The representative of the supreme religious authority, Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalai, shed the light on the principles of humanity and the role of mercy and compassion in society.
Al-Karbalai said in the Friday’s sermon held at the holy shrine of Imam Hussein "pbuh" on June 7, 2019, that "Whoever look into the Koranic verses will find out that mercy, as an important moral principle, was mentioned in those holy verses for more than 300 times, which indicates its great significance," noting that "Among the names and attributes of Allah Almighty, many of which are based on mercy, such as the Compassionate, the Sentimental, and the Affectionate."
"Mercy is one of the attributes of the prophets, apostles, and holy men," he added, citing a holy verse of the Qur'an, which addressed prophet Muhammad "pbuh" as: "We sent thee not, but as a Mercy unto all beings" (Al-Anbiya'a: 107), as well as describing him and his companions in another verse, as: "Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah; and those with him are forceful against the disbelievers, merciful among themselves"(Al-Fath: 29).
The representative of the supreme religious authority, indicated that "We need each other, and that life is based on cooperation, collaboration and solidarity, which is based on mercy," stressing on the necessity for everyone to be compassionate, because Allah Almighty, as confirmed by the Koranic verses and the holy Hadiths, is spreading his mercy upon those who shown mercy to others, such as the holy Hadith (Allah shows no mercy on those who do not have mercy on others), and (The merciful people will receive the mercy of Allah the most merciful).
Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalai has also said that “One of the forms of mercy practiced by individual is to show mercy to themself by purifying it in order to save it from the God's eternal torment," pointing out that within each individual, are tendencies towards evil and vices, so the individual must protect themself from following these tendencies."
"The most dangerous and most terrible crime against oneself, is denying it of the right to life as it is now through the widespread phenomenon of suicide, which reflects the self-made cruelty," he added, noting that "Whoever follow up suicide causes, will find that some of them were committed because of a psychological trauma, a living crisis, or by a student who failed in a test, or a man who couldn’t provide for his family, which also indicates a fault on social level and a similar one in the governmental entities."
The representative of the supreme religious authority, emphasized that "Among things indicate a fault in our lives, are the lack of will to build up the individual and society psychologically and morally, while only concentrating on academic, materialistic, and livelihood matters," noting that "The academic and scientific matters are essential, but there are a need for a balance between these two matters."
He went on to say that "The ruler or those in power, should turn their tools into serving the people," citing the first commandment of Imam Ali "pbuh" to his companion "Malik al-Ashtar", as saying: "Show mercy, love and kindness to the parish, as they are two types, either a brother in religion, or a fellow human being", which has represented the need for mercy with everyone regardless of their religious, ethnic affiliation or otherwise."
Al-Karbalai concluded with urging for practicing mercy on family level, such as the cases between parents with their kids and vice versa, or siblings between each other, demanding at the same time, the society to show compassion toward abandoned family members, citing the holy hadith: "The parable of the believers in relation to kindness, mercy and compassion they have for each other, is that of the body, when an organ of it falls ill, the rest of the body responds with fever and sleeplessness."
