Grand Mufti: Traditions are what keeps the spirit alive

“Traditions are what keeps the spirit alive and give opportunity for development of love, happiness, tolerance and respect among people. We know that life is full with rises and falls, happiness and sadness, good and bad”, said the Grand Mufti Dr. Mustafa Hadzhi during the marking of the Day of Ashura in Sofia. The event which took place at the “Banski” square in the capital was attended by representatives of all traditional denominations, diplomats, public figures and citizens. The Day of Ashura is marked on the tenth day of the month of Muharram according to the Islamic Hijri calendar (lunar calendar). The name “Ashura comes from that it coincides with the tenth day of the month and the literal meaning of the word is ”ten”. Marking the Day of Ashura is an occasion to unite the entire humanity and is considered a common value of all monotheistic religions.

According to the religious leader of the Muslims we always use the good events to celebrate them and the bad to mark them in order not to repeat them. The Day of Ashura is a day which marks many important events in human’s history. Some of them are happy and some of them sad. However they all indicate one new beginning that is why in the day today when people need most of all to be together, the religious leader recommends them to help and love each other.

“Marking this day clearly shows that we need to be together and respect each other. We live in a time when most of the people leave their homelands in order to migrate and find a better life. Let’s make everything possible according to our efforts in order not to remain our messages only words but to apply them in the real life”, emphasized the Grand Mufti.

“This day is full with many events related to the human’s history which we all who believe are convinced that they happened when the flood withdrew and Noah already saw the new beginning. It brings in itself the hope that the world will be more different. I also bear my belief in this day”, said Father Angel, a representative of His Holiness Patriarch Neophyte and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

He shared his belief that there is a new hope that from now on love between people and of course peace will be preserved, because we have to say that everything that happens around us shows that perhaps peace is something fragile. “In this day we again have the hope that God will give to each of us and we will live in harmony with each other. Maybe Sofia city is one of the indicators for this because despite of the fact that we are multifaceted we bear one belief, the belief in God. And He wants from us exactly this - love to the neighbor”, further said Father Angel and conveyed the greetings from the Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte.

“Ashura reminds us for another time for the events in the world. This is a kind of a source of instruction and revaluation. Especially in building the values of the modern person, based on peace, understanding, cooperation, compassion, humanism and tolerance”, said the President of the National Council of the Religious Communities in Bulgaria Dr. Rupen Krikoryan. According to him all these messages are very necessary today in the name of the good, the light and the welfare of the man. Marking the Day of Ashura is organized for a second consecutive year with the participation of representatives of the traditional religious denominations and the support of Sofia Municipality.

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