Hawzah News Agency- (Qom, Iran) Speaking at the opening ceremony to mark the beginning of the new seminary year, Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, a senior Shia scholar, asserted, “Today is a blessed day for the Islamic World as well as the Iranian seminaries since it marks the beginning of the new educational year, it is the day on which we serve the great cause of Islam, Ahl ul-Bayt (a.s.) and the Shiite community,”

“It also marks the anniversary of Imam Ali’s (a.s.) wedding with Lady Fatima (s.a.), We welcome this event together with the start of the seminaries’ new educational year hoping to have a prosperous new year ahead of us in all Islamic institutions as well as seminaries.”

Referring to a narration by Imam al-Hadi (a.s.), the tenth Shia Imam, Ayatollah Makarem further stated, “The clerics’ duty is not only to learn knowledge, but also to familiarize people with Ahl ul-Bayts’ (a.s.) pure teachings and protect the needy from doctrinal invasions,” Hawzah reported.

The Shia source of emulation added, “The Islamic seminaries are a divine gift which have been handed down to us generation to generation from the time of the Holy Prophet, Muhammad (s.a.w.a) and it is in our best interests to protect this legacy the best we can,”

In the end, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi expressed his gratitude for the efforts of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Seminaries.

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