Statements at the Celebration of Students' Obligation

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 infallible progeny, especially the Awaited Savior, may God hasten his reappearance.

Welcome, dear youth; the healthy and intelligent children of this nation today, and God willing, the men and managers who will govern the country tomorrow. I congratulate you, dear children, dear youth, on entering the realm of divine obligation and the celebration of obligation.

The first thing we must pay attention to is what the celebration of obligation means. The celebration of obligation means that the youth has reached a stage where they have acquired the capability to converse with the Almighty God. Obligation means the mission that the Almighty God gives you, and if you carry out this mission in the best way, you bring your personal life, family life, and social life closer to happiness; this is the meaning of obligation. Obligation means divine mission. A person, until they reach the stage of obligation, does not have the capability to converse with the Almighty God or for God to speak to them and give them a mission. When you reach obligation, it means you have acquired the merit, the capability, and the character that the great God, the Creator of the world and humanity, addresses you, gives you a mission, and honors you. The celebration of obligation is, in fact, the celebration of a human being, a youth, being honored by the grace and attention of the Lord; cherish this.

The human life span is filled with countless events. You will, God willing, live for decades in this world, witness events, and experience numerous life issues; if your spiritual foundation is strong, you will face these events bravely, with dignity and pride; you will gain both worldly pride and spiritual honor and divine dignity; this begins from this moment of obligation. Your moment of obligation and the period of your spiritual maturity is a very important time.

My dear ones, my children! I recommend that from now on, from these days and months that you have been honored with obligation, strengthen your relationship with the Almighty God. The great flaw of the materialistic world of the West is the severance of the human relationship with God; this is why they fall into spiritual decline and numerous moral slips; this is why they become hopeless and their youth become lost and confused; this is why Western civilization is declining day by day; because they have severed their relationship with God. The secret to the progress of a person individually and a society collectively is to maintain their relationship with God. Keep your connection with God.

The best way to connect with God, first and foremost, is through the prayers you perform. From now on, from this period of obligation, strive to perform your prayers with attention. What does attention mean? It means that during prayer, you feel you are speaking with your great interlocutor; you are speaking with God; create this feeling within yourself. When a person speaks with the Almighty God, they both trust and rely on Him, and they ask and request from Him; this trust and reliance on God gives a person courage. You must move through life with courage; move with self-confidence; this state of courage and self-confidence is achieved through your connection with God. Strive to perform your prayers on time, and with attention.

My dear ones! Be close to the Quran; develop a bond with the Quran. Every day, read a portion - even a few verses - of the Quran and pay attention to its meanings. The Quran guides a person: Indeed, this Quran guides to that which is most upright; it guides a person to the right path.

In the school environment and at home, as an active, vibrant youth, make your presence effective. Strive to influence those around you; both in school, at home, and in play, try to have an impact on your peers and others; you can make a difference.

My dear ones! Today, our nation and our country have enemies; enemies who try to use every means to infiltrate the country and dominate it; economic domination, political domination, cultural domination. One of the ways they pursue is to infiltrate our youth and adolescents; be aware of this infiltration. Strive to protect yourselves; not only yourselves, but also those around you - those who are in your class, your studies, your games - provide protection against the enemies.

Equip yourselves with knowledge; I recommend to all of you dear youth to take your studies seriously. My other recommendation is to take sports and physical health seriously; today, our youth must maintain physical health, spiritual health, and mental health together. Maintain physical health through sports and proper nutrition; maintain spiritual and heart health through attention to God, through prayer, through supplication, through seeking intercession, through remembering the martyrs; also ensure mental health through reading books; utilize good, enlightening, guiding books - which have been prepared and made available to us by our thinkers and writers - and read them. This will ensure that our youth generation has physical health, spiritual and mental health, and intellectual and rational health; then this will secure the future of the country.

My dear ones! Today you have exited childhood; today you are adolescents, at the beginning of youth, in a blossoming phase; your potential for learning and self-building is very high today; take advantage of this opportunity, build yourselves; both physical self-building, spiritual and mental self-building, and intellectual self-building, in the manner I have mentioned. After you dear youth have made the right move in this magnificent field and in this refreshing spring of youth, then one can be assured that the future of this country will be better than today; you are the men of tomorrow, the managers of tomorrow, the activists of tomorrow, and the personalities of tomorrow. The future of this country belongs to you youth; you are the ones who will manage this country, this nation, this movement, and this history; prepare yourselves for that day.

My dear ones! Do not neglect seeking intercession and supplication. My dear ones! Do not forget the martyrs. Our dear martyrs were those who, in their youth and some in their adolescence, were willing to sacrifice their lives for the good of the country, the interests of the country, the preservation of the country's independence, and the repulsion of the country's enemies; this is a very high value. The most valuable asset of a person is their life and their soul; it requires great effort and courage to give this for the sake of God. I recommend that you read the books that have been written about the martyrs, about the self-sacrificers of the Sacred Defense, and that explain their personalities; they are both sweet and engaging books, and they will familiarize your minds with many issues.

Dear children, dear youth! You are a bouquet from the great garden of this country. Millions of youths like you are across the country. You are a sample of them who are present here. I hope that the Almighty God continuously bestows His grace and favor upon you and all the dear youths of our country throughout the nation, and God willing, you will be able to provide a happy life for yourselves, for your parents, and for the future of your country. On the occasion of honoring your parents, I would like to say this to you youths: appreciate your parents, maintain their respect, and reciprocate their love; they love you, so reciprocate this love.

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