Statements on the Birth Anniversary of Lady Fatimah Zahra (peace be upon her)

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

Happy Eid of the birth of the pure and infallible Lady Fatimah Zahra (peace be upon her) and the birth of the great leader of the revolution to all of you dear brothers, the nightingales of eloquence and reciters of the poetry of the garden of love for the Ahl al-Bayt and the guardianship of the Prophet's family.

We thank God; this is one of God's great blessings upon us, which inspires the Islamic and Shia community through births, biographies, and martyrdoms, continuously and consistently. This should be greatly appreciated. In the birth of Amir al-Mu'minin, the birth of the Prophet, the birth of Imam Hasan, the birth of Imam Husayn, the birth of Fatimah Zahra, the memory of these shining stars and guiding banners of humanity comes alive in hearts; this is very precious. And thanks be to God, this gathering of ours has been held for many years, blessed by the lights of Fatimah (peace be upon her), benefiting us, our work environment, our living space, and indeed the space of the country.

Certainly, the limited human mind cannot calculate and measure the dimensions of heavenly and celestial personalities such as Fatimah Zahra (peace be upon her); this was in the poetry of the friends who recited. Minds do not have the capacity to evaluate, determine, or measure these spiritual dimensions; however, one can take examples from behaviors. Spiritual ranks are one issue; the behaviors that are before our eyes are another issue. Not in the sense that we can produce a second version of those behaviors ourselves; that is not the case; however, we can follow their lead. Amir al-Mu'minin said: "Indeed, you cannot do that, but assist me with piety, diligence, chastity, and rectitude;" after he described his way of life - living with that high rank, with all those facilities, with such asceticism - he said: you cannot behave like me; however, you can help me; with what? "With piety," with your own piety, with your avoidance of sin, with your diligence and effort; these are our duties. They have outlined the goals for us, both individual and personal goals, as well as social, political, and general goals. In personal goals, reaching the peak of human dignity is our lofty goal; all have been promised that they can achieve this limitless and high flight; your abilities, young people, are even greater than ours. These are personal goals.

The great social goals are to create a pure Islamic life and an Islamic community; a community that gives its individuals the opportunity to move towards this goal: a prosperous community, a free community, an independent community, a community with high morals, a united and integrated community, a pious and God-conscious community; these are the goals of the Islamic community. The world that is a precursor to the Hereafter, the world that inevitably leads humanity to paradise, creating such a world is the grand social and political goal of Islam; these have been outlined before us. What is the way to achieve this? How can we reach these goals? Just as he said: "Assist me" - this is the saying of Amir al-Mu'minin - help me; meaning that everything Amir al-Mu'minin consumed in his life and efforts and jihad was all for this path, and that is to create such a world for humanity throughout history; help me so that this goal is achieved. How? "With piety," with diligence, with effort, laziness is forbidden, idleness is forbidden, becoming tired is forbidden, despair is forbidden. When this great movement takes place, then you will make the heart of Fatimah Zahra (peace be upon her) happy, you will make the heart of Amir al-Mu'minin happy; because they strove so hard for this goal, they exerted so much effort.

My dear ones, dear youth! Today, this opportunity is available to us, the Iranian nation; it was not available yesterday, it was difficult yesterday; today, in the era of the Islamic Republic, this opportunity is available for all members of society to move, to move correctly, to live correctly, to live faithfully, to live with chastity; not that the path of sin is closed, [no,] the path of sin is always open, but the path of good living, living faithfully, living chastely is also open under the shadow of Islam. Of course, living this way has its own pleasures and its own hardships. "Thus We have made for every prophet an enemy, devils among men and jinn, inspiring some of them to others with adorned speech as a delusion;" there have always been enemies against the line of the prophets; who are the enemies? The devils of men, the devils of jinn. In front of this seemingly vast and extensive line of devils, stands the solid and steadfast line of the believers. The Iranian nation has experienced this and it has become clear that one can triumph over the enemy, just as, thanks be to God, the Iranian nation has progressed until today. We must strive; the lesson of the life of the pure and infallible Fatimah Zahra (peace be upon her) is this for us: effort, diligence, striving, living a pure life; just as that great lady was a complete embodiment of spirituality, light, and purity: "the pure, the immaculate, the pious, the clean, the content, the sanctified;" her purity, beauty, piety, and luminosity are what have overshadowed our knowledge throughout the history of Shi'ism.

What I find appropriate to mention in this gathering - more than other matters - relates to the heavy responsibility that today the community of mourners has on its shoulders. Dear brothers! This tradition of mourning and praising the family of the Prophet - which is a great honor - has fortunately become widespread among our community, it has taken root; it existed before, but it was limited; today this table has been spread; this field has been opened. Many individuals - thousands of people - today across the country are engaged in this field using their talents and arts and various forms of expression; well, this becomes an opportunity. Every opportunity comes with a responsibility; when you cannot engage with others, your responsibility is limited; when you can engage, naturally, beyond the personal limit and to the extent of your communicative capacity, the responsibility expands. You who can speak to the people, who can engage with them through the art of poetry, voice, and melody, this is a responsibility. All these opportunities and facilities come with a responsibility; this responsibility must be fulfilled well. If the mourning community of the country can fulfill its responsibility as befits this rank and position, a transformation will occur at the national level.

I have repeatedly said, sometimes a piece of poetry that you recite in a gathering, when it is well delivered, when it is a meaningful, instructive piece, sometimes its impact is greater than that of a two or three-hour speech of ours; sometimes it is like that; well, this is a very good opportunity. If these thousands of praising and mourning individuals who engage with the people in gatherings and assemblies adhere to the limits and regulations of this great work, you will see what happens. Our enemies, with hundreds of means, with hundreds of languages, with various actions, are seeking to destroy beliefs, destroy actions, destroy paths; primarily in the Islamic Republic, and secondarily in the Islamic world. Many individuals understand, see, and know the actions that the enemy is undertaking, the television channels, the radio networks, various forms of new electronic communication, etc.; there are also things that we become more aware of, the general public does not know what complex actions are being carried out in our country to mislead the thoughts of our people, to change the course of this nation’s movement, to bring Islam to its knees, to prevent the Shia community and Shia teachings from becoming a model in the Islamic world, [many] actions are being taken.

In the face of this effort by the enemy, we have unique capabilities. Yes, we can respond to them through the internet, we can confront them through similar means - of course, their volume of work is much greater - but we have tools that are unique; one of them is you, one of them is this community of mourners. This face-to-face and direct engagement and the use of art tools to convey concepts to audiences in its mass form - meaning it is not just a discussion between two or three or ten mourners; thousands of people across the country are doing this - is one of the unique tools we have, which they do not have. These pulpits are one of those unique tools; these mourning assemblies are the same; these religious groups are the same. If the content and substance of our pulpits, our mourning sessions, our assemblies, our elegies, have a worthy content and substance, no means can confront and compete with them, meaning they are completely unique; see, this is the opportunity; this opportunity should not be wasted; this capability should not be lost.

Wasting this opportunity is worse than losing it, which is to misuse it. If our religious gathering and our recitation and mourning lead to people standing up from the pulpit without belief in the future and hopeless about the future, we have wasted this opportunity and have been ungrateful for this blessing; if people rise from our pulpit or our mourning without gaining any awareness of their situation and their duties, we have lost this opportunity; if, God forbid, our sessions become divisive, we have lost this opportunity; if the quality of our speech or the content of our words is such that it aids our enemies in their goals, we have turned this divine blessing - "They exchanged the favor of God for disbelief" - into a curse; this must be watched over, this must be guarded. We have repeatedly said, for informed and aware individuals of the conditions of the world and the Islamic world, this is as clear as day that today sectarian differences among Muslims are a tool and a card in the hands of our enemies. A sword in the hands of our enemies is these sectarian differences. Publicizing differences, making opposition explicit, voicing matters that kindle animosities is one of the tools that our enemy makes the most use of. Now, [if] we act in such a way that this enemy's goal is fulfilled, this is "They exchanged the favor of God for disbelief." In gatherings, sectarian animosities should not be amplified; how many times must this be repeated? We have repeated it many times; some are unwilling [to listen]. If you want to guide someone who does not agree with your sect and does not accept your rightful belief, what do you do? Do you start by speaking ill of their sanctities and cursing them? That will completely distance them from you and bring their hope for guidance to zero. The way to do this is not like that. Today you see that the world of Shi'ism is under attack; those who have never heard the names Shia and Sunni - the agents of global arrogance - now in their official propaganda constantly emphasize that yes, the Shia Iran, the Shia group in Iraq, the Shia group in such and such country! They constantly emphasize the issue of Shia and Sunni; why? Because they have found this to be a good tool for creating discord among Muslims. Well, yes, we take pride in being Shia of Ali; we take pride in having knowledge of the position of guardianship; our great Imam raised the banner of the guardianship of Amir al-Mu'minin, but this became a means for the Islamic world - Shia and non-Shia - to feel proud of Islam; now should we act in such a way that this feeling of pride, this feeling of interest of the Islamic world towards the Shia community and the pride of Shia turns into enmity and hatred? This is exactly what the enemy wants; we must not allow it. This is a very important point; you must be more vigilant than others about this. Let us not do anything that would aid the enemy in their objectives; let us not sharpen the enemy's sword. Our great figures, our scholars, our religious authorities, the great personalities of the Islamic world have always advised us in this regard. This is one point; it is a very fundamental point.

The second point: in religious ceremony environments, be careful that no actions that may go beyond the limits of religious regulations occur; this must be monitored. The environment of religious mourning and recitation is a pure and sanctified environment; let us not allow the impurities that unfortunately have spread in the world of art among careless and unprincipled people to infiltrate and penetrate the Islamic and religious art environment in religious settings; this must be watched over. The environment must be pure, wholesome, and chaste; this is the kind of environment we want to express Islamic teachings through poetry.

Let us strive to ensure that everything we include as content and substance in our poetry is instructive. It does not matter; sometimes it is about tragedy, sometimes it is about praise; all of these can be selected in a way that is educational. During the fervor of the revolution and the excitement of the revolution, in the Muharram that was the last Muharram of the tyranny and the Muharram that immediately followed the Muharram and Safar, when the victory of the revolution occurred, religious groups in various cities recited elegies that were as enlightening and informative as a long and eloquent speech, awakening and informing the people. It should always be like this; let us enrich the elegies. The work that the elegy reciter does is a very attractive and interesting task. This tradition of elegy recitation and the behaviors that occur in elegy recitation are very important works; these are exceptional to the Shia community, meaning they are specific to us; in other places, such ceremonies do not exist in this form; this is one of our distinctions; this must be enriched and filled with content. If, God willing, attention is paid to these matters, the mourning community will become one of the most influential pioneers of reform in the intellectual and practical system of Iranian society, and this can be realized, just as now wherever one observes a responsible, committed elegy reciter performing the right poetry, the good poetry, in the right manner, it truly has an impact, awakens its audience, informs them; and this is one of those works that no ongoing charity can be known to have as much value in advancing society; before God Almighty, there are few works that can be valued so highly; it is a very important task. You, thanks be to God, have this blessing: a good voice, the ability to perform well, with good melody; if you accompany this with the qualities mentioned, it seems that one of the great works in advancing the goals of the Islamic system and the Islamic Republic will be realized.

Fortunately, today, we do not lack good poetry; we have good poets, religious and ritual poets, poets who write about various issues and produce good poetry, and today, thanks be to God, we have benefited from some of them, and it was very good. In the past, mourners had to memorize poetry; today you have also changed this tradition; you have made it easier for yourselves, you bring out paper; well, good poetry can be written and recited, and this capability is, thanks be to God, available. One of God's greatest blessings is that today it is at our disposal.

And the community of mourners, with this vast capability, with this great opportunity, in my belief, is one of God's blessings for our country and our people; and the poets who write poetry and prepare these mourners to fulfill this responsibility are truly and fairly doing a great job. We seek the success of all of you dear ones from God Almighty, especially the youth - who have a vast field of work ahead of you - and we hope that, God willing, all of you will be rewarded and in the sight of His Holiness, the Awaited Savior (may our souls be sacrificed for him).

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