In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
First of all, I would like to thank all you dear brothers and sisters who have come a long way to this Hussayniyyah to organize this genuinely friendly gathering. Brothers and sisters, welcome [speaking in Azeri].
The vigilant struggles of the people of Azerbaijan, which is a reflection of their liberating mind, will always remain in the memory of the Iranian nation. Bahman 29, 1356 [February 18, 1978] is one of these tremendous struggles. You have experienced many similar events in your history both before and after the Islamic Revolution and during the Sacred Defense Era up to the present. Of course, the history of the dear people of Azerbaijan which is full of honor has had some highlights and Bahman 29, 1356 is one of these highlights.
To explain briefly what happened on that day for the dear youth who did not experience that day, an uprising against that treacherous regime was sparked off by the people of Qom in the Qom Islamic Seminary. The treacherous regime which was completely dependent on the US violently suppressed this uprising. Everybody was nervous and thought the uprising had failed. The crucial turning point which changed a simple event into a movement and a continuous process came when the people of Tabriz and East Azerbaijan continued the uprising. The brave, courageous and intelligent people of Tabriz changed a simple event into a major movement. They did not let that event be buried in Qom. If compare this with major events during early years of Islam, we can say it was like what Imam Zain al-Abedin (a.s.) and Zeinab al-Kubra (s.a.) did. They did not let Ashura sink into oblivion, in the desert of Karbala. You dear people of Tabriz made an emblem out of the events on Bahman 29, 1356 and you held it powerfully in your hands. This emblem became a standard for the people of our country. This shows the significance of Bahman 29, 1356.
To analyze the relationship between this event and the traits and characteristics of the people of Tabriz, we can say that people of Tabriz have both extraordinary enthusiasm and profound wisdom because they know what is significant and when it becomes so. Moreover, they are brave and courageous enough to take action even if it is extremely dangerous. They are wise people as it is reflected in their slogan ["Azerbaijan is fully aware of everything and it has stood up for the Islamic Revolution"]. I believe this slogan with all my heart and I have pointed this out for many years ago. To confirm your slogan I repeat that "Azerbaijan is fully aware of everything and it has stood up for the Islamic Revolution". [Speaking in Azeri]
The most influential traits for a country are awareness, wisdom, the ability to seize an opportunity and effective and courageous action. Imagine that a nation has lagged behind other countries for many centuries due to the corruption of its rulers and an autocratic leadership style. Imagine that this nation has fallen behind in the areas of science, culture or many other areas. Colonial powers have penetrated into such a nation and they have helped rulers maintain this situation by recourse to different means and complicated plots. Colonialist powers have destroyed the cultural and historical values of this nation and they have taken control of the country. In such circumstances, what does this nation need in order to change the situation? Is it possible for this nation to ask the treacherous and cruel colonial ruler to end his colonial domination or act against his interests? Is it helpful to adopt this measure? If that nation decides to stop begging the autocratic ruler and if it tries to negotiate with him, will it be helpful? Is it possible to take the bait out of the mouth of a wolf by negotiating and speaking logically?
In such circumstances, nations have only one good option. They have to bring their strong will into the arena and they should use their abilities so that the enemy cannot exploit their weak points. There is no other good option for nations. This is what the Iranian nation did. To achieve this goal, one should be extremely wise and fully aware of everything. Moreover, nations should not be lazy and they should not be captivated by petty material desires and amenities. They should strive for lofty ideals and they should enter the arena. Nations need the attitude which is based on being awakened. The Iranian nation adopted this attitude.
Bahman 22, 1357 [February 11, 1979] was a highlight of this attitude in Iran. The person who strived very hard to awaken people was our magnanimous Imam (r.a.). All the supporters of the Revolution, all the righteous people, all the scholars and all the sympathetic clergy helped the Imam (r.a.) accomplish this goal. People from different social backgrounds gradually entered the arena and they helped the Islamic Revolution. All of a sudden, our nation - which had experienced the Qajar regime and which later on was completely trampled upon during the Pahlavi regime - changed into a dynamic nation. It entered the arena and showed its power. This is national power and it is concentrated in the hands of the people. No other power can resist that kind of power. Nations should try to obtain that power. Of course, it is not going to be easy. It requires sacrifice and effective leadership. If this situation is created, no nation in the world will be oppressed, nor will it live in poverty. This situation was brought about in our country.
People would not have been awakened without having faith. People's faith acted like an engine that made them move. If it were not for faith, people would not belittle death in this way. What belittles death for people is faith. Therefore the stronger the faith is, the more insignificant death will be. We should try to follow the example of Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s.) whose faith belittled the horror of death so much so that he could firmly say that he did not fear death. Rather, he said he embraced it. He said, "Truly Ali ibn Abi Talib is more comfortable with death than a baby is with its mother's breast." He was extremely comfortable with death and he loved it. He did not fear death at all and he welcomed it. This stems from having a strong faith because when one has faith, one does not think that death is the end of life.
Everything perishes except God. Death is as simple as passing through a gate and it is like a borderline between this world and the hereafter. Some people pass this borderline by force including those people who love this world so much that they cannot let it go. Some people, however, pass that borderline with great enthusiasm. Do you know why? Because they know what is happening in the hereafter. They can see the fulfillment of God's promises. As the dear martyrs, whose name you have heard - you know some of them and you were in their company - were not afraid of death while they dearly loved life. When one reads their wills, one realizes this. This is the right path for a nation. Our nation followed this path.
The difference between our nation and our Revolution in comparison with other nations who carried out a revolution was that our nation is holding on to a firm rope. When you are walking on the edge of a precipice you need a rope to hold on to. When you are holding on to that rope, you will be assured that you will not fall. This is what is meant by the firm rope. The Holy Quran says, "So whosoever refuses to be led by those who transgress, and believes in Allah, he indeed lays hold on the firmest handle which shall never break. " [The Holy Quran, 2:256] Refusal to be led by those who transgress and faith in Allah the Exalted are what our nation had. Therefore, they managed to move through rough passages and they had no concerns. This helped our nation preserve this movement.
Our dear youth should pay special attention to this point. Intellectuals and learned people should also pay attention. A revolution is a movement. It is the same everywhere in the world. It is a movement, not an isolated incident. In many places, however, this movement is stopped in the middle of the way. When you observe different and great revolutions you see that they stopped progressing in the middle of the way. In such revolutions a certain group of people win a victory and other people are forgotten. Therefore, people gradually leave the scene and the movement comes to an early end.
The French Revolution, which occurred in the late eighteenth century, was completely destroyed in the early nineteenth century. They first sparked an uprising against the dictatorial regime and they overthrew the regime, but another autocratic ruler named Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power only after 15 years. The people were prisoners of this ruler for years. Then, they gradually managed to solve part of this problem.
Revolutions do not completely succeed. They are left unfinished because there is no strong faith and there is no firm rope. Our Revolution, however, succeeded. Its spirit of cheerfulness appeared on a daily basis and it proved its efficiency increasingly. Look at this year's Bahman 22 ceremony. While it has been 29 years since this Revolution in Iran, those who are experts in this regard have precisely expressed that the presence, the enthusiasm and the participation of people in this year's Bahman 22 ceremony was much stronger than previous years. Moreover, the news I received in this regard from Tehran and other cities in Iran proved this point. Why was this presence much stronger? It is because this nation is alive and because this Revolution is alive.
Those who suddenly became excited during the years after the Revolution and announced that the Revolution has reached a dead end and the Imam has been forgotten were wrong. Their judgment was not accurate because the Revolution and its values became more alive.
Today, people vote for the person who responds to their demands and they will love him because they will see the efficiency of the Revolution, the effective measures that it has adopted in this country, the position that it has gained for the people of Iran and the fact that it has boosted the youth's confidence. These are the things that one cannot gain even over one hundred years. These are the goals that the Revolution achieved and many of our problems were solved through achieving these goals.
The innate talent of the youth and the necessary resources will gradually change from potential to active. Inexperienced individuals will become prominent figures and they will gain the power to manage, produce and compete at the global level. A nation will make progress in this way, but the essence of all these is the Revolution and its values.
These values should remain strong. Of course, they have remained strong up to the present and they have become more alive. I have said many times that the youth of today are just as ready as the youth of the early revolutionary era when the imposed war had just begun. They may even be readier. Our direction for the future is clear and by Allah's favor, macro level programming provided the guidelines for the Revolution. We know what we want to do.
The Iranian nation has numerous treasures in its people and in its history. We want to uncover these treasures. When these treasures are uncovered, a nation will be prosperous and knowledgeable. It will achieve scientific and technological progress. It will also gain the power to make its voice heard and it will gain a high position in global competition. Such a nation will become a role model for other nations. Of course, our nation has already been a role model.
The Palestinian nation had reached a dead end and the situation in that country had dramatically declined before the Islamic Revolution took place in Iran. There were some young people in different Islamic nations who supported left-wing ideas but when the leftist parties collapsed, everything was over. But the Islamic Revolution revived them. If we look at the Islamic world and what is happening around us, it will become abundantly clear that our nation has been a role model until now. The day that you, who have provided our country with substantial resources, can demonstrate your outstanding talent, this nation will become a practical model for the oppressed countries. This is very important. The key to the happiness of our country and other countries in the world is in the hands of our people and you dear youth. The enemy has fully grasped this point. That is why it is trying to make our nation change its course.
All their propaganda efforts, all their political and economic activities and different pressures, sanctions and resolutions are for this reason that they want to make our nation change its course. They want to adopt some measures to force our nation into changing its course. They know that if this nation does not follow its path at such a rapid pace and with the present strength, the cloud of oppression, arrogance, greed and theft that is overshadowing Islamic countries will be completely cleared. In such circumstances, the global arrogance will be endangered in countries which are part of the Islamic Ummah. They know this and that is why they are making enormous efforts to force our nation into changing its course.
The president of the United States said some days ago that they will put pressure on Iran so that the people of Iran come to the conclusion that following their nuclear activities is useless for them. This means that when the Iranian nation achieves a technological breakthrough, like nuclear energy in their opinion, other nations will be so encouraged and they will believe in their own abilities. If this happens, western powers will not be able to control this. They do not want to let this happen. Of course, they interpret the issue in a different way in order to stop our progress. They say that they are afraid of a nuclear bomb, but they themselves and many other people in the world know that they are lying. They are not concerned about a nuclear bomb. They know that Iran is not after building a nuclear bomb, but rather Iran is after acquiring and developing nuclear technology. That is why they are concerned. A nation has managed to make huge progress on its own while it has not asked for their permission and it has not begged them for their help. This has caused them increasing concern. Do you know why they say we support such and such parties in Iran? It is because that particular party has assured them that it does not agree with such efforts and such resistance. That particular party is ready to ask permission from the US to let us make progress. It is not possible to take the bait out of the mouth of a wolf by negotiating. One should take it by exerting power. The idea in our literature that "if greatness is achieved by fighting with a lion, you should go and fight with that lion" has been constantly repeated for 1100 years. Sometimes we have reached such a goal in our history and sometimes we have failed. Today the Iranian nation is acting on that advice from our literary heritage with its resistance. Our strategy is risk-taking.
Our problem with the Americans and the global arrogance is that they say you should not bring your abilities and your power to the arena, so that there will not be any rivals against our power, our weaponry and our propaganda efforts and so that we remain peerless. Here is the answer that our nation gives them, "We will defend our rights and we can stop your transgression. If we do not do this, God will question us".
The path that the Iranian nation has chosen is a right path which is presence in different arenas and supporting the Revolution. Issues relating to slight disagreements are not significant. Small arguments between certain groups are unimportant. These are minor issues. Our revolutionary family should preserve its unity. At the beginning of this year, I stressed the importance of national unity. The Iranian nation and the revolutionary family should preserve their unity and they should stick together. People should not drift apart. By Allah's favor, our nation has listened to such advice. Maybe you did not need me to tell you this. I myself follow the wisdom that exists among our nation. I addressed the issue of unity and they proved that it already exists in our country.
We will have elections ahead of us in a short while. Participating in the elections is a sign of unity. I have always stressed that people should actively participate in elections. People should go to ballot boxes and vote. The enemy wishes that we stopped holding elections in our country and it wishes that we stopped holding marches and demonstrations on 22nd of Bahman and on Qods Day. The enemy supports efforts to discourage our people from holding religious ceremonies and from having religious beliefs. It also supports efforts to make our youth totally indifferent and make them indulge in lust, moral corruption and drugs. The enemy is looking after hatching this plot because it will be of great interest to it. That is why it is trying to fulfill this task. It does this through promulgating its ideology, carrying out political and military threats, using drug smuggling and distributing pornographic movies. The enemy is entering all the arenas and it is doing its best to discourage this nation from following its right path. You may remember that prior to all elections in Iran, they say something which means people of Iran should not participate in elections. They adopt different measures and they try hard to carry out this task. Sometimes they use ignorant or dependent people to discourage our nation from participating in these important ceremonies. Elections are one of these important ceremonies.
I advise that people enter the arena of elections and they should fill the ballot boxes with their votes. Sometimes when it is cold, it may be extremely difficult to stand in a line for more or less than in order to vote. But this is jihad and it will be rewarded by Allah the Exalted. Therefore, people should vote.
Who should they vote for? The main criterion is that the candidates should try to revitalize the values of the Revolution on a daily basis. This is the main criterion and it does not depend on partisan interests and particular figures. The values of the Revolution are the best cure for the problems of this nation and they are the means to help this nation achieve its ideals. We should preserve these values. Those who are against these values in every sense of the word should not be involved in decision making. They can live in our country and all people in our society are allowed to have different opinions, but those who do not believe in our values should not be assigned major roles. If we give a vehicle to somebody, who believes for some reason that a certain vehicle should not be moved or driven, then that vehicle will never move. We should assign this duty to somebody who believes that the vehicle should move. Similarly we should assign leading roles to people who believe in our path, our goals and our nation's capabilities.
Of course, we should be vigilant. We should beware of hypocrites who only seemingly believe in our ideals. Many times throughout history, Islam has been damaged by hypocritical behavior. There are a lot of traditions about hypocritical behavior. We should beware of this kind of behavior. You are wise people and whether I say it or not, our history, our Revolution and the events that happened during the last 29 years have proved this point. It has been proven not only to us but also to the world. Therefore the whole world is proud of your name, your nation and your Imam (r.a.). The prominent martyrs of the Islamic world, including the one who was martyred some days ago by the Zionists, were proud of the fact that they were the children of the Imam (r.a.). They considered themselves as the children of the Imam (r.a.) including Shahid Hajj Emad [Muqhniyeh] who considered himself as Imam's (r.a.) son. He did not believe that an Iranian young man was closer to the Imam (r.a.) than he was. He considered himself as the Imam's (r.a.) son as much as an young Iranian man. Do you know why? It is because the Imam (r.a.) had given him a new soul and he had [spiritually] revived him.
There have always been such young people in Lebanon, Palestine and Gaza, but they were not able to accomplish extraordinary feats in the past. Who would have thought that Lebanese youth would make the army, which had claimed that it was one of the strongest armies in the world, retreat in disgrace? In the first days after the 33-day war had ended, the Zionists claimed they were not defeated. The Winograd Report has revealed the truth. They put on a brave front so that they could save face, but it is obvious that they were defeated. A well-equipped army with the direct involvement of the US army - and you should know that the US was directly, though secretly, involved in the 33-day war and it provided the Zionists with its complete support - was completely defeated. Who defeated them? A group of young people, whose weapons were only self-confidence, trust in God, resistance in the arena and courage in the face of death, defeated them. The myth that the global powers are invincible was dispelled this way.
We thank God for granting us the Revolution and the Imam (r.a.). We thank God for the greatness that the Iranian nation has achieved. We express our gratitude to God for the blessing that he has granted us. Each and every one of you dear youth is a great blessing that God has given us. We should thank God for such blessings. "And if you count Allah's favors, you will not be able to number them." [The Holy Quran, 14:34] we should not waste the blessings of God. Both the officials and all the people should appreciate these blessings and they should preserve them. They should be thankful so that God continues to give us these blessings. You should know that the future of this nation will be much brighter, better and greater than its current condition. By Allah's favor, you dear youth will see those days and you will be able to obtain the positive results of these great efforts. By Allah's favor, you will be able to build a world which is full of happiness and blessings.
Oh God, make the holy heart of the Imam of the Age satisfied with us. Let us be the soldiers of that honorable person. Make us live and die under his leadership and kindness. Oh God, make the holy spirit of Imam Khomeini and our martyrs satisfied with us. Associate them with Your saints and raise their positions at the highest level.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's merci and blessings