Search Result in All

Description:

The Axis of Evil, which includes but isn\'t limited to the American, British, French, and Saudi governments, has a tendency to use smoke and mirrors to distract the masses from their dark ulterior motives. The Founder of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Ruhollah Khomeini, speaks.

Description:

Unconventional weapons used against Gazans Doctor Mads Gilbert is a member of a Norwegian triage medical team present in the besieged Gaza Strip. The team has exposed that Israel has used depleted uranium weapons in its war on the impoverished territory which is home to 1.5 million Palestinians. He described the conditions inside Gaza in an exclusive Press TV interview. Press TV: What can you tell about the uranium findings? Dr. Mads Gilbert:The findings about the uranium I cannot tell you much about, but I can tell you that we have clear evidence that the Israelis are using a new type of very high explosive weapons which are called Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) and are made out of a tungsten alloy. These weapons have an enormous power to explode. The power of the explosion dissipates very quickly and the strength does not travel long, maybe 10 meters, but those humans who are hit by this explosion, this pressure wave are cut in pieces. This was first used in Lebanon in 2006, it was used here in Gaza in 2006 and the injuries that we see in Shifa [Hospital] now, many many of them I suspect and we all suspect are the effect of DIME weapons used by the Israelis. On the long term, these weapons will have a cancer effect on those who survive. They will develop cancer we suspect. There has been very little research on this but some research has been among other places in the United States, which show that these weapons have a high tendency to develop cancer. So they kill and those who survive risk having cancer. Press TV: And what do you have to say about this? Dr. Mads Gilbert:All that is happening in Gaza here now is against international law, it is against humanity and I think it is against what it means to be a decent person. You don't treat other people like this. Even if you disagree with him… maybe even if you fight with them, you don't treat civilians, children and women like this. And I have an appeal to the Israeli doctors and nurses. They are my colleagues. We belong to the same international community, the medical community. I wish that the good doctors and nurses in Israel tell their government to stop these atrocities. We cannot continue with this. We may differ in opinions, but you cannot treat the civilian Palestinian population in Gaza in this way. Today, they were bombing in Gaza City; we received 150 wounded and more than 50 killed. Press TV: Only at Shifa?! Dr. Mads Gilbert:Yes, here in Shifa. I treated a ten-year-old boy. He had his whole chest filled with fragments from the bomb. On his lap was another person's leg that had been cut off. We resuscitated him and did everything we could do to save his life but he died between our hands. This is such a terrible experience and behind the numbers that you report all the time, there are human beings, families, women, grandmothers, children. That is in fact the reality in this situation. Those who are paying the price for the Israeli bombardments now are the common people, the Palestinian people. Half of the population in Palestine are below 15 years and 80 percent of the people in Gaza live below the level of poverty defined by the UN. Now they don't have food, they don't have electricity. It's cold they don't have warmth and in addition to that, they are killed. This must be stopped. Press TV How many people did you see that are effected by this weapon? Dr. Mads Gilbert: Almost all of the patients we have received have these sever amputations. They seem to have been affected by this kind of weapon. Of course, we have many fragment injuries and burns but those who have got their limbs cut off, constitutes quite a large proportion. You know we have a lot to do. Palestinian doctors, nurses and paramedics do an incredibly heroic job to save their people. Doctor Eric and I are just a small drip in the ocean, but we learn from them. Unfortunately, we don't have the time to do research, we have to save lives, but this question should be researched by the international community.

Description:

Bahrain triggers human rights uproar As many as 26 human rights organizations have called on the international community to address Bahrain's suppression of rights advocates and Shias population, an Egyptian institute says. "We stress the international community's responsibility for curbing the security campaign aimed at silencing human rights defenders and concealing the grave abuses committed by the authorities against the citizenry, particularly the Shia community," the organizations said in a petition. The bodies warned about "the authorities' increasing crackdown on the different forms of expression and peaceful association and assembly" and "the government's growing tendency to set the law aside in favor of naked force, detention, the torture and abuse of peaceful opponents," one of the cosignatories, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), said in a press release on Wednesday. They said Manama maintained "a policy of systematic discrimination and marginalization of the Shia majority." The Shia opposition refuses to recognize the 2002 constitution and has called for a boycott of the upcoming parliamentary elections, set for October 23. The protesting organizations also said that the suppression campaign was meant "to pave the way for wide-ranging election fraud." Despite their demographic predominance in the kingdom, the Shias have long complained about being discriminated against by the Bahraini government when it comes to obtaining jobs and receiving services. Earlier in the month, the Manama government revoked the citizenship of leading Shia cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Hussein al-Najati, who represents top Iraqi cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Bahrain, as well as the citizenship of his family. An outspoken critic of the government, Sheikh Abdul Jaleel al-Miqdad, has also been prohibited from leading the Friday Prayers. The Bahraini government has arrested more than 250 Shias since August, accusing 23 of them of plotting a coup and provoking "violence, rioting and terrorism." Article Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/143715.html

Description:

Message of Thaqalayn \"Al-Ghadir\" and its Relevance to Islamic Unity ________________________________________ Ayatullah Murtaza Mutahhari Translated by Mojgan Jalali Vol. 3, No. 1 and 2 (1417 AH/1996 CE) The distinguished book entitled \"al-Ghadir\" has raised a huge wave in the world of Islam. Islamic thinkers shed light on the book in different perspectives; in literature, history, theology, tradition, tafsir, and sociology. From the social perspective we can deal with the Islamic unity. In this review the Islamic unity has been dealt with from a social point of view. Contemporary Muslim thinkers and reformists are of the view that unity and solidarity of Muslims are the most imperative Islamic exigencies at the present juncture when the enemies have made extensive inroads upon the Islamic community and have tried to resort to different ways and means to spread the old differences and create new ones. We are aware that Islamic unity and fraternity is the focus of attention of the Holy Legislator of Islam and is actually the major objective pursued by this Divine religion as firmed by the Qur\'an, the \"Sunnah\", and the history of Islam. For this reason, some people have been faced with this question: Wouldn\'t the compilation and publication of a book such as \"al-Ghadir\" which deals with the oldest issue of differences among the Muslims- create a barrier in the way of the sublime and lofty objective of the Islamic unity? To answer this question, it is necessary first to elucidate the essence of this issue, that is, the Islamic unity, and then proceed to examine the role of the magnum opus entitled \"al-Ghadir\"and its eminent compiler \'Allamah Amini in bringing about Islamic unity. Islamic Unity What is meant by the Islamic unity? Does it mean that one Islamic school of thought should be unanimously followed and others be set aside? Or does it mean that the commonalties of all Islamic schools of thought should be taken up and their differences be put away to make up a new denomination which is not completely the same as the previous ones? Or does it mean that Islamic unity is in no way related to the unity of the different schools of Fiqh (jurisprudence) but signifies the unity of the Muslims and the unity of the followers of different schools of Fiqh, with their different religious ideas and views, vis-a-vis the aliens? To give an illogical and impractical meaning to the issue of the Islamic unity, the opponents of the issue have called it to be the formation of a single Madhhab, so as to defeat it in the very first step. Without doubt, by the term Islamic unity, the intellectual Islamic \'Ulama\' (scholars) do not mean that all denominations should give in to one denomination or that the commonalties should be taken up and the different views and ideas be set aside, as these are neither rational and logical nor favorable and practical. By the Islamic unity these scholars mean that all Muslims should unite in one line against their common enemies. These scholars slate that Muslims have many things in common, which can serve as the foundations of a firm unity. All Muslims worship the One Almighty and believe in the Prophethood of the Holy Prophet (s). The Qur\'an is the Book of all Muslims and Ka\'abah is their \"qiblah\" (direction of prayer). They go to\"hajj\" pilgrimage with each other and perform the \"hajj\" rites and rituals like one another. They say the daily prayers and fast like each other. They establish families and engage in transactions like one another. They have similar ways of bringing up their children and burying their dead. Apart from minor affairs, they share similarities in all the aforementioned cases. Muslims also share one kind of world view, one common culture, and one grand, glorious, and long-standing civilization. Unity in the world view, in culture, in the civilization, in insight and disposition, in religious beliefs, in acts of worship and prayers, in social rites and customs can well turn the Muslim into a unified nation to serve as a massive and dominant power before which the big global powers would have to bow down. This is especially true in view of the stress laid by Islam on this principle. According to the explicit wording of the Qur\'an, the Muslims are brothers, and special rights and duties link them together. So, why shouldn\'t the Muslims use all these extensive facilities accorded to them as the blessing of Islam? This group of \'Ulama\' are of the view that there is no need for the Muslims to make any compromise on the primary or secondary principles of their religion for the sake of Islamic unity. Also it is not necessary for the Muslims to avoid engaging in discussions and reasons and writing books on primary and secondary principles about which they have differences. The only consideration for Islamic unity in this case is that the Muslims- in order to avoid the emergence or accentuation of vengeance - preserve their possession, avoid insulting and accusing each other and uttering fabrications, abandon ridiculing the logic of one another, and finally abstain from hurting one another and going beyond the borders of logic and reasoning. In fact, they should, at least, observe the limits which Islam has set forth for inviting non-Muslims to embrace it: \"Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good exhortation, and have disputations with them in the best manner... \"(16: 125) Some people are of the view that those schools of fiqh, such as, Shafi\'i and Hanafi which have no differences in principle should establish brotherhood and stand in one line. They believe that denominations which have differences in the principles can in no way be brothers. This group view the religious principles as an interconnected set as termed by scholars of Usul, as an interrelated and interdependent set; any damage to one principle harms all principles. As a result, those who believe in this principle are of the view that when, for instance, the principle of \"imamah\" is damaged and victimized, unity and fraternity will bear no meaning and for this reason the Shi\'ah and the Sunnis cannot shake hands as two Muslim brothers and be in the same rank, no matter who their enemy is. The first group answers this group by saying: \"There is no reason for us to consider the principles as an interrelated set and follow the principle of \"all or none\". Imam \'Ali (\'a) chose a very logical and reasonable approach. He left no stone unturned to retrieve his right. He used everything within his power to restore the principle of \"imamah\", but he never adhered to the motto of \"all or none\". \'Ali (\'a) did not rise up for his right, and that was not compulsory. On the contrary, it was a calculated and chosen approach. He did not fear death. Why didn\'t he rise up? There could have been nothing above martyrdom. Being killed for the cause of the Almighty was his ultimate desire. He was more intimate with martyrdom than a child is with his mother\'s breast. But in his sound calculations, Imam \'All (\'a) had reached the conclusion that under the existing conditions it was to the interest of Islam to foster collaboration and cooperation among the Muslims and give up revolt. He repeatedly stressed this point. In one of his letters (No.62 \"Nahj al Balaghah\") to Malik al-Ashtar, he wrote the following: \"First I pulled back my hand until I realized that a group of people converted from Islam and invited the people toward annihilating the religion of Muhammad(s). So I feared that if I did not rush to help Islam and the Muslims, I would see gaps or destruction which calamity would be far worse than the several-day-long demise of caliphate.\" In the six-man council, after appointment of \'Uthman by \'Abdul-Rahman ibn \'Awf, \'Ali (\'a) set forth his objection as well as his readiness for collaboration as follows:\" You well know that I am more deserving than others for caliphate. But now by Allah, so long as the affairs of the Muslims are in order and my rivals suffice with setting me aside and only I am alone subjected to oppression, I will not oppose (the move) and will give in (to it).\" (From Sermon 72, \"Nahj al- Balaghah\"). These indicate that in this issue \'Ali (\'a) condemned the principle of \"all or none\". There is no need to further elaborate the approach taken by \'Ali (\'a) toward this issue. There are ample historical proofs and reasons in this regard. \'Allamah Amini Now it is time to see to which group the eminent \'Allamah, Ayatullah Amini - the distinguished compiler of the \"al-Ghadir\" - belonged and how he thought. Did he approve of the unity of the Muslims only within the light of Shi\'ism? Or did he consider Islamic fraternity to be broader? Did he believe that Islam which is embraced by uttering the \"shahadatayn\" (the Muslim creed) would willy-nilly create some rights for the Muslims and that the brotherhood and fraternity set forth in the Qur\'an exists among all Muslims? \'Allamah Amini personally considered this point - i.e. the need to elucidate his viewpoint on this subject and elaborate whether\"al-Ghadir\" has a positive or a negative role in (the establishment of) Islamic unity. In order not to be subject to abuse by his opponent - be they among the pros and cons - he has repeatedly explained and elucidated his views. \'Allamah Amini supported Islamic unity and viewed an open mind and clear insight. On different occasions, he set forth this matter in various volumes of the \"al-Ghadir\'. Reference will be made to some of them below: In the preface to volume I, he briefly mentions the role of \"al-Ghadir\" in the world of Islam. He states: \"And we consider all this as service to religion, sublimation of the word of the truth, and restoration of the Islamic \'ummah\' (community).\" In volume 3 (page 77), after quoting the fabrications of Ibn Taymiyah, Alusi, and Qasimi to the effect that Shi \'ism is hostile to some of the Ahl al-Bayt (the Household of the Prophet) such as Zayd bin \'Ali bin al-Huseyn, he notes the following under the title of \"Criticism and Correction\": \"These fabrications and accusations sow the seeds of corruption, stir hostilities among the \'ummah\',create discord among the Islamic community, divide the \'ummah\', and clash with the public interests of the Muslims. Again in volume 3 (page 268), he quotes the accusation leveled on the Shi\'ahs by Sayyid Muhammad Rashid Rida to the effect that \"Shi\'ahs are pleased with any defeat incurred by Muslims, so much as they celebrated the victory of the Russians over the Muslims.\" Then he says: \"These falsehoods are fabricated by persons like Sayyid Muhammad Rashid Rida. The Shi\'ahs of Iran and Iraq against whom this accusation is leveled, as well as the orientalists, tourists, envoys of Islamic countries, and those who traveled and still travel to Iran and Iraq, have no information about this trend. Shi\'ahs, without exception, respect the lives, blood, reputation, and property of the Muslims be they Shi\'ahs or Sunnis. Whenever a calamity has befallen the Islamic community anywhere, in any region, and for any sects, the Shi\'ahs have shared their sorrow. The Shi\'ahs have never been confined to the Shi\'ah world, the (concept of) Islamic brotherhood which has been set forth in the Qur\'an and the \'sunnah\'(the Prophet\'s sayings and actions), and in this respect, no discrimination has been made between the Shi\'ahs and the Sunnis.\" Also at the close of volume 3, he criticizes several books penned by the ancients such as \"Iqd al-Farid\" by Ibn Abd al-Rabbih, \"al-Intisar\" by Abu al-Husayn Khayyat al-Mu\'tazili,\"al Farq bayn al-Firaq\" by Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi, \"al-Fasl\" by Ibn Hazm al-Andulusi, \"al-Milal wa al-Nihal\" by Muhammad ibn Abdul-Karim al-Shahristani \"Minhaj al-Sunnah\" by Ibn Taymiah and \"al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah\"by Ibn Kathir and several by the later writers such as \"Tarikh al-Umam al-Islamiyyah\" by Shaykh Muhammad Khizri, \"Fajr al Islam\" by Ahmad Amin, \"al-Jawlat fi Rubu al-Sharq al-Adna\" by Muhammad Thabit al-Mesri, \"al-Sira Bayn al-Islam wa al-Wathaniyah\" by Qasimi, and \"al- Washi\'ah\" by Musa Jarallah. Then he states the following: \"By quoting and criticizing these books, we aim at warning and awakening the Islamic \'ummah\' (to the fact) that these books create the greatest danger for the Islamic community, they destabilize the Islamic unity and scatter the Muslim lines. In fact nothing can disrupt the ranks of the Muslims, destroy their unity, and tear their Islamic fraternity more severely than these books.\" \'Allamah Amini, in the preface to volume 5, under title of\"Nazariyah Karimah\" on the occasion of a plaque of honor forwarded from Egypt for \"al-Ghadir\", clearly sets forth his view on this issue and leaves no room for any doubt. He remarks: \"People are free to express views and ideas on religion. These (views and ideas) will never tear apart the bond of Islamic brotherhood to which the holy Qur\'an has referred by stating that \'surely the believers are brethren\'; even though academic discussion and theological and religious debates reach a peak. This has been the style of the predecessors, and of the \'sahaba\' and the\'tabi\'un\', at the head of them. \"Notwithstanding all the differences that we have in the primary and secondary principles, we, the compilers and writers in nooks and corners of the world of Islam, share a common point and that is belief in the Almighty and His Prophet. A single spirit and one (form of) sentiment exists in all our bodies, and that is the spirit of Islam and the term\'ikhlas,\" \"We, the Muslim compilers, all live under the banner of truth and carry out our duties under the guidance of the Qur\'an and the Prophetic Mission of the Holy Prophet (s). The message of all of us is \'Surely the (true) religion with Allah is Islam ... (3:18)\' and the slogan of all of us is \'There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger.\' Indeed, we are (the members of) the party of Allah and the supporters of his religion. In the preface to volume 8, under the title of \"al-Ghadir Yowahhad al-Sufuf fil-Mila al-Islami\", \'Allamah Amini directly makes researches into the role of \"Al- Ghadir\" in (the establishment of) Islamic unity. In this discussion, this great scholar categorically rejects the accusations leveled by those who said: \'Al-Ghadir\' causes greater discord among the Muslims. He proves that, on the contrary, \"Al-Ghadir\"removes many misunderstandings and brings the Muslims closer to one another. Then he brings evidence by mentioning the confessions of the non-Shi\'i Islamic scholars. At the close, he quotes the letter of Shaykh Muhammad Saeed Dahduh written in this connection. To avoid prolongation of this article, we will not quote and translate the entire statements of \'Allamah Amini in explaining the positive role of \"al-Ghadir\" in (establishing) Islamic unity, since what has already been mentioned sufficiently proves this fact. The positive role of \"al-Ghadir\" is established by the facts that it firstly clarifies the proven logic of the Shi\'ahs and proves that the inclination of Muslims to Shi\'ism - notwithstanding the poisonous publicity of some people - is not due to political, ethnic, or other trends and considerations. It also verifies that a powerful logic based on the Qur\'an and the \"sunnah\" has given rise to this tendency. Secondly, it reflects that some accusations leveled on Shi\'ism - which have made other Muslims distanced from the Shi\'ah- are totally baseless and false. Examples of these accusations are the notion that the Shi\'ites prefer the non-Muslims to the non- Shi\'i Muslims, rejoice at the defeat of non-Shi\'ite Muslims at the hands of non-Muslims, and other accusations such as the idea that instead of going to hajj pilgrimage, the Shi\'ahs go on pilgrimage to shrines of the Imams, or have particular rites in prayers and in temporary marriage. Thirdly, it introduces to the world of Islam the eminent Commander of the faithful \'Ali (\'a) who is the most oppressed and the least praised grand Islamic personality and who could be the leader of all Muslims, as well as his pure offspring. Other Comments on \"al-Ghadir\" Many unbiased non-Shia Muslims interpret the \"al-Ghadir\" in the same way that has already been mentioned. Muhammad Abdul-Ghani Hasan al-Mesri, in his foreword on\"al-Ghadir\", which has been published in the preface to volume I, second edition, states: \"I call on the Almighty to make your limpid brook (in Arabic, \'Ghadir\' means brook) the cause of peace and cordiality between the Shia and Sunni brothers to cooperate with one another in building the Islamic \"ummah.\" \'Adil Ghadban, the managing editor of the Egyptian magazine entitled \"al-Kitab\", said the following in the preface to volume 3: \"This book clarifies the Shi\'ite logic. The Sunnis can correctly learn about the Shi\'i through this book. Correct recognition of the Shi\'ahs brings the views of the Shi\'ahs and the Sunnis closer, and they can make a unified rank\". In his foreword to the \"al-Ghadir\" which was published in thepreface to volume 4, Dr. Muhammad Ghallab, professor of philosophy at the Faculty of Religious Studies al-Azhar University said: \"I got hold of your book at a very opportune time, because right now I am busy collecting and compiling a book on the lives of the Muslims from various perspectives. Therefore, I am highly avidfor obtaining sound information about \'Imamiyah\' Shi\'ism. Your book will help me. And I will not make mistakes about the Shi\'ahs as others have\". In this foreword published in the preface to volume 4 of the\"al-Ghadir\", Dr. \'Abdul-Rahman Kiali Halabi says the following after referring to the decline of the Muslims in the present age and the factors which can lead to the Muslims\' salvation, one of which is the sound recognition of the successor of the Holy Prophet (s): \"The book entitled \"al-Ghadir\" and its rich content deserves to be known by every Muslim to learn how historians have been negligent and see where the truth lies. Through this means, we should compensate for the past, and by striving to foster the unity of the Muslims, we should try to gain the due rewards\". These were the views of \'Allamah Amini about the important social issues of our age and such were his sound reflections in the world of Islam. Peace be upon him. Text Source: http://www.al-islam.org/mot/default.asp?url=ghadir-relevance.htm

Description:

On a Thursday, just three days before the demise of Prophet (PBUH&HF), the Messenger of Allah asked for pen and paper in order to state his last will and repeat the declaration/assignment of his successor for his Ummah. Major Sunni sources including Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim mentioned that an opposition group among the companions whose leader was Umar, accused prophet of talking non sense (May Allah protect us) in order to prevent this writing. They questioned the rationality of Prophet to discredit his will. Below is some of the traditions concerning this tragic episode: It is narrated in Sahih Muslim that: Ibn Abbas said:\"Thursday! And how tragic that Thursday was!\" Then Ibn Abbas cried severely so that his tears flowed to his cheeks. Then he added Prophet said:\"Bring me a flat bone or a sheet and an ink so that I could write (order to write) a statement that will prevent you people to go astray after me.\" They said: \"Verily the messenger of Allah is talking no sense.\" (Reference: Sahih Muslim, Chapter of \"Kitabul-Wasiyyah \" in section \"Babut-Tarkil-Wasiyyah\", 1980 Edition, Arabic version (Saudi Arabia), v3, P1259, Tradition (#1637/21).) The other version is given by al-Bukhari and Muslim which indicates the role of Umar in that catastrophe: Sahih al-Bukhari Hadiths: 9.468 and 7.573 Narrated Ibn \'Abbas: When the time of the death of the Prophet approached while there were some men in the house, and among them was \'Umar Ibn al-Khattab, the Prophet said: \"Come near let me write for you a writing after which you will never go astray.\" \'Umar said: \"The Prophet is seriously ill, and you have the Quran, so Allah\'s Book is sufficient for us.\" The people in the house differed and disputed. Some of them said, \"Come near so that Allah\'s Apostle may write for you a writing after which you will not go astray,\" while the others said what \'Umar said. When they made much noise and quarreled greatly in front of the Prophet, he said to them,\"Go away and leave me.\" Ibn \'Abbas used to say,\" It was a great disaster that their quarrel and noise prevented Allah ‘s Apostle from writing a statement for them. The above tradition can also be found in Sahih Muslim, Chapter of \"Kitabul- Wasiyyah\" in section \"Babut-Tarkil-Wasiyyah\", 1980 Edition, Arabic version (Saudi Arabia), v3, p1259, Tradition (#1637/22). As you see in the above traditions, the Prophet (PBUH&HF) was accused of talking no sense by an opposition group among the companions whose leader was Umar. In the above tradition, Ibn Abbas mentioned Umar and his company PREVENTED Prophet from writing his will which could prevent people from going astray after him. So the conclusion from the above tradition is that the writing it did NOT take place. In the following tradition, however, Sa\'id Ibn Jubair alleged that the Prophet said three things but he has forgotten the third one which was beneficial for Muslims: Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith: 4.393 Narrated Said bin Jubair: I heard Ibn \'Abbas saying, \"Thursday! And you know not what Thursday is? After that Ibn \'Abbas wept till the stones on the ground were soaked with his tears. On that I asked Ibn \'Abbas, \"What is (about) Thursday?\" He said, \"When the condition (i.e. health) of Allah\'s Apostle deteriorated, he said,\'Bring me a bone of scapula, so that I may write something for you after which you will never go astray.\' The people differed in their opinions although it was improper to differ in front of a prophet, They said,\'What is wrong with him? Do you think he is talking no sense (delirious)? Ask him (to see if he is talking no sense). The Prophet replied,\'Leave me, for I am in a better state than what you are asking me.\' Then the Prophet ordered them to do three things saying: \'Turn out all the pagans from the Arabian Peninsula, show respect to all foreign delegates by giving them gifts as I used to do.\' The third order was something beneficial which either Ibn \'Abbas did not mention or he mentioned but I forgot! Sa\'id Ibn Jubair claims that Prophet said three things but he has forgotten the third one which was beneficial for Muslims. It is interesting to see that the narrators who used to memorize thousands of traditions, simply forgot the last will of Prophet (PBUH&HF). Now if you look at the two things that the sub-narrator allegedly attributed to the Prophet, i.e., 1. Expelling pagans from Arabian Peninsula 2. respecting foreign delegates One can see that these are not the things that if Muslim do, they will NEVER go astray after Prophet. The matter should be much more important that would Guarantee the salvation of Muslims, and it could be no less important than the subject of leadership. Moreover such claim contradicts the saying of Ibn Abbas (in the early mentioned traditions) who claimed that the quarrel of the companions prevented the prophet from stating his will. Here is the last tradition I would like to mention in this regard. Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith: 5.716 Narrated Ibn Abbas: Thursday! And how tragic that Thursday was! The ailment of Allah\'s Apostle became worse (on Thursday) and he said \"Bring me something so that I (order) to write for you something after which you will never go astray.\" The people (present there) quarreled in this matter, and it was not right to quarrel in front of prophet. They said, \"What is wrong with him? (Do you think) he is talking no sense (delirious)?\" The above tradition is also in Sahih Muslim, Chapter of \"Kitabul-Wasiyyah\" in section \"Babut-Tarkil-Wasiyyah\", 1980 Edition, Arabic version, (Saudi Arabia), v3, pp 1257-58, Tradition (#1637/20). More addresses for similar traditions: Sahih al-Bukhari, in the chapter named \"The Book of Knowledge \" (Kitabul-Ilm), also in the chapter named \"The Book of Medicine \" (Kitabut-Tib), also in the chapter named \"Kitabul Itisam bil Kitab was-Sunnah\". Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, v1,pp 232,239,324f,336,355. And much more... Also as indicated above (Sahih al-Bukhari Hadiths: 9.468 and 7.573), Umar said: \"The Prophet is seriously ill, and you have the Quran, so Allah\'s Book is sufficient for us.\" Umar and those who supported him prevented prophet from writing (ordering to write) that statement, by accusing him of talking no sense. As I have mentioned in the discussion about \"Quran and Ahlul-Bayt\", prophet clearly indicated that we should follow both Quran AND Ahlul-Bayt in order not to go astray. So Quran alone is not sufficient as opposed to what Umar said above. There is a bizarre commentary in the footnote of above traditions in Sahih Muslim (1980 Edition, Arabic version). It says: The above incident shows the high virtue of Umar, since he knew that people might not follow what prophet would write, and as a result, people would go to hell because of their disobedience of the order of prophet. So Umar prevented Prophet from writing, in order to save people from going to hell ! Also in the footnote of the same section of Sahih Muslim it is mentioned that Prophet possibly wanted to assign a Caliph on that Thursday, and the matter might have been the matter of successorship which caused such dispute. In fact, most of the people who where present there, understood the intention of prophet, the same as what Umar did. Because prophet had previously indicated the issue when he said several times that: \"I shall leave for you two precious Symbols: The book of Allah, and my progeny, that is my family (Itrat & Ahlul-bayt). If you follow them, you will never go astray after me.\" (Sahih al-Tirmidhi; a close version is also given in Sahih Muslim), And also they were present in GHADIR KHUM where prophet said: \"Whoever I am his master, Ali is his master.\" (see Sahih al-Tirmidhi; Sunan Ibn Maja; Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal; al-Mustadrak, by al-Hakim; Khasa\'is, by al-Nisa\'i). So when prophet during his illness said that \"Let me write something that you never go astray after me\", those people who were present, including Umar, quickly understood that prophet wants to repeat what he had already mentioned, but this time in writing. A few Quranic verses should also be mentioned here. Allah said in Quran: * \"O you who believe! Do not raise your voices above the voice of prophet ... lest your deeds become null while you do not perceive.\" (Quran 49:2). * Allah also said: \"Nor does he (prophet) speak out of his desire. (What he says) is nothing but revelation that is revealed.\" (Quran 53:3-4). * He, Exalted, also said: \"Whatever apostle tells you accept it, and from whatever he forbids you, keep back.\" (Quran 59:7). * He, Exalted He is, also said: But no by thy Lord! They can have no Faith until they make thee judge in ALL disputes between them and find in their souls no resistance against thy decisions but accept them with the fullest conviction. (Quran 4:65) So when such a prophet, three days before his death, wished to write a document of his will to save the Muslims from going astray, he was accused of talking no sense (paranoid)! The reason that prophet did not repeat his request (if it is true) was that he already was discredited by his companions and was accused of talking no sense. So even if he would say something, those people would not believe in him and would say such instruction has been given while he was talking no sense (paranoid). So Umar made it easy, and by saying that prophet is talking nonsense, ended it up. There are few Sunni traditions which allege that prophet was confused to assign which person as his successor and finally failed to assign any body as his successor and left it to people to decide. Some even claim that prophet was willing to assign Abu Bakr, but he left it to people. If Umar have ever heard of such sayings (that prophet was willing to assign Abu Bakr as his successor), he would never stop prophet from stating his will, and would never accuse him of talking no sense. Rather he would let prophet tell his will and assign Abu Bakr as his successor. We all know, the main support in \"Saqifah Bani Sa\'idah\" for the secret nomination of Abu Bakr for Caliphate, was Umar. So if Umar have not heard of such traditions (the tendency of Prophet to assign Abu Bakr), there is a great possibility that those traditions were fabricated later. Also it contradicts several authentic Sunni traditions regarding the assignment of Ali-Ibn-Abi-Talib as prophet\'s successor. As you know there are a huge number of fabricated traditions which was created by several pay-rolled scholars in support of some rulers, and mainly to justify what happened. Finally, I would like to bring to your attention the importance and seriousness of the tragedy: 1- Notice that any person utters his most important wishes when he wants to write the statement of his will at the end of his life. 2- Notice the importance of the person who wants to write the will, who is the last Prophet of God, the best mankind ever. No human in the world was more enthusiastic than him about his community. The person who Allah has ordered us in Quran to follow him unconditionally. 3- Notice that prophet said this statement would be the key element in the destiny of Muslims according to the above traditions. They will never go astray if they abide it. In such critical moment, people who claimed to be his sincere companions, stopped/insulted him. Those companions are responsible for misleading the Muslims throughout history and the generations to come. ============= Side Comments ============= Reading the article, a Sunni brother commented that: How could Umar prevent the manifestation of a Divine Commandment? If writing the will was the order of Allah to his Prophet, then how could be possible that Allah fails to manifest His own wish? This brother has confused two different issues. Umar was able to prevent the manifestation of divine commandment since he was a human and was gifted some free will. Yet, Umar or any other human can NEVER prevent what Allah foreordained (Taqdir) and what Allah wills (Mashiyyah). Please take a note of this: There is a difference between the commandment of Allah (which people can disobey) and the will of Allah (which people have no ability to go against). It was the commandment of Allah to write that statement, yet the Will of Allah was what happened. ========= Another brother mentioned that Prophet Muhammad never wrote a single commandment or teaching of his during his 23 years of ministry. Then how could he order people to bring pen and paper to write somthing for them? Yes, the messenger of Allah did not write in public, because he used to dictate writing. However, this does not mean that he did not know how to write. It is also true that the Prophet was \"Ummi\", but this does not necessarily mean he did not know how to read and write. It rather means that Prophet did not have any human teacher to teach him how to read and write since the time he was born to his mother (\"Ummi\" derived from \"Umm\" meaning mother). His only teacher was Allah. And this is why Quran is a true miracle from a person who did not have a teacher and he who did not go to school. I would say, clearing doubt about the Quran as God\'s revelation was the only reason that the Messenger of Allah was not ordered attempt to write in public or claim as such. Reading and writing not only in Arabic but also in all other languages, as well as the knowledge of language of all other creatures are not a lot to claim for the master of all messengers when we see in Quran that Prophet Sulayman and David knew the language of the animals. Again, all such knowledge could be released to the Prophet when he really needed, by the permission of Allah. But to the time it is not necessary, he would act as if he does not have such knowledge. It is like having access to the database rather than having all the knowledge within oneself. About the Tragedy of Thursday, however, what the Prophet (PBUH&HF) meant by \"writing\" was the common sense of \"ordering to write\", and people were aware of it and was not the first time they have heard of it. Based on the traditions no body even said at that time that how he wants to write. Moreover, even we suppose that Prophet wanted to write by himself and people did not know about his ability to write, they could have given him the benefit of doubt (!!) to see if he can do such miracle (!?) beside all the miracles he has had already shown. Were they suspicious to his miracles? This is the same Prophet that God said about him \"laa yantqu anil Hawaa\" (he does not talk of his own desires)? Never mind verses 33:36, 59:7, 4:80, 4:59, etc., and yet to justify a disobedience by some companions can we accuse him of rave? Did God know that there would be a time that His prophet could not stand to the above standard, and still going ahead and revealing such verses in his honor? ========= Another brother mentioned that if the Prophet inteneded to appoint Ali as the Imam, why did he not do so in the presence of the whole people and not in his house few days before his demise? The Prophet had already declared the appointment Imam Ali as Imam in many occasions from his first open preach in Mecca (see al-Tabari English, v6, pp 88-92; Ibn al-Athir, v2, p62; Ibn Asakir, v1, p85; al-Durr al-Manthoor, by al-Suyuti, v5, p97) to his last open sermon in Ghadir Khum (see Sahih Tirmidhi, v2, p298; Sunan Ibn Maja, v1, pp 12,43; Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal; al-Mustadrak, by al-Hakim; Khasa\'is, by al-Nisa\'i). Note that it was not Prophet who appointed him on his own, but it was rather Allah who appointed him. What the messenger of Allah wanted to do in his last will was to write (or order to write) what he has already said. But, as quoted earlier, some people around him shamelessly reduced him to the level of insanity. What happened on that thursday is a proof by itself that the Prophet ALREADY assigned a successor, otherwise, there was no point of disobedience! ========= Another person mentioned the verse \"Today I have perfected your religion and completed my bounty upon you, and I was satisfied that Islam be your religion (Quran 5:3)\" which was revealed 2 months before the death of the Prophet shows that there was no new religious command is going to come thereafter. Otherwise, if that important statement the prophet was going to dictate to his followers would have been somthing which was forgotten, would make the verse untrue. Perhaps the above brother would be surprized to know that many Sunni commentators of Quran have confirmed that the above verse (5:3) was revealed in Ghadir Khum AFTER the Messenger of Allah said: \"Whoever I am his leader, Ali is his leader. O\' God, love those who love him, and be hostile to those who are hostile to him.\" (See the ariticled titled \"Ghadir Khum\" for extensive references). This means the perfection of the religion was due announcing the successor of the Prophet (PBUH&HF). In fact what prophet wanted to do on that Thursday (three days before his death) was just to repeat, to remind, and to emphasize the things that has been revealed before. He didn\'t want to add any thing new. No Muslim ever claimed that the position of prophethood has been taken from Muhammad sometime before his death. We do not have such case about other prophets either. Even let\'s suppose he was not prophet any more, or he wanted to say something new. Do you think you can find any man better or more enthusiastic than him about the destiny of his community?! Do you think his last wish was against the prosperity of his people?! How much should they have been rude that even they didn\'t let him talk!!! [Reference : Shia Encycloedia]- http://www.al-islam.org/encyclopedia

Description:

دیدار شركت‌كنندگان در اجلاس جهانی جوانان و بیداری اسلامی با رهبر انقلاب http://farsi.khamenei.ir/news-content?id=18862 صدها نفر از جوانان 73 كشور جهان از جمله جوانان مصر، تونس، لیبی، لبنان، یمن، بحرین و فلسطین صبح روز 10 بهمن 1390، در فضایی صمیمانه و لبریز احساسات اسلامی و انقلابی، با رهبر معظم انقلاب اسلامی دیدار كردند. در این دیدار پس از سخنان نمایندگان جوانان تونس، مصر، یمن، بحرین، فلسطین، لیبی و لبنان، حضرت آیت الله خامنه‌ای در سخنانی، جوانان كشورهای اسلامی را حاملان بشارت‌های بزرگ برای آینده امت اسلامی خواندند و افزودند: بیداری جوانان سرتاسر جهان اسلام، امید به بیداری عمومی ملتهای مسلمان را افزایش داده است. رهبر انقلاب، تاریخ بشر را بر سر یك پیچ بزرگ تاریخی و در آستانه تحولی عظیم برشمردند و تأكید كردند: بشریت از همه مكاتب و ایدئولوژی‌های مادی اعم از ماركسیسم، لیبرال دمكراسی و ناسیونالیسم سكولار عبور كرده و در آغاز دوران جدیدی است كه بزرگترین نشانه آن، توجه ملت‌ها به خدای متعال، استمداد آنها از قدرت لایزال الهی و اتكای ملتها به وحی است. ایشان با اشاره به تسلط شبكه دیكتاتوری پیچیده، خطرناك، فاسد و شیطانی صهیونیست‌ها و قدرت‌های استكباری بر جهان افزودند: قیام ملت‌های منطقه علیه دیكتاتورهای وابسته، جزئی از مبارزه بشریت با دیكتاتوری جهانی صهیونیست‌هاست و جامعه بشری با پشت سر گذاشتن پیچ بزرگ تاریخی، از سیطره این دیكتاتوری خطرناك رها می‌شود و این تحول عظیم براساس وعده صادق پروردگار، به آزادی ملت‌ها و حاكمیت ارزش‌های معنوی و الهی منجر خواهد شد. حضرت آیت الله خامنه‌ای با اشاره به كسانی كه ممكن است پیروزی بر شبكه دیكتاتوری جهانی صهیونیست‌ها را غیرممكن بدانند خاطرنشان كردند: قبلاً نیز اگر كسی از پیروزی جوانان مؤمن حزب الله بر ارتش رژیم صهیونیستی سخن می‌گفت و یا از ذلت طاغوت مصر و تحولات عجیب شمال افریقا حرف می زد خیلی‌ها باور نمی‌كردند همچنانكه استقامت، پیروزی و پیشرفت جمهوری اسلامی نیز برای برخی ها قابل باور نبود اما قدرت فائقه پروردگار، خود را در این پیروزی‌ها و تحولات شگفت نشان داد. رهبر انقلاب اسلامی، حضور هوشیارانه و استقامت ملت‌ها در میدان را زمینه‌ساز تحقق بدون تردید نصرت‌های الهی خواندند و افزودند: در پرتو تحقق وعده‌های پروردگار، صهیونیست‌ها، شیطان بزرگ امریكا و قدرت‌های غربی امروز در مقابل بیداری اسلامی احساس ناتوانی می‌كنند و این احساس ضعف و شكست هر روز بیشتر خواهد شد. حضرت آیت الله خامنه‌ای، تحولات كشورهای اسلامی را آغاز راه نجات و سعادت، برشمردند و افزودند: مهم این است كه پیروزی‌های بدست آمده را پایان راه ندانیم و با ادامه مجاهدت و تكیه بر عزم و اراده ملت‌ها، و اتكا و حسن ظن به خدای قادر متعال، مبارزه با زورگویان جهانی و عوامل آنها را ادامه دهیم. http://english.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1580&Itemid=16 In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Two Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon the Master of Messengers, the Master of all people, our Master and Prophet, Ab-al-Qassem Al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his immaculate household and chosen companions and upon those who follow him well until the Day of Judgment. I would like to welcome all the dear guests, the honorable youth, the bearers of great news for the future of the Islamic Ummah. Each and every one of you is a bearer of a great piece of news. When the youth of a country awaken, there will be increased hope of a general awakening in that country. Today Muslim youth have awakened throughout the world of Islam. So many traps have been set in the way of proud and determined Muslim youth, but they have managed to eliminate these problems. You see what has happened in Tunisia, in Egypt, in Libya, in Yemen and in Bahrain. You see the movement that has taken place in other Islamic countries. This is all good news. You dear youth should know that the history of the world and the history of humanity is at a great momentous juncture today. A new era is starting throughout the world. The great and clear sign of it is the attention to Allah the Exalted, the cries for assistance from the inexhaustible source of divine power and reliance on divine revelations. Humanity has passed through the days of materialistic ideologies and schools and thought. Today neither Marxism, nor western liberal democracy, nor secular nationalism has any appeal. You see what is going on in the cradle of western liberal democracy - in America, in Europe. They admit failure. Today among members of the Islamic Ummah, the greatest appeal belongs to Islam, the Holy Quran and the school of thought that is based on divine revelation. Allah the Exalted has promised that the divine and Islamic school of thought and the school of thought that is based on divine revelation can help humanity achieve happiness. This is a very sacred, very important and very significant phenomenon. Today Islamic countries have risen up against dependent dictatorships. This is a prelude to an uprising against global and international dictatorship, namely the tyranny of the corrupt and evil network of the Zionists and the arrogant powers. Today international autocracy and dictatorship is embodied by the tyranny of America, America\'s followers and the satanic and dangerous Zionist network. Today they are acting like a dictator throughout the world by using different methods and different means. What you did in Egypt, what you did in Tunisia, what you did in Libya, what you are doing in Yemen, what you are doing in Bahrain - and strong motivation has built up in other countries to do the same - is part of a battle against this dangerous and harmful dictatorship that has been pressuring humanity for two centuries. The momentous juncture that I spoke about is the transition from the hegemony of this dictatorship to national freedom and the rule of spiritual and divine values. This will happen: do not consider discount it. This is a divine promise: \"And surely Allah will help him who helps His cause.\" [The Holy Quran, 22: 40] Allah the Exalted stresses that if you help His cause, He will assist you. This might look unlikely from a materialistic perspective, a perspective that is based on material calculations. However, there were many things which used to look unlikely, yet they happened. Around fifteen months ago, would you have thought the Egyptian taghut would be humiliated and annihilated like that? At that time, if people had been told that Mubarak\'s corrupt and dependent regime would be overthrown, many of them would have rejected the claim as unlikely, but it happened. Two years ago, if somebody had claimed that those amazing events would happen in North Africa, the majority of the people would have rejected it. If somebody had claimed that in a country like Lebanon, a group of faithful youth would manage to defeat the well-equipped Zionist army, nobody would have believed him. But these things happened. If somebody had said that the Islamic Republic would manage to resist for 32 years and achieve more power and progress on a daily basis in spite of all the enmity by the east and the west, nobody would have believed him, but it happened. \"Allah promised you many acquisitions which you will take, then He hastened on this one for you and held back the hands of men from you, and that it may be a sign for the believers and that He may guide you on a right path.\" [The Holy Quran, 48: 20] These victories are divine signs. They are signs of God\'s overwhelming power. Whenever the people step into the arena, whenever we enter the arena with all our heart and soul, there will definitely be divine assistance. Allah the Exalted shows us the path: \"And (as for) those who strive hard for Us, We will most certainly guide them in Our ways.\" [The Holy Quran, 29: 69] God will guide and assist. He will help people achieve their goals. The condition is that we should be present in the arena. What has happened so far is very significant. For two hundred years, westerners ruled the Islamic Ummah by making use of their scientific advances. They occupied Islamic countries: some of them directly, some of them indirectly with the help of local dictatorships. England, France and finally America - which is the Great Satan - spread their hegemony over the Islamic Ummah. They humiliated the Islamic Ummah as much as they could. They planted the cancerous tumor of Zionism at the heart of the strategic Middle East region and they strengthened it in every way. They were sure that their interests and policies had been safeguarded in this critical part of the world. But the Islamic resolve of Muslim people and their presence wiped out all these impossible dreams and put an end to all these goals. Today the arrogant powers of the world feel helpless in the face of Islamic Awakening. You are dominant. You will win. The future belongs to you. What has been done is a great achievement. But the important point is that this is not the end. This is only the beginning. Muslim nations must continue their struggle so that they can eliminate the enemy in different arenas. The battle is a battle of wills. Any side whose will is stronger has the upper hand. A person whose heart depends on Allah the Exalted has the upper hand. \"If Allah assists you, then there is none that can overcome you.\" [The Holy Quran, 3: 160] If you get divine assistance, nobody will overpower you and you will move forward. We want Muslim nations that make up the great Islamic Ummah to be free. We want them to be independent. We want them to be honorable. We want them to avoid humiliation. We want them to organize their life with the lofty and progressive rules of Islam. And Islam can help them to do so. They kept us scientifically backward for many years. They trampled on our culture. They destroyed our independence. Today we have awakened and we will conquer the arenas of science one after the other. Thirty years ago, when the Islamic Republic was established, the enemies used to say that although the Islamic Revolution had achieved victory, it would not be able to manage different areas of life. They used to say that the Islamic Revolution would back down. Thanks to Islam, today our youth have managed to make great achievements in scientific areas, achievement that would not have occurred to the enemies themselves in the past. Thanks to reliance on Allah the Exalted, today Iranian youth achieve great scientific accomplishments. They produce enriched uranium. They produce stem cells. They make great advances in biotechnology. They venture into space. And all of these things are due to reliance on Allah the Exalted and the slogan of \"Allahu Akbar\". [Audience shout \"Allahu Akbar\"] We must not underestimate our own capabilities. Among the biggest problems that western culture has imposed on Islamic countries is two wrong and misguided conceptions. First, they instilled a sense of incompetence into Muslim nations. They made Muslim nations believe that they were not capable of doing anything - neither in the political arena, nor in the economic arena, nor in the scientific arena. They told Muslim nations, \"You are weak.\" We Muslim nations suffered from this misconception for decades and we stayed backward. The second misconception that they instilled into our mind was that our enemies were invincible and that their power was overwhelming. They convinced us that America could not be defeated, that it was impossible to force the west to retreat, that we had to tolerate them. Today it has become clear to Muslim nations that both of these conceptions are completely wrong. Muslim nations can move forward. They can restore their Islamic glory - Muslims used to be at the peak of honor, at the peak of scientific, political and social brilliance. And the enemy has to retreat in different arenas. This century is the century of Islam. This century is the century of spirituality. Islam offers rationality, spirituality and justice to nations. The kind of Islam that is based on rationality, Islam that is based on thinking, Islam that is based on spirituality, Islam that is based on attention to God and reliance on Him, Islam that is based on jihad, Islam that is based on hard work, Islam that is based on action - these are divine and Islamic teachings for us. Today the important point is that the enemy is designing plots to compensate for the blows he has received in Egypt, Tunisia and other regional countries. We must pay attention to the machinations of the enemy. We must take care not to let them hijack popular revolutions from the people. We must take care not to let them derail these revolutions. Make use of the experiences of others. The enemy does many things in order to derail popular revolutions and neutralize popular movements. The enemy does many things in order to counteract selfless efforts and the blood that has been shed. It is necessary to be careful. It is necessary to be vigilant. You dear youth are the driving force behind these movements. Be vigilant. Be careful. We have gained a lot of experience over the past 32 years. It is 32 years that we have been countering hostilities. We have resisted and overpowered the enemy. [Audience shout \"Allahu Akbar\" and pledge allegiance to the Supreme Leader] The west and America have never refused to hatch plots against the Islamic Republic. If there was something they did not do, it was because they could not do it. They did whatever they could and they have been kicked in the mouth and defeated at every stage. [Audience shout \"death to America\"] The same thing will happen in the future as well. The Islamic Republic will continue foiling all their plots in the future as well. This is something that God has promised us and we do not have any doubts in this regard. We do not doubt the truthfulness of God\'s promise. We do not doubt Allah the Exalted. Allah the Exalted admonishes those who doubt Him. \"And (that) He may punish the hypocritical men and the hypocritical women, and the polytheistic men and the polytheistic women, the entertainers of evil thoughts about Allah. On them is the evil turn, and Allah is wroth with them and has cursed them and prepared hell for them, and evil is the resort.\" [The Holy Quran, 48: 6] God\'s promise is truthful. The Iranian nation has brought all its facilities into the arena and because we are in the battlefield, God will definitely assist us and the same is true of all other countries as well. But we must be vigilant. All of us must be vigilant. All of us must watch out for the machinations designed by the enemies. The enemy tries to counteract our movements and to foment discord. Today the Islamic movement throughout the world of Islam is independent of Shia and Sunni. It is independent of Shafi\'i, Hanafi, Ja\'fari, Maliki, Hanbali and Zeidi schools. It is independent of Arabs, Persians and other ethnicities. Everybody is present in this vast arena. We must try not to let the enemy foment discord among us. There must be a sense of brotherhood among us. We must try to specify our goal. The goal is Islam. The goal is Quranic and Islamic rule. Of course, there are certain differences and similarities among Muslim countries. There is no single paradigm that fits all Islamic countries. In different countries, there are different geographic, historical and social conditions, but there are also certain shared principles: all of us are opposed to the arrogant powers, all of us are opposed to the evil hegemony of the west, all of us are opposed to the cancerous tumor, Israel. [Audience shout \"death to Israel] Wherever it is felt that something is being done which would benefit Israel and America, we must be vigilant. We must know that it is a foreign move. We must know that it is not an insider move. Wherever there is an Islamic, anti-Zionist, anti-arrogance, anti-tyranny and anti-corruption move, that move would be a correct move and all of us would be insiders. Then it would not matter whether we are Shia or Sunni, or whether we are from this or that country. All of us must think in the same way. As an obvious example, notice that today all media companies of the world are trying to isolate the people of Bahrain and their movement. What is the reason? The reason is that the issue is a Shia-Sunni issue: they want to foment discord. They want to draw lines and separate Muslims. There is no difference between pious Muslims who have a tendency towards this or that Islamic denomination. Islam is the aspect that all of these denominations have in common. Unity of Islamic Ummah is the aspect that all of them have in common. [Audience shout \"Allahu Akbar\" and \"unity, Islamic unity\"] The secret behind victory and the continuation of the movement is reliance on God, trust in Him and maintaining unity and cohesion. My dear children, take care not to let the enemy stop your movement. In two different parts of the Holy Quran, Allah the Exalted tells His Messenger to be steadfast. \"Then stand firm in the right way as you are commanded.\" [The Holy Quran, 11: 112] \"And stand firm in the right way as you are commanded.\" [The Holy Quran, 42: 15] God tells the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) to be steadfast. Being steadfast means continuing one\'s path in a determined way without stopping. This is the secret behind success. We must move forward. This movement is a successful movement because the prospects are bright. The future prospects are bright. By Allah\'s favor, there will be a day when the Islamic Ummah will reach the peak of power and independence. [Audience shout \"humiliation is far from us\"] While preserving their characteristics and differences, Muslim nations should come together under the banner of the call to God and the call to Islam. Then the Islamic Ummah will regain its dignity. We have natural resources in Muslim countries. We have strategic regions. We have numerous natural resources. We have outstanding figures. We have highly skilled and talented manpower. We must make efforts and Allah the Exalted will bless our efforts. I would tell you dear youth that the future belongs to you. By Allah\'s favor, you dear youth will see that day and you will hand down your sources of pride to the future generations. Greetings be upon you and Allah\'s mercy and blessings.

Description:

Speech of Imam Khamenei [ha] at \\\\\\\"Islamic Awakening and Youth\\\\\\\" Conference, 30/01/2012 [ENG SUB] Supreme Leader’s Speech to Participants of “Islamic Awakening and Youth Conference” 30/01/2012 The following is the full text of the speech delivered on January 30, 2012 by Ayatollah Khamenei the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in a meeting with the participants of the \\\\\\\"Islamic Awakening and Youth Conference\\\\\\\" in Tehran. In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Two Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon the Master of Messengers, the Master of all people, our Master and Prophet, Ab-al-Qassem Al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his immaculate household and chosen companions and upon those who follow him well until the Day of Judgment. I would like to welcome all the dear guests, the honorable youth, the bearers of great news for the future of the Islamic Ummah. Each and every one of you is a bearer of a great piece of news. When the youth of a country awaken, there will be increased hope of a general awakening in that country. Today Muslim youth have awakened throughout the world of Islam. So many traps have been set in the way of proud and determined Muslim youth, but they have managed to eliminate these problems. You see what has happened in Tunisia, in Egypt, in Libya, in Yemen and in Bahrain. You see the movement that has taken place in other Islamic countries. This is all good news. You dear youth should know that the history of the world and the history of humanity is at a great momentous juncture today. A new era is starting throughout the world. The great and clear sign of it is the attention to Allah the Exalted, the cries for assistance from the inexhaustible source of divine power and reliance on divine revelations. Humanity has passed through the days of materialistic ideologies and schools and thought. Today neither Marxism, nor western liberal democracy, nor secular nationalism has any appeal. You see what is going on in the cradle of western liberal democracy - in America, in Europe. They admit failure. Today among members of the Islamic Ummah, the greatest appeal belongs to Islam, the Holy Quran and the school of thought that is based on divine revelation. Allah the Exalted has promised that the divine and Islamic school of thought and the school of thought that is based on divine revelation can help humanity achieve happiness. This is a very sacred, very important and very significant phenomenon. Today Islamic countries have risen up against dependent dictatorships. This is a prelude to an uprising against global and international dictatorship, namely the tyranny of the corrupt and evil network of the Zionists and the arrogant powers. Today international autocracy and dictatorship is embodied by the tyranny of America, America\\\\\\\'s followers and the satanic and dangerous Zionist network. Today they are acting like a dictator throughout the world by using different methods and different means. What you did in Egypt, what you did in Tunisia, what you did in Libya, what you are doing in Yemen, what you are doing in Bahrain - and strong motivation has built up in other countries to do the same - is part of a battle against this dangerous and harmful dictatorship that has been pressuring humanity for two centuries. The momentous juncture that I spoke about is the transition from the hegemony of this dictatorship to national freedom and the rule of spiritual and divine values. This will happen: do not consider discount it. This is a divine promise: \\\\\\\"And surely Allah will help him who helps His cause.\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 22: 40] Allah the Exalted stresses that if you help His cause, He will assist you. This might look unlikely from a materialistic perspective, a perspective that is based on material calculations. However, there were many things which used to look unlikely, yet they happened. Around fifteen months ago, would you have thought the Egyptian taghut would be humiliated and annihilated like that? At that time, if people had been told that Mubarak\\\\\\\'s corrupt and dependent regime would be overthrown, many of them would have rejected the claim as unlikely, but it happened. Two years ago, if somebody had claimed that those amazing events would happen in North Africa, the majority of the people would have rejected it. If somebody had claimed that in a country like Lebanon, a group of faithful youth would manage to defeat the well-equipped Zionist army, nobody would have believed him. But these things happened. If somebody had said that the Islamic Republic would manage to resist for 32 years and achieve more power and progress on a daily basis in spite of all the enmity by the east and the west, nobody would have believed him, but it happened. \\\\\\\"Allah promised you many acquisitions which you will take, then He hastened on this one for you and held back the hands of men from you, and that it may be a sign for the believers and that He may guide you on a right path.\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 48: 20] These victories are divine signs. They are signs of God\\\\\\\'s overwhelming power. Whenever the people step into the arena, whenever we enter the arena with all our heart and soul, there will definitely be divine assistance. Allah the Exalted shows us the path: \\\\\\\"And (as for) those who strive hard for Us, We will most certainly guide them in Our ways.\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 29: 69] God will guide and assist. He will help people achieve their goals. The condition is that we should be present in the arena. What has happened so far is very significant. For two hundred years, westerners ruled the Islamic Ummah by making use of their scientific advances. They occupied Islamic countries: some of them directly, some of them indirectly with the help of local dictatorships. England, France and finally America - which is the Great Satan - spread their hegemony over the Islamic Ummah. They humiliated the Islamic Ummah as much as they could. They planted the cancerous tumor of Zionism at the heart of the strategic Middle East region and they strengthened it in every way. They were sure that their interests and policies had been safeguarded in this critical part of the world. But the Islamic resolve of Muslim people and their presence wiped out all these impossible dreams and put an end to all these goals. Today the arrogant powers of the world feel helpless in the face of Islamic Awakening. You are dominant. You will win. The future belongs to you. What has been done is a great achievement. But the important point is that this is not the end. This is only the beginning. Muslim nations must continue their struggle so that they can eliminate the enemy in different arenas. The battle is a battle of wills. Any side whose will is stronger has the upper hand. A person whose heart depends on Allah the Exalted has the upper hand. \\\\\\\"If Allah assists you, then there is none that can overcome you.\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 3: 160] If you get divine assistance, nobody will overpower you and you will move forward. We want Muslim nations that make up the great Islamic Ummah to be free. We want them to be independent. We want them to be honorable. We want them to avoid humiliation. We want them to organize their life with the lofty and progressive rules of Islam. And Islam can help them to do so. They kept us scientifically backward for many years. They trampled on our culture. They destroyed our independence. Today we have awakened and we will conquer the arenas of science one after the other. Thirty years ago, when the Islamic Republic was established, the enemies used to say that although the Islamic Revolution had achieved victory, it would not be able to manage different areas of life. They used to say that the Islamic Revolution would back down. Thanks to Islam, today our youth have managed to make great achievements in scientific areas, achievement that would not have occurred to the enemies themselves in the past. Thanks to reliance on Allah the Exalted, today Iranian youth achieve great scientific accomplishments. They produce enriched uranium. They produce stem cells. They make great advances in biotechnology. They venture into space. And all of these things are due to reliance on Allah the Exalted and the slogan of \\\\\\\"Allahu Akbar\\\\\\\". [Audience shout \\\\\\\"Allahu Akbar\\\\\\\"] We must not underestimate our own capabilities. Among the biggest problems that western culture has imposed on Islamic countries is two wrong and misguided conceptions. First, they instilled a sense of incompetence into Muslim nations. They made Muslim nations believe that they were not capable of doing anything - neither in the political arena, nor in the economic arena, nor in the scientific arena. They told Muslim nations, \\\\\\\"You are weak.\\\\\\\" We Muslim nations suffered from this misconception for decades and we stayed backward. The second misconception that they instilled into our mind was that our enemies were invincible and that their power was overwhelming. They convinced us that America could not be defeated, that it was impossible to force the west to retreat, that we had to tolerate them. Today it has become clear to Muslim nations that both of these conceptions are completely wrong. Muslim nations can move forward. They can restore their Islamic glory - Muslims used to be at the peak of honor, at the peak of scientific, political and social brilliance. And the enemy has to retreat in different arenas. This century is the century of Islam. This century is the century of spirituality. Islam offers rationality, spirituality and justice to nations. The kind of Islam that is based on rationality, Islam that is based on thinking, Islam that is based on spirituality, Islam that is based on attention to God and reliance on Him, Islam that is based on jihad, Islam that is based on hard work, Islam that is based on action - these are divine and Islamic teachings for us. Today the important point is that the enemy is designing plots to compensate for the blows he has received in Egypt, Tunisia and other regional countries. We must pay attention to the machinations of the enemy. We must take care not to let them hijack popular revolutions from the people. We must take care not to let them derail these revolutions. Make use of the experiences of others. The enemy does many things in order to derail popular revolutions and neutralize popular movements. The enemy does many things in order to counteract selfless efforts and the blood that has been shed. It is necessary to be careful. It is necessary to be vigilant. You dear youth are the driving force behind these movements. Be vigilant. Be careful. We have gained a lot of experience over the past 32 years. It is 32 years that we have been countering hostilities. We have resisted and overpowered the enemy. [Audience shout \\\\\\\"Allahu Akbar\\\\\\\" and pledge allegiance to the Supreme Leader] The west and America have never refused to hatch plots against the Islamic Republic. If there was something they did not do, it was because they could not do it. They did whatever they could and they have been kicked in the mouth and defeated at every stage. [Audience shout \\\\\\\"death to America\\\\\\\"] The same thing will happen in the future as well. The Islamic Republic will continue foiling all their plots in the future as well. This is something that God has promised us and we do not have any doubts in this regard. We do not doubt the truthfulness of God\\\\\\\'s promise. We do not doubt Allah the Exalted. Allah the Exalted admonishes those who doubt Him. \\\\\\\"And (that) He may punish the hypocritical men and the hypocritical women, and the polytheistic men and the polytheistic women, the entertainers of evil thoughts about Allah. On them is the evil turn, and Allah is wroth with them and has cursed them and prepared hell for them, and evil is the resort.\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 48: 6] God\\\\\\\'s promise is truthful. The Iranian nation has brought all its facilities into the arena and because we are in the battlefield, God will definitely assist us and the same is true of all other countries as well. But we must be vigilant. All of us must be vigilant. All of us must watch out for the machinations designed by the enemies. The enemy tries to counteract our movements and to foment discord. Today the Islamic movement throughout the world of Islam is independent of Shia and Sunni. It is independent of Shafi\\\\\\\'i, Hanafi, Ja\\\\\\\'fari, Maliki, Hanbali and Zeidi schools. It is independent of Arabs, Persians and other ethnicities. Everybody is present in this vast arena. We must try not to let the enemy foment discord among us. There must be a sense of brotherhood among us. We must try to specify our goal. The goal is Islam. The goal is Quranic and Islamic rule. Of course, there are certain differences and similarities among Muslim countries. There is no single paradigm that fits all Islamic countries. In different countries, there are different geographic, historical and social conditions, but there are also certain shared principles: all of us are opposed to the arrogant powers, all of us are opposed to the evil hegemony of the west, all of us are opposed to the cancerous tumor, Israel. [Audience shout \\\\\\\"death to Israel] Wherever it is felt that something is being done which would benefit Israel and America, we must be vigilant. We must know that it is a foreign move. We must know that it is not an insider move. Wherever there is an Islamic, anti-Zionist, anti-arrogance, anti-tyranny and anti-corruption move, that move would be a correct move and all of us would be insiders. Then it would not matter whether we are Shia or Sunni, or whether we are from this or that country. All of us must think in the same way. As an obvious example, notice that today all media companies of the world are trying to isolate the people of Bahrain and their movement. What is the reason? The reason is that the issue is a Shia-Sunni issue: they want to foment discord. They want to draw lines and separate Muslims. There is no difference between pious Muslims who have a tendency towards this or that Islamic denomination. Islam is the aspect that all of these denominations have in common. Unity of Islamic Ummah is the aspect that all of them have in common. [Audience shout \\\\\\\"Allahu Akbar\\\\\\\" and \\\\\\\"unity, Islamic unity\\\\\\\"] The secret behind victory and the continuation of the movement is reliance on God, trust in Him and maintaining unity and cohesion. My dear children, take care not to let the enemy stop your movement. In two different parts of the Holy Quran, Allah the Exalted tells His Messenger to be steadfast. \\\\\\\"Then stand firm in the right way as you are commanded.\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 11: 112] \\\\\\\"And stand firm in the right way as you are commanded.\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 42: 15] God tells the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) to be steadfast. Being steadfast means continuing one\\\\\\\'s path in a determined way without stopping. This is the secret behind success. We must move forward. This movement is a successful movement because the prospects are bright. The future prospects are bright. By Allah\\\\\\\'s favor, there will be a day when the Islamic Ummah will reach the peak of power and independence. [Audience shout \\\\\\\"humiliation is far from us\\\\\\\"] While preserving their characteristics and differences, Muslim nations should come together under the banner of the call to God and the call to Islam. Then the Islamic Ummah will regain its dignity. We have natural resources in Muslim countries. We have strategic regions. We have numerous natural resources. We have outstanding figures. We have highly skilled and talented manpower. We must make efforts and Allah the Exalted will bless our efforts. I would tell you dear youth that the future belongs to you. By Allah\\\\\\\'s favor, you dear youth will see that day and you will hand down your sources of pride to the future generations. Greetings be upon you and Allah\\\\\\\'s mercy and blessings

Description:

Now we shall take up the different forms of tahrif. There are various kinds of tahrif, the most important of which are tahrif in words and tahrif of meaning. Tahrif of wording occurs when the literal form of a statement is changed. For instance, when words and phrases are deleted or added to a statement or the sequence of sentences is altered in such a manner as to change its meaning. In this case tahrif occurs in the outward form and wording of a statement Tahrif of meaning occurs when one does not change the words, which remain in their original form, but the statement is interpreted in a manner that is contrary to the intent of its speaker. It is interpreted in such a manner as to express one\\\\\\\'s own intent, not that of its author. The Noble Qur\\\\\\\'an employs the term tahrif specifically in relation to the Jews. A study of history shows that they have been the champions of tahrif throughout the course of history. I don\\\\\\\'t know what kind of race this is that has such an amazing penchant for misrepresenting facts! Accordingly they always take up professions in which they can distort and misrepresent events. From what I have heard, the world\\\\\\\'s well-known news agencies, which are perpetually quoted by the radios and newspapers, are exclusively in the hands of the Jews. Why? Because they can report the events as they wish. How amazing is the Qur\\\\\\\'an\\\\\\\'s statement about them! This characteristic of the Jews, the tendency for tahrif, is considered a racial trait by the Qur\\\\\\\'an. In one of the verses of the Sura al-baqarah, the Qur\\\\\\\'an declares: Are you then eager that they (i.e. the Jews) should believe in you, while a party of them had heard Allah\\\\\\\'s word, and then consciously misinterpreted it, after they had understood it, and did that knowingly? (2:75) [1] This means, \\\\\\\'O Muslims, have you pinned your hopes on their telling you the truth? They are the same people who would go along with Moses, and hear God\\\\\\\'s pronouncements. But by the time they returned to their people\\\\\\\'s midst to recount what they had heard, they would twist it out of shape.\\\\\\\' The tahrif that they would carry out was not for the reason that they did not understand and so altered what they reported. No! They are an intelligent people and they understand matters the issues very well. But despite the fact that they understand what they have heard they would recount them in a distorted manner for the people. This is what tahrif is, that is, distorting and twisting things out of their original shape-and they carried out tahrif even in Divine scriptures! In this context, in most of the cases the Qur\\\\\\\'an uses the very term tahrif or expresses the matter in some other manner. However, the exegetes have pointed out that the Qur\\\\\\\'anic reference to tahrif in this context includes tahrif in wording as well as in meaning. That is, some of the instances of corruption that have occurred [in the scriptures at the hands of the Jews] relating to the wording and some of them relate to the meanings and interpretation. As this involves a digression from my main topic, I do not wish to discuss this matter any further.

Description:

The Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says Iran will not back down an iota from its rights and will never give in to pressure. Ayatollah Khamenei said the rights of the nation including its nuclear rights must be recognized. The leader expressed his support for the Iranian government and officials including the nuclear negotiating team. Ayatollah Khamenei also said he will not get involved with the details of the negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. But he said there are red lines and limitations that the Iranian negotiators will have to heed. Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in an address to commanders and members of the Basij volunteer force in Tehran. Supreme Leader\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Speech in Meeting with Basij Commanders Print 20/11/2013 Supreme Leader\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Speech in Meeting with Basij CommandersThe following is the full text of the speech delivered on November 20, 2013 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with fifty thousand Basij commanders. The meeting was held at the Musalah in Tehran. 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 and upon his immaculate, pure and chosen household, especially the one remaining with Allah on earth. Greetings be upon you Abi Abdullah and upon those who laid down their lives for you. I will send you God\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s eternal greetings as long as I live and as long as night and day prevail. May God not make this prayer my last covenant with you. Greetings be upon Hussein, upon Ali ibn al-Hussein, upon the children of Hussein and upon the companions of Hussein - those who laid down their lives for Hussein (a.s.). This meeting is a very important meeting. Basij is the manifestation of the greatness of our nation and the domestic capability of our country. This meeting is the meeting of commanders. You tens of thousands of commanders of Basij have gathered in this place and one can guess from this large gathering how glorious Basij is. You are a source of satisfaction, hope and trust for the supporters of the Islamic Republic, the Revolution and the country and you are a source of intimidation and fear for the ill-wishers, enemies and those who bear a grudge [against the Revolution and the Islamic Republic]. The coincidence of Basij Week with these days, which are the days of the great epic of the history of Islam, is a good and valuable occasion. What I mean by this great epic is the epic created by Zaynab al-Kubra (s.a.) which complements the epic of Ashura. The epic that Zaynab al-Kubra (s.a.) created revived and preserved the epic of Ashura. The greatness of what Zaynab al-Kubra (s.a.) did, cannot be compared to other great events in history. It should only be compared to the event of Ashura itself and truly, these two events complete one another. This great personality and this great lady of Islam and all of humanity managed to stand firm in the face of the great mountain of hardships and there was not even a tremble in her voice because of all these events. She stood firm like a glorious mountain peak both in the face of enemies and in the face of hardships and bitter events. She became a lesson, a role model, a leader and a pioneer. At the bazaar of Kufa, while she was held captive, she made this astonishing speech: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Oh people of Kufa, who are treacherous and disloyal, do you cry for us? May your tears not dry and may your moans not stop. You are like a woman who loosens her threads after she pulls them together\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [al-Ihtijaj, Volume 2, page 303]. The words are as firm as steel and the meaning flows like a river and it influences hearts and souls. In such conditions, Zaynab al-Kubra delivered a speech, which was like the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.), and she shook hearts and souls and she shook history with these words. This speech became eternal in history. It was delivered in front of the people while she was held captive. After that, she delivered a speech in front of Ibn Ziad in Kufa and a few weeks later, she spoke in front of Yazid with such strength that it both humiliated the enemy and the hardships which the enemy had imposed. She said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Do you foolishly think that you can defeat, suppress and humiliate the household of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.)?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Honor belongs to Allah and His Messenger, and to the believers\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 63: 8]. Zaynab al-Kubra is the manifestation of dignity, as Hussein ibn Ali (a.s.) was the manifestation of dignity in Karbala on the day of Ashura. The way she looks at events is different from the way other people look at those events. Despite all those hardships, when the enemy wants to taunt her, she says, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I did not see anything except for beauty\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [Lohuf, page 160]. She said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"What I saw was beautiful. It was martyrdom. Although it was difficult, it was in the way of God and it was done for preserving Islam. It was the creation of an epic in history so that Islamic Ummah knows what it should do and how it should move forward and stand firm\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". This is a great achievement made by the epic of Zaynab (s.a.). This is the dignity of God\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s saint. Zaynab al-Kubra (s.a.) is one of God\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s saints. Her dignity is the dignity of Islam and she made Islam and the Holy Quran valuable. Of course, we are not as aspirational and determined as Zaynab al-Kubra (s.a.) and therefore we cannot say that the behavior of this great lady is our model. We are too inferior to say such things, but anyway, our movement should be in line with the movement of Zaynab (s.a.). Our efforts should be focused on bringing dignity for Islam, the Islamic community and the entire humanity. This is the same responsibility that Allah the Exalted has entrusted to prophets through Islamic obligations and rules. In the first part of my speech, what I want to briefly discuss with you dear basijis and dear youth is that one of the factors which brought about this spirit and this patience in Zaynab al-Kubra (s.a.) and other divine saints - who moved forward with such spirit and patience - is sincerity and honesty. It is very important to honor our promises to Allah the Exalted and to devote our hearts to the path of God in a sincere way. In the Holy Quran, this sincerity is necessary for divine prophets as well: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"And remember We took from the prophets their covenant, as We did from you, from Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus the son of Mary: We took from them a solemn covenant, that (Allah) may question the custodians of Truth concerning the Truth they (were charged with)\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 33: 7-8]. God says that this covenant is very firm and serious. In the phrase \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Leyasala\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" lam signifies results and consequences. The result of this covenant is that these great prophets will be questioned about their sincerity in this covenant. That is to say, our Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and other great prophets should prove before God the level of their sincerity concerning the conditions of this covenant. This part is related to prophets. God also says to ordinary people and believers: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Among the Believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah: of them some have completed their vow (fully), and some (still) wait: but they have never changed (their determination) in the least, that Allah may reward the men of Truth for their Truth, and punish the Hypocrites if that be His Will\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 33: 23-24]. When addressing great prophets, God referred to unbelievers as the opposite of honest individuals: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"And He has prepared for the unbelievers a grievous Penalty\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 33: 8]. And when addressing these believers, He referred to hypocrites as the opposite of honest individuals and there are important points in this comparison. You and I will be questioned about our promise to God. We have a covenant with God. In the holy ayah \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Among the Believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", the pledge that believers made to God and that was honored by them is the same as another ayah in this holy sura: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"And yet they had already covenanted with Allah not to turn their backs\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 33: 15]. All of us should pay attention to such points. Believers promised Allah the Exalted not to escape in the face of the enemy and not to turn their backs. The Holy Quran stresses that abandoning one\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s positions and retreating in the face of the enemy are among the things which should not be done. One should stand up against the enemy in any military, political and economic war and in any arena which is a test of strength. Your determination should overcome the enemy\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s determination. Your willpower should overcome the enemy\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s willpower. This can be done and this is possible. From the viewpoint of the Holy Quran and Islam, running away and retreating from the enemy are forbidden in any arena of jihad and confrontation. When we used the phrase \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"heroic flexibility\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", some people defined it as abandoning the ideals and the goals of the Islamic Republic. Some of the enemies too used it to accuse the Islamic Republic of betraying its principles. These interpretations were wrong and they misunderstood this phrase. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Heroic flexibility\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" means an artful maneuver for reaching one\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s goal. It means that the followers of God\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s path - any divine path - should utilize different methods, in any way possible, in order to reach their goal and this should be done whenever they move towards the different ideals of Islam. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"If any do turn his back to them on such a day - unless it be in a stratagem of war, or to retreat to a troop (of his own)- he draws on himself the wrath of Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 8: 16]. Like the arena of war, any movement - whether forward or backward - should be launched in order to reach one\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s predetermined goals. There are certain goals and at each stage, the Islamic government pursues one of these goals in order to make progress, achieve transcendence and create the great Islamic civilization. The Islamic government should try to achieve this goal at this stage. Of course, there are certain stages and phases to reach these goals. Experts, intellectuals and officials in charge of this are identifying these phases and goals and, as a result, our collective movement will begin. Everyone should try to make any movement, at any stage, reach its goal. This is a proper system which is based on logical and rational measures. All activists in the arena of politics and macromanagement of the country should always keep this in mind. All the people and you dear basijis too - who are activists in the arena of Basij - should always keep this in mind. Well, when we say that we want to move forward, does this mean that the Islamic government is warmongering? Does this mean that the Islamic government wants to confront all nations and all countries in the world? Sometimes one hears that the enemies of the Iranian nation - specifically the najis-mouthed dirty dog of the region, the Zionist regime - move their jaws to say that Iran is a threat for the entire world. This is the claim of the enemy, but this is exactly the opposite of Islamic principles. On the contrary, those evil and malevolent forces - including the fake Zionist regime and some of its supporters - that show nothing except for malevolence, are a threat for the entire world. The lesson that the Islamic government learned from the Holy Quran, the Holy Prophet of Islam (s.w.a.) and the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.) is a different lesson: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Allah commands justice and the doing of good\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 16: 90]. Allah the Exalted invites us to administer justice and do good. The commander of the Faithful (a.s.) said that we should be kind to everyone because \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Those who have the same religion as you have, they are brothers to you, and those who have religions other than that of yours, they are human beings like you\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [Nahjul Balaghah, Letter 53]. People are either your Islamic brothers or human beings like you. This is the logic of Islam. We want to render services and show kindness to everyone. We want to establish a friendly and kind relationship with all human beings and all nations. We even have no enmity with the American people despite the fact that the government of America is an arrogant, hostile and evil government which bears a grudge against the Iranian nation and the Islamic Republic. The American people are like other peoples. What the Islamic Republic is opposed to is arrogance. The hostility of the Islamic Republic is oriented towards global arrogance. We are opposed to and fight against arrogance. Arrogance is a Quranic word and it has been used in the Holy Quran to refer to people like Pharaoh and the groups of people who are ill-wishers and who are opposed to truth. Arrogance existed in the past as well and it has continued to prevail until the present time. In all eras, arrogance has had the same structure. Of course, it has used different methods and tactics in different eras. There is arrogance today as well and it is led by the United States of America. We should know arrogance and its characteristics. We should know the methods and the orientation of arrogance so that we can organize our behavior in the face of arrogance. We are opposed to unreasonable behavior in all arenas. We believe that we should move forward with wisdom and acumen in all arenas, in all collective and individual orientations and in all plans. If we do not know the scene, if we do not know our friends and our enemies, if we do not know imperialism and arrogance in the present time, then how can we move forward with wisdom and acumen? How can we make accurate plans? Therefore, we should know these things. What I am saying about arrogance is a few examples regarding the behavior of today\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s global arrogance in the world. In many of these examples and cases, today\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s arrogance shares the characteristics of arrogance in previous centuries and previous eras. One of the characteristics of arrogance is egotism. When arrogant groups - those people who have taken everything in their hands as the highest-ranking individuals in a country, in a group of countries or in a global system - consider themselves to be superior to other people, when they regard themselves as the pivot, when they place everyone, except for themselves, on the periphery, then a wrong and dangerous equation will be formed in global interactions. When arrogance views itself as superior and as the pivot and core [of everything], then the result will be that it grants itself the right to interfere in the affairs of other people and other nations. If arrogance considers something to be a value and if other people do not, this will grant it the right to interfere in their affairs and bully and pressure them. This egotism makes them claim to be the guardian of nations and to be responsible for global management. It also makes them consider themselves to be the boss of all the people in the world. As you can hear, American officials and politicians speak about the government of America as if it were the leader of all countries. They say that they cannot let this be done. They say, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We cannot allow this person to be or not to be in charge\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". They speak about our region in a way that it seems they are the owners of this region. They speak about the Zionist regime in a way that it seems regional nations have to accept this imposed and fake regime. They behave towards independent nations and governments as if they did not have the right to live. This egotism and this attitude of considering oneself to have a special position among all people, all nations and all human beings is the main foundation on which arrogance has been built and this is its biggest problem. This egotism will lead to another characteristic and another criterion for arrogance which is the tendency to ignore other people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s rights. They neither accept truth nor the rights of other nations. They do not at all acknowledge other people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s rights. In international negotiations, someone says something which is right, but America does not accept it. It tries to deny such rights with different methods and it does not accept truth. This has happened many times. In the present time, one of the examples of this behavior is our current issues related to nuclear activities and industries. Imagine that someone says something which is true. If one is fair, reasonable and rational, he should give up when he faces the truth. But arrogance does not give up. It hears the truth, but it does not accept it. This is one of its characteristics. It does not acknowledge the rights of other nations either. It does not acknowledge the right of a people to choose, to do what they want and to adopt those economic and political measures which they want. They believe in imposing things on other nations. Another characteristic of colonialism and arrogance is that it condones crimes against nations and the entire humanity and that it is indifferent towards such crimes. This is one of the greatest disasters of arrogance in modern times. Modern times means the era of scientific progress and the era of the emergence of dangerous weapons. When these weapons became available to arrogant powers, they created a disaster for all nations. They do not attach any value on the lives of individuals - those individuals who do not follow, obey and surrender to them. There are many examples in this regard. One example is the behavior of arrogant powers towards Native Americans - those people whose financial and natural resources, whose geography and whose entire properties are in the hands of non-natives now. Well, there were native people in America. Their behavior towards these Native Americans was so violent and so disgusting that it is one of the darkest points in the history of modern America. The Americans themselves have written many things about the massacres that took place and the pressures that they exerted. The same thing was done by the English in Australia. The English hunted people, for pleasure, like animals and like kangaroos. They did not attach any value on the lives of human beings. This is only one example. There are hundreds of examples which have been recorded in their own history books. Another example is the nuclear bombardment that was launched in the year 1945 of the Christian calendar - that it to say, the year 1324 of the Hijri calendar - when the Americans destroyed two Japanese cities and, as a result, hundreds of thousands of people were killed. Over the course of time, the number of people who suffered from deformities and different diseases because of nuclear radiations was several times larger than this and these problems have persisted until the present time. They did not have any cogent reason for this - I will refer to this later on. They easily dropped these bombs. Until now, atomic bombs have been used twice and both times, they were used by the Americans who consider themselves to be the main responsible party for the nuclear issues of other countries. They like to forget these events, but it is not forgettable. All these lives were destroyed, but it was not at all important to them. For arrogance, the lives of human beings have no value and it is easy for arrogant regimes to commit crimes. They massacred the people in Vietnam. In Iraq, their security services and their mercenary security agencies - such as Blackwater which I referred to in the year 1390 - committed certain crimes. They are still committing crimes in Pakistan with their drones. In Afghanistan, they conduct a number of bombardments and they commit crimes. They are not afraid of committing crimes in each area they can get their hands on and in each area their interests dictate. These crimes include murder and torture. The Guantanamo prison - which belongs to the Americans - still has prisoners. It is 10, 11 years now that they have been arresting a number of people from different countries and putting them in this prison on different charges. They have been keeping them in this prison without any trial and with extremely difficult conditions and they have been torturing them. In Iraq, the Abu Ghraib prison was one of the American prisons. In this prison, they used to torture and set dogs on prisoners. Looting the vital resources of other nations is easy for them. Capturing and enslaving Africans is one of the tragic events in history which American imperialism and other such regimes do not like to be reviewed. They do not like the issue of enslaving the people of Africa to be reflected on. They used to sail ships from the Atlantic Ocean and anchor them on the coast of West African countries such as Gambia and other countries in this continent. Then, they used to go and capture hundreds of thousands of men and women and old and young people with guns and other weapons which were not available to people at that time. While these people were in difficult conditions, they were taken to America on such ships for slavery. They captivated free people who were living in their houses and in their own cities. In the present time, the black people who live in America are the descendents of those slaves. For several centuries, the Americans exerted such an eccentric pressure and there are many books in this regard such as the book \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Roots\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" written by Alexander Haley. This book is a very valuable book for showing part of these crimes. How can today\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s modern man forget such events? Despite all these crimes, the white people continue to discriminate against blacks in America. Another characteristic of arrogance is deception and hypocritical behavior. You should pay attention to this issue. They try to justify the crimes which were referred to and they try to show that they were rendering services by committing these crimes. Global arrogance, which intends to dominate all nations, is frequently using this method in its entire life: the method of justifying crimes and taking on the appearance of rendering services. When the Americans want to apologize for their attack on Japan - that is to say, the two bombs which exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki - they say, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Although tens of thousands or perhaps hundreds of thousands of people were killed by the two bombs that we dropped on these two cities, this was the cost of ending World War II. If we the Americans had not dropped these bombs, the war would have continued. If we had not done this, then two million people - instead of the 200 thousand people who were killed as a result of these bombs - would have been killed. Therefore, we rendered a service by dropping these bombs\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". Notice that this is a statement which the Americans make in their official propaganda. Now, around 65 years have passed from that day, but they have repeatedly said this. This is one of the deceptive and hypocritical statements and one of the elaborate lies that is not made and told by anyone except arrogant regimes. These bombs were dropped on and exploded in these two cities in the summer of the year 1945 of the Christian calendar and this crime was committed in that year. This was while four months before that - that is to say, in the early spring of 1945 - Hitler, who was the primary warmonger, had committed suicide. Moreover, Mussolini - the president of Italy at that time, who was the second important element in the war - had been arrested and the war was practically over. Japan too, which was the third important element in the war, had announced that it was ready to surrender. Therefore, there was practically no war, but these bombs were dropped anyway. Why? It is because these bombs had been built and they must have been tested somewhere. Certain weapons had been built and they must have been tested somewhere. Where should they test them now? The best option was to drop these bombs on the innocent people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the excuse of war so that it becomes clear whether these bombs work properly or not. Such is their deceit. They claim to be the supporters of human rights, but they target the Iranian passenger plane in the air and they kill about three hundred passengers who are unaware of this. Moreover, they do not apologize and they award a medal to the person who commits this crime. You have heard that in recent weeks, the Americans - from the President to lower-ranking politicians - have created uproar about the use of chemical weapons in Syria. They accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons. I do not want to judge who has used these weapons. Of course, evidence shows that terrorist groups have used them, but anyway, they said that the Syrian government has used such weapons. They created uproar about this and they said that the use of chemical weapons is our red line. American officials said this 10 times or more. But not only did the government and the regime of the United States of America not express any opposition to Saddam\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s use of chemical weapons during its criminal attacks on Iran, but it also provided him with 500 tons of hazardous and lethal chemicals which could be turned into mustard gas. Many of our dear youth of those times are still suffering from the effects of those chemicals and it is several years that they have been suffering from various diseases. The Americans helped Saddam to be equipped with such chemicals. Of course, he had bought such chemicals from other countries as well, but it was America that provided Saddam with 500 tons of lethal chemicals - which could turn into mustard gas - and that helped him to use it. After that, when the United Nations Security Council decided to issue a resolution against Saddam, it was America that prevented this. This is the meaning of hypocritical behavior. On the issue of Syria, the use of chemical weapons is a red line, but on the issue of Iran, it can be allowed and supported. This is because on this issue, chemical weapons are used against an independent Islamic government and against a nation which does not want to give in to America. These are some of the characteristics of arrogance. Of course, the characteristics of arrogance are more than these. Arrogant powers wage wars, create discord and confront independent governments. They even confront their own people when the interests of specific groups dictate so. During the war that Saddam waged against Iran, they offered all kinds of help - which was possible for them - to Saddam. I referred to the case of chemicals, but they also gave him secret information about Iran. After the war, when the head of intelligence services of Saddam was interviewed, he said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I used to go to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad three times a week and they gave me a sealed package in which all satellite information about the movements of the Iranian Armed Forces existed and therefore, we knew where they were\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". They offered such kinds of help to Saddam. The Islamic government is opposed to such arrogance. The Islamic government is not opposed to people and nations. It is not opposed to human beings. Rather, it is opposed to arrogance. This opposition has existed since the time of Abraham - God\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Friend - Noah, the Holy Prophet of Islam and other great prophets and it has continued until today. Since that time, the camp of right has confronted arrogance. Why is that? Why does today\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Islamic government confront arrogance? It is because arrogance with the characteristics that I described cannot tolerate an Islamic government such as the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is because the Islamic Republic of Iran was formed on the basis of opposition to arrogance. The Revolution was carried out in Iran in opposition to arrogance and the agents of arrogance. It was formed on the basis of this opposition. It grew, it became strong and it challenged the logic of arrogance on the basis of this opposition. Arrogance cannot tolerate this unless it is frustrated. The Iranian people, the Iranian youth, the Iranian activists and those Iranians who believe in their homeland and their country for any reason - even if it may be a non-Islamic reason - should do something to make the enemy hopeless. The enemy should become hopeless. It is very difficult for global arrogance and for the government of the United States of America in the present time to see that in this sensitive region - in West Asia, which is the one of the most sensitive regions in the world in terms of politics and economy and which influences the entire world - a country, a government and a people have emerged who do not consider themselves to be dependent on and to be the followers of this self-proclaimed superpower. This Islamic government is independent and despite the strong opposition that it is faced with, it overcomes all problems and hardships. As the Americans themselves admit, this government is challenging the influence of America in the region and it is extending its own influence. This Islamic government is becoming a role model for regional nations and this is very difficult for the Americans to tolerate. The Americans want to say that the lives of all nations depend on America. Now a people have emerged who not only are not dependent on America, but who also have not been influenced by all these hostilities. From the first day, the Americans did whatever they could, but it was not effective. These people have achieved growth and they have become stronger on a daily basis. The hostilities that the government of the United States of America has shown against the Islamic Republic happened during the time of different presidents, but all of these hostilities are of the same nature. All of these hostilities are the same. Therefore, no one should say that such and such a plot was hatched during the time of such and such a president and this plot has not been hatched during the time of the current President of America. This is not the case. All of these presidents behave in the same way. First, they provoked ethnicities in Iran, then they launched a coup d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'état and after that, they made Iraq attack us. The next thing that they did was to help our enemy - which was the regime of Saddam - in his war against us and after the war, they imposed sanctions on us. Then, they provoked all media networks in the world and they made them align themselves against the Islamic Republic. All of these things have been done during the time of different presidents of America and now too, these things are being done. In the fitna of the year 1388 - during the term of the current President of America - one of the social networks, which could be used to further the goals of fitna and those who provoked the fitna, needed to fix some technical problems. The government of America asked this network to delay fixing these technical problems because they hoped to overthrow the Islamic Republic with the help of media activities and networks such as Facebook, Twitter and other such networks. They had these foolish delusions. Therefore, they did not let this network fix its technical problems and they said that it should delay it and attend to this task which is more important. They used all kinds of tools against the Islamic Republic and sanctions are one of these tools. From their viewpoint, this tool is enough for defeating the Islamic Republic. Their mistake is that they do not know the Iranian nation. Their mistake is that they do not know the element of faith and unity among our people. Their mistake is that they did not learn a lesson from their past mistakes. Therefore, they hope that they can bring the people of Iran to their knees by imposing sanctions, exerting pressures and other such measures. Of course, they are making a mistake. The permanent experience of the Islamic Republic during the past 35 years shows that the only way to get rid of the interference of the enemy is national power and national resistance. This is the only factor which can make the enemy retreat. Of course, the enemy is the enemy. He uses all kinds of tools. As I said, he has used and is using sanctions. We should know what it is that can help us achieve our goal. I would like to say a few things about Basij and after that, I would like to briefly speak about the current issues regarding our foreign policies. As I said, Basij is a source of dignity for the country and the Islamic Republic. Why? It is because the meaning of Basij is the presence of all the people in arenas of fundamental activities for the sake of the people and the country. Any government that has people by its side and any country in which the people show their presence and move towards a specific direction, will definitely achieve victory. This is completely clear. Countries receive a blow and they are defeated whenever the people are not present on the scene or whenever they do not have unity of action. Whenever the people are present on the scene and whenever there is unity among them, victory and progress will be certain. Basij is the example of such presence. Basij is the manifestation of the presence of the people on the scene and the unity of the people. We should adopt such an outlook towards Basij. On the issue of sincerity, which I referred to in the beginning of my speech, Basij has emerged victorious out of the test of sincerity. Basij was put to this test during the imposed war and the Sacred Defense Era which was a time when the country was in difficult conditions. Also, during the different events that took place after the Sacred Defense Era until the present time, Basij has emerged victorious out of the test of sincerity. The Basij organization has shown that it enjoys sincerity. Of course, in my opinion, Basij is not confined to this number of people who are active in the Basij organization. There are many people whose hearts are with you. They praise and respect you and they appreciate your value. These people are not active in the Basij organization, but they are basijis as well. In my opinion, those people who believe in and respect your values and who respect your efforts, your services and your jihad are basijis as well. Being present on the scene is one of the most important tasks. Moreover, the capabilities of Basij help us solve problems. Fortunately, today inside the organization of Basij, there are many scientific, artistic, social and political personalities and there are many social activists and people who can influence the people. Until today, Basij has represented a group of people who have been achieving growth and transcendence on a daily basis and it should act in the same way from now on too. What I recommend is that we should increase the capabilities of Basij. There are certain prerequisites for this: moral, behavioral and practical prerequisites. Moral prerequisites means that we should build and develop Islamic virtues in our hearts and souls. A number of these virtues are patience, forgiveness, fortitude, self-control and humility. We should strengthen these characteristics in ourselves. Behavioral prerequisites means that we should utilize these virtues when we interact with the people, the environment, society and human beings in general. Imam Sadiq (peace and greetings be upon him) used to say to his companions, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"You should act in a way that whenever people see you, they say, ‘These people are the companions of Imam Sadiq. God\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mercy be upon Imam Sadiq. You should make us be proud of you\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [al-Kafi, Volume 2, page 233]. Each and every one of you dear basijis, you dear youth with your pure and enlightened hearts and souls should behave towards all the people - as I said, many of the people are basijis in the real sense of the word - in a way that they say, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"These people are students of the Islamic government. They are a source of respect for the Islamic government and the Islamic Republic\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". And practical, jihadi and social prerequisites are the tasks that should be carried out. That is to say, we should strengthen these virtues in ourselves. It means that we should behave in a kind, diligent and praiseworthy way towards the [social] environment. It means that we should act in a serious way in all arenas including the arena of science, the arena of social services, the arena of work, the arena of politics and the arena of production. Wherever you are, you should work in a serious way without any feeling of tiredness and any laziness. We should work. This great group of basijis - tens of thousands of people from this great group are present in this meeting - can move the country towards positive paths in the real sense of word. This group of people can be a source of solidity and stability. It can be a source of grandeur for the Islamic Republic and thankfully it is playing such a role today. Today, Basij is a source of grandeur and honor for the Islamic Republic. I would like to raise a point about the recent contentions over the arena of foreign policies, our nuclear issues, the current negotiations and other such things. First of all, I insist on supporting the officials who are in charge of this. I support all administrations and all officials - whether officials in charge of domestic affairs or officials in charge of foreign affairs - and this is our responsibility. I myself have been an executive official. I have been in the middle of the arena and I felt with all my heart the difficulty of the work. I know that the responsibility of managing the country is difficult. Therefore, these officials need help and I help and support them. This is one part of the issue which is clear. On the other hand, I also insist on establishing the rights of the Iranian nation including the issue of our nuclear rights. We insist that these officials should not even take one step back on the rights of the Iranian nation. Of course, we do not interfere in the details of these negotiations. There are certain red lines and limits in this regard. These limits should be observed. We have said this to officials in charge and it is their responsibility to observe these limits. They should not be afraid of the fuss that the enemies and opponents make. They should show no fear in the face of such fuss and uproar. Everyone should know that primarily, the sanctions which have been imposed on the Iranian nation result from the arrogant grudge of America. The grudge that the Americans bear against us is like the grudge of a camel. They want to exert pressures on the Iranian nation in the hope that they can perhaps make the Iranian nation surrender. They are making a mistake because the Iranian nation will not surrender to anyone under pressure. You Americans have failed to know the people of Iran. They are a people who can, by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, endure these pressures and who will turn these threats and pressures into an opportunity. By Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, the Iranian nation will do this. We have had certain weak points in the area of economic decisions and plans. These weak points have made the enemy feel that he can create a rift. This is an opportunity for us to know and eliminate these weak points and, by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, we will eliminate them. The Americans should know and I think they know that sanctions do not work. The reason why we say they themselves know that sanctions do not work is the military threats they issue. Well, if sanctions can serve the purpose, then why do they issue military threats? This shows that sanctions have not served the purpose and that they do not work. They have to issue military sanctions. Of course, the act of issuing military threats is a very disgusting and despicable act. Instead of issuing military threats against different countries, you Americans should go and improve your own devastated economy. You should do something so that your government will not be shut down for 15, 16 days. You should go and pay your debts. You should think of improving your own economy. As I said, the Americans should know that the Iranian nation behaves in a brotherly way towards all nations: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Those who have the same religion as you have, they are brothers to you, and those who have religions other than that of yours, they are human beings like you\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". The people of Iran respect other nations, but they behave towards transgressors in a way that they become regretful. They slap transgressots across the face in a way that they will never forget. The Americans consider themselves responsible for saying something in support of the Zionist regime and the capitalist Zionists and this is a source of weakness and humiliation for them. In fact, the Zionist regime is a regime whose foundations are extremely shaky. The Zionist regime is doomed to destruction. It is a regime which is imposed [on regional nations] and it has been formed on the basis of bullying. Any phenomenon and any organism which has come into being by use of force cannot survive and this regime cannot survive either. The support of the Americans - who are indebted to Zionist capitalists - for the wretched Zionist regime is a source of disgrace for them. Unfortunately, a number of European countries flatter this regime. These Europeans go and flatter these creatures who do not deserve to be called human beings and they humiliate themselves and their people in front of these creatures. The leaders of the Zionist regime are really like wild animals and one cannot call them human beings. One day in Europe, the French nation gained a good political reputation because the president of France in those days did not allow England to enter the European Community due to the fact that England was dependent on America. This became a source of dignity for France. On that day, the dignity of the French government increased because it stood up against America and because it did not let England - which was dependent on America - enter the European Community. A people achieve dignity in such a way. Today, the politicians of this country [France] go and humble themselves not only before America, but also before these damned and dirty Zionists. This is a source of humiliation for the French nation. Of course, the people of France themselves should find a cure for this problem. I would like to speak to you dear youth about a few things. You youth should know that without a doubt, the bright and promising future of this country and the Islamic Republic belongs to you. You will manage to help your country and your people reach the peak of glory. By Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, you will be able to build a perfect model of the modern Islamic civilization in this country. In order to carry out these great tasks, you should promote and strengthen - as much as you can - religion, piety, morality and purity of soul among yourselves. Today\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s youth need religion, piety, science, enthusiasm, trustworthiness, morality, social services and physical exercise. These are the things which today\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s youth need and by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, you dear basijis will succeed in doing this. Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (s.w.a.) and his household (a.s.), bestow Your blessings on these people and on all the basijis of our country. Dear God, make the Iranian nation conquer the peaks of honor on a daily basis. Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (s.w.a.) and his household (a.s.), make the immaculate soul of Imam satisfied with us and with these people. Dear God, make the pure souls of martyrs satisfied and pleased with us. Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (s.w.a.) and his household (a.s.), make the holy heart of the Imam of the Age satisfied and pleased with us and hasten the re-appearance of this great Imam. Make us be among his companions and his accompanying mujahids and make us be martyrs by his side. Greetings be upon you and Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mercy and blessings. Source: http://english.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1839&Itemid=4

Description:

The following is the full text of the speech delivered on September 17, 2013 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with commanders and officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The meeting was held on the occasion of the 20th Congress of Officials and Commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful First, I would like to welcome you and second, I congratulate you on this auspicious Eid. You turned our day into an Eid with your presence and warm breath and with the good programs that you performed. I hope that, by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, your hearts will always be happy. I hope that your hearts will always remember God and achieve loftier positions. I would like to say a few things about our great Imam and knowledgeable member of the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household, Imam Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha (thousands of greetings and praise be upon him). In fact, we cannot understand the spiritual position of these holy personalities, let alone describe them in words. However, before our eyes and before the eyes of history, the lives of these great personalities are a practical, eternal and undeniable lesson. If, in certain cases, we take a look at the lives of the Imams (a.s.) and if we put great emphasis on their policies, the measures they took and their biographies, this does not mean that these are the most important parts of their lives. This is not the case. Their spiritual world, their effort to get close to God and the wisdom and love which radiated from their peerless hearts are other important parts of their lives. However, what is before our eyes is the lives of these great personalities and we should learn from them. Imam Ridha (a.s.) lived for almost 55 years. That is to say, he was born in the year 148 - the year when Imam Sadiq (a.s.) was martyred - and he was martyred in the year 203 of the Hijri calendar. The entire life of this great personality with all its greatness, depth and dimensions took place in this fairly short era. Nineteen, twenty years out of these 55 years constituted the era of the Imamate of this great personality. But if you take a look at this short era, you will see that it exerted a considerable influence on the world of Islam, it gave great depth to the true meaning of Islam and it helped people follow the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household and get familiar with their teachings. This is an extraordinary phenomenon and it is like a deep sea. When that Imam achieved Imamate, his close friends and his followers said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"What can Ali ibn Musa do in such an environment which is filled with Harun\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s oppression?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" There is a narration which says, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Blood trickles from Harun\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s sword.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" These friends and followers used to say, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"In such conditions, what can this young Imam do to continue the jihad of Shia Imams and to carry out the great responsibility which falls on his shoulders?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" This is the beginning of the Imamate of Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha (a.s.). When you take a look, you will see that after the passage of 19, 20 years - when Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha was martyred and his Imamate ended - the ideas and thoughts of the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household and the issue of commitment to the Imams were established, in the world of Islam, so firmly that the oppressive and dictatorial Abbasid regime could not confront it. Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha had done this. You have heard that De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel-e Khozayee went to Merv in Khorasan and composed and recited a number of well-known poems in praise of Imam Ridha for which he was rewarded. He stayed in Merv and other cities of Khorasan for a few days and then he went towards Baghdad, Kufa and other cities that he wanted to visit. In the middle of the way, some bandits attacked and looted the caravan on which De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel was travelling. The travelers sat and watched the looting of their property. The chief of the bandits was sitting on a rock and proudly watching the prisoners and captives of this caravan and the things which they had stolen and collected. De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel heard that the chief was whispering a poem. He listened and he realized that it was his own poem. It was one of the couplets of the qasida that he had recited one month or one month and a half ago in Merv: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I see that their property has been looted and divided among outsiders and wicked people.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [Speaking in Arabic] In the middle of the way to Rey and Iraq, the chief of the bandits was reciting this poem from memory. De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel became happy. He stood up and said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Who has composed the poem that you are reciting?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" The chief said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"It belongs to De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel-e Khozayee.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Well, I am De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel-e Khozayee.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" When the chief saw that this person was De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel-e Khozayee, he stood up, held De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel in his arms, kissed him and said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Because of the presence of this person in the caravan, give them back all their property.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" They gave them back all their property, respected them and helped them move towards their destination. Well, this is a small event in history, but it has a great significance. The poem which was composed in praise of Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha was recited and memorized, in Rey and Iraq, by a bandit after the passage of almost one month or one month and a half since the poem was composed. What does this mean? It means that the ground for promoting the position of the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household and the auspicious name of Imam Ridha was so prepared that, in a short time, this poem - at that time, poetry was one of the most effective means of communication - spread rapidly by word of mouth until it was picked up by a bandit in the middle of a desert. This indicates the great movement which was launched during the Imamate of Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha in order to promote the school of thought of the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household. During this time, the love of the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household was shared by all individuals and the hearts of all people felt the presence and existence of the Imams in the Islamic community. The movement of the honorable children of the Imams towards Iran has a positive and meaningful dimension as well as a tragic dimension because of their martyrdom in the middle of the way to Iran. The reason for their movement towards Iran was the request of the people and their acceptance of the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household. As you know, when we speak about the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household, we mean the school of thought which was established by the Imams and the Islamic concepts which they introduced. It means a deeply cultural and spiritual achievement and a great ideological feat. This is the movement of Imam Ridha (a.s.). According to the events that you know and have heard about, Ma\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'mun finally feels that he has to martyr Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha (a.s.) - he had forced that great Imam to leave Medina in order to get close to him and he did not plan to kill Imam Ridha at first - contrary to what he had planned. The divine will and plan to bury a member of the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household in this place, which was faraway from Medina, was exercised by the enemies of the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household. This is divine wisdom and engineering. In order to reach lofty goals, one should carry out his responsibilities in such a way. Long-term outlooks should be adopted with such intention, motives and hopes. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has such a position. The issue is not that a new government was formed after the Revolution and that it has certain supporters and opponents and certain soldiers, guardians and armed forces. The issue is not this. It is beyond such things. The issue of the Islamic Revolution - which is protected by you members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps - is beyond such things. First of all, I would like to say a few things about the experience of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps over these many years. Then, I will raise the point which I had wanted to discuss with you dear brothers. The performance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps over the past 30-plus years has been brilliant. I am not saying this as a ceremonial gesture, like the words of praise which are uttered in many places. This is a fact. The performance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps represents the experience of our nation. That is to say, the depth of the personality and identity of the Iranian nation can be seen in this performance because the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps enters the arena with faith and belief. What kind of arena? The arena of jihad and resistance. It has built the strongest and the most intelligent military commanders. During the war, those who became designers- and as foreigners say \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"strategists\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"- while they were young and below thirty years old and had not received any military education. It was the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps who built them. It was this organization which created such a spiritual environment. It was the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps which founded such an organization on the basis of faith and belief. It has built a number of outstanding personalities whom our nation and our history will never forget. This is the art of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. These are the things which this organization has done in the area of war. Besides these, we can see that it has built and introduced the wisest, the strongest and the best managers in non-military areas. The list of people that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has introduced to the ruling organizations of the Islamic Republic is very long and glorious. This is the performance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. One of the important parts of the performance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is that it lives a revolutionary life and it preserves its revolutionary nature. That is to say, different events have not been able to make this strong and powerful organization deviate from the main and the right path. It has not changed its path just because life and the world have changed. These are the excuses that a number of people make. These people make excuses for compromising their principles and they justify their mistakes. Their excuse is that the world has changed, that everything has changed. Well, certain things do not change. Since the beginning of history until today, the virtue of justice and the tendency of human beings to seek justice have not changed. The fact that oppression is bad and national independence and national dignity are great virtues has not changed. These things and many other principles cannot be changed. The fact that the world has changed cannot give us an excuse to change our behavior, our ideals and our goals. When our ideals change, our path changes too. When our ultimate goal changes, then it is absurd to follow the previous path. In such circumstances, we should move towards achieving a new goal and we should follow a new path. One of the most important strong points of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is its resistance and steadfastness on this enlightened path. These are the points which I wanted to raise about the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Of course, one can say many things about this organization. We have said many things about it. Other people too have said many things. Of course, there are many points which have not been raised about this organization, but right now, I am not going to speak about this issue more than this. What is important is that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is the guardian of the Islamic Revolution. I do not want to say that this guardianship means the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps should protect the Islamic Revolution in all arenas including scientific, intellectual, cultural and economic arenas. This is not what I mean. What I want to say is that as a living organism, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps should know what it wants to protect and what this Revolution is. It is not necessary for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to engage in protection of the Islamic Revolution in political arenas, but it should gain a proper understanding of political arenas. Some people mix certain issues together. This should be clarified. It is not possible to describe a certain organization as the arm and the guardian of the Revolution, but make it ignore and close its eyes to different political orientations - while some of these orientations behave in a deviant way and become dependent on such and such a group and some of them do not. This is meaningless. Such an organization should know what it wants to protect. If we relegate the challenges that the Revolution is faced with to political and partisan challenges and to confrontation between certain people, this is negligence and carelessness. These are not the challenges that the Revolution is faced with. The main challenge of the Revolution is that it has introduced a new system for humanity. We are not saying that since the beginning, the Revolution addressed the entire humanity. This is not the case. At first, it was the Islamic Revolution of Iran and it only addressed issues which were related to Iran and fundamental changes in this country. However, the language and message of this Revolution could not naturally be confined to the borders of Iran. Through this Revolution, a message which was based on a universal and human truth was conveyed to the entire humanity. Anybody in the world who hears this message feels that they are attached to it. What is this message? If we want to describe the social and human function of this message in a phrase we should say that it is: confrontation with global arrogance. This is the message of the Revolution. Global arrogance is a system which divides the world into the oppressed and the oppressor. The logic of the Revolution, which is based on the logic of Islam, is \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Deal not unjustly, nor shall you be dealt with unjustly.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 2: 279] You should not oppress others and you should not let others oppress you. Who in the world is not happy about and interested in this message? This message is: neither oppress other people nor let them oppress you. This is the exact opposite of the current order in the world which was imposed after the emergence of the new industrial civilization and the prevalence of industrial tools and the culture of domination. Any organization in the world which is dependent on global arrogance is against this message. Those who like to achieve domination over other countries - that is to say, oppressive governments and economic networks which suck at the resources of other nations - are against this message because they are oppressors. The dependent governments which rule over poor or rich nations, which follow global arrogance, which have no power but which follow and obey these arrogant powers are also against this message. Such and such a government which completely implements the policies of arrogant powers such as America or England is naturally against the message of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"[D]eal not unjustly, nor shall you be dealt with unjustly.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" The international, multinational or domestic organizations which loot people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s wealth are against this message. Those politicians who promote the three elements of war, poverty and decadence throughout the world are against this message. During the last two, three centuries, many of the wars which were waged were influenced by global arrogance. Global powers either waged a war against a certain country or made two other countries fight one another. They have done this for the sake of their own interests. Poverty too is the result of their policies. They are to blame for the situation that they have created in many poor countries where the people live in poverty and cannot benefit from their natural resources. With their political domination, these arrogant powers have prevented many countries from drawing on their own intellectual resources. You should read the book \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Glances at World History\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" written by Jawaharlal Nehru. In the chapter which is about the interference of the English in India, he says that the kind of industry and science which existed in India was not inferior to the one in Europe, England and the west. Rather it was superior to European science. Well, Nehru was both trustworthy and well-informed. When the English entered India, one of their plans was to prevent the domestic industry of India from developing. Well, India ended up watching tens of millions of people in that era and hundreds of millions of people in future eras suffer from hunger in the real sense of the word. The same is true of Africa. The same is true of many Latin American countries. So, not only does global arrogance wage wars but it also brings about poverty. The great treasure which has been accumulated on the peaks of wealth and which belongs to the richest individuals in the world reminds us of this hadith: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I have not seen any kind of wealth which was accumulated without someone\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s right being violated.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [Derasat fi Nahjul Balaghah, page 40] When they loot the oil, agricultural products and tea resources of a country, when they take control of financial sectors of a country in a way that the people have no access to it and when they do not let the people in such a country have control over production, industry and other areas related to national progress, this country and nation becomes poor. So, they are responsible for war, poverty and decadence. They are responsible for the prevalence of decadence and fueling the fire of sexual desire - which is a natural process and which can be ignited in all individuals. Each of these issues requires a long and detailed discussion. Well, global arrogance promotes war, poverty and decadence and it does this by dividing the world into the oppressed and the oppressor. Islam - that is to say, the Islamic Revolution which is based on Islamic concepts - says, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Deal not unjustly, nor shall you be dealt with unjustly.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" It rejects all these negative elements. This is the main challenge. This is the root of their enmity. This is why they fight the Islamic Revolution. Other issues are all excuses. We should adopt such an outlook on sanctions, domestic wars, coups d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'état and other events which have taken place during the recent years such as the nuclear issue. Contrary to what everyone thought, our Revolution achieved victory. Then it formed a government which managed to prevail. This was while everyone in the world thought that the Islamic Republic would be destroyed in six months or in one or two years. Then they gave a generous figure and said that the Islamic Republic would be destroyed in three, four years. Contrary to what they thought, it became stronger on a daily basis and its \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"root is firm and its branches are in heaven, yielding its fruit in every season by the permission of its Lord\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 14: 24-25]. It has turned into a regional power and a country which is influential in major international issues. They are against this. They raise the issue of nuclear weapons. Well, we do not believe in nuclear weapons, not because of such and such people and not because of America and other countries. Rather, we are against nuclear weapons because of our belief. No one should have nuclear weapons. When we say that other countries should not have nuclear weapons, it means that we ourselves should not and will not have them. But, their problem is something else. If certain countries emerge which put an end to their exclusive right, they will have no problems with that. Of course, they do not want to give up their self-proclaimed right, but if this happens, they will not create uproar about it. But when it comes to Islamic Iran and the Islamic Republic, they create uproar. Why do they do this? It is because having such a capability and power is a source of support for the Islamic Republic which is based on \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"[D]eal not unjustly, nor shall you be dealt with unjustly.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" This is the main challenge. We should know and see this. With such an outlook, we should analyze and interpret the behavior of America, the west and such and such a country and orientation which is dependent on and attached to these powers. This is the Islamic Revolution. In the eyes of these enemies, no one is more hated than our magnanimous Imam who was an outstanding personality and who was like a shining sun. They looked at him with respect, but they also showed enmity towards him from the bottom of their hearts because he resisted and because he was perceptive and wise due to two unique characteristics that he enjoyed: complete wisdom and complete decisiveness. He put up resistance in a determined way and he was like a barrier in the way of their progress and in the way of the harm which they wanted to inflict. This was why they were his enemies. Of course, as I said, they looked at him with respect. They knew about his greatness, but the greater he was, the angrier they became. Today, the same situation exists. They show the same hatred towards anybody who is committed to these main values and principles - that is to say, values which determine the political identity of the Revolution such as \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"[D]eal not unjustly, nor shall you be dealt with unjustly\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". They hate anybody who realizes that the problems the enemies created for the Islamic Republic are based on this outlook and who takes this path by adopting such an outlook and showing such resistance. Of course, the world of diplomacy is the world of smiling. They smile and ask to negotiate with us. They themselves offer to negotiate with us. A few days ago, one of the western politicians was asked, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"You want to negotiate with Iran. This is while Iran is your enemy.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" He said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Well, negotiations should be conducted with the enemy, not other people.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" That is to say, they admit that they are the enemies of Iran and they say this openly. The reason for their enmity is not the behavior of certain people. Rather, the reason is the true nature and identity of the Islamic Revolution. Everything that they say should be analyzed, interpreted and identified from this perspective. We are not against proper and reasonable moves, whether in the world of diplomacy or in the world of domestic policies. I believe in the idea which was referred to as \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"heroic flexibility\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". Flexibility is necessary in many areas. It is very good and there is nothing wrong with it. But the wrestler who is wrestling against his opponent and who shows flexibility for technical reasons should not forget who his opponent is and what he is doing. This is the main condition. Our politicians too should know what they are doing, who they are faced with, who their opponent is and which area the opposing side wants to attack. They should pay attention to this point. Well, you are the guardians of the Islamic Revolution. The meaning of the guardian of the Islamic Revolution is not that you should be present in all arenas and you should have a responsibility in all areas. As it was reflected in the statements of the dear and honorable commander who delivered a speech today, you have a certain and clear responsibility. As he pointed out, it is an appropriate move to take a look on the scope of activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. I agree with what he said. But, first, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps should always know what it wants to do and what it wants to protect. Second, it should preserve its stability and steadfastness which is the main characteristic of the glorious identity of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. It should not forget this. Everybody, at all levels, should pay attention to this point. I have repeatedly pointed out that what the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps does is based on spirituality. Spirituality does not contradict scientific progress, systematic organization, new methods and different scientific and practical innovations. We should not think that when we pay attention to spirituality, we should ignore the material aspects of life. This is not the case. During the early Islamic era, the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.), the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.) and Muslims employed the best and the cleverest tactics in the arenas of war. In our own times too, revolutionary elements - whether the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army or other revolutionary elements - employed the cleverest tactics and methods during the Sacred Defense Era. Spirituality does not contradict the idea that we should pay attention to the material aspects of our work and the effective organization of things. This spirituality should be preserved because it is the essence of our work. The last point I want to raise is that, in my opinion, the future of the Islamic Revolution is a bright future. This is not a vain hope. I am saying this because we have taken everything into consideration. There are two reasons for this. The first reason is experience. Well, during the early years of the Revolution, we were in a terrible condition because of our lack of manpower, lack of material resources, lack of weapons, lack of executive experience and different other shortcomings. But, where are we now? Today, we benefit from a wealth of manpower, material resources, scientific and political progress and international dignity. Where were we 30-plus years ago and where are we now? All of our moves during the past 35 years were made while we were under pressure from the opposing side. That is to say, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction, but we managed to move forward. On the path that we were taking, there were fierce and adverse winds, but we managed to move forward. Is this experience not good? Is it not enough? Hostile orientations cannot confuse or stop a nation who is united, determined and religious and who knows what is wants to do. On the issue of the regional events which recently took place in the world of Islam, wherever Muslims suffered a loss, it was because they did not know what they should do. In these events, there was not a clear guideline and therefore such things happened. Of course, it will not remain like this. The event which happened in regional and Islamic countries - that is to say, Islamic Awakening - is an unprecedented phenomenon and it will play its part in these events. So, our experience is the first reason. Another reason is that we are moving forward with rationality and scientific precision. Our opposing side suffers from increasing weaknesses and internal contradictions because of the wrong way the infrastructures of this civilization are built. They are retreating. Of course, they do not need to admit that they are retreating and it is not necessary to visibly and clearly see this in their statements. This is the truth of the matter. When a people move things forward with precision and by finding the right way, they will definitely achieve the desired results. We have said that we should promote the idea of building the Islamic Republic from the inside. We have said that knowledge should develop and spread. We have said that domestic production should be the essence of our work. We have said that we should adopt a serious outlook on the issue of optimism about the domestic capabilities of the country. We have said that talents should develop and blossom. These things are the essence of our work. When a country moves forward by relying on its domestic capabilities, its manpower, its knowledge, its faith and its unity, it will certainly achieve the desired results. Therefore, we have no doubts that we have a bright future ahead of us. Whether this future arrives sooner or later depends on you and I. If laziness, negligence, selfishness, materialism and attachment to superficial things divert our attention and if we do something to cause our downfall - whether individual downfall or social downfall - then this future will be achieved later than expected. But it will definitely be achieved and this is because of the efforts and sacrifices which were made. Thankfully, in the arena of sacrifices too, you have been very active. You have put in a good performance and made brilliant moves in this arena. By Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, it will be the same in the future. I hope that God will make you benefit from the prayers of the Imam of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for his sake). I hope that He will make you and us the guardians of Islam and the Islamic Revolution in the real sense of the word. I hope that He will associate the pure souls of our martyrs and the immaculate soul of our magnanimous Imam with His saints and with the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.). Greetings be upon you and Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mercy and blessings

Description:

We have a tendency to forget who the real enemy is. In this clip, the Leader of the Muslim Ummah, Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei meets with and speaks to a large crowd of high school and university students on the \"National Day of Fighting Against Global Arrogance\". The Leader reminds the youth to never forget who the real enemy is. And keep in mind, it wasn\'t the Muslims who started this enmity, rather it was the other side, which continues to show their enmity to this very day and most probably will always continue to do so. Don\'t get it mixed up. Take a listen and then research to see who is the main enemy.

Description:

Sometimes, due to the odds we face in life, we might have a tendency to lose hope. Same can happen in our socio-political struggle against the oppressors and tyrants. When you sit and think about your life, you will realize that there are countless places where you could have despaired, where you could have given up, but the fact that you are still moving forward is proof that you didn\'t give up. Work hard, stay strong, have trust and faith in Allah; and remember to never despair, never give up. The Leader of the Muslim Ummah, Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei explains.

Description:

Human beings have a tendency to be loved and to love. But why? And what is the innate nature of a human being and does it pull us towards the love and worship of Allah? Finally, what are the innate defects when it comes to worldly love? The late Ayatollah Misbah-Yazdi (R) provides us with a short, but profound lesson on the basics of loving Allah. #Akhlaq #Love #Allah #Concepts #Beliefs #Salvation

Description:

One of the most integral actions that a human being must do is to ask for forgiveness from Allah because we have a tendency to commit sins. But are sins limited to just what we normally consider to be sins? Are there more internal and hidden sins that we commit, while we aren\'t even aware of them? What do people who suffer from these internal and hidden sins say about the other people around them? Finally, is the path towards Towheed (Islamic monotheism) lead to a dead end, or is it perhaps, an infinite path? The Leader of the Muslim Ummah, Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei explains. Forgiveness is for everyone.

Description:

I don’t want to be far from Imam Ali (as) in Heaven. Follow us: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Panahianen/ ... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PanahianEN/... Twitter: https://twitter.com/PanahianEN Telegram: https://telegram.me/Panahianen/ ============================== We should tell everyone, “See your good points, so that you may gain energy to move forward.” When they say not to see your good points since you will become arrogant, this means if you see some goodness in yourself and stop. This is bad. But if you see your good points and gain energy to move forward, this is a beneficial self-awareness. Actually the peak of self-awareness is not seeing our bad points; it’s seeing our good points. Be so drowned in seeing your good points that you feel you can’t live without reaching the peak. You should honor yourself very much. Imam Ali (as) said, «مَن کَرُمَت نفسُهُ هانَت علیهِ الشَّهَوات» “If someone honors himself, carnal desires will become contemptible to him.” [He’ll say,] “What’s this?! This isn’t right for my status.” The peak of self-awareness is for a person to understand his value. What is one of the good points we have right now? We should truly honor ourselves for this. One truly becomes excited when he sees this goodness. It is that we are not jealous of the Friends of God. We feel an affection for them. We are not arrogant toward them; we are humble and sympathetic toward them. This is very important! My friends, if we look carefully at ourselves to see what it is we want, we’ll weep day and night because we are far from the Imam of the Time (aj). We’ll weep day and night begging God, “Don’t let my house be far from the house of the Commander of the Faithful (as) in Heaven.” This is what we want. This is a part of us. We don’t say, “Unfortunately, this tendency is not very strong in me.” This exists within you! How can I tell you this? You already have this! The Arafah Supplication talks more about thanking God for His blessings than asking for forgiveness for our bad points. This is surprising! Imam Husayn (as) is drowned in this. If one gets close to Imam Husayn (as), the Imam will start showing that person his goodness. You participate in Imam Husayn’s (as) mourning ceremony wearing a black shirt. Then he starts. He’ll say, “See how good you are. You love me. You cry for me. See how good you are!” He increases your energy and uplifts your spirits. We should tell everyone, “See your good points, so that you may gain energy to move forward.” Actually the peak of self-awareness is not seeing our bad points; it’s seeing our good points.

Description:

The 15th Juz consists of Surat al-Isra (111 verses, The Night Journey) and Surat al-Kahf (First 74 verses, The Cave), both Meccan. The concepts of Rizq, sustenance and Dua, supplication, are discussed here. Man is created hasty and we often ask for things that may be detrimental to us. We quickly get dejected and disappointed in Him, but need to remember that God is the one who gives, and withholds, and that He does this in perfect measure, with full awareness and of our needs and betterment. This teaches us to have complete faith and reliance in Him, and to recognize that He is the one in complete control. God also reminds us of our fragility, and complete dependency on Him. He points out our tendency to turn to Him only in distress, when in fact we should be turning to Him constantly, with hope and gratitude. And only then will we realize that the true power of supplication is not in gaining our wants, but in realizing our deepest desire which is proximity to God.