Statements at the First Session of the New Academic Year of Advanced Jurisprudence

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

After three months and a few days of suspension of classes and discussions in the seminaries, now, thanks be to God, we have returned to serve you and are set to engage in jurisprudential discussions. During this time, it was Ramadan, and this summer was hot; some truly benefited from Ramadan in the true sense of the word; whether due to the acts of Ramadan, fasting during the long hot days of Ramadan, the prayers of Ramadan, fear and supplication and humility, and so on, or due to the activities they undertook; they preached, conveyed the rulings of religion, some traveled, and some were active in Tehran itself. Some among you and the other brothers in Tehran truly benefited; some of us, however, did not benefit much, for which we should be regretful and think about compensating and making up for it.

What is important is that a student of religion, a scholar of religion, and a cleric - in the commonly used term - must recognize their duty at every moment in time. If the duty is not recognized, knowledge and piety and such qualities are of no use; they are not utilized appropriately. It is like a person who has a lot of money but is unaware of their child's illness. Well, if they knew that this child was sick and needed treatment, for example, needed surgery, with the money in their pocket, they would go for treatment. When they do not know about this illness, they are unaware, they may lose this child or the illness may worsen; while they had the means, they had the money. If we have knowledge, have piety, and even have courage, but do not know what the duty is, do not know what the situation is, do not know what the demand of the Almighty God and the demand of religion from us in the social sphere is today, that knowledge, piety, courage, and other positive qualities will not yield their effects; they will not have the necessary functionality. This term 'insight' that we repeatedly emphasize, some become very upset at times, asking why someone keeps saying insight, insight; this is its meaning. One of the important instances of insight is that a person knows what the needs of society are today. We have millions of youth; youth are in a state of receptiveness depending on what is given to them. It has been said: I am a simple tablet, ready for every design. All designs can be drawn on this simple tablet; who will take the initiative, who will take the lead, or who will realize that a bad and incorrect design has been drawn on this simple tablet; [so] they can go correct it; all of this requires insight. [We must] know the needs of society today. Today, our enemies are spending huge sums of money. What I am stating is not analysis; it is information; a person knows much of this. They spend money to divert the mind of the believing Muslim Iranian youth, to mislead them. From what? From the essence of religion; not just from the Islamic Republic, or from the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist or similar matters; [but] from the essence of religion, from devotion to religion, from the issue of Shi'ism until it reaches the Islamic Republic and the other things that exist; they are constantly creating doubts. There are those inside who become their tools, but many of them are not even in the country; they are outside, giving directives, specifying titles and subjects, spreading them and saying these should be said, these should be promoted. Today, the virtual space is an endless desert that can be moved through from all sides; it is no longer like before when you had to write something down on paper, photocopy it or make ten, a hundred, or two hundred copies; it is not like that anymore. Every person who can work with a computer is a media outlet. They sit and spread doubts, words, and mislead the believing youth, the healthy youth. These must be recognized. Who should come to the forefront and shield themselves to prevent the misguidance of the youth? Who should prevent the enemy's actions to mislead the minds of the youth? Whose responsibility is this? The scientific and religious community, that is, the clergy, has the foremost duty; its most important duty is this.

The seminaries must prepare these capabilities within themselves; the capability to confront, to face this countless army of enmity and enemies that is directed towards the faith of the people, towards the beliefs of the people, towards the spiritual health of the people, towards the chastity of the youth. There are numerous internet bases whose goal is to destroy the chastity of the youth, the modesty of the Muslim youth - whether male or female; their aim is to tear down the veil of modesty; that is their ambition, and they plan for this. Well, some of the titles are criminal; various governmental bodies have the duty to confront them and do so, but what pertains to the mind, to the brain, to the heart, cannot be resolved with the movement and action of security elements and intelligence elements and military elements; it requires tools suitable for the same calamity they are in; the remedy for that illness is what is in the hands of the clerics, in the hands of the religious scholars, in the hands of the knowledgeable in religion. We must equip ourselves; many of us are not equipped, many of us do not know, neither in terms of software nor hardware. Some are not at all familiar with these new methods, are not acquainted with computers and such, do not understand its meaning, do not grasp the importance of this work. We see among the officials there are those who do not correctly understand the significance of this great task and thus do not take the necessary actions. We established the Supreme Council of Cyberspace for this very issue; for the officials to come together, think, concentrate their wills and decisions and actions to confront this great incident. This is a domain that has countless benefits and countless harms; the domain of cyberspace is like this; maximum benefits can be obtained from it; the same work that the enemy does, you [too] can do in the opposite direction; [that is] spread Islamic concepts and Islamic teachings without any obstacle or hindrance; some of these believing people, believing youth, both clerics and non-clerics - some non-clerics are even more active in this area - do very good work; suddenly they spread a matter, a concept, a correct thought worldwide, leaving the other side at a loss. [Thus] some are deficient in this regard because they are not familiar with this work, with this skill; some have software problems, do not know the answers to doubts, are not even aware of the doubts themselves - that today what doubt exists - a doubt that was raised a hundred years ago, five hundred years ago, may not even be relevant today; we go searching in books, find that doubt, find its answer or [whether] we see what the doubt that exists today is. Of course, some of today's doubts are the same old doubts dressed in new clothes; this [type of doubt] exists, but sometimes there are also new doubts; these must be recognized, these must be known; these are the tasks of the seminaries, and the seminaries must engage in these matters. This does not mean that we should set aside jurisprudence; no, this is the essence of jurisprudence. Jurisprudence is not just practical rulings; 'the greater jurisprudence of God' is Islamic knowledge; Islamic knowledge has doubts. You see, for example, in the matter of the prayer of a traveler; suppose in one of the issues of the prayer of a traveler, dozens of branches are raised. The meticulousness of our jurists is like this; they raise dozens of branches for suppose an issue of 'the condition of permissibility and legality of travel for shortening the prayer of a traveler.' Well, this is one issue, but the branches of this issue are numerous; for example, Sayyid raises ten branches, twelve branches, or more; others in other places sometimes raise even more. Well, the same is true in doctrinal matters; in doctrinal matters, there is also this division and branching of numerous doubts. The other side takes a small point, focuses on it, and diverts minds. Therefore, this is one of our major duties; the seminaries must pay attention to this. Fortunately, the seminary in Tehran has recently gained some form and order and has made progress; I heard today is also the inauguration of the seminary in Tehran. Great works can be done in this area, and we hope, God willing, that God grants you all success.