Statements of the Supreme Leader of the Revolution in a Public Meeting with the People of Abarkuh

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon our master and prophet, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure and virtuous progeny, the guided and the rightly guided, especially the Awaited One of God among the people of the earth. I am grateful to the Almighty God for granting me the opportunity to serve you, the faithful, loyal, and revolutionary brothers and sisters in the ancient and very old city of Abarkuh. Although this city is ancient, the thoughts of its people are fresh and youthful; the evidence of this is that in all hearts, the light of authentic Islamic thought and divine motivations in the direction of the Islamic Republic system is alive. Any nation whose people possess a motivating and invigorating spirit in their hearts is alive and youthful, and our nation, by God's grace and the blessing of the Islamic Revolution, enjoys this gift. Furthermore, the majority of the population of the country and in Abarkuh, according to statistics, are young. A youthful city, a youthful community, and a youthful country can be hopeful for the future. The energy of youth will build the future. The esteemed Friday prayer leader of your city briefly mentioned the water problem of Abarkuh; I also studied reports before my trip regarding the entire province, especially concerning this city, which I specifically wished to visit. This issue of water has been repeated in those reports as well. This city and this region of Yazd province rely on agriculture, which requires water; and this province is a water-scarce province; this county is also suffering from the same water scarcity. We have no doubt that with the efforts of the government and the help of the people and various officials and agents, this problem, like all other problems, will be solved. What is important is that the nation desires something, and the officials, as servants of the nation, should be determined to fulfill the needs of the people. What our nation suffered from for decades before the revolution, and even before that, was the absence of these two factors: one was the lack of a sense of responsibility among the statesmen, who had no sense of responsibility towards the people; the leaders of the country considered the country as their own property and sought to see where they could gain the most benefit from this property; what mattered to them was not the benefit of the people. This notion of 'remote' and 'near' arose from there. What does it mean for a city to be remote? It meant that it was far from the center of the country, from Tehran. This was enough for deprivation; because their eyes only saw the remote areas around them, and their hearts were drawn to works and centers and areas that would be a source of profit and benefit for them, not for the people. The revolution changed this notion. The revolution removed the concept of distance and proximity from the logic of the statesmen and officials of the country; there is no distance or proximity. Thus, you see that the officials of the country, the cabinet, the president travel throughout the country. This means that the attention, emotions, and efforts of the officials should be distributed among all the cities of the country. It should not be that a city, a region that is remote, remains distant from the efforts and decisions of the officials; no, there is no distance or proximity. Today, in this country, cities and remote and small regions succeed in having the officials of the country, namely the president, the government, and the ministers, see them up close, write them letters, or speak to them and hear directly from their voices, which in past times throughout history, they had no hope of even having a third-rate manager visit them. So this is one factor, namely the sense of responsibility from the officials and senior managers of the country today. The second factor is the determination and self-belief of the people. Those people, that nation, the population of that city that does not consider itself valuable and important is always doomed to lag behind in all human competitions and among human societies. During the colonial domination over the countries of this region and over our country, one of the most dangerous propaganda they conducted against our nation was to convince our men and women that they were backward and of a second-class status compared to Western nations, European nations. Even this second-class status was not uniform among the various regions of the country; some considered themselves more privileged and had higher expectations, while others had lower expectations. The Islamic Revolution came like a storm and removed this polluted and dirty atmosphere from the country. Today, our nation, relying on its glorious history, on its internal talents, and on Islam and faith—which today has a new discourse for humanity—no longer considers itself a backward nation; it believes in itself. This is what ignites national determination, prepares the people to reach the peaks of progress, and encourages them. My message to you, brothers and sisters, especially to you, the youth, is not to let this sweet feeling of hope for the future diminish within you. This country has been unjustly kept backward. We have made significant progress today, but this progress is small compared to what befits the Iranian nation and the status of the Iranian nation. The Iranian nation once stood at the peak of material and spiritual knowledge and power thanks to Islam. Today, we have revived Islam; we have opened our arms to Islam, presenting it to the world with a perspective that is compatible with the times and the progress of the times. Today, Islamic political thought, Islamic social thought, the spiritual inclination of Islam, and Islam's perspective on the internal relationships among individuals in society can be presented to the world as a guideline, as a model; not just because I say this here; this is a statement that today, fair-minded thinkers around the world are saying. The Iranian nation has not easily achieved this. You have sacrificed martyrs; Abarkuh has dear martyrs, it has self-sacrificing individuals, it has parents who sent their children to defend this revolution during the fervor of the revolution; and to defend the borders of the country during the sacred defense. It has been these individuals who have kept this revolution alive, raised this flag, and today honored the Iranian nation. If you observe that the Iranian nation today has a proud and elevated face in international forums and in the international environment, all of the Iranian nation from all regions have contributed to creating this beautiful and noble image of the Iranian nation; you have all worked hard, you have all made efforts. Therefore, these two factors must exist: the officials must continually strengthen this sense of responsibility towards the needs of the people within themselves, and I can tell you that fortunately, our government officials, our ministers, our president, and senior managers of the country possess this sense of responsibility. Between God and myself, when one looks, one sees that in this sense of responsibility, they truly and fairly lack nothing; they work a lot, and their efforts are indeed tireless. One of their great services, in addition to material and developmental services and addressing the affairs of the people, is that they take the slogans of the revolution and the values of the revolution in their hands and take pride in them; this is very important. There have been and are among our people in the country those who did not appreciate these slogans. They should have taken pride in them, but they did not. Fortunately, the senior officials of the country have always been proud and honored by these slogans and values of the revolution. Therefore, the nation must be assured of this first pillar, which is the commitment of the officials of the country and the managers of the country to improve the situation throughout the country. Now, you raise the issue of water, or the issue of agriculture, or the issue of roads, or the issue of employment. There are many issues throughout the country that the officials must address, implement, plan, and assess the country's resources. Fortunately, the resources of the country are not few, and there is no shortage of capable manpower in the country; they must plan and move forward. Until today, we have progressed, and the amount that the Iranian nation has advanced in terms of nation-building in these twenty-seven or twenty-eight years after the revolution is several times greater than what could have been achieved fifty years before the revolution by those tyrannical and oppressive rulers who were indifferent to the rights of the people. They had no sense of responsibility towards the needs of the people. Whatever they did was either due to a necessity or a facade or a compulsion or dangerous demands from the people; they had no choice, otherwise they would not have acted. The province of Yazd, which has noble people, received less attention than some other places where they feared a reaction might occur. This is how they were; there was no sense of responsibility. Today, thanks be to God, this sense of responsibility exists at the highest level. The people can be assured and confident that the officials do not seek anything for themselves. Their efforts, their work, and their tireless endeavors are for the people. I also constantly recommend the second pillar: our youth should not spare any effort in their high aspirations; aspirations must be elevated; those who are studying, those who are engaged in industry, those who are involved in agriculture, those who are engaged in various services, all should feel that they have a duty and share in the progress of this country, and they must fulfill this share, this duty to the best of their ability. Fortunately, our nation also possesses this feeling. This vitality, this enthusiasm, has the first effect of discouraging the designers of global conspiracies from being able to defeat this nation. The best way to push back the enemy is to show readiness. That nation that displays its readiness, its presence, its firm resolve in all arenas discourages the enemy from infiltrating and dominating it. In the face of global thoughts and global perspectives, the Iranian nation must not show weakness or retreat in any matter. This is why you see in the nuclear issue that the government officials insist; it is because, first of all, this is a necessity—I explained this two days ago in Yazd to the youth and students—this is a national need that if we do not start today, ten years later, fifteen years later, the nation and the country will suffer the consequences. If we start today, at the time we need it, we will reap the fruits of our national labor. If we do not start today, we will be behind; this is the first issue, and the second issue is that in such a necessity, any passivity in the face of the enemy encourages the enemy to raise more expectations and take a step forward. This is why the Iranian nation stands firm, and standing firm is correct, and just as the officials of the country, the government officials have repeatedly said, and the people in all parts of the country have echoed and responded, it is truly the undeniable right of the Iranian nation to attain this scientific power and energy. This is just one example. All the demands of the Iranian nation are not summarized in this. We have a long way ahead. Along with nation-building, we must find our true place in the realm of relations among countries and international relations, and there are many moral and spiritual tasks that we must accomplish. These require the efforts of the officials and the cooperation and commitment of the dear nation. They are making their efforts, and the nation, thanks be to God, in all the cities where we encounter our dear people, we feel this readiness and enthusiasm. Here, too, in the Abarkuh region, a desert region and one of the renowned areas of this country, one can observe this feeling among the people, among you dear youth and the general populace. In the near future, the issue of elections will also arise. The presence of the people in elections is one of those displays of the firm resolve and power and decision of the Iranian nation. They have always tried to diminish the brilliance of our elections so that the people would leave the election arena empty and pay no attention to the ballot boxes. The enemy has always desired this, and our dear people, as I observe in the history of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the elections, have acted in exactly the opposite manner to what the enemy wanted. The gathering of the people, the attention of the people, the sense of responsibility of the people in every election has been better and greater than in previous elections. This can be seen in almost all of our elections. And we hope that in the upcoming elections, it will be the same. All the people from all walks of life should participate in this great responsibility and in this competitive arena, which is a positive competitive field—the electoral competition is among the positive competitions and has benefits for the people; it is the electoral competition arena—as I recommended in Yazd, I repeat it now, they must avoid electoral misconduct; speaking ill, insulting, slandering, to elevate oneself or the candidate of their choice by belittling others and rivals in the eyes of the people is not a correct or Islamic method. Competition should exist; it should be positive and enthusiastic, but with adherence to ethical standards. We hope that the Almighty God grants the Iranian nation the success in this election to fulfill their great duty, and I hope that the Almighty God increases the dignity of the Iranian nation day by day and bestows upon you dear people His blessings and favors. I must thank you for your presence, for your gathering, for your warm and sincere feelings, and I also want to express my apologies: we arrived about an hour later than the time we were supposed to reach Abarkuh. The reason was that there was snow and fog on the way, and we had to move slowly, which is why we arrived late; otherwise, we left Yazd at the right time to arrive here on schedule, but the mountain passes along the way were both snowy and foggy. O Lord! I beseech You by Your honor and generosity to bestow Your mercy, grace, and kindness upon these people. O Lord! Make the world and the hereafter of these people more prosperous than before; unite the dear martyrs of this city and this region with Your saints. O Lord! Unite the pure soul of our dear Imam with the prophets and saints. Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.