Statements in the Friday Prayer Sermon

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

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds. We praise Him, seek His help, believe in Him, and rely on Him. We send blessings and peace upon His beloved, His chosen one, the best of His creation, the keeper of His secrets, and the conveyor of His messages, our master and prophet, Abu al-Qasim Muhammad, and upon his pure, chosen, and infallible family, especially the remainder of God on earth. Blessings be upon the leaders of the Muslims, the protectors of the oppressed, and the guides of the believers. I advise you, servants of God, to be pious and to organize your affairs.

I invite and recommend all dear brothers and sisters who are performing the prayer to observe God-consciousness in all stages of life, to remember God in all difficulties, to seek refuge in Him, and to hope for His grace in all endeavors, efforts, and struggles.

Forty days have passed since the great and tragic loss of our dear Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified), and this is the first Friday that I come to the Friday prayer in his absence and face you, the loyal nation and his devoted companions. Accepting this bitter truth is very difficult. Over the past years, imagining a lifeless world, a gloomy atmosphere, and a sorrowful life without our Imam, leader, guide, teacher, mentor, father, and hope was very challenging for us.

O Lord! We seek refuge in You in this calamity, we seek solace from You, we ask for Your help, and we complain to You. O remainder of God, O Hujjat ibn al-Hasan al-Askari! We offer our condolences to you for this great calamity.

We have learned from that great teacher and kind father that calamities, no matter how great, must be endured. Companions and believers endured the calamity of the Prophet of Islam's (peace be upon him) passing, the martyrdom of Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), and other great calamities, and they turned these calamities into means of ascension and steps towards lofty and high goals. We too, O great Imam and dear Khomeini, seek help from your God and make your lessons the lessons of our lives, so that perhaps from this calamity, we can build steps towards the lofty and dear goals for which you struggled all your life.

Today, I wish to speak about our Imam in the first sermon. Much has been said about him, but in my opinion, it is still too early for global analysts to truly understand the great Imam; a magnificent personality who, throughout history after the prophets and saints, rarely appears. They perform great deeds, shine like lightning, illuminate the space, and then depart.

Our great Imam performed great deeds commensurate with his greatness, and today I remind you of some of them. Certainly, if analysts and thinkers list the great deeds of the Imam of the nation, it will be several times more than what I enumerate today.

His first great deed was the revival of Islam. For two hundred years, colonial apparatuses tried to consign Islam to oblivion. One of the British prime ministers declared in a gathering of colonial politicians that we must isolate Islam in Islamic countries! Before and after that, vast sums were spent to remove Islam first from the scene of life and second from the minds and actions of individuals, because they knew this religion was the greatest obstacle to the plundering of the great and arrogant powers. Our Imam revived Islam and returned it to the minds and actions of people and the political scene of the world.

His second great deed was restoring the spirit of dignity to Muslims. It was not just that Islam was discussed in debates, analyses, universities, and the public scene and life of people; rather, due to our Imam's movement, Muslims everywhere felt dignified.

A Muslim from a large country where Muslims are a minority told me: Before the Islamic Revolution, we never expressed our Muslim identity. According to the culture of that country, everyone had a local name, and although Muslim families gave their children Islamic names, they did not dare to express them and were ashamed to mention them! But after your revolution, our people proudly state their Islamic names, and if asked who they are, they first proudly mention their Islamic name.

Therefore, with the great deed that Imam (may his soul be sanctified) performed, Muslims everywhere feel dignified and take pride in their Islam and Muslim identity.

His third great deed was giving Muslims the sense of understanding the Islamic Ummah. Before this, Muslims wherever they were in the world, did not consider something called the Islamic Ummah or did not take it seriously. Today, all Muslims from the farthest reaches of Asia to the heart of Africa, throughout the Middle East, and in Europe and America, feel they are part of a large global community called the Islamic Ummah. Imam created the awareness of the Islamic Ummah, which is the greatest weapon for defending Islamic societies against global arrogance.

His fourth great deed was the removal of one of the most reactionary, vile, and dependent regimes in the region and the world. The removal of the monarchical government in Iran was one of the greatest deeds anyone could imagine. Iran was the most important colonial fortress in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East. This fortress was demolished by our Imam.

His fifth deed was establishing a government based on Islam; something that neither Muslims nor non-Muslims could imagine, and it was a pleasant dream that even naive Muslims never imagined or saw. Imam (may his soul be sanctified) miraculously turned this mythical idea into reality.

His sixth deed was creating an Islamic movement in the world. Before the Islamic Revolution, in many countries, including Islamic countries, groups, youth, dissidents, and freedom seekers entered the field with leftist ideologies; but after the Islamic Revolution, the foundation and basis of liberation movements became Islam. Today, in any part of the vast Islamic world where a group or population moves with the motivation of freedom-seeking and opposition to global arrogance, the basis and foundation of their work, hope, and pillar is Islamic thought.

His seventh great deed was introducing a new perspective in Shia jurisprudence. Our jurisprudence has had and continues to have very strong foundations. Shia jurisprudence is one of the strongest, relying on very firm principles and foundations. Our dear Imam paid attention to this strong jurisprudence on a wide scale with a global and governmental perspective and illuminated dimensions of jurisprudence for us that were not clear before.

His eighth deed was nullifying false beliefs about the personal ethics of rulers. It is accepted in the world that those who are at the head of societies have specific personal ethics! Arrogance, enjoying a comfortable and extravagant life, luxury, self-will, and selfishness are things that people of the world have accepted for those who are at the head of governments. Even in revolutionary countries, revolutionaries who lived under tents and hid in caves until yesterday, as soon as they come to power, their lifestyle changes, and they adopt the same situation that other kings and leaders of the world had! We have seen such things up close; it is not surprising for people.

Our Imam changed this false belief and showed that the beloved and adored leader of a nation and other Muslims of the world can have an ascetic life and instead of luxurious palaces, receive visitors in a Hussainiya and interact with people with the clothing, language, and ethics of the prophets.

If the hearts of rulers and leaders are illuminated with the light of knowledge and truth, luxury, ceremonies, extravagance, excessive enjoyment, self-will, arrogance, and global arrogance are not necessary components of their leadership. One of the great miracles of that great man was that both in his life and in the system he created, the light of knowledge and truth was manifested.

His ninth deed was reviving the spirit of pride and self-confidence in the Iranian nation. Dear brothers! Despotic and individual governments had turned our nation into a weak, oppressed, and downtrodden nation for many years; a nation that possesses extraordinary collective talents and has so many scientific and political honors throughout post-Islamic history.

Foreign powers - for a time the British, then the Russians and other European governments, and after them the Americans - had humiliated our nation. Our nation had also come to believe that it was incapable of great deeds, incapable of construction, incapable of innovation, and that others must dominate and oppress it! Therefore, they had killed the spirit of pride and national honor in our nation; but our dear Imam awakened and revived the spirit of pride and national honor in the Iranian nation.

While our nation is free from the baseless nationalist sentiments and arrogance - which global arrogance was the cause of, and the vile Pahlavi regime promoted - they feel dignity and power. Today, our nation is not afraid of the joint conspiracy of the East and West and reactionary forces and does not feel weak. Our youth feel they can build their country themselves. Our people feel they have the power and ability to stand against the impositions and bullying of the East and West. Imam (may his soul be sanctified) revived this spirit of dignity, self-confidence, national pride, and genuine and original honors in our nation.

Finally, his tenth great deed was proving that 'neither East nor West' is a practical and possible principle. Others thought that one must rely on either the East or the West, that one must eat the bread of this power and praise it or that power! They did not think that a nation could say 'no' to both the East and the West, stand firm, remain, and grow stronger day by day; but Imam (may his soul be sanctified) proved this point.

I have enumerated ten axes of Imam's (may his soul be sanctified) great deeds; but if we sit and think, we will find many more great deeds in the luminous record of this divine man. Here, I remind you of two points:

The first point: Those who opposed Imam have blackened their own faces. Wretched are those who, to please the Zionists, make America happy, and fill their pockets with the oil money of reactionaries, covered the truth and opposed our Imam. Blackened are those who could have been under the kind wings of this father, teacher, and mentor and benefited from him; but they kicked their own fortune and sought refuge in his enemies and are now wandering in Europe, America, Latin America, Iraq, and some other countries.

These poor and blackened ones, when they were inside the country, were considered a drop in the ocean; but they did not understand how insignificant and small they were. The ceremonies of that great man's passing made everyone understand who Imam (may his soul be sanctified) was, where the nation stands, what it says, how it thinks, and what it wants, and also who the opponents are and where they are. God willing, they no longer have the illusion that they are something or someone.

They truly wronged themselves by standing against Imam (may his soul be sanctified). The future and honor belong to those who moved behind Imam; that is, the vast majority of the nation and all the people. You people have shown that you are the companions, loyalists, and devoted ones of Imam and that you remain steadfast in this loyalty and devotion.

The second point is that Imam had many excellent individual characteristics; but his successes were beyond what could be attributed to the individual characteristics of a person - no matter how high. Imam's courage, awareness, wisdom, prudence, and foresight were very distinguished - there is no doubt about these - but the successes that great man achieved were far beyond what could be attributed to the courage, wisdom, prudence, and foresight of a person.

Those successes stemmed from elsewhere, primarily from his sincerity; 'those who are sincere in their religion.' He was sincere to God and did his work only for Him - and no one else. Therefore, even if the whole world stood against him and asked him for something that was not pleasing to God, he would not do it.

Secondly, he had trust and good faith in God. No task seemed beyond God's power to him. Great deeds, massive movements, uprooting solid mountains and firm hills were possible for him because he believed he was relying on God and that God was helping him; and because he trusted in God, he looked with good faith.

On the day he started the movement, there were very few who thought a movement could be started. On the day he called for the overthrow of the monarchical regime, there were very few who thought the monarchical regime in Iran could be overthrown. On the day he announced the policy of 'neither East nor West,' there were very few who thought it was possible to have a government without relying on the East or West and to maintain and manage it. On the day he said, 'America cannot do a damn thing,' there were very few who believed that America could not do a damn thing against Imam and his nation.

He accomplished all these great deeds because of his trust in God and knew he could do them. Of course, for him, achieving the task was not the goal. He said: I do my duty. His victory was in being able to perform his duty. In Imam's (may his soul be sanctified) view, victory was not in being able to do what one wants; in his view, victory was in acting according to one's duty. With this spirit, feeling, and motivation, he advanced and continued the work.

Imam had two other characteristics, which were only possible with divine illumination, and they were: recognizing enemies and friends. He did not make mistakes in recognizing enemies and friends. From the beginning, he recognized the enemies and announced them and stood against them until the end, and he also recognized the friends from the beginning and announced them and benefited from their friendship until the end.

He always relied on the people and nations. On a trip I was about to make abroad, I went to our great Imam. At that time, there was a situation, and I told him that there was a lot of talk in the world against us regarding this situation. (Of course, I wanted to report to him; otherwise, I had no fear of those global uproars, and later I entered that situation.) He always had the world's news closely and immediately at his disposal and often received global news earlier than others. Imam (may his soul be sanctified) responded to me with a smile of satisfaction: Yes, I am aware; but all the nations are with us. It was truly as he said. On that trip, the presence of nations alongside us became so evident that it astonished everyone. Therefore, he knew his friends and his enemies. He benefited from his friends and trusted and relied on them. His greatest friends were you, the loyal nation, and Imam knew you well.

We must pursue a goal by repeating these truths, which is to learn lessons and nothing else; otherwise, mere praise is of no use; sometimes it is even harmful; because when we think he did the work, we imagine that there is no work left for us.

If that prayer was what that oppressed one did

It deprived others of this action

We praise that great and noble human being and leader to bring ourselves closer to him and continue his path. God-consciousness governed all aspects of his life; we too must consider God-consciousness as the criterion for all our affairs. The essence of the matter is piety. Piety means being careful not to act contrary to God's will.

O Lord! We beseech You by Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, gather our dear Imam with the best, most beloved, and closest of Your servants and grant him the best reward and recompense.

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

By time. Indeed, mankind is in loss. Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience.

