In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master and Prophet, Ab-al-Qassem Al-Mustafa Muhammad, upon his pure and immaculate household, upon his chosen companions and upon those who follow them until the Day of Judgment
I would like to congratulate all you honorable participants, dear guests, the ambassadors of Islamic countries who are present in this meeting, the esteemed guests of Unity Week, all the people of Iran, the entire Islamic Ummah and all liberated individuals in the world on the occasion of the auspicious and blessed birthday anniversary of the Holy Prophet of Islam and also the blissful birthday anniversary of that Hazrat's descendent– Hazrat Ja'far ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq (greetings be upon him and his forefathers).
I hope that this day and these birthday anniversaries will help all of us gain a new understanding about the responsibility and path which are ahead of us and which we should fulfil by the blessing of the Prophet’s birthday.
The auspicious existence of the Holy Prophet was mercy. It was mercy for all the worlds. This mercy is bestowed upon the followers of that great personality and those who accept his path and his guidance. They will benefit from divine mercy. God says, "That mercy I shall ordain for those who do right, and practice regular charity, and those who believe in Our signs. Those who follow the messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own scriptures - in the Torah and the Evangel" [The Holy Quran: 7: 156-157].
Those who obey that great personality, follow his lead and accept his guidance will benefit from divine mercy. This is a divine promise which is irrevocable. The world of Islam and the Islamic Ummah have gone through many peaks and valleys, but they will benefit from worldly and otherworldly mercy only when they follow the Holy Prophet: "So it is those who believe in him, honor him, help him, and follow the light which is sent down with him - it is they who will prosper" [The Holy Quran, 7: 157]. Those who follow the Holy Prophet's path will benefit from divine mercy.
The Holy Prophet brought the masses of people purity. He brought them salvation from shackles. What the Holy Prophet presented to humanity did not include and exclude a specific group of people. It belonged to the entire humanity. Those who follow and obey him benefit from this. The Holy Prophet helps people break the shackles which are tied around their necks, their hands and their feet: the shackles which prevent them from moving forward and from flying, which make them drift away from spirituality and which create a bitter life for humans.
What are these shackles? They are captivity at the hands of superpowers' oppression, arrogance which is shown by the arrogant, the existence of class inequalities, and oppressive and arrogant aristocracy. The shackles are these. The Holy Prophet confronted and fought against these shackles. Nations can continue this path as long as they stand firm and show resistance. They can overcome superpowers. Today, grave plots are being hatched by superpowers in the world against the Islamic Ummah, but it is possible to stand up against these plots and to foil them.
Hazrat Musa [Moses] (greetings be upon our Prophet and upon him) said to Allah the Exalted: "Our Lord! You have indeed bestowed on Pharaoh and his chiefs splendor and wealth in the life of the present, and so, Our Lord, they mislead men from Your Path. Deface, our Lord, the features of their wealth, and send hardness to their hearts, so they will not believe until they see the grievous penalty" [The Holy Quran, 10: 88]. He cursed them. The Pharaoh was a very strong power for Hazrat Musa. Power, wealth, talent, weapons, money and everything else were at his disposal. But Musa was alone. He made this request to Allah in a beseeching manner. Then Allah the Exalted said in response: "Accepted is your prayer." He said that he accepted the prayers of those two – Musa and Harun [Aaron]. However, there is one condition: "So stand straight, and follow not the path of those who know not" [The Holy Quran, 10: 89]. He said that they should stand firm and resist.
Resistance in the arena of military war, in the arena of political war and in the arena of the war of the wills are different from each other. Nonetheless, resistance is necessary in all these arenas. If nations and outstanding personalities do not forget about resistance, victory will definitely be achieved. Of course, today, they have deployed their forces against the Islamic Ummah: America, global arrogance and their cohorts including Zionism – the Zionist regime – reactionaries, global money worshippers, and lustful individuals among Muslims who follow those powers who have deployed their forces against Islam and against the path of the Holy Prophet: "You have indeed bestowed on Pharaoh and his chiefs splendor and wealth in the life of the present." Today, the Pharaohs are these people. Today, the Pharaoh is America. Today, the Pharaoh is the Zionist regime. Today, the Pharaohs are their cohorts in the region who want to gradually pit Muslims against each other and to wage war in the region. Today, this is America’s plan.
Everyone should pay attention to this. Everyone should know this. American politicians themselves have acknowledged in their analyses – whether knowingly or unknowingly – that they should wage war and create discord in West Asia and pit Muslims against each other so that the Zionist regime can have security and live a comfortable life. They are doing this in order to prevent Muslims from making progress. They want the body of the Islamic Ummah to lose so much blood in a way that it becomes weak and unconscious and loses its power of resistance. What should we do in the face of this? "So stand straight, and follow not the path of those who know not." We should not follow the path of the ignorant.
Today, there are unfortunately some rulers and some elite personalities in the region who dance to America’s tune and do what they want. They work for them against the Islamic Ummah and against Islam. These things are to the disadvantage of Islam. We do not have any motivation to be in disagreement with Muslim governments. We believe in unity. We are interested in unity. These days are marked by Unity Week. It was our magnanimous Imam who named these days as "Unity Week": unity between Islamic denominations. And we thank God for helping the Islamic Republic and the people of Iran create unity and brotherhood among themselves and among their Muslim brothers from various Islamic denominations.
We have no problem and issue. However, against this movement which seeks unity, which is interested in unity and which has set itself the goal of achieving unity, there are some people who are after creating discord and waging war. Their policy is this and they are following up this task.
So what should we do in the face of those people? What should be done in the face of those who follow American policies in the region? Our language is the language of advice. The ignorant in these governments say things against the people of Iran and the Islamic Republic which are not worthy of attention. Our goal is not to respond to their nonsense, rather our goal is to advise. We advise. The thing which some regional governments are doing today at the service of the US is to their own disadvantage. In fact, they are ruining themselves. The enemy does whatever he can. They created these takfiris in our region. They foolishly thought that they could wage a religious war by doing so. However, Allah the Exalted delivered a blow to their mouth because a religious war was not and will not be waged.
We stood firm against those who were provoked by the enemy and we thankfully succeeded, but their issue was working as the enemy's mercenaries. Their issue was not about a religious, tribal and denominational war. The enemy wanted this. The enemy wanted to wage a war between Shia and Sunni, but "Praise belongs to the God Who made our enemies among the fools" [from a prayer by Imam Sajjad]. Allah the Exalted made our enemies fools. The number of Sunnis that DAESH killed in the region was larger than the number of Shias! They wanted to wage a war between Sunni and Shia. However, Allah the Exalted delivered a blow to their mouth.
Our confrontation against takfiri forces was a confrontation against oppression and distortion of Islam. It was a fight against a savage group which knew nothing about Islamic morality and civility and about the truth of Islam. They used to burn and skin people alive and they used to take Muslim families captive. They were engulfed by all kinds of corruption including political, sexual, financial and practical corruption. They were the agents of the US and Zionism. And their cohorts and followers – wherever they are – are the agents of the US and Zionism as well. This is a reality. We stood up against them. If the world of Islam wants to achieve dignity, it should not abandon unity, solidarity and unanimity. If the world of Islam wants to achieve power and dignity, it has to stand up against Zionism.
Today, the issue of Palestine is at the top of the political issues of the world of Islam and the Islamic Ummah. Everyone is responsible towards defending Palestine, and the freedom of Palestine and the Palestinian nation. Everyone is responsible towards fighting and working to that end. The enemy is desperate in this regard. You should know this. When they claim that they want to declare al-Quds as the capital of the Zionist regime, this is a sign of their desperation and incapability. Their hands are tied on the issue of Palestine. Without a doubt, by doing so, they will receive a harsher blow and the world of Islam will stand up against them.
The enemy will definitely not be able to achieve the desired result on the issue of Palestine and Palestine will be liberated. There is no doubt that Palestine will be liberated. This might happen sooner or later, but it will definitely happen and the Islamic Ummah's fight for the liberation of Palestine will produce results, God willing.
Thankfully, the people of Iran have managed to take difficult paths and get through many difficult passes with their faith, insight and resistance. Everyone should know – both our friends and enemies throughout the world should know – that in the course of the 38 years after the victory of the Revolution, there have been problems on the path that we took which would bring other nations to their knees, but these problems have failed to bring the people of Iran to their knees. From now on too, the problems that they will create will definitely be smaller and weaker as the capability and power of the people of Iran to confront problems is much more than the past.
We will defeat every problem by Allah's favor. The enemy will not be able to drag the people of Iran towards defeat and to force them into retreat. By Allah's favor, we will be able to overcome all problems, to show Islamic dignity to all nations in the world and to raise the flag of Islamic dignity further up than today, God willing.
I hope that Allah the Exalted will shower His mercy on the immaculate soul of our magnanimous Imam who opened this path to us. I hope that He will gladden the pure souls of our dear martyrs who laid down their lives on this path. I hope that He will help us carry out - in the best way possible - what we are responsible for and what is expected of us in this period of time.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings
