The following is the full text of the speech delivered on October 7, 2013 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with the narrator, author and those involved in preparing the book "The Army of the Good".
I hope that God will reward you dear brothers who made many efforts during the Sacred Defense Era and I hope that He will increase your dignity, on a daily basis, in this world and in the hereafter. I hope that He will reward Mr. Rezayee, who narrated this book, and Mrs. Sepehri who wrote this book. Both the narration and the writing are very good and outstanding. This lady had written "Nur al-Din, Son of Iran" before this book. These books are really valuable. I thank God when I see such outstanding phenomena related to Revolution literature. It is really necessary to thank God for such phenomena.
Each and every event during the Sacred Defense Era is outstanding. The more deeply and carefully one looks at such events and the more one obtains information about them, the clearer the greatness of this astonishing phenomenon and this important eight-year event becomes. At that time, when commanders reported to us about different events and when we were informed about different issues, we thought that we knew everything. However, when we read such books, it becomes clear that we knew very little about the great ocean of activities, and jihadi efforts during the Sacred Defense Era. These phenomena are really excellent.
Well, we had read a number of similar books before. The book "The Army of the Good", which is written by this lady and which is about the Ashura Army, is a very good book. One of the reasons why it is particularly significant is that it is about military intelligence groups and divers. It is significant because the people who are involved in our intelligence services withhold information about such events. They observe the principle of "We are ordered not to say anything". Therefore, much of the information that they have has been withheld during these years. Such information should be disclosed. The event of the divers is really an astonishing and outstanding event and it has been properly portrayed in this book.
One of the greatest skills of writers - that is to say, the people who write narratives whether novelists, short story writers or biographers - and one of the most important parts of their work is that they should portray sensitive moments. When we look at a number of books, we see that they narrate a long story, but when it comes to sensitive moments in the life of one of the characters of this story and when it reaches an important event in this character's life, the author does not delineate these parts because he or she cannot portray them. This is like drawing a dotted line. These authors too draw a dotted line and continue with the rest of the story.
One of the positive characteristics of these good and outstanding writings and biographies - thankfully, it is several years now that I am reading these biographies and I am very interested in them - is that they have managed to portray, delineate and expand on these sensitive moments. There are certain parts which cannot be understood except with a vivid and dramatic portrayal of details. If somebody can expand on these things in their writings, this is really a great art because it conveys the mood of the moment to the reader from any nationality. That is to say, these writings are very valuable even if they are translated into different languages because they can convey the message, because the expression of ideas and feelings - by both the narrator and the author - is very artistic and because events are delineated in a very skillful way.
Well, there are not a few sensitive moments in such books, particularly the event of the divers and the portrayal of what they did in "The Army of the Good". Another example is the poem about divers composed by Hajj Sammad [who is a character in this book]. These books are profoundly moving for those who understand such concepts. The narrator has delineated these events very well and Hajj Asghar Agha, who was a panegyrist from Zanjan, recited this poem very beautifully: "Oh tired soldiers in the battlefield, oh tired youth, oh you who have lain next to Arvand [River] while you are rolling in your blood" [Speaking in Azeri].
These poems are excellent. The book is very good as well. What I would like to recommend is that everyone - including you, who experienced those events with your bodies and souls and who witnessed and felt each moment of those difficult times, and other people - you should try not to let these events be consigned to oblivion. Since the first moment that the Sacred Defense Era started - which led to the creation of that great epic by the warm breath of our magnanimous Imam and the presence of our enthusiastic youth in the arena of war - all satanic hands were prepared to prevent the beauties and the magnificence of this event from being reflected. They did their best to prevent the greatness of this event from being reflected.
People cannot understand many events unless they witness them up close, feel them or - at least - become familiar with them through an artistic work. After the Sacred Defense Era, these satanic hands did the same things. During the years after the war - during the 25 years after the end of the war - many people tried to prevent these epics from being revived. You should do the opposite. You, who were present in the war, should speak about those events.
You should let your writings strengthen one another. In the book "Nur al-Din, Son of Iran" I saw the name of Mr. Mahdi Gholi Rezayee. In the chapter on divers, he has been described as an experienced veteran in the war. These things completely support one another. That is to say, these writings clarify the different dimensions of the events about the war. These details should be expressed in writing as much as possible and they should be reflected in a very genuine and honest way, without deleting anything or adding unnecessary details and without any exaggeration. These events do not need exaggeration. They enjoy such greatness that when the story is narrated, their magnificence shows itself. There should not be any exaggeration, nor should any valuable detail be removed. All important and valuable details should be expressed because all of them are effective.
I recommend that the honorable gentlemen in charge of publication and artistic affairs appreciate the value of these writings. You should appreciate the value of these phenomena and these products of the history of the Revolution. These writings should be properly appreciated and they should be circulated among the people. Our youth have neither seen the war nor read a proper narrative about it. These books are proper narratives. You should do your best to make such books accessible to youth so that they begin to know the war and understand what it was, what happened at that time, what the Islamic Republic is and who the people of Iran are. You should do this so that they do not underestimate the great endurance of the people of Iran in facing great tests.
One of the things which brings nations under the domination of other people is lack of knowledge about one's strong points. Nations are dominated by other people when they do not know what values, capabilities and strong points exist in them. Our youth should understand what the war was and what the youth at that time did without having the necessary equipment and without the preparation which is necessary for such things.
Such books should be translated. Of course, I believe that these books should be translated by people whose mother tongue and the language into which the book is going to be translated into are one. Without doing this, it is not possible to translate these books. The translator should be a writer as well and his or her mother tongue should be the same as the language into which the book is going to be translated into. For example, you can find people whose mother tongue or the language which they learned during their childhood - although it may not be their mother tongue - is English. If they have an artistic talent and if they are good at writing, it is worth translating such books no matter how much time and energy they put into it.
Of course, they should publish their translations. One of the things which arrogant governments do is that they do not let what you have translated become accessible to the readers. This is contrary to what we do. We are very broad-minded in this regard and we believe that every piece of writing should be accessible to everyone. But they are very biased and strict in this regard. However, you should find a way to do this. Therefore, translation is very important.
Anyway, I hope that - by Allah's favor - all of you will be successful. Today, I became very happy to meet you. Also, I became very happy to meet Mr. Mahdi Gholi Rezayee and - once more - Mr. Nur al-Din. I hope that, by Allah's favor, all of you will be successful. By Allah's favor, all of you will remain steadfast soldiers of the Revolution forever. I hope that God will bestow success on Mrs. Sepehri who made genuine efforts. Her work is really valuable. You Mrs. Sepehri should know that what you did - including the two books that you have written - is the manifestation of jihad in the way of God because the enemies of this Revolution and the enemies of the path of God are trying to prevent people from seeing this clear path, but you did the opposite of what they do. Therefore, this is jihad in the way of God.
I hope that God will accept your work and purify the intentions of all of us. I hope that He will make our work, our thoughts, our words and our actions serve Him and His path.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings