Khamenei.ir

In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Almighty Allah said: "So when you have performed your rituals, then praise Allah as you extolled your forefathers, or even in a more earnest manner." (the Holy Qur'an 2: 200)
Muslim brothers and sisters!
The days of performing hajj rituals are the days of hope and glad tidings. On the one hand, the glory of solidarity among the travelers to the house of monotheism imbues hearts with hope and aspiration and, on the other hand, the refreshing and revitalizing of the souls by remembrance and invocation of the Almighty imparts the glad tidings of the opening of the doors of mercy.
After pilgrims have performed the profound rituals of hajj, which are filled with respect and humility before Almighty Allah, they are once again called upon to invoke the Almighty. This emphasis stems from the fact that the remembrance of Allah illuminates dejected hearts and imbues them with faith and aspiration.
When the heart is full of faith and hope, it will enable one to tread the difficult and slippery paths of life and attain the peaks of material and spiritual perfection.
The spirituality that is associated with hajj pilgrimage lies in this very remembrance of Allah, which has been instilled into and inspirited every rite and ritual of hajj pilgrimage. This auspicious spring should continue flowing even after the hajj season, and this achievement should remain intact.
Human beings are victims of their own negligence in various arenas of life. Wherever there is dereliction, there is also moral decline, intellectual deviation and mental defeat. Such maladies in turn deteriorate the personality of human beings and also prepare the ground for the defeat of nations and collapse of civilizations.
Hajj is one of the most expedient means in Islam to remove negligence. The international nature of hajj rituals perhaps imparts this message that the Muslim Ummah, besides the individual duty of each Muslim, is also duty-bound to remove dereliction from its collective identity.
The acts of worship and rituals of hajj provide us with an opportunity to temporarily free ourselves from the snare of hedonism, sensuality and neglectful self-indulgence. Wearing the garb of pilgrimage, circumambulation, prayer, striding and sojourning all imbue us with the remembrance of Allah, bring about our proximity to divine sanctuary and sweeten the palate of our soul with the pleasure of familiarity with the Almighty.
Besides, the glory and grandeur of this unparalleled gathering make us familiar with the reality of the great Muslim Ummah, which is above nations, races, colors and languages. This intertwined and concordant gathering, these tongues which are all chanting the same words, these bodies and hearts which are all facing the same Qibla, and these pilgrims who are representing tens of countries and nations all belong to a single entity and a great organization, namely the Muslim Ummah.
The fact of the matter is that the Islamic Ummah has long been neglecting itself. The present scientific and technological retardation and the low status in the areas of politics, industry and economy are the bitter outcome of this negligence. And now, considering the great change that has occurred or is taking place in the world, the Islamic Ummah should try to make up for its past neglect. Fortunately, some phenomena of the present age promise the beginning of this remedial move.
Undoubtedly, the world's arrogant powers regard the awakening of Muslims and Islamic unity and also the progress of Islamic nations in the fields of science, politics and innovation as the most serious obstacles to their global hegemony and domination, and thus they are doing their utmost to undermine and oppose them. Muslim nations have already experienced colonial and neocolonial eras. Considering that we are now in an era of ultramodern colonialism, we should learn from our previous experience and not allow the enemies to once again dominate our fate for another long period.
In those dark and bitter eras, the dominant Western powers applied all their cultural, economic, political and military means to weaken Islamic countries and nations and imposed upon them division and discord, poverty and ignorance. The dereliction, indolence and lack of confidence of many of our politicians and the irresponsibility of many of our cultural elites were of great benefit to those powers. The end result was the plundering of our wealth, the despisal and even denial of our identity and the destruction of our independence. We, Islamic nations, grew weaker as time went by, and covetous, domination-seeking plunderers became stronger day by day.
Now that, owing to the self-sacrifice of devoted strivers and valor and sincerity of Islamic leaders in various parts of the Islamic world, the waves of Islamic awakening are moving forward and motivating youngsters, intellectuals and ordinary people in many Islamic countries, and now that the treacherous face of domination-seeking powers has been exposed to many Muslim leaders and statesmen, arrogant powers are once again seeking new stratagems to continue and consolidate their domination of the Islamic world. The slogans advocating democracy and human rights are among these stratagems.
Today, the Great Satan, which is itself the embodiment of evil and cruelty against mankind, has raised the banner of advocating human rights and is inviting nations in the Middle East to embrace democracy. What the United States is trying to do in these countries under the guise of democracy is to install submissive and obedient politicians with the help of machinations, bribes and misleading propaganda and through apparently popular but actually rigged elections, the politicians who will become U.S. tools for achieving its wicked, domineering goals.
One of the major goals pursued by the United States is to suppress the waves of Islamic awakening and once again drive Islamic values into isolation. All the political and propaganda tools of the United States and other hegemonic powers are being utilized to delay the Islamic awakening movement and, if possible, to suppress it.
Today, Muslim nations should be completely vigilant and watchful. The Ulema and religious scholars, intellectuals and academics, writers and poets and artists, youngsters and elites should all, through their awareness and timely measures, prevent the world-devouring United States from initiating a new era of its colonial dominance over the Islamic world.
The slogans advocating democracy cannot be accepted from those hegemonic powers that have supported dictatorial regimes in Asia, Africa and the American Continent for long years. It is abominable to hear claims of countering violence and terrorism from those promoting Zionist terrorism and perpetrating the bloodiest acts of violence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Claiming to support civil rights by those devils that have always admired and encouraged crimes committed by a bloodthirsty terrorist like Sharon against oppressed Palestinians is a trick and deception deserving curse and damnation.
The perpetrators of crimes in Guantanamo and AbuGhuraib and secret prisons in Europe, the humiliators of Iraqi and Palestinian nations and the fosterers of certain groups which, in the name of Islam, regard as permissible the shedding of the blood of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan have no right to talk about human rights.
American and British governments, which consider themselves authorized to torture suspects and even shed their blood in the streets, and which even regard as permissible listening to the private telephone conversations of their citizens without a judicial order, are not entitled to pose as the advocates of civil rights.
The governments that have brought disgrace upon their contemporary history by manufacturing atomic and chemical weapons and deploying these weapons have no right to call themselves custodians of the nonproliferation of nuclear technology.
Muslim brothers and sisters!
Today, the world, especially the Islamic world, is going through a sensitive period. On the one hand, the waves of Islamic awakening are sweeping across the Islamic world; and on the other hand, the treacherous faces of the United States and other arrogant powers, which were so far hidden behind a veil of deception and hypocrisy, have now been exposed.
On the one hand, nations in some parts of the Islamic world have launched a campaign to restore their identity and sovereignty; and in the Islamic Iran, a great sovereign state, the saplings of independent, native science and technology have flourished and are bearing fruit, and the self-confidence which had given impetus to activities in political and social spheres has now influenced efforts in the fields of science and construction. On the other hand, the gaps of weakness and degeneration have appeared in the political and military ranks of the enemies.
Today, Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon have turned into exhibition halls displaying the weakness and helplessness of a pompous power like the United States and the Zionists. U.S. policy toward the Middle East has faced a major obstacle in the preliminary steps, and the failure in this policy has backfired on those who had engineered it.
Today is the day when Islamic nations and governments can take the initiative and embark upon a great task. Extending assistance to the oppressed Palestinian nation, supporting the vigilant Iraqi nation, and safeguarding the stability and independence of Lebanon, Syria and other regional countries are the duties of all Muslims. Nevertheless, political, religious and cultural elites and intellectuals, youngsters, academics and national personalities shoulder heavier responsibilities in this regard.
Unity and concord among followers of different Islamic schools of thought and avoiding sectarian and ethnic differences should constitute the crucial and most significant slogans of these elites and intellectuals. Scientific, political and cultural dynamism and the mobilization of all forces in these major ranks should be given priority.
As regards democracy and human rights, the Islamic world is not in need of the erroneous and often violated prescription offered by the West. Democracy has been underlined by the teachings of Islam, and human rights are among the loftiest Islamic precepts. Muslim nations should try to obtain knowledge from whomever and wherever they can. But they should not remain disciples forever, and they should utilize their talents and potentials for the purpose of innovation, creativity and the production of knowledge.
Western values, which have resulted in moral deterioration, the promotion of lasciviousness and violence, the legalization of homosexuality and other such scandals in those countries, are not worthy of imitation. Islam, with its noble values, is the most exalted source of human salvation, and the elites and intellectuals of nations shoulder the urgent responsibility of reviewing and disseminating these values.
The blind, vicious terrorism, which has presently provided the occupiers of Iraq with an excuse for attacking Islam and Muslims and continuing their military occupation of this Islamic country, is rejected and condemned according to Islamic teachings. The main culprits with respect to these criminal incidents are U.S. military servicemen and American and Israeli intelligence services, which are pursuing the malicious goal of manipulating the formation process of the new Iraqi government.
Muslim brothers and sisters!
Trust in Almighty Allah, confidence in the definite promise of the Holy Qur'an and the consolidation of Islamic unity will ensure the accomplishment of the noble objectives of the Muslim Ummah. The religious duty of hajj, with its rich and impressive content which is the remembrance of Allah and with the great and dense gathering of Muslims assembled to perform its rituals, can be a starting-point and a launching pad for this all-embracing movement. The repudiation in words and deeds of the kingpins of atheism and arrogance in performing this religious duty can set the example and constitute the first step in this direction.
I pray for divine grace and favor on all hajj pilgrims. I also invoke the prayer of His Holiness Imam of the Age - may my soul be sacrificed for his sake - for all Muslims.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings
Sayyid Ali Khamenei