Quran reciters meet with Ayatollah Khamenei on the commencement of Ramadan

Officials of the Country Should Be Outspoken When Expressing Islamic Principles: Ayatollah Khamenei

The following is the full text of the speech delivered on May 27, 2017 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, at the annual Ramadhan Quranic recitation. The recitation was held on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan.

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master and Prophet, Ab-al-Qassem Al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his immaculate, pure and chosen household, especially the one remaining with Allah on earth and may God curse all their enemies

It was a very sweet, ideal, blessed and – by Allah's favor - valuable meeting. I hope that, God willing, the month of Ramadan will be an auspicious occasion for all you and for all Quranic personalities. We witnessed the start of this auspicious month – one of the most important characteristic of this auspicious month is the sending down of the Holy Quran and reciting and establishing a close relationship with it – today with the recitation of Quranic ayahs in this place and we really benefitted from it. We really derived great benefits from it. I thank the brothers who took the trouble to organize this meeting and this performance. It was very good.

Thankfully, Quranic flowers are blossoming and showing themselves one by one throughout this great garden, namely Iran. The holy seeds of the Holy Quran have been planted in this land. This is the skill of the Revolution. This is the skill of the Islamic government. However, this was not the case in the past. During our childhood and youth, the Holy Quran was isolated in the country in the real sense of the word. Of course, there were some individuals who were after learning, teaching and getting close to the Holy Quran in an ardent and determined manner, but the general environment was completely unfamiliar with the Holy Quran and there was not any trace of such familiarity.

Today, the general environment of the country has thankfully become familiar with the Holy Quran. You can see that youth, teenagers and children at different ages and from different areas of the country are familiar and involved with the Holy Quran. They read and deliberate on the Holy Quran.

The recitation of the Holy Quran has made really good progress in the country. Well, from the beginning of the Revolution, we have been witness to some good recitations from our qura. We can tangibly witness the achievements in this regard. We had certain dreams for our Quranic qura and reciters to carry out certain tasks and to recite, deliberate on, understand and convey the Holy Quran in certain ways. These were the dreams that we have always had. Thankfully, each and every one of these dreams are coming true.

Today, we have good teachers, good reciters, good youth and good teenagers in this area and we are thankful to God. However, this is only the beginning. We are very backward in the area of being familiar with and benefiting from the Holy Quran. These are the initial steps that should be taken. I have said many times and would like to repeat that these meetings, these gatherings, these words of advice and these measures are all an introduction to helping the environment of the country and the public opinion of our people to become Quranic. This will help the people's mentality to get close to the Holy Quran and to Quranic concepts. This is what is important.

If we establish a close relationship with the Holy Quran, then the opportunity will be provided for thinkers from various social backgrounds to think about Quranic concepts, to understand certain things from it and to answer various questions. By "questions", I do not mean fallacies, rather I mean questions about life and about lifestyle. In the present time, there are millions of questions ahead of us. And when a society with a particular government is moving life towards certain ideals, this society is faced with thousands of thousand questions about relations, about behavior, about positions, about enmities and friends, about property and about one's way of confronting material affairs. These are all the questions that exist, but there are answers for all these questions.

Humanity lost its path and was ruined because it did not find the correct answers for these questions. The disaster of today's world and today's humanity is that it did not learn the correct answers for these questions. It received and thought of false, deviant and misleading answers and then, it acted on them. That is why it has reached this point. The world does not have security, sincerity, spirituality and psychological tranquility. The hearts of the masses of people in society are not sincere to one another. This is the condition of today's world and this condition exists throughout the world.

Humans have been created to communicate with one another. Hearts should be connected to each other. They should show kindness to and help one another. Individuals should be like a single body in the world. Humanity has been created on the basis of this. This has been the plan for it, but today if you look, you will see that there is war, insecurity, fear and deviation everywhere. Hearts are distant from one another everywhere, families are ruined, class differences are huge, some people are wealthy and prosperous and some are poor. All these disasters exist because the questions about life have not been answered correctly and because they have been misunderstood.

Besides, some deviant economic and political systems have come into being as well and humanity is suffering. Billions of individuals are afflicted with this situation. Even those who are wealthy are afflicted. When we say that there are class differences, this does not mean that those who are among the one percent of rich American society are comfortable and are enjoying themselves. This is not the case. They have numerous anxieties, concerns and psychological problems as well and sometimes, these problems are larger in number compared to the poor. This means that everyone is afflicted with this situation.

A society which does not know the correct path – the straight path – and a society which is not in touch with God is in such conditions. Unfortunately today, human societies are suffering from such depravities and deviations. That is why you frequently repeat, "Show us the straight path" [part of daily prayers, The Holy Quran, 1: 6]. That is why they have said that we should repeat this Quranic ayah frequently. The "straight path" means a path which is free of these pests and these problems. This is the meaning of the "straight path".

You constantly ask Allah the Exalted to guide you and this guidance exists in the Holy Quran. If we establish a close relationship with the Holy Quran, if we understand it correctly and if we delve into it, then the correct answers to the questions about life will be given to us. We should pursue this because it is an important issue. The closer our dear youth get to the Holy Quran, the clearer these truths will become for them, God willing. The more you drink from this sweet beverage, the more enthusiastic and thirsty you will become. The Holy Quran is like this.

Well, today, the Islamic community is suffering from certain problems, just like other communities. You should look at the world of Islam and see what is happening. In the world of Islam, some worthless, incompetent and mean individuals have taken the fate of Islamic societies in their hands. For example, the governments that you witness – the Saudis and the like – are like this. This is because of drifting away from the Holy Quran. This is because of unfamiliarity with Quranic truths. Part of this originates from unfamiliarity and part of it is because of lack of faith.

Of course, they believe in the Holy Quran on the face of it. Sometimes, they publish a million copies of the Holy Quran and they distribute them among the people for free, but they do not believe in any way in the content, meaning and concepts of the Holy Quran. The Holy Quran says, "Those who are with him are strong against Unbelievers, but compassionate amongst each other" [The Holy Quran, 48: 29]. But they are "Strong against believers, but compassionate with unbelievers and kufar" [speaking in Arabic].

You should take a look to see in what conditions they are. They are friendly with and interested in kufar and they give them money out of their nations' property. They themselves do not have any money. Whom does the money that they have and that has been accumulated in their bank accounts – which are astronomical and legendary in amount – belong to? Where does it come from? They have not inherited this money from their fathers. This money comes from oil revenues. It is money earned from below-the-ground sources. It comes from national sources of wealth. Instead of being spent on improving the people's lives, it is being accumulated in their bank accounts and they use it for personal and private matters. And they offer it to kufar and to the people's enemies: "And they have taken for worship gods other than Allah, to give them power and glory! Instead, they shall reject their worship, and become adversaries against them" [The Holy Quran, 19: 81-82].

These idiots think that they can win the love of the enemies of Islam by giving them money and by helping them and the like. This is while there is no love. As they themselves have said, they are like dairy cows. They milk them and when the milking is over, they slaughter them. This is today's condition of the world of Islam. They treat the enemies like that, but they treat the people of Yemen and the people of Bahrain like this. They behave towards them in an anti-religious manner.

Of course, they will be destroyed. When you look at appearances, you should not be deceived by them. They will be gone. They are destructible and perishable: "For falsehood is by its nature bound to perish" [The Holy Quran, 17: 81]. They are examples of falsehood and they will surely witness destruction, downfall, disaster and decline. There is no doubt about this. Of course, this might be done a little while sooner or later. This depends on the performance of believers and the believing community. If they act correctly, this will be done sooner, but if they do not act correctly, this will be done at a later time, but it will surely be done. Both they and those on whom they have pinned their hopes will be destroyed.   

That which has a future is Islam, the Holy Quran and you pious youth. That which has a future is you pious youth. This was recited in the meeting: "Whose word can be truer than Allah's?" [The Holy Quran, 4: 122]. Who is more truthful than God? Who knows about the future more than God? And Allah the Exalted has said that the future belongs to believers, to the righteous and to mujahids in the way of God. There is no doubt about this because this is a divine promise. However, even if some people are tempted and have doubts and even if they are not calmed by this divine promise, they should be calmed by experience. I have said this frequently and I believe in it with all my heart. Even if we were not given any divine promise, with the experiences that the people of Iran have gained since 30, 40 years ago, they should become confident that the future belongs to them. They should become confident that the victory belongs to them.

We are a people who used to be ruled by a regime which had the same romantic relationship with the American rulers as those poor creatures – those intellectual retards and retards in every other area – did! And ours was much stronger and much better! They used to say outspokenly, "You are our gendarmes in the Persian Gulf." They used to say this to our taghuti government of the time. Besides, they were more intelligent, they were more capable, they were more dependent on these taghuts and they had much stronger relations with them. Despite the fact that such a regime had the power, the people of Iran managed to overthrow it with the power of faith, jihad and self-sacrifice. Our people managed to overthrow that regime despite all the international support that it was receiving.

And they managed to replace that regime with something that arrogant powers cannot stand looking at – which is the Islamic Republic. This was one experience. Is there any experience which is better than this? "So lose not heart, nor fall into despair for you must gain mastery if you are true in faith" [The Holy Quran, 3: 139]. If you have faith, you will be superior. You should be strong on the path of faith. You should be outspoken and steadfast on this path. I insist that the all the people of Iran and the officials of the country should be outspoken in expressing Islamic principles.

There were some ayahs which were recited by our mellifluous qura: "There is for you an excellent example to follow in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people: 'We are clear of you and of whatever you worship besides Allah. We have rejected you, and there has arisen, between us and you, enmity and hatred for ever unless you believe in Allah and Him alone" [The Holy Quran, 60: 4]. This is what it is. He says openly, "We have rejected you." There is nothing wrong with this.

Now, some people think anxiously that a government and an administration should have international relations. I completely believe in and agree with this thought. But there is nothing wrong with expressing one's principles. We can speak about our principles and fundamental beliefs and move forward. And we can succeed on the various issues of life including international relations. We can do these tasks. They should enter the arena and rely on God. Then they will see that this is possible. This is what experiences do.

On that day, I said to the group of people who were present here that Hazrat Ibrahim – that great prophet – asked Allah the Exalted to see the dead rise again [Supreme Leader's speech delivered on May 24, 2017 in a meeting with people from various social backgrounds on the occasion of the liberation of Khorramshahr]. Allah the Exalted answered, "Have you no faith?" He said, "Yes." He stated that he believed in Him completely and from the bottom of his heart: "But just to reassure my heart" [The Holy Quran, 2: 260]. He wanted to see the dead rise in order to calm his mind. Then, Allah the Exalted ordered him to do certain things so that he could see how Allah the Exalted would raise the dead.

Well, we saw with our own eyes how a nation achieved victory empty-handed during the imposed war. A people who were inexperienced on political and international issues achieved victory over the plots of the enemies. Despite the fact that a powerful materialistic front – which stabs in the back while it pretends to fight face to face, which creates uproar and which does such and such things -  has stood against our people, our people have defeated them.

It is 40 years now that they have constantly been hatching plots and it is 40 years now that they we have been foiling their plots! Do we not see these things? These are our experiences. We should pay attention to these experiences and know that the way to make strong, powerful, dignified and successful progress is to establish a relationship with the Holy Quran. The mother of all these good things is this dear divine book which you are thankfully familiar with. Some of you have memorized it, some of you recite it, some listen to it and some teach it. So, the essence of the work is the Holy Quran.

You should increase Quranic meetings and you should improve the teaching and learning of the Holy Quran as much as you can. You should revive Quranic meanings and concepts. I would like to say that during recitations, our dear qura should visualize the meanings of Quranic concepts. Fortunately today, some of the gentlemen who performed observed this point very well. You should do this in the same way that a good and accomplished reciter does when reading out a poem for example. A good reciter – such as our articulate presenter in today's meeting - reads words in a way that all their meanings are visualized for the audience.

When they speak well, when they recite poems well and when they pronounce words in the correct tone, all the meanings and concepts are conveyed to the audience. Reciting the Holy Quran should be like this as well. All the meanings of the words should present themselves to the audience through falling and rising intonations, high and low notes and changing the tone. Of course, this holds true for those who know the language of the Holy Quran. Therefore, the language of the Holy Quran should be learned. You should get as close as you can to the language of the Holy Quran.

Many of those who have established a close relationship with the Holy Quran have not studied Arabic, but when they read the Holy Quran, they understand it. We have seen many individuals who have not studied academic and systematic Arabic, but they understand Quranic ayahs when they open and read it. This is because they have established a very close relationship with it and because they keep reading it. One can understand the Holy Quran with close contact. We should strengthen our relationship with the Holy Quran.

Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (s.w.a.) and his household (a.s.), strengthen our relationship – our spiritual relationship, our round-the-clock relationship – with the Holy Quran. Help us benefit from the blessings, benefits and banquet of the Holy Quran. Do not make us become like those who only learn the words of the Holy Quran and who are satisfied with this.

Dear God, complete your kindness and generosity to this country and to these people by helping them to achieve their ideals and achieve victory over their enemies. Associate the immaculate soul of our magnanimous Imam with his saints. Associate the pure souls of our dear martyrs with their saints.

If there are some believers, in whichever place, who fight for you and who are engaged in jihad on Your path – any kind of jihad – help them to achieve victory over their enemies.

Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings

 

 

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