Speech on the Occasion of the Birth Anniversary of Imam Ali (peace be upon him) with Various Segments of People and Officials

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

I extend my congratulations on this blessed birth, a divine blessing for humanity, to all the free people of the world, especially the Muslims, and particularly to the faithful and devoted people of our dear country.

The existence of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) is an eternal and unforgettable lesson for all generations of humanity, in various aspects and under different conditions; whether in his personal actions, in his worship, in his supplications, in his asceticism, in his immersion in the remembrance of God, or in his struggle against the self, Satan, and material desires. These words from the Commander of the Faithful still resonate in the realm of creation and human life: "O world... deceive someone else": O worldly attractions, O captivating beauties, O desires that ensnare the strongest of humans, go deceive someone other than Ali; Ali is greater, higher, and stronger than these words. Therefore, every awakened human finds unforgettable lessons in every moment of the life of the Commander of the Faithful and in his connection with God and spirituality.

Moreover, his struggle was to establish and uphold the tent of truth and justice. From the very first hours when the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) took on the mission, he found a faithful and devoted fighter and struggler by his side, who was still in his youth, and that was Ali. Until the last blessed hours of the Prophet's life, the struggle to establish and then preserve the Islamic system did not leave the Commander of the Faithful idle for a moment. How much he fought, how many dangers he faced, and how absorbed he was in the struggle to establish truth and justice.

When no one remained on the battlefield, he stayed. When no one stepped onto the battlefield, he did. When hardships weighed heavily like mountains on the shoulders of the fighters and strugglers in the path of God, it was his steadfast stature that gave others encouragement. For him, the meaning of life was to use the God-given resources, physical and spiritual strength, and everything at his disposal to elevate the word of truth and revive it. With the power of Ali's (peace be upon him) will, arm, and struggle, truth was revived.

If you observe that today the concepts of truth, justice, humanity, and values cherished by intelligent humans in the world have remained and grown stronger and more resolute day by day, it is due to those struggles and sacrifices. If there were no individuals like Ali ibn Abi Talib—who are very rare in human history—today human values would not exist; attractive titles for humanity would not have attraction; humanity would not have life, civilization, culture, aspirations, and high goals; and humanity would have turned into a wild and predatory animal. Humanity owes the preservation of high ideals to the Commander of the Faithful and noble individuals like him. Those struggles had this effect.

Another aspect of the life of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) is in the field of governance. When this great and thoughtful human finally attained power and governance, in that short period, he did something that if historians, writers, and artists wrote and depicted for years, they would have said and depicted little. The state of the Commander of the Faithful's life during his governance is an upheaval. Ali (peace be upon him) changed the meaning of governance.

He was the embodiment of divine governance, the embodiment of Quranic verses among Muslims, the embodiment of "stern against the disbelievers, merciful among themselves," and the embodiment of absolute justice. He brought the poor close to himself—"he would bring the needy closer"—and gave special attention to the weak. Prominent individuals who had unjustly made themselves prominent with money, power, and other means were equal to dust in Ali's (peace be upon him) eyes. What had value in his eyes and heart was faith, piety, sincerity, struggle, and humanity. With these valuable foundations, the Commander of the Faithful governed for less than five years. For centuries, they have been writing about the Commander of the Faithful, and they have written little and have not been able to depict it correctly, and the best of them confess their own inadequacy and shortcomings.

We are those whom the world knows for our love for the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him): "and known for our affirmation of you." Both the Islamic world knows us as those who have a special attachment, love, belief, and connection to Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), and the rest of the world knows us this way. We must make ourselves worthy of this assumption.

There was a time when if it was said, "Thanks be to God who made us among those who hold fast to the Guardianship of the Commander of the Faithful and his infallible offspring (peace be upon them)," many would doubt that this statement was true, and they had the right to doubt. They would say, should we thank God that we hold fast to the Guardianship of the Commander of the Faithful?! On the day when in this country, the guardianship was the guardianship of America and the Zionists and the enemies of God, and the social system was influenced by the thoughts, culture, behavior, will, and emotions of the enemies of God, how could we have the right to say, "Thanks be to God who made us among those who hold fast to the Guardianship of the Commander of the Faithful"? Yes, a large part of the people in their hearts held fast to love and believed in the Guardianship; but Guardianship is more than this.

Today our nation can thank God for holding fast to the Guardianship of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him). Our revolution's path has been the path of the Guardianship of the Commander of the Faithful, the path of Alawi governance, and the path of Islam. Ali (peace be upon him) is the greatest and most prominent pioneer, herald, commander, and struggler in the path of Islam. He lived for Islam, was martyred for Islam, and the light and radiance of his existence have shone in the path of Islam to this day.

We want our world, life, and system to be such that the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) fought, lived, struggled, and governed for it. We want complete Islamic justice to prevail in our system. Everyone living in this system must strive so that if the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) were at the head of society, our society and system would be worthy of him. We must move in this way.

We must make our system, country, and society an Alawi society. The name of Islam and the name of Guardianship are not enough. Especially those who have responsibilities and missions from the divine and Islamic system—whether in the judiciary, executive, legislative, law enforcement, or various institutions and organizations—their language, arm, path, and work style must be the language, arm, path, and work style of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him).

The Commander of the Faithful worked for God and in His path, attended to the people's needs, loved the people, and considered serving them his duty. Although his governance was in the direction of serving the oppressed, he did not suffice with this; at night, alone and individually, he would go to help each of the oppressed. This is the life of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him).

In our system, every movement, policy, law, and effort must serve the oppressed and deprived people whom the long and prolonged rule of the tyrants has subjected to various forms of oppression and weakness. This is our path. This is the path that the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) walked. This is the path that the great Imam, teacher, and leader of this revolution learned from Ali (peace be upon him) and placed before us. We must move on this path.

Ali (peace be upon him) was an opponent of oppression at every level, under any name, and under any guise. Look at the difficult life of the Commander of the Faithful. These are his battles; see whom he fought, how he fought, with what firmness he fought, who they were, and under what deceptive names and titles they were hidden. But when he realized that this was oppression and falsehood, he did not hesitate. This is our path; the difficult path that we must traverse. This is the path of every individual who claims to follow the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him); the path of confronting oppression and the oppressor, at every level and in every form.

The very point that threatened our Muslim nation and the Islamic Republic system—the threat of oppressors, tyrants, and global arrogance—is the same fundamental point we observed in the life of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him), and it is our duty to follow this path. It is evident that those who have accustomed themselves and the people of the world to accept whatever they say find it difficult to endure. A nation that holds fast to Islam and the Quran stands against their bullying. Naturally, they become enemies with that nation and act with enmity.

If America and the world's powerful and arrogant did not become enemies with the Islamic Republic and did not harbor animosity towards the Iranian nation, it would be surprising. If the designers of Zionism's cunning political, security, and propaganda policies worldwide did not conspire day and night against the Islamic Republic, it would be astonishing. The path of Islam is the path of confronting these.

They fear Islam. They have been slapped by Islam. They have bitter memories of Islam and faithful, sincere, and struggling Muslims in their minds. Therefore, from the beginning of the revolution, they confronted and fought against the Islamic Republic system and employed various conspiracies, one of the most malicious being to equip our neighbor more and more complexly and set them against the Islamic Republic. You, the Iranian nation, ended that incident. It was your courage that forced the enemy to end the incident.

Today, they have fallen into the very pit they dug. What is happening in Iraq today—the great oppression inflicted by the arrogant and oppressive invaders on the Iraqi nation—is a stain of disgrace in their history. See what they are doing to the Iraqi nation. They do not disclose the statistics, they do not state the facts. What crime have the Iraqi people committed to deserve such pressure and suffering?

Today, the leaders of America and its friends, allies, and partners are committing one of the greatest human crimes in Iraq. God knows how many of the Iraqi people have been killed, wounded, disabled, or left homeless in these days. Who is responsible for these? Whose neck bears this blood? They say: we had thousands of sorties. Where did these flights drop these bombs?

A few missiles fell on the Zionist land, and the voices of the global arrogance's pawns rose from all over the world, declaring their sympathy and supporting the Zionists! Hundreds and thousands of times more than that is happening to the Iraqi people, so why have they fallen silent and kept quiet?! Is this the meaning of supporting human rights?!

Western arrogance has shown its ugly face. We do not want to support the leaders of Iraq—they are also guilty in their own right—but this issue is another matter. The issue is that today a Muslim nation is being crushed and destroyed under the feet of Western arrogance—which has joined hands; some provide money, some provide equipment, some encourage, and some directly commit crimes. Of course, the Iraqi nation will not be destroyed; rather, it will survive. As long as it holds fast to Islam, it is alive.

They have shown their true face. See what they are doing. These are the same people who, when an explosion occurs in a corner of the world, fill the world with the news that civilians were killed. Now in Basra, Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala, the holy shrines, and other cities of Iraq, who is being killed? Civilians and women are being killed, children are being destroyed. This is the face of global arrogance; recognize it—and you do recognize it—let the people of the world recognize them. These are the ones who, for their interests, oil, and the operation of their four factories, are willing to kill thousands of humans! America, Britain, France, and the other Western powers are like this.

The only thing that saves humanity from these bloodthirsty and man-eating wolves is revolutionary Islam. Muslim nations, if they want to be saved from the satanic and hellish domination of this malicious Western arrogance—with America as their great Satan leading the way and the rest following—must return to their Quran and Islam, clench their fists, and strike the aggressors and their mercenaries. This is what the Iranian nation did.

The Ten-Day Dawn is approaching. The Ten-Day Dawn is the memory of the blossoming of this great force and the revival and activation of a great volcano that shook the world of arrogance. Value this Ten-Day Dawn greatly, and indeed the Iranian nation values it. Every day of this decade—especially the twenty-second of Bahman—are days of God and unforgettable memories for the Iranian nation. Truly, our nation came to life in this decade.

Look at what our nation did in each of these events? These days coincide with the incident of Amol, where some of our brothers and sisters from Amol are apparently present here. What did our people do in Amol, Azerbaijan, Mazandaran, Gilan, and the far corners of the country? How did our nation act with awareness and decisiveness wherever they observed signs of arrogance and colonialism over these twelve years? This is the fruit of a revolution.

The great achievement that the Islamic Revolution gave to our people revived them; it awakened them and gave them courage, power, and dignity. Our nation was the first nation to prove that America can do nothing. Other nations, too, have the same path and must act and take action. The path of action is holding fast to Islam.

We hope that, God willing, God will grant you success. During the Ten-Day Dawn, the brothers responsible for organizing these ceremonies should designate a day for expressing solidarity with the oppressed Muslim nation of Iraq.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings