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 Muhammad, upon his household, upon his pure companions and upon those who obey them until the Day of Judgment,
First of all, I would like to welcome all the esteemed participants, the honorable Minister of Awqaf [religious endowment], honorable scholars and all the dear participants. I thank the esteemed Minister of Awqaf for his extremely valuable and eloquent statements. I also thank the group of reciters and poets for their recitation of the Holy Quran and their poems. Both the content and the form were exquisite, and they performed well.
We stand by Syria. Today, Syria is on the frontlines: it is our responsibility to support Syria's steadfastness. Mr. Bashar al-Assad--the honorable President of Syria--has embodied the behavior a warrior and great resister. He showed no sign of doubt and he stood firm: this is very important for a nation. The Muslim nations which are often disgraced are not disgraced nations; rather, it is their leaders who are a disgrace. If a nation has leaders that embody a feeling of dignity towards Islam and their identity, that nation will become mighty; the enemy won't be able to do a single thing against such a strong nation.
We have entered the 40th year of the Revolution. Since day one, world powers joined hands and allied against us. The US, the Soviet Union, NATO, Arab and regional reactionaries joined hands, but we were not ruined: we achieved growth. What does this entail? The initial meaning of this statement reveals that great powers do not always get what they want. All of them [World powers] decided that we needed to be crushed, but we were not. So, it is evident that some things don't always work out as planned: what the US, Europe, and atomic powers set out to do will not always happen. Understanding this truth makes nations more powerful and hopeful. Therefore, if we and the other elements of Resistance in the region act in a decisive manner, the enemy will not succeed: this is one issue.
Another matter is Islam promised us that victory belongs to the mujahid believers. If faith does not exist, victory will not be completely achieved. If faith exists without jihad and endeavor, there will not be any fruitful results. It is our responsibility to support and defend Islam and the Islamic movement. --One of the requirements for this is to put aside these denominational and tribal differences. However, if we put aside these differences, there will be some people opposed to unity: they do not want to let this happen. They provoke us and some our brothers [towards conflict]; as a result, victims of this scheme are forced to speak, act, and work against any movement towards unity. If those who encourage disunity are not affiliated with global, arrogant policies or if their activities do not stem from these policies, they should be ignored: we should not give attention to these individuals. However, if like the Saudis and some others, they create discord that stems from arrogant policies, they should be confronted in a firm manner.
We do not believe in the kind of Shi'a Islam which is supported by London; we do not consider those Sunnis [Wahabbi] who are supported by the US and Israel as Muslims: we do not believe them to be Muslim in any way. Islam is opposed to kufr [disbelief], to oppression, and to arrogance: these are our common points of interests. Our commonalities are monotheism, Ka'aba, and the existence of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.); another characteristic we have in common is expressing kindness towards the Ahlul Bayt [the Holy Prophet's household] (as). There are many other commonalities: all of our obligations are among our shared features.
If I say the Qunut [non-obligatory prayers in Shi'a school of thought] during daily prayers, but you do not, this is not something that should create discord. The essence of this issue is that we should believe in the existence of a single God, in nubuwwat [belief in the Holy Prophet], in divine assistance, and in the Day of Judgment, in a genuine sense of the word: this is the essence of unity.
I hope that we will see a day when you are conducting public prayers in Quds, God willing: we believe that that day will come. It is possible that this humble person [Ayatollah Khamenei] and people like us will not be living on that day, but it will come, eventually, and it will not come too late.
A few years ago, the Zionist government, which neighbors your border, said that they will do one thing or another against Iran within 25 years. My response was, "You will not see the light of day 25 years from now, you won't be able to lift a finger against Iran! By Allah's favor, that day will come.
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