Statements at the Joint Graduation Ceremony of Students of Imam Hussein University

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

I congratulate you dear youth and the beloved children and light of the eyes of this nation on your entry into the realm of safeguarding the values of the Islamic Revolution.

The officer university is, at once, a center of knowledge, a center of the fervor of jihad, and a place for the training of determined and iron-willed men. When knowledge, jihad, faith, and steadfast will come together, they create individuals who can give the world hope for its future, thanks to those individuals.

The main problem of the world in the age of humanity, the modern and contemporary world, was that knowledge was placed in the service of corruption, rebellion, and aggression. Knowledge is a divine blessing. The greatest ingratitude towards this great blessing is for a generation, a nation, or a group at a certain time to use knowledge in the service of oppression, rebellion, and the suppression of human values. This has occurred particularly in the last two or three centuries and in recent decades.

Nations have gained access to knowledge; this is natural. Knowledge has circulated among nations throughout history. At one time, the center of knowledge was in the eastern regions of the world, and at another time, it became the western regions. When these nations gained access to knowledge, they used it in the service of colonialism, in the service of suppressing nations. Many countries with vast populations in the East and West of the world - in Africa, in Asia - were suppressed by Western countries through knowledge; they were subjected to colonialism; generations of humanity were taken captive. The blacks of today's America are the descendants of those impoverished individuals who were captured by Western colonizers from African countries; they were seized from their homes, lives, farms, and habitats like animals and forced into hard labor and made homeless. This happened all over the world, in the Indian subcontinent, in the farthest reaches of Asia, during dark eras. With their knowledge, which they had acquired and was a divine blessing, they brought God's servants and the creation of God to humiliation; they subjected them to oppression; they ruined their lives for long periods.

Then, from this very knowledge that they acquired - and every knowledge is like a step in a staircase. When a person ascends one step, they gain the opportunity to reach the next step and the subsequent steps; this is also natural - with the ascent of the staircase of knowledge, atomic bombs were created; chemical weapons were made; generations were annihilated; people mourned their loved ones; and the world became what you observe in the political geography of the world: the division of the world into two camps of the oppressor and the oppressed; the oppressor and the oppressed; and that too with a very large gap. This political geography of the world, the cultural geography of the world in the recent centuries, reached this shape.

My dear ones! The great Islamic Revolution of the Iranian nation was a great human uprising against this situation. Our revolution was the cry of Islam; it was the cry of monotheism; it was the cry of justice; it was the cry of human dignity in this world filled with oppression, where God's blessings, divine gifts to humanity, became a means for the oppression of humanity. The revolution arose in the face of such a situation.

Those who today advise the Iranian nation and the Islamic Republic system of Iran to return to the global system are the very ones who are disturbed and agitated by the existence of such a great movement among a nation, especially in such a sensitive situation. To return to the global system means to submit to this unjust system; to become a part of the unjust system. This is what they want from the Iranian nation.

For thirty years, the Iranian nation has powerfully, confidently, and with a true and deep belief in its faith-based origins, responded "no" to this ignorant, insane, and illogical request. The pressures that have been exerted on the Iranian nation and the Islamic Republic system over these thirty years were aimed at bringing this revolution down from this lofty position, from this spiritual and divine origin that builds humanity. Of course, it is evident that they have not been able to and it is evident that they will not be able to. "They want to extinguish the light of God with their mouths, but God will complete His light, even if the disbelievers dislike it." The light of God, the light of monotheism, the light of justice, the light of the feeling of dignity in servitude to God, when it shines in the hearts of people, a nation, no hand can extinguish it.

My dear youth! You are the guardians of such a sacred truth and elevated identity. Take pride in it. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps emerged from the purest youth of this country in the early days of the revolution. You, my dear ones, did not experience those days. Those young people were of the same age as you; they were twenty-year-olds, eighteen-year-olds, twenty-two-year-olds. They created the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with firm determination, with iron will, with a lofty and unattainable faith; from the very first days, they were present in the fields of struggle.

The imposed war was initiated by the enemy to extinguish the revolution, but this very imposed war caused the revolutionary force and spirit to flare up even more. These dear youths in the battlefields rediscovered their greatness; the inner springs of talent surged in their pure and illuminated hearts; from them, at young ages, great commanders, steadfast fighters, and men of wisdom and thought were made, to whom the Islamic Republic will always owe.

You are the successors of those dear ones; you are the replacements of those early followers. What they said: "Every day is Ashura and every land is Karbala" means that time passes, but the events occurring in human life, the untouched truths of creation remain. In every era, humans have roles that if they perform that role correctly, at the right moment, in their time, everything will be set right, nations will grow, and humanity will expand.

Those young people did just that and played their role. The result is that today, after several decades from those days, you see the Iranian nation, with the efforts of those who followed their efforts, with the truly prophetic guidance of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified), conquering peaks one after another and advancing. Consider the days of war, especially the early years of the war, and that lack of armaments, that financial poverty, that experiential poverty among these young members of the Guard and Basij, and compare it with today's advancements; scientific, research, and experiential advancements.

You learn at the university, you acquire knowledge, you build yourselves in terms of thought and spirit, and also in terms of will; you are stepping onto a very magnificent and proud path. This university is such a place. Take pride in attending this university and graduating from this university; consider it a great blessing from God, which it is; and preserve it and move forward.

Your country needs faithful youth. And today, thanks to God's grace and favor, despite the relentless efforts of the enemies - who are mostly focused on these efforts against the youth - our youth are turning towards God and divine guidance. To the enemy's dismay, our youth are faithful; today's faithful youth are not behind the faithful youth of the early revolution - thirty years ago and twenty-five years ago. That burning furnace, that great experience of the imposed war, which was an opportunity for talents to emerge, will work miracles when faced with any distinguished and talented generation.

Today you are in another arena; in the realm of knowledge, in the realm of progress in terms of spirit, in building yourselves and your country, and in readiness for defense. The enemies, the great arrogant powers of the world - who are the enemies of nations, not just the enemy of the Iranian nation, but the enemies of humanity and virtue - they often live with threats, they advance their work by showing their might; they impose their grandeur on nations, driving them out of the field with their might. Do not be afraid of the might of superpowers. Your spiritual might in their hearts is greater than their material might in the hearts of nations. When you rely on your faith, your readiness, your knowledge, your wisdom, and your prudent and managerial calculations, that is when you appreciate the great values that arise from the heart of the revolution and pay attention to them, you maintain your faith with them, such a grandeur will arise in the hearts of all nations from you that is greater than their grandeur in the hearts of uninformed nations. Today, the enemies know that with the Iranian nation, with these faithful youths, with these determined men, with these officials and statesmen who pride themselves on adhering to values, the Iranian nation, with such valuable assets, fears no threats, fears no might. They know this.

In your glorious and noble role as guardians, increase this belief in the hearts of the enemy. Build yourselves spiritually. Servitude to God, humility before God causes a person not to bow before any oppressor. A heart that has understood divine majesty, divine dignity feels a dignity within itself that the greatest powers cannot withstand in the face of that dignity. Increase your servitude day by day.

O Lord! I entrust these dear youths, the collection of Islamic warriors, the collection of armed forces, the army and the Guard and the police and these faithful groups to You. O Lord! Bestow Your blessings and favors upon them.

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