Statements of the Supreme Leader at the Grand Gathering of Pilgrims at the Holy Shrine of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified)

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

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds. Peace and blessings be upon our Master and Prophet, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure, immaculate, and chosen family, the guided and infallible, especially the remaining proof of God on earth.

The eighth anniversary of the passing of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) is a renewed opportunity for the grateful and loyal nation of Iran to once again express their affection, love, and loyalty to that great departed leader. Thanks be to God, as observed, eight years after that tragic event—which deeply grieved and mourned this nation—the memory of this great incident has not been forgotten. The memory and name of the Imam continue to flourish and gain freshness in the hearts of the people. Beyond the Iranian nation, other Muslim nations, and indeed the free people of the world, have not forgotten and will not forget the memory of this great man.

This year, due to the massive participation of the people in the elections—which was another grand display of the great and noble Iranian nation's adherence to the testament of the great Imam—we can offer congratulations to the sacred spirit of that great man.

On this occasion, I once again extend my condolences to you, the great and loyal nation, on the eighth anniversary of this tragic event. We also honor the memory of his esteemed son, the late Haj Seyyed Ahmad Agha, who rests beside his noble father and that eternal beloved. We ask Almighty God for grace, favor, and mercy for the soul of that great man, his son, and all the martyrs of the Islamic Revolution.

In this opportunity, I will present two points. One point is about the great revolution that was brought about by the will and effort of the Imam and the miraculous hand of that great man, with the immense following of the nation in Iran. The other point is a brief discussion about a characteristic of the Imam that I wish to relate to the first point. The main focus of my talk is the second point.

The great Imam organized a massive movement in Iran whose dimensions extended beyond Iran. The beneficiaries of this revolution were not only the Iranian nation but also the Islamic world and, in a broader view, beyond the Islamic world. In Iran, the very significant short-term impact of this movement was the transformation of the political system in this country. With the help of this great nation, the great Imam overthrew a corrupt, dependent, and deviant political system and replaced it with a healthy, independent, and efficient system in Iran. Attention to the fundamental differences and oppositions between these two systems is an important point that I will briefly mention in this short talk and as a prelude to the second point.

The political system that our great Imam eliminated with his movement and with the help of this nation—the corrupt and dependent monarchical system—was a system where the leaders and officials paid no attention to the fate of the Iranian nation and its youth, driving the country and the nation towards increasing dependency. The happiness of the people was not at all a goal for them. The administration of the country was conducted with incorrect and inappropriate models, incompletely borrowed from foreign countries, and even those were not implemented; it was a purely dictatorial and autocratic system under various names and methods, none of which arose from the will and desire of the nation or were directed towards their interests.

In the dependent, obsolete, and overthrown system before the revolution, people were led towards corruption and immorality, or more accurately, they were driven towards corruption, immorality, self-abandonment, and disbelief. The movement of the nation was organized in such a way that disbelief became more widespread in the country day by day, and people were deprived of true spiritual faith, driven towards corruption and immorality, and self-abandonment in the face of foreigners was strengthened in them, and economic and cultural independence in the country had no meaning. This was the general direction of movement in that obsolete and corrupt system.

At this stage, the great art of the great Imam was that he established a political system in this country that, instead of ignoring the people, was governed by love for the people. Instead of neglecting the fate of the nation, especially the fate of the youth, love for the fate of the nation and the youth and extraordinary importance to them were emphasized. Instead of self-abandonment in the face of foreigners, self-confidence among the people is expanding day by day. Instead of political, economic, and cultural dependency on foreigners, political, economic, and cultural independence is the goal.

The Iranian nation, in the vision of the political system that the great Imam established in this country, does not need to imitate and learn its ways of life from others because it possesses a rich and deep culture. It has Islam, Quranic teachings, divine commandments, its own authentic national and local traditions, and can arrange a sweet, beautiful, magnificent, prosperous, and dignified life for itself. The difference in the form of the Islamic system that the great Imam established in this country, compared to the corrupt system that existed before the Imam's movement and before the great miracle of our time occurred in this country, is so deep and clear. When you look and pay attention, you see that all the negative points imposed on the Iranian nation by the decadent Pahlavi system, which were inherent characteristics of that political system, have been transformed into points that are one hundred and eighty degrees apart in the political system that the great Imam established in this country.

In the Islamic system, people have faith and belief in themselves; the political system respects itself; it does not submit to the impositions of global power and the system of domination; the country's independence relies on the interests and benefits of its own people, not on the desires and interests of foreigners; the country's officials are elected by the people themselves, not imposed by foreigners or created in military coups and with the money of enemies. In that system, people had no role in determining their political fate; but in the Islamic system, people have all the role and influence in determining their political fate.

What the great Imam created with his powerful and miraculous hand—which also stemmed from his faith, reliance, and strong character—was based on Islam. That is, the goals of the Islamic system are Islamic goals; goals defined in the Quran and Islam. The methods and programs of the Islamic system are also the regulations, programs, and rulings defined and determined in Islamic sources; that is, the Islamic system is a system that is one hundred percent derived from Islam.

We do not claim that the reality of society is one hundred percent aligned with Islam—this is something that must be achieved in the long term—but we claim that the programs are derived from Islam; the methods are based on Islamic regulations, and the goals are those defined by Islam for humanity and human societies and individuals. Therefore, the point that was mentioned becomes clear; that is, because it is based on Islam, its dimensions are broader than the dimensions of Iran.

In these nearly nineteen years since the victory of the revolution, one of the points that the enemy's propaganda has always raised against the Islamic system is the export of the revolution. The officials of the Islamic Republic have repeatedly stated that we do not want to export our revolution to countries and among nations; but they keep repeating it! What they mean by exporting the revolution is that when the Islamic system is organized based on Islamic rulings and Quranic goals—which it is—wherever in the world a Muslim lives, they consider this system and this revolution as their own, take pride in it, and feel honored by its dignity.

Today, the Islamic Republic stands proud in political and international arenas, in the field of national construction, and in the grand political displays that this nation creates—such as the issue of elections or other arenas where people participate. Whenever one of these occurs, a sample of dignity and independence also appears. Wherever in the world a Muslim lives, when they hear this news, they feel honored. Why? Because they consider the Islamic Republic system as belonging to themselves, and this is because the great Imam—the designer and architect of this revolution—created this system based on Islamic goals and gave it a transnational, global, and international aspect.

They cannot confine this system within the borders of Iran. Muslims around the world consider this system as their own, and this is what greatly angers global arrogance. They call this the export of the revolution; that is, the same expression that Marxist revolutionaries in the mid-twentieth century took pride in; whereas we do not believe in exporting the revolution in that sense and in that form. When this revolution is Islamic, then all the Muslims of the world are interested in it, believe in it, and consider it as their own.

You observed that the great Imam, in designing this revolution and in organizing the political system based on this revolution—that is, the establishment of the government and the Islamic Republic system—by the grace of God and divine guidance, chose a method that is the method of prophets and servants connected to the source of the unseen. This is because the Imam loved the Quran, was a student of the Quranic school, was familiar with the Quran, sought help from the Quran, and considered the Quran as a program for life. This is one of the great and magnificent results and effects of that truth.

The second point about the Imam that I wanted to present today, and I will briefly share, is that such a great movement usually and customarily faces one of two afflictions: "rigidity" or "passivity." Such a great work has afflictions, and the great affliction of such a vast movement—as I said—is one of the two afflictions of "rigidity" or "passivity."

Rigidity is when someone who wants to accomplish a great work of this magnitude cannot recognize the needs of the time and the requirements of every moment of a nation's life from the Quran and wants to rule and work and advance in a static and inflexible state. This is not possible. The meaning of rigidity is that someone who wants to use the principles of Islam and Islamic jurisprudence to build a society relies only on the apparent rulings and cannot understand the natural flexibility of Islamic rulings and teachings where it is flexible, and cannot prescribe and provide the remedy and daily instructions for the needs of a nation and a system and a country—which are moment-to-moment needs. This is a great calamity.

If at the head of political systems that are based on Islam, or will be formed in the future, such a spirit exists, Islam will certainly be discredited, and the inexhaustible source of Islamic teachings and rulings will not be able to advance society. The Imam exempted himself from this affliction. Due to the long years that Shia jurists and the Shia group themselves did not have access to power and government in the Islamic world, and Shia jurisprudence was non-governmental and individual jurisprudence, the great Imam directed Shia jurisprudence towards governmental jurisprudence.

As experts are aware, in Shia jurisprudential books, many of the topics related to the administration of the country—such as the issue of government, the issue of hisbah, and things related to collective work and having political power—have been absent for centuries. Some of them were not addressed in Shia jurisprudential books from the beginning; like the issue of government. Some issues like the issue of jihad—which is a fundamental issue in Islamic jurisprudence—have gradually been set aside from Shia jurisprudential books over the centuries and have not been addressed in most Shia jurisprudential books.

The reason is clear. Shia jurists have not been negligent or deficient in this regard. These issues were not relevant to them. Shia did not have a government. Shia jurisprudence did not intend to govern a political society. It did not have a government to administer jihad and derive its rulings from the book and tradition. Therefore, Shia jurisprudence and Shia jurisprudential books were more individual jurisprudence; jurisprudence that was applicable for managing the religious affairs of an individual or, at most, limited circles of social life, such as issues related to family and the like.

Perhaps it can be boldly said that Shia jurisprudence is the deepest of Islamic jurisprudences. That is, the jurisprudential books of Imami jurists, in terms of depth, are on average deeper and more precise than all the jurisprudential books we have seen; but these discussions and this orientation in various fields did not exist in it.

The great Imam directed Shia jurisprudence from the time he was in exile towards social jurisprudence and governmental jurisprudence and jurisprudence that wants to govern the life system of nations and must respond to the small and large issues of nations. This is the exact opposite of the affliction we mentioned as rigidity. Even in the last years of the blessed life of the great Imam, issues that seemed minor—but considering that they showed a line and a direction to Shia jurists, were very important—arose, and he again showed that the one who wants to govern the system; the jurisprudence that wants to govern a nation or a large collection of people and nations must be able to recognize the conditions of the time and provide the answer to every need at the time of that need and cannot leave any point unanswered in political, economic, cultural, and all aspects of people's lives.

The second affliction that threatens officials, leaders, and organizers of societies in such cases is that they become passive and self-abandoning and are placed in a position of unwanted influence from the will of others. The great Imam stood like a mountain against this second affliction. What should be considered and I insist that our dear people—especially the youth—and also the officials of various sectors of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic pay attention to is that when the enemies of the Islamic Republic system cannot effectively confront this system in direct confrontation; that is, they cannot strike it militarily; they cannot create internal explosions; they cannot strike security blows; they cannot bring it to its knees with economic siege—when they become desperate from all these—they have one way left, and that is to push the Islamic and revolutionary system towards positions contrary to its principles, or in simpler and clearer terms, to force it to retract its statements on revolutionary issues; to refute its words and positions and cause it to fall into contradiction! How do they do this? Through propaganda pressures, political pressures, cultural pressures. They fill the atmosphere with so much pressure that weak-spirited people cannot resist this pressure.

If we want to give one or two examples in political matters, we must say that until ten or fifteen years ago, the issue of Palestine in the Islamic world was an issue that everyone chanted slogans about; some more sincerely, some with pretension; but in any case, all Islamic governments at least verbally repeated and reiterated the slogan of the Palestinian issue. The pressure of global arrogance and enemies began. That is, the same people who initially were the founders of the usurpation of the country of Palestine from a nation—that is, the Palestinian nation—and handing it over to a group of immigrants and a fabricated nation and a fake nation, began to exert pressure on governments and personalities.

The current Zionist occupying nation is a fabricated nation. None of the main elements of a nation exist in the occupiers; they have come from different parts of the world, with different views, with different social origins, and with different beliefs; merely because they have a connection and relation to the race of the Israelites! They have been separated from each other for centuries, but they have been considered as a nation. A fabricated and false nation; so that they can be a base for global arrogance in this sensitive point of the world—that is, the heart of the Middle East and the heart of the Islamic world. On the first day, the British created them; today, the American regime makes maximum use of them and fulfills its arrogant goals.

The same ones who created this situation began to exert propaganda and political pressures on governments and personalities and opened the door to behind-the-scenes talks and bribery and bribery-taking and did something to gradually take this general slogan of Muslims from the tongues of governments; otherwise, they cannot take it from the nations. The same ones who fifteen or twenty years ago had cut relations with the Zionist government as a usurping government and imposed an economic siege on it, today are competing to establish economic relations with it! This is the same passivity. The various pressures of the concentrated apparatuses of global arrogance, both in terms of propaganda and in terms of economic issues and others, are so continuously applied to them that they feel compelled to retreat, and they retreat. This is self-abandonment and passivity in political matters.

The same issue is presented in a much more dangerous form in matters of belief and fundamental positions. In the middle of this century, many who, relying on the leftist wave, created revolutions and systems in Africa and Asia, after five years, ten years, fifteen years, under the pressure of dominant enemies and those with wealth and power and propaganda horns, lost all their fundamental positions and gradually approached them! Only their names were different, but their essence was the same.

The great danger that threatens revolutions and the originality of nations is this danger. The great danger that threatens thinkers and intellectuals in countries is this danger. The Imam stood firm like a mountain against this danger; "like a mountain that storms cannot move." From the first hour, from the name of the Islamic Republic system, to the rest of the issues. In those days, it was common to bring the word "democratic" alongside the name of the republic; that is, a Western word with a dual content. Both the Westerners claimed that we are democratic, and the socialist and Eastern countries of that day said we are democratic! It was fashionable in the world to name countries and political systems as the democratic government of such and such a place. They insisted on adding this word to the Islamic Republic. Of course, it was not just about adding a word; there were many words and issues following this addition that the Imam saw with his sharp vision.

The Imam announced from the beginning: "Islamic Republic; not a word less, not a word more." The Islamic Republic is what one takes from the Quran. At every stage, especially in the early years when the firm determination of the great Imam was not yet fully known to the decision-makers in the global arrogance within the oppressive governments, they exerted a lot of these pressures; but of course, they later became desperate. This is the point that everyone should pay attention to.

Today, the same meaning exists. The dependent propaganda apparatuses of global arrogance, in their radios, ridicule and mock a country for its original beliefs; to force a nation to retreat. These foreign radios, which are run with huge sums of money, are for this purpose: to make nations feel alienated in the face of the artificial global wave—which they pretend with their propaganda. They interfere in all matters and attack the original views of nations. We have some news from other nations as well; but more, we are informed about our own nation and our fundamental issues.

In all fields—in the issue of women, in the issue of human rights, in the issue of democracy—they express opinions and interfere and question the nation for its fundamental beliefs. While in all these issues that today the propaganda horns of global arrogance accuse the Iranian nation, our people can stand with heads held high and prove in a global arena—if such an opportunity is given to this great nation in the international arena—that in these areas, the Westerners themselves are behind the Iranian nation.

One issue is the same issue of democracy and the issue of people's presence and involvement and the issue of their votes. Today, you see, the Iranian nation participated in the elections related to the selection of the president—that is, the selection of the head and manager of the country's executive affairs—and it is important to them, with a high percentage, and voted; which I looked at, in recent years, in none of the Western countries, in elections that they themselves take pride in, such a presence of people has been observed. The Iranian nation slapped the mouths of those who accused the Islamic Republic system of not caring about the people and that the people's votes have no role in it. The nation slapped them and showed that no; if you do not see the marches; if you are not willing to see the presence of people in the various exciting scenes of this revolution and this country; come, see this one clear and undeniable presence.

The Islamic Republic has the honor that decision-making in it, in important matters of this kind, is entrusted to the people. People have this opportunity and this field, and the Islamic Republic system asks them to enter this field and participate and perform this movement. Of course, the enemy's propaganda does not end with these things. The hostile propaganda of the enemy, the propaganda of global arrogance, propaganda that stems from malice and enmity, is not because the words are true. They make something an excuse for a nation and a country and a system and falsely advertise on it.

The issue of women is the same. Throughout these nineteen years—from the beginning of the revolution until now—they have continuously babbled about the view of the Islamic Republic system and the Islamic view on women. Islam, regarding the vision it has towards women and the role of women in society—the individual role, the family role, the political role, the social role—can claim that all the claiming nations should follow it. If it is supposed that in this regard, Western countries are put on trial and answer, without a doubt, they will lose their reputation.

In these same Western countries, until a few years ago—not very long—women who studied in higher education centers were not allowed to receive their higher education certificates! In these same recent years, in some Western countries—including in England—one of the magazines of one of the Western countries—which I do not want to name that country and that magazine—introduced an old woman who had studied at the doctoral level in 1917—almost seventy years ago—but was not given a degree! Then it asks, why was she not given a degree? It says because until 1947 in England, women who studied were not given educational degrees and they said that a woman should not receive an educational degree! These have come today and have become claimants of women's rights in front of the Islamic Republic! In those years when such humiliations were observed in Western culture, in Islamic Iran, "the Lady of Isfahan" had permission for ijtihad from the top jurists of that day in Islam and had her philosophy and jurisprudence teaching circle in Isfahan! Islam is this.

Until the early part of this century—that is, until the second and third decades of this Gregorian century—in Western countries, women did not have ownership in the true sense! That is, a woman who got married could not dispose of her wealth without her husband's permission. Compare this with Islamic rulings that consider women independent. Does a husband have the right to tell his wife to do this with your wealth, do not do this, make this disposition? In Islam, such a right is not given to the husband. Regarding the issue of women, these have come and become claimants of the Islamic Republic system! Why? Because in the Islamic system, based on Islamic teachings, immorality has no place and corruption and debauchery are not allowed.

They want, just as in the cursed Pahlavi system, to drive women and men, old and young, towards immorality, to do the same today in the Islamic Republic system and set up the same scene. The same calamity that has befallen the Western countries themselves today, where today the concerned in Western countries—and most of all in America—are worried about the corruption and immorality of their young generation, which has gone beyond control and they cannot remedy it!

They want to spread this corruption in Islamic countries and in our Islamic system—which is based on the Quran. Then with propaganda pressures, with humiliation, with ridicule, with lies and with false accusations, they say that women are tortured! By saying these lies, they want to make the Islamic system passive and force the Iranian nation and officials to retreat in the face of these words. Never, such a thing will not happen.

The Iranian nation has gained its dignity and pride from steadfastness and self-confidence and the rejection of self-abandonment. The whole world should know that this nation will advance towards perfection, prosperity, knowledge, and the expansion of culture and towards all goodness and beauty; but it will not submit to the pressures of enemies even for a day or an hour.

The path between rigidity and self-abandonment was the path chosen by the Imam. This was the great lesson of the Imam and it was able to save this revolution. Today, by the grace of God, the same path and the same line are valid and respected in this country, and the officials, scholars, elders, and politicians and the youth of the country and the people are moving on this line. God's mercy on that pure soul and high thought that correctly identified the path, moved correctly, and achieved the correct results.

O Lord! We beseech You by Your saints, to increasingly bestow Your favors upon the pure soul of the great Imam. O Lord! Make the clear path of that great man more prominent and apparent every day. O Lord! Grant success and victory to the Iranian nation in all great arenas. O Lord! Strengthen this unity and agreement and unity of word that exists among this nation day by day. O Lord! Help the country's officials—those who have committed to serving these people—in continuing their path and in carrying out great tasks and lifting heavy burdens. O Lord! By Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, make the sacred heart of the Imam of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for him) pleased and satisfied with us and make us among his soldiers in his presence and absence.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings