The representative of the Supreme Religious Authority; Sheikh Abd al-Mahdi al-Karbala'i, has congratulated the distinguished heroes in their various names for their wonderful achievements and important victories, which they made with their own blood and great sacrifices, affirming that they deserve more than others -whoever they are- to raise the flag of ultimate victory, and confirming that the last three years have proved the authenticity of the Iraqi people and its high readiness for the sacrifice and redemption in the sake of dignity and pride whenever needed.
These were the important points stated in the second sermon of the Friday prayer of the 5th of Shawwal 1438 AH corresponding to the 30th of June 2017, held in the holy shrine of Imam al-Hussayn (peace be upon him) and led by Sheikh al-Karbala'i, who stated:
Dear brothers and sisters, I would like to speak about the following two points:
The first point: Our heroic fighters who are waging the battle of Mosul, have added another distinctive victory to the record of the great Iraqi victories, as after more than nine months of fierce fighting in very harsh and complex conditions imposed by many factors, most importantly is that the enemy protected itself by making the civilians human shields, our heroes' efforts and jihad were culminated by an important episode of the Iraqi victories over the terrorists of ISIL. And on this occasion, we extend congratulations to these victorious heroes for their wonderful achievements and important victories, thanking them -leaders and fighters- for their great efforts and enormous sacrifices to achieve it, praying for their martyrs and their wounded. And we would like to stress that the first and last credit in this great epic of three years, is to the courageous fighters in all their denominations from the counterterrorism forces, federal police, brigades of the Iraqi army, air force, army aviation, the fractions of the volunteers and the members of the Iraqi tribes, and all those supporting them from their families and the processions of the logistic support, who have made this saga with their own blood and great sacrifices, and that they deserve more than others -whoever they are- to raise the flag of ultimate victory soon, God willing, by the liberation of the rest of the areas that are still under the control of the criminal gangs of ISIL. And confirming that the last three years have shown clearly that if the enemies have managed to achieve their malicious targets in parts of the land of Iraq for some time, the Iraqi people with their principles and values of rejection of the injustice and humiliation will not let them enjoy that, but they are offering all they can -even their blood- in order to defend the land, the honor and the sanctities, noting that the last three years have proved the authenticity of the Iraqi people and its high readiness for the sacrifice and redemption in the sake of dignity and pride whenever needed, and that is has a wealth of strong men and women who are proud and able to overcome the misfortunes and crises that plague the country, and everyone should stand together to achieve the aspirations of security, prosperity, progress and development, God willing.
The second point: We would like to talk about the system of peaceful and sound social coexistence in a multi-denominational and religious society. As you know dear brothers and sisters, our society and many of the other Muslim societies are witnessing the multiplicity and diversity of sectarian and religious affiliations within one country. And there is no doubt that this diversity comes from the difference in the ideological, cultural, social and political system and each has its own sectarian and religious identity, which might be the cause of some negative matters that need to be solved and that can affect the social cohesion, the nature of social relations in the society within the same country and the peaceful social coexistence that can lead the community to the sectarian and religious conflict, thus we need to develop an intellectual, cultural, social and political system to avoid the negative effects of this difference. So, we need three rules and foundations that help to solve this issue.