Statements in Meeting with Members of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council

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

First, I extend my welcome to our dear brothers and respected sister, and I express my gratitude to you for your efforts, work, and diligence regarding the important issues related to this significant assembly. I ask the Almighty God to grant you success and assistance. We need divine help and guidance to reach the correct ideas, and we also need the Lord's assistance in being able to implement what we deem correct and decide upon. We must seek intercession, pay attention to the Almighty God, and ask for His help. We have a duty to bring our determination and efforts to the forefront, and the blessings come from God, and assistance is from the Lord; God willing, the important cultural tasks we have ahead will progress with your determination and efforts.

I have noted a few points that I would like to share with my friends. The first issue is the importance of the cultural subject in society. Thanks be to God, all of you are cultural elements, and this subject does not require us to explain or elaborate. Our officials, thanks be to God, are all cultural individuals, foremost men in the cultural arena. Mr. Rouhani, our President, is a cultural figure before being a political one; we have recognized him in this capacity since the early 50s. Thanks be to God, the heads of the three branches and the country's officials are all of this kind, and you are cultural men; in fact, you are active in the cultural field before any other title. Therefore, regarding the importance of the cultural issue and the cultural values of a country, we do not need to present anything to you; however, we require your special attention to highlight this subject. Because wherever you are, thanks be to God, you all have a position for speaking and influencing, and you have platforms at your disposal; utilize these to place the issue of culture in its rightful and deserving position in society and in the eyes of the country's elites; this is very important. Culture is the identity of a nation. Cultural values are the spirit and true meaning of a nation. Everything is contingent upon culture. Culture is not a side issue to the economy; it is not a side issue to politics; economy and politics are side issues to culture; this must be taken into account. We cannot separate culture from other arenas; just as has been pointed out, we have said that economic issues and various important matters must have a cultural attachment; this means that any fundamental movement we wish to undertake in the fields of economy, politics, construction, technology, production, and scientific advancement must consider its cultural requirements. Sometimes a person engages in an economic activity, but does not pay attention to its cultural implications and consequences. Yes, it is a significant task; it is a major economic endeavor, but it entails requirements and consequences that can harm the country; culture is like this. We must consider the cultural aspect in all matters and not allow it to be forgotten.

Culture also requires planning; we should not expect that the culture of the country - whether public culture or the culture of elites, universities, etc. - will improve and progress on its own; no, it requires planning. Now, we will discuss the issue of oversight and monitoring; the officials of the country must feel a responsibility regarding the cultural guidance of society. As the President pointed out, the government and officials are obliged to pay attention to the public cultural flow of society; they must see where we are heading, what is happening, and what awaits us; if there are any disturbances, they must eliminate them; they must prevent obstacles, destructive elements, and corrupt elements. If we tell a skilled gardener to collect the weeds of this garden, it does not mean that we want to prevent the growth of the flowers in this garden or instruct them; no, you must allow the fragrant and pleasant flowers to use water and air according to their nature, to benefit from sunlight, and to grow; however, alongside them, do not allow the weeds to grow; if this happens, it will hinder their growth. The fact that we sometimes firmly oppose certain cultural phenomena and expect the country's officials - whether cultural officials or non-cultural ones - and this council to prevent it is because of this; that is, opposing cultural disturbances does not contradict nurturing and allowing the desired cultural elements to flourish; this point is very important. I have conveyed some points to the Minister of Culture and our esteemed Minister of Culture, and I have also discussed these matters with Mr. Rouhani; I am sharing this with you as well; one of the supervisory and monitoring duties of the government apparatus is to be aware of the disturbances. Suppose there is a significant factor in public culture, such as divorce. Now, if we assume that an advertisement campaign begins in the country that undermines the family foundation and leads to divorce, you must prevent this; that is, if you want divorce not to become prevalent in society, you must pay attention to this; you must prevent anything that naturally leads people, youth, girls, and boys to indifference towards family and disregard for the family unit and spouse; naturally, there is opposition, there are disturbances. This is one matter.

Therefore, we have a religious responsibility, a legal responsibility regarding the culture of the country and the public culture of the country. And of course, we see in some newspapers, writings, and statements that some people, under the titles of "state religion" and "state culture," want to limit and undermine the government's oversight and label it as a false accusation and opposition, saying that they want to make religion state-run, culture state-run! What does this mean? A religious government is no different from a state religion. The government is part of the people; a state religion means a popular religion; the same religion that the people have, the government also has. The government has a duty to promote [religion] more. Everyone must expend their capabilities; a cleric must expend his capabilities; a university professor must devote his capabilities; a person who has a platform, who has an influence on the people, must expend his capabilities. Among all of these, the government apparatus of a country is the most capable; therefore, it must naturally expend its capabilities in promoting virtues and preventing what hinders the growth of virtues. Thus, the culture of society requires a custodian; just like the economy.

You believe that the economy should be in the hands of the people; we also share this belief and have clarified this in the interpretation of Article 44. Well, this does not mean that the government allows someone to engage in economic activity and monopolize something that ultimately harms the people; you prevent this; you prevent monopolies, you prevent encroachments, you prevent financial corruption, you prevent the misuse of public and state resources; that is, you prevent these disturbances. While we believe that the economy should not be state-run - I have always believed this, even at a time when our state officials were pursuing a state-run economy, I did not hold this belief; I even provided them with examples for this - yet, at the same time, everyone agrees on the government's oversight; even in some cases, government intervention is necessary. Suppose you see that there is no interest in a certain economic activity; investors do not want to invest in this area; what do you do as the government? You invest. Suppose a material is needed in the country, and an investor - as a trader, with an economic perspective - does not pursue this work; it is burdensome for him. What do you do? You import it, you produce it. Therefore, just as in all areas where the government completes deficiencies, corrects deviations, and prevents distortions, in the field of culture, this meaning is much more significant than in the field of economy; I mentioned the economy as an example. Thus, the government's involvement in cultural matters does not mean taking away the activities of the people. Just as Mr. Rouhani rightly pointed out, culture relies on the people; all these mourning assemblies, all these speaking sessions, all these literary associations, all these scientific associations, when can governments create such things? Where is it possible? All these congregational prayers, all these various cultural activities that take place across the country, if we assume that governments want to do these things, they cannot; it is the work of the people. However, this does not mean that if you see that a movement is taking place in these popular activities that has social harm, you should not intervene and say, "I will not interfere"; no, intervention is necessary here, guidance is necessary, work is necessary. Now, sometimes one observes, unfortunately, that some people who have no responsibility in the apparatus and similar places speak irresponsibly; they look at the claims made in Western countries regarding cultural freedoms and so on; while this is not the case. The Westerners' insistence and resistance on their cultural values is not less than ours, and it is even more than ours; it is more than ours. For example, the custom and culture of a certain country is that a specific drink must be consumed at the presidential banquet. If a president says that he is not willing, they cancel the banquet altogether; they do not hold the banquet at all; this has happened, we have seen it in our lifetime; you all may know or most of you may know. If someone does not wear a tie and wants to enter an official gathering, they say this is against protocol; it cannot be done; you must either wear a bow tie or a tie! Well, what is this? This is culture; they are so fanatical, so committed.

The issue of the mixing of men and women, which they call equality - which unfortunately is not equality, it is harmful mixing of men and women; it is a severely toxic mixing that exists and has afflicted societies, especially Western societies, and now their thinkers have realized that this path is a path that has no end; that is, this movement continues and the insatiable nature of human beings will take this deviant movement to infinity - is one of their principles; if you do not accept it, you will be rejected, condemned; that is, they are more fanatical than us, more obstinate than us regarding things that are unreasonable. Or such masquerades that are common in Western countries, which result in so many disasters that now the story is long. In short, they are more fanatical than us, they are more obstinate than us regarding their cultural values, which are actually against values. Why should we not insist on our own culture? Therefore, the importance of culture and attention to culture is an issue whose responsibility lies primarily with the country's officials, and this council is the highest authority.

The second issue is the council itself; the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council is one of the truly blessed initiatives of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified). Initially, it was the Cultural Revolution Headquarters, then the issue of the Cultural Revolution Council was proposed to him, and he accepted it without any hesitation and issued a strong decree. Later, I asked him - I was the President - whether our resolutions should be law; he said that the resolutions must be acted upon; that is, he issued a legal decree for the resolutions. One of the important works of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) was this. And indeed, Mr. Rouhani rightly said that this is the highest and best center; that is, no government can do without such a collection, which is a great asset. The greatest asset of this council is you esteemed members; that is, this collection that has formed - both real members and legal members - is the best collection that is here. Well, the head of the council is the President, that is, the head of the executive branch of the country; the vice presidents are the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the head of the judiciary. These are very important; they are mostly cultural elements, they are cultural people and part of the cultural sufferers for whom the issue of culture has always been a fundamental issue; the members are also important members. One of the most important characteristics and points of this council is that it ensures that the issue of the country's culture does not depend on the ups and downs of political currents and political factions. This is very important that it escapes from the daily grind. Such a stable position that in all governments, this position is a stable one, a stable position - occasionally a few members may change, but this does not disrupt the important composition of the legal and real members of the council - and this ensures that the cultural movement of a country has a certain stability. Now, significant work has also been done in this council, which I may refer to during my remarks. What I want to emphasize in this section related to the council is that the members of the council must believe in this council; believe that this is the central cultural headquarters of the country; believe that this is responsible for the command of the major cultural issues of the country and the policymaking of the country; the members must pay attention to this. Continuous presence, both the continuous presence of the members and the presence of the council itself, means that the council should not be subject to interruption. Well, the heads of the country naturally travel, they come and go; this should not lead to the council being interrupted; the council must continue; that is, the very management mechanism of the council that has been foreseen is because this council must never be interrupted. This is also an issue related to this council. Regarding the resolutions; yes, I completely believe that the fundamentals and essential issues must be addressed; just as attention has been given to this in recent years. We were previously upset that in the council, sometimes minor issues took a long time; at the same time in the 60s when I was also in the council, we had the same problem that sometimes time was spent on an individual, and fundamental works were left undone; but thanks be to God, this is not the case now.

The third issue is the issue of enforcement; the resolutions here must be enforced; now, if you devise a mechanism for enforcement, that is good; if we assume that a specific mechanism for enforcing the resolutions here is not devised, the presence of the President and the head of the legislative branch for legislation - in areas where legislation is needed - and the esteemed ministers and officials of the relevant departments must mean enforcement; that is, when, for example, the comprehensive scientific map - which is truly one of the major works of the council, the drafting of this comprehensive scientific map of the country was a very good job and a good executive mechanism was devised for it, which is among the works - is drafted, the executive departments must each, in their own share, strive to ensure that this is carried out; or, for example, suppose the cultural engineering document - which I heard is nearing completion or has been completed - must also have an executive mechanism prepared for it to be realized; or the Islamic university document; or the fundamental transformation document of education, which the esteemed Minister of Education must commit to implement; or the strategic document of the country's elites - which I also participated in that session, which is a very important document - that this issue must be pursued by the esteemed Vice President; and in short, the members themselves and the cultural departments must accept and believe that we have established this position as a central headquarters. The term "headquarters" may sound heavy to some ears - headquarters is a military term - and they may say, "You do not abandon military thinking in cultural matters!" The reality is that the cultural battlefield is not less important than the military battlefield, and if it is not more important, it is not less; you must know this; that is, this is truly a battlefield. And especially in military headquarters, this is the case; the headquarters does not have direct responsibility for execution in the sense that a unit belongs to it, but units are placed under its operational control. When we establish a military headquarters, for example, the IRGC says that these units of mine are under the operational control of that organization, the support of this unit belongs to that organization - whether it is the army, the IRGC, or any other apparatus - but the employment and guidance of this is the responsibility of the headquarters; that is, such a situation must be taken into account here.

In any case, the documents you have prepared - which are very good documents, and I have mentioned a few cases, and of course there are more; several other documents have also been drafted - take them seriously, and it should not be the case that, for example, a document related to the higher education apparatus, or related to the Ministry of Health, or related to education, or related to the Ministry of Culture is drafted by the council, approved, handed over to that department, and set aside; no, this is not advisable. The council must continue its oversight over the quality of execution, over the implementation of it; now, either until the end of the work, or at least until this work gets underway and they see that it is being implemented. Therefore, here too, the responsibility of the council regarding enforcement seems to be significant.

The fourth issue I want to mention is the issue of cultural invasion. A few years ago, we raised the issue of cultural invasion; some denied the very existence of invasion; they said, "What invasion?" Then gradually they saw that not only we say this, but many non-Western countries also raise the issue of cultural invasion and say that the Westerners have invaded us culturally; then they saw that even Europeans say that America has culturally invaded us! You must have seen, read that they said that American films, American books have what cultural invasion they have inflicted upon us and are affecting our culture. Eventually, thanks to the acceptance of others, our claim was also accepted by many who did not accept it! Cultural invasion is a reality. Hundreds - now when I say hundreds, it can be said thousands; however, since I want to be cautious in statistical matters, I say hundreds - of audio, visual, internet, and written media in the world are working with the aim of Iran! With the aim of Iran! Not that they are doing their own work. There is a time when, for example, a radio of a certain country or a television of a certain country is doing something for itself; this is not the case; the aim is here; they produce programs in Persian; they align it with the time of Persian speakers or Iranian elements; they monitor our issues and prepare topics and content for their media based on those issues; that is, it is completely clear that the aim is here. They themselves say it, they do not deny it. Therefore, cultural invasion is a truth that exists; they want to influence the minds of our nation and the behavior of our nation - youth, adolescents, even children. These internet games are among these; these toys that enter the country are among these, which I have been very concerned about the issue of producing meaningful and attractive domestic toys with some of the officials of this work that this work should be pursued; of course, thanks be to God, apparently a decision has been made in this regard, now God willing, pursue that decision to be implemented. Well, our friends came to one of the active and responsible departments, they made good dolls; it was good; initially, it also provoked the sensitivity of the opponent - that is, the opponents, the foreigners - that they came and made these [dolls] against Barbie and the like; but it did not take off. I told them that the problem with you is that you came and brought a boy or a girl in the market with a certain name; this doll is not recognized by our child - see, this is the cultural attachment we are talking about - well, it is just a doll, while the Spider-Man is recognized by our child, Batman is recognized by our child. They have made ten or twenty films, they have seen this film there, then when they see the same doll that was working in the film is in the store, they tell their parents to buy it for them; they recognize the doll; this is the cultural attachment. You must produce this doll, alongside producing the doll, you must make ten or twenty children's films to introduce this doll to the children; after it is introduced, then they will buy it themselves; but when it is not introduced, it has no market and goes bankrupt; and it goes bankrupt. That is, such attentions must be made. In any case, this cultural invasion is a reality in this form.

Language teaching books. Well, you know, now English language teaching - especially English, now other languages are much less - has become very widespread, many language institutes are being established. Well, there are educational centers; all the teaching books that have been compiled in very good and new ways for teaching English are conveying the Western lifestyle, the English lifestyle. Well, this child of ours, this adolescent of ours, and this young person of ours who reads this does not just learn the language; they may even forget that language, but what has a greater impact on them is the impression that arises from reading this book about the Western lifestyle; this does not go away; they are doing these works.

Well, what should be done in response to these? In response to these, two things are necessary: one is work, one is innovation; these two works and these two important points must be considered; we must work, and the work must also be innovative work. Of course, in this regard, the responsibility of the broadcasting organization is very heavy, the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture is very heavy. I have told Mr. Jannati as well, one of our tasks is to produce books, to translate books. You should look at what is being published in the world that is necessary for the Iranian youth to know; translate it, pay money to have it translated, just as others are doing - I have a lot of affinity for books, I read a lot, I am well aware of the new books in the publishing market and so on - works are being done; an investor goes and pays a lot of money to a translator to translate a certain book. I asked one of these gentlemen whether the translator approaches you or you approach the translator? He said no, we approach the translator; he is right, they find a translator to translate. Well, you must do this work; translate books, produce books, produce films. Today, thanks be to God, our capacity for film production is high. I recently told Mr. Rouhani that I saw a film; truly and fairly, in terms of style and quality, it resembled good Hollywood films. This is important that we now have this capacity in the country that can convey messages, can communicate the right words. Film is also an attractive thing; cinema is a very attractive element, an extraordinary medium; indeed, there is nothing like cinema in terms of impact; well, work on this; do innovative works; toys, computer games, dolls, these are things that are necessary. The prevalent toy for our children has become a gun. Well, come on! The Americans, who are our ancestors in this work, are now regretting it, they are in distress about what to do. We have taken our children who used to play with Alak-Dolak, which had movement and was good, or played Gargham-Be-Hava, which was very good and was exercise and play and entertainment, or this thing that they draw lines and play Lili-Li - these were our children's games - and we have placed them in front of the internet, they have neither physical movement nor spiritual movement, and their minds have been captured by the opponent. Well, come and produce games, promote games, the same games that I have now mentioned and ten of such games that have been traditionally common among our children; promote these; this is one of the works, promote these. We should not always look to see what kind of games the Westerners support; we should also support our own games. Well, now I do not want to say anything about some of these sports, but we have many good works that belong to us; I have said before, polo belongs to us, others have done it in their name; well, promote this; traditional sports is a beautiful and artistic sport, well, promote this; promote these so that children go towards these. Our children - my grandchildren - know the names of the players and stars of world football very well, one by one they repeatedly mention these names; this one is a fan of this, that one is a fan of that, this one wears the jersey of a certain foreign team, that one wears the jersey of another team, but they do not know, for example, the name of a contemporary scientist; if you mention a name, they do not know who it is; well, this is bad, we must really work on these.

I say that in dealing with invasive issues, we must recognize the phenomenon at the very beginning, even before its arrival. Suppose something, an idea, a method is becoming popular in the world; it is clear that this will come here - well, the world is a world of communications, a world of connection and interaction, you cannot build a fence - before it arrives, think about what the wise response to this is. This does not always mean that we reject it; no, sometimes there is a phenomenon that we can accept, sometimes there is a phenomenon that we can reform, sometimes there is a phenomenon that we can define a subsidiary for that resolves its problem. Delayed action, delayed understanding, delayed consideration for remedy leads to problems that you cannot face. So I do not say that we should only have a defensive position - of course, when there is an invasion, one must defend; there is no doubt - my recommendation is not only a defensive position; however, we must have a positive position, an offensive position, a correct movement. In any case, in the face of the invading culture, the worst action is passivity; the ugliest action is passivity; the most damaging action is passivity. The invading culture should not make us passive; at most, we can say, "Well, we cannot make a movement against this, but we will not be passive either." Becoming passive and accepting the enemy's invasion is a mistake that must be avoided.

The fifth issue that I have noted here to mention is the issue of science in universities and research centers; which, fortunately, I saw that Mr. Rouhani paid attention to. This issue of science is very important. First, our scientific progress in the past ten to twelve years is a reality; some did not believe this; some even denied it. A dear person - whom now some of the friends present in the session are aware of who I am referring to; I do not want to name him - at the very beginning of the nuclear issue and centrifuges and these matters, repeatedly wrote to me in a letter that, "Sir, these claims are lies, do not believe them" - both this and I think the issue of stem cells; now I do not remember correctly, his letter is among our papers - those who report to you, do not believe their words, these are not realities, these are against reality! This person is also a knowledgeable person, a person whom I trust and like, but he did not believe; of course, we believed, and thanks be to God, this belief was confirmed day by day. After several years, some time ago, there was a session here that some of the friends present in that session were also present, the same dear person turned to me and said that in our universities, the advancements that these young people are making are not welcomed and began to complain about this side of the issue that now our young people are doing a lot of work and are not being welcomed. I remembered that remark he made to me years ago that these advancements are lies. No, these advancements are true; that we have had a growth rate thirteen times the global average, that is true; others have said this, our opponents have said this. In various fields, our young people have been able to do great works, and they have worked and advanced. My recommendation to the esteemed Minister of Higher Education and the esteemed Minister of Health and Treatment, in particular, is that you should not let this cycle of movement slow down. You should develop this as much as you can and accelerate it and advance it.

One of the things that hinders this is the politicization of universities. Mr. Faraji-Dana and Mr. Hashemi should pay attention to this; do not let universities become a playground for political movements. That we accept the youth as a driving force for political transformations is my statement. I once said this, some of these gentlemen who now talk about universities criticized me that you have incited these youths, excited them; no, I believe in this matter; the youth generation in any society is the engine of social transformations and political transformations; especially student youth; that is its nature. This is another matter; this is different from allowing the university to become a place for political tendencies that some of them oppose the essence of the system or oppose the orientations of the system. This must be carefully monitored and prevented. In this regard, I want to mention this sentence; a "we can" has been expressed by our nation; do not let this "we can" turn into its opposite. They said we can reach the lofty peaks of science; we can become a scientific reference for the world; we can free ourselves from scientific humiliation, which today they have freed us from, and our enemies, our opponents are admitting that Iran has achieved knowledge; not only in the nuclear field, but also in other fields, they are saying this and admitting it. This "we can" that is circulating in the spirit of our youth, do not let it disappear; you also say we can and pursue this "we can." We can establish a new Islamic civilization and create a world that is full of spirituality and walks with the help of spirituality and spiritual guidance; we can accomplish these tasks, which, with God's grace, we will do.

The sixth matter that I have noted here is the issue of the Persian language; I am very worried about the Persian language; I am very concerned. Years ago, we worked in this regard, we took action, we gathered people to sit together. I see that no proper work is being done in this regard, and the invasion of the language is significant. They are increasingly using foreign terms. It is shameful for someone not to use a certain foreign expression and instead use a Persian or Arabic expression; it is shameful for them. This is a very bad thing; this is part of the public culture that must be fought against. Friends! The Persian language was once the scientific language from Constantinople of that day, from Istanbul of that day, to the Indian subcontinent; what I am saying is based on knowledge. In the capital of the Ottoman Empire, for a long period, the official language was Persian. In the Indian subcontinent, the most prominent personalities spoke Persian, and when the British first came to the Indian subcontinent, one of the things they did was to stop the Persian language; they prevented the Persian language with various tricks and deceptions that are specific to the British. Of course, the Persian language is still prevalent there and has admirers; there are people in India - whom I have visited and seen, some of them came here, we saw them - who are passionate about the Persian language; but we, in the center of the Persian language, are forgetting the Persian language; we are not taking any action to strengthen it, deepen it, expand it, or prevent foreign influences. Gradually, in our expressions, they say things - every day that passes, something new comes - and we have not heard it. Sometimes they come and say a word, I say I do not understand its meaning, I ask what it means? They explain it, and we only then learn that this word has come; gradually, it has been introduced to the classes and the masses; this is dangerous. They write Persian names in Latin script! Well, why? Who wants to use this? The one whose language is Persian or the one whose language is foreign? A Persian name written in Latin letters! Or foreign names on domestically produced products in Iran, for which I have received images and pictures! Well, what necessity do we have to do this? Yes, sometimes you have an export product, there it should be alongside the Persian language - of course, the Persian language should never be removed from our products - of course, a foreign language should be written for those countries it will go to, but a product produced inside, consumed inside, what necessity is there? On the schoolchildren's bags, what necessity is there for a foreign expression to be written? On toys, likewise; I am truly astonished. This is one of the things that you have a lot of responsibility for. Of course, I have examples in mind for this use of the Persian language that I do not want to mention now; the name of the company, the name of the product, the name of the store! And similarly, repeatedly foreign expressions, especially English ones; I feel a sense of danger from this, and it is necessary that the esteemed members and the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council pursue this matter seriously and that the government confronts this issue seriously. Now, confronting this does not mean that immediately tomorrow, for example, they should confront it with a harsh or rough method; confront it wisely; see what you can do to prevent this; this is also an issue.

The issue of humanities is another very important matter. Of course, Mr. Haddad - it seems he is not here today - gave me a detailed and good report on the work done in the field of humanities in the committee he is responsible for, which some friends are complaining about the lack of output from this work, and this should be raised in the council session. In my opinion, the most fundamental work is that the scientific and philosophical basis for the transformation of the humanities must be drafted; this is the fundamental and primary work that must be done. This is also this issue.

And the last issue is the issue of social harms and their cultural causes; I referred to the issue of divorce, the issue of drugs, financial corruption, the issue of crime. Well, one of the effects of the cultural invasion of the enemies is the increase in armed robbery from banks; we first saw this in films - pay attention, Mr. Dargahmi - that they attack; now the same incidents are happening here; well, they learn. We must understand what we are doing. That is, we must truly understand these harms. Likewise, the issue of population. One of the dangers that, when one thinks deeply about it, makes one shudder is the issue of population; I also mentioned a brief sentence to Mr. Hashemi, and I discussed it in detail with Mr. Rouhani; take the issue of population seriously; the young population of the country is decreasing. We will reach a point where it will no longer be treatable. That is, the issue of population is not one of those matters that we can say, "Well, we will think about it in ten years"; no, if several years pass, when generations age, it will no longer be treatable. God willing, may you be successful and supported, may God keep you all safe, and may these remarks we made, God willing, be taken into consideration.

Let us remember the late Dr. Habibi, who participated in the previous session we gathered here, despite being ill and unwell; I thanked him. May God, God willing, keep you all safe; and appreciate these scholars and elites who are here and the young forces who are truly precious, and thanks be to God, they possess the vitality of youth and the energy of youth and the innovation of youth, you must value them greatly.

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