In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
This meeting is a very enjoyable, pleasant and memorable meeting and a variety of significant comments were made in this meeting. I truly benefitted from the comments. Moreover, this meeting caused me and people like me to learn more about Kermanshah, its outstanding personalities and its capacity for training elites. One of the gentlemen said that Kermanshah province is "the broad and powerful chest of Iran" - which is a very beautiful and significant phrase - and I would like to add that Kermanshah is also the beautiful face of Iran. Science, art, literature, revolutionary efforts, sports, heroic spirit and many other things have thankfully come together in this province.
Of course, I was familiar with certain outstanding figures of Kermanshah province before the Revolution, including the late Yadollah Behzad who was an old friend of mine. He used to visit Mashhad frequently. He had a very good gift for poetry. In particular, he was an outstanding poet in the country in composing Qasidas and Qita's. He also embodied the heroic spirit and characteristics of the people of Kermanshah. He had travelled to Mashhad when I was under prosecution. I had left Mashhad for a distant place. One day I saw Mr. Behzad and certain other friends from Mashhad's literary association who had come to visit me although it was dangerous. He was not really a man of revolutionary activities, but his loyalty and his love for his friend had caused him to come and visit me. These things are praiseworthy.
Before the Revolution, I was also familiar with the late Keivan Samimi who was really a learned and exceptional scholar. He wrote a biography of the late Sardar Kabuli. Although the book is a biography, it is full of significant research-based comments. He also wrote another book, but I cannot remember the title. [A member of the audience says, "Literary Research".] Yes, that is right. The title is "Literary Research". One really feels that this man was at the level of Mohammad Qazvini and other such figures in terms of research and in terms of his vast knowledge of literature, history and many other areas. He was truly an outstanding person.
I also met the late Mr. Nojumi (God bless him) during the early years of the Revolution. He was truly a versatile man. He was both a faqih and a man of letters. He was an exceptional person among the clergy.
Of course, I was familiar with outstanding clerics of this province when I was in Qom. I was familiar with the late Hajj Aqa Mojtaba Hajj Akhund (God bless him), Shahid Hajj Aqa Baha Mohammadi Eraqi and certain other people. I would also say that the scientific, artistic and literary figures of Kermanshah are not as well-known as they should be. And this is a cause for regret. The right thing to do is that our government officials, who are in charge of public relations and the IRIB, should highlight Kermanshah with the help of the elites and outstanding personalities of this region. One part of the work is related to the history of Kermanshah. Another part is related to the current situation of the province. Fortunately there is a lot of potential today, part of which was revealed in the speeches that were delivered by the friends in this meeting. People like Professor Shamsipour are truly a source of honor. Not only are they a source of honor for this province, but they are also a source of honor for the country. If such people become famous, they will inspire hope. Each of the dear youth who spoke in this meeting is a source of hope in their area of expertise. They promise a better future for the entire country.
Two days ago during my visit to the university, some of the youth who spoke said certain things and made certain comments and I enjoyed what they said. Some of the things that these youth think about or wish might not be consistent with reality and their ideas might be considered ambitious, but it is a good thing that our youth are ambitious and that they aim for high goals and move towards them.
Fortunately this determination and this motivation exist in the country today, but there was a day when this was not the case. During the time of taghut, the ground had not been prepared for the development of different kinds of talent. There were certain self-motivated individuals who had pursued what they were interested in. Sometimes a national movement starts: this requires appropriate groundwork and an appropriate climate. This is always the case. Today this groundwork and climate exists, but this was not the case previously. Therefore, we can hope that by Allah's favor, in the future we will have several times as many scientific, literary, artistic, religious and other luminaries as we used to have in the past thanks to the determination, power and efforts of our youth and our faithful men and women.
In different provinces, I arrange meetings with outstanding personalities and such meetings are very important to me. The primary goal of these meetings is to show respect for our outstanding personalities. They are a sign of respect for creativity. My intention is to inspire respect in our society for knowledgeable and creative people and those who are engaged or are capable of engaging in an outstanding endeavor. I want to turn this into a norm. Many of the people who use their scientific efforts and their ideas to help their country make progress, do not expect material rewards in return, but they expect appreciation. I want their efforts to be appreciated. This is not to say that only I should express my appreciation: my appreciation is not important. I want this appreciation to be a norm in our country and society. I want this appreciation to become common among our people. If an outstanding idea or effort is noticed, it should be appreciated. This is my primary goal.
Fortunately such outstanding ideas and efforts exist in every part of the country. In certain provinces, I found out to my surprise that a particular scholar had published a book in my own area of interest, but I had not even heard the title of the book and the name of the author although I read many books and know what has been published so far. This shows that we have many treasures that are hidden. We need to reveal these treasures. We need to become familiar with our outstanding figures. The people should know these things. This information and awareness is the first level of appreciating their efforts. Moreover, the second purpose would also be fulfilled and the second purpose behind arranging these meetings is to create a role model.
Today efforts are made in different societies to create role models in different areas. In fact certain policies are followed. For example, when you see for example that a degenerate androgynist suddenly becomes famous first in American media and then in the entire western media without having any extraordinary artistic talent, when you see that the biography and photos of his male and female appearance are published in high-circulation prestigious western magazines, you cannot think that it is an accident: it is pre-planned. These are attempts at creating role models in order to derail and corrupt generations. And Iran is not the only target of attacks. Seeing these things confirms what was published years ago as Zionist protocols and was translated into different languages in the world. One of the protocols said that generations of humanity should be led away from conventional human methods and trends and that they should suffer from moral degeneration. What is the goal? This requires a lot of debates and discussions. This has been one of the principles of those who promoted this corrupt and dangerous Zionist thought. They want to create role models: this might have been hard to believe during the early days after the thought was introduced, but it is becoming more believable over time. This is an extreme example, but the thought comes in different other forms.
We need to specify role models for our youth and young generation in different areas so that everybody has an appropriate role model to follow, including those who are interested in science, those who are interested in art, those who are interested in literature, those who are interested in history, those who are interested in practical work and those who are interested in agriculture, industry or technology. This is one the essential things that we must do and arranging such meetings will help us.
Another important point is that we should reveal the innate talent of our country and our nation: not to foreigners, but to ourselves. One of the things that should make us extremely conscious of our situation is that for decades they had promoted the idea that Iranians were incompetent, that they had to learn from others by imitating them. These things were common when I was young. Whenever something was mentioned, they said that it was impossible to build it in the country. Whenever they wanted to build a bridge over a street, they had to hire a foreign engineer. If they wanted to build a dam, many foreign companies, engineers and experts had to be invited: some of them would build the walls of the dam, some others would build the turbines, yet others would build the other parts. This was the prevalent idea even during the early years of the Revolution. I will never forget that one day they decided to finish a natural gas power plant, which had been left unfinished since before the Revolution. We told the officials in charge to finish the power plant. They came to me and said that it was impossible to do so. I was President at that time. They did not believe that they could do it. Well, today our engineers and our youth are building the most advanced kinds of power plants. Today we can even build nuclear power plants. This talent had not been discovered.
They worked on this issue for many years. Since around 150 years ago when western culture and manifestations of western civilization and technological progress gradually found their way into our country, the idea was gradually established in the minds of our people. It was declared and stressed that Iranians were incompetent. It was also shown in action that this was the case. They forgot that our history is full of scientific achievements. Our country was the pioneer among Islamic countries at a time when nothing was going on in the western world, at a time when westerners used to burn alive those who made a scientific discovery thinking that they were performing black magic, at a time when absolute scientific darkness had dominated Europe - and there are many things to say in this regard. These advances belong to the world of Islam, but Iran was at the forefront of Islamic countries in different scientific advances, in philosophy, in rational sciences, in religious studies, in Islamic jurisprudence and in hadith. The major portion of the books which were written on hadith during those times - both Shia and Sunni hadith - was written by Iranians: by Iranian writers, Iranian hadith experts, Iranian faqihs. Also, Iranians wrote books about natural sciences, medicine, pharmacy, engineering, astronomy and other sciences. This is our history, which is indicative of the existence of exceptional talent in this part of the world. Why would we forget these things? But we did. Today we want to show that they are wrong.
Of course, I have repeatedly said that Iranians are more talented than the global average. In the beginning, my comment might have appeared to be a slogan, but it was based on accurate information. Some people thought it was a slogan, but thankfully the truth is gradually being revealed.
Our speedy scientific progress, which was mentioned in this meeting, is a fact and I have said this repeatedly. The figure is based on international statistics. It is true that what we have currently achieved is less than what has been achieved in the world, but this is because of our historical backwardness. Our progress has been very fast, several times faster than the global average. If we continue at this speed or manage to increase our speed, we will definitely reach the boundaries of knowledge and we will definitely break through those boundaries and move forward. This will happen. Our youth should believe this. Today our youth come forward and speak. They make new comments and novel points. They present new suggestions with a good spirit. Prominent and great professors of science, art, calligraphy and other areas deliver speeches and they make novel comments. These things should be reflected so that the youth of our country start to develop faith in themselves.
Another point that I would like to discuss is that outstanding qualities of a society in intellectual and scientific areas must be at the service of human transcendence. Currently this is not the case in the world. Today neither science, nor art, nor other things are at the service of human transcendence. For example, cinema is one form of art and Hollywood is the peak of cinematic art in the world. How much do these artistic organizations of the world contribute to human ethics, spirituality and hope? What they do is the opposite. We cannot say they are making no contribution: their contribution is negative. That is to say, they work against ethical foundations, intellectual foundations and human transcendence. Today art is not at the service of human transcendence in the world. The same is true of science. Science is at the service of capitalism: it is at the service of those who accumulate wealth. Human knowledge is at the service of those who own big companies. They are the ones who start wars. They are the ones who kill people. They are the ones who commit massacres. Science is at the service of these people. Science is not at the service of the deprived people of Afghanistan. The kind of science that has made its way into Afghanistan is the warplanes that fly over Afghanistan and drop bombs on its people. The kind of science that made its way into Iraq was the chemical weapons that gave rise to the tragedy in Halabcheh. This is the contribution of science to these countries. The same is true of science in western countries as well. Yes, science has increased the wealth of a group of people, a minor portion of the western people. And that wealth has, in turn, caused science to make further progress. But science has turned into a means of imposing discrimination, upsetting social balance and pushing societies backward. We need to change this situation.
This is not the nature of science. The nature of science is divine. Science is a divine blessing. The same is true of art and artistic talent. All of these things are divine blessings. It is the free will of human beings that uses these blessings for the right or wrong purposes. The materialistic and Godless people of the industrial civilization have used these things to serve a non-divine cause. Pious people of the Islamic Republic and the Muslim world can put all these blessings at the service of spirituality. This is the goal we must aim for. This is the goal we must focus on. We must put outstanding qualities of our society at the service of spirituality for human beings.
I would like to make one last point as it is almost time for praying: fortunately we are witness to the existence of different kinds of genius and outstanding talent throughout the country. We need to appreciate this. This is one of the most important duties of our government officials. Today it was suggested that outstanding university professors should be brought together so that the country can benefit from them. This suggestion is very good. The same is true of our outstanding youth. The National Elite Foundation - which is thankfully making good efforts - must continue its efforts. We need to strengthen this innovative movement in our society, which is innovative in the real sense of the word. By Allah's favor, this will bring about good prospects for the country.
I am very pleased with today's meeting. I pray to God to protect all you dear brothers and sisters. I would also like to express my appreciation for the books and writings you dear people offered to me in this meeting. I am also grateful to the lady who gave her medal to me [reference to Maryam Hashemiforoud, a wushu champion from Kermanshah, who gave her gold medal to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution. She had won the medal in the 11th World Wushu Championships in Ankara, Turkey.] I hope all of you will benefit from the grace and blessings of God.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings