Statements of the Supreme Leader in Meeting with Various Groups on the Occasion of Unity Week

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

First, I sincerely thank all of you gentlemen and esteemed sisters who have come from various places, especially the esteemed scholars and Friday prayer leaders, and the honorable families of martyrs, the disabled, and the captives. I pray for the success of all you brothers and sisters from God.

The issue that needs to be addressed at the threshold of Unity Week to the entire Iranian nation and also to the Muslims of the world is the importance of unity among Muslims and the brotherly connection among Muslim brothers everywhere and under all circumstances. First, we must clarify what we mean by the unity of Muslims. Does it mean that Muslims should abandon their own sect and adopt another sect's beliefs and practices? No, that is not our intention. When we call for unity, we do not mean that the sects of Muslims—whether Shia or Sunni—or the sects within Shia and Sunni are obliged and forced to abandon their beliefs and lean towards a third belief or the belief of the opposite side. This is something that depends on the research and study of each individual and is their duty before God. This is not our discussion.

Our discussion is that we want to remind all Muslims—Shia and Sunni—that you have common points and points of difference and divergence. In some things, you share and think and act alike, and in some things, each sect has its own method.

The point is that firstly, those common points are more than the points of divergence. That is, all Muslims believe in one God, one Qibla, one Prophet, and the rules of prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and pilgrimage. You will not find two Muslims who, when morning comes, do not rise for prayer unless they do not want to fulfill their duty; otherwise, all Muslims in the world believe that one must pray in the morning, noon, afternoon, and night, and it is recommended to perform the night prayer in the middle of the night. All Muslims in the world believe that prayer should be performed facing the Kaaba and in the language of the Quran and from the verses of the Quran. All Muslims in the world, when the month of Ramadan arrives and they realize it is the first day of the month, fast, unless someone does not want to fulfill their duty and wants to sin; otherwise, all Muslims in the world believe in these matters.

Currently, more than one billion Muslims live in various parts of the world, with their concentration in this region between the East and the West, which is the most sensitive area in the world in terms of strategic, geographical, climatic, and environmental conditions. The oldest civilizations and the deepest cultures have been in this region where Muslims live. When other people were in savagery, it was these Muslim people who managed the world with their knowledge and wisdom. Muslims are a cohesive and organized population, their countries are close to each other, their nations are culturally close, and they have people from themselves in all parts of the world, all of whom are Muslims.

We say: O Muslims of the world! Wherever you are, if you do not become enemies with each other, do not fight and war against each other, and recognize your enemies and friends, your living conditions will differ from what they are today. Today, you are suffering from division, weakness, and backwardness. Islamic countries—mostly or generally—are poor, dependent, and captive. The enemies of Islam want to forcibly expel Islam from Islamic countries. The hearts of the Muslim people are with Islam and God. They are interested in Islam. Global powers and policies try to distance people from Islam through puppet governments. If you are together and do not fight each other and do not use your power—which is a great element and can be used to improve your religion and world—against each other, the evil goals of the enemy will not be realized.

We do not say that the Sunnis of the world should become Shia, or that the Shia of the world should abandon their beliefs. Of course, if a Sunni or anyone else researches and investigates, whatever their belief becomes, they must act according to their belief and research. Their duty is with their God. Our message in Unity Week and as a message of unity is that Muslims should come together and not be enemies with each other. The axis should be the Book of God and the tradition of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and Islamic law. This is not a bad message. This is a message that any unbiased and fair-minded person will accept.

Years before the revolution, when this message was weakly stated, the systems dependent on global arrogance opposed it. Since the Islamic Revolution triumphed, the arrogant powers of the world realized that if this message—meaning the unity of Muslims—takes hold, Muslims will turn to the base, center, and core of Islam—meaning Islamic Iran. Therefore, from the beginning of the revolution's victory, a lot of money has been spent by reactionary governments and those dependent on arrogance to create division. In various countries, whether Arab countries or Urdu-speaking ones, or even within the Islamic country itself, they try in invisible ways and with hidden hands to prevent this unity, which is the message of the revolution and Islam, from taking hold. We say this unity should be considered important. This is our message.

Of course, some make mistakes in expressing the matter. When they say these things, it may not be very simple. When they want to express Islamic unity, they say that in the early days of Islam, there was neither Shia nor Sunni; therefore, Shia and Sunni are wrong! No, this is an incorrect and weak statement. The discussion is not about whether there was Shia and Sunni in the early days of Islam or not. Ultimately, after the Prophet, the opinions of Muslims differed. Some had a view on the issue of leadership, and some had a different view. Some considered the source of divine rulings to be one thing, and some another. Therefore, from the very beginning, differences arose among Muslims in principles and branches. Saying that there was neither Shia nor Sunni in the early days of Islam is a wrong statement. Today, this statement, in fact, means denying and destroying the knowledge, jurisprudence, and cultural products of all Muslim sects. Whatever they touch, they say it was not in the early days of Islam, so it is wrong! This is a statement similar to a conspiracy.

In the early days of the revolution, in Iran, too, there were some narrow-minded or truly ill-intentioned people who made such statements. Even now, in the world, some people who do not understand anything about Islam make such statements. We do not say those things; we say that ultimately these two major streams—meaning Sunnism and Shiism—exist, where the practice of Islamic jurisprudence through the Ahl al-Bayt is Shiism, and the practice of Islamic law through other than the Ahl al-Bayt is followed by our Sunni brothers. Of course, they also accept the Ahl al-Bayt, but they do not consider them the end of the chain like us; rather, they consider them as narrators who may convey a saying from the Prophet. We do not believe this way. We consider whatever the Ahl al-Bayt of the Prophet said as God's ruling and like the Prophet's statement. We consider them infallible. Now everyone has a basis. We say these two streams that have existed since the early days of Islam and after the Prophet's demise and still exist, each should live their own life and not be enemies with each other.

Today, oil money is spent on writing anti-Shia books. American dollars are used to refute Shiism, and books are written and translated into Arabic and Urdu. These are the hands of Satan. These are not healthy people who write these things. Wherever they are, they are the same.

We say today should not be a time for incitement. Everyone should have their own belief and also prove it. We do not say that when speakers of different Islamic sects stand on their pulpits, they should not reason and prove their belief. No, they should reason and prove, but proving belief is one thing, and being hostile to the opposite side and aligning with global arrogance and using forces for internal war among Muslims is another.

Therefore, one of the major messages of our revolution is the unity of Muslims. We say this everywhere in the Islamic world and advise those who, in various countries, have devoted all their efforts to confronting the Islamic Revolution and slandering and lying about it or the great late leader of the revolution or criticizing the views of the Muslim nation that sincerely fights for God and Islam here.

In those days of the imposed war, when our nation felt and endured the pressure of America and arrogance with all its being and did not submit to America's imposition, a group of pens, hands, and mercenary throats appeared in the world and began to dispute, criticize, and insult the opinions and beliefs of this brave, fighting, heroic, and self-sacrificing nation in the path of God and Islam. We say these unhealthy throats that today work and shout against the Islamic Revolution and the Iranian nation and their religion and path are mercenaries.

Of course, we do not speak unilaterally. We give this advice to all the Muslims of the world—both Sunni and Shia. Within our own country, we have seen and see Shia and Sunni brothers side by side in congregational prayers, on the bloody battlefield of war, in political struggles, in various scenes of the revolution, in elections, in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, and everywhere. They are kind to each other and have no problem.

We tell everyone to respect each other and not insult each other's beliefs and sanctities. If someone wants to insult others' sanctities under the pretext of a belief, it is not defensible from our perspective. Love is mutual. Everyone should help each other to create love so that the enemy cannot exploit it; an enemy that has no good relationship with Shia or Sunni but is opposed to Islam itself and harbors hatred towards it. The same Islam that Sunni or Shia have is detested by America and the reactionaries. Let us leave internal differences for a time when we are not threatened by any global enemy. If such a day comes, then they can sit opposite each other and resolve their differences. Today is not the time for these discussions.

Therefore, I recommend that Unity Week—which continues from the twelfth to the seventeenth of Rabi' al-Awwal on the occasion of the birth of the Prophet (peace be upon him)—be honored by all people, especially scholars, speakers, and influential individuals, and that this issue be always maintained as a slogan of the Islamic Republic.

Today, these reactionary countries in the region are clinging badly to divisive and conflict-inducing slogans. If our nation shouts against America and Israel during the Hajj ceremonies, they protest and say why have you brought a new word among Muslims?! They consider this division; whereas it is not creating division, but fulfilling a duty. Other Muslims should also learn to shout against America and Israel from the Iranian nation.

Money, pens, facilities, loudspeakers, and the lowly mercenary elements of reactionary countries constantly act against the revolution and Islamic Iran and the self-sacrificing nation. This is division and creating gaps and differences. May God's curse be on those hands that create gaps and differences among Muslims in this way. We have this advice for all Muslims and the masses of nations, and we strongly advise our brother nation of Pakistan not to let some pseudo-clerics and preachers affiliated with the courts and global arrogance create division among brothers by raising divisive slogans that are sometimes observed.

The Shia community in Pakistan is an oppressed and very noble community. They do not move towards division. Their leaders advise them to Islamic brotherhood. May God have mercy on the great martyr, the late Sayyid Arif Hussain, who always invited people to unity and uniting against global arrogance during his lifetime of struggle and sacrifice, and ultimately, arrogance martyred him with its mysterious and hidden agents. We strongly support the movement to prosecute those accused of the murder of that dear martyr. The issue must be pursued, and it must be determined which mysterious and mercenary hands martyred this great Sayyid. This is the right of the people of Pakistan.

Consider unity important and make Unity Week a truly meaningful and substantial week. In other matters, we also affirm this issue of unity and emphasize it as an Islamic and revolutionary principle. When we say there should be unity among Shia and Sunni brothers and different Islamic sects for Islamic goals, then, by the same token, the various self-sacrificing and fighting people of Iran, people of every city and province, speakers of every language and dialect, are obliged to maintain unity.

Let not divisive and malicious or ignorant hands—sometimes the harm of ignorant people is no less than malicious ones—create division with words, slogans, and speeches. Malicious and ignorant are the same in the result of their actions. Everyone—especially those whose tongues and throats are open for speaking and talking—should be careful not to cause division among people with any movement or gesture. Everyone must maintain unity based on the principles of the revolution and the correct course of the Islamic system and the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist. This is the essence of the matter. If unity is preserved with the cohesion and strength it has had so far, this nation and country will surely achieve the goals of the revolution.

I also want to address a point to the esteemed ideological and political brothers of the army—whether the clerical and scholarly brothers in the ideological and political sections or the non-clerical military and non-military individuals who cooperate with them—and that is that the armed forces, although they need weapons, equipment, training, human resources, and the like for their strength, what distinguishes the Islamic army from all other armies is faith in God, devotion to divine command, and the feeling that their war is jihad in the way of God. This is the main factor that, if separated, the Islamic army will be like the rest of the nations and armies of other countries, something among them. That is, if it has high weapons, equipment, personnel, and capability, it may be able to resist; otherwise, if the number of the opposite side is slightly more or their equipment is more advanced, it will not allow them to move.

You know that today the enemies of Islam, in terms of numbers and material matters, are stronger than those who serve Islam and support Islam. This is if we remove that faith; but if the factor of faith is considered and the Islamic army and armed forces—whether army or Revolutionary Guards—are equipped with faith and act with reliance on God and for jihad in the way of God and fulfilling their duty, no power in the world, with whatever equipment it has, will be able to resist them. This belief must be instilled among the armed forces; otherwise, equipment is not something we can compete with the great global powers in the field; because they are years ahead of us in terms of equipment and human resources.

The factor of faith is at our disposal; it must be injected into the fighting force. Wherever we advanced, we advanced with this force, and wherever we were defeated, this force was weak in us. If you analyze the operations, you will reach this point. Where hearts were ignited with the flame of faith, we passed all barriers and obstacles and moved forward, and where the inclination towards materialism and appearances and disinterest in divine reward and neglect of religious duty slightly tainted and marred our intentions, we were struck and accepted defeat.

This eight-year imposed war is a strange page for experiencing this reality. This must be strengthened. This can be provided in the army of the Islamic Republic through these ideological and political units. Of course, gentlemen, please note that both action and language must be used for preaching, and sincerity must be the guiding light, and through behavior, hearts must be convinced of the truth of speech; otherwise, if good behavior does not accompany good speech, the truth of good speech will not be established for the audience, and the effect we need will not occur.

I hope that Almighty God will grant all you esteemed brothers and sisters, in whatever section you are in and whatever duty you are engaged in and in whatever part of the country you live, His grace, favor, and success, and may He make the sacred heart of the Imam of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for him) pleased and satisfied with us, and God willing, may He enable us to fulfill our divine duty and responsibility.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings