Statements of the Supreme Leader at the Grand Gathering of the People of Ahvaz

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, Abul Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure, immaculate, chosen family, the guided and guiding, especially the remainder of God on earth. God, the Wise, said in His Noble Book: In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. O you who have believed, remember the favor of God upon you when armies came to you, and We sent upon them a wind and armies you did not see. And God is Seeing of what you do. When they came at you from above you and from below you, and when eyes shifted in fear and hearts reached the throats and you assumed about God assumptions. There the believers were tested and shaken with a severe shaking.

In the year 1359 (1980), this city and this province were subjected to a great, bloody divine test. The hand of the enemy, the plan of global arrogance, the planning of active Zionist and colonialist apparatuses, all arranged for this part of our dear homeland to be subjected to one of the most difficult divine, bloody tests. The imposed war lasted eight years, from 1359 to 1367 (1980 to 1988). During this time, you brave and courageous people of this province were subjected to this very difficult test. Of course, the enemy did not impose the war on Khuzestan; it imposed it on Iran, and all of Iran rose to defend the country. But Khuzestan was subjected to the hardest and most severe blows from the enemy, and the greatest disasters were inflicted on this province by the enemy. The people of this province, from women and men to even the elderly and youth, were subjected to a very difficult test until the war ended. More than all the people of the country, the people of the border provinces, and more than all the border provinces, the bloody province of Khuzestan, endured the suffering of the war.

Pay attention; eight years have passed since the end of the war period until today. In this second eight years, which is the period of reconstruction, the Iranian nation has once again engaged in a great and coordinated movement to reconstruct the ruins and repair the destruction of this country; whether the destruction directly caused by the war, indirectly caused by the war, or the destruction caused by the long rule of tyrants before the flag of Islam was raised in this country.

Today, I want to say in front of you dear people of Ahvaz and the brothers and sisters who have gathered here from other cities of this province, or who have come here from villages and nomadic areas across this province, that by the blessing of Islam, the Iranian nation passed the eight-year bloody imposed war with strength and did not allow the enemies of Iran and Islam and the Islamic Republic system, which formed a united front across the world of arrogance, to occupy even an inch of this nation's land and the sacred home of this great, brave, and proud nation. After those difficult eight years, it was able to repair the war's destruction with speed, seriousness, and admirable skill, and even build the country. This is by the blessing of Islam. Today, in front of you, my dear ones, the brave, faithful, and sincere people of the Khuzestan region and the city of Ahvaz and other cities of this province, which are part of the great Iranian nation, I want to say that the summary of eight years of war and eight years of post-war effort is that if the Iranian nation is united, as it is, if it adheres to the rulings of Islam, as it does, if it is determined to build the country, as it is, no power or force, even the united force of global arrogance and colonialism across the world, will be able to inflict the slightest damage or blow on this brave, resilient, faithful, determined, and efficient nation and this country and this sacred system. This is not an empty slogan or mere words; this is action. The scene of action is this Khuzestan.

I saw a day in this city when hundreds of mortar shells were falling on these streets every hour from the enemy's mortars positioned near Ahvaz. That day, it was not just the Ba'athist regime attacking us. Behind the Ba'athist regime was a coalition consisting of America and the arrogant and reactionary governments of the region, the colonialist puppets, and the secret allies of the Zionists, whose aim was to lower and eliminate the flag of Islam in this country and destroy the Islamic movement and prevent the Iranian nation from adhering to Islam. Why? Because they know that if a nation adheres to Islam, no matter how powerful the enemies may appear with material tools, they will not be able to force that nation to do anything or prevent it from doing anything or impose anything on it. That nation, with its lofty Islamic thoughts, will advance its path, just as the Iranian nation advanced, and you dear people of Khuzestan, once during the imposed war and once before the imposed war, have left a very brilliant test in history.

Everyone knows the period of the imposed war. No one is unaware of how the people of Khorramshahr and Abadan and the brave, zealous, and faithful people of Ahvaz or Dezful and other cities of this province reacted to the enemy who wanted to empty the cities of their people. Young and old, men and women stood and fought and resisted. I saw a brave Muslim woman in Susangerd, whom the people of Susangerd said had knocked down and destroyed several invaders with her stick during the presence of invading forces in this city! Throughout this tested and experienced province, men and women, families, city dwellers and villagers, Arab, Lor, Bakhtiari tribes, and Fars people who are in this province, all stood together and hand in hand against the invaders. Of course, the Iranian nation came to the aid of the border provinces—there is no doubt about that—and the great test was the test of the Iranian nation. But who does not know that a province that is on the border endures the first attacks of the enemy, what torture and difficult pain it bears. And this province endured this difficulty for eight years and stood and sacrificed.

In the period before the Islamic Revolution—perhaps seventy or eighty years ago—the faithful people and scholars of Khuzestan stood against the British invasion. That is another experience. The people of this province have a history of such very great and glorious deeds. Of course, as everyone knows, the people of Iran, by the blessing of Islam, were able to create wonders throughout the imposed war in all cities and provinces. The people of this province, primarily, stood against the enemy. After the period of the imposed war, the effort and work of reconstruction in this province have been among the best examples of reconstruction throughout the country.

All the world and all the nations and governments that follow Iran's issues must know that a nation that is alive never falters in its work, does not kneel, does not surrender to others, and does not feel the need for any other nation. The Iranian nation is a living nation and can manage itself. Those who try to impose their colonial thoughts and policies on the Iranian nation today and in the future and always must know that as long as the Iranian nation is on the scene, as long as the Islamic Republic system has raised this flag high in the world, as long as this strong bond between the officials and the nation exists, no imposition on Islamic Iran and this nation will be accepted. The Iranian nation is determined and resolute to continue the path of building the country and the path of building the society it desires without relying on or paying attention to the policies of others and without allowing anyone to interfere in the affairs of this country. They cannot impose anything on the Iranian nation and government.

My dear ones! We have passed a period of revolution that was a very difficult experience. Today, the Islamic world is using the experience of the Iranian nation's revolution and following the steps of this nation in many of its issues. Many in the world imitate the Iranian nation. After that, we passed the stage of repelling the enemy's attack, which was a very difficult stage. I said that the enemy attacked with the intention that perhaps it could bring the revolution to its knees and make the Iranian nation regret its revolution. It was a naive thought, but this is the thought that the arrogant powers of the world usually have towards nations that have risen. They make this mistake almost towards everyone. Of course, some nations are defeated, and others retreat in the face of the enemy's military attack, which is usually accompanied by international planning. But our nation, thanks be to God, advanced and succeeded in that stage and left a valuable legacy in the history of the world and the history of the risen nations. This was the second stage.

The third stage is the stage of building and renovating Iran in terms of repairing the destruction—material renovation. This stage accelerated immediately after the war. Of course, from the beginning of the revolution, this renovation existed in various forms and ways, but the war did not allow it to gain the necessary momentum. After the war period, reconstruction and renovation gained the necessary momentum. Today, you see work, effort, movement, construction, production, innovation, and the manifestation of the talents of the Iranian nation and the production of national wealth and the extraction of the great, valuable reserves that God Almighty has placed at the disposal of this nation and the like, wherever you observe in Khuzestan province, in the border provinces, in the war-torn provinces, and in all provinces of the country.

This is also the great art of the Iranian nation. That is, alongside nations that, after devastating wars, worked for ten, twenty, thirty years to rebuild their country, when we observe the Iranian nation, we see that it has taken great steps in eight years. We cannot say that the construction and renovation of the country have reached the end point, but great steps have been taken, which is also the third step of the Iranian nation in the revolution and is very valuable. If we always said that after World War II, some nations were able to lift themselves from the ground in a short time and make life full of beauty again and build, and we mentioned some nations, we are sure that the Iranian nation, in this regard, if not ahead of those nations, is certainly not behind. This is also the third step.

But the fourth step that exists is the spiritual renovation of Iran; that is, the establishment of social justice in its complete sense. Of course, this fourth step has also been taken, but it must gain more momentum day by day. In a social system, justice is above all things and is the most valuable. Justice is the goal of forming divine systems and sending God's prophets. Justice is the elimination of discrimination, poverty, ignorance, and the entrenched ignorance in the minds of some people in corners of the country, things that must be done. If we advance construction further, but do not work towards establishing justice and eliminating discrimination and creating equality of rights and reviving the dignity of active Muslim men and women, we have not achieved success. Success is when we can establish spirituality, religion, ethics, justice, knowledge, and various abilities in society.

Of course, the Islamic Republic system, from the first day, has given this slogan and moved towards it. We thank God, the apparatuses from which oppression and discrimination emanated and originated have been eliminated in this country. Monarchy, the apparatus of monarchy, the apparatuses of tyranny, the apparatuses of Pharaohism, the apparatuses of aristocracy, the apparatuses whose whole effort was to secure their own world at the cost of destroying the world and the hereafter of others, have been destroyed and eliminated. Today, the criterion is religion, piety, and ethics. Our youth, men and women, and various ethnic groups are all seeking spirituality, and by the grace of God, our country's officials and statesmen are seeking to establish justice. This is the fourth step. This is the main step and the fundamental work, so that we can make the Islamic society a just society—in the true sense. We thank God that our people are justice-seeking and oppose discrimination, oppression, and the characteristics that belong to a tyrannical society; they must also oppose them.

Today, when I faced your great gathering, I saw the signs of love, kindness, and sincerity, as always, in the faces of you dear people of Ahvaz and you dear men and women who came from different cities and villages and made this warm and enthusiastic reception and formed this great gathering here. You revived many memories in me. This is the same Ahvaz of the year 58 (1979). At that time, when I came to this city, it was when the people of Ahvaz were boiling with zeal and steadfastness towards the revolution and loved the revolution like their own lives. Some were incited by foreign powers and, using deceptive slogans, had fallen among the people, perhaps to stir up ethnicities and create division. Some were creating division in the name of Arab and some in the name of non-Arab. People have no Arab or non-Arab. During the revolution, people stood like pieces of steel against the enemy. The characteristic of these people is being Muslim, being Iranian, standing against the aggressor, and being together.

The people of Khuzestan province, from the first day, nurtured the love of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) in their hearts. Let me tell you a point. The Iranian nation has taken the school of the Ahl al-Bayt from two places. In fact, the entire Iranian nation is indebted to two human collections for Shi'ism: one is Ahvaz and the other is Jabal Amel. In Iran, one of the limited and few centers that was a base for the school of the Ahl al-Bayt for twelve hundred years was this city of Ahvaz and the Khuzestan region, which always took Shi'ism, religion, love, and the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt and transferred it to the rest of the people of Iran. Some wanted to create division among these people who, with these historical characteristics, their Arabs, their Persians, their Lors, their Dezfulis, their Shushtaris, from their various ethnicities, with their various dialects, stood together, but thanks be to God, their arrow hit the stone.

What I want to say to all of you brothers and sisters at the end of this talk is two things: one is of primary importance, and the other is of secondary importance. What is more important is that throughout our Islamic country and among all this proud nation, what has prevented the enemy from achieving its goals from the first day of the revolution, and even before the revolution until today, is the unity of the word among the various segments of the people; that is, the unity of all Iranian ethnicities, all brothers and sisters, all segments, all dialects, all languages, all provinces; unity around the revolutionary ideas and guidelines of Islam that were proposed by Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) and formed the foundations of this government and this system, and by the grace of God, from the first day, the revolutionary and popular clergy familiarized minds with these ideas. This is my first recommendation and word to you dear people of Khuzestan. Thanks be to God, you have a good, revolutionary, and well-experienced clergy in this province from Khuzestan itself. The main condition for this unity in the province is established; that is, the faithful elements throughout the province have experienced this unity. You must maintain the unity of the word as it has been in the past. Language, dialect, ethnicity, and race in the province should not cause the slightest damage to this unity of your dear people's ranks. This is the more important and fundamental matter. We also make this recommendation to the entire Iranian nation, and by the grace of God, the Iranian nation has always responded positively and will continue to do so in the future.

The second point, which is immediately after that first point in terms of importance and should be particularly considered in your province and some other provinces, is that I have been informed through reports that there are still wrong and ignorant customs regarding Muslim women in some corners of this province and in some places; customs that deprive women of their independence and personality and the dignity that Islam has determined for them. In the era of the Islamic system, such mental excesses and superstitions are unacceptable. I ask the women—who, in the first place, must want to be treated according to the Islamic way—and also all the brothers—whether Arab brothers, Bakhtiari and Lor brothers, or other brothers—to abandon any wrong customs and methods from the past regarding women, so that sisters can also enter social fields, acquire knowledge and understanding, build families, raise knowledgeable, capable, wise, and future-building children, or engage in any other field they want or can. This is what Islam has wanted, and by the grace of God, it must be ensured in the Islamic Republic system.

I hope God Almighty will include all of you in His grace, mercy, and favor. I thank all of you again and hope you will be included in divine favors.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings