Mourning ceremony held on the seventh night of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (a.s) and the martyrs of Karbala

A mourning ceremony was held here in Vali-e Asr World Center on the seven night of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (a.s.) and his devout friends.
The ceremony began with recitation of Ziyarat Ashura followed by a speech delivered by Hojjatoleslam Rawazati and eulogies read to remember the sad story of the family of Imam Hussein, peace be upon them.
Referring to verse 96 of Sura Al-A'araf of the Holy Quran, Hojjatoleslam Rawazati said, "The Quran says, 'And if the people of the towns had believed and guarded (against evil) We would certainly have opened up for them blessings from the heaven and the earth, but they rejected, so We overtook them for what they had earned. ' According to this verse of the Quran piety and God-fearingness causes the door of blessings to open to people. The fact has been proved throughout the history to be as such. The opposite has also been proved. That is to say, whenever and wherever people disobeyed God, He, the Almighty, sealed the doors of His bounties and blessings to people and sent down His punishments upon them. Therefore, there is a close relationship between God's blessings and piety."
Hojjatoleslam Rawazati quoted the story of Prophet Yunus saying that he went out of the town so that God's punishments might come down and befall his disobedient people. "Prophet Yunus (a.s) was certain that God would send down His punishments and destroy the people of his township but then a learned person guided those people and appealed them to go out of the town to a desert with bare feet and with humility and repentance and ask God not to punish them. They did so, and they stayed on the desert and wept so much that God averted punishment from them. 'Surely Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition; and when Allah intends evil to a people, there is no averting it, and besides Him they have no protector.' (Thunder/11)," Rawazati added.
He further said, "Now let's study the relevance of this verse and this story with the people of Kufa and their conducts towards the symbol of piety and faith, the Chief of Martyrs, peace be upon him. When drought struck Kufa, the Kufis gathered in front of the house of the Commander of the Faithful (a.s) who sent his son with them to offer Istisqa (rain) prayer. He prayed for rain and thereafter the doors of divine bounty and blessings were opened to people. Thus, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops. But later the same people blocked the road to Imam Hussein, peace be upon him, and killed him mercilessly on the desert of Karbala. Thus they forgot and disobeyed God, and God decreed the curse of the whole world for them until the Day of Judgment."
Hojjatoleslam Rawazati stressed that God-fearingness and divine blessing are not limited to a special group of people at a special time and place. "We should see how far we have adhered to divine faith and followed the symbol of piety who is at present the Imam of Age, Imam Mahdi – may Allah hasten his reappearance. If we want the doors of blessings to be opened to us, we should turn to the Imam of Age and walk in the way he pleases. This will reach its peak at the time of the government of the Remnant of God, the Imam of Age (atf) as he will set up a utopia which shall feature and manifest a happy and pure world.