set free along with the others who were arrested with him. The group met again with Sayyed Abbass in Baalbek and the religious Hawza was founded in Baalbek under the custody and management of Sayyed Abbass. The religious school was named after Imam Muntazar [May Allah hasten his honorable relief], and it is still blooming until our very day, and Sheikh Mohammad and I along with many of our brethren are very grateful to this Hawza. Sheikh Khatoun was in its first cycle as a pupil, a teacher, and a caller for Islam in the villages of Bekaa.

In 1982, when the "Israeli" invasion took place and the Islamic Resistance and Hizbullah were starting to be formed, Sheikh Khatoun was one of the first scholars who got enrolled in the training camps as you have seen in the documentary. He as well as Sayyed Abbass and many others put off their religious garment and put it aside, and reserved the turbans only for their symbolism. They put on the military uniforms because we ushered in a new era - the era of armed resistance and the era of fighting. Thus Sheikh Khatoun and his brothers, the religious scholars, got enrolled in a military course to become military fighters in the lines of the resistance, and he was always willing to get engaged in military squares.

It goes without saying that when the resistance and Hizbullah were first being formed, they were in need of cadres that assume the responsibilities in various fields. One of these squares was military knowledge; but for this domain to develop and for the resistance to continue and achieve its goals, it needed cadres who assume responsibility in the mobilization perspective, the missionary perspective, the educational perspective, and on the provocation perspective - provocation for jihad - at a time the culture of defeat, yielding, self-humiliation, conviction of deficiency, weakness, and doubt in one's ability to face the invasion and occupation used to prevail.

This was first a very difficult mission. The brothers, scholars and officials in this hall, and I still remember those days and the heated and difficult discussions even in our own houses and environment. Some used to tell us: you are crazy; you are over-enthusiastic, you are mindless; you do not understand formulas; you do not know the rules and laws of the game; how can the eye resist the needle? How can blood gain victory over the sword? You - this group of young men - want to defeat the strongest army in the Middle East which defeated in a few days a group of Arab armies?

It was a very big challenge. You can't compare that to our state today. At that time and in that stage, the resistance was strange, even on the level of the culture of people, their intellect, their ability to accept, and their faith. It was viewed as a lunatic, illogical, suicide scheme.

Anyway, one of those who assumed the responsibility of moving from one platform to another, from one mosque to another, from one camp to another, from one square to another, and from one Husseiniyeh to another, was His Eminence Sheikh Khatoun [May Allah have mercy on him]. He assumed his responsibility fully until the organizational and administrative body, and the clear structure for this young procession, started to be formed, and His Eminence Sheikh Khatoun was from the pioneer officials in this structure and in this procession from the very beginning.

He assumed very important responsibilities, whether on the level of the Bekaa, an official for the South after 1985, as an official for the Bekaa, then a central cultural official, a central official for the Islamic Call, an official for the north and the mountain - the so called fifth region, and as was mentioned in the report, in the last years of his life, he preferred to return to the post he preferred to work in, with the people, with believers, in mosques, Husseiniyahs, and in nightly gatherings in villages. He preferred direct contact with people away from organizational and administrative responsibilities, and this responsibility requires much effort and jihad indeed, and it also has its special taste and pleasure.

Anyway, he spent his last years among people, a speaker, an educative master who provokes for jihad for the sake of Allah Almighty and a voice who calls for awareness, unity, piety, and moral values, which he perfectly embodied.

Whoever met and got to know Sheikh Khatoun will certify the very brief testimony I will make for him. He will approve of every word I say now. It is well known that Sheikh Khatoun was known for his faith, strong conviction, piety, broad knowledge, vast education, loyalty, faithfulness, good morals, nice companionship, and modesty to everyone, for the young and the old. He was kind, pure, and responsible, and he loved people. Due to these traits, he was an easy, uncomplicated personality. The Prince of Believers describes the pious. One of their characteristics is "unwavering in his convictions and beliefs" and the other is "lenient". The believers must be as such. The scholars must be as such. The higher a man ascends in the ranks of responsibility and upholding burdens, the easier he must become. What does lenient mean? It means he must not be complicated no matter what you tell him, or asked from him, or charged him with something, or send him to some place, or make a remark to him, or criticize him, or object to one of his performances. Nobody used to take pains to think of what to tell him, what is the phrase to say, what are the expressions or when, how, or why. That's because the hard, complicated personality becomes surrounded with a group of considerations and vanities. You would feel that you are before a bundle of complications, and you don't know how to deal with these complications and find a way through them. However, the pious is easy to deal with because he is kind, pure, and humble, because he has no ego.

