Sayyed Nasrallah’s Full Speech on The Tenth of Muharram 1443 AH
Translated by Staff
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech on the tenth of Muharram 1443 AH on 19-8-2021
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah the Most Gracious the Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and prayers and peace be upon our Master and Prophet, the Seal of Prophets, Abi al-Qassem Muhammad Bin Abdullah and his good and pure household and his good and chosen companions and all the prophets and messengers.
Peace be upon you, O’ Master, O’ Aba ‘Abdillah and upon the souls which were annihilated with you. Upon you, from me, is the peace of Allah for eternity, as long as the night and the day remain and please do not make this as my last contact with you. Greetings be upon Husayn, and upon ‘Ali the son of Husayn, and upon the children of Husayn and upon the companions of Husayn.
Gentlemen, scholars, brothers, and sisters.
Peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you all, and may God magnify your rewards.
On the tenth of Muharram, and at the beginning of the speech, as in every year, we first extend our condolences to the Messenger of God, Muhammad (may God’s prayers and peace be upon him and his household) the Seal of the Prophets and the Master of the Messengers. We all tell him may God Almighty reward you, O’ Messenger of God, for the affliction of your son Hussein (peace be upon him). We extend our condolences to the Commander of the Faithful and tell him may God reward you, O’ Commander of the Faithful, for the affliction of your son Hussein. We extend our condolences to our Lady, the Lady of the women of the worlds, and may God grant you the reward, my mistress, for the martyrdom of your son, Hussein. We turn to Imam Hassan Al-Mujtaba and our pure imams (peace be upon them) and say, may God reward you, our masters and imams, for the affliction of your father, Hussein (peace be upon him).
Today, we extend our condolences to our great religious authorities, at the forefront of whom is His Eminence the Leader of the Muslims, the Leader Sayyid Khamenei, to all the scholars of the nation, to all the loving Muslims, and to every honorable and fair human being because Hussein (PBUH) is the inheritor of the prophets, the inheritor of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (may God’s prayers and peace be upon him and his household) and because Hussein (PBUH) is the symbol of the heavenly religions, the messages of heaven, and the human and moral values in this world.
Brothers and sisters, today we recall the memory of Ashura and what happened in Karbala during the confrontation between truth and falsehood under the leadership of the Master of martyrs, Abi Abdullah Al-Hussein (PBUH) and the prince of the convoy of the faithful, loyal, enamored, and knowledgeable mujahideen in the year 61 AH. With all the meanings of faith and jihad as well as human and moral values, we proceed from the aforementioned to define our position and renew it amid what we are experiencing during these days in Lebanon and regionally. As is the custom on every tenth day [of Muharram], I will speak briefly about each position, condense them as much as possible, and conclude as is the custom by renewing our pledge of allegiance, loyalty, and love and following the example of the Master of the Martyrs as well as his companions, supporters, and members of his household, men and women.
1- We must start from the top priority in our understanding and action of our march. The top priority is to confront the usurping Zionist entity in Palestine and other parts of the Arab territories in Lebanon and Syria. The position against the Zionist project, the Zionist entity, and “Israel”.
The message of Hussein’s Ashura to all Muslims and honorable people in the world is to stand by the oppressed Palestinian people, Palestine’s besieged [Gaza] Strip, its threatened [West] Bank, the territories of 1948, its displaced people in the diaspora and refugee camps, and to thousands of men, women, and children detainees in prisons. The message is for the honorable people to stand by the pain and suffering of this resistant and oppressed people and their right to attain their land from the sea to the river without any detraction. In Ashura, this is our firm, permanent, and final position, regardless of the circumstances, difficulties, threats, forms of normalization, betrayal, retreat, and concession by some negligent people and normalizers, especially since now more than ever, we are looking forward to the day when the Zionist invaders, the occupiers of the land of Palestine will leave because this is the end of every occupation. This is the fate of every invader and occupier. This day is inevitably coming. They see it far away, and we see it soon, especially after the historic and heroic battle waged by the people of Palestine, their resistance in Gaza, and their rebellious people in the West Bank and at home, as well as the events that unfolded in the Al-Quds Sword battle and the nation's embrace of this option.
Today, too, in the face of the threats threatening the Holy City, the city of Al-Quds, Beit Al-Maqdis, and the Islamic and Christian holy sites, foremost of which is the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, we renew our call for creating and establishing the regional equation capable of protecting the holy sites and the Holy City. The protection of the holy sites and the Holy City should not only be a Palestinian responsibility but also the responsibility of the whole nation. I renew this call and extend my sincere gratitude to our brothers in the Iraqi resistance factions for what they announced a few days ago at the beginning of Muharram, for what was announced by the Coordinating Committee of the Iraqi Resistance Factions, which represents all the Iraqi resistance factions, regarding their willingness or declaration that they will be part of the regional equation in the axis of resistance, in the battle of the resistance to protect Al-Quds, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Holy City. This is very important because the Zionists greatly fear Iraq's position in any equation of conflict with “Israel”. The “Israelis” have a religious culture that makes them see any Iraqi role in a major war as frightening and terrifying. This is due to reasons related to events that took place in history. Time, however, does not allow us to elaborate this point, but referring to it is sufficient. I also renew my thanks to the dear brothers in Yemen’s Ansarullah movement for their earlier declaration regarding this matter as well. The development, cooperation, and intertwining of the resistance forces in our region alongside the Palestinian resistance movements and on the side of everyone who belongs to the axis of resistance will make the hope for the liberation of Palestine great and will make this day come very, very soon, God willing. This is in the first position related to “Israel”.
2- In Ashura, it is natural that we reject and confront the American project of hegemony and the American domination over our country, our peoples, our goods, and our region, including Lebanon. The American administration and the successive American governments are the head of tyranny, injustice, corruption, and arrogance in this world, and that’s why Hussein (PBUH) raised the banner of the bloody confrontation on such a day. America is the one that represents all these malicious and ugly meanings in our contemporary world. Sovereignty in this region should belong to its people and states. The bounties of this region, its waters, its oil, its gas, its natural resources, its land, and everything in it should be exclusively for its people and governments, away from any form of American and non-American hegemony, domination, looting, and theft.
Brothers and sisters, as I have said the night before yesterday that the American defeat in Afghanistan following 20 years of occupying this country has strategic and historical implications and important repercussions on our region and the world today. In the next few months, eye will be looking towards to the American occupation in Iraq and Syria – east of the Euphrates and Al-Tanf.
In Iraq, and with the blessing of the blood of the two martyrs, the oppressed and loyal leaders, martyred leader Hajj Qassem Soleimani and martyred leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who truly represented the pinnacle of following the example of Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas (PBUH). Their hands and heads were cut off and their bodies scattered, along with the martyred Iranian and Iraqi brothers who were in that blessed and luminous jihadi convoy.
With the blessing of this pure blood, with the blessing of the Iraqi people’s rejection, which was manifested in the million-man demonstration in Baghdad after the martyrdom of the two great leaders, with the blessing of the Iraqi parliament’s decision to expel American forces from Iraq, with the blessing of the ongoing Iraqi resistance factions’ operations against the occupation forces, and with the blessing of the efforts of Iraqi officials, it was decided, according to what the Iraqi government clearly announced, that the US combat forces will start leaving the holy land of Iraq from now until the end of this year, i.e., after three to four months. This is a very important achievement and a great victory for Iraq, for the blood of the martyrs, for the sacrifices of the resistance fighters, and for the patience and insight of this great people.
For Iraq to regain its sovereignty and control over its skies and airspace and all its border crossings with Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey is a very important matter. It remains up to the Iraqi brothers how much American trainers, advisers, and technicians will remain in Iraq. When looking into this matter, we hope that our Iraqi brothers, the respectable Iraqi officials, take into consideration the American training experience of the Afghan army and the Afghan police forces for the past 20 years. Let them take into consideration the failed consultations provided by the American advisors and see what the result was so that the Iraqis’ money and time that will be spent on these American trainers and advisors are not wasted. They should also not pin their hopes on fantasies and illusions.
From the Afghanistan experience it must be known, and this is a message to all the peoples of our region, that what constitutes a real guarantee for Iraq and its people alongside official Iraqi forces in the face of ISIS and the various takfiri groups as well as when confronting similar threats is Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi (or Popular Mobilization Forces). The Hashd was founded on piety since the beginning. It was founded for God. It acts for God. Its jihad is for God. Its revolution is for God. The best of Iraq’s scholars, youth, and men joined it.
The Hashd was one of the greatest manifestations and embodiments of the great Iraqi responses to the wise fatwa of the honorable religious authority in Najaf. With its faith, belief, Hussaini spirit, enthusiasm, sincerity, long experience, and high efficiency, must be strengthened and adhered to because it is a large part of this guarantee.
As for Syria, brothers and sisters, the Americans are still in the east of the Euphrates, in areas in Al-Hasakah Governorate and the rest of Deir Ezzor Governorate. They are also in an area close to the Syrian-Iraqi-Jordanian border triangle known as the Al-Tanf area. Their argument is based on what Trump previously announced and what Biden currently announced that these forces in Syria have one mission and one goal, which is to help fight Daesh.
This is a flimsy argument and a false and deceptive claim. Basically, the Iraqi army, Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi, the Syrian Arab Army, the allied forces, and the resistance forces, the Lebanese army and the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, as well as governments, armies, peoples, and the forces of resistance in the region are the ones that defeated Daesh.
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They are capable of ending Daesh and do not need any alleged American assistance. On the contrary, the American forces in our region are the suspects. There is evidence proving these American forces are facilitating, reproducing, and helping Daesh move from one area to another.
The American forces must leave Al-Tanf area since there is no Daesh there. As for the east of the Euphrates, the real goal of the American forces is to perpetuate and strengthen division in Syria, which the Syrian people and the Syrian state reject and can never agree to. The other goal is to loot oil and gas; tankers carry [these materials] towards the Iraqi border daily and openly. These are the goals of the American presence. On more than one occasion, the Syrian people announced a popular resistance, which is manifested in various forms in the east of the Euphrates. In the end, as in Iraq and wherever there is an occupier and gas, the fate of the American occupiers in Syria is also to leave, and this part of Syrian land will return to the state and the motherland. Syria's oil and gas will return to the government and people, which are today in dire need of these capabilities and bounties in light of the siege, Caesar's Act, and the unjust American sanctions.
3- In Ashura, it is necessary to renew the position regarding the US-Saudi war of aggression against Yemen and its oppressed people. This unjust and brutal war must stop, and these aggressors must know, after all these years, that they will not be able to achieve any of their goals in the face of the steadfastness and heroism of this great patient and resistant people and their wise and courageous leadership.
4- In Ashura, we renew our position on the side of the oppressed people of Bahrain who have been robbed of their natural rights, whose scholars, figures, and best young men and women are being locked up in dark prisons, and who are being prevented from expressing their positions and opinions. These people, who always support Palestine and the causes of the [Islamic] nation, need the entire nation to stand for their rights to get rid of this difficult and overwhelming reality weighing down on them.
5- Lebanon: There are several points related to Lebanon.
1- The resistance: In Ashura, we would like to assure our friends and enemies of the strength of the resistance in Lebanon, its readiness, and its solidity despite all that happened and is happening in Lebanon. Everything that happened here and around us could not affect the capabilities of the resistance, nor the development of armaments and human capabilities, nor the will and determination of this resistance to defend the land, sovereignty, and dignity. The recent partial confrontation is a great proof of this. Therefore, let no one miscalculate. The one who are afraid, terrified, worried, and apprehensive about the developments in the region is the “Israeli” enemy. Today, “Israel” is worried following the American defeat in Afghanistan. Listen to what “Israeli” officials, commentators, researchers, and the “Israeli” media say about their great fears regarding the repercussions of this American defeat, withdrawal, failure, as well as political, military, security, and moral fall on the region, on America’s allies in the region, and on “Israel” itself. We are not worried. On the contrary, now more than ever, we are hopeful, certain, and believe in the safety and correctness of our choice, our way, and our approach to the final and decisive victory.
2- The government: With certainty and strongly, we have called and we still call for the formation of a government in Lebanon. We have always rejected a vacuum. We rejected the resignation of the current government, and our position is known. We rejected the resignation of the previous government, and our position is known. We have always called for the formation of a government. We always facilitated the matter of forming the government. There are those, outside and inside, who always try to hold us responsible for the failure of forming the Lebanese government under the pretext and claim that we do not put enough pressure on our allies and friends. This is meaningless talk because it makes no sense to put pressure on your allies and force your friends to commit. I’ve explained what that means a lot. What is worse is to attribute the disruption of the government formation in Lebanon to Iran, to the Islamic Republic of Iran, at a time when we know that Iran has never interfered in the formation of a government or in the resignation one. Those who interfere in the formation of governments and the overthrow of governments in Lebanon are global and regional countries. They do so through their embassies. They are known to all the Lebanese. These accusations against us are not based on any evidence. Rather, all the evidence support the opposite. We, like the rest of the Lebanese people today, are waiting for a result and anticipating with hope what the continuous meetings between His Excellency the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister-designate will reveal. These meetings are also a basic entry point for addressing many of the upcoming crises.
3- The current economic and living situation in Lebanon: This reality must be seriously confronted with a spirit of responsibility, without defeat, without a spirit of defeatism or surrender, and without despair. Can we confront it? Yes, we must work vigorously to confront these crises or reduce them and find ways to address them. Regarding the issue of petrol and diesel, which we had to talk about on more than one night. After the movement of the Lebanese army and the security forces to inspect the [gasoline] stations and some warehouses of companies and information came to them about storage places in various areas, it turned out that millions of liters of gasoline and millions of liters of diesel were stored. This is what turned out so far, and the stored material could be more than this. What does this confirm? This confirms that it is a fabricated crisis, an artificial crisis because the state was providing support, ships used to come to shores, companies received and delivered, and stations sold. In the midst of all this, there was monopoly and smuggling. Hence, this is a fabricated crisis. It could have been dealt with if the state had taken the initiative with determination and firmness from the beginning. It could have prevented the queues of humiliation at gasoline stations and all the forms of humiliation that the Lebanese have suffered during the past weeks. If the state made this bold and courageous decision from the beginning, the army and security forces came, and the relevant ministries carried out their responsibilities, none of these things that took place during the past few weeks would have happened. Is this mismanagement? Is this a deliberate act to force the Lebanese into despair and to create a state of psychological pressure and suffocation to impose choices and wills on the Lebanese? If the monopolists do not stop this inhumane and hideous behavior that humiliates the Lebanese at gas stations, hospitals, and while they look for their daily bread and puts them in darkness and heat, it is not enough for the security forces to confiscate the stored and monopolized quantities [of fuel]. In Ashura, with all awareness as well as human and religious responsibility, I say that the state and the security forces must throw these ugly monopolists in prisons so that this humiliation and artificial crisis stop. Of course, this matter should apply to the other files, including medicine and foodstuff, because it is the same story – monopoly, greed, and profits multiplied many times. This matter must not continue. And the state, with its modest capabilities, can it alleviate the suffering of the Lebanese? Yes, but it needs will and determination.
We must also highly appreciate the sacrifices of the Lebanese army and security forces. These officers, soldiers, and sergeants on the streets at night, in the day, and under the sun expose themselves to dangers in order to alleviate the suffering of the Lebanese people. This matter must be valued. They are also exposed to security risks, assaults, shooting, and being pelted with stones. This is condemned. It is shameful for someone to fire a bullet or throw a stone at those honorable officers and soldiers, who strive day and night to provide gasoline and diesel for hospitals, bakeries, etc., and to preserve social security to prevent this country from exploding due to all these pressures.
The state can alleviate the suffering. Yes, the current government can speed up the implementation of the cash card draft approved by the Parliament, and it is capable of alleviating the suffering as well.
On the tenth of Muharram and in front of this great Husseini Zainabi presence in Dahiyeh [Beirut’s southern suburb] and in all areas, I would like to announce something related to us. For our part, we had previously spoken and promised, and we were waiting and preparing because, frankly, bringing gasoline and diesel from Iran or elsewhere, is a new matter and experience to me, my brothers, and to us in Hezbollah. It needed some time.
Today, on the tenth day of Muharram, I would like to announce to everyone that our first ship that will set out from Iran and loaded with materials has completed all the arrangements. It’s been loaded with the required tons and completed all the administrative work. It will sail within hours with the blessing of Hussein, the Master of Martyrs, to Lebanon. What separates us from it is only distance. When the first ship arrives, others will follow, God willing. It is not only one ship. When it reaches the Mediterranean, we will talk later about the details – where, how, when, the practical mechanisms, etc.
Of course, on the first ship we gave priority to diesel. Cars and transportation need gasoline, but today hospitals, health centers, pharmaceutical factories, food factories, bakeries, and electricity generators depend on fuel. Therefore, diesel is a priority and of paramount importance because it is related to people's lives. And, God willing, this ship and the others will arrive safe and sound. I know that we are facing a great challenge, and there are rumors and fears and hidden threats. So far, there is nothing official. We have not yet received an official threat, for example, what the Americans will they do or what the “Israelis” are doing. There is talk in some media outlets.
I would like to say that the ship, from the moment it sails in a couple of hours and hits the water, will become Lebanese territory. I tell the Americans and the “Israelis” that the ship coming from Iran, which will sail in a few hours, is Lebanese territory. We insisted on this option because we cannot bear the humiliation of our people – the queues at bakeries, the queues at hospitals, queues at gas stations, or darkness during the night and heat of summer.
We are not challenging anyone. If they lift their sanctions on Lebanon and allow the Lebanese to live their normal lives, we wouldn’t have to resort to this option. Those who imposed on Lebanon these difficult conditions are the ones who made us resort to this option because we want to help our people. We do not want to fight anyone or challenge anyone. But frankly, we are saying that no one should err and dare us with a challenge that is related to the pride of our people and that humiliates our people. We refuse that our people be humiliated. We are, over the generations and hundreds of years, the followers of that imam who raised the eternal slogan: Never, never to humiliation. We refuse to be humiliated neither in a military war, nor in a political war, nor in an economic war. When we are presented with choices of this kind, the whole world knows our decision and our resolve. This will be confirmed at the end of the speech shortly.
On this occasion, we have to thank the Islamic Republic of Iran, His Eminence the Redeemed Leader Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, His Excellency the President of the Republic Ayatollah Sayyid Raisi, the honorable officials, and the great Iranian people. We thank them and appreciate them for always standing beside Lebanon and the people of Lebanon as they’ve done with the resistance – they were our real and strong support that made it possible for us to liberate our land and prisoners and regain our sovereignty. They were also with us during the July war – in the resistance, steadfastness, and the main contribution to the reconstruction. Likewise, today, despite the sanctions on Iran, the embargo, and the difficult economic conditions that the dear people of Iran are suffering from, as you do, Iran stands by your side.
In the past forty years, despite a war imposed on it for eight years and the attempts to strike, isolate, and besiege it, the blessed Islamic Republic has never abandoned its allies and friends. The blessed Islamic Republic of Iran will never fail its friends and allies, and the severed hand of Qassem Soleimani in the airport in Baghdad is a strong witness to this fact. This is a message to all the peoples and governments of our region that are threatened by terrorism, siege, and sanctions. And here, yes, this is a friend you can bet on. This is a tall mountain that you can lean on and lean your back on. With this kind of friends and allies, the scene changes and the equations change. This is a big lesson, a big lesson!
Also, I would like to emphasize, as I mentioned a while ago, O Lebanese, with all sincerity, that the Islamic Republic, for 40 years, has not interfered in the internal affairs of Lebanon. Lebanon’s decision is our decision. Lebanon is in our hands. As I have always said, we are not tools for this country or that country, even this generous country. We are masters to the Wali al-Faqih, and we are not slaves to America or America’s tools are in the region. This is the truth. Therefore, everything that is said about Iranian interference in electing a president, appointing a prime minister, forming a government, adopting an electoral law or economic policies, or interfering in alliances that we or our friends make. This is all lies, slander, and absolutely baseless.
Also on the Lebanese issue, a few words about addressing the issue of the monopolists and smuggling that I talked about the night before yesterday, as well as the security incidents. I tell you. I tell the good and honorable people who are suffering from some thugs – because there is no other description for them except this. Those who attack people and shoot at gas stations or at electricity stations, burn public institutions or private properties are anarchic demagogues, who have no value – that we are all disturbed by what is happening. The most recent incident is the heinous attack in Khaldeh, which resulted in martyrs and wounded.
What is right is for the state to assume its responsibility in addressing the security incidents that occur in some areas, especially in the Bekaa region. We will help the state fulfill its responsibilities. We will cover, support, and help it. Even if we are angry and agitated – allow me and accept this logic – we must endure. It is wrong to react. We are strong and not weak, no one can beat us. It is wrong to be react emotionally, even when dealing with urgent security problems. We must all be on the side of the Lebanese army and the security forces. The right thing and the greater national interest is for the state to address these incidents. Partisan forces or resistance forces addressing this type of incidents with a special treatment or self-treating them is like fighting the corrupt with what is worse, fighting the bad with what is worse, and this is what our enemies really want.
Before concluding – there is still a point and then the conclusion – we know that what is happening in our country is an economic war to subjugate the Lebanese and to impose options on them that serve “Israel's” interests, with regard to demarcating maritime borders, sharing the oil resources at sea. We have great hope as Lebanese people, as a state, and a nation that we obtain this oil and gas resources to pay off debts and remedy our situation. It is not clear that there are other hopes. There are those who want to limit the Lebanese to choices that are not compatible with these national interests.
Regarding the capabilities of the resistance capable of protecting the country as well as Lebanon's position in relation to everything that is happening in the region, we know that the US administration is managing this war. [We know that] the US embassy in Awkar is the direct den that runs this economic and media war. The US embassy is behind all this media incitement to pit the Lebanese against each other. We know that the US ambassador personally meets with some of the so-called NGOs, the so-called civil society associations. She demands, incites, and finances them, and when they fail, she reproaches them for a long time. In the face of this truth and reality, this embassy in Awkar is not an embassy of diplomatic representation. This is an embassy that conspires and colludes against the people of Lebanon, on the morsel of bread in Lebanon, on the hard work in Lebanon, on the dignity of the people in Lebanon – it does so from its diabolical position.
Here, I want to tell this embassy that you have failed in the past and will fail. In the past 20 years, you have trained regular armies, generals and soldiers and have failed. What will these poor civil society organizations do for you, and who are they facing? They are facing the honorable patriots in Lebanon, the resistance forces in Lebanon, the resistance that defeated you and the multiple versions of your project in Lebanon and in the region! Therefore, you are just exhausting yourselves and spending money in vain. I say to these poor people who belong to some – I do not want to say all – civil society organizations – the newly wealthy. You heard some politicians yesterday saying that tens of millions that were given to these associations have evaporated. It is natural for it to evaporate. It is the same as the 20 billion dollars that Saudi Arabia spent on Lebanon and evaporated, like the 10 billion dollars in recent years that America spent in Lebanon and evaporated. The money that will be given to these organizations will evaporate, and a new class of rich people will be created. This is the truth. I also tell these poor people to learn lessons from Afghanistan. Do not lean your back on this embassy, this ambassador, or this administration. Their police dogs are more honorable to them, more beneficial to them, and closer to them than you and everyone who is like you. Take lessons and do not make the same mistakes that others made.
Dear brothers and sisters, the only option for the Lebanese is to cooperate, understand one another, and meet. Our last message on Ashura is a message of convergence, cooperation, and understanding in order to save our country. We must rely on our capabilities, our people, our minds, our great human capabilities, and our humble material capabilities. If the assistance coming from abroad is unconditional, it is welcomed. Any support that comes from abroad that does not affect the sovereignty of the country is welcomed. The aid that is being talked about is conditional aid; it’s conditional on the Lebanese clashing with each other and strife between them. This is a matter that has no result and is useless. This money wants to destroy Lebanon, not revive it and rebuild it.
So, we, as a people, are able to overcome these difficulties if we cooperate and united. On Ashura, we derive determination, will, steadfastness ,and continuity of the path from Hussein, the companions of Hussein, and the martyrs with Hussein, from Zainab and the sisters of Zainab. Our message on Ashura is the message that we say and conclude with every year. Do not test us. You have tried us before, in 1982, for many years until 2000, and in 2006 in the face of “Israel”, as well as from 2011 until today in the face of the takfiri groups that you brought from all over the world. Do not test us, not in a military war nor in a security war nor in an economic war because we are the children of the school, which, if we were placed between two options, we will say the words of Hussain (PBUH) on the tenth of Muharram:
The da`i and the son of the da`i [one whose parents are unknown but someone claims him as his son] has required us to choose one of two: a basket of gains or humiliation. Far away we are from accepting humiliation. Allah, His Messenger, and the believers refuse that we should be humiliated; good ancestry born out of pure wombs, people of dignity, men of honor; no obedience to the mean ones can affect the fate of the honorable ones.
We are the people of martyrdom, who are martyred with their heads held high, as our martyrs did. This is our path that we cling to, and when we are in a battle of this kind, we do not abandon our Islam, our faith, our leader, our cause, our sanctities, and our nation.
We tell the whole world what the Messenger of God said, “If they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left on condition that I abandon this course, until God has made me victorious, or I perish therein, I would not abandon it."
Or we say what the companions of Hussein said to the Prophet’s grandson Hussein on the night of the tenth of Muharram, and we say it on the tenth of Muharram. We say it for our Islam, our nation, our sanctities, for the Hussein of our time, for Sahib Al-Zaman (PBUH):
O our Master and Imam, even if we come to know that we shall be killed and then burnt in fire and shall be brought to life again and eventually our ashes will be scattered in the air and we die and become alive in this way one thousand times, it is done to us one thousand time – i.e., a million times – even then we shall not leave you O Hussein.
When we launch this slogan, the whole world knows that it is from a position of honesty – the honesty that our martyrs testify to, from Sayyed Abbas to Sheikh Ragheb to Hajj Imad to Sayyed Mustafa, to all our martyred leaders, fighters, and self-sacrificing martyrs. Our wounded, liberated prisoners, and the martyrs’ fathers and mothers, wives, sons, daughters, and brothers. This generation of resistance fighters who were not shaken by storms or by all these dangerous events in our region testify to this. Therefore, yes, also today again, in a new Hijri year and in a new Ashura, we say to Hussein, who stood in the last hours. He was not addressing the martyrs in front of him or the murderous soldiers whom he despaired of, but rather he was addressing generations of honorable men and women who came in history to ask them, “Is there anyone who will help me?” And we have been over the years, today, and every year, we say: we are your supporters, O Abu Abdullah, for your sake [labayk], O Abu Abdullah, for your sake, O Hussein.
Whoever follows in your path, my master, will see nothing but honor, dignity, eternity, and happiness in this world and in the hereafter.
Peace be upon you , my master, O’ Aba ‘Abdillah and upon the souls which were annihilated with you. Upon you, from me, is the peace of Allah for eternity, as long as the night and the day remain and please do not make this as my last contact with you. Greetings be upon Hussein on the day of Ashura. Peace be upon the severed head, upon the bruised chest, upon the looted body, upon the severed finger, upon the captives, upon the severed hands, upon the massacred bodies, upon the authority of Hussein, upon Ali bin Al-Hussein, upon Abi Al-Fadl Al-Abbas, upon the children of Hussein, and upon Zainab, the sister of Hussein, and upon the companions of Hussein.
May God’s peace, mercy and blessings be upon you all, and may God magnify your rewards.
