In a meeting with Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, the secretary-general of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought, Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Vahid-Khorasani emphasized upon his previous fatwa and explained the explicit points in regard to interacting with the Ahlul-Bayt and confronting those who seek to create division.

Grand Ayatollah Vahid-Khorasani pointed out that those Shia who seek to create divisions are far from jurisprudence and said, “Indeed, the jurisprudence in these movements has been destroyed and such actions have led to bloodshed and the commands of the Imams are contrary to this. Indeed, the commandments of the religion [of Islam] emphasize on this command and secondly, it is said in an authentic hadith, ‘Pray in their mosques and besides this, visit their sick and attend their funerals.’”

The revered source of emulation said, “In a hadith, it is said, ‘Oh Shiites! Be a beautification and an honour for us and not a source of blame and shame for us!’ In this hadith, two cases are expressed – one is negative and the other is positive. The negative aspect of this is that they must not be hostile to the people of other religions, they must not insult their sacred places and cursing their holy personalities is not permissible because it leads to distancing them from the Ahlul-Bayt and their knowledge. In the hadith, it says, ‘Don’t be a source of blame and shame for us.’ This is a negative aspect of the proposition but the positive aspect of it is, ‘Be a beautification and an honour for us’ and called on the Shi’ahs to attend their congregational prayers, to love them, to visit their sick and explain our statements and teachings to them.”

Grand Ayatollah Vahid-Khorasani noted, “The main thing is that we do not know the way to promote the knowledge of the Ahlul-Bayt. In this regard, path means a positive path. For example, Nahj al-Balaghah is controversial. If it is understood and well explained and Shia jurisprudence, like Kitab al-Makasib and Kitab al-Jawahir, do the likes of it exist in all general books?! If these are promoted, inevitably the Sunnis themselves have intuition and it is not reasonable to deny the truth. In summary, the positive aspects must be strengthened. Who are some of our companions – look at Allamah al-Hilli – his state of mind, books, debates and others. In short, in this matter, the path is the path of moderation.”

At the end of the visit, His Eminence said, “God says in the Quran ‘…And ill feeling for a people should never lead you to be unfair. Be fair; that is nearer to Godwariness, and be wary of God.’ [5:8] We have been asked and they say that Shias are infidels and they consider Shia blood to be lawful and what should we do with them? In response, we say ‘the one who says the shahadah, the breath of pronouncing these two phrases both protects blood and protects his property.’ It is the duty of every Muslim who, if there is aggression against even one inch of a Sunni nation in the world by the infidels, it is the duty of all Shia Muslims in Qom to defend and not to abandon that region under attack by the infidels. It must be with them in any situation: ‘…And ill feeling for a people should never lead you to be unfair. Be fair; that is nearer to Godwariness, and be wary of God.’ The general scholars have been very honoured and this document has been received.”

Source: Abna24