The Supreme religious authority warns against religious and social defamation and asserts that those who resort to defamation against others will face the prayer of an infallible Imam

The representative of the Supreme Religious Authority reviewed on the second sermon of the Friday prayers held in the holy shrine of Imam Hussein "pbuh", the types of defamation committed against others.

Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalai has said on Friday January 18, 2019, that religious defamation is one of the most dangerous defamation on society, which is based on three forms, the first of which is intellectual deformation, the defamation against the community or sect that believes in such religious thought, while the third type is specialized with the defamation of religious symbols.

Al-Karbalai added that "The intellectual deformation would be resorted to in the event of the inability to defame the symbols of a certain religious thought, as they're well known of their religious integrity, conduct and behavior, so the knowledge and doctrinal facts are targeted by resorting to a precise method of falsifying these facts, or by interpreting the religious facts of that thought with interpretations and translations that fit the whims and goals of the party that wants to defame this religious thought in order to bring down the status of this thought in front of others".

"One of the forms of intellectual deformation can be committed through the dispossession of the ethics and virtues of the community that believes in this thought and the attribution of bad things to it in order to bring it down and isolate it in the society".

He added that "The third form of intellectual deformation is the defamation of the figures and leaders of a particular thought when it is not possible to target the thought," indicating that "The strength of the religious figures comes from the strength of the thoughts they adopting, as well as what qualities characterized by those figures such as asceticism, piety, and great ethics that empower them and attracts people to them, so the defamation implemented against them can be done through made-up actions that incompatible with moral qualities".

Al-Karbalai has pointed out that among the religious defamation is the one committed against the religioun men, people of knowledge and the believers through a series of false campaigns and day-to-day lies as well as the deformation of their image through the fabrication of fictitious stories and false acts with the aim to bring them down socially and isolating them from society until the arena become clear for social delinquents.

The representative of the supreme religious authority has also called for the necessity of paying attention to the danger of using of broadcasting outlets and social media in the defamation acts because they reach everyone as well as their ability to fabricate facts, lie to the naïve people and convince them with those lies, indicating that one of the forms of human happiness in life is to keep the strength of these figures in society , while the dangerous part is to isolate people from these leaders and thoughts, which can be prevented by verify all published contents to keep the and majesty and holiness intact.

He added that "The second type of defamation is the social one, which is very common in the social networking sites," noting that some people are tracking the slips and social lapses of others and spreading them widely in order to defame the social status of the targeted person, which will resulted in catastrophic consequences." Indicating that it was narrated in the holy hadith by Prophet Muhammad "peace be upon him" that "Do not seek for believers' faults, for those who do such act against their brothers, will face the same outcome by Allah almighty and will be exposed even if they were in their own homes."

Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi Al-Karbalai has pointed out that "One of the methods of social defamation is to maximize and exaggerate some minor slips and portraying them as a heinous acts or ugly qualities that are unacceptable religiously and socially," warning about the fourth method of social defamation, which is represented by the disclosure of secrets in their own various types such as social, moral or financial secrets.

"It's important for everyone to keep these secrets, especially those related to women, which is dangerous to expose as it will pose a threat to social peace, families stability, reputation and the reputation of men and women, and could lead to murder," he emphasized, calling for community members to be keen on preserving and maintaining their secrets in a closed box and do not allow others to track their slips and giving them pretext to spread those slips among their ranks".

Al-Karbalai has cited at the end of the sermon with a Hadith by Imam Al-Ridha "pbuh" narrated by Sayyid Abdel-Adhim al-Hassani, that: "O Abdel-Adhim, tell my companions to prevent the devil from reaching to their souls, and tell them to speak the truth and to preserve the trusteeship, and to remain silent regarding false statements , or I will pray to Allah to torture them in this world and the other," indicating that those who do such acts through social media to tear the reputations of others apart, will face the pray of Imam Redha "peace be upon him" and will be considered in the hereafter as sinners.