Statements at the Meeting with Basij Forces

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 Muhammad and his pure family, especially the Awaited One on earth, and God's curse be upon all their enemies.

Our meeting today is a very sweet and desirable session. The fragrance of the Basij spirit has filled the atmosphere. We have benefited from the statements of these dear ones, each of whom expressed a sweet and significant truth, and we have enjoyed it. There is much to discuss with you dear Basijis—youth, boys, and girls.

Today, I will present a few points regarding the Basij, but first, on the occasion of these days and this magnificent and glorious march, which is truly a great historical phenomenon, I would like to say a word. Usually, in such phenomena that one observes, where no propaganda has been conducted, yet suddenly a phenomenon emerges in the sight of people, the hand of God is more evident than anywhere else; one example is the Islamic Revolution itself. The previous struggles are preserved in their place, but the presence and expansion of the people over the course of a year or a year and a half in a vast country like ours took place. The same slogan that people shouted in Tehran was echoed in distant villages where people marched. Therefore, Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) at that time—according to what we were informed—said that this revolution would succeed because it was a sign of the presence of God's powerful hand. At another time, he told me that he always saw a powerful hand behind this great popular movement throughout the revolution; popular movements are like this. The issue of the seizure of the U.S. embassy is also like this, the events that occurred later in this country are like this, the events of the 9th of Dey (December 30) in recent times are like this, and the issue of the retreats (I'tikaf) is of the same kind; these are phenomena for which no propaganda is conducted, nor is any effort made. You see how much effort is put into gathering ten thousand or fifty thousand people in one place, and in the end, it does not happen. Here, despite numerous obstacles, two million people from Iran alone rise to walk eighty kilometers—not for pleasure or lounging in hotels—but they go to Karbala; several times that number from Iraq and other regions; this is a divine incident, this is a divine phenomenon; it indicates that this path is the path of love; but not a mad love, a love accompanied by insight; like the love of the saints for God; "O God, grant me Your love, and the love of those who love You, and the love of every action that brings me closer to You"; this love and this affection is a love accompanied by insight; it knows, it understands, and this attraction pulls it, this magnetism draws it.

Therefore, the work is a great work; the phenomenon is a tremendous phenomenon. First of all, I welcome those who succeeded and went, and I ask for divine acceptance for their work and express my envy towards their work—since we were deprived, they succeeded. I thank the people of Iraq who welcomed and showed kindness, managing this great crowd within a few days; this incident is extraordinarily important.

Now, what is the conclusion? I want to say that in such incidents where you clearly see the hand of divine power behind it and observe its blessings, one must give thanks. If we give thanks, it will remain; if we do not give thanks, it will be taken away. If the Iranian nation had not given thanks for the revolution, the revolution would have gone; just as in some other parts of the world revolutions occurred, and they did not know how to give thanks, they lost their revolution; not only did they lose the revolution, but they also fell back twenty or thirty years. The Iranian nation gave thanks. Giving thanks is not merely saying "O God, thank You" or performing a prostration of gratitude; giving thanks means that one acts according to the requirements of this blessing; the Iranian nation acted. In every field where it was necessary, they were present; where sacrifice was needed, they sacrificed their lives, wealth, loved ones, children, honor, and dignity, bringing everything to the field. I do not want to say that every single person in Iran did this, but a large group, a significant majority acted in this way, and the Almighty God responded; He preserved the revolution for them. Today, the revolution is stronger, more powerful, and more capable of planning for the future than it was on the first day it triumphed.

Give thanks for this march. Among the ways to give thanks is to keep those spirits, those states—that you observed or felt during these two or three days of marching—within yourselves; that brotherhood, that kindness, that attention to the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, that readiness of the body to endure hardship, that preference for hard work and sweating and walking over comfort and laziness. This should be pursued in all aspects of life; this is what constitutes giving thanks.

Among the branches of giving thanks, one is to make this work easier for those who love this work; the responsibility for this lies with the officials of various sectors of the country. Sometimes incidents occur; they should not allow these incidents to recur, they should prevent them; this is also part of giving thanks. In any case, let us appreciate this blessing; it is a great blessing. And this, God willing, will be a lasting blessing and a source of dignity, pride, and honor for the Iranian and Iraqi nations. Now, in the world, they try to prevent this strong spotlight from being seen, but they cannot; it will be seen; they try to distort it or prevent it from being seen, but none of this will succeed; when you continue the movement, the truth will inevitably reveal itself.

One main point of mine today is about the Basij. The Basij was one of those astonishing phenomena of the revolution; Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) was inspired by God to take this action; the twenty-million-strong Basij that he announced and the formation of the Basij organization was a great achievement. What does this action even mean? It means that the Almighty God taught this to Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified), inspired him to entrust the fate of the revolution to the youth; not just the youth of that day. When the youth entered the field, this trust that was placed in their hands, this confidence that was given to them, is passed from hand to hand over time; and this has happened. Perhaps ninety percent of you who are here have neither seen the era of the Imam nor witnessed the Imam, and most of you have not seen the war, but the spirit is the same spirit. It is not that I am inspired by the statements of our dear youth here; no, I am aware, I am in touch with the youth. The spirit of our youth today is the same as the spirit of the youth back then; with the difference that they were in the midst of the furnace of the revolution at that time, today the conditions are not the same, yet that spirit exists. Another difference is that the insight and awareness and experience that our youth have today did not exist back then; that is, we have progressed. Imam entrusted the fate of the revolution to you youth; and every group of youth, every generation, when they transition from youth to middle age, in fact, they hand over this trust to the younger generation after them, and this chain is endless.

Of course, the meaning of saying that we say the preservation of the revolution and the safeguarding of the revolution was entrusted to the youth by the Imam is not that the non-youth have no mission; no, this mission is for everyone; from the eighty-year-old and older to the teenager, from men to women, from elites to non-elites, and all segments of the nation and country have the mission to preserve their revolution; this is the duty of all of us; but the youth are the vanguard, the engine of movement. If the youth generation did not exist and did not want to act, the movement would stop; the thoughts of the elders and their experience come into play when there is a youthful movement; the youth are the vanguard of this movement. Therefore, today, you youth who have not seen the Imam are the audience of the Imam; the Imam has spoken to you, the Imam has addressed you. Refer to the Imam's statements. This is one point.

Another point is that the Basij movement in our country is certainly victorious. The main condition for this victory is that all of us—youth and non-youth—consider piety and good deeds as a duty for ourselves. Personal piety and social and group piety each have their meanings; now I have spoken about group piety, I have made remarks, and I do not want to repeat them. Piety is necessary; take care of yourselves; both personal care and group care. If this happens, God said: "Indeed, God is with those who are pious and those who do good"; those who practice piety and do good deeds, "God is with them." The fact that God is with a group is a very important matter.

Look! Let me give you an example from the Quran and from Quranic history: The Almighty God commanded Moses and Aaron to go to Pharaoh; well, it was a very great task for two alone to go to confront and oppose a great power of that day; the Pharaoh's power was a very great power—from a political, social, and even popular influence perspective, as well as from an administrative establishment perspective, which has its details—the Pharaoh was an extraordinary thing; a tyrannical power that could do whatever it wanted; with all those resources; the Almighty God commands two people to go and oppose this man. Prophet Moses said, "O Lord! It is possible that we go, they might kill us, they might put us to death, our work might remain unfinished"—they were not afraid of being killed, they said the work might remain unfinished—God said, "Do not fear; indeed, I am with you; I hear and see". See, divine companionship is this: "Indeed, I am with you; I hear and see." The fact that God says, "Indeed, God is with those who are pious"—which I say if you and I have piety, God is with us—this divine companionship and God's being with us means that two empty-handed individuals can be sent to fight a Pharaoh.

This same Moses, at another point—there are many instances in the Quran, now I will mention another one—when their work came to open confrontation and they gathered the Children of Israel to leave the city at dawn, very early or at midnight, to escape and go and free themselves from Pharaoh, when morning came and the day rose a little, Pharaoh's spies reported that the Children of Israel had emptied the city and all had left; Pharaoh panicked that they would now go and establish a nucleus somewhere else; he said, "Gather together." They gathered the army and set out behind them; now how much distance had been covered, I do not know, perhaps a day or two days or less or more had passed since this army set out. Well, they were going on foot without equipment—a bunch of people; women, men, children—but they had all the equipment and army and cavalry; naturally, they would reach them quickly; they reached them. The companions of Moses saw from afar that, "Oh! Pharaoh's army is coming"; they panicked. In the Quran—in Surah Ash-Shu'ara—it says, "When the two groups saw each other"; when the group of Prophet Moses who were moving forward and Pharaoh's group who were coming behind saw each other from afar and got so close that they could see each other, the companions of Moses said, "Indeed, we are being overtaken"; the Children of Israel with Moses were frightened, saying, "O Moses! They are about to reach us"; "مُدرَکون" means they are about to reach us, they will capture us and massacre us. What did Moses reply? Prophet Moses replied, "No, never will this happen; why? Indeed, my Lord is with me"; this is companionship. [He said] God is with me, my Lord is with me; "No, indeed, my Lord is with me; He will guide me." See! Divine companionship is so important. The fact that it is said: "Indeed, God is with those who are pious and those who do good"; this companionship must be valued. If you and I can maintain this divine companionship, know that America is nothing; if there are those in the world who have ten times the power of America, this force that God is with will overcome them.

I will present a few headings regarding the Basij. You brothers and sisters who have responsibilities in various sectors of the Basij; each of these headings requires explanation and elaboration—which we neither have time for nor is it the right moment for it—also requires planning and policy-making. I will only mention the headings; the rest is up to you.

One is that the Basij is not merely an emotional movement; the Basij is based on knowledge and understanding, it is based on insight. The reality of the Basij is just this, and it must progress in this direction. If it were merely emotional, feelings change with a little something. There were some who were among the enthusiastic supporters of the revolution at the beginning, but they were driven by emotion; it was not based on deep religious understanding. I had connections with some of these individuals, I knew them, I recognized them in university and outside of it; they did not have deep religious understanding. The result was that by associating with some individuals who had a divergence from the revolution, they too became estranged from the revolution—this is the nature of divergence, it starts very limited, but as one moves forward, the distance increases, the gap widens—they became opposed to the revolution. The Basij is accompanied by insight. The reason I emphasized insight in 2009 was that some were upset, angry, made jokes, wrote articles against why I say insight, is because insight is important; knowing and understanding is important.

Secondly, the Basij is not partisan; it is not one of the two political factions, or three political factions, or four political factions within the country. The Basij is the army of the revolution; the Basij belongs to the revolution. If there is a duality, it is revolutionary and anti-revolutionary; even a non-revolutionary can be attracted; I believe in maximum attraction, of course with its own methods, not that we do anything in the name of maximum attraction—revolution and anti-revolution. Any faction, any person, anyone who accepts the revolution is in service to the revolution, is pursuing the revolution, and the Basij is supportive of them. That is, it is not that we consider the Basij as part of this faction or that faction or that third faction or that fourth faction; no, the Basij itself is a movement, a great current flowing towards the goals of the revolution.

Another point; in the Basij, synergy is necessary. That is, various segments of the people must be present in the Basij; this Basij of the classes. Students, university students, workers, university professors, merchants, lawyers, and so on and so forth, all must be present. This breadth of the Basij is horizontal. Of course, the condition is that they coordinate with each other. One of the necessary tasks that I recommend—I'm saying this here, the officials are present—and must be done is to create a definite mechanism for coordination and cooperation and synergy at this broad horizontal level. Therefore, the Basij has a horizontal line—this is one—on the other hand, the Basij needs thoughtful groups, for public guidance. This guidance—which I will talk more about later—has a vertical line; now I will explain what the role of this vertical line is. There is both a horizontal line in the Basij and a vertical line in the Basij; it is neither like conventional military organizations or administrative structures that are merely vertical, nor like public service groups that are merely horizontal. It has both a vertical line and a horizontal line; each is necessary for forming the Basij.

The next point is that the Basij is the realization of religious democracy. When we say religious democracy or Islamic democracy, some think that this democracy is only at the ballot box and elections; that is only one of the manifestations of religious democracy. Democracy means that based on religion and Islam, the master of the life of society is the people; this is what religious democracy means. The Basij in all arenas is a manifestation of religious democracy and Islamic democracy. If the Basij enters the economy, the economy becomes democratic; just as the gentlemen here have now stated and it is completely correct. This resistant economy that we have mentioned, if it can utilize the strength and power of the Basij, it becomes a democratic resistant economy; in science, it is the same, in various social advancements, it is the same, in politics, it is the same; the Basij is a manifestation of religious democracy.

Another point is that we said think tanks; I insist on not using the term "think tank" that the Westerners use. Think tank is a Western expression; they come, gentlemen sit down, translate Western words into literal Persian, and proudly use them; no, we have our own language, we should create our own terms. "Think tanks" is much more expressive than "think tank". We need think tanks. Where? At two points: one at the top, one at the layers. The various layers of the Basij are numerous. Just as now these children here say we are eager and send us, and why do you not send us, that is the hard war; the hard war needs a think tank to delineate and determine the limits of this work—who should go, when to go, how to go; to the soft war, which is a very vast arena and is becoming broader day by day with the expansion of this virtual space and is much more dangerous than the hard war—that is, in the hard war, bodies are brought to blood and soil, but in the soft war, if God forbid the enemy prevails, bodies are fattened and remain safe, but souls go to the depths of hell; this is the difference; therefore, this is much more dangerous—requires a think tank; to construction, where the Basij is engaged in construction in some places; to the distribution of geographical missions—just as they say territorial planning; in one point of the country, the Basij can do a job that in another point it either cannot do that job or it is not necessary to do it—this must be done with awareness that a think tank is necessary. All these various layers and other various layers each need think tanks.

In addition to this, a think tank is needed at the highest levels of the Basij to sit and write lines for the entire Basij organization, to strategize—here I do not want to use the term strategist; we need strategy thinkers. We need strategy thinkers who sit down and their only job is this; this is one of the most important tasks. Just like military strategists who are common everywhere in the world, as they say military strategists who sit down and determine the military tasks. This is necessary; these are tasks that must be done. When we do these, then you in any point of the vast Basij organization that you are engaged in work—in the Salihin circles, in the نور راهیان (Noor-e-Rahiyan), in high school, in university, in the working environment, in the mosque—wherever you are engaged in the Basij and know that you are an active member of a wise and purposeful organization that is moving forward, this feeling will arise in you. I do not say like a member of a body; no, because the members of the body indeed move, but all are captive to the brain; the brain says see, the brain says hear, the brain says speak or move; the brain is active. In the Basij, it is not that only the center says speak; no, it is as if each member has its own brain that is coordinated with the main brain in the head—this coordination, of course, has its ways—such a state will arise.

If we had these think tanks and activated them, alongside this, monitoring groups are necessary. Monitoring what? Because the Basij is a moving entity, a living, dynamic organization, it is engaged in growth, it is progressing, it must be monitored so that it does not stop; it must be monitored so that it does not go astray, does not make mistakes; it must be monitored so that it is not harmed, does not become sick, and various viruses do not infiltrate it. The monitoring apparatus is different from the information and information protection apparatus and the like; I am not concerned with them, each of them has its own responsibility; the monitoring apparatus is that wise and intelligent apparatus that, like a magnetic and electric screen that a person has placed in front of them and is observing the external reality, sees what is happening.

These are necessary; these are things that are needed for the advancement of the Basij and for the evolution and productivity of this pure tree. Because the tree is pure: "Its root is firmly established and its branches are in the sky; it bears its fruit at all times by the permission of its Lord." If you want this "it bears its fruit at all times by the permission of its Lord" to be realized, these things we mentioned are necessary. Well, these things we mentioned are general lines; they are not analytical or theoretical. All the things I have mentioned are related to action, related to reality; each of these has its own explanation and detail—just as was previously mentioned—each of these requires policy-making and program-making, which is up to you, it is up to the officials; they must sit down and do these tasks; these are general lines related to action, related to reality that must be taken into consideration.

One marginal point I would like to mention here—which was also present in the statements of these friends—is that the Basij was a model-maker; the Basij was a model creator. This model, without any propaganda being conducted for it, without any paper being written, any book being written, any message being given to anyone, naturally opened a significant space in a major part of the Islamic world; that is, it showed itself. They copied from it; some copied for good purposes, some copied for bad purposes. The fact that they bring in the youth, motivate them with religion, put responsibilities on them, and trust them; this became a model. Now that it has become a model, our friends in many countries have benefited from this model—now the gentlemen have named countries, I do not want to name any country—but the enemies are also sitting down to plan for it. One of the enemy's plans is infiltration. I have been talking about infiltration for about a year or more now. We must be afraid of infiltration, we must be vigilant. The meaning of fear is not that one should be afraid, but rather to be cautious, to be vigilant; infiltration is very important.

Another of the ways that the enemies pursue is to create parallel lines; to create rivals for the Basij; they are doing these things as well. I do not want to go into details now, but I know, I am aware, perhaps some of you are also aware that right now they are creating rivals for the Basij, for the youth of the country, for those whom I called "officers of the soft war". They are creating a parallel line to distract them from here and lead them there. These are important issues.

Well, if these headings we mentioned are taken into consideration—of course, there are other words that now there is no time to mention—then the Basij will have the ability to appear powerfully and make an impact in the most essential arenas of society; both in the fields of science, culture, economy, and service; in all these arenas, the Basij can appear as a powerful and influential force. When they say the Basij is unstoppable, this is what they mean. In other words, the Basij can assist the responsible agencies, both in directing, in goal-setting, and in action. That is, when we talk about the Basij and say these things and mention the capabilities of the Basij, we do not want to create a rival for the executive branch; no, the executive branch has responsibilities that it must fulfill, it is its duty, but the Basij can help the executive branch for correct direction, to prevent errors and deviations in the path. And in action, it can also help; like this resistant economy that some gentlemen have pointed out. It can act as a complement, it can act as a source of hope. Some government agencies in some areas become hopeless and say: it cannot be done! How can it not be done? So many great works have been accomplished, how can it not be done? They say: it cannot be done! When the Basij moves forward, when this youthful and vanguard force follows its correct movement, even that hopeless and depressed person becomes lively and hopeful.

Of course, I never want to exaggerate; I do not want to say that the Basijis are angels and free from human weaknesses; no, all of us are afflicted with human weaknesses; we have fears, we have doubts, we have various considerations, we have family problems, we have social problems, but we do not have dead ends; this is what I want to say. A Basij youth may at one time, at a certain moment, be afflicted with fear, or in a specific issue may have doubts, but they do not reach a dead end; because the guiding, empowering, and guiding elements in the Basij are so numerous that they can overcome all these weaknesses or turn them into strengths.

Well, today we observe that there are economic problems in the country; of course, we said this year is the year of action and work, yesterday the respected officials sent me a detailed report, a list of actions and works that have been carried out from the beginning of the year until now; that is, we wanted, we said, well, finally, what has happened for action and work, a detailed report reached me and I looked at it. There are statistics, there are works, actions have been taken, but the results must be seen in the field; what is important is that the statistics we provide must be seen in action. I also said at the beginning of the year that we must act in such a way that when the end of the year comes, we can provide a list, saying we have done these works, and these are the signs of it in action and in the reality of society; it should not be merely a report. The Basij can play a role in achieving this goal.

One last sentence I would like to say at the end of my remarks regarding the issues we have with this global arrogance. Of course, this government that is supposed to come has not yet arrived; now it is a watermelon in a sack, and we do not know what will come out of it, but this government that currently exists—this current government in America—is acting contrary to what they committed to and what was jointly decided, and the officials announced to us at that time. Here, I find it necessary to say that they have done multiple things, they have committed multiple violations, it is not just one or two; the latest is this ten-year extension of sanctions; if this sanction is extended, it will undoubtedly be a violation of the JCPOA—without a doubt—and they should know that the Islamic Republic will certainly respond to that.

My message in this regard to the officials and to the people is that this nuclear agreement, which they have named the JCPOA, should not become a means of pressure every now and then from the enemy against the Iranian nation and our country; that is, we should not allow this to be used as a means of pressure. The officials told us that we are doing this to lift the pressures of sanctions; now in addition to not doing what they promised to do at that time and which was supposed to be done on the very first day and has not been fully implemented for eight or nine months and is incomplete—our officials have stated this explicitly; those who were involved have stated this explicitly and continue to do so—they should not use this as a means of renewed pressures against the Islamic Republic; no, the Islamic Republic, relying on divine power and believing in the power of the people's presence, fears no power in the world. If someone, imitating the weak spirits of the Children of Israel, says, "Indeed, we are being overtaken"—now they are coming to us and will take our fathers—we also imitate Prophet Moses and say, "No, indeed, my Lord is with me; He will guide me."

O Lord! Increase Your guidance and support for these youth and for all the youth of our country and all our dear nation day by day.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.