In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
First of all, I would like to welcome the honorable gentlemen in the meeting and I thank you for the two days that you spent discussing important matters among yourselves. Also, I would like to congratulate you on these very important days of the auspicious month of Sha’ban which is, in fact, a passage to the banqueting hall of the blessed month of Ramadan. I hope that by Allah’s favor, we can get through this passage in a way that we deserve entering the banqueting hall of the month of Ramadan.
The gentlemen in the meeting raised noteworthy points. On the basis of the comprehensive and complete report that Mr. Amini delivered about the meetings, important matters have been discussed. First, I will attend to this issue and after that, I will discuss two, three short issues.
Many of the concerns that the gentlemen in the meeting expressed in their pre-edict speeches are the main concerns of the Islamic Republic. Perhaps, officials in charge have made certain efforts for all or most of these concerns. However, the existence of some problems deems it necessary that such concerns exist in our minds. But the efforts made by officials and by those who have the capability to solve these problems should not undergo any change and they should continue working hard and pursuing these problems because all these problems can be solved with determination, acumen, planning and action. Of course, to be fair, many measures have been adopted until now.
In the beginning, the Islamic Republic was an unattainable dream. To some people, it looked like an Islamic government, but it was considered to be like a dream, and an unattainable desire. Gradually, it turned into social faith with diligence and endeavor. Society, our outstanding personalities and the masses of our people throughout this great country believed in this principle and basis and this turned into faith and a demand. After it turned into some kind of faith, it turned into a practical plan – one that could be implemented – in the shade of effort and diligence. And then it was followed by the Revolution, the moves in the beginning of the victory of the Revolution, and the Constitution. And later on, it turned into a real model.
In the present time, the Islamic Republic is a model, a true reality and a tangible entity. Despite lack of belief, it is a reality. The influence of this real role model in the people’s attention to Islam and in implementing Islam is more than thousands of books and speeches. Today, in the world of Islam and among outstanding personalities and the youth of the world of Islam, this is a practical, implemented and tangible prescription. It is not the case that they theorize, philosophize and convince others that such a thing has happened. This is not the case. This has really happened. A system has been created on the basis of Islamic principles, rules and values and it has been put into practice in the present time.
Today, this system is showing itself outside the country and it has become a prescription and model for the whole world - for both the world of Islam and, to a lesser degree, for non-Islamic countries. What the bullying and vicious enemies of Islam and the Islamic Republic are afraid of is the fact that this system has become a prescription and a model. They speak about missiles, atomic bombs and the like, but the truth of the matter is that they are not intimidated by missiles, atomic bombs, the fuel cycle and nuclear enrichment, rather they are afraid that this model is imposing itself on the mentality and beliefs of the world of Islam on a daily basis and that this mentality is cherishing this reality.
They used to say that the Islamic Republic would be destroyed soon and that it would not be able to survive. They used to say that its capabilities would begin to sap in scientific, economic and other areas, but later on, they saw that this was not the case.
We have made progress in terms of science and construction and what has been accomplished in our country in different areas can really be a model. Many tasks have been carried out in many areas including in the area of promoting religion, achieving growth, developing and promoting knowledge, cultivating talents, building the infrastructures that are necessary for the management of the country and for public welfare and in different other areas. In the area of culture and morality – the gentlemen in the meeting are rightfully concerned that certain falls have occurred – you can witness astonishing growths as well. Today, a young, research-oriented, knowledgeable, scholarly and scientifically diligent generation has emerged in both universities and in Islamic seminaries and they have spread throughout the country. These are the truths and the facts. This shows that from the beginning, this organism was survivable, stable, expandable and able to grow roots. The world is witnessing this.
Today, This Islamic Republic has stood up against global arrogance. As politicians put it, today, the Islamic Republic is the opposition against global arrogance. The only place that has vigorously stood up against global arrogance that is based on the dichotomy of the oppressor and the oppressed – there is no third party – is the Islamic Republic. Other countries might sometimes speak and show some kind of resistance, but they have not really stood up against this system of global arrogance.
We censure the current satanic system in the world by presenting a correct system which is based on rationality and on the people’s will. This system is one that is reliant on justice in the relationship that all individuals in the world have with one another, not only the relationship that the people inside our country have. This is why all pharaohs have formed a coalition against us. Notice which great and small pharaoh and which important and unimportant shaitan did not oppose and confront the Islamic Republic. But we have passed through different stages and today, you can witness that the Islamic Republic has stood firm against them. The Islamic Republic is showing that one can stand. If we can collect ourselves to some extent – I will enlarge on this matter later on – and if we work better, think more, act more vigorously and show stronger determination, we can eliminate and solve many of the problems and extravagant courses of action that we witness around us.
The second point is that in the Islamic Republic, our goals, principles and values are divine, but our means, methods and individuals are material and worldly. It is not sidiqqin, prophets, infallible Imams (a.s.) and angels who are supposed to implement these goals in our society, rather it is humans and ordinary people who should act on and implement those high and lofty goals. Therefore, the possibility to make mistakes and to be vulnerable exists everywhere. Of course, it is because of these very mistakes that vulnerabilities emerge. Therefore, a major responsibility of all officials in different areas is that they should constantly supervise themselves, identify and correct their mistakes and learn a lesson from their past mistakes. All of us are responsible for this. We should learn a lesson from the mistakes that we and other individuals have made and we should identify and eliminate our mistakes and errors with precision and persistence.
As for goals and principles, our standard should be to “Continue then in the right way as you are commanded, as also he who has turned to Allah with you” [The Holy Quran, 11: 112]. Violating principles and values is not acceptable in any way. Our goals are divine goals. Therefore, having any doubt and suspicion about and returning from them is not acceptable at all. In our methods, perfection, reform, change and elimination of mistakes should be among our permanent tasks and plans. We should see which of our methods are wrong even if we have gotten used to them. Then, we should change and correct them. We should take care not to confuse these concepts with one another. In the area of goals, we say that we should resist. We should not mistake goals for methods. It is not necessary to show resistance in methods. Showing resistance is necessary for goals. In methods, there is trial and error. Of course, we should benefit from experience so that our experiments turn out to be successful and so that we do not have to try things all the time and make mistakes one after another. However, we should stand firm in the area of goals and we should not take one step back.
Of course, deviation from both is wrong. Some people tamper with goals in the name of innovation and reform. They revise goals, but this is not reform, rather this is a return from one’s path, a step backward and an act of retrogression. Today, if we tamper with the lofty goals of the Islamic Revolution – including in cultural, economic, governmental and political areas – if we change them to what the world – the material and arrogant world, the one that is under the domination of Shaitan – demands from us, this is a return to the past. In the past – during the time of taghut – the same material goals were dominant, but they used to be achieved with very corrupt, indecent and dependent means. We should not accept such retrogression. Our goals are divine goals. Our government is the government of Allah, monotheism and movement towards a real religious society and the authority of divine rules. Of course, on the other hand, we should not suffer from a reactionary attitude in the name of steadfastness and strength and we should not persist in using the same old methods that have turned out to be wrong.
I agree a hundred percent with the slogan of reform: reform in methods and in procedures, and resistance about goals and principles. Some people might want to tamper with principles in the name of reform and this is what westerners have wanted. You have witnessed that in recent years, they have been constantly stressing “reform” in Iran in their media and global propaganda. If we had a shortcoming in the economic area and if we were inexperienced in the cultural and promotional area, they did not want us to correct them, rather they wanted us to revise our principles and the authority of sharia and the authority of Allah. This is the kind of reform that we have always witnessed when arrogance wants to further its goals in Iran.
Even when Reza Khan came, he came in the name of reform. He said, “I want to reform.” If we tamper with principles and revise our goals, this is not reform, rather it is corruption. Reform means that by preserving our lofty goals and by announcing them in an outspoken manner, we revise our methods and see what we have not done that we should have and what we did that we should not have. We should show no fear in announcing our goals, values and principles. Today, we are a big government and power which is backed by a nation. This is the place to express the truth about Islamic principles and the authority of Allah. This is the place where we should express the truth.
As a person who has been familiar – up close – with the issues and affairs of the country from the beginning of the Revolution until today, I say that our achievements in all areas have been made as a result of resistance and steadfastness on the basis of values. Wherever we showed resistance, persisted in our principles and did not abandon them and wherever we did not show fear in the face of threats, we made progress.
This resistance and steadfastness is the most important tool that we can use to achieve our goals. And of course, we should preserve our revolutionary courage as well. A revolution that moves back and shows fear in the face of its enemies is neither respected by friends nor by enemies. No one shows mercy on a cowardly and weak nation. They disrespect and damage the reputation of a revolution and movement that shows weakness in the face of its enemies. This is the first thing that they do to it. Then, they destroy, sweep away and annihilate it.
The last point is that the legitimacy of all of us depends on carrying our responsibilities and our efficiency in doing so. I want to stress that we should place great emphasis on the efficiency and competence of officials on the basis of the rules and regulations that have been specified in sharia and in the Constitution. Whenever efficiency does not exist, legitimacy will disappear. When we specified certain qualifications - in the Constitution - for the Leader, the president, the members of the Majlis and ministers and when we said that the condition for them to be able to carry out these responsibilities is having these qualifications, this is the criterion for the legitimacy to undertake these responsibilities and to enjoy the power that the law and our people have given us. In other words, this Wilayat edict – with all its dimensions and branches – hangs on these qualifications, not on individuals. As long as these qualifications are preserved and as long as they exist, this legitimacy will exist as well.
However, when these qualifications disappear in us – whether in the Leader or in other officials in different divisions – that legitimacy will disappear as well. We should be after efficiency. Anyone who has undertaken these responsibilities – from top to bottom – should be able to carry out, to a reasonable extent, what they have undertaken. We do not and should not expect to witness a miracle and an extraordinary feat, but we should expect to witness effort, one in which there is a sign of success.
The responsibility of all of us is to administer justice, to cultivate the people, to help them achieve worldly and otherworldly progress, to make the country achieve perfection and to liberate it from the deprivation that has been imposed on it by the government of taghuts and by foreigners in the course of tens of years. Many of the deprivations that exist in the country – whose signs you can see today in different corners of the country – originate from the long public movement that was launched by the government of taghuts, by oppressors and tyrants and by those who had power over the people.
Naturally, this has certain consequences whose resolution is difficult, but possible. After the passage of 25 years, when I witness the condition of the country and the condition of the people, my belief in the capability of the Islamic government to build a neat, growing and blossoming society – in all areas – is still increasing on a daily basis. And I believe that with the thought and idea that has been embodied and envisaged in the framework of the Constitution, we can help the country to achieve welfare and progress. But the condition is that we preserve our efficiency and the efficiency of our officials in all elections, vetting procedures and appointments.
In this holy month, I ask Allah the Exalted to bestow on us the opportunity to appreciate the value of this month. This has been reflected on in this salawat: “This is a month of Sha’ban that you have imbued with Your mercy and satisfaction” – by Allah’s favor, this month will be a month of mercy and divine satisfaction – and “The Messenger of God (God’s greetings be upon him and his household) used to fast and keep a vigil in this month in order to respect it and show his humility before You.” The way to appreciate the value of this month is to get ourselves and our hearts and souls close to the lofty goals of the Islamic Republic, to benefit from this month so that we can show humility, say dhikr and attract our hearts towards God, to ask Allah the Exalted to help us, and to rely on Him so that He will help us in all circumstances, God willing. I hope that by Allah’s favor, all the gentlemen in the meeting will benefit from the pure prayers of the Imam of the Age (a.s.).
Greetings be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings