In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful,
One of the exceptional tasks that personalities from Yazd carry out is organizing this commemoration congress for the late Hajj Sheikh Gholam-Ridha Yazdi: he is one of the lesser known outstanding personalities. People have talked about him less than other personalities, despite the fact that the late Hajj Gholam-Reza was a very outstanding character. The statements that Mr. Nasseri -- the grandson of the late Hajj Sheikh Gholam-Reza from his daughter's side -- made were excellent statements. He raised very good points, many of which I had not heard about Hajj Sheikh Gholam-Reza.
It is good to record these descriptions and memoirs -- with reliable documentation -- which are narrated by the relatives, family members, and companions of past outstanding personalities. The sources and documents should be mentioned as well. For example, you mentioned that Mr. Borujerdi has said such and such a thing about him. Well, you should mention the source as well. It should be made clear which source or document is cited, wherein Mr. Borujerdi or Mr. Bahjat has made specific statements. You should specify these sources so that your statements become completely reliable. Of course, the statements which were made about his condition in Najaf, his attention to the clergy and the astonishing moral tasks that he carried out are statements which show the truth of the matter. They do not need sources, and one can understand that they are true.
Once, I visited the late Hajj Sheikh Gholam-Ridha (may God bestow paradise on him) in Mashhad. Sometimes, he would go to the New Courtyard and perform public prayers. There was a portico between the New Courtyard and the museum -- today, this is known as the Imam Khomeini Portico. In that portico, no one would recite daily prayers. It was not a place to say daily prayers. However, I witnessed that the late Hajj Sheikh Gholam-Ridha used to go there in the summer, and he would perform public prayers with a small group. For example, ten, fifteen individuals from among his companions and followers would go too, and they would perform daily prayers with him. This is the extent of my familiarity with him. I did not visit him beyond that; however, I heard many good things about him.
The things that the late Aqa Najafi Quchani mentions are enough. In his memoirs, the late Aqa Najafi Quchani mentions that he traveled from Mashhad to another place with his “Yazdi companion." He refers to him as his “Yazdi companion." They went to Isfahan and stayed there for a few years. After that, they went to Najaf, they stayed there for some time. Later on, they went their separate ways. The late Yazdi attended the classes of the late Amirza Muhammad Bagher Estehbanati, and he became interested in his way of thought. And the late Aqa Najafi joined the classes of Akhund, and he became a great admirer of him; for this reason, there would be a difference of opinion between them. They would develop a conflict of thought on the issue of the Constitutional Movement as well. The late Estehbanati was opposed to the Constitutional Movement, while the late Akhund was one of the pioneers of the Constitutional Movement: that was why they would come into disagreement with one another.
However, what he mentions about his trip with his “Yazdi companion” -- the long trip that they took on foot from Mashhad to Isfahan, and from there to Najaf -- is enough to show that the youth of those days would make astonishing efforts, would go through much trouble, and would observe great piety to pursue their lessons and to reach the fountain of knowledge. The late Yazdi was very pious in his youth. He accompanied the late Estehbanati to Shiraz; but after that, Mr. Estehbanati was assassinated and martyred. Following this, the late Yazdi went to Yazd, where he rendered the services mentioned by Mr. Nasseri. He built a place for developing knowledge, piety, religiousness, and reliance on Allah the Exalted and for rendering services to the people. The point that Mr. Naseri mentioned about his attendance to Zoroastrian and Jewish residents in Yazd is very important. A very pious and holy clergyman like the late Hajj Sheikh Gholam-Ridha Yazdi used to take bread, flour, and other foods into Jewish homes because they were poor: these are very important deeds. Such courses of action do not exist in the world today: in the materialistic world, such things are extraordinary.
Islam teaches such values (as mentioned) to its followers. Anyone who establishes a very close relationship with Islam carries out more of these good deeds. People should know of and understand these values. The poor man was a Jew: he did not believe in God the way we did, he did not believe in our Prophet, our Quran nor our religion; but, the late Yazdi would render out those services just because he was poor, he needed help, and most of all he was human.
The Commander of the Faithful (greetings be upon him) says: "People are of two kinds, either your brother in religion or one like you in creation [in humanity]." [Nahjul Balaghah, Letter 53] Today, these acts are very valuable: they are great life lessons. These lessons should be institutionalized and preserved. By Allah's favor, such courses of action should become lessons for our blossoming generation.
Today, our youth are subject to detrimental propaganda. We acknowledge that, as this is a reality. Different voices rise from various newspapers. Some deviant voices are heard here and there: our youth are exposed to these voices or these deceiving and tempting images. They need to be shown another criterion. The Islamic Republic and the Islamic government can provide this criterion. An example of such criteria are these great personalities, there are other examples too.
Namely, we should understand that when we speak about the possibility of youth deviating, we must speak about the capacity and possibility for their guidance and growth -- this is the case in our system. Notice that the dear martyr, who was martyred recently, Shahid Hojjaji, was a young man from today's generation. He was a young man at the age of 25 [when has was martyred]. He, too, was exposed to the internet, social media networks, and other tempting audio-visuals: like thousands of other youth he was exposed to such media, but he turned out to be a pious young martyr.
Today, Allah the Exalted has put Shahid Hojaji on display for everyone, as an example, but there are many individuals who share his sentiment, motivation, and faith. New revolutionaries and Islamic growth should not be underestimated. They are valuable, and their value should be appreciated. I've received many letters from the public relations office: these letters pertain to a presence in the arena of war. Where? In Syria, in Aleppo. They write letters, nonstop, and they beg to help. Some individual's plea for themselves, others do so through their parents. Their parents say that their children are so desperate to defend, they ask us to let them go. --This is an incredible phenomenon. If they narrated these events to us during another time or era, and if we did not witness them ourselves, we would not believe them so easily, but they are happening in our own time.
What is this element and factor that drives youth to the love of jihad and defending values, what convinces them to forget about their wives, their children, their family, their parents, their comfortable life, their career and everything else, and go thousands of kilometers away -- outside the borders of the country -- to fight against the enemy? These things should not be ignored.
The gentlemen in the meeting pointed to brilliant cultural personalities. The honorable Minister of Islamic Guidance and other gentlemen in that ministry are present today. I deem it necessary to advise those individuals, who are in charge of guidance, cultural issues, and the like, to acknowledge that, today, our most important responsibility is strengthening this spirit in the younger generations. If we are advocates of morality, we should strengthen this spirit in them. Morality can be strengthened in youth with the help of the religious and revolutionary spirit. Morality will neither appear nor be instilled in youth without religion, piety, a revolutionary spirit, a jihadi movement or a propensity to engage in jihad on the path of God: even if it was instilled in them, it would have no depth.
Today, we should focus our efforts on the religious and revolutionary edification of youth. We should strengthen this great orientation of revolutionary forces, which, fortunately, exists among youth. We should give them hope. We should give them support, and we should strengthen this orientation. It should not be the case that the revolutionary orientation is undermined while the opposite orientation is strengthened: this should not happen; either in the academic environment, in the environment of religious promotions, or in the cultural environment and the like.
In any case, I am very happy that our great religious personalities -- the likes of Hajj Sheikh Gholam-Ridha Yazdi -- are, thankfully, emerging out of historical isolation. They are hidden in the corners and shelves of history. No one knows them, except for a few individuals. You should help them emerge from this isolation, and you should introduce them to the people. They are shining suns, and they are enlightened. When they are introduced to others, their light will guide many people, God willing.
However, both the brothers who want to hold a commemoration congress for the late Aqa Najafi and the brothers from Yazd, who want to hold a commemoration congress for the late Hajj Sheikh Gholam-Ridha Yazdi, should attentively observe artistic taste: they should produce artistic and intelligent work. Sometimes, we go through a lot of trouble, but the work will not turn out to be as efficient as we would like. --This should not happen here. You should put your minds to work, as much as you can, so that you can produce intelligent, wise, and artistic works; therefore, it will be efficient as well, God willing.
Greetings are upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.
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