In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
I wish to congratulate you on this great Eid which is indeed an Eid for all humanity, not just the Islamic Ummah. I hope Allah will make this Eid auspicious for all you dear audience, the esteemed guests, the Iranian nation, all Muslim nations, and the entire humanity.
Human minds and tongues have expressed numerous things about Be'that [the appointment of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) to his prophetic mission], which is in fact a vast area, and it will not be possible in the foreseeable future to delineate the aspects of this great event. As time passes and as man goes through numerous experiences and gains a better understanding of the problems and flaws that plague his life, the different aspects of the Holy Prophet's (s.w.a.) appointment to the divine mission reveal themselves more and more clearly. This Be'that was in fact a call that invited people to the arena of moral, intellectual, and legal education. These are the things that are needed for man's peaceful and evolutionary life.
Intellectual education is the first priority. Intellectual education - that is, extracting man's reason and making it dominant over his thoughts and actions, or giving man the beacon of wisdom and enabling him to find his way by its light - is of primary importance. Regarding the Prophet's appointment to his divine mission, reason and wisdom are the primary issues that have been raised. Similarly, throughout the Quran and the Prophet's teachings, you can see that the main focus has been placed on such things as reason, wisdom, thinking, reflection, and pondering. Even on Judgment Day, the Quran quotes sinners as saying: "Had we but listened or pondered, we should not have been among the inmates of the burning Fire." [The Holy Quran, 67: 10] They say, "The reason we came to suffer from hell fire is that we did not refer to our wisdom, we did not listen, and we did not pay attention. Therefore, today on Judgment Day we have to suffer from this everlasting, bitter destiny."
Inviting people to reason was the first priority for all divine prophets, and this was not peculiar to the Last Prophet. Of course the call to reasoning is stronger and clearer in Islam. Therefore, regarding the appointment of prophets to their divine missions, the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.) says in Nahjul Balaghah: "To ask them to keep the promise that has been built into their nature ... and raise what has been buried deep in their wisdom." Prophets have been sent down to dig out the treasure of wisdom. This treasure is our hearts. The problem is that we are sitting on the buried treasure, but we are not aware of it. As a result, we cannot benefit from this treasure and die of hunger. Our situation is something like that. When we do not refer to our wisdom and do not use it in our judgments, we cannot engage in genuine intellectual education. As long as we do not harness our passions with our wisdom, the situation will be like this.
We can have access to this treasure, but we choose not to use it. Then ignorance and lack of wisdom and the numerous consequences of these two create many problems for our life in this world and the hereafter. In a tradition by the Holy Prophet of Islam (s.w.a.), wisdom has been described as a leash. "Wisdom is the leash of ignorance." Then the tradition goes, "Human passions are like extremely unruly animals ... Unless there is thinking, they will go astray." That is what human passions are like. When you do not curb these passions, they will go astray. Human passions will go astray like a wild animal that does not know where it is going. Then human beings and human societies will face problems in their individual and social life. That is what wisdom is.
Provoking thoughts and strengthening the ability to think were the first things that the Holy Prophet did. That is the panacea for all problems. It is wisdom that can lead man to religion. It is wisdom that forces man to serve God. It is wisdom that prevents man from engaging in stupid and ignorant actions and from being allured by the material world. That is what wisdom is. Therefore, strengthening the ability to think is the first thing that has to be done in a society. That is our obligation.
Despite our inherent flaws and weaknesses compared to the Prophet, we decided to build a modern society following the example set by the Holy Prophet's Islamic community. In this society, like the early Islamic community, reason must be the yardstick.
Moral education is the second priority in education. "I appointed you as prophet to complete moral virtues." [Majma' al-Bayan, vol. 10, p. 500] Morality is the pleasant air that human beings could breathe and have a healthy life if it were present in human societies. Life will become difficult when there is no morality, when immorality becomes dominant, and when such vices as greed, carnal desires, ignorance, love for the material world, spite, envy, and suspicion step into man's life. Then the atmosphere will become stifling, and it will be difficult for human beings to breathe normally. That is why in several places in the Holy Quran the word "purification" - namely, moral growth - has preceded the word "teaching". "Reciting to them His messages and purifying them, and teaching them the Book and the Wisdom." [The Holy Quran, 3: 164] In the tradition about wisdom by the Holy Prophet which I cited earlier, when wisdom is mentioned, it is pointed out that wisdom leads to patience and patience leads to knowledge.
We must pay attention to the order of these items. First, wisdom creates patience and endurance. When this state of patience is present, it will prepare the ground for increasing the society's or the individual's knowledge. That is to say, knowledge comes after patience. Patience is a moral virtue. Similarly, in the Quranic verse "Reciting to them His messages and purifying them, and teaching them the Book and the Wisdom", Allah has placed "purifying" before "wisdom". That is an instance of moral education. Today we desperately need this moral education. The Muslim Iranian community living in this specific geographical location, the Islamic Ummah, Muslim societies, and the entire world need this moral education. These are our most urgent needs.
Legal education or legal discipline is the next priority. The Holy Prophet of Islam was the first person to practice all Islamic teachings. When asked about the Prophet and his behavior, Aisha - who is known as "the Mother of the Faithful" - has been quoted as saying: "It looked as if his behavior was the incarnation of the Quran." [The commentary written by Ibn Abi al-Hadid on Nahjul Balaghah, vol. 6, p. 340] That means he never preached what he did not practice. These are all lessons for us. These are all lessons. This is not to suggest that I want to compare the greatness of the Prophet with our own flaws. The Holy Prophet was the peak, and we are just moving on the mountainside. But we are moving towards the peak. The peak is the criterion for us.
Similarly, life is an arena for being tested. The Iranian nation passed these difficult tests to achieve the grandeur it enjoys now. As long as we had limited ourselves to saying "there is no god but Allah" in a superficial manner, we were in the clutches of the evil Pahlavi regime. When we recognized the practical aspect of "there is no god but Allah" and engaged in action, we became a Muslim nation and Allah the Exalted bestowed this grandeur, power, and prominent identity on us. If we step into the practical arena, Allah the Exalted will respond. Allah responds promptly.
Our nation has been successful throughout the past 30 years in the different tests it has gone through during the Revolution and the Sacred Defense Era. Allah the Exalted gave us achievements in proportion to our efforts. Of course these achievements are great. "Whoever brings a good deed will have tenfold like it." [The Holy Quran, 6: 160] Allah the Exalted gave us ten times more than the real outcome of our efforts. What was our position in the Islamic Ummah and among other nations of the world during the evil Pahlavi rule? We were isolated and obscure. We were a forgotten nation that did not have the necessary sensitivity, courage, and determination that push nations forward.
Today our youth, scientists, scholars, artisans, farmers, and ordinary people have great ambitions, and they are moving towards those ambitions. You can see the outcome of their efforts. The biggest superpowers of the world have focused their slogans on opposing the Islamic Republic. They think they are intimidating and threatening the Iranian nation with these slogans. They are unaware that the Iranian nation feels it has an identity when it sees that the most materialistic and evil powers in the world consider it an obstacle in the way of their evil goals. That is not something insignificant. They say they want to do this and that in the Middle East. And for each goal they announce, there are 10 other evil goals they do not announce. The Iranian nation is an obstacle. The Islamic Republic is an obstacle.
This is indicative of the greatness of this nation and the Islamic Republic. It is due to such greatness that the government has managed to stop the arrogant powers from achieving their goals - at least in a certain part of the world. The Iranian nation fulfilled this goal by following religious teachings.
The Holy Prophet was a leader. "The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord." [The Holy Quran, 2: 256] And the believers followed him. People look at his actions and find their way. This is the role that luminaries, leaders, and elites play in a society. We should not limit ourselves to words only. There are many government officials present among you. Each of you can be an example to those around you.
Our nation is a great, loyal, and generous nation. We have seen the manifestations of these characteristics during the past thirty years. During the recent events which happened after the election, you all observed the role of the nation. There are different people with different views of social life among the nation. They all express their views, but when they feel that a group is opposed to the Islamic Republic or is organizing a movement to deal a blow to it, they hold themselves aloof from those people, even if they shout the same slogans as those of the people. They keep themselves aloof when they are faced with ill-wishers. This is an important point.
We learnt many lessons from the events which took place recently. There has never been a day during the past thirty years in which we have not gained experience or learnt something. This was an experience for our nation. Everyone understood that when a nation carries out a great movement with peace and stability, it should not neglect the enemies who are hatching plots for it. Everyone was talking about an election with a 40 million voter turnout. They said that it was an unprecedented election since the Revolution and that the ability of the Islamic Republic to bring people to the scene thirty years after the Revolution - the voter turnout - was an honor. Everyone realized that they should not unaware because the enemies are lying in ambush. The enemies are watchful.
Now, when we talk about our foreign enemies, those enemies claim in a self-righteous manner that they are not interfering in our affairs. This is a blatant claim. Everyone can see what they are doing. We do not intend to talk about what our intelligence services have found out about their activities and interventionist policies. That is a separate issue. But what everyone can see is the role of their media. During the recent decades, the media have played the most important role in the developments within nations.
I warned a number of years ago that the media and intelligence services of the arrogant powers are the greatest enemies of the independence of nations, and that they are seeking to cause riots in different countries. Their goal is to prevent nations from treading the path which they have chosen. I even mentioned a number of countries as examples. Compared to a few years ago when I made these remarks, communication technologies have become far more varied popular. The enemies are making these attempts, but they claim that they are not interfering. They say they are not interfering at all. Their instructions for rioters and unaware people are being openly broadcast through their media. They teach rioters how to clash with the police, how to talk against the basijis, how to cause riots in the streets, how to commit vandalism, and how to start a fire in the cities. Is this not interference? Could it be any clearer than that?
This is what our people observed. These are all a source of experience for our people. It is false to think that the limited number of people who set trash cans on fire - this is maximum damage these people can cause - or destroy people's properties - motorcycles, cars, banks, and stores - are ordinary people. It is not ordinary people who do these things. Of course the mouthpieces of the arrogant powers refer to rioters as ordinary people in order to support those who cause riots. Are these really ordinary people? Ordinary people are those who keep themselves aloof from rioters and despise those who undermine public security and social peace.
Whoever causes riots and insecurity in society is a hated figure in the eye of the Iranian people, no matter who he is or what position he holds. The Iranian nation can only fulfill its goals in a peaceful and secure atmosphere. When there is security, the ground will be prepared for education, for gaining knowledge, for making progress, for developing industries, for producing wealth, for finding different kinds of comfort, and for worshipping God. Prosperity in this world and the hereafter can only be achieved when there is security. In the absence of security, none of these can be achieved. Of course, those who are the mercenaries of the enemies will not listen to what I say. I am not addressing those people. Rather, I am addressing the elites. The people are vigilant in this regard, and the elites should also be vigilant.
The elites should know that any statements, actions, or commentaries which help the enemies are considered as a move against the path of the nation. We should all be extremely careful. We should be careful with what we say and what we do not say. We should also be careful about the stances we adopt. There are certain things which have to be said. If we do not say them, this means that we have failed to fulfill our duty. On the contrary, there are certain things which should not be said. If we do say them, this again means that we have breached our duty.
The political elites are facing a great test. Failing in this test does not only mean falling behind. It will lead to a downfall. If we are to avoid such a destiny, we should act on the basis of wisdom, which calls humans to worshipping God. This should be the criterion.
Rationality is not the same as the common political games. These are against rationality. "Rationality is what through which one worships God and goes to heaven." [Kitab al-Kafi, Volume 1, p. 11] Rationality is what guides humans onto the right path. Those who think that engaging in political games is a rational act are making a mistake. This is not correct. Rationality is what paves the way for worshipping God. And the criterion for rationality is to see whether we are honest in what we say or not, whether we think about God and consider His satisfaction when we talk or we just intend to attract the attention of a particular person through what we say. The criterion is to see whether what we say is to satisfy God or those who listen to us. We have to judge ourselves. One is the best judge to judge oneself. We should not deceive ourselves. We should be careful with what we say and do.
They have shown us the way. This is how we should look at Mab'ath. Mab'ath is not only a religious celebration. It is an Eid and a turning point. An Eid is a turning point at which one realizes a reality. We should look at Mab'ath, the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.), and his great efforts. And then we should think about the great influence which he had on the life of humanity. In only ten years, which is like a single moment compared to the life span of a nation, this great man [the Holy Prophet] did great things. The ten years of the Holy Prophet's rule cannot be compared to any other period. He created such a great movement in the history of mankind. He created a great change. He led humans to peace and tranquility amidst those storms and led them onto the right path. The Holy Prophet lived 63 years. We live much longer, but we expect to follow his path - as far as possible - with our immature moves. When a movement is carried out with sincerity and in a devoted manner, and is rooted in divine guidance, the result is what happened during the ten years of the Holy Prophet's rule. That was what brought about such greatness.
Dear God, awaken us, and make our hearts more familiar with Islamic realities. Dear God, help the Iranian nation to tread its path. O God, make the holy heart of the Imam of the Age pleased with us.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings