In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our Master, Prophet Muhammad, and upon his Pure Progeny, particularly the remaining Vestige of God on earth.
I would like to congratulate all of you who are present here today, as well as the Iranian nation, and all of the Muslims and truth-seekers of the world on the auspicious occasion of Eid al-Mab’ath, for if the call of Bi’tha (the appointment of the Prophet to prophethood) is heard by the hearts of the world’s truth-seekers, they will definitely be attracted by it.
With the calculations that one makes it can be understood that the appointment of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) to prophethood is the greatest gift given by the Almighty God to all of humanity. Regarding God’s gifts, it is said, “And if you enumerate the favors of Allah, you will never be able to count them” (Quran 16:18). However, no blessing or gift is equivalent to the greatness and importance of the Prophet’s Bi’tha. The reason for this is that his appointment to prophethood brought treasures for humankind that are never-ending. Humankind may or may not use these treasures, but these great treasures that the Prophet’s appointment has brought for humanity are at their disposal. These treasures can even ensure human beings’ felicity in their lives, in their lives in this world before the Hereafter. Human beings can come to this point by making calculations. So, what are these treasures?
First of all, there’s monotheism. Monotheism is the treasure that nothing can match in terms of its weight and importance because worshiping God frees humankind from slavery and servitude to others. This is the plight that humankind has faced. Man's plight is being held captive by others. It has been this way throughout history. Such a thing is eliminated by serving God. If a person is a servant of God in the true sense of the word and truly adheres to monotheism, which is the negation of worshiping others than God, he will free himself from the servitude of others and the things that you have seen and heard about in history – things such as murders, oppression, massacres, wars, and such. This is one of the gifts brought by the Prophet’s appointment to prophethood.
Purification is another gift, “He purifies them” (Quran 3:164). Purification is in fact the medicine that frees humankind from corruption. It is purification that removes and cleans away the various moral vices from human society, from people’s beings, and purifies people’s hearts.
Teaching the Book is another of the gifts, “And he teaches them the Book” (Quran 3:164). Teaching the Book. Teaching the Book means lives come under the direction of divine guidance. God, who is the owner, creator, and Lord of everything has determined a path for human life so that people may follow this path. That is the teaching of the Book. And [there is also] wisdom, “And he teaches them the Book and wisdom” (Quran 3:164). This means that society should be directed by reason, wisdom, sagacity, and intellect. You see, these are all the gifts brought by the appointment of God’s final messenger. Of course, some or many of these principles are similar to those brought by other prophets. They are in common [with the principles of other prophets]. But this is the complete version.
Another gift, which is truly one of the treasures that exist in the Bi’tha is the teaching of resistance. Resistance is the secret to achieving a goal. Whatever goals you have, whether they are goals in this world or the Hereafter, you can reach them through persistence, resistance, and by pursuing them. You cannot attain these goals without these things. “So be steadfast, just as you have been commanded – [you] and whoever has turned [to Allah] with you” (Quran 11:112). The Quran has given us this [instruction]. The appointment of the Prophet to prophethood has brought this treasure so that we may learn from it and realize what we need to do.
There is the unique treasure of justice. This means justice without discrimination, whether concerning economic issues, in the field of humanistic issues, or social justice in general. This is also one of the treasures that the Prophet’s appointment has given us. Manage your lives with “justice,” as it is said, “… so that humankind may maintain justice” (Quran 57:25). Humankind should manage his life with justice. The prophets came to put human beings on this path and to teach them.
One of the most important treasures that unfortunately is not given enough attention, is being firm and impervious when facing ill-wishers. Human societies normally suffer due to the influence of their enemies, which is spoken of in the verse “… those who are with him are stern against the unbelievers” (Quran 48:29). “Stern” does not mean severity of action. This sternness is not the same as severity of action as used in the Farsi language. “Stern” here means being hard, firm, and impervious. This is the meaning of being “stern against the unbelievers.” Do not let their influence find its way into your society. If the influence of an enemy, a foreign power, or an ill-wisher exists, this means that you have no authority of your own. They come, and your society becomes like an unconscious person who can be injected with whatever they please so they can take control of it. But you can have good, orderly, logical, wise relationships by your own will. That is what is good.
Or [there is also] kindness, affection, sincerity, and cordiality between individuals in a society. This being “merciful amongst themselves” (Quran 48:29) is also one of those treasures. Life in society should be with mercy, magnanimity, and such things.
Or a person must avoid the transgressors and the evildoers in the world. He should not associate himself with them, “Avoid the Taghut (tyrants)” (Quran 16:36). The Quran teaches us to avoid the tyrants. This is one of the treasures that can always be used to move our lives in the right direction.
Or becoming free from the chains of ignorance, prejudice, inactivity, stagnation, and such things. “[The Prophet] relieves them of their burdens and the shackles that were upon them” (Quran 7:157). There are thousands of precious treasures like this in the Quran, the teachings of Islam, and in the appointment of the Prophet. This appointment of the Prophet has given and brought these to us.
Some of us Muslims are not even aware of these treasures. Some of us deny them, and are ungrateful for these great, divine gifts. Some of us take pride in them, but we do not act in accordance with them. That is how it is. What is the outcome of this? The outcome of this is that the Islamic world becomes divided, it lags behind, and it becomes weak both in knowledge and action. This is the outcome. At one period in time, Muslims were able to build the greatest civilizations of their time by partially, and not even fully, acting in accordance with these great treasures. In the third and fourth centuries after the migration of the Muslims, there was no other government, power, or nation on earth that was as advanced as the Islamic nation. This is while we know that they only partially acted in accordance with these back then. The people who were ruling were not good people. They were not suitable or perfect, but even so, these were effective. We can eliminate the weaknesses that exist in the Islamic world by referring to these treasures that have been gifted to us due to the appointment of the Prophet - the treasures related to the Islamic teachings, those related to the Islamic rulings, and those related to Islamic ethics. That is how it is.
One matter is the Palestinian issue, which is once again one of our most important issues today. A nation, a country, is completely under the control of some savage, wicked, evil people – they are not normal people – and the Islamic world is watching this happen! The Palestinian people – that is, those who have remained and have not been forced out yet – are being oppressed every day in their own land and in their own homes. The Zionists destroy a corner and build Zionist settlements every day before the eyes of the Islamic world. All these Islamic governments, with all the wealth that exists in the Islamic world and with all the capabilities that the Islamic world has as a whole, are watching this happen. For many years a nation is being oppressed like this before the eyes of the world. This has also harmed the Islamic world itself. In other words, the Islamic governments and countries have remained silent in the face of this kind of aggression, which is aggression against themselves and the Islamic nation. In some cases, especially recently, they have unfortunately gone along with it too. These countries have become weakened as well. This is the situation they are in, and this has allowed the enemy to dominate them.
Today, the world’s most advanced countries, the world powers, feel they have the right to interfere in the affairs of Islamic countries. They come and interfere – the US in one way and France in another way. Each one interferes in the affairs of Islamic countries in a certain way and they feel as though they have a right to do so! They can’t even manage their own countries. They have not been able to solve their own problems in their own countries, and yet they want to come and occupy Islamic countries under the pretext of solving the problems in these countries. Well, this demonstrates the weakness of the Islamic world and the weakness of Islamic governments due to neglecting the Palestinian issue.
In the case of Palestine, if the Islamic governments had stood firmly and resisted from the very first day, the situation in our region, the West Asian region, would definitely have been different today. Today, we would have been stronger, more united, and in many ways, our situation would have been better. Back then, the well-wishers, such as the great religious scholars of Najaf, wrote letters, gave their opinions, and delivered sermons on the issue of Palestine and the usurpation of Palestine. Some sympathetic individuals and people who truly cared did the same. An Arabic poet has stated, “If you lose Palestine, you will live a life that is full of struggles and pains.”
His poem is true. If you abandon Palestine, you will suffer from pains, sufferings, and the like over a long period. If we had entered from the very first day, [our situation would have been better.]”
Today, the Islamic Republic explicitly, openly expresses what is in the hearts of the oppressed Muslims of Palestine. We do not care what others think. We state the truth in a loud voice. We support and defend the Palestinian nation and we declare that we will defend them. We will defend the Palestinian nation in whatever way we can. This has caused the enemies to focus on spreading Iranophobia and for those who have an obligation to help Palestine, at least as much as we are helping them, to agree with the enemies about Iranophobia.
The solution to all of these problems is to return to Islam, the unity of Islamic nations, empathy between Islamic nations, and true cooperation between Islamic governments, not a superficial cooperation. They need to truly cooperate and empathize with each other. All parts of the Islamic nation need to cooperate with each other. Problems always come up. If you take a look at the devastating earthquake that recently affected Syria and Turkey, well, it was a tragic event. This is something that is related to all Muslims. That is to say, everyone should truly feel pained and saddened by such events. However, this is a small thing when you compare it to political issues such as the issue of Palestine and the US intervention in various countries in the region, such as Syria and other places. But at the same time, it is still an important tragedy.
I hope that the Almighty God will help all of us to truly make use of the appointment of the Prophet to prophethood and to make the Mab’ath of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) a true Eid for the Islamic world and the Islamic nation. May God help us on this journey and elevate the status of our magnanimous Imam [Khomeini], for he was the one who showed us this way and guided us on this path. [May God] unite our valued martyrs with the first martyrs of Islam.
May God’s greetings, mercy, and blessings be upon you.
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