The following is the full text of the speech delivered by the Leader at Imam Reza's Shrine on March 20, 2008.
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 and infallible household, especially what remains with Allah on earth.
I am thankful to Allah the Exalted who once more bestowed upon me the blessing of being at the holy Shrine of Imam Abul Hasan al-Reza in the company of you dear people who live close to this holy place or have traveled here as pilgrims from other parts of the country. I express my congratulations on the auspicious occasions of the birth anniversary of the Holy Prophet (SWA) and Imam Sadiq (AS). I also congratulate the Iranian nation on the New Year [Norouz], which is a national celebration for our nation and a symbolic eid.
As the birth anniversary of the Holy Prophet - who was the standard-bearer of monotheism, justice, wisdom and purity - is only a few days away, I would like to mention a couple of points about his birth anniversary. "He it is Who raised among the illiterates a Messenger from among themselves, who recites to them His messages and purifies them, and teaches them the Book and the Wisdom." [The Holy Quran 62:2]. The whole period, from the beginning of his mission to the time when he was selected by the Almighty as the prophet - he was about 40 years old then - was a test of our esteemed Prophet's purity, trustworthiness, sincerity and magnanimity. His holy being was the manifestation of all these qualities. At that time, both friends and foes - from chiefs of clans to ordinary people, to travelers who went to Mecca, and to those who met the Holy prophet on their business trips - unanimously admitted to the fact that this noble and magnanimous person was the embodiment of purity, honesty, sincerity and magnanimity. During these 40 years, nobody observed him tell a single lie, do a disgraceful act or encroach on other people's rights. All the people could testify to these qualities as he was associated with these qualities for 40 years.
After the age of 40, when his prophetic mission had started, a large portion of the same people flooded the Prophet (SWA) with enmity, spite, and slander. The same people who could all testify to the purity, wisdom and sincerity of His Holiness before his prophethood, made a U-turn and labeled him as a magician, a lunatic and liar after he was chosen as the prophet. The Holy Quran also mentions these slanders. Therefore, the enemies of the Prophet (SWA) had no problems with his personality. They only had a problem with his message. All those who formed a unified camp against the Prophet (SWA) were antagonistic towards his religious teachings and his call to monotheism and justice.
This has been the case during the past 1,400 years. Today, when we observe that some insult is leveled at the Prophet (SWA) - whether in the literature of some Western countries or in the speech and writings of some writers from various corners of the Western world who have been affected by Western policies - we can trace it back to the old issue of ignorance that prevailed in the early Islamic era. Today, those who argue against the Prophet (SWA) and those who insult his name and memory are similarly antagonistic towards his message of monotheism, justice and broad-mindedness that he brought for humanity. All those who have accumulated power and wealth through oppression, deception, coercion, humiliation and slavery are opposed to this message. These people are opposed to the message of monotheism, a message that calls people to serving one God. Anybody who serves the single God will not stoop to serving the gods of power and wealth.
Those who have founded their lives on discrimination between different nations and individuals do not approve of the Prophet's (SWA) message of justice and are aggressive towards it. These aggressive reactions were the signs of weakness and fear at that time, as they are today. Those who are opposed to the Prophet (SWA) and Islam, bear grudges against them and insult them, do so from the position of weakness rather than the position of power. At that time, they felt threatened and were terrified by the Prophet's (SWA) message of monotheism and justice. Similarly, in our time - in which the souls of all individuals throughout the world thirst for spirituality and in which people are filled with hatred towards oppressors' coercion - they feel that Islam is a threat to them, the religion that bears the flag of justice and equality, the religion that has raised the flag of spirituality and servitude to Allah all over the world and has called to itself the humanity that is tired of materialistic systems. In the modern world, the arrogant powers of the world and their mercenaries keep insulting the Prophet (SWA) out of fear. This bears testimony to their defeat, not to their power.
It is a mistake to imagine that money-minded caricaturists - like the ones who did those horrendous things in Europe - or mercenary writers like Salman Rushdie are the opponents of Islam. These people are only the poor and pitiable vanguards of the global hegemony. Islam has to deal with policies. Islam has to deal with the members of the global network of arrogance and hegemony - that is, the treacherous bloodthirsty Zionist network and the politicians that are under their influence. That is the reason why we see that an official in the European Union blatantly declares that all Western media should insult the Prophet of Islam. That is an instance of showing one's true colors and putting oneself in disgrace. It is evident that Islam has managed to capture the hearts of people throughout the world, and that it has petrified arrogant and bullying powers so much so that they are forced to resort to being antagonistic towards the prophet of Islam (SWA). Back then, the enemies were defeated and, by Allah's favor, they are going to be defeated by Muslims in our time as well.
I would also like to mention a couple of points regarding the auspicious birth anniversary of the truly expressive Imam Ja'far Ibn Mohammad al-Sadiq (AS). This esteemed Imam had more opportunity than other Imams in his lifetime to convey the teachings of the Prophet's household - pure Islamic teachings - to the enthusiastic hearts of those who were thirsty for these teachings.
It is a mistake to assume that all those thousands of students who were taught by Imam Sadiq were Shia Muslims who believed in his being an Imam. That was not the case. There were many individuals among his students who did not believe - the way Shia Muslims do - that he was an Imam, but they used to go to him to benefit from his knowledge and what he knew about Islamic teachings.
We have many traditions from Imam Sadiq (AS) that have been related by Sunni Muslims - non-Shia Muslims. This points to the fact that the Islamic Ummah and the Muslim world still need the teachings of Imam Sadiq and other Imams. They must benefit from these teachings. Members of the Islamic Ummah from various social classes must add to one another's knowledge in this way so that they can help improve the level of Islamic teachings, which necessitates that we avoid building a wall of enmity and spite between Muslims of various denominations. This is what we mean by Islamic unity.
The Week of Unity is only a few days away. In the Week of Unity the call of the Islamic Republic to unity does not imply that Sunni or Shia must give up their denomination and adopt the beliefs of the other side. The Islamic Republic calls people to focus on the commonalities that different denominations share and to demolish the walls of enmity and spite that have been built by the enemies. The Islamic Republic calls on different denominations to come together and exchange views on various aspects of the teachings of the Prophet's (SWA) household. Today, the enemies are more than ever strengthening the foundation of these walls and elements of enmity and spite and are trying to foment schism among Muslim brethren.
Americans, Zionists and global arrogant powers like neither the Shia nor the Sunni. They are antagonistic towards both of them. They are opposed to all efforts made by Muslims to stand up to their coercion in the name of Allah and by relying on their Islamic faith. As you can see, they are as antagonistic towards the Lebanese Shia Hezbollah as they are to the Sunni Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad. During the reign of the evil Pahlavi regime, they were as cooperative with the corrupt, dependant and mercenary court of the regime - which was a Shia government in name only - as they were with similar governments in countries that were so-called Sunni Muslims.
They are opposed to the kind of Islam that stands up to coercion, arrogance and the plundering of natural resources and the kind of Islam that requires people to claim their rights. Shia and Sunni are meaningless labels to them. However, in order to prevent the Islamic Ummah from gaining power and asserting their opinions, they follow the divide-and-rule policy to foment schism between Muslim brethren and between and within the Shia and the Sunni. They seek to foment discord. We, our elites and our people must understand this.
We are proud of being a follower of the members of the Prophet's (SWA) household, of Shi'ism, and of the leadership of the Commander of the Faithful and his direct rule as the caliph. But this is not something to be proven on streets. Rather, such things have to be proven in a discussion with the elites and those who are experts in the field. What is more, these discussions have to be done in a logical manner. Slandering, fault-finding, using bad language and trying to settle issues by swords is a kind of help to the enemies of Islam, who oppose both the Shia and the Sunni. We proposed this idea to be raised as the flag of Islamic unity in the Islamic Republic. That is what the Iranian nation wants, and it is what our nation is trying to say.
As for the New Year, I believe that the New Year is the time for innovation and flourishment. I named this year 'the year of innovation and flourishment'. The spring itself is the season for innovation and flourishment. The whole nature puts on a new a green gown, and it flourishes. We want the year 1387, the whole year, to be the spring of innovation and flourishment for the Iranian nation. But, why did we decide to coin the slogan of innovation and flourishment this year?
The Islamic Republic was itself a great historical innovation, which was created by the Iranian nation and went down in the history of the country and humanity at large. The Revolution was an instance of innovation, as was the Islamic Republic.
After the advent of colonialism, the world was divided into two parts: those who dominated and those who were the object of domination. Some powers and countries managed to dominate some other countries by relying on knowledge, weapons or deception. These powers became the dominators and the other nations - willingly or unwillingly - came under their domination. The world got used to this classification. By convention, some nations had to be under the yoke of domination and arrogance of some other nations. Then, the Islamic Republic stepped in and made this illogical classification and this wrong system totally invalid. The Islamic Republic declared that it was opposed to domination and that it will never choose to dominate other nations even if it gains the power to do so. The Islamic Republic declared that it will neither spread its domination over other nations nor will the country officials spread their domination over their own people. Our Islamic Republic is opposed to domination, and even more so to submitting to domination.
Being submissive to domination is a sign of surrender and an open invitation extended to dominators. The nation that stands by and lets the dominators come and use up its resources and determine its fate, encourages the dominators and digs its own grave.
From a moral point of view, oppressive domination and colonization of a country constitutes an act of humiliation and destroys the identity of its people. When a people are placed under the yoke of domination, they gradually lose their culture and identity as well as their national pride and their general patriotic sentiments.
From a political point of view, domination means taking a nation's destiny in one's hands, an instance of which happened in the pre-Revolution era. The American regime placed our country under domination. Our nation had no control over the situation. They had installed a tyrant and used his rule to dominate this nation. They used to interfere in our domestic affairs. They used to appoint and discharge officials, determine the guidelines for the government, and appoint and discharge prime ministers. They even interfered in the appointment of ministers and army commanders.
From an economic point of view, domination entails the plundering of the country's resources or results in the suspension of these resources. These are the results that domination may produce.
The Islamic Revolution stepped in and drew a line at all these things. Based on this prominent stance, it is almost 30 years that the Islamic Republic has put up strong resistance in the face of the domineering powers of the world that consider the whole world as belonging to themselves. The American regime used to rule this region, and the Middle East was treated like a doormat by the arrogant U.S. statesmen. Iran - which was the most important country in the Middle East and the geographical center of this region - was dominated by the U.S. The Islamic Revolution came and put an end to this state of affairs. The system of the Islamic Republic stood at the heart of this situation and changed it.
If you take a careful look at the situation in the Middle East, you will notice that this region has turned into a showcase for America's failures and defeats. Since the victory of the Revolution, they have done whatever they could in order to prevent the Islamic system from growing and gaining power. You would be mistaken to think that they refrained from dealing us a blow while they could do so. They did whatever they could. If they did not do certain things, it was because they did not have the necessary means.
Supported by the great and brave Iranian nation, the Islamic Republic strongly fought back against the imposed war, their stealthy invasion, economic sanctions, psychological warfare, propaganda and the political uproar that they caused as well as the shameless plots that they hatched against us in the world. Of course, this does not mean that we withstood their pressures and just managed to survive. Rather, it means that we gained more and more power on a daily basis.
Today, the message of the Islamic Revolution is widespread and deeply-rooted. Today, the nations that cast bewildered and admiring looks on our nation are not just limited to the neighboring countries. The nations that think highly of our senior officials are not just limited to our own region. The fame of the Islamic revolution and the resistance of the Iranian nation and its adherence to its principles and values are spread to many parts of the world.
In terms of the depth of its message, the Islamic republic has managed to scientifically, technologically and socially push the country forwards and do numerous great services for the people. The services that have been rendered by different administrations during the past 29 or 30 years are incomparable to those rendered under the Pahlavi regime in the same time span. There has been a giant leap in the economic, social and political spheres in Iran. The national glory of our country is well-known in the world.
In terms of scientific advances, our country that used to be ranked at the bottom is now one of the top countries in many fields. We see that the Islamic Republic is sometimes considered among the top 8-10 countries, or in some cases, it is even ranked higher than them. The path that took them many years to tread has also been treaded by the Iranian nation in some fields, thanks to its diligent and talented youth. The prospects are bright, and the Iranian nation believes that the future holds many promises for them. These facts point to the progress that our nation has made.
In a matter of months, we are going to enter the fourth decade of the Revolution's life. Before we start the fourth decade, we must take a look at our lives and see where the shortcomings lie. There are many shortcomings. As I mentioned in my New Year address today, in many areas, we have inherited one hundred years of shortcomings as a legacy of the evil regimes that ruled the country before the Revolution.
We have declared that we are determined to join the most advanced ranks of humanity. But we must note that as we move forwards other nations will also move along and will not stand still. We must plan our rate and kind of movement in a way that we can catch up with those at the forefront. Otherwise, if we just proceed at the rate other nations do, we will still stay behind.
If we look carefully, we will observe that there are two major things that we must certainly achieve in the next ten years: progress and justice. Unlike some countries and governments in the world we do not exclusively focus on progress. We want justice as well as progress. There are many countries in the world that are scientifically advanced. And when you look at the economic facts and figures, you realize that their annual income is very high indeed. However, the important point that we should keep in mind is the distribution of this annual income among the members of their nation. This factor is exactly what non-divine systems and the governments that have modeled themselves on arrogant powers fail to take into account.
We cannot avoid taking this factor into consideration. We want our country to progress on all fronts, including scientific, economic, technological and political arenas. We want our nation to achieve nationwide welfare. However, we also want to have justice in our country. That is an important point. Justice is not desirable in the absence of progress, neither is progress in the absence of justice. Justice in the absence of progress means equality in backwardness and poverty. This is not what we desire. Neither do we desire progress at the cost of justice. What we are seeking is progress as well as justice.
Social distinctions must be diminished. Those who are equally energetic must enjoy equal opportunities. The lazy person himself has to suffer the consequences of his laziness. We must not allow some parts of the country to suffer from a lack of opportunities for scientific or economic activities while other parts have unlimited access to the resources and facilities of the country. That is what deserves praise and that is what our nation must demand from different administrations, parliaments, the judiciary branch of the government and all officials.
The country must progress on all fronts. We must make progress in all fields: progress in producing wealth, progress in raising the levels of productivity, progress in national resolve, progress in national unity and in bringing together people from various social backgrounds, progress in scientific and technological achievements, progress in morality and spirituality, progress in diminishing social distinctions, progress in public welfare, progress in social discipline, progress in making every individual conscientious, progress in moral security, progress in raising awareness, progress in political growth, and progress in national self-confidence.
I raised the issue of national self-confidence a couple of months ago. Our nation must have confidence in itself and know that it can do what it wants. This is exactly the opposite of what the enemies of this nation have been trying to induce us with for many consecutive years. They have been trying to suggest and convince us that we are unable to do what we want. Progress is needed in all these fields. However, all this progress must be coupled with justice.
Some economic experts or so-called economic theoreticians may say that this is impossible and that one must accept social distinctions if one intends to make economic progress. That is where "innovation" steps in, I would say. We must not imagine that Western economic prescriptions are the ultimate end of human achievements. That a prescription, and like all other prescriptions they have an expiry date. After they expire, new ideas will be proposed. Go and look for those new ideas, which will serve as the yardstick.
We want the country to progress. We want investments to be widely channeled into production. There are many people in our country who are wealthy. These people can use their wealth in profitable and honorable investments. These investments will be profitable for they themselves and for the people and will lead to Allah's satisfaction. Investments that wealthy people make in the country's production sectors and cause an increase in the amount of domestic production - with high levels of productivity - constitute worship and deserve to be rewarded by Allah.
The ground is prepared for such investments. People can make investments and generate wealth. The management system of the country must ensure that all people benefit from these investments. In order to empower the poor, the benefits must be especially channeled towards the lower social classes. We have made great progress in the past 30 years. Our enemies - that is, the evil Zionist network and the arrogant U.S. regime - have been defeated so far.
Today, America enjoys very high levels of hatred in public opinion polls, and it is isolated in the world. Their slogans have grown threadbare, and they are no longer credible. Is there anybody who believes that the American regime is promoting human rights and democracy? American type of human rights! Ever since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre, the U.S. government has interrogated 32 million people inside America. They themselves have declared these figures.
They tapped phone calls and tortured people in their prisons. The congress passed an anti-torture bill, but the current president of the country vetoed it, declaring that torturing is not prohibited. Do these people really understand the meaning of human rights? The U.S. has around 200 secret prisons throughout the world, some of which are in Europe. That is while Europeans never stop talking about human rights. They keep bringing up the subject everywhere, claiming that they adhere to its principles. But is this really in conformity with the principles of human rights?
All their courts, governments and newspapers form a unified front against anybody who calls the Holocaust into question. However, not only do they fail to condemn those who affront the Holy Prophet (SWA), but they also cooperate with them. Is this the kind of respect they pay to human rights, humanity and human beings? They constantly claim that they support democracy, but whenever they realize that people's votes are against their interests, they treat democracy and the democratic government with an iron fist. The Palestinian Hamas is a case in point. Was Hamas not elected by the people? Another example is the nonsensical threats that they level against the Islamic Republic, a government that is based on such widespread democracy that is unparalleled in the region and in some other parts of the world. The Islamic Republic has held about 30 elections in less than 30 years.
They say nonsensical things about the Islamic Republic, and they level threats against it. They threaten us with sanctions and military attacks. Have they not launched a military attack against us? Have they not threatened us before? Have they treated the Iranian nation leniently so far? This nation has acquired whatever it has though resistance and courage, and its power comes from an inner source that has its roots in the nation's being. They claim to be promoting human rights while they support the treacherous and bloodthirsty Zionist regime that has committed so many crimes.
I am astonished to see that some European governments fail to learn a lesson from the fate of the American regime, although they can clearly see how much they are reviled in the world. Some of these governments go to occupied Palestinian lands to welcome Zionist capitalists. In order to worm their way into the Zionists' hearts, they also condemn and reproach Iran in the parliament of the self-styled Zionist government. Why do they fail to learn a lesson [from what they observe]? Today, the Zionist regime is reviled by nations, as is America - that supports the Zionists. In the current state of affairs, the principles of human rights require that the nations throughout the world form a unified front against the coercion used by America and the by the Zionists who dominate the American government. Given the present circumstances, the Iranian nation has taken the most clear and the most courageous stance.
With the present pure intentions and the firm determination that is displayed by our nation, with the readiness that is to be found in the incumbent administration and its officials, with the newly-elected parliament and its MPs - who are, by Allah's favor, proceeding in conformity with Islamic values - and with the support of this nation, we can propel this country into further progress, provided that the officials consider innovation in using various methods as their duty and try to help flourish what has been done - or left unfinished - during the past 30 years. I advise both the administration and the parliament to work diligently and finish the projects that were started years ago, some of which are left unfinished and some have not produced any outcomes so far. I also advise them to observe the priorities when using the resources of the country and do so with utmost care. God willing, our nation, our youth and our officials will be witness to increasing prosperity of this country. I hope, by Allah's favor and the blessings of the Imam of the Age, the Iranian nation will enjoy better days at the end of this year than it is enjoying now.
Dear God, make the sacred heart of the Imam of the Age satisfied with us. O God, make us successful in serving Islam, Muslims, the country and our nation. O God, raise the position of our esteemed Imam and martyrs to the highest of positions. O God, bestow more and more honor and glory on the Iranian nation.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings