In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Hujjat-ul Islam Hajj Sayyid Ibrahim Raeesi (may his achievements continue),
Now that Hujjat-ul Islam wal Muslimeen Tabasi (God’s mercy be upon him) has rushed towards the eternal world and is resting in the holy cemetery of the [Razavi] shrine after many years of sincere and successful efforts in serving the blessed and enlightened shrine of Hazrat Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha (thousands of greetings and praise be upon him), I appoint you – who come from that blessed land and who are righteous, trustworthy and experienced in the area of macro-management – as the custodian of that enlightened and holy shrine and I draw your attention to the following points:
- Serving Astan Quds Razavi is a great spiritual honor and good grounds to benefit from the holiness of that shining sun and from closeness to the Wilayat of that heavenly body. You should appreciate the value of this unique opportunity, you should dedicate all your power and capability to it and you should increase the spiritual gifts that you thankfully enjoy in its shade.
- Place serving the pilgrims of that holy shrine – in particular the weak and the needy – at the top of your agenda.
- Serving the shrine’s neighbors – particularly, the poor and the weak – is another responsibility that requires your attention.
- Astan Quds has a great cultural capacity that can influence the public environment of the country and the world of Islam. It will be an appropriate measure to make the most of this unique capacity in cooperation with cultural experts in order to promote Quranic teachings and the school of the Holy Prophet’s (s.w.a.) household (a.s.).
- All the works and structures of Astan Quds are an exceptional treasure that originate from Islamic architecture and from the scholarly and artistic refinements of the Iranian nation and they are very rich in content. Preserving and guarding this great museum – which increased by almost ten times during the era of the previous late custodian– is a great and noteworthy responsibility.
- Protecting and optimizing the use of the endowments – in particular offering these endowments to the poor in those parts of the country from where these endowments are sent from – according to the capacity of endowment charter is another great responsibility. The late custodian paid special attention to this responsibility.
- Enhancing and developing the economic and public services agencies of Astan Quds Razavi and attending to their legal discipline should always receive attention and it should never be neglected.
Once more, I advise you to seek help from the holy lights of that enlightened shrine – this will undoubtedly be of great help in carrying out these tasks – and also to pay attention to points 2 and 3.
I ask God to bestow His mercy, forgiveness and paradise on the late blessed custodian who made great and sincere efforts in managing and developing this great apparatus.
And I ask Allah the Exalted to bestow success on you and on all the servants of that exalted shrine and I also thank them for their efforts.
Greetings be upon you and Allah’s mercy
Sayyid Ali Khamenei
