On June 26, 2025, coinciding with the first day of the Islamic month of Muharram, a sacred period of mourning that commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, along with his family and companions in the year 680 CE during the Battle of Karbala, Sheikh Abdul Mahdi Al-Karbalai, the representative of the Supreme Religious Authority in Najaf led by Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, delivered two sermons to mark the occasion.
His second speech, delivered during the annual ceremony of changing the banner atop the dome of Imam Husayn’s shrine in Karbala, addressed the escalating conflict in the region. This marked a rare public intervention on political affairs by the religious authority’s representative.
Below is an unofficial English translation of Sheikh Al-Karbalai’s second address.
[Translated by Muhammad Fouad]
In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.
Praise be to Allah, the One whose mercy is near, whose wisdom is wondrous, whose trials are generous, and whose decree is executed. He has chosen His allies over all of His creation and has singled them out with great tribulations in order to test their patience and multiply their rewards.
And may peace and blessings be upon the master of His prophets and messengers, Abu al-Qasim Muhammad, and upon his pure and immaculate family.
Dear believing brothers,
Dear believing sisters,
May Allah magnify our reward and yours for the tragedy of the Master of Martyrs, his family, and his noble companions.
The crescent of the month of Muharram has appeared, the month of sorrows in this year. We have now entered the year 1447 AH, and the year 1446 has passed.
This year’s month of sorrows coincides with painful events that have taken place in our region and with dangerous conditions it is going through. On this occasion, I wish to point to several matters:
First: The Imams of Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) recommended, after the tragedy of Karbala, that this great calamity be revived and continuously remembered, due to the extent of the hostility that the Pure Household faced—reaching the highest levels of criminality and violation of their sanctities.
In contrast, the level of sacrifice offered by the Master of Martyrs (peace be upon him), his family, and companions in the path of reviving religion, confronting oppression, and eliminating innovation, became the supreme model for all divine and noble human values. Their stance stirs minds, shakes consciences, awakens hearts, revives souls, and arouses emotions.
Husayni rituals, at their core, dear brothers and sisters, require from us awareness and insight into their true meaning, and we must strive to act in accordance with this truth. Husayni rituals, in essence, are a form of worship aimed at drawing nearer to Allah the Almighty by sympathizing with His chosen Prophet and his pure family over what befell them in the tragedy of Karbala.
We must engage in these rituals driven by purely divine intentions, maintaining their role as a path to Allah, and remain conscious of their divine essence and lofty objectives—the very goals for which Imam Husayn (peace be upon him), his family, and companions gave their lives.
O you who grieve the tragedy of the Master of Martyrs (peace be upon him),
Holding mourning gatherings and expressing sorrow and grief in all its traditional forms among the lovers of Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) is indeed the foundational method for reviving the principles and objectives of Imam Husayn.
However, these rituals remain a path whose follower must be led to the essence of those principles and goals—namely, reviving the signs, obligations, and traditions of religion.
As Imam Husayn (peace be upon him) said on his way to Karbala, expressing the divine aims of his uprising: “I desire to enjoin good and forbid evil.”
This divine obligation is among the greatest religious duties and the most virtuous acts of worship. Through it, the religious obligations are upheld, sects are safeguarded, the nation is reformed, and livelihoods become lawful.
So uphold this great duty in your homes, markets, gatherings, and institutions. Let no one imagine that it is the responsibility of religious scholars alone; rather, it is a duty upon all—each according to their position and circumstances. However, its conditions must be observed, its regulations respected, and deviation from them avoided; otherwise, it may lead at times to counterproductive results.
Second: There is no doubt that Allah’s way in this life is built on trial and testing—to purify the believers and to distinguish the striving, patient ones from others—in an ongoing struggle between truth and its supporters, and falsehood and its helpers, until the Day of Resurrection.
The revolution of Imam Husayn (peace be upon him) will forever remain a guiding light, clarifying what our stance should be in this conflict between two paths: His path (peace be upon him) of defending truth, justice, freedom, and human dignity; of saving people from misguidance, corruption, and deviation; and of standing up for the oppressed and downtrodden who have no helper but Allah. And the opposing path built on aggression, injustice, tyranny, and deviation from truth.
What our region witnessed—especially in the past year, 1446 AH—of well-known events, represents a fierce battle between a front that defends truth, justice, and righteousness, and a front that embodies injustice, tyranny, and evil in their ugliest forms—surpassing all imaginable limits.
And even though this ongoing battle has drained precious blood and caused great harm to our brothers and sisters through displacement, starvation, destruction of homes and possessions, and more—and even though the people of truth have offered immense and rare sacrifices—this must not lead to a sense of weakness or defeat.
Rather, we must, in all circumstances, strengthen our resolve to continue forward, to overcome past failures, and to address our weaknesses through sound methods, far removed from illusions and wishful thinking.
Third: The battle between truth and falsehood sometimes intensifies and sometimes subsides. It sees many rounds throughout time. The people of truth must remain insightful and steadfast, and not be deceived by flashy appearances or resounding slogans. Those in positions of authority must take lessons from the tragedies that are beyond description and from major losses not seen in a long time.
Fourth: The current conditions in this region are extremely dangerous. The Iraqi people are not insulated from the repercussions of the ongoing conflict—sooner or later. Therefore, Iraqis must remain alert, equipped with awareness and insight in dealing with these matters, and focus on what will truly reform their condition, far from deceptive appearances. They must understand that unless they strive earnestly to build their country on correct foundations, their future will be no better than their present.
Likewise, those who hold power must fear Allah, listen to their conscience, and prioritize in their decisions and actions the interest of their people, their country, and the entire region—because the interests of the region’s peoples are interconnected and intertwined.
Fifth: The noble Iraqi people—who sacrificed for many long years to rid themselves of tyranny and to establish constitutional mechanisms that guarantee the peaceful transfer of power and prevent a return to an era of oppression, coercion, and the crushing of human dignity—remain determined to preserve these gains with full strength, and will not retreat under any circumstances, even if they feel the bitterness of major errors, successive failures, and accumulated shortcomings of many who have held positions of responsibility over the past two decades.
Yet hope remains for correcting the path and rectifying what has been lost. This can only be achieved in the manner pointed out by the Supreme Religious Authority in a previous statement, which declared:
