Statements of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr

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

I congratulate the blessed Eid al-Fitr to all Muslims and Islamic nations, to the dear and esteemed nation of Iran, and to you, the esteemed attendees of this assembly - officials, dignitaries, and guests and ambassadors of Islamic countries. I hope that the Almighty God accepts your worship, your fasting, and your struggle against the self during the month of Ramadan, and that He reserves this for you, for all our dear nation, and for the great Islamic Ummah.

The blessed Eid al-Fitr perhaps has the most prominent characteristic that it is a spiritual and international ceremony. Unlike many international customs that have a purely political aspect, this international custom has a prominent and evident spiritual aspect. In the supplication of the Eid al-Fitr qunut, we read: "I ask You by the right of this day which You have made an Eid for the Muslims and a treasure, honor, and dignity for Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)"; this day is the Eid of all Muslims and a source of honor for Islam and the Prophet of Islam, and an everlasting treasure throughout history. Let us look at the blessed Eid al-Fitr with this perspective. Today, our great Islamic nation is in need of this treasure. From this treasure, two things must be utilized by Muslims: first, the unity and closeness of Muslims, and second, attention to spirituality in the Islamic world. In the Islamic world, both of these factors that promote and advance have been undermined. Today, the unity of Muslims has been compromised by the creation of religious, sectarian, racial divisions, various nationalisms, different ethnicities, and deviant slogans. Muslims must place the slogan of unity and the integrity of the Islamic Ummah above all their slogans - whether it be ethnic slogans, their specific religious slogans, or those related to their policies. Today, one of the most effective slogans for them is this. We know that colonialism and global arrogance and the hands of foreign powers have always tried to break this unity with various tricks, one of the most wicked tricks being the usurpation of Palestinian land and the planting of the wicked tree of Zionism in the Islamic land of Palestine - that is, in the heart of Muslim nations and Islamic countries.

The second point is spirituality. The colonizers who came and handed over our resources - our oil, our independence, our dignity, our unity and integrity - to plunder and looting, also took our spirituality and spread their materialism in the Islamic world in the form of various cultures and false foundations. Today, a return to the spirituality of Islam, to the truth of Islam and the spirituality of religion, must be the slogan of Muslims. Today, Muslims are in need of this.

If we had unity today and if we relied on the spirituality of Islam, the enemy would not be able to so clearly torture and pressure the Palestinian nation in their own home. The issues of Palestine make the blood of every honorable human boil - even if they are not very religious - and take away their peace and comfort. Who can see the heartbreaking scene of a one or two-year-old child who has been killed and be able to sleep peacefully? Who can see the siege of people in their homes and streets and cities that belong to them and the land where the bones of their ancestors have been buried for centuries and not be affected? Today, the people of Jerusalem, Hebron, Gaza, and the other areas of the usurped land are imprisoned; they are being killed in their own homes; in their own homes, parents are made to mourn their children; they are starved and subjected to economic siege. If the Islamic Ummah were united, could such a thing be possible? Today, the most obligatory duty of us nations and Muslim governments is to find unity in this matter.

The suffering of the Palestinian people is our suffering and pain. Today, the cry of the Palestinian nation is loud: "O Muslims!" The response to this cry is obligatory and necessary for each of the officials of Islamic governments; the Almighty God will hold them accountable. We all have a duty. This is above political considerations; although political wisdom also dictates that today all the Islamic world should stand back to back and hand in hand against the usurping and aggressive Zionism. This danger is for all the Islamic world. Even governments that think their relations with the usurping Zionist government are to their benefit, the existence of the Zionists is more detrimental to them. This cancerous tumor and wicked tree that has been planted there is today a threat to the existence and identity of all Islamic countries and governments. Assistance to Palestine must be provided; there is no alternative. If we do not do it, undoubtedly there will be those who will do it; "God will bring forth a people whom He loves and who love Him"; this is God's tradition.

Today, the Palestinian nation has risen. On the day when the Palestinian nation was asleep, its fate and destiny were as it happened; but today, when the Palestinian nation has awakened, its fate and destiny is victory. This jihad may be a long one; however, victory is undeniable. If we do not act, the Almighty God will compel His other servants to act. This is our duty today; we hope that we can fulfill this duty. Today, Islamic governments have a duty to assist them - political assistance, financial assistance, propaganda assistance - this year's Quds Day, thanks be to God, showed that in all the Islamic world, nations are committed to this duty as much as they can.

We ask the Almighty God to make us diligent in fulfilling our duties; to grant us success; to illuminate the path for us and to endow us with the necessary determination and will to walk this path. We ask the Almighty God to gather the martyrs of the Palestinian people, all the martyrs of the path of independence and dignity of Islam, and all the sincere martyrs of nations with their leaders. We ask the Almighty God to gather the pure soul of our great Imam - who first raised this resonant cry in the Islamic world - with his leaders and to include us in the attentions of the Awaited Savior, may our souls be sacrificed for him, and in the answered prayers of that great one.

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