Secretary General of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly said, “Ethics deals with the training of the soul and its virtues, and in this way, it uses Sharia. Of course, Sharia is always next to ethics. Because it revives our jurisprudence and makes the human spirit grow and perfect, and human development is not possible without Sharia.”
ABWA Official Website – On Thursday morning, October 10, 2024, Ayatollah Mohammad Saleh Kumeili, one of the ulama of Islamic ethics, along with the scientific and executive staff of Anwar Tawheed Institute, met with Ayatollah Reza Ramazani, the Secretary General of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly in the Assembly building in Qom.
In this meeting, Ayatollah Ramazani stated, “As evidenced by history, there were many crises in communist and liberal governing systems. Communism did not benefit from spirituality; it denied spirituality and presented a crude and stereotyped interpretation of man.”
“In the meeting I had with the Orthodox Archbishop of Georgia, he told me: “You have no idea of the bitter 70 years of communism.” The communists did not allow anyone to worship and had turned mosques and churches into warehouses! Communism sought to exclude and eliminate religion, and liberalism, on the other hand, sought to limit religion. For religion, liberalism emphasized personal experience and considered religion to be purely personal, not social. This act of liberalism dealt a big blow to the human and mystic system,” he added.
The professor of higher levels of Qom Seminary said, “Islam is a savior religion that addresses all spheres. As the West found it unable to deal with spirituality, it presented versions of secular, anti-responsibility, and evading-of-responsibility spirituality. While in the AhlulBayt (a.s.) spirituality, one accepts responsibility and does not evade it. Today, in the West, there are four thousand fake and counterfeit spiritualities, which unfortunately also exist in universities, and are interpreted as “new emerging mystics.” Therefore, we should not present religion as crude and stereotypical. Rather, it is necessary to introduce the mysticism of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) along with jurisprudence.”
Referring to the topic of ethics and mysticism in the AhlulBayt (a.s.) school, he stated, “Ethical issues have been discussed a lot in the hadiths of AhlulBayt (a.s.), and piety is the pinnacle of moral teachings. From Allameh Tabatabai’s point of view, the Quran guides man to monotheistic ethics. Until recently, Westerners have struggled with religion, but today they seek to create peace and reconciliation between humanity with the idea of “universal morality”.”
The Secretary General of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly continued, “Ethics is the missing subject of seminaries. Society must be moral, and morality should be present in the individual and social spheres. It should also be divine and appear in society. But in the seminaries, ethics should be the base and principle. In the past, there was a probationary period for newcomer clergy. After that, it was determined whether the person had the qualifications to become a custodian of religion or not. Because religion should not be rusted in everyone. If clerics do not have morals, they end up in Bahaism and deviation in belief and practice. Therefore, one of the necessities of seminaries is ethics.”
“Ethics and mysticism should be made public. It deals with the training of the soul and its virtues, and in this way, it uses Sharia. Of course, Sharia is always next to ethics. Because it revives our jurisprudence and makes the human spirit grow and perfect, and human development is not possible without Sharia,” he said.
“Our society needs mystics who teach mysticism to the new generation. Because young people are eager for mystical topics. Of course, I consider seminaries to be the priority for this work. It is necessary for the clergy to be adorned with ethics. On the other hand, it is important that mysticism is expressed clearly and simply and has origin in the AhlulBayt (a.s.) teachings. Because the words of AhlulBayt (a.s.) are illumination and influence the society,” Ayatollah Ramazani continued.
Explaining the views of the late Imam Khomeini (r.a.) on mysticism, the Secretary General of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly stated, “In the interpretation of the Quranic verse, “قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَعِظُكُمْ بِوَاحِدَةٍ أَنْ تَقُومُوا لِلَّهِ مَثْنَىٰ وَفُرَادَىٰ” (Say, ‘I give you just a single advice: that you rise up for Allah’s sake, in pairs or singly) (34: 46), the late Imam Khomeini (r.a.) said, “Man has two uprisings, individual and social; the individual uprising is to achieve monotheism, and the social uprising is to achieve justice, and this is all the prophets said.” On the other hand, ethics and spirituality are among the most important requirements to move on the civilizational path. In the Statement of the Second Phase of the Revolution, the Supreme Leader of the Revolution said that the advancement of science brings power. From the behavioral aspect, ethics and spirituality should be institutionalized in different parts of society. Therefore, if all strata and sections of society are committed to ethics and spirituality, a civilizational system will be founded.”
“Wiki Shia, AhlulBayt (a.s.) News Agency – Abna, and AhlulBayt (a.s.) International University are the wings of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly that can cooperation with Anwar Tawheed Institute,” Ayatollah Ramazani said at the end.
At the beginning of this meeting, Ayatollah Kumeili, and the deputies of Anwar Tawheed Institute explained the activities of the institute and called for the cooperation of the parties.
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