Urdu → English transcript

One misunderstanding that we create here is this, that…

“Sir, this is Iran’s issue, why are you sitting in Pakistan and talking about these things?”

Yes. So let me say to you that at one and the same time, for example, Naqi bhai,

Ghufran bhai, you, me,

our other friends who are present here, who are listening, at the same time I am someone’s father,

I am someone’s son, I am someone’s brother,

I am head of some institution, I am someone’s neighbor, so is there a contradiction between these?

Meaning my being someone’s brother,

and at the very same time my being someone’s son, is that some kind of conflict? Like, decide now, will you stay a brother

or will you stay a son?

Come on, the demands of being a brother are different, and the demands of being a son are different. To say this, that you

have to live in Pakistan, or that you are Pakistani,

so you must not involve yourself in the affairs of other countries…

I should not give up my identity, then I am a human being from thousands of years ago,

I am a descendant of Prophet Adam, then for fourteen hundred years I have been a Muslim, so for fourteen hundred years

I have been a Muslim, then for about seventy-five years I have been Pakistani, for fourteen hundred years I have been Shia

so this is not a contradiction, right?

Why are you even raising this question, that are you Pakistani or that your loyalty is to Pakistan…

Brother, when is this a contradiction? At one and the same time, I can remain a Muslim

and there are obligations that come with that,

and among those obligations is that “man samiʿa munādiyan yunādī lil-muslimīn falam yujibhu

fa-laysa bi-muslim” — if a person hears a call, and the call

is saying, “O Muslims, help me,” and he does not respond to it, then he is not a Muslim.

So how are you setting this against that?

How are you mixing up this way of thinking, that if I am Pakistani, then why am I a Muslim?

What kind of thing is that? I am Pakistani, so why am I Shia then? What kind of thing is that?

Meaning the requirements of my being Pakistani are different,

just like the requirements of being a father are different, and the requirements of being a son are different, for example,

the requirements of my being the head of an institution are something else, and in the same way there are certain requirements of my being Shia,

My master Ali has told me that always hate the oppressor, love the oppressed,

What kind of thing is that? Meaning, if anyone has to leave this country,

then the ones who should leave are those who are not first raising the slogan of Pakistan, they are first raising the slogan of America,

they are raising the slogan of America first,

they are raising the slogan of the Arab countries first,

Why would we go outside Pakistan?

What is this that, sir, Pakistan… “Pakistan first”

“Pakistan first” means do not support anyone, why are you supporting the oppressed and supporting America?

Why are you supporting those countries that are going against the teachings of Islam?

Then that means you also are not first raising the slogan of Pakistan, you also are not saying that

Pakistan should come first, you too are

putting someone else first. Being Pakistani first absolutely does not mean that we abandon Islam…

that we are no longer Muslim. So do not clash these things, this misunderstanding,

this confusion is being spread, and we understand this confusion very well, that for their own purposes

confusion is spread. We can, at the same time, be Muslims,

who are the best image of Islam, Shia, and whatever Pakistan’s requirements are,

we can fulfill all those requirements at the same time.

We do not see any contradiction in this.

We are Pakistanis first, before that we are Muslims, and before that

we are human beings, so we

we know how to connect all these demands and we will have to connect them, and by connecting them

we can live.