The following is the full text of the speech delivered on May 4, 2008 by Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution to a gathering of people in Nurabad, Fars province.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all sentient beings, and peace and greetings be upon our Master and Prophet, Ab-al-Qassem Al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his immaculate and infallible household, especially the one remaining with Allah on earth.
It was a great blessing for me to find the opportunity to make a trip to Fars province and pay a visit to you dear, sincere, faithful, and revolutionary residents of Mamasani. I never had this opportunity before, and I am glad to meet this large enthusiastic gathering of brothers and sisters living in this town and this region.
Undoubtedly, the first merit of the esteemed people of Mamasani is that they embraced the Revolution - which originated from an Islamic reality - with all their hearts. Of course, faith in the household of the Prophet (s.w.a.) and his descendants is deeply-rooted in this town and region. It has always been the case here. In the era before the Revolution and during the reign of the evil Pahlavi regime, the martyr Ayatollah Madani - who was an early revolutionary martyr - had been exiled to this town. The people received this faithful and honorable descendant of the Prophet (s.w.a.) with open arms. That was indicative of their deep, sincere, and pure faith in the Revolution and in the descendants of the Prophet (s.w.a.), Imamate, and wilayat.
During the imposed war, the valorous nomads of this region were among the people who went to the battlefields and sincerely laid down their lives to defend Islam, the Revolution, the Islamic Republic, and their dear homeland. This sincere readiness to realize lofty ideals is one of the greatest honors that a nation can gain.
There is another prominent merit that is peculiar to the esteemed residents of Mamasani, which is the result of the tribal lifestyle of the people living in this region. If we take a deep and insightful look at social phenomena, we will observe many positive points in these phenomena. The tribal structure is one such phenomenon. Tribes are the manifestation of family bonds and blood relationships among people. This has been endorsed by Islam. Relationships among relatives are an admirable deed. The fact that paying regular visits to relatives has been emphasized in Islam - these kinds of relationships are among the obligatory religious duties and ending them is considered as one of the things that have been declared haraam - is all based on this consideration. These family bonds among tribe members are one of the positive aspects of nomadic lifestyle.
Of course, I have to tell you that the positive aspect of this family bond is the valuable factor that I talked about. However, the negative aspect - that is, the bias that results in confrontations among different tribes - must be eliminated. This negative aspect is not acceptable in Islam. Family relationships and tribal bonds are admirable, but we must not reject the others. Brotherhood in Islam is spread among all believers.
"You are the descendants of Adam, and Adam was made of earth." This verse was the answer the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) made to those who were biased in favor of their own tribal bonds and rejected others. That is to say, tribal bonds are very respectable, and family bonds are considered important. However, we must not turn them into a means of rejecting those who are outside a particular family or tribe. I advise you to preserve family bonds among nomads because these bonds are very valuable. But different tribes must not reject one another. We are all brothers. "You are the descendants of Adam, and Adam was made of earth." Therefore, we must be humble. As you can see, this Islamic teaching is very deep.
My dear brothers and sisters, you emerged victorious out of a great test. You proved your adherence to and your support for Islam and the Islamic Revolution. We are proud of nomads living in our country. As I said before, some countries are deeply concerned about the existence of different ethnicities in their countries. However, we are happy about the fact that we have various tribes of nomads in our country. The reason is that our nomads - regardless of where they live - have always protected their nationality and religion, and they have always been supportive of the clergy. Our nomads have always been interested in Islamic principles and our national traditions.
Thanks to our traditions which have been most common among our nomads, our nationality - which has, by Allah's grace, been accompanied by religion and faith in God - has prevailed in different eras. In particular, the nomads who live in the central part of the country - Fars and Isfahan provinces - have adhered most to the principles of wilayat, and they have been supportive of Islamic thought and the lifestyle of the Prophet's household (a.s.). Therefore, throughout the Pahlavi era, whenever there were any problems between the clergy and the arrogant and autocratic government, nomads sided with the clergy and stood up to the bullying autocratic government. In this province, nomads stood up to the domination of the English and fought them. They withstood the autocratic rule of evil kings - during the reign of the Qajar dynasty and through the movement by the great cleric, the late Ayatollah Sayyid Abdul Hossein Lari. Later on, nomads displayed their nomadic valor and their deep faith in religion during the reign of Reza Khan and throughout the cleric movement. You must preserve these attitudes.
Dear young nomads, today's world is one in which only strong faith that is based upon firm foundations can lead nations to victory. In the world in which various autocratic policies call people to profligacy, only those whose faith is based on firm foundations will be able to overcome all the waves that are made throughout the world. That is what our youth did when they overcame the waves made by the arrogant powers threatening the Islamic Revolution. First, our nation achieved a victory in the Revolution and then during the Sacred Defense and in various other arenas. Dear youth, you must preserve this faith. You must strengthen this faith by basing it on intellectual foundations. Everybody - including city dwellers, villagers, and their relatives living in towns or villages as well as those leading a nomadic life - must feel that they have to further strengthen this deep faith, which is accompanied in this region by internal sincerity, by reading books and by making use of faithful intellectual people.
The only thing that concerns me about this region is the issue of the shortcomings and limitations that exist in different parts of the region. Unfortunately, this region which has a lot of capabilities is suffering from deprivation in various areas. This warrants special attention by the officials to this region. There is of course no doubt that some of these problems have arisen from negligence in the past, which should be made up for by the current diligent and hard-working administration. What makes me happy about this issue, is the current government's trips to different provinces across the country. Traveling to different provinces across the country, the attentiveness of the country's top-ranking officials to the problems of different cities, getting in touch with the people, and facing the realities in person rather than through reports are what make me happy in this regard.
One of the objectives which I pursued and stated during my previous trips to the different provinces across the country was calling the government officials' attention to the deprived and underprivileged regions in the country. Today, these objectives have fortunately been accomplished. One of the objectives of the current diligent administration is its close investigation of the present conditions of all provinces, towns, and cities across the country, especially the problems of this region and province where below-normal rainfall has caused and will continue to cause problems for farmers, stockmen, and those who are waiting for rain.
I have been informed through reports that the government has developed plans and allocated funds to compensate for part of the problems caused by this drought. I hope the government's plans, which have been formulated according to the available resources, will be implemented in the best way possible. And I hope these plans will benefit the people. Let's pray to God and ask Him to bestow His blessings and mercy upon these faithful people and these dry lands. I hope God Almighty will bestow His blessings on us.
Providing the opportunity to boost economic growth was among the points I emphasized in my address to the Iranian nation and officials at the beginning of the year. The reason for such emphasis is that our enemies are constantly focusing on this issue. Dear people, the enemies of the Islamic Revolution have used all possible means to undermine the Iranian nation's determination and willpower for many consecutive years - nearly 30 years. They have tried to do so through political plots, coups, the 8-year imposed war, and their poisonous propaganda which is constantly broadcast against the Iranian nation and the Islamic Republic through the Zionist and arrogant powers' mouthpieces. They have done everything they could. They have finally come to the conclusion that they might be able to trap the Iranian nation in an economic plot.
Of course, this is not anything new. Economic sanctions and embargoes have been imposed on us in different ways since the early days of the Islamic Revolution. They mounted pressure on us, yet our nation resisted their pressure. They are still going to continue mounting pressure on us, but our nation will resist this pressure. Our nation has overcome economic embargoes during the last 30 years and taken great strides towards progress on all fronts. Similarly, our nation will resist all plots today, especially the economic plot, despite the evil goals of the politicians of the global arrogance network.
The solution to this issue lies in our nation's unity and their efforts to help the country develop an independent economy. The Islamic Revolution saved us from political dependence. And a lot of efforts have been made in the country to reach economic independence, but this requires determination on the part of all people from different classes so that the country will be able to reach a level in its economy where threats of sanctions and embargoes will no longer be important. I am addressing this point to the whole nation, not just the residents of Mamasani County. All the people should make a joint effort to accomplish this goal.
Our country enjoys great human and financial resources. We can reach a level where our country may no longer be intimidated by economic sanctions and embargos in the world. This could be achieved by making the necessary investments, by making appropriate plans, and by working in a determined manner under a specific time-tabled plan. This is a national duty upon us. Everyone can play a role. We also have a vast land and great resources to help us in this regard.
Of course, there are limitations as well. I told the people in Shiraz that we could satisfy our country's needs if we avoid wasting our resources. One of the problems which we have not yet been able to overcome in the country is the problem of wastefulness, especially the water supplies. Our country happens to be among countries which do not enjoy great water supplies. But we can satisfy our needs with the current water supplies if we avoid wasting our supplies and if we make proper and wise plans in this regard. These are the duties of the whole Iranian nation, and the Islamic Republic government is to utilize the capacities of the Iranian nation in this regard. I hope the problems will be solved one after the other.
Of course our nation has suffered problems during the last 30 years. But one could only gain national grandeur at a price. No country can assume a strong identity or gain national grandeur and independence without paying the price. Our nation has paid this price and will continue to pay the price in the future. I should tell the superpowers and their agents who close their eyes to the realities and who open their mouths to bully and intimidate others that the Iranian nation will not be made to retreat by any threats. Threats can never stop our nation from following the path we have chosen, that is the path towards perfection, grandeur, complete independence, and full establishment of the principles of religion in the country. And I hope following the principles of Islam will help us overcome all the problems. This is the path which the Iranian nation has chosen, and we will not retreat from this path. Our enemies cannot do anything via intimidation.
These days they have started to intimidate us again. The Americans and the Zionists are intimidating us, and some of the European governments are unwisely and ignorantly following the US. Has the Iranian nation not experienced such situations before? Have you not put this great nation to the test before? We will strongly continue our path and will not let the arrogant powers of the world trample upon our nation's rights. This is our duty and our right, and we should exercise this right in accordance with our responsibilities. We should not let the enemies violate our nation's rights in different ways through their psychological warfare, and their different tricks and plots. And by Allah's favor, we will not let them do so.
You dear people should know that adherence to the principles of Islam is the only way for this nation and other Muslim nations to overcome their difficulties. Islam can save us. During the last 30 years of the Islamic Revolution's life - and now that the Islamic Republic is at the peak of prosperity - we have been more successful whenever we have adhered more to the principles of Islam. If we have not succeeded in certain cases, it is because we have not carried out our Islamic duties properly. If we properly carry out these duties, we will reach our goals. Thankfully, our nation is a ready, enthusiastic, brave, vigilant, and conscious nation that is aware of its rights and will defend its rights.
I pray to Allah the Exalted to bestow success upon our officials in carrying out their duties towards the Iranian nation, especially those living in regions which have been underprivileged for years - including the honorable people this region. I hope God Almighty will bestow success on the officials and will provide the means for them to carry out their duties towards you dear people.
Dear God, bestow Your mercy and blessings on these people. O God, enlighten the faithful and pure hearts of these people with the light of Your guidance and blessings. Dear God, strengthen the bases of the Islamic Republic on a daily basis and bestow the ability to carry out our duties towards these dear people on us. Dear God, make the heart of the Imam of the Age (may our souls be sacrifices for his sake) pleased with us and put us among those who will benefit from his prayers.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings