In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful

"The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for mankind, and clear proofs of the guidance and the Criterion (of right and wrong)". Sura 2 verse 185.

It was narrated that Imam Ali (peace be upon him) has said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) addressed us one day by saying:

"O people, the month of blessing, mercy and forgiveness is approaching. To Allah, it is the best of months, its days are the best of days, its nights are the best of nights, and its hours are the best of hours. It is a month when Allah has invited you to his hospitality. Your prayers during this time are accepted so ask Allah, your Lord, with sincere intentions and a clean heart, to guide you to fast during the month and recite His book, Unfortunate are the ones who will not get Allah's forgiveness during this month. Remember by your hunger and thirst, the hunger and thirst of the Day of Judgment. Give charity to the poor and needy among you, respect your elders, have mercy on those who are young among you, maintain the ties with your kinship, guard your tongue, lower your gaze towards what is prohibited to see, shield your ears from what is prohibited to hear, have sympathy on people's orphans, may people have sympathy on your orphans, repent to Allah for your sins, raise your hands at the prayer time as it is the best time during which almighty Allah has mercy on his slaves. He answers them if they whisper to him, complies with their wishes when they call Him, gives them what they ask of Him and answers their prayers".

As we are expecting the month of obedience and forgiveness, it is our pleasure to congratulate the Islamic nation on the arrival of this great month. We are asking almighty Allah to guide us all to fast during its days and worship the Lord during its nights. We pray that Almighty Allah will repeat this month and bless the Islamic nation with prosperity.

We want to take this opportunity to be fair in communicating to the righteous brothers in the mosques and Islamic centers with our suggesting to pay special attention to prepare complete programs for the holy month, with spirituality and clarity, outlining the circumstances of Ramadan. Therefore, we would like to underline the following:

1 - Spirituality and Morality: By reciting the holy Quran and meditate on its verses. It was narrated that Imam Mohamed Al Baqir (peace be upon him) said: "For everything there is a season and the season of Quran is the month of Ramadan".  Also by reciting supplications, praying the recommended prayers and repenting to almighty Allah. It was narrated that Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) has said that  Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said : "you should pray a lot in the month of Ramadan and ask for Allah's forgiveness, the prayer will prevent hardship from reaching you, while seeking forgiveness will erase your sins".

2 - Exemplary social behavior and sociality: By fearing god to avoiding His prohibitions. It was narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his progeny) has said: "The best deed in this month is avoiding Allah's prohibitions". Good behavior and communication to clears the clouds of conflict within the society of devotees, within the family or outside it, as this practice is based on the brotherhood of faith. It was narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his progeny) said: "Whoever had a good conduct during this month, Allah will forgive him".

We encourage all religious scholars to take the opportunity during this month to make an effort to unite the devotees and strengthen their relations faithful ties.

3 - Compassion: By helping the needy and poor people to make their life less difficult. Many  devotees worldwide suffer from economical hardship. They are entitled to all the support available from all Muslims, especially during this holy month.

4 - Culture: By learning various Islamic cultural aspects such as beliefs, jurisprudence, contemporary studies, the history of Islam etc. This holy month is an opportunity to establish short cultural classes. We emphasize the importance of cooperation between scholars of various areas and the heads of the Islamic centers to perfect their steps towards the Islamic goal.   

5 - Pilgrimage: We want to draw attention to the importance of pilgrimage to the house of God by guiding the devotees towards this aim, as is emphasized in the supplication of Ramadan. The importance of pilgrimage is clearly understood by devotees who live in the West as it strengthens spirituality and the ties of worship as they are living in difficult circumstances, in societies where the word of Allah is minimal.

6 - Youth: We also want to bring to the attention of the Scholars and the heads of Islamic centers, the importance of looking after the younger generations. This can be accomplished by arranging various cultural programs with the aim of strengthening the spiritual and intellectual ties to their religious teachings.

The office of the religious authority Sayyid Mohammed Saeed al Hakeem (May Allah grant him long life) is ready to cooperate – based on his orders – in answering all the questions for the sake of spreading knowledge.

Finally, we emphasize  the importance of reviewing the religious texts that explain the precedence of this month, as this would clarify the high importance of this holy month.

We ask almighty Allah to guide all of us to please Him. He is all hearing, all answering.