The following is the full text of the speech delivered on June 21, 2004 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with the officials of University Jihad.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
First, I am very happy to meet with this gathering of scholars, young outstanding personalities and the researchers who signify a bright future for the scientific environment of the country. You should be sure that if there had been enough time for each and every one of you to speak about the issues of jihad, knowledge, research and the tasks that you are involved with, I would have listened to you with complete willingness and I would have enjoyed it. I deeply thank Allah the Exalted for the existence of you dear brothers and sisters. The Holy Quran says, "If you are grateful, I will add more favors unto you" [The Holy Quran, 14: 7]. I hope that because of my heartfelt gratitude and thankfulness to God for the blessing of your existence, He will bestow His blessings on you and increase the quality of your work on a daily basis.
In this meeting, I will say a few things about University Jihad. Then, I will speak briefly about the issues of knowledge and research in the country and after that, I will touch on our current issues, as great uproar and fuss has been created in the world about Iran's nuclear issues.
As for University Jihad, I believe that the combination of "jihad" and "university" and the combination of jihad - which is an ideological and spiritual concept - and knowledge carries a message. This combination shows that we can have jihadi knowledge and knowledge-based jihad. This is what you are trying to do. Your knowledge is jihadi. It is accompanied by jihad and diligence. You do not beg knowledge from other people and you do not wait for such and such people to give knowledge to you as a gift. You seek knowledge in order to acquire it. This is jihadi knowledge which originates from hard work and diligence.
On the other hand, you engage in jihad. Jihad means fighting for the sake of a noble and holy goal. You should enter certain arenas in order to engage in jihad. One of these arenas is participation in military wars which are common in the world. Other arenas are: the arena of politics, the arena of knowledge and the arena of morality. In order to prove that our jihad is sincere, we should show that our moves are purposeful. We should show that the purpose of our moves is to remove certain obstacles. This is fighting and jihad means such fighting. When it is purposeful and when it has a divine goal, then it will become holy.
You are involved in a scientific battle. Obviously, what you are doing has certain arch enemies who do not want this scientific and research-oriented movement to be launched. Therefore, I believe that University Jihad is not only an organization. It is a culture, orientation and movement as well. The more we promote this culture in society and the more we strengthen it, the more we help the country move towards honor, dignity and real independence.
Fortunately, jihad has responded well to the expectations. One day, perhaps it used to be thought that jihad is a greenhouse movement which we have launched for the sake of simulation. Today, this greenhouse is turning the environment of society into a gulistan [a large and beautiful garden]. Not only has it not been satisfied with simulation, but it is also showering its blessings. The statistics that were presented in the meeting - of course, they had sent them to me before and I had reviewed them - are very meaningful. The fact that you are moving in the front lines of knowledge in some areas, that you are using it on the path of the scientific, industrial and technological progress of the country and that you are helping research to grow means that this is no longer a greenhouse, rather it is an open and fragrant arena that is developing. I am an advocate of this development and it should increase on a daily basis.
In the first report that the gentleman in the meeting presented, there was talk of producing, reproducing and cryopreserving stem cells. I have received many satisfying reports about this outstanding research work. It was pointed out in these reports that our researchers have produced insulin-productive cells for the first time in the world. Recently, I read in newspapers that they have tested and transplanted cardiac stem cells for heart diseases. All these achievements mean the flowing of divine blessings into society. Each of the other cases that the friends in the meeting referred to is a clear example of the blessings of University Jihad.
There were many efforts in the world to prove that knowledge has a secular nature and that it has nothing to do with values. They formulated many philosophies and held many discussions in order to introduce the concept of knowledge as one which is separate from values. This is exactly the opposite of what you have done in the present time. You speak about Construction Jihad. Jihad is a value. The truth of the issue is that knowledge and wisdom are a double-edged sword. They can be at the service of values and they can be at the service of animal needs and savagery. It depends on who manages knowledge and wisdom.
If the management of knowledge is in the hands of materialistic, power-hungry and domineering individuals, it will lead to the current situation in the world. That is to say, knowledge becomes a tool for developing colonialism, exploiting individuals, humiliating peoples, occupying countries and promoting decadence, sex and drugs.
In today's world, if knowledge did not exist, colonialism would not exist either. Thanks to their knowledge, the Europeans managed to colonize nations and make them fall behind for 100, 150, 200 years by creating discord among them. They managed to deprive them of their own material resources, suppress their human capabilities and slaughter the people in such countries. When knowledge is in the hands of those people who think of nothing except for the animal aspects of life, such things happen.
But, if knowledge is in the hands of righteous people, then it will render services and it will not cause harm. If those who produced nuclear energy for the first time had been virtuous and pious individuals, and if those who utilized it had been righteous people, the Hiroshima event would never have happened.
Even today, you can see that these people make use - as much as they can - of this energy in a destructive way. These powers used depleted uranium in their war against Iraq which was waged 10, 12 years ago. Also, they made use of it in the recent events and they used such weapons in other parts of the world which led to the infertility and destruction of crops and cattle: "His aim everywhere is to spread mischief through the earth and destroy crops and cattle. But Allah loves not mischief" [The Holy Quran: 2: 205].
Such events are parallel to this ayah of the Holy Quran. They caused the infertility of people and they destroyed lands. For many years - only God knows how long - the damaging effects of those poisonous and destructive radiations will continue to harm peoples and the future generations. If knowledge had been in the hands of righteous individuals, such things would not have happened and knowledge would have been at the service of humanity because it has such a capacity and it can achieve such a purpose.
Therefore, the effort to secularize knowledge and prove that knowledge cannot be accompanied by values is a very great sophistry and deception. Knowledge can be accompanied by values. Islamic spirituality is against animal needs, corruption and abuse of knowledge, not against knowledge, technology and research. Spirituality can be accompanied by knowledge and knowledge and research can move in the direction of spirituality.
The name of your organization is University Jihad. You should rely on this name. You should act according to the requirements of this name and you should really engage in jihad. When jihad - that is to say, the kind of effort which has a purpose and which is made for the sake of God - exists, then it will undoubtedly be followed by success. You should be certain that the path towards the boundaries of advanced knowledge in all areas will not be taken except with the spirit of independence, reliance on God, diligence and faith. We should take this path quickly, we should find shortcuts and we should take them. We should cross the boundaries of knowledge and we should create new ones. This is possible because Iran is the land of knowledge and you have shown that it is possible to do so.
Many doors of these sciences have been closed to countries like ours and those countries which are not advanced in these sciences. They only share these sciences with others when they are old and obsolete and when they are no longer new. This is true in all fields of knowledge and the same is true of humanities. On that day, I said to the friends who are active in the area of economics and different areas of management that some people follow those ideas which have become obsolete.
The best ideas of westerners have entered the market, they have been put into practice and they are working on them. This is while some people inside the country - those who are fascinated with western ideas - have just begun to bring up their old ideas. Some of these people say that we should not worship Allah the Exalted and religion, but they themselves worship the west, Europe and America. Such people do not like to worship God, but they love and cherish the idea of worshiping western capitalism and those powerful political organizations which are dependent on capitalism.
University Jihad is a revolutionary organization. You should remain revolutionary as well. This is my advice to you and I place great emphasis on it. Revolutionary movement is not what some vicious individuals and mercenary writers say. Such individuals say that revolution means chaos, confusion, absurdity and tumult. This is not the case at all. Revolutionary discipline is the best and the strongest discipline. The indiscipline that was witnessed in the beginning of the Revolution resulted from the existence of a wrong, tilted and derelict structure. This structure should be destroyed and a new one should replace it. That indiscipline was related to the beginning of the Revolution, but revolution in general does not mean chaos. Revolution is a constant process. It means construction, growth and blossoming. Are growth and blossoming possible without discipline, law and order? The best tasks - in the area of war, construction, knowledge and culture - were carried out by those who enjoyed a revolutionary spirit. Therefore, you should remain revolutionary. "Revolutionary spirit" means refusal to become a prisoner of self-imposed limits and to be satisfied with little. It means pursuing goals with hope and reaching them with motivation, enthusiasm, persistence and diligence. Revolution and revolutionary movement mean this.
On the issue of science and research, I should say that there are three main factors which oppressive powers in the system of global arrogance highlight in order to preserve the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed: Cultural domination, economic domination and scientific domination. The requirement for preserving this relationship is that they do not want to allow the oppressed or the side which has been dominated to achieve independence, self-confidence and progress in these three areas: the cultural area - including faith, belief, culture in its specific sense, values, goals and orientations - the economic area and the scientific area.
Dominated countries have never had a thriving economy. They may have enjoyed a superficial development, as is witnessed in some dominated countries in the present time. But their economic structure is inefficient. That is to say, if they close a faucet on them and if they block or confiscate one of their bank accounts, everything will collapse. You witnessed that an investor managed to bankrupt a number of countries in Southeast Asia in the course of two, three months. These were two, three countries that enjoyed a relatively good economy.
In those days, the head of one of these countries travelled to Iran on a certain occasion and he met with me. He said, "Suffice it to say that we became completely poor overnight". An American or Jewish investor ruined everything like a piece of thread that they pull as a result of which a toy structure collapses. He acted like this. The Americans injected 50, 60 billion dollars into countries where they deemed it necessary - 50 to one and 30 to another - but they do not inject their money into countries where they do not need it. This way, they annihilate these countries. Of course, such injecting means building that toy structure in a different way. In any case, they do not allow the economy of such countries to thrive.
The first thing that colonizers did to the culture of colonized countries - this method has been common since the past - was that they destroyed their culture, language, values, traditions and faith by humiliating, bullying and exerting pressures on them and sometimes by using force and pulling out their eyes. We have had such cases in history. This way, they did not allow them to speak their own languages so that they would speak the imported language. When the English came to the Indian subcontinent, they did not allow Farsi - which was the common language in the court - to be spoken. With the power of bullets and pressures, they said, "You do not have the right to speak Farsi". They eliminated Farsi and replaced it with English. In the dark era of Pahlavi too, they gradually took away faith, and religious and public beliefs - which stimulated society - and they eliminated their religious zeal.
One of the things that cannot grow in colonized countries and that is seriously suppressed is knowledge. This is because they know knowledge is power. Westerners themselves achieved power with knowledge. This was a historical phenomenon. Knowledge was once in the hands of easterners and it was once in the hands of westerners. There was a time when westerners were completely ignorant. The Middle Ages - they themselves call this era "the Middle Ages" - was an era when knowledge was blossoming in this part of the world. But as soon as they acquired knowledge, they used it as a tool for gaining power, accumulating wealth, developing political domination, looting the wealth of other nations and creating new sources of wealth for themselves. And they used these sources of wealth to increase and develop their own knowledge.
They know how effective knowledge is in giving power to a people and a country. Therefore, if they want the system which is based on domination - that is to say, the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed - to be preserved and to dominate the world, they should prevent the side which likes to be oppressed from acquiring knowledge. This is a strategy which does not fail. In the present time too, they behave in the same way. Therefore, we should engage in jihad in order to acquire knowledge. We should carry out research and we should work on this.
Before the Revolution, we were kept away from knowledge for many years. One specific era was the era of complete slumber and ignorance. And when awakening and awareness emerged among the people in a natural way, they deceived them. They did not allow knowledge to enter the country in the real sense of the word. They busied the people with trivial things and they closed the path of research. They did not cultivate and develop talents at all. When the Revolution came, it removed limitations and raised scientific self-awareness. But this movement will get nowhere without management, action, determination and willpower. All tasks, including scientific and research tasks, require well-organized management. Therefore, this should be done. Of course, part of this task is related to executive officials, part of it is the responsibility of universities and part of it is the responsibility of scientific centers. As members of University Jihad, you are one of the best centers that can attend to this matter and show a sense of responsibility. Of course, you are doing so. Fortunately, I can see that your progress in scientific work has been very good and you should continue it.
The honorable head of University Jihad suggested that the issue of producing knowledge and pursuing the software movement - this is a slogan that we brought up - should be managed by University Jihad. This is a new idea to me, but it can be studied. You should attach great significance to your scientific work. Of course, cultural work enjoys as much significance. Working on faith and those tasks which strengthen courage and which increase dignity and awareness enjoy as much significance as scientific work. Islamic faith covers all these concepts. This issue requires a separate discussion. Of course you are attending to it, which is very good.
As for the recent issue, the enemies of the Islamic Republic - headed by the United States of America which is the most vicious one - have created uproar about the nuclear issue and they have used it as a means for exerting pressures on the Islamic Republic. The situation is the same as the battles of Badr, Khaybar and Hunayn. They bear a deep grudge resulting from the victory of the Islamic Revolution and the expulsion of America from the country. They are using the nuclear issue to somehow make up for those defeats. They have opened their dirty mouths against the people of Iran and said whatever they wanted. Those people who are notorious in the world for deception, lying and fraud have accused the Islamic Republic of deception and lying. Those whose malevolence and enmity against the human race is brighter than daylight - everyone is witnessing this malevolence and enmity on different scenes - have accused the Islamic Republic of violating human rights and they themselves appear on the scene as advocates of human rights!
Notorious America - whose prisons exist throughout the world including in Iraq and Afghanistan - and the group of people who are carrying the flag of ruling over the world and who are the embodiment of disaster, opposition to people's rights, and complete savagery claim that they are advocates of human rights! A few days ago, it was said in the news that America has 20 prisons like Abu Ghraib prison. Notice how embarrassing and humiliating it is for human beings to witness that such savages and blood-sucking and marauding wolves claim to be supporters of human rights. This is while these savages have opened their mouths against the Islamic Republic. They are ranting and raving all the time and they have said whatever came out of their mouths.
They are doing two things at the same time: on the one hand, they talk nonsense by saying that the Islamic Republic is building an atomic bomb - they say that the Islamic Republic is very close to building an atomic bomb and if it decides to build one today, it can build it in the course of a few months or two years - and on the other hand, they say in a different way that achieving the nuclear technology is of no use and that we should stop pursuing it. Their little cohorts and docile servants inside the country are pursuing the same tasks and writing the same things. These mercenary writers - who have always existed in the country, unfortunately - use their writings and art exactly at the service of the enemies' goals. These mean, despicable and of course pretentious flatterers say in different ways, "Do not look for nuclear technology and if you really want it, you should go and kiss the America's feet so that you can achieve it". The Americans say this and these people reflect and repeat it inside the country.
They pretend that there is no difference between nuclear technology and nuclear weapons. But this is not the truth of the matter. These two things are distinct. Building a nuclear weapon requires enriched uranium which is higher than 90 percent. Building such a weapon requires a complex technology. Only those people who are highly motivated pursue it. We do not have such a motivation. We have not pursued it until today and we do not intent to do so in the future. We do not need a nuclear bomb.
If we have defeated our enemies until today, we have not done so with a nuclear bomb. It is 25 years now that the people of Iran have been defeating America. Is it not the case? How has America been defeated throughout the past 25 years? Did we defeat America with a nuclear bomb or with our determination, willpower, awareness and unity? We have understood what we want. We have understood what we are after. We have identified the path, we have moved forward and we have not been afraid of this or that threat. This is how we have defeated them. So, we did not defeat them with a nuclear bomb. Did the former Soviet Union not have a nuclear bomb? Probably, the former Soviet Union had more nuclear bombs than America had, but was it not defeated? Victory and defeat on the main scenes of the world are not dependent on such things.
Today, we have presented a model to the world of Islam: the model of religious democracy and the model of independence and national dignity. It is 25 years now that the world of Islam has become united against America. Today, peoples chant the slogan of "Death to America". Who introduced the slogan of "Death to America"? Did anyone other than the Islamic Republic and the people of Iran chant this slogan? Today, everyone is chanting it. We did not move forward with an atomic bomb. Victory in great, historical and permanent scenes is not achieved with these weapons. Does the Zionist regime not have a nuclear bomb in the present time? According to the reports, there are 200 or perhaps 300 nuclear warheads in the stores of the Zionist regime. Despite this, it is many years now that the Zionist regime has been desperate against the opposite side that does not have any weapons. They only have stones. Of course, their stones are accompanied by determination and faith.
Our issue is not the issue of a nuclear bomb. What do we want a nuclear bomb for? When a nuclear bomb is used, those who are killed are not only enemies but also friends. This is against our belief. This is against our method and principles. The kind of nuclear bomb that burns the innocent and the guilty, the good and the bad, and the wet and the dry is not the Islamic Republic's job.
But developing nuclear technology and the amount that we want to enrich is a different issue. The only common point that exists between these two different matters is the existence of uranium in both of them. The former requires 90-percent uranium and the complex technology of building weapons and the latter requires three, four-percent uranium for the fuel of a nuclear power plant such as ours in Bushehr. There is a world of difference between three, four-percent enriched uranium and uranium that is higher than 90 percent. The former is something which is free for everyone according to international regulations. There is nothing wrong with it. If all countries need uranium - and even if they do not need it - they can produce three, four-percent uranium. There is also an international treaty which everyone agrees with. We too have agreed with it and there is nothing wrong with it in terms of international regulations.
If we do not have this technology, this means that when Bushehr's nuclear reactor is built, we will have to knock on the doors of this and that country and ask them to give us fuel for it. If one day a country decides not to give us fuel for any reason - for political and international reasons or because of the relations that exist between the two sides - this means that we no longer have a power plant. This is what they want. They want you to have a heater, but at the same time, they want the oil necessary to run it to be in their hands. That is to say, they want to increase, not decrease, our dependence by letting us have a nuclear reactor.
What has made the Americans create uproar against Iran and what has made them nervous is that they see Iran has built a nuclear power plant, it can generate nuclear electricity and it can produce the necessary fuel inside the country. This is their first concern. Once, I said that if oil belonged to them and we needed their oil, they would sell it to us at the price of their parents [at an exorbitant price]. They would not sell it to us at - for example - 20, 30, 35 dollars. This price is - in fact - for free, but it is the price that we are selling it for. Despite this, oil-rich countries turn their non-renewable resource into little money. They want to make the same deal on the issue of our nuclear fuel. That is to say, they want to do something to make us need them even if we have a nuclear power plant.
The second reason why westerners are concerned and unhappy is that our knowledge has blossomed and achieved growth inside the country. They are concerned because it is domestic. Of course, this does not mean that we have invented the machines and tools for our nuclear technology, rather it means that we did not knock on their doors to achieve this technology. Our young researchers - youth like you - and hundreds of geniuses and talented scholars have managed to run this technology and to produce results on their own. They managed to develop knowledge among themselves and to achieve nuclear technology. This way, they did not need to knock on others' doors. This is one of their concerns. Why are they concerned about this? It is because they see that this is exactly the opposite of arrogant philosophy on the basis of which the countries that want to be under domination should not achieve independence in science and technology. Such countries should reach out their hands to beg and they should be in need of westerners. They know that if the country and the people of Iran manage to reach the peak of technology, their genuine claim, which is the independence of the Islamic Ummah and the dignity of Islam, will be cherished - more than before - among Muslims and Islamic societies and Muslims will accept it more willingly. They are concerned about this and as a result, they create uproar. Therefore, the truth of the matter is not what they are saying.
Our officials in charge of foreign affairs have said what they should have in this regard. What Mr. President, the officials in charge of nuclear project and the officials of foreign affairs have said in this regard is correct. They have responded to others' prattling and greed. I do not want to say anything in this regard. I only want to clarify the truth of the matter for the people of Iran. The people of Iran do not want to accept such cruel oppression. They express their concerns by saying, "By achieving nuclear technology, you may be able to build a nuclear weapon". If the Europeans and others speak the truth and if they are really concerned about the possibility of a nuclear weapon, we say to them that we are not after such weapons. We say to them that they should be sure that we are not after building a nuclear weapon for the reasons that I explained.
But if they are unhappy that the people of Iran have achieved this glorious and outstanding technology - which belongs to themselves and which is domestic - and if they want to stop it, I say again to them that they should be sure the people of Iran will not give in to their demands. Today, what Iran's researchers, scientists and administration are doing in the area of nuclear technology is their great responsibility. This task is for the sake of preventing our country from becoming dependent on foreigners. It is for the sake of preserving national independence because our country needs it.
Babblers and prattlers should not try to promote the idea that there is no need for Iran to pursue this technology. The people of Iran need this technology. Today, advanced countries in the world generate the most electricity or a considerable amount of it from their nuclear power plants, not from oil which is a pollutant, which is exhaustible and which can be used for things more valuable than fuel. Such people - who want to deprive oil-rich peoples of this blessing - say, "You have oil. What do you need nuclear energy for?" Should we exhaust our oil and then reach out our hands to beg you? Are nations destined to need you forever? They say that we should consume oil and when our hands are empty of it, we should go and knock on their door. Our people do not want to accept this.
We should move towards nuclear technology with the purpose of generating electricity. This is what our country needs and we should take this path, otherwise our backwardness during the past one, two centuries will continue to increase. If this happens, our people will fall behind for another century. Therefore, pursuing this task is a national responsibility. Now that we are pursuing it, we should make it domestic because if we do not do so, the same dependence and need will linger on. When we want to be independent and do the job on our own, there will, of course, be pressures. We should resist these pressures. Those who unwittingly speak against this do not understand and are not aware that they are betraying the people of Iran and that they are saying the same things that America wants to be said. Such people say, "What do we want it for? Do we need it at all? Let us forget about it".
Well, it is clear that the Americans do not like us to produce anything. They even want us to take our food from them provided that we have money. If we do not have money and the people die of hunger, they do not care at all. This is because they kill people in thousands and they do not care if thousands and millions of people die. Today, our national responsibility is to pursue this technology, similar technologies and whatever helps us get close to the peak of knowledge. Today, pursuing such technologies is an obligation. It is a responsibility for those who have the capability to do so because they can help the people to achieve dignity and they can save them from dependence.
I ask Allah the Exalted to make all of you successful. I hope that those individuals who are making efforts on the path of the scientific independence of the country will be rewarded by Allah the Exalted. I hope that God will bestow success on them and that the people of Iran will succeed in developing this scientific and research-based movement - which their youth have begun today - on a daily basis.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings