The following is the full text of the speech delivered on October 22, 2014 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with participants of 8th Elite Youth Conference. The meeting was held in Imam Khomeini Hussainiyah.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
For someone at this age and with the responsibility such as the one that I have, few things are as sweet as a meeting with a group of people like you. You are youth who have entered the arenas of scientific life and who signify a bright future for this country. People like us have pinned our hopes on you. I hope that Allah the Exalted bestows success on you so that you can build your country - your glorious home - with the power of your thoughts, determination and willpower in a way that it befits this country and this history. Therefore, you are very welcome. We are very glad to meet you in this place today.
I really enjoyed the statements of Mr. Sattari. He himself is an outstanding personality. His father too - Shahid Mansour Sattari - was really an outstanding personality, both in intellectual, scientific and operational areas, and in the area of motivation, faith and presence in difficult arenas. May God associate our dear Shahid Sattari with his saints and may He bestow success on Mr. Sattari.
The statements that the friends in the meeting made were very good and completely correct statements. I hope that by Allah's favor, the Elite Foundation and the deputy that was thankfully established and that blossomed with our insistence during the past few years can carry out their responsibilities in the right way.
I would like to raise a point which is perhaps the main thing that I want to discuss: one of the issues which is necessary for the outstanding personalities of the country to think about is the essence and concept of being outstanding. You should adopt a scholarly and wise outlook towards the essence of being an outstanding personality. Being outstanding means a combination and a set of your talents and your determination for working and making efforts. It means the patience that you show and the follow-up that you do.
All these things - talent, determination and patience - are the blessings of Allah the Exalted to you. This is a divine boon: "And Allah has bestowed His gifts of sustenance more freely on some of you than on others" [The Holy Quran, 16: 71]. This is the sustenance that Allah the Exalted has given you. The talent and mental capacity that you have enjoyed, the determination that you have shown to read your lessons, carry out research, study and work - many people have the talent but they do not have the determination - and the patience that God has given you to make time, sit down, read, think, study and discuss -these things require patience- are divine blessings and divine sustenance.
Well, when we understand where this talent and determination has come from, then we understand where we should expend it. Allah the Exalted has clearly said, "In it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear Allah, who believe in the unseen, are steadfast in prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them" [The Holy Quran, 2: 2-3]. You should donate. This is the divine sustenance to you. Therefore, you should donate it.
The donation of sustenance does not only mean that we take some money out of our pocket and give it to someone who needs it. This is a higher and more valuable sustenance. So, donating it is more valuable as well. You should donate it. Donating knowledge means that you should put it at the service of society, your history, your future and your people.
These things determine what the responsibility of outstanding personalities is. Donating this sustenance means spending it on the way of God and for the wellbeing of God's servants. And I will tell you that you should not show off this donation. Although it is true that you spend the sustenance that Allah the Exalted has given you for the masses of the people, you yourselves will benefit from the products of this donation and the services of the masses of the people.
This is give and take. Who has made the bread that you eat, the clothes that you wear and the vehicle that you use to go here and there? They have been made by those people who are not called outstanding personalities. They are rendering services to you in some ways. In return, you too should render services to them in other ways. This is the meaning of being outstanding. If this donation is made, then divine guidance and assistance will follow it.
Notice that the holy ayah "Guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear Allah" says that this book will offer guidance to those who fear God. Who are these people? They are the people "Who believe in the unseen, are steadfast in prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them". When you make this donation, you will be among those who benefit from divine guidance. This guidance is both in the area of increasing elitism and in the area of success in how you spend it. Allah the Exalted will guide you with this donation.
Divine guidance will help you show your presence wherever there is a gap that you can fill and it does not matter what the arena is. Notice that Shahid Chamran was a scientific personality. Everyone knows Chamran as a soldier, commander and military personality, but Chamran was a top scientific personality. I heard both from himself and from others that he was one of the best students who studied in American centers. He was a scientific personality in the real sense of the word, but he felt that it is necessary to work in this arena. He utilized the same talent, the same capability and the same determination to enter the arena and accomplish great feats. This is an example of an outstanding personality.
Shahid Majid Shahriari was also an outstanding personality. In the case of Shahriari's work, the issue was not the issue of war. Rather, there was a gap and he was needed somewhere. This outstanding personality went and worked there. The same is true of other outstanding shahids. They really worked. In any case, when we understand that these are divine gifts, blessings and sustenance, we understand where we should spend them. This is one point which is the main issue I wanted to address.
We have spoken at length about the issue of knowledge and research. It is several years now. Thankfully, the statements that we made on this matter were not useless. The country has launched a strong, purposeful and real scientific movement during the past 10, 12 years. Thankfully, we have completely begun to move forward, but we should continue this path.
In the recent edict that was issued to the Council of Cultural Revolution, I stressed that the scientific movement should not witness any pause. This is because any pause will be followed by retrogression. We are in a global competition and we are backward in many areas. In the present time, the rate of our progress is good, but our backwardness is at such a great level that this rate of progress is not enough. Our rate of progress has not managed to help us reach the desired point yet. We should continue and great diligence should be shown. This scientific movement is necessary.
If this scientific movement continues with the same components and constituents that it enjoys in the present time - one of which is the formation of knowledge-based companies and reliance on knowledge-based economy - the country will be saved. These are among the constituents of this scientific movement which have thankfully been used.
Our dear Mr. Sattari made a completely correct statement in this meeting. In a country and economy that relies on underground resources and that is completely dependent on natural and effortless wealth, outstanding personalities are neither recognized, employed, nor needed. When we decide to dig our historical wealth out of the ground and sell it in the crude form and when we decide to manage the country like rich guys - let us say it this way: like the rich guys who do not appreciate the value of money and who spend money the way they like - then outstanding personalities will neither be recognized nor needed. Besides, they will not be able to play any role.
And the result is that the fate of the country will be in the hands of those people who formulate major policies in the world of oil and underground resources. Today, the situation is like this. They may decide to reduce the price of oil. All of a sudden, you see that the price of oil has gone down by 20 dollars. For example, it was 105 dollars until yesterday, but now you have to sell it at 85 dollars. These are global polices. It is clear what the future of a country that entrusts its economy to those politicians and decision-makers who act against its benefits will be.
The country should be managed by domestic resources. As he correctly put it, it should be managed by above-ground resources - that is to say, by our inner talents, our human resources and the intelligence of our youth. If this happens, no power in the world will be able to grasp the economic fate of the country or whatever is related to the economy of the country and to use it as its plaything. Therefore, we should pursue knowledge and research. This task is a necessary one.
Of course, knowledge production that we spoke about should not be confused with article production. The statistics that are released and the articles that are published - the scientific articles that have become a reference point in the world and some of which are valuable - are good and valuable things, but this is not the whole issue. First, articles should lead to invention and second, they should address the domestic needs of the country. Both universities, and research and scientific centers should pursue and stress this.
I should add that scientific progress is the responsibility of everyone. That is to say, it is a responsibility that falls on the shoulders of all the organizations of the country. Well, the deputy in charge of scientific affairs and the Elite Foundation are important responsibilities. These organizations have important responsibilities and they have necessary tasks to carry out, but all the universities of the country and all different organizations of the country - the educational system, the Ministry of Sciences and the different organizations that exist in the country - can play a role.
The comprehensive scientific plan - which was thankfully prepared and published - can determine the responsibilities of different organizations. We should witness a complete scientific chain in all the universities of the country. There should be a great network of knowledge production in the real sense of the word, in all dimensions and in all the areas that we need. All of them should converge and complete one another. Our research centers, our universities and the other organizations that are related to scientific affairs should cooperate with one another. By Allah's favor, what we have in mind will be achieved which is forming a complete scientific chain and network.
I advise all you dear youth to strengthen your relationship with Allah the Exalted as much as you can. The programs that they develop for you should be in line with this. The hearts of you youth are pure. The more familiar these pure and enlightened hearts are with God - you should speak to, ask and rely on God, you should open up your hearts to Him and you should engender this feeling in yourselves as much as you can - the more your achievements will be in the future. You should know this.
In the holy ayah "Who believe in the unseen, are steadfast in prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them", saying prayers comes before making a donation. And saying prayers is the manifestation of establishing a close relationship with God. I hope that Allah the Exalted will bestow success on all of you. I hope that He makes our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) and our dear martyrs satisfied with you and that they pray for you. I always pray for you youth as well.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings