Statements in Meeting with Members of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution on the Occasion of the Seventh Anniversary of Its Formation

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

Welcome. I congratulate you on the success of extending the council's life to this long and beneficial period, especially those gentlemen who have been present since the council's inception and have been working diligently and sincerely.

Thanks be to God, the efforts being made are noteworthy. I read in detail the annual report mentioned by Dr. Hashemi in an interview in the newspaper. We hope the gentlemen strive to ensure that this council, as its name and founding philosophy require, fully and adequately addresses the fundamental and important tasks on the path of the 'cultural revolution'; this, of course, requires enthusiastic and hopeful efforts to advance the work.

Groups formed for a purpose become more familiar with the work as their lifespan and experience increase; however, there is also a danger that must be prevented, which is the routinization of work. That is, turning work from a motivated and enthusiastic state into a habitual and ordinary flow; this is a great danger. Initially, when a person engages in a task, they naturally have more enthusiasm and attend to its details; this enthusiasm must not be allowed to fade, and the work must not become monotonous.

Mr. Yazdi mentioned the addition of some individuals and its impact on the council's work. This point is also my concern; that is, efforts must be made to ensure that this council never loses its freshness, enthusiasm, and dedication to work and perseverance, through various measures. Some of this relates to the council's internal management and secretariat; some relates to the members; and some perhaps relates to us. We hope that this Supreme Council continues to progress in the right directions and in deep, fundamental, and comprehensive efforts in the country's cultural work.

From long ago, even when I was in the council and had the opportunity to meet the gentlemen weekly, there was this thought within the council that it had limited itself to a part of its main task—the cultural revolution—which is the matter of universities and higher education; that is, it might not address some other tasks, or address some less. Of course, in this recent period, you have expanded the work by establishing various academies and carrying out some of these tasks, which is commendable, and attention must also be paid to the country's general cultural issues and tasks outside the universities' scope; that is, they should not be underestimated and should naturally be part of the council's programs. However, the reality is that the necessity and urgency of university work draw the council more in that direction; you have no choice but to appoint and prepare presidents, programs, boards of trustees, and various regulations for the universities; therefore, I will focus my remarks more on the issue of universities.

In the university, the goal is the student; that is, the professor, research, laboratory, and all these are for the student. The research conducted in the university environment is to develop this human resource and enable it to perform the tasks assigned to a knowledgeable and efficient human resource. This is the philosophy of the university; otherwise, the university is not meant to employ people and provide them with a livelihood; this is incidental, but not the goal. The goal is for the student to achieve the necessary qualifications there. We must do whatever we can for the student.

There are two main elements in student education, neither of which should be neglected; if neglected, we will suffer: one is the element of knowledge, research, scientific efficiency, and the flourishing of scientific talents and such things; the other is the spirit, religiosity, proper movement, and spiritual and moral health of the student. In universities, these two elements must be pursued with full power and capacity of the country, without separating them from each other.

If we neglect the first element, what is the result? Everyone knows. A university that cannot transfer knowledge and research to the student, and cannot make the student a scholar, a professor, a qualified person, an innovator, and ultimately an actual manager for some of the countless sectors of society's administration, is no longer a university. In this regard, the issue of the professor, the textbook, the educational environment, the laboratory, and scientific journals are present; these are things that are constantly on our lips, and we all pursue them. Almost all of you are university-affiliated and pay great attention to these issues and pursue them. God willing, we must progress as much as the country's capabilities allow.

The second element is the spirit, religiosity, proper movement, and spiritual and moral health of the student. Of course, this is not neglected by your assembly. I should have known that such a group is not oblivious to this second issue, and I have almost interacted with each of you—whether in this council or outside of it—and I know that all of you pay attention to this matter; however, in the general university atmosphere of the country, there is not enough attention to this second point, namely the issue of the student's spirit, religiosity, awareness, and transforming them from a purposeless scientific element to a purposeful scientific element.

A human being is different from a computer. A computer is programmed, and it provides the solution to the problem; but a human being is not like that. A human being organizes their own program; they decide for themselves and find their own direction. If we neglect this second aspect, the university will become what Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) repeatedly warned against.

All of you gentlemen who have been in the university and know it better than we do and have a religious spirit are aware of its depth. If the university is alien and separate from religion, this is an irreparable disaster. Irreparable, in the sense that its remedy will be very costly and bring many problems; whether it will be remedied or not.

The characteristic of the Islamic Republic is that its human-building apparatus must move correctly and build humans according to the goals of the Islamic Republic; otherwise, if we want to build only knowledgeable humans—minus the sacred aspirations that a nation, especially Muslims, have—it is better to send our students in groups to countries whose scientific apparatuses are more equipped and modern than ours; let them go there, learn, and return! This is not the goal. The goal is for the country to move in the direction of its goals by scientifically and intellectually competent individuals; and this will not happen unless these individuals themselves know and accept those goals.

If the university becomes a place where someone who graduates from there is not sensitive to the revolution, not sensitive to religion, not sensitive to the country, not sensitive to national independence and great national aspirations, this university, no matter how scientifically superior, will have no value; because the graduate and product of this university will easily be at the disposal of various policies.

This issue should define our program regarding the university. That is, we must pay attention to religion, revolutionary spirit, and aversion to national dependency in the university; especially this point of dependency, which unfortunately today the small countries of the world—small in terms of political status and position—and the formerly so-called third world countries, mainly Islamic countries, are afflicted with and their eyes are on the other side.

This dependency should not be confused with the eagerness to acquire knowledge—which wherever a person finds it, they will pursue it. Sometimes knowledge is in the hands of our enemy; we go to the enemy, kneel, and learn from them; this is not a problem. The value of knowledge is beyond this, that a person, for its sake, does not go to someone they oppose. This is one discussion; being influenced by that enemy from non-scientific aspects—namely politics, culture, and other things—is another discussion. What they have prepared for us is the latter. What they wanted and planned for the so-called third world is the latter. In fact, they made sure that the former does not happen.

This major problem of brain drain, which has been discussed in the backward world for decades, is part of this issue. They abduct and take away the elite and the good ones and do not even allow those who learn and have talent to be employed for those countries. Therefore, this second issue, if not more important than the first issue in universities, is at least as important as the first issue.

Religion must be revived in universities. Our university was born without religion; this is clear. The university in its current style was born without religion; that is, it was designed for the university to be born without religion. This does not mean that a certain founder of a university was religious or not; it has nothing to do with that; the foundation of the university was a non-religious, rather anti-religious foundation; like the country's intellectualism, which was born without religion from the beginning.

The characteristic of deep and authentic religion is that it does not wait for anyone's permission to penetrate institutions and various places and human environments. Religion penetrated the university and the intellectual environment and science and went everywhere; but the foundation was wrong. This foundation must be transformed, and we must not let it become like that again; of course, the enemy is not idle either.

After the revolution, for the cultural revolution—in the sense of turning the university environment towards an Islamic orientation—commendable efforts have been made. A number of professors, a number of students, and a number of various officials have indeed done things that are among their eternal reserves before God and this nation. These efforts are all commendable, but they are incomplete; they are not complete. The Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution must consider one of its most important duties and obligations to be what we should do so that the university environment is one where student education is religious, revolutionary, combined with political awareness and with a lively student spirit. This is one of the tasks you must undertake; if you do not, the enemies of this nation will do the opposite; as they are doing now; of course, they have various methods.

This issue of 'cultural invasion' that we have repeatedly emphasized is a clear reality; by denying it, we cannot eliminate the invasion itself. 'Cultural invasion' should not be denied; it exists. As Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said, 'He who sleeps is not slept upon'; if you fall asleep in the trench, it does not mean that your enemy in the opposite trench has also fallen asleep. You fell asleep; try to wake yourself up. We must be aware that the cultural revolution is under threat; just as our national and Islamic culture is under threat from the enemies.

I remember that in the early days of the war, reports were coming in that, for example, the enemy had reached such and such a place; the enemy is bombing such and such a place; this was repeatedly mentioned by Hezbollah forces in various revolutionary environments. The person responsible for the armed forces denied it and said it was a lie; who says Iraq is attacking us?! It was rumored among the people that they had taken Ein Khosh; he went there and was interviewed on television; he said: they say they have taken Ein Khosh; I am now being interviewed in Ein Khosh! He left Ein Khosh; but three or four hours later, the enemy took Ein Khosh! Yes, the enemy was outside Ein Khosh—not in Ein Khosh—but this did not mean that the enemy was not there.

We should not deny something that is clear and obvious. In the university, outside the university, even in our mass media, in the books they write, in the translations they make, in the poems they compose, in the seemingly unrelated cultural programs that exist in the world and whose news you gentlemen—who are cultural elements—hear, everywhere a very dangerous cultural military formation against the revolution has been created and exists.

This is not something that, for example, has been around for a hundred years. Yes, there was a cultural invasion against Islam a hundred years ago; but when one faces a sleepy enemy, their military formation is one way; when facing an awake enemy, the military formation is different. At that time, the Islamic world was sleepy, rather drugged and intoxicated; sometimes the enemy would strike it, inject something into its vein, and it would end and go; but now Islam is awake; the Western world enemy is awake today; like a champion in the field; it carries an endless memory of a personality like Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) with it; it has all these revolutionary reserves; it has all these good young people; these are no jokes. Today, the enemy does not take the military posture of a hundred or fifty years ago in the face of our current situation. We must recognize the enemy's new formation; if we do not recognize it and fall asleep, we will be destroyed; the same 'He who sleeps is not slept upon.' 'Indeed, the brother of war is vigilant, and he who sleeps is not slept upon'; a man of war must be awake; and if you sleep, it does not necessarily mean that your enemy in the opposite trench is asleep; he may be awake.

This meaning also applies in the university; sometimes, unfortunately, this work is done by insiders. When we see, for example, a series of actions based on eliminating the character and value of the clergy in the political or university environment begins, this is not a simple or merely professional action. That we, for example, come and portray the seminary, which is based on research and precision and based on foundation-building and foundation-destroying and innovation and revision and creativity—which is clear; the style and method of teaching and learning in seminaries have been based on research from the beginning—as something imitative and consider the likes of Motahari and Beheshti and these seminary students as exceptions of the seminary, is a mistake. Naturally, someone who does not know the seminary well, someone who does not know what the seminary is, makes such a mistake. Of course, most likely, or perhaps certainly, one knows that these are said without malice; that is, there is no ill intention; but the statement is contrary to reality and corrupting. This causes the scientific and spiritual value of the clergy—who are the flag bearers and representatives of religion—to be lost in the eyes of the university and student environment; just as similar work, albeit with clumsier methods, was done before the revolution and was not ineffective. Indeed, before the revolution, the university community considered the clergy to be ignorant, demanding, and knowing nothing! I encountered many of them. For example, in a meeting, when they sat with a seminary student and heard two words of reason, they would say, really, is there someone like you among the clergy?! While that student was an ordinary seminary student. They did not know the clergy; that is, the perception of the country's scientific and academic apparatus from the clergy was wrong. The seminary was indeed a center of science and research. If science for science, and science without the intention of reward, has an example in our country, it has been in the seminaries from ancient times; but they considered this place to be an unscientific environment!

That asceticism and indifference to the world, those pieties that existed in the clerical and seminary environment and outside of seminary life and still, thanks be to God, predominantly exist today, had been turned in the eyes of this university and modern community into the idea that the clergy are freeloaders! The term freeloader was clear. When they said freeloaders somewhere, without any reference or qualification—like a pronoun finding its antecedent—it referred to the clergy! This was the propaganda that was done.

What was the purpose of this propaganda? The purpose of the propaganda was not the clergy—the clergy had no particularity—the purpose of the propaganda was religion. If we come and deny the dignity of the clergy and jurisprudence and the scientific rank of jurisprudence and its impact on the overall movement of a country, or question it, or damage it, in fact, we have harmed the religious inclination of a capable and great class; and this is what they want, and it is pouring water into the enemy's mill; therefore, in the university environment, this point must be greatly considered.

Attention to the revolutionary spirit of students is also important. These students, like other students everywhere in the world, must be among the promoters of the revolution and among the main pillars of the revolution and never feel cold towards revolutionary issues; this requires methods; it is not just an order; it is not a decree that we say you students, move enthusiastically towards the goals of the revolution. Enthusiasm is something that must be created in a class. You must pursue and see how this enthusiasm can be created; it must be created in the student class.

The revolutionary spirit of students in the university must not be harmed. Those who are indifferent must be made to incline towards revolutionary orientations and enthusiasm; not that, God forbid, the opposite happens and actions are taken that those who have a revolutionary spirit and orientation gradually incline towards indifference; this is a very great danger.

The student is an exceptional generation and an exceptional being; even a young seminary student has differences from this perspective with a student. The student is young; they are on the path of knowledge and learning; they are familiar with free environments; they are gathered in one place; that too with this large quantity. This combination and these characteristics together create a special state and effects; these effects must be accepted.

We should not expect the student community to fully and wholeheartedly accept and agree with the policies of the executive apparatuses. Of course, one must submit to the policies of the responsible apparatuses; there is no doubt about this. When the apparatuses and executors of the country make a decision, that decision is obligatory for those within their work scope; but this right must be given to the student that, according to their youth and the spirit of excitement and enthusiasm they have, they have a questioning state; occasionally have objections; have suggestions. In the university environment, these must be tolerated and accepted. This is one of the factors that keeps that excitement alive in them and keeps them as students.

Of course, it must also be monitored that the student environment does not become a field for the rampage of professional politicians. That someone rises from the other side, for a political purpose and an unhealthy goal, goes to the university and disrupts the situation there and confuses the minds of some students, is not acceptable at all. Of course, the students themselves must identify such individuals; they must reject them and remove them from their environment. The student environment must remain student-like and pure.

Having political awareness and gaining political insight is one issue; but being exposed to the politicking of politicians is another issue. These are things that are very important in the university environment. If these are done, then naturally religious appearances will also be observed in the university by themselves. Of course, as I hear, the situation of universities—whether state universities or Azad University—is not very desirable from this perspective; which, of course, must be addressed from all sides.

You have a heavy burden on your shoulders. God willing, may the Almighty God help you, so that you can perform this great and sacred duty well. In my opinion, there is no charity more effective, ongoing, and lasting than this work you have undertaken. God willing, you will be successful and supported.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings