The following is the full text of the speech delivered on August 22, 2010 by Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution to a group of university students in Tehran. The meeting was held on the 11th of Ramadan.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
I am thankful to Allah the Exalted who gave me another opportunity to attend this vibrant, enjoyable and motivating meeting in the month of Ramadan. Every year I arrange a meeting with our students in the month of Ramadan and I would tell you that it is one of the most favorable and enjoyable meetings for me.
First of all, I benefit from the points that are made by the brothers and sisters. The points that are mentioned are sometimes novel and I benefit from them. Moreover, sometimes certain suggestions are made which are passed on to the organizations in charge. You should know and you should rest assured that the suggestions are also followed up as much as possible. That is to say, it is not the case that the comments are forgotten after the meetings. No, these comments and points are seriously followed up. Of course, not all these comments and points are followed up seriously: only those comments that we approve and accept, which is the case with the majority of the comments.
Today's meeting was a very vibrant meeting. The dear youth made certain points about all areas. First of all, there were certain differences of opinion among these brothers and sisters and I believe these differences of opinion are very motivating and encouraging, which is exactly how it should be. Different views are expressed on the same issue and each view is backed up with certain reasons, which encourages people to reflect on the issue and find out the truth. This is not to say that you should wait for me to make the final decision on controversial cases which are discussed in universities. Of course, in certain cases there is a need for a final decision where the Leader or a person who has the final say on those cases should step in, but these controversial issues are not one of those cases. Most the controversial cases which were discussed in the meeting do not need a final decision. There might be differences of opinion in certain cases and nothing is wrong with this. What is wrong with differences of opinion? In a meeting with our government officials, I said that there might be differences of opinion about a particular issue and that it is not a tragedy to have differences of opinion. What is wrong with differences of opinion? Sometimes we might be discussing whether or not we should harm the enemy, in which case differences of opinion cause problems. But some other times this is not the case and the issue that is being discussed is a theoretical issue or a controversial social issue. I believe such differences of opinion are motivating and encouraging. At least as far as I am concerned, these differences of opinion are motivating and encouraging. You are young and you should be motivated more easily by such differing opinions and reasons.
I have been thinking deeply about the comments that were made in today's meeting. I realized that the comments were truly deep and profound. In some of the meetings which are arranged with our students, it annoys me that I do not find any depth to the comments made by some of the youth who speak at the meetings. This was not the case today. Today I heard deep and profound comments. Apart from the compliments I received - which is a different issue - the views that were expressed throughout the meeting were deep and critical views. This is not to say that all the comments were necessarily correct. No, some of the comments were correct and some others were flimsy, but they were well-thought-out and informed comments. This is important. In particular, the comments made by the gentleman who spoke on behalf of a certain organization show that there is a capacity for intellectual collaboration, which is a positive thing and makes me happy. Sometimes an intellectual person might say something as his personal opinion, which is a good thing, but what is better is to sit down together with a group of people, exchange views, reach a conclusion after discussing the differences of opinion and finally present the conclusion in such meetings. I noticed signs of this latter case, especially in the comments which were made by the gentleman who spoke on behalf of a particular organization.
I believe today's meeting has been a very good meeting and I am thankful to Allah the Exalted for this. I would also like to thank those who spoke in the meeting, both the girls and the boys. The meeting has been a very good meeting.
There are certain points that I will discuss if there is enough time. However, the most important point is that you are young and your hearts are pure. At this age, you cannot understand what this purity really means and what the problem is with impure hearts. You are too young to understand this point and it will take a long time for you to understand it. You will understand the meaning of such problems when you reach our age and you will realize how valuable it is to have a pure heart, but then it will be too late.
Today this asset is available to you. What I am trying to say is that you should try as much as possible to create a bond between your heart and the source of greatness, truth and beauty - namely Allah the Exalted. If you succeed, you will live happily until the end your life. If you fail now, creating this bond will be more difficult after twenty years. If you fail again after twenty years - at which time you will be forty, forty five years old - it will be even more difficult to create this bond after another twenty years, namely at an age that is less than my current age. At that time, it will be extremely difficult to create this bond. This is not to say that it will be completely impossible. It just means that it will be very difficult. You should create a bond between your heart and Allah the Exalted while you are young. And the path has been shown in holy sharia. It is not a complicated and mysterious task. When you take a look at the peak, you see that there are some people who are up there and they did not fly to reach the peak. No, those people followed the same path that lies ahead of you and they managed to reach the peak. We must avoid illusions. We must not think that there are magical ways of reaching the peak. No, the people whom you can see at the peak followed the same paths that are currently available to you. What are these paths? The most important path is to stop committing sins, which is easier said than done, but it is an indispensible step. Avoiding lies, betrayal and different kinds of carnal passions and sins are the most important step that should be taken. After avoiding sins, the most important step is to fulfill one's religious obligations, with daily prayers being the most important obligation. "Remember that piety and nobleness of all your activities are subject to sincerity and punctuality of your prayers." Every good deed that a person does depends on his praying. Pray on time. Pray in an attentive way, which means that you should know who you are speaking to when praying. You should be aware that you are speaking to God. If you practice this spiritual state and if you manage to reach this level of concentration, you will benefit from it until the end of your life. And as I pointed out earlier, if you fail, it will be difficult after twenty years and even more difficult after another twenty years. Moreover, reaching that state will be extremely difficult for a person who has no experience. You should try to reach this level of concentration while you are young, then your prayer will be the kind of prayer that "keeps (you) away from indecency and evil." [The Holy Quran, 29: 45] This ayah does not mean that praying puts an obstacle in front of you and prevents you from committing sins. No, it means that praying constantly reminds you not to commit sins. If your inner voice constantly tells you not to commit sins, you will not commit sins. This is the nature of praying.
Fasting in the month of Ramadan is very valuable: it is a battle against hunger, thirst, heat and different kinds of hardships that people are faced with. Recite the Holy Quran, Nahjul Balaghah and Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya. Engage in dua and midnight prayers and do whatever spiritual deed you can.
Do not take your enlightened and immaculate hearts for granted. I am not saying these things to compliment you. No, you are not the only youth in the world and what I am saying is true of all youth throughout the world. Your hearts are pure. You cannot feel this because you have no frame of reference for comparison. Problems and impurities smear the heart over time. There is a narration which says when people commit a sin, a dark spot appears in their hearts and when they commit another sin, the dark spot grows bigger. Of course, the language is figurative. The more sins you commit, the more dark spots will appear in your heart and after a while your heart will grow completely dark. In ordinary language, this is exactly what I explained earlier. That is to say, currently your heart and soul are pure, but over time sins and the numerous problems that people are faced with throughout their life - in politics, in economic areas, in earning a living - make the heart completely dark if one has no practice in confronting these problems. This is my first point. I consider you as my own children. If I wanted to give my own children the best pieces of advice, I would tell them exactly what I told you.
Pay attention to the fact that most of the slips - if not all of them - that happen in different areas are due to failing to take into consideration the essential point that I mentioned, which is even true of jihad. In the Battle of Uhud, a number of people neglected their duties and caused a tragedy. There is no need to recount the events that took place in the Battle of Uhud because you are familiar with the events, but if you have not studied the events, you can read the history books that have been written in this regard. Speaking about the people who neglected their duties, the Holy Quran says: "Those of you who turned back on the day when the two armies met, only Satan sought to cause them to make a slip on account of some deeds they had done." [The Holy Quran, 3: 155] Satan had prepared the ground for their slip by encouraging them to commit sins long before the battle. We have many such ayahs in the Holy Quran. If we fail to avoid committing sins, the consequences will reveal themselves in the management of our national affairs, in the management of a particular sector that we are in charge of, in the battle that we are fighting, in the financial and economic test that we are involved in. In short, this is the main point that I would like to make in this meeting: do not take your youth for granted. This means that you should appreciate the value of your pure hearts and develop a closer relationship with Allah the Exalted. The trick is to stop committing sins and to pay attention to prayers. Besides the obligatory prayers and the attentiveness that I spoke about, do whatever else you can, including dua and the non-obligatory deeds that have been recommended. And hopefully Allah the Exalted will open up the paths.
I have written down certain points to discuss in this meeting. However, the questions that you posed and the issues that you brought up are also important. It is not a bad idea to make a few comments about some of the issues you brought up.
This was one of the questions: can the student movement pose questions whenever it spots a flaw? The answer is, "Yes, you must." Nothing is wrong with asking questions providing that - as was pointed out by the brother - you do not pass judgment. You should ask questions without passing judgment. And the best way to ask and answer questions is to invite government officials to the meetings arranged by our student organizations. I hereby urge our government officials to arrange more meetings with our students. Today our students are the best people in the country: they are young, educated, reasonable and motivated. Our government officials should attend the meetings that are arranged by student organizations. These questions should be asked in such meetings and there will probably be convincing answers to the questions. Sometimes in my meetings with certain government officials, I ask the same or similar questions and they provide an answer: sometimes their answer is convincing and some other times they do not have a convincing answer. In any case, asking questions is good. Take care not to confuse asking questions with confrontation. As I have pointed out on so many occasions, the student movement - or whatever it is called - should not think that its duty is to confront the organizations in charge of running the country. No, this is a mistake. Why is this necessary? Confrontation is not always good. It might be good in certain conditions and bad in certain other conditions. The important point is to make your point, discuss your reasons and demand a convincing answer, and our government officials should provide you with answers.
This was another question: some people highlight unity, while others highlight purity - what is your opinion? I would highlight both unity and purity. The kind of purity that you are demanding is not something that can be created through quarreling, fighting, radical moves and pressuring. It is not possible to purify an organization in this way and it is not our mission either. During the early years after the introduction of Islam, a number of people strongly supported the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.), including Salman, Abazar, Ubay ibn Ka'b, Ammar and others. They were among the most sincere and pure-hearted companions. There were some other people who were slightly less supportive. There were also other people whom the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) would sometimes criticize. Imagine what the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) would have done if had decided to purge a society in which there were only a few thousand people and purging was far easier than in our 70-million society. Who would have remained for him? Those who had committed a sin would have had to go. Those who had been criticized would have had to go. Those who had left the Holy Prophet alone at the wrong time would have had to go. Those who had paid their zakat a little late would have had to go. Nobody would have remained. The same is true of today. It is wrong to exclude the people whose religious faith is weaker under the pretext of purity. On the contrary, you should try to include as many people as you can. You should try to increase the number of people who can purify your society. This is good. Start with yourselves, the people around you, your family, your friends, you organization and those who are not members of your organization. Try to increase individual and communal purity as much as you can, considering the limits of your organization's influence. And this will result in increasing purity in your society. This is the way purity should be increased.
I also spoke about unity - and later on certain questions were asked in this regard. What I meant was unity on the basis of the principles. Unity with whom? With those who believe in the principles, and with unity being as strong as their belief in the principles. And this is Vilayat among Muslims. Those who do not believe in the principles, those who show that they do not believe in the principles, those who announce that they do not believe in the principles - they must be excluded. Therefore, considering the explanation I presented, we support both unity and purity.
A question was asked in the meeting and I have heard the same question in other places as well. The question is, "Do we have to adopt positions like the Leader?" Well, the Leader has a certain set of responsibilities and others have a different set of responsibilities. It is absolutely wrong to think that the Leader's opinion goes against what is officially announced as his opinion and that he discusses his real opinion in private with certain trusted people and tells them to translate it into action. There is no such thing. If there is a person who thinks like this, he is making a mistake and if he attributes such a characteristic to the Leader, he would be committing a big sin. The views and positions of the Leader are the same things that are explicitly announced, the same things that I explicitly announce.
A few years ago, somebody had been murdered and the enemies created uproar in their propaganda and said that those who had committed the murder were following a fatwa, an order. They wanted to drag the Leader into this issue in one way or another. I said during my Friday prayer sermons, "If I believe that a person must be killed, I will announce it during Friday prayers." It is neither permissible nor appropriate to have positions other than what the Leader openly and explicitly announces as his positions. No, my positions are the same things that I announce.
Of course, there might be certain differences between the quality of my praying and fasting and the quality of your praying and fasting. Well, you are young. You are students. Your religious and social activities are youthful and naturally they are different from the way an old man behaves. We cannot ignore these natural differences.
The issue of safeguarding the Islamic system was also brought up in the meeting. As I said, I believe that safeguarding the Islamic system is obligatory and that it is more important than all other obligations. And the system has certain boundaries. One set of boundaries is the ethical and cultural boundaries and there is no doubt that these boundaries must be safeguarded.
A few points were raised about scholarly marja'iyat (religious authority) and its requirements, which were correct. I urge our government officials to pay attention and write down these points.
A criticism was also made in the meeting and it was complained why we fail to produce appropriate cultural products. This is a criticism that I would want to voice as well and it is completely valid. The cultural products that we produce are not expressive enough. In spite of the fact that we have good artists, in spite of the fact that we have good authors, in spite of the fact that we have good actors, we rarely produce shows that are appropriate to our cultural needs. It is necessary for our cultural managers to work more on these areas. Of course, you know that such things cannot be done overnight. That is to say, we cannot simply decide to produce cultural products and order ten, twenty revolutionary, cultural and Islamic movies to be produced in six months or a year, for example. These things require certain infrastructure and as long as this infrastructure has not been built, no achievements will be made. Some of this infrastructure has not been built yet and they should be built over time by different governments and government officials. And some of this infrastructure has even been destroyed in certain eras. In certain eras, not only did we fail to build the necessary infrastructure, but also certain parts of our ideological and cultural infrastructure were destroyed. It is time we took care of these problems. However, the criticism is completely valid and I have the same criticism of the IRIB, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the Islamic Propagation Organization and the organizations in charge of artistic affairs. I constantly arrange meetings with the people in charge of these organizations. I sit down with them and present my arguments and reasons, which means that unfortunately I am forced to shoulder the responsibility that should be carried out by certain executive officials of the country. For example, I recently arranged many meetings with the officials in charge of cultural affairs of the country regarding artistic and cinematic issues, dramatic arts and other areas. We sat down together and discussed the issues, and I hope our discussion will produce good results. In any case, this demand which was voiced in the meeting is a legitimate demand.
One of the gentlemen made a point about privatization of culture and health and I believe his point is a valid point. Privatization - with a particular definition - is limited to the companies specified in Article 44 of the Constitution. I believe that privatization does not apply to culture, health and other such areas. And the officials in charge have told me certain points in this regard. I believe this criticism is a valid criticism and it is necessary to pay attention to it.
Good points were made about our foreign policy and exporting the Revolution through our students. I do not want to say that these things are futile. No, definitely there are certain benefits and pay attention to the fact that currently a lot of things are being done in these areas. A lot of things are being done in the area of establishing relations with Muslims and with different Asian, African and Latin American nations. There are no Muslim countries in Latin America, but there are certain Lebanese, Arab, Shia and Sunni communities in Latin American countries such as Brazil. A lot of things are being done in those places. You dear youth might not like the things that are being done, but I believe they are good and nothing is wrong with them only if they are based on specific plans and calculations. Also, certain points were made about the issue of discrimination, some of which are truly valid.
There was also a discussion about the reasons why our outstanding figures leave the country. One of the ladies said that the outstanding personalities who leave the country mention certain things as the reasons why they decide to leave: for example, they say that certain things which should have been done were not done and certain things which should not have been done were done. I do not reject these comments: they might be completely valid. But most of the time, the outstanding personalities who decide to leave the country after graduating from university do not really leave for these reasons: these are only pretexts. There are certain people in the destination countries who pretend that the grass is greener on the other side and convince these graduates that there are good employment opportunities, which makes these graduates believe that if they go there, a lot of good things will happen to them. Maybe there are some governmental organizations that are not just motivated by the need for the knowledge and talent of our youth, but they are also motivated by a desire to fight the Islamic Republic. As a result, they make investments and attract our youth to their country. Of course, some of the youth who leave the country become successful abroad and some others do not succeed. There are certain people who realize that leaving the country was a mistake. On the other hand, we have certain youth who left the country temporarily for academic studies and they received good education abroad, but their religious faith and Islamic and wholesome motives caused them to return to the country. It is not the case that our youth constantly leave the country and do not return. There are certain youth who have left the country to study abroad and some of them are gradually returning. I know quite a few such people. Some of them are outstanding individuals and some others are geniuses. They return and start working inside the country. It is wrong to think that our youth constantly leave the country and never return. No, some of the youth return to the country and there are certain facilities for them inside the country and certain things are being done.
One of the friends mentioned the raid on the Tehran University dormitory. I have been following up the issue. Of course, it is a fact that the issue has not been followed up as swiftly as it should have been. It is necessary to move things forward in this regard and by Allah's favor, we will. You should not think that the issue has been forgotten. No, it has not been forgotten. There are a lot of issues to handle and the workload is heavy. And some of the organizations might not be very much motivated to cooperate in this regard: their motivation is weak. As a result, the process is slow, but by Allah's favor, things will be moved forward.
It was pointed out that certain disciplinary and security measures were taken in our universities. I do not know what sort of strict disciplinary and security measures have been undertaken in the universities, but I know after all that there is a need for discipline in universities. If there has been a certain level of strictness, it is possible, I do not know. Such things are possible, but disciple and security are necessary, after all. One cannot abandon academic environments. Basically academic environments are the target of many of the enemies' machinations. You students should know that you are inside the red circle: sometimes when they want to highlight a particular thing in photos and video footage, they put a red circle around it. The enemy has put a red circle around you students. The enemy has singled you out as the target of many of his plots in order to make you slip, in order to lead you away from your path, in order to make you insensitive to the destiny of the country and the interests of the Revolution. How can one ignore universities? It is necessary to pay attention to universities, after all. Yes, I believe zealotry is never good, especially in this case.
One of the friends said that thinking and knowledge must not be ordered from above. I am not aware of such a thing. In our society thinking is not ordered from above. Neither thinking nor knowledge is ordered from above. Please, specify where this has happened. I am the person who should confront such things. I support freedom of thought. Of course, I would tell you that freedom of thought should not be on national TV. Freedom of thought should be limited to technical discussions. For example, you can arrange a technical meeting among students about a particular political issue where a 2, 5, 10 people come together and present their arguments: this would be freedom of thought. The same is true of religious discussions. The same is true of the ideologies of different faiths throughout the world. The same is true of scholarly issues. Therefore, the discussions should be technical discussions, otherwise if two people debate something on TV or on the radio, the righteous person will not necessary win the debate in the end. The person who is more experienced and more skillful will win the debate. Therefore, there should be freedom of thought in every technical discussion, but such discussions and debates are not good for public places. However, this does not mean that something is being imposed from above. No, after all, a righteous idea is put forth: "Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good preaching, and have disputations with them in the best manner." [The Holy Quran, 16: 125] What is this "wisdom" and "good preaching" for? To call people "to the way of your Lord". That is to say, wisdom and appropriate language are the principle, which is true of calling people to Allah the Exalted as well as everything else. The kind of language that is used for inviting people to God should be appropriate, but the direction of the invitation should also be specified. There is no sense in leaving an invitation open-ended: this leads people astray. It is necessary to guide people. Do you not acknowledge that governments are responsible for guiding the thoughts of their people?
In any case, the point that was raised was a very good point. The friends who spoke in this meeting made truly good comments. One of the friends said, "Our hearts are bleeding because of the President's right- and left-hand men." Your hearts might be bleeding, but I would tell you that these things are not among our major issues. The criticisms might be valid and I do not want to pass any judgment in this regard. There might be certain criticisms against a particular person or a particular measure, but what is important is that we should divide our issues into primary and secondary issues. Secondary issues must not take the place of primary issues as far as our motives, efforts and energy are concerned: this is all I am trying to say. I would not protest why you like or dislike a particular person because you may like or dislike whoever you want and nothing is wrong with this. Nor would I protest why you voiced a particular criticism, a criticism that does not have evil consequences. I believe nothing is wrong with voicing such criticisms. Just take care not to let these things sideline the primary issues. Our primary issues are other things.
Certain points were made about privatization of our economy and implementing Article 44 of the Constitution. Our government officials are claiming that they are implementing Article 44 well. Of course, there are certain opponents who protest, both in the Majlis and in other places. The opponents say that Article 44 has not been implemented well, but our government officials do not accept the criticisms and say that they are implementing it well. I believe this is among the questions that should be asked and our government officials should arrange meetings with our student communities. They should convince our students that the measures they have adopted are effective measures. And if they cannot convince our youth, they should revise their measures.
You also made certain criticisms against the IRIB. Your criticisms are valid. You complained why our government officials publicly discuss their disagreements. Your complaints are legitimate. I have the same complaints against the gentlemen. I have discussed this with them and I have even criticized them harshly.
You spoke about the people who had gathered in front of the Majlis. Of course, I will not make any comments in this regard. There is only one thing: you constantly complain why government officials cannot accept criticisms, but I would tell you that you should also accept criticisms. Accepting criticisms is not particular to government officials. After all, if a valid criticism is made against a student, he should accept it. A large number of people gathered in front of the Majlis and they shouted certain slogans, which were good slogans. There were also a number of people who were shouting radical slogans. Of course, I am not saying that those people were bad people. No, they just showed a radical and youthful response. But if you believe that these slogans were radical and too much, you should accept the criticism as valid. You should not simply protest anything that is not in favor of students. There might be certain valid criticisms against you and you should accept those criticisms.
They said that they would work on the issue of Vilayat, which is very good. They also presented an explanation about the issue of intellectual roundtables which made me very happy. It was also pointed out that a comprehensive scientific plan has been prepared which is different from the existing plan: I welcome such plans. Make sure to give it to me. My public relations office should write down the name of the gentleman. The idea of student camps is also very good.
I have written down quite a few points to discuss. Unfortunately there is not enough time for a lengthy discussion, so I will discuss each point briefly. First of all, take care not to let student organizations branch into different groups or come into conflict with each other as a result of differences of taste. This is one of the outstanding manifestations of the kind of unity that I recommend to different people. It is intellectual principles that bring about separation or cohesion. When people do not agree on basic intellectual principles, they drift apart. But when people share a set of intellectual principles, they get closer to each other. This is not true of personal tastes and tendencies. Each person has his own personal tastes. Some people are students of engineering, some others are students of arts, and yet other people are students of medicine: these three groups are different in terms of their tastes and in each group there is a wide variety of other tastes and tendencies. A person might like something while another person might hate the same thing: do not let such things separate you from one another. I believe these things are very important.
The second point is that you should have your own analysis and adopt positions on the issues which are related to the destiny of the country. The Tehran statement was an important statement. What is your analysis of the statement? What is your position on it? Do you agree or disagree with it? The Security Council has issued Resolution 1929 against the Islamic Republic, and America and Europe have decided to impose unilateral sanctions against Iran. What is your analysis of these developments? These developments are significant. What is your position on them? What should Iran do? Should we put our hands up and surrender when they frown at us, when they impose sanctions on us, when they show their teeth? Should we back down a little? What is your analysis? There are certain political groups in the country whose analysis is that we should back down in such cases. They say when the opponent makes serious threats and shows his teeth, we should back down. Do you accept this analysis? Should we back down or do you believe any decision to back down will embolden the enemy? As soon as they realize that we are afraid of their frown, they will decide that frowning at us is the solution. As soon as they realize that attacking or threatening to attack forces us to back down, they will decide that they should attack us more in order to make us back away from all our statements. This is how they are. These are the global calculations.
There is another point that I would like to discuss with you dear students. Dear brothers and sisters, take strengthening intellectual principles seriously. Of course, I see that today our students are paying more attention to intellectual principles compared with seven, eight years ago when our students used to arrange discussions with me in this place in the month of Ramadan. Some of the statements that you make show that these principles have been strengthened in your mind: one can observe this. But in the meantime student organizations should take strengthening intellectual principles seriously so that the tendency spreads to other students later on. It is absolutely necessary to strengthen intellectual principles. Failure to strengthen these principles would seriously harm student organizations and groups of the country.
Another point is that all student organizations should strengthen their relationships with students. I believe that you must not ignore students in general. It was pointed out that the intellectual roundtables are still being arranged, which is good. These are among the ways in which student organizations can connect with students. However, I believe that it is very valuable to establish relationships with students and professors in general throughout the year and on different occasions.
Also two of the ladies spoke about humanities in this meeting. The points that they made are valid points and their criticisms are legitimate. They proposed exactly the same things that I am after, the same things that I discussed a couple of years ago. Of course, what I meant was that our professors, intellectuals and researchers should go after the kind of humanities that are in line with Islamic principles, namely the kind of humanities that have not been built on the basis of wrong materialistic philosophies, which is the case with the current form of western humanities. After all, if politics, economics, philosophy, management or other fields of humanities are based on a materialistic view of the world and are built on materialistic values, naturally they will not be able to fulfill the wishes and ideals of a Muslim society that has faith in Islamic teachings.
Finally, I would like to say a few things to all the brothers and sisters who have attended this meeting. My dear ones, you should know that fortunately our country has been making good progress in different areas. The process of establishing justice has also been good. This decade was named "The Decade of Progress and Justice". The kind of progress that I am speaking about is scientific progress, technological progress, political progress, ethical progress: progress includes all these areas. Well, good things are being done. At least the infrastructural groundwork is being laid for great achievements and quantum leaps. And as far as justice is concerned, at least this idea is becoming widespread. That is to say, everybody will start to believe that it is necessary to go after justice, that it is necessary to administer justice, that it is necessary to fulfill these wishes. These points were also mentioned in the statements of the friends who spoke in this meeting. This itself is a kind of progress. Of course, this is not to say that we are satisfied with the level of progress we have made in administering justice. No, the demands and efforts are a lot more ambitious in this regard. The demands are ambitious, as are the efforts. What I am trying to say is that we are moving forward, that we are making progress. Our enemies are declining and becoming weaker while we are improving and becoming stronger. The taghuti system and the oppressive and belligerent capitalist system in the world - which is embodied by the regime of the United States of America - is currently far weaker than ten, twenty years ago. In contrast, Islamic thought and the Islamic Republic are far more powerful, progressed and prepared than ten, twenty years ago.
Compared to ten years ago, today our youth are far better and far more prepared, and the faithful youth of ten years ago are currently active in different areas. By Allah's favor, in the future you will similarly be active in different sectors of the country. Prepare yourselves for difficult tests. We are making progress. In spite of all the hostilities by the enemies, the Islamic system has been moving forward over the past 31, 32 years. Our enemies are not as powerful as they used to be 30 years ago. Today America is not as powerful as it used to be 30 years ago. I made the same point a few days ago in a meeting with our government officials, which is something that I truly believe in. And there is a lot of evidence that proves this. The America of the Reagan administration was far more powerful than the America of the Obama administration or the America of the Bush Jr. administration. This is a fact: they have been declining. There are no signs that their decline is coming to an end. In contrast, there are a lot of signs which show that by Allah's favor, the Iranian nation and the Islamic Republic will be making even faster progress in the future.
Dear God, bestow Your mercy and blessings on these young and faithful hearts. Dear God, make what we said in this meeting serve Your cause. Accept what we said in this meeting from us. Dear God, make our life and death serve Islam and Your cause. Dear God, do not separate us from Your saints, Your friends and Your chosen servants. Make the holy heart of the Imam of the Age happy and satisfied with us. Make the immaculate soul of our Imam (r.a.) and the pure souls of our martyrs happy and satisfied with us. Make the hearts of these brothers and sisters grow closer to each other in order to create unity on the righteous and divine path.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings