Statements in Meeting with the Minister and Officials of the Ministry of Interior and Governors

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

Gentlemen! Welcome. God willing, you will always be supported and aided by the divine. I also affirm the statements of Mr. Nouri that governorship is a difficult task and expectations from a governor are high. Since I have traveled to most provinces and have visited some of you brothers at your workplaces and observed your work closely. Some of you who have recently taken office, I have often seen your places of assignment up close. I am familiar with the country's issues and know how challenging and delicate this work is, requiring intellect, faith, and taste.

A good governor — which you are — is someone who is wise, devout, tasteful, and possesses finesse in management. Governorship is not a one-dimensional management. You could hypothetically be the director general of the Ministry of Economy or the Ministry of Labor or the Ministry of Industries in a province or other ministries. All of them are one-dimensional tasks. Although now every social task is multi-dimensional; however, compared to your work, it is one-sided. Your work is primarily a human and political task, and this truly requires abundant finesse, ample intellect, and pure faith.

Of course, our expectation from the Ministry of Interior is that these conditions are abundant in it, and my perception is that, thanks be to God, it is so. That is, truly when I now look at the group we have known so far and who are in front of us, and Mr. Nouri himself and some other brothers we know, they have worked very well and there is absolutely no room for criticism or objection. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior is the mother ministry, and we have no other governmental administrative apparatus as comprehensive as the Ministry of Interior.

You who are present in that province, you are the president and minister and the embodiment of the system. If the system is universal, you must also be universal. If the system is the system of the oppressed, this must manifest itself in your actions, statements, and behavior. If the system is one that avoids extravagance and excess, this characteristic must be evident in your life. You are the representation of the system in the province; it depends on how the province is in terms of size, the number of people, visitors, and the quality of its people. Thanks be to God, all provinces of our country are at a high level spiritually and qualitatively and have a tangential level with that peak; even if not all provinces are like this. Quality in our country is distributed in this way. Even in the farthest parts of the country, thanks be to God, quality people are found. It cannot be said that all quality people are concentrated in a specific province or in Tehran or in large cities.

Therefore, the first issue is that the governor must demonstrate in action, behavior, conduct, place of living, type of living, interactions, and stances the mindset that exists about the revolution, the Islamic Republic system, and Islam in the minds of the people and in my mind and yours — as officials of the system. Certainly, if a governor cannot win the hearts of the general public and the core of the people in a city, the system cannot be present in that province. Of course, some may say: if the governor cannot do this, people will become displeased with this governor; but they will not turn away from the system or they like the higher authorities. Yes, in the short term, this is the case; but in the long term, it is not like this at all. Where analysis and opportunity for analysis for the governor come into play, the governor is the embodiment of the system, and the quality of his work represents the quality of the system's work.

Another point that I have always mentioned to the gentlemen and governors who came to me over the past eight years before going to their mission centers or during our meetings and I now present to you — although among you there are those who fulfill the right — is that the governor in a province has the role of a father. Of course, some of you are very young and it does not appear that you could be the father of such and such an elderly scholar; but the reality is that you are fathers. The governor must act fatherly and especially deal with different factions and classes with a single perspective. Certainly, not everyone will treat you equally. It is certain that based on mental backgrounds and, for example, the ignorance and strictness that some have, they may be harsh in agreement or opposition; but from your side, the matter must be like this; just as a father behaves with his children.

Once, regarding a matter, I presented something to Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) — the details of that matter are lengthy — I told him that the decision you have made is truly a divine grace and God's work that you thought of this. After that, an incident occurred that if he had not made that decision, it would have created many problems and troubles for us. He replied to me with something that I noted in my notebook. He said: From the beginning of the revolution until now, it seems that in all matters, a hand behind this revolution has supported it. Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) judged in this way. The type of divine help is different. Sometimes a person says God is behind us and helps us; but in this way and with this clarity, the high mind of this wise and intelligent man saw all the subtleties of the connections. It was not that Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) attributed something to coincidence and said now it happened this way. No, he was a precise and delicate person who saw all the details of these connections and issues and beyond observing, he predicted.

The truth of the matter is that I too, over these ten years, to the extent of my understanding and involvement in matters and also over these few months after the passing of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified), have felt this meaning more. This is as long as we organize our relationship with God and the manner of our faith and actions in a calculated and precise way and, in the first place, fulfilling our duty is important to us. You gentlemen, whatever action you want to take and whatever words you want to say and whatever appointment you want to make, consider the duty.

In cities, there are many factions that are not all political. Once I went to one of the provinces, and when I returned to Tehran, I explained what I had seen in that province to the friends in the meeting of the heads of the three branches. I said: There, the political lines and factions have completely changed and are different. If we see a political line in Tehran and each of these two or three lines has a characteristic and sign, and if this characteristic belongs to that line and that characteristic belongs to this line and this person is affiliated with that line and that person is affiliated with this line; when we went to that province, we saw all these accounts were disrupted and anyone who had such and such a characteristic and should logically belong to this line, then we saw that he belonged to that other line. It became clear that there, the whole issue is not a matter of political, intellectual, and economic tendencies and the like; rather, local, clerical, business, and tribal issues also intervene. All these intervene and create a factionalism. There, political lines are also strong and have noise and enter the field and each line keeps something under its umbrella and takes it; while in reality, the nature of the matter is not very political.

I want to say that as much as you can, try to reduce and eliminate these distances and differences. In my opinion, a wise, devout, tasteful governor can do a lot. Address these issues. Some of you gentlemen, thanks be to God, are seminarians and some, due to being involved in the work of clerics and scholars and connections, have become like seminarians and have acquired that clerical and seminary intuition. Sometimes there may even be differences of opinion among some of the gentlemen of the learned. Try to bring them closer together. In some places, there are parallel currents. We have seen these currents in some cities. For example, suppose that in the guilds, clerics, and academics, there are two currents. As much as you can, encourage them to come closer together. Hold joint meetings and familiarize them with each other. The purpose is that all of us and you and Mr. Nouri and the government have come for connection, effort, and work. God willing, may He help us to fulfill our duties.

Meanwhile, in these cities, the people's difficulties are very many. In these remote areas — especially some provinces like Sistan and Baluchestan and Hormozgan and other similar provinces — the problems are truly unimaginable. When I went to some provinces, some gentlemen said that, for example, water, food, and employment in our province are even worse than in Sistan and Baluchestan. This judgment stems from the fact that this brother has not seen that bad province and does not have accurate information about it. A person who has seen all these provinces will acknowledge that, truly, the situation in some provinces is much worse and harder and accompanied by more pressure. By moving across the province, by getting closer to the people, by sitting in their private living environment and house and hut and tent, become familiar with the people's problems and feel them. Anyone who feels these problems will find an inexhaustible motivation for work and effort.

God willing, may He grant you success. We also pray that all dear brothers who serve in the government — including you brothers affiliated with the Ministry of Interior and the rest of the brothers in this field — God willing, may they be subject to divine success and help. God willing, all together we can build a society and country that is truly exemplary and in which the people's problems are resolved.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings