In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon His Messenger, and upon his pure household
I thank God for giving me the opportunity to cooperate with those who are launching this tree planting movement throughout the country and to plant a sapling. Other people have spoken at length about the issue of the environment and I have spoken about it as well. Today, I wish to speak about the current issue of the country – the disease that has spread in the country.
I have already sincerely thanked physicians, nurses and medical teams, but I deem it necessary to thank all those dear ones once more. Certain phenomena were witnessed these days which are really and truly instructive for all of us and which indicate the sense of responsibility of our medical staff and their human and religious commitment in the country.
Physicians, nurses and other medical personnel are truly engaged in a jihad in the way of God. What they are doing in the present time is jihad in the way of God and it is really valuable. I also deem it necessary to thank the families of those dear ones – their wives, their children and their parents who endure these difficulties. It is several consecutive days and nights that those dear ones have not gone home as they are busy working. They are working day and night and their families endure it. Therefore, I deeply thank them.
I deem it necessary to pray for all the patients who are receiving treatment in hospitals or at home and to ask God to help them recover. I also ask God to forgive the deceased and to bestow patience and tranquility on their family members and I express my condolences to them.
I have a few requests to make to our dear people. One is that they should not ignore the recommendations and instructions given by the officials in charge: instructions concerning prevention, keepings one’s hands and face and the living environment clean and trying to avoid contaminating these. They should act on the instructions given by experts. Surely, everything that leads to society’s health and everything that helps prevent the disease from becoming rampant is a good deed and on the contrary, everything that helps the disease become widespread is a sin. Allah the Exalted has made us responsible towards our own health and that of others and the health of the people. So, the first word of advice is that we should consider it our responsibility to completely observe the instructions specified by officials and to act on them.
The next word of advice, which is very important, is relying on God and asking Him for help. This is really necessary and the Holy Quran commands us, “Say to the rejecters: ‘My Lord is not uneasy because of you if you are to call on Him’” [The Holy Quran, 25:77]. There is another ayah which says, “Turn you to our Lord in repentance and bow to His Will” [The Holy Quran, 39: 54]. And it says in another Sura, “Bring your Lord to remembrance in your soul, with humility and in reverence” [The Holy Quran, 7: 205].
There are many other ayahs in the Quran which order us to supplicate to Allah the Exalted and to ask for His help in the face of different incidents – whether natural incidents like this or various other incidents that happen to the country, to the nation and to ourselves. Sometimes, they say that we should say such and such prayers and perform such and such religious acts, but I have no specific recommendation in this regard. Praying means speaking to Allah the Exalted and asking for His help. I am very hopeful, especially about the pure and sincere hearts of the youth and about pious and religious personalities as they can ward off grave calamities with their prayers.
In my opinion, this is not a very grave calamity and there have been graver ones. I myself have witnessed instances of these calamities. The people can eliminate many problems by praying, by supplicating, by relying on the immaculate Imams (greetings be upon them) and asking them to intercede on their behalf and by referring to the Holy Prophet of Islam. This is another word of advice that I have for you. If you want a specific dua, I advise you to read the 7th Dua of Sahifa al-Sajjadiyyah which is also in Mafatih al-Jinan: “Oh God, You are the only One capable of resolving great difficulties and blunting the sharpness of hardships...”.
The next point is that I strongly ask all the organizations in the country to cooperate responsibly with the Ministry of Health, which is in the frontline of confronting this disease, and to provide it with all resources and amenities. Of course, I have also asked the Armed Forces and the organizations which are in contact with my office to provide the people with all their resources in this regard.
This incident is not particular to our country. You know and you have heard that the incident has also occurred in many other countries today. The only difference, though, is that in many countries, they do not act with transparency and they hide many things, but since the first day, our officials announced the news with transparency and with all sincerity and truthfulness. They kept the people informed, which was a good course of action.
In some countries, they do not speak about it at all, but we know for a fact that in some countries, the epidemic is much graver than our country. I ask God to help the affected in other countries recover as well. I pray that God will help them as well.
And the last point is that this is a temporary matter, not an extraordinary phenomenon. Such incidents happen in the country. Of course, I do not want to understate its importance, but we should not exaggerate it either. An incident has taken place which will last for some time – but by Allah’s favor, it will not be very long. It will exist in the country for some time and it will disappear after a while. The experiences that we gain on this issue, and the activities that the people and organizations in the country do – in fact, such activities are like a public maneuver – can prove to be an achievement. If we can make these achievements, then the calamity will turn into a blessing and threats will turn into opportunities.
Fortunately, I have heard that cooperation and assistance among the people is abundant on this matter. For example, a shopkeeper puts a hose and detergents outside his shop so that passersby can wash their hands with soap if they wish to do so. Well, such phenomena are very significant. Or such and such a nurse puts off his or her wedding in order to attend to this matter. Or some people offer financial assistance. These are very good actions. This is in a fact a public maneuver organized by the people and the organizations in charge. I hope that they will bring about a good achievement for our country and that the days of full recovery will approach the nation as soon as possible, God willing.
Greetings be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings
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