Hawzah News Agency- the gathering featured addresses by Hojatoleslam Sheikh Salahaddin Ozgunduz, author and screenwriter Ahmed Turgut, and Temel Karadeniz, former mayor of Istanbul's Kucukcekmece district.
'Let Us Be Pioneers in Goodness for the Orphans of Gaza'
Taking the podium first, author and screenwriter Ahmed Turgut framed his remarks as a personal commitment to the path of Karbala. "Today, the only thing I can do in the face of Karbala is to recite its luminous and pure pages and strive to take them as my model," he said. "To take Hazrat Abbas (PBUH), Ali Akbar (PBUH), and Qasim (PBUH) as my mentors and guides, and to walk in the path of Imam Hussein (PBUH) and Lady Zainab (PBUH)."
He pivoted to the contemporary duty of Muslims toward the oppressed, declaring: "Today, much can be done for the orphans. For the orphans of Gaza, we ask God to make us pioneers in goodness, righteousness, and beauty. May the Merciful Lord grant us the awareness to at least know that we are the orphans of the Orphaned Prophet."
Karbala Is Not Confined to History
Former Mayor Temel Karadeniz followed by forcefully rejecting the notion that oppression ended at Karbala. "Do you think tyranny remained confined to Karbala? No," he stated. "Imam Hussein (PBUH) was a sign and a model for us on how to stand against oppression. Through all the suffering endured, Karbala was a great school teaching Muslims how to resist disbelief, injustice, and tyranny—because the Ahl al-Bayt knew oppression would never be limited to Karbala alone."
Karadeniz drew a direct line from the Prophetic era to the present day, aligning himself with a narrative of continuous struggle. "As Sheikh Salahaddin has repeatedly emphasized, when we trace the path of the great martyrs—from Badr to Karbala, from Karbala to Canakkale, from there to July 15 [the failed Gulenist coup], and finally to today—we witness the signs of that very same struggle in the oppression unfolding in Gaza, as well as in the injustice imperialism and Zionism inflict upon our Iranian brothers."
'Hussein Is from Me and I Am from Hussein'
Hojatoleslam Sheikh Salahaddin Ozgunduz delivered the keynote address, opening with praise for the broad consensus among Turkish Muslims on love for the Prophet's household. "Thank God that the Shafi'is, Hanafis, and Alawites of our nation share a common view on this matter," he said. "They know the family of Muhammad, they love them, and they bless their homes with their names. Praise be to God that our beautiful country has not been defiled with the names of their enemies."
He then grounded his sermon in the foundational hadith of the Prophet (PBUH): "The purity of Imam Hussein (PBUH) is attested to by God Himself. The Messenger of God declared: 'Hussein is from me, and I am from Hussein'—meaning he endorses his stance, his path, and his struggle. He also said: 'Their war is my war'—whoever fights you, I am at war with him; and whoever is at peace with you, I am at peace with him."
Sheikh Ozgunduz elaborated on the station of the Ahl al-Kisa, the Five Blessed Ones gathered under the cloak. "Loving these five—Hassan, Hussein, their mother Fatima, their father Ali, and myself—elevates a person to the highest rank a human being can attain," he stated. "And what is the highest rank? Is it not the Praised Station (Maqam Mahmoud) that Muhammad Mustafa will reach on the Day of Judgment? The Prophet said: 'Those who love these five together will be with me on the Day of Resurrection and will share my rank.' This is a narration transmitted by Sunni sources as well."
Following the speeches, the mourners were led in lamentation by a eulogist of the Ahl al-Bayt, as the gathering dissolved into tears and mourning.
Blood Donation Honors the Spirit of Karbala
In a related note, as has become tradition during the holy month of Muharram, a blood donation drive was organized with the broad participation of Imam Hussein mourners and devotees of the Ahl al-Bayt at donation centers. Through their sacrifice, participants honored the memory and the message of selflessness embodied by the martyrs of Karbala.
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