Statements in Meeting with Members of the Assembly of Experts

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

Welcome, esteemed gentlemen! Dear brothers of the elite and the pious scholars of this nation! I sincerely thank you for your efforts over these two days and the fruitful session you had, as well as the remarks made by the esteemed Chairman of the Assembly of Experts and the comprehensive and useful report presented by Mr. Shahroudi.

First, I must express my condolences for the loss of this martyr scholar, which is truly a loss — both for Kurdistan and for us — to the Kurdish people, to our Sunni brothers, and to all those who care about the fate of the country and are interested in unity within the country. This is an example of the crimes whose roots undoubtedly lie beyond our borders, and the intelligence services that have taken refuge in occupied Iraq and in Iraqi Kurdistan are certainly the perpetrators and executors of these crimes; they are the designers of these atrocities. Of course, this was a loss for us without a doubt, but the enemy's goal in the martyrdom of Mamosta Mullah Mohammad Sheikh al-Islam will not be fulfilled. Terrorism has not been able and will not be able to inflict a blow on the revolution; rather, wherever the enemy sheds the blood of the innocent, this bloody flag is raised by a larger group. Here too, it will be the same. Undoubtedly, the young Sunni seminarians and scholars of the Sunni community and the Kurdish people — in Kurdistan and beyond — will continue the path of this martyr with greater enthusiasm and fervor. The enemy should know that this violence and this crime will lead nowhere and will not achieve its goals. Everyone should know that the enemy, in its enmity, does not recognize Shia or Sunni, Kurdish or Persian, Turkish or Baluch; anyone who advocates unity, anyone who adheres to the principles of the system, is subject to the enemy's hatred and animosity; whoever they may be, whatever they may be, regardless of their sect or ethnicity.

The second point I want to make is that the unparalleled advantage of the Assembly of Experts is that in this assembly, public and national concerns are raised; specifically related to Islam and the revolution. In this assembly — which may be unique in this regard — there are no political factions, no party lines, and no factionalism; so far, thanks be to God, it has been this way, and with God's grace, it will continue to be so; and this is what gives weight, dignity, and importance to this assembly in the eyes of the people. Therefore, you see that the enmity of the enemies towards this assembly is very broad and extensive, which is demonstrated in various ways at different times. This is a source of trust for the people, who feel that this elected body — composed of all recognized religious scholars and knowledgeable in the faith — is concerned with the fundamental issues of Islam, Muslims, the Iranian community, and the major issues of the country; personal, factional, and party matters have no place in their decision-making and statements. This is very important. The working environment for this assembly is a scene of defense of principles, a scene of defense of values; there may be various tastes and expressions, but the essence of the matter is this; and this, God willing, must continue with seriousness and strength.

The next point I want to convey to the esteemed brothers is that opposition to the system has a thirty-year history in this revolution; it is nothing new. The forms of opposition have varied, but it has always existed; intensely, weakly, depending on our situation inside. Wherever they felt they could establish a stronger presence, they inflicted a blow that they thought they could — in their imagination. And the revolution has stood against these blows over these thirty years; not only has it not weakened, but day by day, thanks be to God, the country and the Islamic Republic system have grown stronger. However, there is one point to consider, and that is that the more we deepen our roots in the Islamic Republic system and advance further and complicate our work, the more complex the enemy's plots have become; this must be taken into account. It is true that we have the experience of overcoming imposed challenges — not just in one or two cases; throughout these thirty years, the experience of the Islamic Republic has been one of overcoming challenges and opposition and enmity — but we must pay attention to the fact that, as was pointed out, the enemy is "the one who does not sleep"; they are awake; the information we receive from sensitive political and security centers around the world shows that vast, extensive apparatuses, with large budgets, are constantly focused on the Islamic Republic; with motivations that have been stated and are clear to us. They are working; every day they bring a new plan to the field and every day they create a new arena against the Islamic Republic. And this will continue until they become hopeless; when the Islamic Republic reaches specific thresholds in political, economic, security, scientific, and ethical fields. Until the Islamic Republic reaches these defined thresholds, these plots will continue; when we reach that point, the enemy will naturally become hopeless and will fully accept the reality. In any case, today the enemy's conspiracy is a complex one.

We must clearly recognize and identify the aspects of this conspiracy; it is our duty. Today, military warfare against us is not very likely — we do not say it is completely impossible, but it is not very likely — but the war that exists, if it is not more dangerous than military warfare, is not less so; it requires no less caution. In military warfare, the enemy targets our border fortifications, trying to destroy our border centers to penetrate the borders; in psychological warfare and what is today referred to as soft warfare, the enemy targets the spiritual fortifications to destroy them; they come after beliefs, knowledge, determination, and the fundamental pillars of a system and a country; the enemy comes after these to destroy them and turn strengths into weaknesses in their propaganda; they turn the opportunities of a system into threats. These are the actions they are undertaking; they have experience in this, they are making great efforts, and they have abundant tools at their disposal. We must understand the dimensions of the enemy and the dimensions of enmity so that we can overcome it. Of course, we have divine assistance, we have unseen help without a doubt; this is something one can observe; however, as long as we are not vigilant and aware in the field, and do not apply the necessary planning, divine help will not come to us.

Our enemies; the enemies of the revolution, the enemies of the Islamic Republic, are pursuing several lines that are clear in their propaganda and in their actions; these are not hidden or concealed; we must summarize these in our minds:

One is to distort signs of hope; to undermine them, including the recent elections. The eighty-five percent participation of the people is a hopeful thing, an important matter; as we mentioned, thirty years after a revolution, for the people of the country to present such a wide range of votes to the system that emerged from this revolution means nothing but trust in this system and reliance on it; and this event occurred. Or to elect a president with such a high vote, this is unprecedented. This event happened; this work was done in the country. This is a very important point of strength. They tried to turn this point of strength into a point of weakness; to convert this source of hope into a source of doubt, a source of despair. This is a hostile act. In the country, there are many sources of hope; the country's infrastructure today is very solid; significant work has been done over the years, and today the country is ready for a leap forward. Scientific advancements today are very eye-catching and remarkable; to the extent that others — scientists from other countries, those who have no political motives — acknowledge it; one example of this was seen last night on television. Regarding these stem cells, they admitted that they did not believe such a level of progress existed in Iran. They said: I participated in this scientific conference last year, and I participated again this year; there has been a significant difference between this year and last year, a lot of progress has been made! This is just one example; we have dozens of such examples that are scientific advancements; sources of hope. The very experience of thirty years — thirty years of experience behind us; at our disposal — a young, energetic, educated generation is in the field; all of these are sources of hope and points of strength. A young generation that is both educated and self-confident, and feels that it can advance its own country. We have a vision document that specifies where we should be in terms of national and material advancements by the year 1404; this is very important. We have determined where we need to reach and how we should move forward. These are factors of hope, these are points of strength. They want to turn these into causes of despair; discussions about the vision document arise, they say that no attention has been paid to this document; discussions about scientific advancements arise, they say these are not very important; discussions about elections arise, they raise doubts and criticisms; discussions about the youth arise, they point to the misconduct of a few young people in one area! In other words, all of these positive points, these prominent peaks that are all hope-inspiring, they try to diminish in the eyes of the public. Conversely, they magnify small weaknesses that certainly exist, or they do not say they do not exist; they exaggerate these weaknesses several times more than they are, they portray a bleak picture; they spread pessimistic perceptions about the system. You see, they are trying to forcibly instill this despair into society. When despair enters society, it will lose its dynamism; innovative individuals, elite individuals, energetic youth will become isolated, withdraw, their motivation for work will diminish, participation will decrease, and the dynamism of society will be lost. This is one of the enemy's lines of work; constantly instilling a sense of deadlock. If you observe the propaganda of the radios — now radios are no longer just radios. Once we said dozens of radios, today the issue is thousands; there are radios, televisions, and internet media — constantly from specific centers, they are perpetually instilling a sense of deadlock, instilling a sense of crisis, instilling a bleak view of the situation; whatever they can get, whatever can find listeners and be believable for them; they are working in this area. This is one of the enemy's lines of work.

One of the main lines of the enemy's work is this issue of division that you gentlemen rightly emphasized, which was also mentioned in the report, and attention to this issue of unity was highlighted in the final statement of the Assembly; it is a very important issue. The issue of the unity of the nation and the work being done to create division is a very important matter. We see signs of the general unity of the people. You saw the Friday prayers during Ramadan, you saw the Quds Day, you saw the Eid al-Fitr prayers; what grandeur! When one looks — not just in Tehran, but in Mashhad, Isfahan, Kerman, Tabriz, and various regions — the scenes are unparalleled; perhaps in the history of Islam, Eid al-Fitr prayers have never been held with such grandeur and magnificence — in various parts of a country, not just in one city! Today we have these; all of these are signs of unity; signs of the people's solidarity; signs that there is a common center that, despite the minor and trivial differences they have, they are united in their inclination and allegiance to this principle; their hearts are directed towards this center; and this center is religion, Islamic principles, and high values, the religion of God. This is very important. Well, everyone must bow their heads in the face of this unity when they see this unity. Unfortunately, some, on the contrary, speak of division, out of ignorance, negligence; this is truly borne out of negligence, more than one would want to attribute it to other things. This is an important issue. The issue of creating unity; religious unity, ethnic unity, unity of political tastes, these are important; efforts must be made. One of the enemy's lines is to create division; wherever they can, at any level they can; at various levels; among officials, non-officials, the general public, among religious groups, among academic groups, among various social units and organizations, and between these and one another, and among sects. You have seen numerous examples of this in society. This is an issue that exists in society. The enemy's line is the line of creating division. This is also an issue.

The fourth issue — this is another line that, in our view, the enemy is investing in — is diverting the people's minds from the enmity of the enemy. We never deny that in various shortcomings and numerous problems that arise for society and individuals, there are personal and social faults that exist from within; there is no doubt about this; no one denies it. "Whatever good befalls you is from God, and whatever evil befalls you is from yourself"; this is clear; if the enemy strikes us and this blow becomes effective, this is also "from yourself"; there is no doubt about this. In the Battle of Uhud, when the enemy attacked and struck, in reality, the Muslims suffered a blow from themselves; there is no discussion about this; however, the point is that if one wants to avoid being struck, one must recognize the role of the enemy. One of the requirements for not being struck is to see the enmity that wants to strike us; we must not be oblivious to this. The line of misleading, especially the elites and the intellectuals, from the influence of the enemy, is one of the lines of propaganda and instillation by the enemy. Now, they have various methods for this. Whenever someone mentions the enemy, they say: "You always blame the enemy!" Well, there is an enemy; there is an enemy; why do we not see the enemy? Why do we not see the immense joy that the enemy feels from what happens here due to our differences, from the various events, from the turmoil after the elections? They encourage those who are responsible. There, a leader of a great country names individuals! Well, is this not creating enmity? They name the opponents of the system and praise someone for whom they are astonished by their courage! Why? Because they said something that they liked. These must be seen; these must be understood, and we must not be oblivious to the enemy's enmity.

Of course, their enmity is not unexpected; our negligence is what is unexpected; our negligence is what is unexpected. The British government, with a two-hundred-year record of presence and relations with our country, has a completely black record — truly, we do not have a single point or instance that can be shown where the British government has taken a small step in favor of the Iranian nation; everything has been harm; everything has been great damage — they declare that they are supporters of the Iranian nation! The American government declares that they are supporters of the Iranian people! In other words: we are against the Islamic Republic, but we love the people! Well, the people are part of this system; this system is not separate from the people. This is the enemy's trick. These must be recognized and understood. Of course, they will continue their enmity; this is natural, but it is unacceptable that we do not understand their enmity and become oblivious to this meaning. At one point, we find ourselves fitting into the enemy's table and puzzle — in a puzzle, a collection of pieces is put together to form a shape — until we provide one of these pieces. Well, this is very bad; we must strive not to be the providers of their pieces. Like this crossword puzzle, when it is put together, a word emerges from it. The enemy has created such a puzzle to extract a word from it; let us not provide several of these letters! This must be monitored; this is the discussion; we must not complete the enemy's puzzle; we must see what the enemy is doing and what they want to do; we must recognize their clear goals and presence.

Today, the most effective weapon internationally against enemies and opponents is the weapon of propaganda; it is the weapon of media communications. Today, this is the strongest weapon and is more dangerous than the atomic bomb. Did you not see this weapon of the enemy in the turmoil after the elections? The enemy, with this weapon, was following our affairs moment by moment and guiding those who were mischievous. "And indeed, the devils inspire their allies to argue with you"; they were constantly inspiring their allies. Well, this is the presence of the enemy; can one imagine a clearer and more evident presence of the enemy than this?

We must have insight. What is expected from the elites of society and political currents and groups is that they confront these events, these enemy lines, with insight; with insight. If there is insight and determination to confront, many of our behaviors may change; then the situation will improve. Some actions stem from a lack of insight.

These axes that have been mentioned — these enemy lines — we must calculate in our actions and in our statements, and we must incorporate them into our calculations, so that if we want to make a statement, it is in consideration of these; if we want to take action, it is in consideration of these; we must see whether we are helping the enemy or not. This, in my opinion, is very important.

The fourth point is that the Islamic Republic — which has emerged from the Islamic revolution — is a unit that has two dimensions: being Islamic and being popular; it is both Islamic and popular. And it is popular because it is Islamic; because Islam is the religion of society. Religion is a collective responsibility; Islam is not just the religion of individuals as individuals; it is also that, but individuals are also addressed as a society. Islam is a popular religion; it is a religion of public responsibility; therefore, being popular arises from being Islamic. It is also Islamic; because the Almighty God has bestowed upon us: "Indeed, God has bestowed upon you by guiding you to faith"; He has bestowed upon us, guiding us to this faith; the Lord has bestowed upon our people, upon us, by guiding us to this religion; therefore, our public wants Islam and this divine religion, thanks be to God, the Almighty has given us. Therefore, it is the "Islamic Republic"; it is a system, a collection, or we can say a unit with dimensions that must be considered together; this interweaving must be preserved. If any of these aspects are weakened, the whole and the collection are weakened.

The issue of guardianship is also adherence to this collection; whether it is the guardianship of the infallibles (peace be upon them), or the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, which is the continuation of the guardianship of the infallibles. The issue of adherence to this collection and maintaining this collection in the country and in the system is that it should not deviate, should not encounter problems, should not suffer deficiencies or discrimination, and should move forward with this comprehensiveness. And this pure Islam, which was mentioned by the Imam, is related to this; because the Imam spoke of pure Islam in contrast to American Islam. American Islam is not just what is acceptable to America; anything that is outside of this pure Islam; royalist Islam is the same, eclectic Islam is the same, capitalist Islam is the same, socialist Islam is the same, and Islams that are presented in various forms and colors without the essential elements present in them are all opposed to pure Islam; in reality, they are American Islam. One observes that in these oppositions against the system over these thirty years, various Islams have been present; both eclectic Islam has existed, and royalist Islam has existed, and socialist Islam has existed; all kinds of these Islams have been present in opposition to the Islamic Republic system. Well, in this view of Islam and understanding of Islam, the individual and society are considered together, spirituality and justice are considered together, Sharia and rationality are considered together, affection and decisiveness are seen together; all of these must be present. Decisiveness in its place, affections in their place, Sharia in its place, rationality — which is also not outside of Sharia — in its place; all must be utilized together; deviation from this solid system will lead to deviation from the Islamic system.

The next point is that we not only need courage in action, but we also need courage in understanding. In understanding jurisprudential matters, courage is required; if there is no courage, even in understanding, there will be flaws. A clear understanding of the major and minor issues; sometimes a person understands the major issues correctly, but makes mistakes in the minor issues. This correct understanding of the foundations of religion and of religious subjects and of external subjects that correspond with those general and public concepts — that is, major and minor issues — requires that we have courage, that we do not fear; otherwise, fear of our wealth, fear for our lives, fear for our reputation, passivity in the face of the enemy, fear of the atmosphere, fear of the environment; if we say this, they will be against us; if we say this, they will attach this blemish to us; these fears disrupt a person's understanding. Sometimes, due to these fears, due to these considerations, a person does not understand the issue correctly; they cannot grasp and solve the issue correctly; it will lead to mistakes. Therefore, "and they do not fear anyone except God" is very important; in this noble verse, "Those who convey the messages of God and fear Him and do not fear anyone except God, and sufficient is God as a Reckoner"; it becomes clear that the condition for conveying and delivering is this lack of fear: "and they do not fear anyone except God". You say: Sir! If I do this, I might be taken advantage of in this world. Well, "and sufficient is God as a Reckoner"; leave the reckoning to God and let God reckon for you. If we place the fear of people's judgments and various people's evaluations in place of the fear of God, problems will arise; because the fear of the Almighty God is piety. If we set this aside and the fear of people takes its place, then the criterion that the Almighty God has mentioned will not be found; "If you fear God, He will make for you a criterion"; this criterion arises from piety; the clarification of the truth for a person is the result of piety. In my opinion, this issue is very important; the issue of fear of wealth and life and the words of people and reputation and whispers and words and accusations and these matters is very important; this issue is so important that the Almighty God addresses His Prophet and warns him: "And when you said to the one whom God had bestowed upon and you had bestowed upon, 'Keep your wife to yourself and fear God,' and you concealed within yourself what God was to disclose, and you feared the people, while God has more right that you should fear Him"; one should not consider the words of people, the consideration of this accusation that they will make, the consideration of what they will do; "and God has more right that you should fear Him". In my opinion, one of the things that granted various victories to the Imam was this courage of his, which brought about scientific victories, spiritual victories, political victories, social victories, and the attraction of hearts to that great man — which was truly something extraordinary. His courage was that he did not consider anything. Ultimately, the people of sedition want to instill their fear, their terror, in the hearts of the elites and the intellectuals; that is, they want them to be afraid; "Those to whom the people said, 'Indeed, the people have gathered against you, so fear them,' but it increased them in faith and they said, 'Sufficient for us is God, and He is the best disposer of affairs.'" In other words, they are constantly telling us: Sir! "Indeed, the people have gathered against you, so fear them," the response to this is: "So they said, 'Sufficient for us is God, and He is the best disposer of affairs.'" The result of this feeling, this understanding, this spiritual and moral truth is the same as: "So they returned with grace from God and bounty, and no evil touched them." Therefore, we must have this courage, and it is necessary.

