Highlights of Sayyed Nasrallah’s Speech on the Eve of Ashura

Translated by Al-Ahed News, Hezbollah Media Relations

Highlights of the Speech of Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on the eve of Ashura:

Before I delve into tonight’s subject, the final night, there are some points that I would like to draw attention to.

1-            The incident that took place yesterday in the area of Sayyeda Zeinab [or the city Sayyeda Zeinab] which led to the death of a number of citizens and the wounding of a large number as well.

We must turn to their honorable families with our deepest condolences on the martyrdom of those oppressed, and we ask God Almighty to bring together with the Messenger of God, his household, and Sayyeda Zeinab in the Hereafter.

We ask God Almighty for a speedy recovery and full wellness for the wounded. Of course, this act, which was carried out by takfiri terrorists, according to all indications. Its goal is clear, but they will not be able to achieve it.

The lovers of Ahl al-Bayt in Syria will mark their Ashura tomorrow, as they do every year, but more than any other year. They will come with courage, vigor, faith, readiness, boldness, and facing the challenges. This is the case throughout the Islamic world and throughout the world.

2-            We must salute all those who commemorated Ashura today [Friday] and pray that God accept their effort – the great and massive participation in Iran, the great and distinguished popular presence in Yemen, in Turkey, in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, and in many countries of the world.

We ask God Almighty to grant success to all those who will mark the Ashura tomorrow [Saturday] in the best way and to protect them all and accept their deeds and ours.

3-            As usual on the eve of the last day, we extend our thanks to all those who exerted their efforts to mark this occasion this year, in this season as best as they could. We thank the brothers and sisters who assumed the responsibility of providing protection and security for all the Husseini councils and activities.

We also extend our thanks to the Lebanese army leadership, officers, and soldiers and to all the security forces and security services that have made great efforts in this direction over the past days and nights.

We extend our thanks to all those who organized and managed these councils throughout the Lebanese arena, regardless of their affiliations.

We extend our thanks to all those who were keen on the content and were present, including the scholars, the preachers, the reciters, the preachers of the Husseini pulpit, the reciters of the Quran, the Islamic singers. We thank everyone who contributed in this regard and those who made contributions in the plays and activities that will be held in several cities.

We also thank the owners of the food stalls for their effort and generosity as well as those who organized processions and marches during the past days and nights in many towns and cities. Tomorrow will be the culmination of the functions of the previous days and nights, God willing, and will continue after Saturday.

I hope we did not forget anyone who contributed and financially supported these councils. Many made donations. Thank you and may you be rewarded.

We thank those who will take part in tomorrow’s marches in different cities and towns. We must extend our thanks to all the neighbors of the complexes, Husseiniyas, mosques, courtyards, and stalls as well as all the residents of the neighborhoods, who are partners, in marking this occasion. We also apologize to them for the harm or inconvenience they may have suffered, especially since the council sometimes stays until 11:00 or 11:30. May God accept from everyone.

From this Husseini Karbalai school, which rejects injustice and works to achieve justice, the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon was established.

The advantage of the Islamic resistance in Lebanon is that it was for God and for the sake of God, from day one. Those among us – 40 years ago – were not competing for power. We did not want to compete with anyone for a position, for power, for money, or for prestige. The first generation and the generations after it bear witness to that.

Rather, our goal was to defend the persecuted, the tortured, and those assaulted by the Zionist enemy and make it possible for them to secure their lives, their blood, their livelihood, their security, their safety, and their dignity.

Since 1948, they had no one to defend them and protect them. This was the intention of our martyred leaders, our martyred fighters, and all the men and women who were martyred on this path. This was the intention of our wounded, our captive, and their families. This was the intention of our incubating environment, including the families of the martyrs, the Mujahideen, the wounded, the captives, and the people who bore the consequences of this confrontation with the enemy.

The Resistance had great consequences. In July and August when they attacked our villages and cities, tens of thousands of homes were completely or partially destroyed.

Likewise, in political jihad, brothers and sisters, in struggle, in political jihad, and in political work, we are not looking for authority to rule over people.

I say this to emphasize this spirit, so that we do not become other than this, because we are like this, God willing. We are not looking for power to rule over people and dominate them or to plunder their money and increase our balance in banks inside the country and abroad.

We do not intend to enslave them or oppress them as many political leaders do. We are not looking for positions, and our goal is not to have positions. To us, power and rule are like what the Commander of the Faithful Imam Ali said, “even of less worth and less significance than the sneezing of a goat.” This is how we must be.

If we are in power – a minister, a deputy, a director, a mayor, an employee in any of the posts – it should be a means and not a goal, a means to protect people, to serve people, to defend people, to alleviate their pain and misfortunes, and to solve their problems.

Other than that, we are not being loyal to Imam Ali, the Messenger of God, or to the Prophet’s household. Imam Mahdi’s project is to provide education, health, work, and dignified standard of living. That is the reason why he endured all the arts of occultation. 124 thousand prophets talked about his project.

His project is not a project of power, enslavement, possession, or command. Rather, it is to establish justice in the land and erase injustice and oppression from the world.

The whole world is abuzz with oppression, torment, poverty, and hunger. Look at the number of starving people who do not have enough food. Hunger is now extending to western countries.

Search the internet and you’ll find the distribution of food and homeless people.

There are thousands of legal and illegal immigrants, as they say, who leave Africa and Asia and die in the sea. Is this not one of the injustices that now exist in this world?

Everyone is tired of injustice and oppression. This is not only related to Muslims but rather to the Christians in Latin America and in many countries and societies in the world as well as the followers of the other religions.

Today, the injustice, torment, and oppression that prevails in the world is unprecedented in the history of mankind. It is being done using contemporary means. They practice injustice, torture, intimidation, oppression, and psychological and physical wars. They develop weapons that kill and cause mass destruction.

This did not exist before, but today it does exist. The world today is controlled by a small group of billionaires, most of whom are in the United States of America.

Very few people own most of the wealth in the world, and the rest have to live at their mercy and at the tables of these tyrannical oppressors who have no problem waging wars in order to operate arms factories and make billions of dollars in profit. They do not have a problem causing a pandemic to manufacture vaccines and make billions of dollars of profit.

What does injustice mean? What does it mean that the land is filled with injustice?

Today, all these people have their hopes pinned and their eyes fixed on the savior, on Imam Mahdi, the descendant of Fatima, and on Jesus Christ, the beloved brother of the Messenger of God.

Today, this is the state of the oppressed and the tormented. On this night, the last night of our commemorations, our speech is to the grandson of Imam Hussein, to our Imam Mahdi, who lives in the bitterness, pain, and sorrow of what happened in Karbala.

What happened in Karbala is present before his eyes, an eye of certainty with all its facts – the scenes of heroism, steadfastness, patience, loyalty, altruism, and sacrifice as well as the scenes of desertion, abandonment, betrayal, and treachery.

This is strongly present in his conscience. On this night, from this courtyard and everywhere and on behalf of all our brothers and sisters, we turn to our master Sahib al-Zaman and tell him: O our master, our lord, and our imam, when we call you to appear and rise and revolt, we invite you and promise you that we will protect you with our souls, blood, money, and loved ones.

O master, whatever the risks, we will stay with you. Take us wherever you want and will, for by God, we will not tell you it is a hot summer or a cold winter, as was said to your grandfather, the Commander of the Faithful, peace be upon him.

You will not see from us tiredness, boredom, or hesitation. On the contrary, if you commanded us to move mountains, we will. On the day of your appearance, we will be with you and we will say to you as the companions of Imam Hussein told him and as the companions of the Messenger of God told him.

We will not say to you what the Israelites told Moses: {Go, you and your Lord, and fight. Indeed, we are remaining right here.}

We will say to you as the companions of Muhammad told him on the way to Badr: Go you and your Lord and fight, we are with you as fighters.

We will tell you what the companions of Imam Hussein told him on the night of Ashura when he permitted them to leave.

“The darkness of the night has enveloped you, thus free yourself from the whirlpool [hiding] in the waves of darkness. Then each of you may catch hold of the hand of each of my family members and disperse. For these people desire me only, and after having laid their hands upon me, they shall not pursue anyone else.”

They all said loudly, “Should we go away to live after you? We pray to Allah that the time may not come when you may be killed and we may remain alive.”

They stood up and told him, “O Abu Abdullah, even if I know that I shall be killed and then made to rise again and then killed and burnt and my ashes be scattered around, and this shall happen seventy times, and this act should be repeated a thousand times, even then I shall not forsake you, O Hussein.”

O my master, O Sahib al-Zaman, we will be with you in this spirit, our young, old, and women. We will tell you: We pray to Allah that the time may not come when you may be killed and we may remain alive, O Mahdi, the grandson of the Prophet.

Even if we know that, while fighting your battles with and in your defense of the oppressed and the tortured, we shall be killed and then made to rise again and then killed and burnt and our ashes be scattered around, and this shall happen a thousand times, and this act should be repeated 100 thousand times, even then we shall not forsake you, O Mahdi.

Tomorrow, brothers and sisters, we will take part in Ashura marches to heed the call of Hussein and Zainab. Tomorrow, the title of our marches will be in defense of the thaqalayn [Two Weighty Things].

This narration is known among the Shiites and the Sunnis. The Messenger of God said, “I am leaving behind over you the Two Weighty Things [al-thaqalayn]: the Book of Allah and my offspring.”

Tomorrow, we will march to defend the Book of Allah against those who insist on insulting it and our Islamic sanctities, against those who insist as Bendifer did these days in storming Al-Aqsa Mosque and attacking Al-Aqsa Mosque. We will march in defense of the Book of Allah and our sanctities and in defense of the household of the Messenger of God. We will announce our affiliation to the thaqalayn – the Book of Allah and the Prophet’s offspring. We will march to defend all the oppressed, the tortured, and the persecuted in Palestine, in Yemen, in Bahrain, and in the entire region and in the whole world.

Tomorrow, we will march for Imam Mahdi, the grandson of Hussein, to see us. This will console him, comfort him, and make his heart happy. We want him to know and to confirm that this nation and these Husseini generations will not allow Hussein to be killed twice and Zainab to fall captive twice.

When we talk about the burning of the Quran, one of the well-known Umayyad kings struck the Quran with arrows, and this is in the history books. He ruled in the name of the successor of the Messenger of God.

Tomorrow, brothers and sisters, will extreme hot weather prevent us from expressing our presence and our stance? Absolutely not, just as in the past, extreme rain, snow, or cold did not prevent us from expressing our stance.

Tomorrow, God willing, we will march and our central slogan – I hope that the brothers will generalize it to all the marches – will be: Labbayk Ya Hussain [I am at your service, O Hussain], Labbayk Ya Quran [I am at your service, O Quran], Labbayk Ya Mahdi [I am at your service, O Mahdi].

On this night, we renew our allegiance, commitment, loyalty, sincerity, and determination to continue on this path and march of loyalty, jihad, and sacrifices – regardless of the sacrifices and difficulties – to our Hussein, his grandfather, father, mother, brother, and grandchildren as well as to Imam Mahdi.

We only saw glory, victory, honor, and dignity on this path.

Peace be upon you, O my master and my chief, O Abu Abdullah, and upon the souls that gathered in your courtyard. Peace of Allah be upon you from me forever as long as I am existent and as long as there are day and night.

May Allah not cause this [visit] to be the last of my visit to you [all]. Peace be upon Hussein, upon Ali ibn Hussein, upon the sons of Hussein, and upon the companions of Hussein.

May God reward you greatly, may God brighten your faces. Thank you for this great participation. Brothers and sisters, may you be blessed and successful, God willing.

I ask God Almighty to bring us all together with the Messenger of God, his family, Hussein, and Zainab.

May God’s peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you.