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

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and blessings and peace upon our master and prophet, Abu al-Qasim Muhammad, and upon Ali, the Commander of the Faithful, and the truthful, pure lady, the mistress of the women of the worlds, and Hasan and Husayn, the two grandsons of mercy and the leaders of guidance, and Ali ibn al-Husayn, and Muhammad ibn Ali, and Ja'far ibn Muhammad, and Musa ibn Ja'far, and Ali ibn Musa, and Muhammad ibn Ali, and Ali ibn Muhammad, and Hasan ibn Ali, and the remaining, the standing Mahdi, Your proofs over Your servants and Your trustees in Your lands. Blessings be upon the leaders of the Muslims, the protectors of the oppressed, and the guides of the believers. I advise you, servants of God, to be pious.

In this sermon, I wish to briefly look to the future. Firstly, I thank the elected experts of the people for the trust they have shown in this humble servant and for placing a great and heavy responsibility on my shoulders. Secondly, I sincerely and wholeheartedly thank the great Iranian nation and the enthusiastic and loyal groups who, during this period, expressed their allegiance and loyalty through messages, presence, marches, petitions, and other means, and declared their support and endorsement, and I am grateful for their unparalleled loyalty to the great Imam and leader of the nation during the forty days of public mourning.

What you, the Iranian nation, have shown will certainly be a great lesson that will be recorded in history. I sincerely thank the dear brothers from other countries and Muslims around the world who showed solidarity and sympathy with the Iranian nation in this great mourning and honored the memory of our great Imam and leader. I also warmly welcome the dear guests of the Islamic Republic, many of whom are present at the prayer, and I thank them for their presence in the Islamic Republic and their respect for our great Imam.

Dear brothers and sisters and the great Iranian nation! Your presence, gathering, and unity of word at this very sensitive stage gave the greatest victory to the Islamic Republic. We have repeatedly stated that our enemies had pinned their hopes on this stage - the absence of Imam (may his soul be sanctified). Thanks be to God, with your decisive movement, the enemy's spell was broken, and the false dream vanished from their eyes.

The Iranian nation made the best move and stance at this stage; but I must tell all dear brothers and sisters across the country that we have a long way to go for the construction of the country, the continuation of our dear Imam's path, and the realization of the aspirations, dreams, and goals of this divine and great revolution. Certainly, the spiteful, conspiratorial, and deceitful enemies are not willing to abandon their enmity with Islam and the Islamic Republic.

You have repeatedly slapped the enemy in the face and inflicted humiliating defeats on them during the ten and a half years since the victory of the revolution; but again, the enemy will resort to conspiracy, deceit, and wickedness. Of course, they expect that the Iranian nation will strike their deceitful plots with a firm fist dozens of times more, and God willing, they will. For this, the vigilance of the Iranian nation and your unity of word is always necessary.

In a true balance and considering divine and real criteria, you are stronger than all your enemies; there is no doubt about this. The wealth at the disposal of global powers, the propaganda tools they have, and the modern weapons they boast of are apparent power; one should not be deceived and take the glitter and appearance of things as the criterion. If these were to bring the enemy to real power against us, we should not exist in the world now, and the Islamic Republic should be a legend; you see that this is not the case.

Real power is the power of a nation that is first aware of what is happening around it, second believes in its right and path, and third decides to continue on this path. If a nation has these three characteristics, no power in the world is stronger than it.

We defend our rights. We do not want to encroach on the rights of others. We do not intend to expand. We do not invade the other side of the world to interfere in others' affairs; but our enemies do these things. Therefore, they are doomed to failure.

We are defending our dignity, honor, religion, revolution, human rights, and independence. Any nation that defends its true rights with awareness, faith, and determination will certainly be victorious. Therefore, we are stronger than our enemies; however, note that being stronger is useful when we are awake. A strong and powerful person, no matter how strong, if he remains asleep, even a child can harm him. You must maintain vigilance.

Our strength and power manifest when we are a united nation. If there is division and discord among us, if disputes arise, if different currents emerge, and if there is a quest for power, we will lose our power; 'and your strength will depart.' (Quran 8:46) Division takes away the dignity, reputation, and power of any nation. If you maintain unity of word, this power will remain.

We must gird ourselves for action. We no longer have military war; but we have a war with the obstacles to construction ahead of us. We must build our country, and this is a great task with obstacles in its path. We must fight these obstacles and remove them. These obstacles may be laziness, lack of planning, lawlessness, or lack of necessary resources. Whatever they are, we must remove them and build Iran.

Islam and the Islamic Republic must show that they can build Iran in a way that has not been built in the history of countries with this quality. Islam and our Muslim nation have this art. People should strive and with unity of word, sincerity, and presence in the scene, build and develop the country. See what the officials you trust - and they deserve to be trusted - want from you; do it. With your cooperation, all obstacles will be removed.

When we say we will defeat the enemy, it means we will build the country. The enemy does not want us to build our country in a way that befits a revolutionary and great nation, free, adorned, and purified.

In the internal administration of the country and in foreign relations, we will follow revolutionary and Islamic principles and will precisely follow the path that Imam (may his soul be sanctified) was taking. With your presence in the scene, every impossibility will become possible, and every problem will become easy.

In conclusion, I must congratulate all you dear brothers and sisters performing the prayer, the Iranian nation, and Muslims worldwide on the blessed Eid al-Adha. Divine decree was that the end of the forty days of mourning for the Iranian nation coincides with Eid al-Adha. This is also a bright look to the future. Of course, the memory of Imam (may his soul be sanctified) will never leave our hearts, and his mourning will not end in our hearts. Yesterday, the dear son and precious heir of our great Imam - Hujjat al-Islam Mr. Haj Sayyid Ahmad Agha - told you people at the grave of their great father that mourning ended in forty days, and he asked the people to remove their black clothes and wear clothes of work and effort.

The memory of Imam will never leave our hearts and souls. Dear Imam! How is it possible for us to forget you? Certainly, this great sorrow will accompany us for many years to come. Dear Imam! From today - which is Eid al-Adha - we will start living and striving again for your sake; because you wanted, approved, and demanded this path.

Dear brothers and sisters! Practice piety. Our Imam was the embodiment of piety, abstinence, and righteousness.

Peace be upon the sons of our Islamic nation everywhere. First, I extend my warmest congratulations to all Muslim men and women on the occasion of the blessed Eid al-Adha, may God return it to the Muslims while they are adorned with the garments of dignity and honor, and may He grant the sons of our nation to draw lessons from this great Eid in sacrifice, devotion, and submission to the One, the Only, the Subduer.

On the occasion of the fortieth day of the passing of the great Islamic leader and Imam of the Islamic Ummah and its compassionate father, Abdullah the righteous, Imam Khomeini (may God's mercy be upon him), I offer my condolences to our Islamic nation, asking God Almighty to grant them good consolation and great reward in this calamity. Indeed, we belong to God, and to Him, we shall return.

The life of Imam Khomeini (may God elevate his word) was a living lesson in all dimensions of Islam.

He taught us first to unify God in all our movements and stillness and to seek His face alone and to fear Him and not fear anyone else.

The noble Islamic state was established by the grace of God and His help, and the Islamic jihad escalated to establish God's sovereignty in Afghanistan, and the Palestinian people's uprising to regain their dignity and honor after forty years of humiliation, and Muslims moved on the path of the message in various parts of the Muslim lands.

It is not easy to speak about the greatness of Imam Khomeini in the contemporary Islamic awakening, and for his great position, the enemies of Islam pinned their hopes on his absence from the scene, thinking that this global Islamic uprising would fade after his death, but they were disappointed and disgraced when they saw that the great departed Imam had transformed into a nation determined to continue his path and to hasten the steps to achieve the goals for which this great man lived.

The world witnessed after the passing of the leader Imam (may God elevate his rank) a storm of grief and sorrow that spread among Muslims in all parts of the world, but it was grief and sorrow mixed with a firm covenant to continue the path and a confirmed pledge to adhere to the principle, creed, and jihad to elevate the word of God.

The word of the departed Imam (may his secret be sanctified) was the word of Islam, and the word of Islam is the good word whose root is firm and its branches are in the sky, yielding its fruit at all times by the permission of its Lord.

The journey that Imam Khomeini (may God's mercy be upon him) began continues, by God's permission, until the complete Islamic goals are achieved, and with God is success.

I advise you, servants of God, to be pious and seek forgiveness from God for me and for you.

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

When the victory of God has come and the conquest, and you see the people entering into the religion of God in multitudes, then exalt [Him] with praise of your Lord and ask forgiveness of Him. Indeed, He is ever Accepting of repentance.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings