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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 Muhammad and upon his pure household:

We thank Allah, the Exalted, for allowing us to live long enough so that we may have the opportunity to experience another month of Ramadan, to participate in this enlightened meeting, once more, and to benefit from the blessings of the Quran within the scope of our capacity. I, sincerely, thank all those who recited the Holy Quran, who delivered a performance, and who cooperated in the spiritual deployment of this enlightened meeting.

I thank God because the Quran, the people's enthusiasm towards the Quran, Quranic concepts, Quranic learning, Quranic memorization and Quranic deliberations are developing in the country, on a daily basis: these are the blessings of the Islamic Revolution. Nonetheless, we are far from the Quran: we are distant from it. We should make the Quran our guide, our refuge, and the conductor of our entire lives: our minds, our actions, our thoughts and our resolves. However, this does not, unfortunately, exist today: we must get closer to the Holy Quran.

You, the dear young individuals, should establish a closer relationship with the Quran; you should think more deeply about it with each passing day. You should not forget about reading the Quran: you should not forget about contemplating on it. The Commander of the Faithful (greetings be upon him) mentioned in a sermon, which was recited today: "No one will sit beside this Quran but that when he rises he will achieve one addition or one diminution--addition in his guidance or diminution in his spiritual blindness," [Nahjul Balaghah, Sermon 176]. When we sit by the Quran and rise after benefiting from it, our guidance should have increased and our blindness should have decreased. Our understanding of the Quran should increase. Our familiarity with true concepts and teachings should increase. We should get closer to Allah the Exalted. Our interest in praying should grow deeper.

Today, the dilemma in the world of Islam is its drifting away from the Quran. The malady that some Islamic societies are suffering from is because of an overall drifting from Quran. Look at the situation in Palestine [how Muslim countries’ negligence of Quran has afflicted their brethren in Palestine]. A people are driven out of their homes, and those who have remained in their homes are under all kinds of stress--an example of which you witnessed recently. Many people were martyred and several thousand individuals were wounded or injured at the hands of a usurping, malicious, and fraudulent regime: this is while so many Muslims were merely watching the catastrophe unfold--like mere spectators.

Some people complain and ask: "Why hasn't the US adopted a position [to protect Palestinians]?" Is the US supposed to adopt some position? The USA itself is an accomplice [to "Israel's" crimes]. Many Western governments are partners in crime. Do you expect them to adopt any position [against "Israel"]? It is the Muslims who must adopt a solid position; it is the Islamic Ummah that must adopt a position: it is the Islamic Ummah, the Islamic administrations, and the Islamic governments which should stand firm [against Zionists] but they are not. Why is that? It is because they have strayed far away from the Quran, and they do not believe in it.

The Qari [reciters of Quran] recited a holy verse from Sura al-Fat’h: "Those who are with him are strong against unbelievers, but compassionate amongst each other" [The Holy Quran, 48: 29]. We should be strong against the enemies of religion and against the unbelievers, but we should be kind towards one another. But they [Muslims who drift away from Quran] are doing the opposite. The enemies are waging wars and creating discord among us; they are highlighting the issues of Shia versus Sunni, Arab versus non-Arab, and other such matters. Those rulers who stray away from the Quran, from wisdom, and from reason are deceived by their [the enemies'] game: they give in to them. We are far away from the Holy Quran. The Quran has stated what our duty is; it has described the enemies for us: "Rank hatred has already appeared from their mouths. What their hearts conceal is far worse," [The Holy Quran, 3: 118].

These ayahs (verses) were recited today: Quranic ayahs. Their enmity towards Islam and Muslims will not come to an end: "And they ill-treated them for no other reason than that they believed in Allah, Exalted in Power, Worthy of all Praise," [The Holy Quran, 85: 8]. Their enmity is because of our inclination towards Islam. We are far from the Quran. The Islamic Ummah is far away from the Quran.

If we get close to the Quran, we will, undoubtedly, overcome the enemy whoever he is: "If the unbelievers should fight you, they would certainly turn their backs, then would they find neither protector nor helper. Such has been the practice of Allah already in the past. No change will you find in the practice of Allah," [The Holy Quran, 48: 22-23]. This is a divine promise: this is a Quranic promise: "Allah will certainly aid those who aid his cause," [The Holy Quran, 22: 40].

These are things that we should learn from the Quran. We should work on getting to know the Quran. These meetings serve as an introduction; these gatherings and these lessons serve as introductions; these recitations are introductions: they serve as introductions towards deliberating, understanding, knowing and acting accordingly [to the Quran].

We should continue our movement towards the Quran. My dear ones: Iranian, pious, and revolutionary youth; you should increase your familiarity with the Quran and reap the benefits from it every single day; this will be a source of strength, power, and dignity for you. I hope that by Allah's favor, all of us will awaken. I hope that the Islamic world awakens so that we can carry out these tasks. In any case, Palestine will conquer its enemies by Allah's favor and grace. Baytul-Moqaddas [Al-Quds] is the capital of Palestine; the US, or powers greater or smaller than the US and its cohorts, cannot do a single thing against the divine truth and revelations about Palestine.

I ask Allah the Exalted to bestow His forgiveness on all the martyrs of Islam and the martyrs of Palestine, particularly the martyrs of recent days. I ask Allah the Exalted to build up the resistance and steadfastness of fighters on the path of truth, and I ask the same for those who endeavor on the path of God.

Greetings are upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings