Speech on the Occasion of Eid Mab'ath with Officials and Executives of the System

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

I extend my congratulations on the great Eid Mab'ath, which is certainly one of the greatest festivals for all of humanity, to the oppressed of the world, Muslim nations, the dear, faithful, and heroic nation of Iran, and to you, esteemed gentlemen.

It is a correct assertion that we claim the mission of the Seal of the Prophets (peace be upon him and his family) is a festival for humanity; because at this juncture, with the teachings of Islam, all the fundamental pains of humanity have become treatable with the best remedies and treatments. As the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) said about the Prophet (peace be upon him): "A physician who travels with his medicine, has prepared his ointments and heated his instruments," he had prepared the ointment for the chronic, incurable wounds of humanity.

From the first moments of the mission and revelation to the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), all means for the welfare and reform of human society were considered in the verses of the Quran. In this blessed Surah Al-Alaq, after the name of the Almighty God and the command to the Prophet of Islam to read, it is mentioned that "He created man from a clot." The greatest pain of man, selfishness, rebellion, arrogance, and self-sufficiency, is reminded to this man that "He created man from a clot"; your origin is a clot. The One who bestowed upon you the garment of existence, perfection, and honor is God. You must always feel servitude before Him; do not rebel; do not defy divine values; do not consider yourself the commander of the realm of human life in place of God. This is the first word that, after two or three verses, He says: "No! Indeed, man transgresses because he sees himself self-sufficient."

Observe, the perpetual pains of humanity are these. The great pain of humanity, from the time of Prophet Adam and the story of Adam's sons to the end of the world, is selfishness, self-worship, turning away from obedience to God, oppression, discrimination, and ignorance, which due to ignorance and unawareness, leads astray and does not recognize the prophets and the path of guidance, and with its short-sightedness, considers what is wrong to be right. In this blessed Surah Al-Alaq, immediately after the opening of the Surah, it says: "Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous." Your Lord is the most generous, and the sign of this is "Who taught by the pen." In this Surah, the teaching of man, giving awareness to man, and entrusting the pen to man is reminded.

The miseries of humanity, which have resulted in oppression, subjugation, backwardness, fratricide, and living harshly in this world, and also not using the divine blessings in the world and other disorders of human life, whether those things that are only related to the life of this world—such as human needs, food, and other human needs—or those things that relate to the eternal life of man—such as misguidance, oppression, wrongdoing, impurity, and moral and behavioral corruption of man—all of these have been observed in the worldview of the Islamic mission and a remedy has been determined for them. Therefore, if humanity understood, recognized, acted upon, and submitted to this religion and this set of instructions for happiness, it would not be in all this misery and disorder today.

If we look with a realistic eye, the misfortunes of today's humanity have not changed from several thousand years ago. The fact that instead of primitive means, modern tools with speed and ease are available to man is not absolutely a source of happiness. Of course, it may be a source of happiness in certain conditions; but in other conditions, it is a source of greater misery. The advancement of science did not and could not eliminate the disorders of human life.

Today, humanity suffers from the same things it suffered from five hundred years ago, a thousand years ago, five thousand years ago, and even earlier. In those days, too, humanity suffered from oppression and the tyranny of savage humans; today, too, humans suffer from oppression, fratricide, the dominance of powers, and global bullying, and are trapped in the same snares and miseries as they were then. In the past, too, some lived in comfort. For those who were privileged, there was no electricity, but there was the joy of life; there were no jets, but there was comfort in travel and movement; today, too, it is the same for the privileged. Nothing in the totality of human life has changed, and the true ignorances of humanity have not disappeared. In those days, too, many humans lived in ignorance regarding true happiness; today, it is the same. In those days, too, the Quran said: "And they did not appraise God with true appraisal," they did not bring God to the right place; today, it is the same. In those days, too, there were groups of arrogant and groups of oppressed; today, it is the same. If a thousand years from now, the world continues in this way and progresses occur, as long as the religion of God has not become dominant, there will still be some arrogant and some oppressed. Religion came to eliminate the failures of humanity. Today, the failures of humanity remain due to turning away from spirituality, religion, and the exalted teachings of Islam.

See today, under the shadow of arrogant governments, what is happening to humans. See what these devastating and genocidal wars—initiated by powers—do to people. See what the bullying of a power like America does to humans, nations, and countries today. Today, the Iraqi nation is at stake; a nation whose agriculture and progeny are being destroyed by powers and global bullies: "And He destroys crops and progeny, and God does not like corruption." They are corrupting the earth; but it was not always the Iraqi nation. Until a few days ago, the Iranian and Iraqi nations were being destroyed and their agriculture and progeny were being wiped out due to a war imposed by these same bullies and superpowers. Before that, somewhere else; after that, somewhere else.

When there is no religion, the foundation of the world is based on arrogance. Religion is the remedy for these disorders. Muslim nations must consider their greatest duty today to return to Islam and its governance. This is the dearest, most urgent, greatest, and most effective goal that Muslim nations can pursue today; there is no remedy other than this.

Other nations do not have that value system to act upon. Therefore, they will fall into the trap of blind, ignorant, extreme nationalism, which we have seen. You saw what nationalism did to the human family. It may, hypothetically, create a sense of warmth, pride, and enthusiasm for a nation for a few days; but it destroys the human family. In this very region, they tried to create Iranian, Arab, and Turkish nationalism among Muslim brothers and within countries, to promote various and diverse sub-nationalisms and separate them from each other. This was the colonial plan.

Thanks be to God, the Islamic Revolution, at least in part of this region, remedied these issues. If a correct value system and worldview do not govern a nation, it will fall into such thoughts. Unfortunately, other religions do not have that value system to manage a society; they do not even claim to. The foundations for forming a social system do not exist in the religions that are in the hands of people today—although they certainly existed in their correct principles and forms—but Muslims have these principles.

Muslims must return to the Islamic system and Islamic thought to bring themselves to dignity and, with their billion-strong force, lead the world towards dignity. This is the remedy today, and the message of the mission of the Seal of the Prophets (peace be upon him and his family) is this. If this happens, the bullying that you see as a sign and example in the Persian Gulf will no longer have color, smell, or possibility of action in the world.

Today, America, at the head of an arrogant assembly, is exploiting the weakness of Muslims in this region. Why should they come to the purely Islamic region and, under the pretext of securing their interests, create such a pitiful and tragic situation? Why should America dare to do such a thing? If all Muslims—nations and governments together—stood up, this tragic event would not have occurred.

Of course, this event showed the emptiness of America's power and—as we have repeatedly said—every day that passes, this meaning becomes clearer, and the Gulf War will have no victor. Do not mistakenly think that if America chooses a certain maneuver, tactic, and form of warfare, it will be victorious. For America, victory in this war is not conceivable. It may achieve military dominance; but victory is something else. America has already been defeated.

America, by entering this region and confronting Muslim nations—who generally or mostly condemned it—and with the atrocities it has committed, which are still veiled and whose dimensions will become more apparent later, and it will become more evident how many women, men, children, hospitals, schools, and homes have been destroyed and wiped out—they have not yet let the world understand what is happening—and with the image it has drawn of itself among the nations of the region and the world, and with the inability it has shown in advancing its affairs—which no other fate awaits these hollow powers—with these preliminaries, America has been defeated.

Of course, as our esteemed officials and our dear government have repeatedly announced, we will not enter this war; but our feelings and judgment in this war are clear. We believe that the Iraqi nation, the nations of the region, and the Kuwaiti nation have been oppressed. What caused this incident and turmoil was the greed and power-seeking. This power-seeking is detestable and ugly; whether from the leaders and heads of Iraq or from America and its European allies and others. This wrong perception of power and strength, and also the illusion of having control over nations—which these usurping and oppressive powers claim for themselves—has created this tragedy. This culture must change in the world.

The heads of countries, presidents, and officials of nations do not have the right to lead their nations to the brink of annihilation and destruction and to destroy other nations for the interests of their own nations or in their name. This power they rely on is an oppressive and usurping power. The correct divine culture considers this power usurping, and those who, like these American presidents and some European countries and others, use these powers, it considers it a crime. This is not governance and statesmanship; this is crime management.

Thanks be to God, the Iranian nation, by adhering to Islam, has achieved the greatest victory. You saw and they saw the day before yesterday. Although global propaganda, still out of spite and hatred, is not willing to acknowledge this great movement and massive popular presence and this pure and bright nature of the Iranian nation; but fair-minded observers saw that the Iranian nation truly, with the utmost greatness combined with nobility, safeguarded its revolution and on the twenty-second of Bahman this year, appreciated the efforts of its Imam, leader, father, and esteemed guide and honored and respected that noble and exceptional human being.

I humbly thank each and every one of our dear nation across the country. God willing, may God be your helper. May the sacred heart of the Imam of the Age always be kind to you and pray for you. May the pure soul of that Imam who trained you, created this nation, and clothed you with this garment of dignity, God willing, always be pleased with you. You gave a good test. The Iranian nation made a good move. Other nations must learn this sincerity, decisiveness, and determination and this constant and continuous presence in the scenes that require presence.

Once again, I extend my congratulations on this blessed Eid. I hope that God, God willing, will keep you esteemed gentlemen and dear guests and esteemed officials of the country under His care and include the esteemed officials of the country in His favors and confirmations.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings