THE ASHURA-INSPIRED STRATEGIES FOR BASIJ

Basij needs to employ the values and strategies defined in the Ashura movement. The Ashura movement is an excellent and leading lesson in the history of Islam, where Imam Hossein himself stated “There is a lesson in me for you”. The best place where this lesson manifests itself is Imam’s will, where four states have been denounced- namely, haughtiness, arrogance, oppression and corruption, and three attributes have been introduced as the main objective and strategy of Ashura Uprising- namely, the rectification of the Muslem Ummah's affairs, promoting virtue and preventing vice, and practicing the Holy Prophet’s Sira. The four negative elements are detrimental and harmful to all movements and systems, and the three affirmative ones do consolidate, and give depth to movements and governments, which should revolve around the axis of Imamah (the Shia doctrine of religious, spiritual and political leadership of the Ummah) and Wilayah (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist), and be oberved by Basijis with open eyes. Abstaining from the four detrimental elements, while at the same time abiding by, and practicing the other three should serve as a guiding lantern to help lead people out of the crises and dangerous situations; and Basijis who are followers of Hossein’s path, should commit themselves to teachings of Imam Hossein’s school