Woman can be in charge of critical positions in dangerous situations: Mazari

News Asia and Pacific Conferences & Exhibitions Joint Conferences

Sunday, 26 September 2021

The Director-General of the Tebyan Center for Social and Cultural Activities said, “One of the important messages of the movement and behavior of Lady Zainab (a.s.) is that a woman can be in charge of critical positions in the most dangerous situations and in the worst atmosphere.”

On Thursday, September 23, 2021, coincides with Safer 1, 1443 and as Arbaeen of Imam Hussain (a.s.) anniversary approaches, the conference “Ashura to Arbaeen; Messages and Consequences”, and also in its sideline, appreciation of the Haya’ats of Afghan immigrants in Tehran was held in compliance with health protocols in Cultural Revolution Complex (Sarcheshmeh), by the representative office of Tebyan Center for Social and Cultural Activities in Tehran, in cooperation with the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly and the Islamic Development Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Speaking at the conference, while thanking and appreciating the organizers of the conference, Hojat al-Islam Sayed Issa Hosseini Mazari, Director-General of Tebyan Center for Social and Cultural Activities, said, “Although a large ceremony was to be held, due to the current situation, as well as the commitment of the hall management to invite a limited number of guests due to (Covid-19 limitations), we had to hold the conference with a limited number of participants.”

At the conference, Mazari made remarks on the theme of the conference, which is “From Ashura to Arbaeen; Messages and Results”.

Referring to the duties of Lady Zainab (a.s.) from the Ashura afternoon onwards, Hosseini Mazari said, “One of the important messages of the movement and behavior of Lady Zainab (a.s.) is that a woman can be in charge of critical positions in the most dangerous situations and in the worst atmosphere. From the afternoon of Ashura onwards, Lady Zainab (a.s.) had three important duties: to take care of the families of Imam Hussain (a.s.) and other martyrs of Karbala, to protect Imam Sajjad (a.s.), and to manage the propagation (against enemy). If Muslim women had behaved like Lady Zainab (a.s.), society would have not faced current problems.”

Referring to the extremism in dealing with women in Afghanistan from the communist era to the Western government, the head of the Tebyan Center for Cultural and Social Activities said, “Unfortunately, there have been two contradictory encounters with women. Sometimes this behavior has been extremist and sometimes it been accompanied by negligence. Sometimes, women are considered as a commodity and humiliated, and their personalities are downgraded. Sometimes they are kept in the dark corners of life and are used only for sexual purposes. These two extremist approaches have existed in our country, Afghanistan.”

“One of the ways the enemy hit our society was through women, both during the communist era and in the last twenty years, when Western treatment with women was absolutely disgusting,” he added.

“Another treatment of women is due to Talabani. They have treated women uncivilized both during their five-year rule in the 1990s and now that they have come to power. However, Taliban spokesmen made promises that their interaction with women was not the same as before. But there are still signs that women’s rights are not being respected,” Hosseini Mazari added.

“We do not seek women’s rights as defined by Westerners. Also, we are not in favor of women’s rights defined for Afghanistan under the leadership of Ashraf Ghani and Karzai. On the other hand, we do not support women’s rights as defined by the Taliban,” the socio-cultural activist emphasized.

“The second message from Ashura to Arbaeen is that a woman, while she can have a serious presence in the social activities, she can also be the absolute servant of God. Because there is never a contradiction between fighting the enemy and being active in social arena with the absolute servitude of God Almighty. But today, in most cases, this is not the case. In various social activities, we have observed women who, when they attended, no longer observed Islam,” he said.

“Another message from Ashura is motivation. The motivation to maintain the velayat and provide the ground for the continuation of God’s veleyat, caused Lady Zainab (a.s.) to be present and act with more serious power in social activities from the afternoon of Ashura onwards,” Mazari said.

“Our specific task in today’s situation is: We must first act on the messages of Ashura ourselves. We should also explain the goals of Imam Hussain (a.s.) correctly. Here, the duties of the scholars are serious,” said the director-general of the Tebyan Center in response to the question “What is our duty in the current situation?”

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