As I said on that day during the commemoration of martyr leader Mohammad al Hajj or Abu Mohammad Al Iqleem, I said that this brother had nothing in him called Mohammad al Hajj. Never! The same thing is known about Sheikh Mohammad. There is nothing inside him called Mohammad Ali Khatoun. There is rather something called a pious, needy, fearful slave who seeks the contentment of Allah Almighty. He cares for his Hereafter and that long stand before the hands of Allah Almighty. He wasn't at all a complicated person with a complicated psyche or complicated personality. He was an easy person with a kind, quiet, tender and gentle character. He further never feared personal danger; he rather used to go and attend wherever he was supposed to attend. I still remember many incidents and stories in this perspective.

Anyway, today I can wrap the personality of Sheikh Mohammad Khatoun and say: This is the school of Sayyed Abbass al-Mousawi. This is the school of Sheikh Ragheb Harb; this is another embodiment of this personality, this culture, these morals, these traits, this method, this pattern, and this conduct.

Through these traits, the very presence of Sheikh Khatoun among us during the years of his life was very blessed, and because his presence was very blessed, his influence on people and on young men and on all those whom he taught, and who listened to his sermons, was very deep and profound. That's because he used not to talk only; he was rather the model who embodies everything he believed in and said over at least 35 years he spent as a teacher, and a preacher on podiums, and a responsible person who upholds the burdens and pains of responsibility.

With Sheikh Khatoun, we must recall the first generation of our brothers and sisters who spent their lives and youth in this procession. Now they are white-haired in their sixties, fifties, or late forties. They spent their lives in this procession; some were martyred and some died while being passionate of martyrdom, and they will be rewarded as martyrs and will have the status of martyrs, and some are still waiting like you and many others like you, and they never altered by any alteration.

With the blessing of this first generation whose martyrs and number of deceased we cannot count, this procession was launched, and it continued through generations and until our very day. With the blessing of this first generation, it is right to say that this procession was founded on piety from the very first day; thus it proceeded because it was for Allah and the sake of Allah; thus it was in the eye of Allah and under the care of Allah and the guardianship of Allah Almighty.

The first generation never cared and wished for anything from this mundane world. They used to live the hardest security, social, and living conditions. They used to expect death and killing every moment and every day and in any place, square, crossroad, or path. They were threatened in every place and at every time. They sought to perform their obligations wholeheartedly, and they searched for martyrdom with much love.

In all situations, they proved their loyalty to Allah through their patience and tolerance. Thus Allah Almighty held them steady, honored them, bestowed His victory on them, and increased their number until they became a large procession.

One of the blessings of the first generation is that the children of the first generation and the grandchildren at least moved on the steps of the first generation. We can talk about the first generation, the children-generation, and the grandchildren-generations. Some may make them four or five generations. That has to do with the norms and considerations. Anyway, the children of the first generation, the grandchildren of the first generation and all those who followed them and belonged to this procession with time, are moving on their steps and are proceeding with the same zeal, morals, loyalty, and devotion. Don't listen to what is said in many media outlets and what is written on yellow papers and what is fabricated on websites which were established solely to distort the image of this procession.

The martyrs are the evidence. The martyrs from the first generation, the children of the first generation, and the grandchildren of the first generation whose wills we read, words we hear, brightened faces we see, and grand sacrifices we witness, and who helped and partook in making the victory of 2000 and had the lion's share in making the victory of 2006, today shoulder and assume with their blood the responsibility of defeating the most dangerous project - the US-Zionist hegemonic scheme embodied in the Takfiri threat which seeks to demolish the region and topple the project of the resistance.

Those nurture the same culture. We must guard this spirit. This spirit is targeted in our environment, procession, and people through the large scale war waged on all levels. They are targeted with their spirit, morals, will, confidence, path, intellect, and dependence on their procession, and in their trust in each other.
From the first day, the war launched on this procession is not a military, security, and bloody war only. It was always meant to be targeted in its mind, heart, will, and determination. Still it always remained steadfast, gained power in its determination, grew, and advanced.

With the blessing of these generations from the founding generation, its children, and its grandchildren, with the blessing of the blood of the martyrs, with the blessing of the pure chaste breath of His Eminence Sheikh Mohammad Khatoun and his brethren, the struggling scholars and officials who died while aspiring to gain martyrdom, this procession will continue with all confidence and faith. Here I am telling you. No one can harm the procession of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon. This is what Sayyed Abbass al-Mousawi used to say. No one can harm the procession of Hizbullah, or its morals, vigor, honor, dignity, firm will, strong determination, faith, conviction, and final resolve to continue to be in all the squares of challenge, in all places of struggling for Allah, for the sake of Allah, the word of Allah, sacrifice for Allah, and giving for Allah Almighty. This is certain because this procession was for Allah and will remain for Allah, and hence Allah guards it, supports it, and bestows His victory on it.

May Allah have mercy on our dear Sheikh and make his company with the prophets, the martyrs, the truthful, and the righteous. And how excellent are those companions!
Anyway, in Lebanon the late senior scholars and the present scholars today [May Allah guard them] had the opportunity to move from one platform to another and from one square [to another] and raise their voice with the word of righteousness and to stay alive without being killed except, for very few.

However, in many other places in the world, this is not possible.

One of these places is to which we will move in our talk for tonight. Allow me to be clear today. We will talk everything clearly. If there was any place for courtesies and flattering, we will keep this aside. I believe this is over, now in the Arab Peninsula where a state was established, and falsely and oppressively called the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - the land of the two holy places, the land of the Prophet of Allah and his Household [Peace be upon him and them] and his chaste companions, the land of the first struggling fighters in Badr and Ohud, and the land of Islam. It is called after a family - the Saud dynasty. It imposed itself on the people of the Arab Peninsula with massacres, killing, and intimidation. This is found in history books. The historians are themselves from the Saud dynasty; they talk about these facts and present them as things to boast about and as glorious traits for the founding king and the criminal gangs that used to kill, take captives, and slaughter. On the bones and blood of the people of the Arab Peninsula and its tribes and clans, the kingdom was established with British support, British money, and British artilleries, as part of the British colonial scheme to control our countries. This coincided with the preparation for the establishment of another entity called "Israel" based on massacres, disjointed limbs, bones, and blood over the land of Palestine.

In that land, in that kingdom, no religious man or man of reform - this is not limited to Shiites or the eastern province - whether Shiite, Sunnite, Islamist, non-Islamist, national, or liberal - has any chance to make any criticism, or opposition, or discussion. However, today we do not want to entomb history. We will go directly to the present time, to that horrible incident. In fact, that is a very terrible incident. Perhaps, the Saud dynasty has belittled this incident because they belittle the entire nation. But this incident can't be made little of.

The Saudi crime of assassinating the grand, revered, struggling, reformist Sheikh, His Eminence Martyr Nimr al-Nimr, is not an incident that can be overlooked easily. They are absolutely wrong and assumed incorrectly. They read things in an incorrect way.
Let's move into the topic in a quiet, sequential, logical way.

First: Why did they assassinate Sheikh Nimr? What is his sin? What is his crime? What did they tell the world? They can't say anything? Indeed, I do not know the others. I did not follow their cases. Are they oppressive or oppressed? Do they deserve being beheaded or not? Only Allah knows. You can't make remote decisions with such a state. Thus I do not want to say I condemn or I don't condemn. However, they arrested the Martyr Sheikh and put him among groups who killed, bombed, and intimidated. They placed him among them as a terrorist. What is his crime? Did the Saudi court have any evidence that Sheikh Nimr held arms, fought with arms, or established an armed group - apart from the legitimacy or illegitimacy of such a deed?

You can say about me, about my brethren, and about Sayyed Abbass that we founded armed groups for fighting "Israel". Indeed this is a very big crime. Well, did he establish an armed group? Did he call for fighting? Did he call for holding weapons? Or was it that the entire path of Sheikh Nimr was peaceful as is the path of all the scholars in the eastern province in particular, and like the scholars and leaders in Bahrain who are hurled in prison, such as Sheikh Salman and Sheikh Miqdad, Mr. Abdulwahhab Hussein and Mr. Hassan? We can mention a list of names. Why are they hurled in prison? They are sentenced for long years in prison. Did they call for violence? Did they hold arms? Never!

Days ago, and as they are still in prison, they issued a statement from the jails of the Khalifa dynasty and signed it. In that statement, they insist on the Bahraini people to move along in their peaceful procession. They assert on the peaceful movement. This statement is a conviction to the Khalifa dynasty and their authority which imprisons people and oppressively tortures them, and still from their prison and while being tortured, they insist on the peaceful action. Have they called for anything else? No! This is their culture and this is their choice and conduct.

This is the problem of Sheikh Nimr. His true problem is that he said the rightful word. He was a very brave man. That means that he had a personality with good, praiseworthy, and advanced traits. However, usually one of these traits advances by far the other. You can describe Martyr Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr as very brave in what he says and in the place and time he speaks. He stood and talked forcefully. However, he was talking rightfully. He did not hold arms. He used to criticize and object. They are trying to distort his image. No, he is a reformist. He used to call for the rights of the people of the Arab Peninsula which is falsely named the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He was saying that this people have the right to choose their rulers, and not that authority is inherited from one prince to another. He was calling for this people to obtain their wealth, which is looted by the princes of the Saud dynasty, who are growing richer while their people are becoming poorer. He is calling for normal freedoms which are the demands of any person in any place in the word. However, he was calling with brevity, clarity, and frankness. This was his only crime.
Whoever talks is beheaded, and whoever objects is beheaded. This is Saudi Arabia, which wants to spread democracy in the region and wants to defend freedoms in the region.

Today is his great and very blatant conviction. The blood of Sheikh Nimr is on the faces, bodies, history, present, and future of the Saud dynasty until the Day of Judgment, and it will haunt them in this world and in the Hereafter.

Did Sheikh Nimr call for separation from the country? Did he call for dividing the country? Did he say what the Americans very frankly wanted from the Shiites in the eastern province to say, that we own the oil in the eastern province and we want to separate and have an independent state? Years ago, the Americans made this proposition to some Shiite leaders in the eastern province, but the Shiite scholars and the Shiite leaders in the eastern province refused separation and division, and insisted on staying a part of their country. How is this national, humanistic, and ethnical loyalty repaid? It is repaid with the sword against anyone who opposes or criticizes.

Second: This is the truth about Sheikh Nimr, and this is his story. There is nothing else. Bring along anything else. Indeed unfortunately, some writers who are paid for what they write say that this is an enforceable legitimate rule. How is it a legitimate rule? Have you got acquainted with the file? Did you investigate yourself? Has a true trial taken place? They were all pro forma trials. Even the attorney is not allowed to talk. Even the accused is not allowed to talk and defend himself.

Third: The big question also is why did they insist on beheading him in this timing and in these conditions prevailing in the region? Why?

During the past years, states, governments, personalities, sides, Shiite and Islamic religious authorities exerted enormous efforts and sent letters to the Saudi king, the princes of Saud dynasty, the officials in Saudi Arabia, in which they wished for him to issue a general amnesty, or at least not to carry out the capital sentence. He was able to issue a decree against executing the death penalty. He could have kept the Sheikh in prison for one, two, or three more years, and then see what would take place.

Well, why did they insist on the death sentence in this timing? He could have postponed it. He could have avoided the death sentence and issued a general amnesty, and laid bridges in the atmosphere prevailing in the entire region. There are people who still aspire for Saudi rationalism and moderation, and look forward to this regime accepting a political dialogue with Iran, the states in the region, the other political forces, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, the region, Bahrain, and Libya. They were still hoping that this regime opens its gates for stepping out of these destructive crises through negotiations, dialogue, positive conduct, and meetings.

Thus the beheading was very shocking and very surprising. For me, it was not surprising because the brethren and I approach the Saudi regime in a different way, which has been reinforced by the death penalty.

Through the execution of Sheikh al-Nimr, the kingdom sought to send the Islamic world and the Arab world a message in blood, written with swords and beheadings.

To them, the message sent by Saudi Arabia - or I would rather say the Saudi regime - is that it is not concerned about the Islamic world, or the Islamic sects, or Islamic public opinion, or international opinion, or world opinion. It makes little of everything called opinions, minds, and respect on the level of the world. They do not take into consideration friends who sent letters, people who begged them, and the feelings of hundreds of millions of Muslims in the world whose feelings will be harmed by a certain word or deed. Even worse is that the Martyr Sheikh was not only beheaded, but his chaste body was not handed to his family and people. They wanted to confiscate his voice while he was alive, and his body as a martyr.

The message also says: We will shed the blood of whoever criticizes and opposes us as the Saudi dynasty. Didn't they prosecute those who oppose them and killed them in more than one capital in the world? Didn't they conspire against those who composed books that oppose the Saud dynasty, even if that required destroying a country or causing a civil war in a certain country? I do not need to mention names. You know this. They say: We are a regime that does not tolerate criticism, opposition, and discussion. Either you live in our kingdom as sheep, or you will be slaughtered as sheep. There is nothing else. This is the message.

The third point in this message is that Saudi Arabia does not only cause a new sedition, it further seeks to inflate the ongoing sedition which it founded, financed, and ignited through killing and beheading. It seeks to mushroom the sedition and thrust it to dangerous and far areas.

Fourth: The message of the death penalty tells all the rational, the patient, the tolerant, and the calm people who bet as I said on rationality, moderation, and opening the gates to Saudi dialogue with other sides, that there is no dialogue, no dialogue, no moderation, no negotiations, but rather, more killing, bloodshed, and destructive wars. This is the message.

Fifth: This deed or this message presents to the world the true face of Saudi Arabia more than any time in the past. It presents its tyrannical face, its criminal face, and its terrorist face, and it is doing this every day, and not only on the day on which it beheaded Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. For over ten months it has been doing that daily in Yemen. It is shelling, killing, destroying, displacing, and perpetrating massacres, and crippling any form of dialogue, negotiations, or political solution.

At one stage, we used to say that the goal of the Saudi war on Yemen is to gain control over Yemen again and make Yemen succumb. After ten months we must say that the goal of the Saudi war on Yemen is destroying Yemen, killing the people of Yemen, and avenging from the people of Yemen absolutely as it took revenge from Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, because in Yemen there are men and women and a people who said ‘No' to the Saud dynasty. They opposed and refused to succumb. They called for freedom and gave up being the captives of slavery. They don't accept that the Saud dynasty be by their side in Yemen. They do not tolerate that a scholar, a politician, a leader, a party, an organization, or a group say no or say the truth, or disclose their corruption, oppression, tyranny, and terrorism. Thus they do not want a political solution in Yemen. They want to destroy Yemen, regardless of who is the alternative, whether he is Abed Rabbo or "ISIL" or al-Qaeda, or a civil war, or overwhelming chaos. This is not important.

I feel that what is running the battle now in Yemen is the spirit of revenge and not a political mind, or a political goal. This is the truth about the Saudi dynasty. This is the hidden grudge which controls their minds, decisions, and will.

So this is yesterday's message. It is the message of yesterday. This is the message of the beheading. It so clear that the Saudi regime insists on proceeding on the path of fighting, killing, bloody confrontation, and there is no place for dialogue, negotiations, rationality, or moderation.
Third: The responsibility. So first there is the crime of killing Sheikh al-Nimr. Second, there is the insistence on the death penalty. Third, there is the responsibility towards these events, this incident in particular and the similar incidents. Here too, there are several quick points.

First, there are stances which were taken yesterday on top of which come the stances of the Shiite religious authorities and the Islamic Republic in Iran. This is normal. There were also stances for scholars from our brethren in the Sunni sect. They were issued by Sunni Muslim scholars and Sunni authorities, and political and jihadi frameworks that belong to the noble Sunni sect. These stances are great and sublime. They are highly esteemed because they are essential in foiling the goals of the Saud dynasty.

The Saud dynasty wants Sunni-Shiite sedition. They themselves ignited such seditions many years ago, and they seek to enrage it in every place in the world, whether in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Indonesia, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. Wherever there are seditions between Shiites and Sunnites, search for the hand of Saudi Arabia and its intellect, money, and provocation. Thus when Sunni authorities and Sunni scholars condemn this death penalty, they are playing a great historic and Islamic role in achieving this goal.

Second: As our scholars draw our attention, we must draw the attention of Shiites and our people in all countries. They must be cautious not to turn this issue to a Sunni-Shiite cause and open files of this kind. The Saud family killed Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. This is the end of the story. It is not allowed to put this issue under the category of the Sunni. Moving from this blood to a Sunni-Shia ordeal is a service to the killers of Sheikh Nimr, and it is a show of disloyalty to the blood of Sheikh al-Nimr. Thus, every young Shiite young man who writes on a website, or appears on TV, or talks on a radio station, or studies or teaches in a school or university, or works in a factory, shop, or has a post, is not allowed to exploit this issue. After all there are some zealous people, and there are some infiltrations too in our Shiite environment. We are objective and factual people. There are infiltrations in our Shiite environment. There are some people who work for the British intelligence. There are people who serve the US intelligence. There are people as well who work for the Saud dynasty. Some people do not know what they are doing. They may use phrases or dig up files or take stances that serve the goals of the killers and not the goal of the martyr. We must highlight this point.

The third point has to do with the responsibility towards this issue. It's the responsibility to tell the world the truth. Isn't it time not for Hizbullah to say this, but for all the religious, political, media, party, social, cultural, and judicial posts in our Arab and Islamic world, and also in the entire world, to say the very truth Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr used to say? Isn't it due time?

Isn't it due time to say the righteous word in face of the tyrant who is destroying Islam and the nation? Isn't it due time to say bravely and without fear of any repercussions, that the source, industry, pillars, and the launching base of this Takfiri intellect which is destroying, killing, and perpetrating massacres, and threatening the peoples of the entire world, whether Muslims or Christians, is this regime, this dynasty, this family, and the school of Saudi Arabia.

Why must this be kept hidden and be the object of courtesy. The books whish "ISIL" learn from are the very books of the Saudi dynasty regime. They have the same education, the same origin, and consequently, the same conduct. Can't you see the same conduct? Compare the last 100 years of the Saud dynasty and the few recent years of "ISIL". They are the very same because they learn from the same religious educational books.

Isn't it due time to tell the world the truth. These Takfiri terrorist groups who kill and slaughter are sheer puppets of their financer who provides them with money, capabilities, facilities, training camps, expertise and support. It is the regime of the Saudi dynasty. Thus they are accomplices in all the blood which was shed in our Arab and Islamic world.

Isn't it due time to tell this truth to the world? The truth is as I said before: there is a land called the Arab Peninsula which was falsely and oppressively called "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia". There is an oppressed people ruled by a corrupt group which robs and loots its wealth, and when the people talk or open their mouth, they would be beheaded and accused of launching a war on Allah and His prophet, as if these rulers themselves are Allah and His prophet. They have this haughty, tyrannical spirit.

Isn't it due time for this world to expel from world human rights organizations and institutions a regime which is absorbed with human rights violations and which does not acknowledge its people's simplest human rights?

Isn't it due time for this world to categorize this regime under the tyrannical, dictator, terrorist, criminal regimes, at a time when they preoccupy themselves with blacklisting terrorist groups which have taken the Saud dynasty as their father, mother, and origin?

Why did they go to details and forget the main issue? Why did they head to the tail and leave the head? Isn't it due time to tell the world that for over a 100 years this regime has offered services to Britain in our region, and then to the USA along with "Israel"? It has afflicted horrible damages on the peoples of our region, as well as the governments and states of our region, and our central cause in Palestine. Isn't it due time to say all of this?

Isn't it due time to say all of this?

Indeed the slaves of wealth, authority, and this mundane world will court the tyrant. But this nation is full of scholars, politicians, leaders, elites, educated men, journalists, peoples, and free men and women.

Isn't it due time for that? Brothers and sisters! Today, the most important response to the assassination of the senior martyr Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr is to assume this responsibility. Why did they kill him? It's because he used to say the righteous word bravely. They wanted to silence the rightful brave word of truth in his throat. The responsibility of the entire world is to have the throat of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and echo the truth that he used to speak of. The world must say the word of rightfulness openly and bravely even if the price of saying the true word is to be beheaded. The Saud dynasty cannot kill all people.

This falsehood must be disclosed, and the buying of consciences with money must come to an end. It is the time of saying the truth with a high voice. The great are paying for that with their blood. This cajolery must come to an end. Betting on any Saudi dialogue or rationality had totally fallen.

We are before a regime which has gone so far in killing and blood shedding. It has refused to open a small window in the black wall it built.

This is the responsibility of scholars, preachers, and everyone. We must not fear being blamed for that. We must explain this to our peoples, nation, and the world. This is the best jihad these days. Indeed, one of the greatest forms of jihad is for a man to stand and say the truth about the Saud dynasty. This is one of the greatest forms of jihad. Do you know why? It's because it threatens these struggling people with being beheaded, cursed, humiliated, and insulted. Millions of dollars and hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent to harm them, their name, family, dignity, and everything that belongs to them.

However, all of this is simple. See how scornful they are. Ten months ago when I spoke about Yemen, I raised my voice to defend the Yemeni people and expressed my viewpoint.

I usually do not talk about anything personal. But see what they did. The following day, the Saudi press and social networking sites wrote articles and launched a broad and vast campaign about "so and so", referring to my son Martyr Hadi Nasrallah. You know that for 17 years, I did not talk about my son. They said that he was not killed while fighting; rather he was in a cabaret in Beirut and a shooting accident took place and he was announced as a martyr.

We are before people with this degree of inferiority and moral deterioration. When someone takes a negative stance from another person, even the latter's martyr with whom Allah honored him will be referred to by the former as a person killed in a cabaret. It is they, their children, and the children of their princes who call themselves the commanders of believers who are always found in cabarets. It's they who die in cabarets and not our children. Our children died and die on the battle fronts defending Lebanon, Palestine, the nation, and Islam. These are our children and sons.

That's why today this is the greatest jihad. Do not underestimate what we are doing. The retaliation to the assassination of the reverent Sheikh Martyr Nimr Baqer al-Nimr is the "Zainabi" response - to stand before all people and say the word of truth as Zainab did in the council of Ibn Ziyad and the council of Yazid bin Moawiyeh, without fearing anyone or any reaction.

The blood shed oppressively in Yemen, on the land of Saudi Arabia, in its jails, and all over the Arab and Islamic world will write the end of this dynasty and this regime which causes this bloodshed, pays for this bloodshed, and provides arms to perpetrate this bloodshed. These are divine norms and historic norms. When the regime loses its mind and even the simplest human feelings, and the simplest forms of practicing humanity, then it would have reached the declining path that leads to the abyss.

I join my voice to all the voices which said yesterday that the signs of the end of this corrupt, criminal, oppressive, tyrannical, Takfiri, and terrorist regime have started to appear in the horizons.

We ask Allah to have mercy on Sheikh al-Nimr and on all martyrs. May Allah reward them with high ranks in Heaven. Later on, I will talk more Inshallah. I only have a final word for those who are waiting for the retaliation. Two weeks have passed on the martyrdom of brother Samir al-Quntar. The force of the blood of Samir al-Quntar and the strength of the resistance is still imposing itself on the enemy soldiers and officers - from the sea to the farthest point on the borders - causing them to hide in their dens. What shall I do for you if they are hiding? They are waiting and we are waiting. They are afraid, and we are looking forward to take revenge. Our hope in Allah Almighty is very big. What is important is that they understood very well that killing our brothers and shedding our blood does not pass unmarked. They have to be afraid and hide. Now the falling snow had imprisoned them tightly in their dens. Anyway, we are waiting and Allah likes those who wait patiently. The retaliation is inevitable God-willing.

Brothers and sisters! I thank you again for your attendance and participation in this commemoration ceremony held in honor of the jihadi scholar, the faithful cleric, the faithful dear friend, His Eminence Sheikh Khatoun. I ask Allah Al Mighty to make him in the company with the prophets, the pious, the truthful, and the martyrs, and these are the best company. Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessing.

Source: Al-Ahed News, Translated by website team