Head of Iranian Hajj Pilgrims: Face-to-face Preaching is Method of Holy Prophet (PBUH) and is effective in teaching rituals and improving behavior

According to the Hajj Information Base, Hojjat al-Islam Seyed Abdolfattah Navvab, the representative of the Supreme Leader in Hajj and pilgrimage affairs and the supervisor of Iranian pilgrims, attended the gathering of cultural servants of Hajj Tamattu 1404 in Medina al-Nabi.

Referring to the great importance of teaching rituals and acts of worship in the religion of Islam, he noted: The Holy Quran in verse 128 of Surah al-Baqarah, from the mouth of Prophet Abraham (PBUH), says that Prophet Abraham (PBUH) asks God to teach him rituals. Therefore, the first teacher of rituals is God Himself. And after God, the prophets (PBUH) and the infallibles (PBUH), and then the scholars, have been teachers of rituals. The Prophet (PBUH) said: Learn your rituals, for they are part of your religion.

Emphasizing that "face-to-face propagation" is the most effective propagation in history and still has no suitable alternative, he referred to some of the guidelines announced for group training and programs in the host country of Hajj, and said: "We respect all the guidelines of the host country and consider ourselves obliged to implement them, because they want to manage the Hajj, but we also expect the officials of the host country to be grateful for the privilege of hosting that God has granted them, and to present a suitable way to teach the rituals to the guests of the Most Gracious before prohibiting the long-standing method."

Referring to the presence of the honorable Saudi ambassador to Iran in some training sessions for our country's pilgrims, the head of Iranian pilgrims continued: According to the opinion of the late Sheikh Saleh, the person in charge of the affairs of the Two Holy Mosques and also the recent ambassador of this country to Iran, Iranian pilgrims have always been proud, disciplined and successful, because they have always been given the necessary training.

Referring to his recent speech at the meeting of Hajj officials and agents with Imam Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Revolution, Hojjat al-Islam Navvab said: "We have no higher meeting in Iran than this meeting, and there I praised the officials of the host country for allowing and arranging for the holding of the Iranian presidential elections during the Hajj season of 1403, after the martyrdom of Ayatollah Raisi."

Referring to a part of verse 54 of the Holy Surah Al-An’am, which is addressed to the Holy Prophet (PBUH), he noted: God tells the Prophet of Islam that when the believers come to you, greet them; this command of God is not only for the Prophet (PBUH); God has given a great blessing to the people of this land, for which they should truly be grateful. Many of these Iranian pilgrims who have come to Saudi Arabia this year have waited for about 20 years and have paid a lot of money, so we all have a heavy duty to serve these pilgrims.

Referring to serving pilgrims in some other countries, including Iraq and Iran, the head of Iranian pilgrims said: At the shrine of Imam Hussein (PBUH) in Karbala, every morning a Persian-speaking speaker speaks to the pilgrims at the best point of the shrine and provides the necessary training; at the shrine of Imam Ali (PBUH), a similar ceremony is also held every morning and evening, and this issue is also repeated at night in the shrine of Hazrat Abbas Ibn Ali (AS) so that the pilgrims can be educated and justified as much as possible; In the shrine of Imam Reza (AS), a courtyard with full facilities has been provided to the Arabic-speaking brothers and they provide whatever facilities they want, but the policy-making and implementation of the programs is the responsibility of the Arabic-speaking brothers themselves.

Hojjat al-Islam Navvab continued: "We do not expect the officials of the host country of Hajj to take such a step to educate the pilgrims, but we expect that conditions will be created so that the Iranian pilgrims can carry out their cultural and educational programs like the worship programs in a proper manner."

Emphasizing that Mecca and Medina have their own rituals and those who visit these holy cities come to visit with the intention of visiting, and this is completely different from tourism, he noted: Pilgrims to these holy places must be justified and educated so that they can return to their countries full-handed; therefore, simply visiting these places without the necessary information and training and performing the rituals and practices correctly is not in line with the philosophy of pilgrimage.

At the end of his speech, the head of the Iranian pilgrims referred to the host country's restrictions this year on holding educational and cultural ceremonies in hotels and re-emphasizing that we consider it necessary to comply with these instructions, and noted: "However, we announce that these restrictions are problematic for both the host country - due to the need to deal with uninformed pilgrims - and the pilgrims of the guest country. Therefore, we expect the understanding and caring officials of the host country, who provided dignity to the two countries (Saudi Arabia and Iran) by allowing elections last year, not to deprive the pilgrims of appropriate educational programs and ritual training now either."