Statements in Meeting with Thousands of People from Gilan Province

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

Welcome, dear brothers and sisters; various segments of the dear and warm-hearted people of Gilan. I extend my greetings to all of you, especially to the honorable families of martyrs and warriors and to the pure-hearted youth.

You have made an effort, this large and dense gathering, from Gilan, from Rasht, to attend this session. Throughout history—both in the distant past and in contemporary times—we have observed the determination of the people of Gilan. In my opinion, the greatest achievement of the people of Gilan was that despite the verbal and practical propaganda of the tyrannical regime aimed at corrupting and undermining the beliefs of the people in that region over many long years, the people of that area maintained their faith, sincerity, presence in the arena, and jihad to the point that they became one of the prominent sections and provinces of the country; this is very important. The harmful, corrupt, and decadent apparatus of the tyrannical regime, with all its agents, tried to lead the people into corruption and to corrupt the atmosphere, but the people maintained their faith, their beliefs, their resolve, and demonstrated it when necessary. On one side was the tyrannical apparatus, and on the other side were the agents of the heretical and anti-religious groups.

In the early days of the revolution, I came to Rasht, and the late martyr Azadi took me around the large square of Rasht. Various groups, with their banners and slogans, had filled the entire space; they had also seized the university and thought that Gilan belonged to them. The faithful people of Gilan, these believing and revolutionary youth, entered the scene without the help of any apparatus or organization and raised the flag of Islam, the flag of monotheism, the flag of the revolution there, driving all of them out of the scene. This is the faith of the people.

It is true that the symbol of the courage and struggle of the people of Gilan is, rightly so, the great martyr, Mirza Kuchak Khan, who rose for Islam, for the Quran, for the establishment of religion, and in opposition to foreigners and aggressors during a time of exile, and his memory must never be forgotten; however, during the Islamic revolution, those who were able to present various symbols in different arenas from Gilan are not just one or two. This Quds army of Gilan, these Basijis of Gilan, these believing youth, these scholars and thinkers of Gilan, the university students of Gilan, the esteemed scholars, have shown a prominent role in various periods, which has various manifestations; if one were to list these manifestations—whether during the Sacred Defense, during the confrontation with the counter-revolution, or in the period after the end of the war—it would be a long list. But there is one clear and evident sign in the matter of the 9th of Dey (December 30) when the Iranian nation spontaneously came to the scene; the people of Rasht were among the few centers in the country that entered the field a day earlier. On the 8th of Dey—which today coincides with that day—the people of Gilan showed this awareness, this insight, this resolve, this feeling of the need to be present in the arena earlier than others. These must be preserved. The fundamental assets of a nation are these things that are signs of insight, signs of resolve, signs of awakening and awareness; these must be maintained.

Look, my brothers and sisters! My dear ones! Our nation has been under pressure for many years from one side by the corrupt leaders who ruled the country and from the other side by the arrogant powers that sought to dominate the world. They kept us backward. We are not a nation that, when the list of scholars and intellectuals and scientific honors and innovations of the world is mentioned, we find ourselves at the end of the table; we must be at the top of the table; this is our history, this is our talent. Those who caused great Iran, a civilized Iran, an Iran endowed with an Islamic spirit, to lag behind in the field of science, in the field of material and spiritual progress for a long period, have betrayed this nation, have committed crimes against it. The revolution came and cut off their hands.

We must follow this path. We must strive. We must change the wrong relationships that have caused the backwardness of nations, including our own nation. We must compensate for past backwardness. All of this requires effort, requires resolve, requires hope. If a nation loses its hope for the future, or if its determination to open paths and move towards its goals weakens, that nation will lag behind; it will not progress; the world’s dominators will dominate it; it will lose its dignity. The Iranian nation needs to continuously maintain this effort in its work, to preserve this resolve and will, to increase this hope day by day; and this exists in our country. Thanks be to God, our people have this and have shown it; therefore, in these thirty years, we have advanced much more than what a nation can grow and progress in thirty years; our enemies also acknowledge this. However, our slogan is a global one. Our slogans are aimed at humanity; our slogans are aimed at completely cutting off the hands of the arrogant from our country and our nation; the arrogant powers cannot tolerate this, hence they conspire.

The sedition of last year was a manifestation of the enemies' conspiracy; it was a sedition. Sedition means that some present slogans of truth with a completely false content to deceive the people. But they failed. The goal of creating sedition is to mislead the people. You observe; our people rose up against the sedition themselves. On the 9th of Dey, across the country, they dealt a strong blow to the seditionists. This action was done by the people themselves. This movement—as has been said many times by speakers and elders—is a spontaneous movement; this is very meaningful; this is a sign that these people are awake, alert. Our enemies must receive this message. Those who think they can create a rift between the system and the people should see and understand that this system is the people's system, it belongs to the people. The distinction of our system is that it belongs to the people. Those who have preserved the Islamic Republic system and Islam and this raised flag in this country are primarily the people themselves; our enemies must understand this. The leaders of the arrogant governments—and at the head of them, the United States—speak against our nation, conspire, sometimes shout slogans, sometimes make deceitful statements, sometimes openly show enmity, sometimes do so under a guise; all of this is because they do not have a correct analysis of the issues of Iran and a proper understanding of the Iranian nation. Our nation is an awake nation, an alert nation.

I want to recommend, I want to emphasize; the nation must maintain this effort. This year we said double effort; fortunately, signs of double effort are seen throughout the country in various works. The officials of the country, the elders, the high-ranking managers in various sectors are doing good work. Very good, this double effort is necessary; but double effort is not just for this year; double effort must exist continuously. Our dear nation must move in such a way and conquer such peaks that the enemies become completely hopeless of achieving the destiny of this nation. You must make the enemy hopeless. When the enemy becomes hopeless, a nation will be freed from its clutches.

The great sin that some of the instigators of sedition in the country commit is giving hope to the enemy; they make the enemy hopeful that it can open a gap among the people, among various factors, among the officials of the system. Last year, the enemy became hopeful with the actions of these individuals; while that great election, that massive presence, that immense participation of the people in the election could have advanced matters significantly and made the Iranian nation successful in many political arenas. They created sedition; thus, the enemy, which was becoming hopeless from the great movement of the people, became hopeful that it could harm and strike the revolution.

It was a great challenge: the enemy supported from one side, provided political assistance, named names—the enemy named the seditionists—while the Iranian nation was firmly present on the other side. Just as the Iranian nation showed initiative, courage, and sacrifice during the eight-year imposed war, it truly demonstrated skill during these eight months of soft warfare. When one looks at the issues and wants to examine them from a higher perspective, one is astonished: what a hand of divine power moves our hearts and souls towards its goals? It is God's work. God is with you. It is God who guides you. It is God who directs our hearts towards the right path.

We must maintain and strengthen our connection with God. The characteristic of a divine movement is just this: the efforts of the people, the works of the people, the resolve and will of the people, the presence of the people, alongside attention to God, alongside hearts ready for supplication; these are very important. Let us strengthen our connection with God. Let us not allow our hearts to lean towards anything that distances us from the path of God; "Our Lord, do not let our hearts deviate after You have guided us, and grant us from Yourself mercy"; this is a prayer that the Quran teaches us.

Fortunately, our youth, with their pure hearts, with their radiant hearts, with their presence in various ceremonies, attract divine mercy. And one of the instances of attracting divine mercy was this 9th of Dey. By the blessing of the memory of Hussein ibn Ali, the Master of Martyrs (peace be upon him), the people came to the scene and gathered the seditionists' tents.

Today we must be vigilant, we must be awake, we must not diminish our efforts in any field. The officials of the country are obliged. The aware and alert segments that have mastery over societal issues have a greater duty. The youth are obliged. Various segments all have a duty. Rely on divine grace. Be assured of divine guidance and know that the Almighty God has decreed a good destiny for our dear nation. We must strive and, God willing, lead ourselves to that destiny.

O Lord! Continuously send down Your blessings and favors upon this nation through Muhammad and the family of Muhammad. O Lord! Gather the pure souls of our dear martyrs and the blessed spirit of our great Imam (may his soul be sanctified), who opened this path for us, with Your saints. O Lord! Reward the efforts and services of those who serve the people and convey our greetings to our Imam of the Time (peace be upon him).

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