Statements at the Meeting of the Organizers of the International Congress of the Martyrs of the Defenders of the Haram and the Resistance Front

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, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure, virtuous, and infallible family.

First of all, I sincerely thank you and am pleased that this idea has been realized in the present gathering and that you are pursuing this work with seriousness. May God's mercy be upon martyr Soleimani, who pointed out that the originator of this idea and this work was the late martyr Soleimani.

The topic of "Defenders of the Haram" and this phenomenon of the defenders of the Haram is an astonishing phenomenon; it is an important phenomenon with various dimensions. In my opinion, although some of these dimensions have been mentioned in speeches and discussions, it is necessary to express these dimensions comprehensively and completely. I have noted a few points that I would like to present to you, dear brothers and sisters, which pertain to these dimensions of this important and astonishing phenomenon.

I have considered four aspects here: one is the "symbolic aspect" of this work; that is, this movement from various places towards the holy shrines and the defense of the holy shrines has a symbolic meaning, a symbolic aspect that I will discuss now. One of the aspects is the "worldview of the revolution," which indicates that the revolution is attentive to regional issues, global issues, and global equations; this aspect also deserves study, which I will elaborate on. The third aspect is that this movement has removed a great danger from the region and particularly from our country; this is also an important issue that has not been adequately addressed, although some things have been said at times. The fourth issue is that this event demonstrated that the revolution, after four decades, still possesses the "power of regeneration" of its inherent events that was prominent at the beginning of the revolution. I will provide a brief explanation of each of these four points.

However, the symbolic meaning and the symbolic aspect is that it is true that the movement towards the holy shrines of the Ahl al-Bayt and the defense of the holy shrines is, in fact, a defense of the graves and respect for those graves, but this is, in fact, a respect for the content and the school of that pure body that is located there. What is important is this; that is, if someone does not respect that idea, that ideal, there is no reason for them to go and defend or support this grave or this dome. Some of those who participated in the defense of the Haram were not even Shia! We know individuals from our own country and other places who were not Shia; that is, they may not have practiced the jurisprudence of the Ahl al-Bayt, but they did respect the ideals of the Ahl al-Bayt; that is what matters.

The Ahl al-Bayt have lofty ideals that will never become outdated and exist at the forefront of the desires of all pure consciences and free people, such as justice, freedom, the struggle against oppressive and tyrannical powers, and the obligation of self-sacrifice in the path of truth; these are the lofty concepts that exist in the lives of the Imams. This movement was a defense of these ideals and a devotion and affection for these ideals; this is very important. If we can convey this aspect, that is, the aspect of defending the ideals, through the propaganda that they referred to, to the ears of the people of the world, we will have supported both the movement of defending the Haram and those ideals. Because, ultimately, there are pure consciences in the world; you see that now in America, the center of moral and spiritual problems, a bunch of young people are selflessly defending the men and women of Gaza—many of whom do not even know where in the world they are; this clearly shows that there are pure and untainted consciences everywhere in the world. These must be addressed; these consciences must be addressed; we must not neglect them. One of the things that must be communicated to them is precisely this; these ideals. These ideals have such an attraction that they pull a young person away from home and life and the love and affection of parent-child and husband-wife relationships for the sake of defense. This is the first point that exists in this movement.

The enmity of those who caused this movement to arise—namely, those who threatened the holy shrines and so on—is, in fact, with those same ideals; individuals who have been gone from this world for years and centuries, like Mutawakkil al-Abbasi. Why did Mutawakkil al-Abbasi do those things to the grave of Imam Hussein? Imam Hussein had been freed from this material world for over 150 years; he was gone. What compelled Mutawakkil to go and do those things, to cut off hands, to cut off feet, to kill people, to block water, and to do things like that, was the truth that existed beyond this grave, beyond this dome, this shrine, and this mausoleum. He was worried about that "truth," which he certainly had reason to be worried about; because that truth crushes people like Mutawakkil. Throughout history, it has always been this way, and today it is the same. This is the first point.

The second point we mentioned was the issue of the "worldview of the revolution." One of the essential needs of movements is that they do not limit themselves to their own existence and presence, but rather consider what is outside their boundaries; especially in conditions like the current world situation where there are powerful countries that can encroach. Right now, the number of American bases in countries around the world is countless; they have bases everywhere in the world. In such conditions, any movement, any action, any revolution that only focuses on its internal environment and neglects external interactions will certainly suffer a blow. Therefore, one of the essential needs of any movement, any social or political action is to have a perspective on the international environment, the regional environment, interactions, relationships, ratios, and so on.

In this regard, in our not-so-distant historical past, we have been bitten at least twice: once in the Constitutional Movement and once in the National Oil Movement. In the case of the Constitutional Movement—now the British interference at the beginning is another matter—after the Constitutional Movement was established and became solid, the troubles of the supporters of the Constitutional Movement and the officials and well-wishers and followers of the Constitutional Movement became focused on internal issues—the conflicts and struggles between this and that—and they neglected external matters. They neglected the possibility that at any moment British policy might require bringing a Reza Khan to sweep away the Constitution and everything else, and this calamity befell them. Neglecting the possibility of British interference caused them to suddenly wake up—figuratively speaking—only to find a powerful and tyrannical Reza Khan in power; he first became the Commander of the Army, and then he became the Shah. In the memoirs of one of their affiliates, I read that Reza Shah said, "If we had known that becoming a Shah was this easy, we would have become Shahs sooner!" That is, they neglected; individuals neglected, and these people came to power; the British interfered and brought him to power. You see, Reza Khan came to power fifteen years after the Constitutional Movement; not much time had passed. Within fifteen years, what tribulations did the country face that caused them to neglect? This is one case.

Another case is the issue of the National Movement. Well, all that enthusiasm—now I somewhat remember that popular enthusiasm, those demonstrations, those rallies that were held, of which we witnessed a corner in Mashhad—along with the people's interest and so on, was abruptly extinguished by a coup that can only be described as truly insignificant! I mean, there was no real meaning to that military coup; a bunch of thugs and ruffians, with a suitcase of American money, were directed from the British embassy in Tehran to overthrow a national government elected by the people that had come to power with enthusiasm; it was all over and gone, and no trace of it remained; due to negligence. Becoming preoccupied with internal issues and neglecting the possibility of foreign interference brought this calamity upon the country.

The Islamic Revolution of Iran and the Islamic movement were aware of this point from the very beginning. In the first speeches that Imam made, alongside mentioning the atrocities of the Shah regime and so on, he mentioned America, he mentioned Zionism, he mentioned Israel; from the very beginning, they were aware of these matters. About a year and two or three months after the start of the struggle, Imam made that speech against capitulation; that is, Imam was aware of capitulation, aware of the resolutions of the parliament, aware of the interference of others in the internal affairs of the country. From the very beginning of the victory of the revolution, Imam's gaze was outward. Well, Imam's statements are full of addressing internal issues and dealing with internal matters, but in most of Imam's statements, you will find references to external dangers and the possibilities that threaten the country. A global perspective, a regional perspective, a comprehensive perspective, not neglecting and not becoming preoccupied only with internal issues; this was present in the revolution.

One of its major and important manifestations is the presence of our warriors in countries where the enemy had plotted and designed; a very important design had been made; primarily in Iraq, in Syria, and to some extent in Lebanon; the enemy had plotted a significant plan. A group was formed in the name of Islam, supported by religious motivations—which is a very important motivation and has a very important function—under the thumb of America. The Daesh fighters shouted "Allahu Akbar" on the battlefield, their wounded were hospitalized in Israel, and the leaders of the Zionist regime went to visit them! This was widely disseminated, and everyone saw it. This was a very dangerous plan. The goal of this plan was to seize the region to seize Iran; that is, Islamic Iran was to be seized by America and the system of global arrogance and colonialism; this plan was devised for that purpose. They had spent money; they spent seven trillion dollars; that is a statistic and a figure that the highest official in America has repeatedly announced. Seven trillion dollars were spent in this region; it was all wasted; all their expenditures were nullified. They wanted to establish governments in the name of Islam through Daesh, to raise Takfiri Islam on both sides of Islamic Iran—on our east in one country, on our west in another country—and to dissolve the Islamic Republic through various religious, ideological, and economic pressures, and so on; the movement of the defenders of the Haram thwarted this; that is, a group of young and old, from various countries and centered around the Islamic Republic, managed to completely thwart a significant, costly, and calculated plan of the system of global arrogance and colonialism; this worldview of the revolution is very important.

The new Middle East that they spoke of was the same Middle East that had these specifications: under the absolute domination of America, a government with a religious backing, both in Iraq and in Syria, in the name of religion, but to the benefit of Israel and America and so on, and pressure on the Islamic Republic from both sides. The movement of the defenders of the Haram, with this perspective, saved the region; that is an important thing that saved the region from a great danger, from the evil of a dangerous plan. This is the second point.

The third point we mentioned was from the aspect of neutralizing a great internal danger; insecurity. Daesh and the other groups that were followers or rivals of it in Syria and Iraq, if they had continued with the same organization and structure, would have robbed security from the entire region, including Iran, and without a doubt, we would have had to witness incidents in our country like those of Shah Cheragh in Shiraz and the incidents in Kerman every few days; the same was true in Iraq, and the same was true in Syria, until their rule fell into their hands. This danger was eliminated by the fighting Mujahideen defenders of the Haram.

Yes, now there are still pockets here and there, and they are supported by America, Daesh has not been completely destroyed yet, but that organization has been dismantled. The thought of what would have happened if this group had not been dismantled is truly concerning. These ruthless people, this extremely ruthless group did things that had no precedent; they burned people alive in front of cameras, drowned them alive, and benefited from both American financial support and technical and propaganda support from the West! The things they did, the filming and photographing and the delicate and precise work they did, were not the work of a bunch of uneducated people; they were being assisted, they had been assisted. They were supposed to be present in the region, and in that case, there would be no security left for anyone. This is another point.

The last point is what we said: the presence of the defenders of the Haram demonstrated that the Islamic Revolution has the power of regeneration and continuity of the same enthusiasm and fervor of the early revolution; that is what it proved. Usually, at the beginning of movements, there is a fervor and revolution, but due to various factors, that fervor, that enthusiasm, that motivation weakens at first, and then completely disappears, and this causes the entire apparatus of that movement to be dismantled. We have observed this in the recent history of our own country, such as the French Revolution and the Soviet Revolution and similar cases. A massive popular movement occurs in a country like France, it encompasses all of France, a revolution comes to power, and then, over a period of about twelve or thirteen years, various interactions and fluctuations occur—which all indicate their moral and spiritual weakness—and the result is that the entire movement disappears, a tyrannical empire like Napoleon comes to power; this is usually how it is. In the Islamic Republic, some expected it to be this way, but the presence of the defenders of the Haram showed that after four decades, that motivation still exists.

The accounts of these young people who separated themselves from their homes and lives—I have looked at some of these books—are truly moving; they are truly moving! A young person with the possibilities of youth, with the opportunities of being young, separates himself from comfort, from love, from material benefits, from educational growth, and goes to defend an idea, a movement, a revolution, a movement! This is very important. These individuals did not see the Imam, nor did they experience the war and the sacred defense, but one sees that they fight in this way, sometimes better, sometimes more insightfully, they take their lives in their hands, some become martyrs, and some do not. This indicates that the revolution has this incredible ability; this is very important. Of course, in other forms as well, such as the rallies of the twenty-second of Bahman and these extraordinary funerals that have not been seen anywhere else in the world—this recent funeral and the funeral of martyr Soleimani and others have truly not been seen anywhere else in the world—these we have seen, but beyond these, the presence of the defenders of the Haram in the battlefields is even more significant.

Even some of those who are caught in materialistic analyses and cannot escape it, no matter what you do, no matter what reasoning you provide, they are unwilling to accept that reasoning into their minds to convince them; it was said:

"Every inner one who became a dreamer When reason is present, his imagination increases."

Their eyes are on the West and on the motivations and on the same erroneous Western thought foundations; they expected that the revolution, which is an uprising against this materialistic thought, would gradually weaken. Some of them were revolutionary at first, but later became opponents or at least contrary to revolutionary thought; they said that those who were in the sacred defense would have been like us if they had remained until now; they compared themselves to others. These young people showed that no, this is wrong, it is not like that. The purity, courage, self-sacrifice, sincerity, and deep belief in Islamic and revolutionary principles in these young people who went to fight are truly astonishing; it is truly a unique phenomenon; one is amazed. Except for God's grace, except for divine guidance and the guiding hand of the infallible Imams, nothing else can explain it. Now their great figures like martyr Soleimani and martyr Hamadani and other great ones who were martyred in this path are preserved in their own right.

Therefore, I conclude that the defenders of the Haram and their families are a source of pride and dignity for Islamic Iran; they are a source of salvation and success for the Islamic revolution, and the Islamic Republic is certainly indebted to these dear ones, these martyrs, and these families and these defenders. May God, God willing, elevate their ranks and unite their souls with the Prophet and make them pleased with us and us with them.

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