The following is the full text of the OIC inaugural address made on December 9, 1997 by Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
In this brotherly gathering, which intends to speak for the Muslims of the world, I would like to preface my speech by praising and thanking Allah. Dear God, I thank You for knowledge, monotheism, serving You, and affection. I am grateful to You for Islamic brotherhood, reverence for humanity, teaching patience and reliance on You, and recommending beneficence and mercy. And I extend my greetings to the Holy Prophet (greetings be upon him and his descendents) who was Your messenger and servant, who raised the flag of monotheism and justice, who raised the call for reverence for man, and who liberated man from servitude to everybody and everything except You. I extend my greetings to the Holy Prophet's (s.w.a.) immaculate family and his truthful companions and their followers. I extend my greetings to all meritorious servants of Allah, all pure-hearted people, all you dear guests, the heads and officials of Islamic countries, and the heads and members of the delegations. I also extend my sincere and brotherly welcome to the UN and OIC Secretary Generals as well as other honorable guests.
Dear brothers and sisters, you have now gathered in an Islamic house and an Islamic base. Although your official host is our president, each and every Iranian considers himself or herself as your host and appreciates your presence in this land of faith. Dear attendants, our gathering is not simply like that of a group of peers who are bound together by certain interests, and thus the bond among us will not one day be broken for certain other interests. We are brothers who are bound together by our belief in the Quran, and this has made us a unified body - that is, the Islamic Ummah - despite all our historical, geographical, and political differences. This bond has come to us as a direct result of our accepting Islam. Complaints, differences, and even disputes are like dust that covers the face of this truth, but this dust can always be removed through exercising wisdom and patience. We should look at this historic and great gathering from this perspective so that we can benefit from it for the sake of the destiny of our nations and the great Islamic Ummah. Dear brothers, I will limit my remarks in this inaugural address to three subjects, and I will draw a conclusion at the end. These three subjects are as follows: Islam, Islamic Ummah, and the OIC Summit and its future prospects.
1- Islam
Both at the beginning of its rise and today Islam has been a gateway to a new world and to blissful life and has guaranteed salvation and beneficence for man. The major afflictions of man - which Islam has been determined to remove - have always been there. War, insecurity, and finally being locked up in the prison of materialism and being caught in the clutches of evil tendencies are some of these afflictions. Islam that is the religion of humanity, moderation, wisdom, and submission to Allah the Exalted - and all religions have undoubtedly been like this before being distorted - provided a remedy for these human afflictions in a wise manner and free from extremism. It called man to remembrance of Allah, supplication, and spiritual bond with God. It recommended man to constantly fight selfishness, egoism, and licentiousness and taught him how to do so. Most of the Islamic teachings have been developed in this way, and the Islamic plan for personal, social, moral, and political life of man has its roots in this reality.
In the political system of Islam, social justice, different liberties, fair peace, fighting aggression and bullying, the relationship between men and women, the relationship among different people in a society, relationship among different societies, spiritual purification, and the spiritual relationship with God are all based on the same foundations and all are aimed at eradicating those ancient sufferings which have kept afflicting man. Even today, man is suffering from the same old afflictions despite the pleasant and colorful appearance of life. Most of the people in the world are impoverished and a small minority is in possession of most of the wealth. Most nations are deprived of scientific progress, and some people have turned their knowledge into a tool for bullying others. There are wars in different corners of the world, and those who live in peace are in constant fear of war. Social distinctions are a reality throughout the world. The materialistic civilization of the West entices everybody towards materialism. Money, food, and lust have turned into highly sought-after goals. Finally, sincerity, truthfulness, mercy, and selflessness have been replaced in most parts of the world with deception, conspiracy, greed, jealousy, malevolence, and other vices.
In terms of knowledge, technology, equipment, speed, and ease of access, the world is very different from the past. However, the old chronic sufferings of man are still there, and the major afflictions still prevail. Western liberalism, communism, socialism, and other such schools of thought have all been tested and proven to be inadequate. As in the past, Islam is now the only prescription and the only savior today that can help remedy these sufferings. Like 1,400 years ago, the following can still be heard today: "Indeed, there has come to you from Allah, a Light and a clear Book, whereby Allah guides such as follow His pleasure into the ways of peace, and brings them out of darkness into light by His will, and guides them to the right path." [The Holy Quran 5: 15 & 16].
The important point is to introduce the true image of Islam. It has taken several years for the enemies and a longer period of time for ignorant and carefree friends to make the radiant face of Islam ugly. They have made additions and deletions out of spite or ignorance. Today, although misunderstandings and profit seeking on the part of the friendly side are tainting the image of Islam, the propaganda on the part of the enemies in this regard has been far more effective, and they have been using subtle and cunning ways to harm Islam. One instance of the nonstop efforts of the enemies in this regard is the negative propaganda that has been broadcast against Islamic Iran after the rise of an Islamic government in our country. They have turned to slandering and rumor as the best method to render ineffective the influential message of this great Revolution. They have said so many lies about us and leveled so many allegations against us that their remarks have become threadbare for their audience. In this regard, Zionists and the notorious Zionist media throughout the world as well as the agents of arrogance, especially those of the US - that is, all those who suffered most from the Revolution - have been the most active of all. Dear Muslim brothers, our great task, therefore, is to understand Islam and to introduce it to the world. We must also gain more familiarity with one another.
2- Islamic Ummah
The first human and political outcome of Islam is the Islamic Ummah which started in Medina and began to tread the path of qualitative and quantitative growth in an astonishing and legendary manner. It was barely half a century from the birth of this auspicious phenomenon that almost half of all the territories of the three great neighboring ancient civilizations - namely, Persian, Roman, and Egyptian - were conquered. Afterwards, a century later, it created a prominent civilization and a glorious and powerful government at the hub of the globe which spread in the east from the Great Wall of China to the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, and from Siberian steppes in the north to the southern part of the Indian Ocean in the south. The third and fourth centuries of the Hijri calendar as well as the following era enjoyed such a brilliant civilization that the scientific and cultural blessings of that period can be clearly observed in the current global civilization. When writing the history of science and civilization, Western historians totally disregard this great and unique revolution in science, culture, and civilization and attribute it to ancient Greece and Rome and then connect it directly to the Renaissance, as if science and civilization had died for 1000 years and suddenly born again in the Renaissance. However, the truth is that the Middle Ages was dark for the West and Europe, a time when ignorance and terror prevailed. Conversely, the same era was a time of glory, awakening, and scientific progress for the world of Islam which was several times larger than Europe, spreading from Andalusia to China.
I did not intend to make you feel proud of our past by mentioning these points. I intended to remind you that what gave birth to that civilization - namely, Islam and its life-inspiring teachings - is still with us and keeps warning us "O you who believe, respond to Allah and His Messenger, when he calls you to that which gives you life." [The Holy Quran 8: 24]. Islam has proven that it has the capacity to help its Ummah to achieve civil and scientific progress and political glory. Faith, efforts for the sake of Allah, and avoidance of discord are the only requirements for the achievement of this great goal. And the Quran teaches us "And be not weak-hearted, nor grieve, and you will have the upper hand if you are believers" [The Holy Quran 3: 139] and "And those who strive hard for Us, We shall certainly guide them in Our ways. And Allah is surely with the doers of good." [The Holy Quran 3: 139]. The Quran also teaches us "And obey Allah and His Messenger and dispute not one with another, lest you get weak-hearted and your power depart; and be steadfast. Surely Allah is with the steadfast." [The Holy Quran 8: 46]. Weakness in these three areas has placed the Islamic Ummah in a lamentable situation today. At least in the last two centuries, cunning and persistent enemies and some incompetent Muslim governments - accompanied by various other historical and political factors - have contributed enormously to the preset conditions, and we have inherited these conditions from the past.
Dear brothers, let us leave behind a legacy for our future generations that is more worthwhile than the legacy we have received. Among the external factors that have contributed to the present situation, I believe the aggression on the part of the camp of arrogance is most effective of all. In our culture, arrogance is used to refer to powers that exploit and exert pressure on large groups of human beings - that is, nations and governments - in favor of themselves through bullying and humiliating domination. Relying on their political, military, scientific, and economic capabilities and being inspired by a discriminatory outlook on humanity, they interfere in the affairs of nations and governments, plunder their wealth, oppress nations, and stigmatize cultures and traditions. The manifest examples of this have been displayed before the eyes of our nations by colonialism and then neo-colonialism. And recently ex-colonialists and their heirs have done the same through a full-scale political, economic, propagandistic, and even military invasion, and they have made nations feel the bitter taste of arrogance. In the course of this aggression, which has proven to be effective, Western powers have utilized the advances in science and technology as well as some of their national and indigenous characteristics. We do not blame the enemy for this situation. We blame the current situation on those who prepared the ground for the enemy's victory and for their own decline through lack of foresight, laziness, and selfishness.
In its full-scale invasion, the West also targeted our Islamic faith and characteristics, and they persistently exported their religiously and morally permissive culture - something that they themselves are currently suffering from - into our countries by relying on its knowledge the need for which was felt by all. Undoubtedly, this moral quagmire will swallow up the present Western civilization in the foreseeable future. Today, the world of Islam is in a lamentable situation due to that spiteful invasion as well as the factors that were inherent in the past generations. Poverty, ignorance, scientific backwardness, moral weakness, and - worst of all - cultural and at times political domination of enemies on the one hand and other great issues such as the issue of Palestine, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Kashmir, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Caucasus on the other hand, have placed a long list of divine and human responsibilities in front of the our governments, political figures, and the leaders of the world of Islam.
We must take the initiative today. Our enemies have taken the initiative so far, and all we have done was to complain. During a historical process comprised of numerous instances of initiative on the part of the enemy, Palestine has been turned into an indisputable Zionist property. First, they bought Palestinian lands, then the immigrant Zionists were armed. Afterwards, internal war broke out and it was declared that Palestine is to be Balkanized, then other parts of that Islamic and Arab country were occupied, and finally the entire Palestine was occupied and some parts of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan were added to it. So far there has only been one instance when the Arab neighbors of Palestine took the initiative - namely, the October 1973 attack by Syria and Egypt during the holy month of Ramadan. This attack did not fully achieve its goals due to America's alliance with Israel and lack of persistence on the part of Arab nations. However, the collective attack was an honor for the Arab front and resulted in the liberation of some parts of the Arab territories. From that time up to the present day, the Zionists and their advocates, led by the US, have constantly held the initiative in shouting the slogans of negotiations, which have generally been used to consolidate the bases of their occupation, and they have made their enemies follow suite whenever they had the opportunity to do so. Muslim governments should have made more serious contributions to the countries in the vanguard of liberating Palestine. In the past, some Muslim governments even stabbed the front-line countries in the back, an outstanding example of whom was the Iranian government when it was under the Pahlavi reign. Unfortunately, at that time Iran was a safe sanctuary for the Zionists and a staunch ally for the usurper Zionist regime.
Dear brothers and sisters, the present situation is not compatible with the concept of Islamic glory and is far away from alleviating the pains of the Islamic Ummah. All Muslim countries must take on an appropriate portion of the responsibility in reclaiming the rights of the Palestinian nation. Furthermore, the world of Islam must stop being passive and take the initiative. Currently, it is only the faithful and valiant Lebanese or Palestinian youth who carry out these two responsibilities with all their hearts. Greetings be upon them. Our opposition to what they call 'Middle East peace negotiations' is due to the fact these negotiations are unfair, arrogant, humiliating, and illogical. The imposed 'land for peace principle' means that the Zionists will agree to give back the occupied lands of the neighboring countries in exchange for the ownership of Palestine! They could not be more unfair than that. No other response (to the Palestinian nation) could ever be more fraudulent than this. The fact that the usurper regime has even refused to accept this and considers it an inappropriate offer is a joke from which we have to learn. Is it not time now the world of Islam responded to this spirit of arrogance? If we regulate our relations and make them brotherly, we will have the power to do so. America can do nothing when it is faced with the unified front of Muslim countries from Indonesia to the northern part of the African continent. Today, the arrogance gains its confidence from the fact that the Muslim front is disjointed. Is it not time now we strengthened this front in favor of ourselves? Maybe the presence of an enemy like the Zionist regime at the heart of Islamic territories could have made us more unified, but the hands of arrogance surreptitiously removed this threat out of its way. They acted in a way that we now fear one another more than the enemy. Temptations, lies, and sly propaganda have filled Muslim countries with unfounded fear of one another.
It is 18 years now that the political schemers of arrogance have been bombarding our neighbors in the Persian Gulf with poisonous propaganda against Islamic Iran - which is carrying the flag of unity and brotherhood - and have been filling their hearts with fear. I hereby declare that there will be no threat on the part of Islamic Iran to any Islamic country. Thanks to living in accordance with the auspicious Quranic teachings, today Islamic Iran is more enthusiastic about the unity, glory, and power of the world of Islam. Thanks to Islamic faith and in spite of the enemy's propaganda plots, we Iranians have preserved our national solidarity in an exceptional way.
Contrary to what they claim and against their will, public turnout has increased in our country. The glorious presidential elections this year was an example of this increasing turnout. The government is unanimous. Government officials are all friendly to one another. The nation, the people, and the administration enjoy emotional relationships and completely trust one another. Self-confidence is the main guiding principle in all our scientific, political, economic, and cultural endeavors. Relying on our self-confidence that our late Imam taught us, we managed to reconstruct our ruined and backward country left from the Pahlavi era - which was ruined more during the eight-year Iraqi imposed war. We managed to infuse it with activity and enthusiasm for reconstruction. We can observe the same efforts in some other brotherly nations. However, political glory and power are the most important issue. Our nation and government have managed to eradicate the foreign interference in their internal affairs through adhering to Islam and active involvement in political affairs of the country. Today, the Islamic Ummah is thirsty for that self-confidence, glory, and independence, and we must exert efforts for this cause. This is an age-old responsibility, and today the ground is prepared for fulfilling this duty and gaining full glory, power, and independence for the world of Islam. If we need a center to organize the efforts in this regard, we have the Organization of the Islamic Conference to fulfill that function. Therefore, it is necessary for us to take a look at this organization and its future prospects.
3- Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and Its Future Prospects.
It is 27 years now since the fire in Masjid ul-Aqsa, which gave birth to this organization. The current conditions of the world have brought about higher expectations from this organization compared with previous years. This organization can act as the manifestation of true unity among Muslim countries with regard to their common issues and interests. Enjoying the financial, economic, and political capabilities of its members, the OIC can also speak for the members, make demands, and take measures. The OIC can act as the intermediary among the members when serious issues come up. When drumming up support for a great undertaking and a common cause requires a common starting point or an organizing element, the OIC can fulfill this function. This organization can sit in judgment or offer advice whenever it is appropriate for the organization to do so. Although the modern world of Islam enjoys far less than 20% of the total amount of global trade - a percentage that is roughly equal to the ratio of its population to the global population - trade among Muslim countries form a very insignificant portion of this percentage. This organization can play an active role in important economic issues, which will prove to be influential in the policy of this organization.
Today, some of the Muslim nations enjoy valuable natural resources and production facilities as well as good scientific, cultural, and industrial capacities, for which there is a pressing need among other Muslim nations. The OIC can play an active intermediary role regarding the logical and fair exchange of these capacities. Today, as always, large groups of Muslims are suffering from excruciating pains which need urgent treatment. For example, right now some provinces of Afghanistan - such as Bamian - are subject to harm from public hunger and the harsh winter frost in those regions. The Iraqi people are going through one of the most appalling hardships of their entire history - in terms of shortage of foodstuff and medicine - and the lives of millions of people, especially children, is in danger. In Algeria the most violent crimes are being committed covertly are attributed to Muslims, thereby tainting the image of Islam. Muslims are struggling with problems in Bosnia, Kashmir, Somalia, Karabakh, and other parts of the world. The OIC can form special committees to help find solutions to these issues through effective functioning of all its members. In order to make this organization take on an effective role in issues that occur among the member countries, we do not need anything or anybody except general determination and financial assistance of Muslim countries. The probable objection of the governments that will suffer from the unity among Muslims cannot present any obstacles in this regard, unless we lose our determination.
When the Muslim people of the Balkans were suffering from a genocide carried out in the most violent manner and when a single nation was defending its Islamic identity vis-à-vis the organized military invasion of some people and before the indifferent eyes of some others, the need for such a center was strongly felt, a center that could help alleviate part of the pains of those brothers and act in favor of that oppressed nation in global equations. Currently, the presence of foreign warships, and most importantly, the presence of American troops in the Persian Gulf - which is an Islamic gulf and an important center of energy sources in the entire world - are a cause of insecurity in the region. The existence of a powerful OIC in the region and its rhetoric of Islamic glory and power can be a deterrent to the foreigners. It can also help remove the pretexts for this unwarranted presence and form an Islamic force to maintain peace and security in the region whenever there is a need to deploy them. Right now Muslim minorities are suffering severely in some countries from discrimination and oppression. Helping them is the responsibility of all Muslims. However, in order to provide acceptable and serious assistance within the framework of international relations, we need a center that is formed by Muslim nations. What other center could be more appropriate than the OIC? There are tens of loose ends, and all Muslim governments must cooperate to tie them up.
I only intended to provide some examples in my speech today. In none of the cases I discussed, can an Islamic government obviate the need for such a multinational Islamic center. Dear brothers and guests, by God's favor, let us benefit from the opportunities, grow closer to each other, and strengthen the bond and the center that bind us together. The Organization of the Islamic Conference must pursue its resolutions until they are fully implemented so that such meetings would be fruitful for our nations. Furthermore, it must be able to form a joint parliament comprising of its Muslim members, realize the idea of a common Islamic market that is currently a dream, establish an Islamic court, and finally be a permanent member of the UN Security Council representing one billion and several hundred million Muslims from 55 Muslim countries. It must be the sixth member of the UN Security Council that has a veto right as long as the right of veto stands. These are future prospects of this conference, which will be able to delineate the future prospects of the Islamic Ummah.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings