Speech on the Occasion of the Birth Anniversary of Imam Hossein (PBUH) with Commanders and Members of the Revolutionary Guards

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

I sincerely congratulate you, the true children of the Master of Martyrs and the practical and spiritual followers of that great figure, on this blessed birth and divine mercy, this spark of divine grace among humanity, which on such a day stepped into the realm of the world.

One of the best namings is the naming of 'Guard Day.' For the guards who, from the first hour of the revolution's victory, whether when they did not yet wear this sacred uniform or when, with the organization of the revolution's issues and the formation of institutions, these sincere, honest, and self-sacrificing young people joined the ranks of the guards—whether in the Corps or the Committee—and nothing but sacrifice and defense of Islam, the revolution, and the Imam mattered to them, and in the face of divine and revolutionary goals, life was a trivial commodity for them, nothing and no one is more deserving than these to dedicate this blessed day to them. The name of the guard was given to this day for this reason, and Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) also confirmed this matter with his wise vision.

You dear ones have traversed a tumultuous path to this day. The story of guarding in our country is a reality akin to a legend. If right now, scattered pieces of the lives of the self-sacrificing guards were collected in a book and translated into other languages, those who have not been in the atmosphere of Iran's issues, the eight-year imposed war, the events of Kurdistan, and these altars of martyrdom and the families of martyrs, if they read this book, most likely out of every ten people, eight or nine will say that these are legends and exaggerations; while it is not a legend; it is reality; but this reality is so superior to the ordinary level of material life that it is not easily believable for today's humanity. This is the story of guarding and the story of the guards of the revolution and the story of the Corps.

Not that we want to naively issue a single judgment about everyone; it is clear that we do not issue such a judgment; no one can issue such a judgment about any group; so that if someone finds a weak point somewhere, they can throw it in our face and say, now see what you were saying; no, the issue is not this; the issue is that a great collection of young people, from those whose peers around the world and until recently in this country, understood nothing but trivial individual, physical, and material issues, have found such elevation and height that all personal life issues are considered secondary and subsidiary for them; this is no joke; this was the miracle of the revolution. The Basij is the same way. The great individuals of the Basij, over these eight years, recorded and left something in history that cannot be found except in exceptional periods of past human history.

Of course, the Corps is a formed collection of such young people. Right now, as I look at your radiant faces—these few individuals I know—and contemplate these faces, I see that you are a statue of sacrifice; these same people who took themselves to the brink of martyrdom dozens of times and God brought them back; from high commanders to the unknown commanders of battalions and companies and brigades of the Corps and those whose names fill the book of the noble scribes. This is the past of this beautiful revolutionary collection.

Of course, over the past thirteen years, a strange test has been passed. Everyone was put to the test, and those who emerged successfully from the test, thanks be to God, are many. Our armed forces—both the army and the Corps—each entered this fiery furnace in their own way and emerged with honors. The brothers of the Committee Guards also showed very difficult tests and eloquent sacrifices in the difficult fields of war and the front and behind the front.

The point that comes to my mind to mention, and perhaps it is a reminder for myself and you, is that God Almighty does not give spiritual blessings easily and cheaply, just as material blessings are not given easily and cheaply; and if He gives them, He does not preserve them easily and cheaply for us. Just as all human achievements are the result of effort and perseverance, preserving them is also the result of effort and struggle and sacrifice. If you observe that nations have achieved scientific and technological advancements or political and economic dominance—they have become wealthy and have gained dignity—whatever it is, it is the result of effort. This is one of the Islamic principles that 'Whoever desires the immediate, We hasten for him therein what We will for whom We desire'; this pertains to those who want the world. Those who seek values and the world of values, which is the hereafter, and the divine hereafter, which is the divine reward, they are the same way; 'And whoever desires the Hereafter and strives for it with the necessary effort while he is a believer, it is they whose effort is appreciated.' Then He says: 'To each [category] We extend—to these and to those—from the gift of your Lord. And never has the gift of your Lord been restricted.' Whoever strives, in the path he has strived, God helps him. Effort is the criterion and measure for obtaining achievements. Preserving achievements is the same way; that is, it cannot be done without effort. History is before us. The Quran—the insightful teacher of humanity—is before us. In several places in the Quran, God says to the Children of Israel: 'And indeed, We favored you over the worlds'; but the same Children of Israel did something that God Almighty said: 'And they were covered with humiliation and poverty and returned with anger from God.' God has no kinship with anyone; it is the effort of humans that determines their destiny; therefore, in the Surah of Friday, you see that about the same Children of Israel, He says: 'The example of those who were entrusted with the Torah and then did not take it on is like that of a donkey who carries volumes [of books].' The Torah was imposed on them; that is, it was introduced into their hearts and lives and minds—so they benefited from the Torah—but 'then they did not take it on'; but later, they did not carry the Torah with them and removed it from their minds and hearts and the reality of their lives. The appearance of the Torah existed, but the essence of the Torah was no longer there; then 'like the example of a donkey who carries volumes [of books].'

Spiritual blessings must be obtained through effort, and after they are obtained, they must be preserved through effort. Now I refer to all spiritual blessings, to a part of it and a spark of the divine luminous flashes in your hearts, which is the state you had in the fronts or during the days of war; this is one of the divine blessings; a person does not always find such a state.

That if you were the commander of a division, you would go to the front line; if you were the commander of a brigade or battalion, you would move like a private soldier and ordinary individuals; if you were among the higher commanders, you would not imprison yourself in distant rear areas and would step into the field of danger, what was this due to? It was due to the fact that you thought if this life was taken from you, it meant that a material vehicle and a material form was taken from you; really, what sorrow. When a person knows that death is the ascent to the divine kingdom and joining the spirits of the saints, what importance does it have when this death arrives? Death for him is a passage from one stage; 'When the time of death comes and leaping from the stream.' A person makes a movement from the stream; whatever it is, it is in a moment; then it is the unparalleled and unmatched divine bliss; you thought this way. If someone does not think this way, he does not place himself lovingly in the path of being killed. You understood martyrdom correctly, interpreted it correctly, and dealt with it lovingly; therefore, you see on the night of the attack that the children are in a better state than the night before! I read some of these memories or wills and saw that it is truly a magnificent and strange scene. The further we go, it seems the more the manifestation of these events and truths becomes. What a state! What spirituality! This is nothing but the fragrance that the angels and the divine spirit pour over the pure servants and make them lose themselves; otherwise, how can a material human and an ordinary human be so attracted?

The state that our mystics would achieve after fifty years, sixty years, seventy years of asceticism, worship, hardship on their bodies, and renunciation of their desires and whims, to reach that state, this young person of ours, overnight, traversed this fifty-year and hundred-year path during the few days of the front and before the front and reached that state! This is a spiritual blessing; this is no joke; this is not given to everyone. Do not think that those tears and those supplications and those states are easily given to someone; no, people make efforts, perhaps they reach those states; but God placed this blessing at your disposal at a certain time; this was a great blessing; but every blessing has a question and a duty. You have now understood that such a thing exists; you are different from someone who does not know and did not know and will not know that such a state exists; he is excused, but you have discovered this stage. If you easily disregard it, if you look at it with indifference, if you prefer the low material life that people have always competed and wrestled over and clashed over—nothing new—over such a novel thing, then you have fallen; and we seek refuge in God and seek His protection! Be mindful of this matter. There is a difference between someone who has not discovered the proximity to God and the pleasure of divine supplication and is heedless, and now is also heedless, and someone who has discovered this pleasure. You have discovered this pleasure; you must preserve it; and it can be preserved.

Let no one say now that there is no camp and field and front line and tactical headquarters and the like; let it not be. The Commander of the Faithful is our model. This Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) is the same one who taught the supplication of Kumayl to Kumayl ibn Ziyad; while he was not in the battlefield. He and his companions recited this supplication of Kumayl and this supplication of Sha'baniyah with all this state; while they were not in the battlefields. The battlefield is a means; this means reaches us quickly; but now that you have reached and seen and discovered, you must keep this state for yourselves; you must not forget this spirituality. Everything is under the shadow of this spirituality; without this spirituality, not a single step can be taken successfully.

In this world where you see the scramble of enemies and colonialists and dominators and the collisions on the global level, a nation wants not to be influenced among these stormy waves; not to be worn down and to wear down and defeat and calm these waves; this nation must be steel-like and solid. This steel-like and solid state is not possible except under the shadow of spirituality; just as you also in the war, whenever your spirituality was more, your progress was more; wherever there was failure, if you analyze, you will see that your spiritualities had a deficiency. Of course, I am not saying you; those who were involved in these battles; now even if a group also had those spiritualities preserved in all conditions; but in any case, it has a direct connection. You must keep these states.

I wanted to tell you this matter, but I prefer not to say this speech to you in an official ceremony; these are heartfelt words and I know that pure and purified souls absorb these words very well.

Today, the duty of the Revolutionary Guards and revolutionary forces—wherever they are; in the Corps, in the army, in the police force—is self-building. Today we have the duty of self-building. Today, even if we do not have a war in the apparent field and they have not engaged us in a military battle, but the world of arrogance is in many battles with us.

Today, the world of arrogance is betraying humanity. Today, as always, they are lying to humanity; they are deceiving and stupefying. Today, when the problems of humanity are discussed, arrogance and at their head the American politicians, go after things that are the second-degree calamities and pains of humanity; to overshadow the first-degree pains of humanity so that no one notices them! They sit and make sessions, discuss, to supposedly solve the issue of nuclear and nuclear war and the environment in the world! Today, are these the primary issues of humanity?!

Today, for humanity, the danger of nuclear is not an immediate and urgent and tangible danger; the danger that even the nuclear danger is behind and dependent on it, is the danger of the power and bullying of arrogance. From the first time humanity discovered nuclear until today, who has harmed nations with this power? It has always been this way. Either they make nuclear bombs; like what the Americans did at the end of the Second World War and the calamity they brought upon the Japanese; or like that leak that one of the nuclear factories of the Soviet Union did and because of it a large number of people were killed and perished. If a disaster is also caused by nuclear, it is by the unrestrained power of superpowers. Limit the arrogant power of America in the world, the nuclear danger will be limited by itself.

What is truly considered a danger for nations today is the increasing dominance of America over nations. By what right do they interfere so much in the affairs of nations?! What justification does the arrogant power of America have to speak about countries, express opinions, and interfere in their internal affairs?! Recently, they have also raised the issue of the United Nations' intervention in the elections of free countries—that are election-oriented. They want to create a presidency for the world; but let them know that nations will not accept a worldly and global presidency. The heads of the member countries of the Security Council have sat together and are deciding about the world! What is it to you?! Its name is the United Nations, its name is the Security Council; but in reality, it is the countries with veto power that want to dominate the world; in reality, it is America that wants to do this! Until now, they have also interfered; even military intervention; they entered countries, sent soldiers, sent military forces; they did this in the Middle East, they did this in Latin America, they do this in various parts of the world and establish bases at their will; these are unacceptable arbitrariness in the eyes of the wise of the world. Maybe four mercenary and dependent heads of countries accept it, but do nations accept it? Maybe nations cannot say anything and show a reaction; but let the heads of the American regime know that the pit that has been dug under their feet, with these actions, they deepen it day by day.

What does it mean that nations, for their affairs, even for their democracy and elections, should wait for representatives of several foreign governments to come from the other side of the world and oversee their work?! With what justification?! Just because they have more power?! Is the logic of the jungle anything other than this? Has humanity gone through a long period of civilization to reach the logic of the jungle; that too by the claimants of human rights and the claimants of progress and the claimants of all good things; who unfortunately are alien to all of these and only claim them?! This is the great calamity of humanity. You have a country, you have a government, you are a wealthy country; very well, live for yourselves; what do you have to do with the people of the world?!

As long as America is not confined within its borders as an aggressive superpower, humanity will not see peace. Muslim nations, in particular, must know that their main problem is this. They are severely intimidated by Islam. They have seen the sign of Islam, they have seen the spirituality of Islam, they have seen the sharpness of Islam, they have seen the tirelessness of the true Muslim—which is you and this nation; they are afraid of this; they do not want this experience to be repeated elsewhere. Of course, they are waiting for every opportunity that if they can, they will also damage and ruin this great achievement that Islam has today bestowed upon the Iranian nation.

Everyone—especially you young people—look at the issues with this perspective. You guards and you revolutionary forces, look at the issues with this view. Minor issues, personal issues, and material issues are second-degree issues. For great goals, the hardships of material problems must be endured; this is the path that when a nation traverses, it will reach the peak of progress; and this is the same thing that made Islam victorious in the early days. Victorious Islam of the early days looked at problems with this eye and viewed goals with this perspective that it was able to advance.

I hope, God willing, the sacred spirit of the Master of Martyrs (peace be upon him)—who is the Master of the Free and the Master of the Mojahedin and the Master of the Martyrs and the model and example of the life of every free Muslim—and also the pure supplications of the Guardian of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for his advent) will include you and, God willing, with your dear ones' actions, the sacred heart of the Imam will be pleased with you and you brothers—whether spiritual brothers or guard brothers—will jointly continue and follow the path you have started; be assured that, God willing, divine grace and blessings are also with you.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings