The full script of his speech follows:

With your permission, I will speak in English so that our guests could follow instead of speaking in Persian. It's a great pleasure and honour for me to participate in this important gathering. I want to begin by expressing my thanks and appreciation to my dear friends, my friend and brother, his eminence, Sayyid Ammar al-Hakeem, for convening this important meeting of the lovers of Ahl al-Bayt, from across the world.

The greatest gathering of human beings takes place here in Iraq on the occasion of Arba'in. And we all say, the love of Hussain brings us here. A tradition that is based on love, on compassion, is what our world today needs more than anything. In this world, disturbed by violence, we can present a new path, a path based on empathy, a path based on sacrifice, a path based on courage, and a path based on hope.

We are here in the Holy Month of Shabban. The month of Shabban and it's interesting that in this month, we do not have any morning. Everything is love and hope. We start this month with the birth of Imam Hussain, Abal Fazl Al-Adbas, and Sayyid Al-Sajdi. The three symbols of courage, of sacrifice, and of wisdom.

We move towards the middle of this month with the birth of Imam Al Mahdi, the symbol of hope, the symbol of resilience, the symbol of steadfastness in order to achieve our goals.

The fact that we speak different languages, we live in different parts of the world is one of our strengths. We represent this ideology based on love, based on empathy across the world. We become each of us, vehicles for dialogue, vehicles for understanding, vehicles for representation of ideals of our leaders. And as Imam Sadiq said: Represent us with beauty, not with disgrace.

We want to be true Shia, true lovers of Ahl al-Bayt, we need to represent them, we need to manifest them. In our societies, we should be pillars of amity, pillars of compassion, pillars of love for humanity. Thanks God, the Shia community has shown itself to be ready to sacrifice its interest for the sake of those oppressed. The savagery of Zionists in Gaza has met the support for the oppressed from the Shia community, rejecting every claim that we are sectarian. We have sacrificed more for our Palestinian sisters and brothers than for anybody else, and nobody has sacrificed as much as we have for the sake of our Sunni brothers and sisters in Palestine.

A just cause, as Sayyid Al-Ammar Hakim said, a just cause, a noble cause, a cause that we can be proud of and we can call ourselves lovers of Ahl Al-Bayt, followers of Ahl al-Bayt by supporting them.

Our leader, Imam Ali, said: "Be an enemy to the oppressor and a helper to the oppressed."

If we do not practice animosity to those who commit genocide, to those who oppress and if we do not show compassion to those who are downtrodden, to those who are being oppressed, we cannot call ourselves followers of Ali. Imam Ali, in his letter to Malik, says, be nice to the people you rule because they're either your brothers in religion or your brothers in creation. So Sadi translated this saying of Imam Ali; The sons of Adam are parts of the same body since from the same essence all of us came. If you cannot feel for the misery of others, you cannot be worthy of the name of "human beings". Let us hope that we can, in fact, be worthy of being followers of Imam Ali, of being followers of Imam Hussain, of being people who are waiting, who are steadfastly resisting aggression, resisting tyranny and oppression, so that we will be ready for the return of Imam Mahdi (ajtfs)

I hope this conference, every success. I once again thank Sayyid AlAmmar for his kind and gracious hospitality. But more than that, for his wisdom, for his leadership, and for his courage to convene this important gathering. May God help you all.