Statements in Meeting with Thousands of Mourning Reciters and Poets of Ahl al-Bayt

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 and prophet, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure and chosen progeny, especially the Remaining One of God among the worlds.

I congratulate you on the auspicious birth of the Lady of the Women of the World and the chosen one of the Seal of Prophets, Lady Fatimah (peace be upon her). Today’s gathering was a very luminous, spiritual, and sweet session; both you, dear brothers and sisters, and the performers and reciters truly and fairly provided the spiritual atmosphere needed for all of us on this day. May God preserve you, God willing, and support you. I will briefly say a few words about Lady Fatimah (peace be upon her), a few words regarding the issues related to mourning recitation and reciters, and I will touch upon current matters.

God the Exalted has set two women as examples for all of humanity, both men and women: "And God has set forth an example for those who believe: the wife of Pharaoh... and Mary, the daughter of Imran"; these two women are examples and models for all of humanity, not just for women. A narration from both Shia and Sunni sources has been transmitted in various ways that the Prophet said that the virtue of my Fatimah is greater and higher than those two women. The fact that it is said that these women are examples is not merely about virtue — keep this in mind — they are also models, they are peaks; it is possible that you and I may not reach that peak, and certainly we will not, but we must strive towards that peak. In the short life of Fatimah (peace be upon her) after the Messenger of God — two months, three months, according to different narrations — what became evident from this great lady, everyone saw, can serve as a model for all of humanity, not just for Muslims.

The fact that a woman alone, a young lady, rises against a vast crowd, a power, a government, defends the truth, shows courage, and her logic convinces all those who possess logic, does not leave the task unfinished, and until the last days of her life, when the women of Medina come to visit this great lady, she articulates those truths, those firm foundations of religion, is something that can only come from the outstanding and unique personality of Lady Fatimah (peace be upon her). However, each of these qualities is a model: rising for the truth, courage, clarity, strength of argument, steadfastness. This is what God the Exalted has stated in the Quran: "That you stand for God, two by two or individually"; if you are two, stand for God against what is contrary to God's command; if you are not two, if you are alone, still stand up. The true embodiment of this noble verse is Fatimah (peace be upon her).

A narration from Khwarizmi — who is one of the scholars of the Sunni — states: "The Messenger of God said to Salman, 'The love of Fatimah benefits in a hundred situations'; meaning, a hundred situations after this worldly life; the easiest of those situations is death and the grave. This narration is about the love of Fatimah (peace be upon her). At first glance, the meaning of this narration is that if you love Fatimah (peace be upon her), this virtue belongs to you; well, this is correct; this meaning has no fault. Your love for Fatimah (peace be upon her) has this quality that it benefits you in a hundred situations; however, when we reflect, there is another meaning alongside this one, which is that 'the love of Fatimah (peace be upon her) for a person' has this benefit. This is also common in our Persian expressions; it is said, 'the friendship of someone benefits you'; what does this mean? It means their friendship with you; very well, this is important, this is difficult. The first meaning is easy; anyone who sees that sun, that radiant moon, those shining stars, those virtues, will develop love; but the second, that she develops love for you, is the difficult part.

What is appropriate for the gathering of mourners is a part of this discussion: Lady Fatimah (peace be upon her) develops love for those who embody those qualities in their lives, one of which is 'clarification'. From the very first moment, Lady Fatimah (peace be upon her) began to clarify, bringing the truths to the attention of all the listeners and all those who either did not know or knew and were neglectful, or knew and had forgotten. 'Clarification' is the most important task of Fatimah (peace be upon her).

'Mourning recitation' is following Fatimah (peace be upon her) in clarification. I would like to mention that today’s programs executed by these gentlemen were clarifications; that is, alongside expressing affection and love for the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them), they clarified the truths, they articulated the current realities. Lady Fatimah also articulated the current realities; she expressed the issues that had arisen that day and were current matters. Clarifying current issues is a very important duty. Therefore, it is stated in the narration of the Prophet: 'Indeed, the believer struggles with his sword and his tongue'; the believer engages in jihad, sometimes with his life, [meaning] he goes to the front, sometimes with his sword, [meaning] he uses weapons, and sometimes with his tongue. Jihad with the tongue is one of the important types of jihad, and sometimes its impact is greater than that of jihad with the life, its importance is greater. You, brothers of the mourners who are present in this gathering and all the mourners across the country are the audience of this speech: jihad with the tongue.

Well, the tools for this jihad are at your disposal; you possess a combined art. Mourning recitation is a combined art; both form and content are arts; both words and meanings are arts. That is, here several arts have come together to create mourning recitation; I want us to appreciate the value of mourning recitation; both we should appreciate it, and they themselves should recognize it. Mourning recitation is a combination of several arts; the art of voice, the art of melody, the art of poetry, the art of managing a crowd — which is a great art in itself — the art of face-to-face interaction with people. You do not interact face-to-face with people in the virtual space, but in a real gathering, in the real world, you speak with people, you become face-to-face; this in itself is an important art. Therefore, mourning recitation is a full-fledged media; since it is a media, it can be a tool for clarification; an important tool for clarification.

Today, we need clarification. Today, sowing doubts is one of the fundamental tasks of the enemy. They plan, now some of it is visible in the news that you see, some of it is not visible in the news, but we are aware of it. They plan and spend money to divert mentalities from the truth. Who should respond? Who should straighten this crooked line? Who should clarify? You are among those who can carry out this great task.

If your mourning recitation movement is enlightening — first enlightening — then hope-giving, [meaning] not despair-inducing, and also motivating, then you have accomplished a fundamental and great task that cannot be achieved with many other means of speaking and propagating. You can fight against the fear-mongering of the enemy — one of the enemy's important tasks is to instill fear, to create terror — you can confront the division-mongering of the enemy, you can counter the despair-inducing of the enemy. Look! Each of these points I am mentioning is an essential element; the revival of society and those things you said here, that 'we will not sit down', 'we will raise the flag of Islam on the battlefield', 'we will defend the pure shrine of Sham' and similar statements depend on these; that is, we must fight against the fear-mongering of the enemy, against the division-mongering of the enemy, against the despair-inducing of the enemy. The main tool of the enemy is to instill fear and create terror. You are strong; they propagate your weakness to scare you; they claim you are empty-handed to discourage you. You must pay attention to these points.

In the early days of Islam, in the Battle of Uhud, the Muslims suffered a blow; a personality like Hamzah, the Lord of Martyrs, was martyred; a personality like Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), the Commander of the Faithful, was completely wounded; the Prophet himself was struck; several were martyred; when they returned to Medina, the hypocrites saw a good opportunity to sow doubts, to exploit this situation for propaganda, and they began to sow doubts: 'Indeed, the people have gathered against you, so fear them'; they began to express this. God the Exalted revealed a verse because of this matter; the Quran states: 'Indeed, it is the devil who frightens his allies, so do not fear them'; this devil is the one who frightens his allies, do not fear them. A strong blow from the Quran fell upon the mouths of the whispering hypocrites. Today, you must say this 'Indeed, it is the devil who frightens his allies'; the literati, poets, and thinkers should sit down and think; they should create an acceptable and pleasant logic for the audience in the form of poetry, with the melody of mourning recitation, and convey it to the people. 'Indeed, it is the devil who frightens his allies'.

Today, the headline of our regional news is the issues of Syria. I do not want to analyze. Others can analyze. I have a few points to make:

First point. A group of rioters, with the help of foreign governments and their planning, were able to exploit the internal weaknesses of Syria and lead the country into instability, into chaos. About two or three weeks ago, I said in a speech right here that America’s plan for domination over countries is one of two things: either to create an individual dictatorial government, with which they can negotiate, talk, and divide the country’s interests among themselves; if this does not happen, chaos and disorder. In Syria, they ended up in chaos; they created disorder. Now the Americans, the Zionist regime, and those who are with them, think they have achieved victory; they feel they have succeeded and thus have begun to speak nonsense. The nature of the people of the devil is that when they feel victorious, their tongues become uncontrollable, they speak nonsense. Today, they have fallen into nonsense. An American element among American officials, among their nonsensical statements, one of them is that he says: 'Whoever causes chaos in Iran, we will help him'; this is the sum of his statement; he does not explicitly say this, but this is what he means; he expresses it in a veiled manner, but it is completely clear that this is what he is saying. The fools have smelled the aroma of kebab! The first point is that the Iranian nation will trample anyone who accepts the American mercenary in this regard under their firm feet.

Second point. The Zionist element pretends to be victorious, takes on the appearance of victorious people, and comes and speaks nonsense and boasts. Poor thing! Where have you achieved victory? Have you achieved victory in Gaza? To kill forty thousand women, children, and infants with bombs and not be able to achieve any of the objectives you initially declared, is that victory? Have you destroyed Hamas? Have you freed your captives in Gaza? You said you wanted to eliminate Hezbollah, a person like Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah with such greatness, did you manage to eliminate Hezbollah? Hezbollah is alive, the Palestinian resistance is alive, Hamas is alive, Jihad is alive; you are not victorious, you have been defeated. Yes, in Syria, there was no one in front of you, a soldier with a rifle was not in front of you, and you were able to advance several kilometers with tanks and military equipment, [but] this is not victory; there was no obstacle in front of you, this is not victory. Of course, the brave and zealous youth of Syria will undoubtedly drive you out from here.

Third point. In various propaganda — since they are dealing with the Islamic Republic — they constantly say that the Islamic Republic has lost its proxy forces in the region; this is another mistake. The Islamic Republic has no proxy forces; Yemen fights because it is faithful; Hezbollah fights because its faith drives it to the battlefield; Hamas and Jihad fight because their beliefs compel them to do so. They do not act as our proxies; if one day we want to take action, we do not need proxies. Faithful and honorable men in Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and God willing, soon in Syria, are present and will be present; they are fighting against oppression and crime, against the imposed and vile Zionist regime; we are also fighting, and God willing, we will eliminate this regime from the region.

What I am stating is not political rhetoric; these are truths that we have closely experienced. It is good for you to know: Hezbollah Lebanon is a strong, honorable, and solid group that emerged from the chaos of Lebanon in the 1960s. They had turned the entire region upside down; with civil wars, chaos, and insecurity; in the midst of insecurity and from the heart of threats, Hezbollah emerged and rose. Before our dear martyr Sayyid Hassan, the late Sayyid Abbas [Mousavi] was also there, and others were martyred; their martyrdom did not weaken Hezbollah, if we do not say it strengthened it. Today, it is the same, and it will be the same tomorrow. Opportunities arise from threats, if we are aware, feel responsible, pursue, and show what is in our hearts and on our tongues in action.

And I predict that this incident, [that is] the emergence of a strong and honorable group in Syria, will also occur. A young Syrian has nothing to lose; his university is unsafe, his school is unsafe, his home is unsafe, his street is unsafe, his life is unsafe; what should he do? He must stand with strong will against those who have designed this insecurity and those who have executed it, and God willing, he will prevail over them. By God's grace, the future of the region will be better than today.

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