In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
All praise is due to God, Lord of the Worlds, and may peace and greetings be upon our Master and our Prophet, Abul-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, his untainted, pure, chosen Progeny, his chosen companions, and those who follow them in goodness until the Day of Judgment.
I warmly welcome all my dear brothers and sisters, our guests during Islamic Unity Week, and the representatives of Islamic countries here in Tehran. I would like to congratulate you on the birth anniversaries of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and Imam Sadiq (pbuh). I hope, God willing, Almighty God will bless this day and make it a joyous celebration for the Iranian nation, the Islamic Ummah, and all Muslims worldwide. I would like to thank our honorable President for highlighting the key, important point of today in his good remarks, and that is the issue of “Islamic unity,” which I will also touch upon, God willing.
The birthday of the Prophet (pbuh) is an exceptional day in history. The reason for this is that the birth of the noble Prophet was the essential, necessary prelude to the conclusion of prophethood. And in fact, the final prophet brought the final, complete prescription for the felicity and elevation of humanity. As such, his birthday is a very important day.
I would like to say a few words regarding this general movement of the prophets. If we compare the general movement of humankind throughout history to a caravan travelling on a path, and if humankind is moving and progressing through time on this historical journey, then undoubtedly the leaders and guides of this caravan are the holy prophets. The divine prophets not only show the way, they also strengthen the ability of all people and individuals to find the right direction.
They don’t just show the way, but rather they enhance all people’s ability to discern matters. As the Commander of the Faithful (pbuh) says, “[Allah sent His prophets] to get people to fulfil their pledge to God, which is in their nature, to remind them of the blessings they have forgotten … and to uncover the hidden treasures of wisdom” (Nahj al-Balaghah, sermon 1). They interact with people in this manner. They awaken people’s innate nature, and they motivate and help people to make use of their power of reasoning and thought. In this way, humanity is able to move forward. Of course, there have been moments when members of this caravan — that is, human beings — listened to the words of the prophets, followed the paths that they were shown, and witnessed the results of doing this.
But at other times, it was the opposite. People rejected the prophets, disregarded their words, and ignored their guidance. They witnessed the negative consequences and results of their actions as well. Such diversity in the history of humanity — where sometimes some people are guided and sometimes others are not — has led to the various phenomena that have taken place in the history of human life, such as: divisions, conflicts, and struggle between right and wrong, faith, and unbelief. This is an overall image of the history of humanity.
The prophets carried out this guidance, care, assistance to humanity, and this invitation through various means. The Quran has mentioned all these methods in different sections. I’ll refer to a few examples. In one place, it says, “And our duty is only to convey [the message] in clear terms” (36:17). [It states] that the Prophet's duty is “to convey.” That’s all. Wa ma alayna means something other than this. He has no other obligation. That’s how it is in one situation. But in another situation, the Quran states, “We did not send any messenger but to be obeyed by Allah’s leave” (4:64). [The Prophet] must be “obeyed.” In other words, he must establish a political system, mobilize society, and it is obligatory for people to listen, obey, and so on.
In one place it states, “Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and reason with them in a manner that is best” (16:125). This is the method of invitation. In another place, it says, “How many a prophet there has been with whom a multitude of godly men fought. They did not falter for what befell them in the way of God, neither did they weaken, nor did they abase themselves; and Allah loves the steadfast” (3:146). In one place, invitation is carried out using kind words, and, in another place, it's carried out using military power. It depends on the circumstances. Or in another place, it says, “It is by God’s mercy that you are gentle to them; had you been harsh and hardhearted, they would have surely scattered from around you” (3:159). Here, it uses the expression “hard-hearted.” If you had been like this, you wouldn’t have been able to do such and such a thing.
In another place, it says, “Fight the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be severe [hard] against them” (9:73). Here, the Quran is recommending that same hardness. Therefore, the method of invitation isn’t always the same. The method of invitation of the prophets differed in different situations, different periods, and in different places. When we say that they were sent to elevate human intellect and discernment, this means that they were to see how they could promote and advance this invitation in each era.
What I have given here is a description. In this tremendous caravan of human history, we said that the prophets are the leaders. Among this chain of guides and leaders of the caravan, the true, ultimate, main caravan leader is definitely the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). As the great mystic once said:
On this path, the prophets are like leaders of a caravan.
They guide and lead the way of the caravan.
Among them, our Master takes the lead;
He is the first and the last in this endeavor.
(Shabestari, Golshan-e Raz)
He is the “first” as he is at the front of the ranks of the holy prophets. He is also the “last” because he presented the most complete, final divine program to humanity.
Well, the Prophet's birthday is obviously the day of the rise of this sun, the day of unveiling of this matchless jewel of this world and the Hereafter. Therefore, it is a great, important day. We must not take the day of the Prophet's birth lightly. Rather, we must learn from it. Merely describing and praising him is not enough. The Prophet’s lesson is a complete, comprehensive, all-encompassing lesson that is relevant to all aspects of life. Every aspect of it can be elaborated upon and described extensively.
One of the lessons from the Prophet’s life and his invitation that I want to talk about and which is perhaps one of the greatest teachings of the Prophet for us, is the concept of building an Ummah [nation] — the Islamic Ummah. The 13 years of struggle in Mecca led to the Hijra [migration to Medina], which was the foundation for an Islamic nation. The Islamic Ummah started with hijra. It continued with enduring various hardships, difficulties, hunger, and challenges faced by the people of Suffah and the people of Medina — the Muhajirun [migrants to Medina] in one way and the Ansar [residents of Medina] in another way. And the Islamic Ummah was strengthened through struggles, battles, and sacrifices. The sacrifices made during the blessed life of the Prophet (pbuh) and the acts of sacrifice and selflessness that took place after his demise enabled this community to stand firmly.
Of course, it could have been managed better, but the Islamic Ummah, which was the nation founded by the Holy Prophet in Medina with a limited population, remained intact. We need this lesson today. We are lacking an Islamic Ummah at this time. There are numerous Islamic countries. Nearly two billion Muslims live in the world, but this collection cannot be called an “Ummah” because they aren’t coordinated. They aren’t moving in the same direction.
An “Ummah” is defined as a group of people who are moving in one direction, toward one goal, with a shared motivation. We aren’t like that. We are divided. The result of this division is the domination of Islam’s enemies. The result of this division may lead certain Islamic countries to feel that in order to ensure their survival, they are forced to rely on the US.
We could have stood back-to-back or hand in hand, benefitted from each other's resources, helped one another, and formed one “unit” together. This unit could have been stronger than all the other powers in the world today. In fact, there was a time when it was like that. Despite all the flaws and problems that existed in that situation, because they were united, they were considered a power. We aren’t like that today. This is our greatest lesson today. We need to come closer together.
Today, we are in need of the formation of an Islamic Ummah. We must pursue this. Who can help in this regard? Governments can have an influence. However, the motivation within governments isn’t very strong. Those who can strengthen this motivation are the influential figures in the Islamic world — people like you. Politicians, religious scholars, scientists, academics in universities, influential people, intellectuals, poets, writers, and political and social analysts can all have an impact. Imagine if all the media sources in the Islamic world focused on the unity of Muslims for a decade, and if [journalists] wrote articles, poets composed poems, analysts offered insights, university professors clarified ideas, and religious scholars issued rulings, then without a doubt, the situation would completely change in this 10-year period. When nations wake up and show an interest [in unity], governments will be left with no option but to follow suit. Influential figures can make this happen. This is our duty.
Of course, what I am talking about — this formation of unity and establishing an Islamic Ummah — is a matter that has enemies, the enemies of Islam. Think about “the enemies of Islam” and focus on this. The enemies of a particular country aren’t important. [But] some people are the enemies of Islam. Even if they pretend to be close to a part of the Muslims in order to destroy another part of them, they are actually enemies of Islam. They don’t want this Islamic Ummah to be formed. They don’t want this unity to be created. They activate religious fault-lines within the Islamic world.
One of the most problematic divisions that exists in societies is divisions in faith and religion. They’re like faults that are subject to earthquakes. If these faults become active, it isn’t easy to stop them. The Crusades lasted 200 years and they truly were crusades. They truly were religious wars and were carried out based on religious prejudices. They don’t allow it [unity]. They don’t want to allow it. We must prevail against the enemy’s desires. The reason our esteemed Imam [Khomeini] emphasized unity in the Islamic world and among Shia and Sunni so much, even before the victory of the Revolution, is precisely this. It’s because the power of the Islamic world arises from unity. The enemy wants the opposite of this, and they work and make endeavors against it. This is the lesson we must learn from the Prophet today.
Of course, we and the people of our own country need to pay attention to this matter as well. If we want our message — our message of unity — to be perceived as being genuine in the world, we need to establish this unity among ourselves first. Differences in opinions, viewpoints, political disagreements, and such shouldn’t affect the cooperation, solidarity, unity, and empathy of the nation. We must pursue our true goals. When this happens, the enemy won’t be able to give permission to a foul, corrupt, evil entity like the Zionist regime to commit all these crimes in the region.
Look at what the Zionist regime is doing today. They commit crimes shamelessly and without hiding it. It’s one way in Gaza and another way in the West Bank. They do this one way in Lebanon and in another way in Syria. They’re committing crimes in the true sense of the word. They aren’t fighting soldiers. They’re targeting ordinary people. In Palestine, they were unable to inflict any blows on the fighters, so they unleashed their blind, malicious fury on young children, patients in hospitals, and schools filled with young children who had just come to school. This is because we aren’t using our inner strength. We need to use it. This inner strength can remove and eliminate the Zionist regime, this evil cancerous tumor, from the heart of the Islamic community, namely Palestine. It can eradicate the influence, dominance, and aggressive interference of the US in this region. We can do this!
Today, the first step to increasing the unity of the Islamic world in confronting this criminal, terrorist gang that has governed and usurped the land of Palestine is for Islamic countries to completely cut off economic ties with this criminal gang. This is the least they can do. They must do this. They must cut economic relations, reduce political ties, increase attacks on it in the media and press, and clearly express and show their solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people.
We hope, God willing, that Almighty God will guide all of us — including governments, nations, influential figures, and active groups — so that we can fulfill this duty.
May God’s greetings, mercy, and blessings be upon you.
