SHAFAQNA – Two thousand poor and deprived people from seven provinces of the country visited Mashhad and Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (A.S.), on the eve of birth anniversary of Hazrat Ali Akbar (A.S.) and in the second phase of a plan known as “Pilgrims of Imam Reza (A.S.)”.
Concurrent with the tenth day of holy month of Sha’aban, two thousand poor people from Yazd, Semnan, Kerman, Golestan, Mazandaran, Gilan, and South Khorasan provinces who had not visited Razavi Holy Shrine went on the pilgrimage of Imam Reza’s (A.S.) Shrine in a plan known as “Pilgrims of Imam Reza (A.S.)”, coordinating by Astan Quds Razavi.
In this ceremony, Hujjat al-Islam wa al-Muslimin Reza Ali Azizi talked about the great status of Razavi pilgrims and stated, “Visiting Imam Reza’s (A.S.) Holy Shrine is so great and significant that all the infallible Imams (A.S.) have highly recommended the Shi’ites to visit this Holy Shrine”.
He continued, “Also, in many traditions the reward of visiting Imam Reza’s (A.S.) shrine has been considered equal to the reward of one thousand Hajj pilgrimage and all these represent the high and great position of Imam Reza (A.S.)”.
In continuation of his speech, Hujjat al-Islam wa al-Muslimin Azizi referred to Imam Reza’s (A.S.) letter to Hazrat Abd al-Azim Hasani and said, “ In this letter, Imam Reza (A.S.) says, “ Give my best greetings to all the devotees and Shi’ites”, what is more valuable than Immaculate Imam’s (A.S.) greetings for us, indeed?”
Elsewhere in his remarks, he talked about the virtues of “Salavat” and said, “God’s blessings means reciting peace and mercy for the Prophet (S.A.W.) and his family and this recitation spread the spiritual status of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) and his descendants (A.S.) among people. When angels and faithful people recite Salavat they want Allah to send mercy and forgiveness and it is a reason for the fulfillment of prayers”.
At the end of his talk, he introduced Imam Reza’s (A.S.) Holy Shrine as a place for the fulfillment of prayers and wanted all the audience not to forget Shi’ites of Iraq and Syria and also Imam Mahdi’s (A.S.) reappearance in their prayers”.
It is worth mentioning that holding birth celebrations of Hazrat Ali Akbar (A.S.), various cultural and religious programs, elegy recitations, and giving tokens of Razavi banquet hall were some of the provisioned programs for these first-pilgrimage people.