The enemy does all kinds of work; they engage in all kinds of activities; primarily, today, in my opinion, the target of the enemy's conspiracies is the elites; the enemy's target is the elites. They sit down and design to change the minds of the elites; so that they can lead the people astray; because the elites have an influence and a word among the general public. In my opinion, one of our main duties today is this: to strengthen our insight in various issues and to be able, God willing, to increase the insight of our audiences and listeners as well.

The Islamic revolution is very deep-rooted; it is very strong; it has very solid pillars; and the Almighty God is also our supporter; just as I have often quoted the Imam (may his soul be sanctified) who said: From the very beginning of our involvement in this matter, I saw — or felt — a hand of power moving things forward. Truly, it is just like that; and he told me this. One can see this hand of divine power. Of course, this hand of divine power has no kinship with us — "Whoever is for God, God is for him," "If you support God, He will support you," "And God will surely support those who support Him" — we must be in the service of this path; sincerely; we must bring forth what we have and dedicate it to this path; our efforts and our work must be dedicated to this path. The Almighty God will also bestow grace; He will show kindness; today, this work has been done, and the Almighty God has favored us, and the enemy's stone has turned back towards itself; its arrow has ricocheted back towards itself; and they could not achieve anything from the conspiracy they devised.

Certainly, these disturbances after the revolution, in the opinion of knowledgeable and aware individuals, were planned. That is, when one discusses this with any intelligent person who is familiar with the issues of the country and global matters, one understands. The day before yesterday, I told him the same; I said these were planned. He said: Certainly. Everyone understands that this was a planned action. This was not a spontaneous act that we could say something happened. For example, suddenly someone stood up and said something; no, this was a planned action; it was being directed from a center. Well, they failed; God willing, this failure will continue. However, they are constantly conspiring.

Let me also say this; some in the atmosphere of sedition misunderstand the phrase "Be like the camel in the sedition, neither riding nor milking" and think it means that when sedition arises and the situation becomes ambiguous, one should withdraw! This phrase does not mean: "Withdraw." Its meaning is that the seditionist should not be able to use you in any way; in no way. "Neither riding nor milking"; they should neither be able to ride you nor milk you; one must be vigilant.

In the Battle of Siffin, we have Ammar on that side, who is constantly — look at the effects of Siffin — engaged in speaking; this side of the army, that side of the army, with various groups; because there was truly sedition there; two groups of Muslims were facing each other; it was a great sedition where some were confused. Ammar was constantly engaged in enlightening; he would go to this side, go to that side, speaking to various groups — which has been recorded and is all in history — and on that side, those who were "some of the companions of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud..." in the narration, they came to the Imam and said: "O Commander of the Faithful — meaning they accepted that he is the Commander of the Faithful — we have doubts about this battle! Send us to the borders so that we do not enter into this battle!" Well, this withdrawal itself is the very milking that is being referred to; this is the very riding that is being referred to! Sometimes, remaining silent, withdrawing, not speaking, itself aids the sedition. In sedition, everyone must enlighten; everyone must have insight. We hope, God willing, that the Almighty God will make us and you act according to what we say and according to what we intend; may He grant us success.

Regarding the matter that Mr. Shahroudi mentioned, in my opinion, the Assembly of Experts should not take action to declare someone who has a differing opinion among themselves. In my opinion, this is not a very appropriate action. Now, I do not want to impose a duty on the Assembly or say something as an obligation; this is my personal view. After all, someone has a different opinion on a specific issue; it is not that there is a disagreement in the principles and foundations, and I do not think it is like that.

In the matter of this Eid al-Fitr, which they mentioned, in my opinion, for us to say that it should be such that everyone finds a belief in Eid on the same day, this is not feasible; according to our jurisprudential principles, this is not feasible; all jurists cannot agree on one fatwa; well, it cannot happen. After all, there may be a jurist whose opinion is different; therefore, disagreement will arise. Let us not make this disagreement too large; what importance does it have? What harm does it cause? There is a person, he has a fatwa — or he has followers, or he does not — and he acts according to his own fatwa. However, of course, this year you also observed that despite some of the great and respected scholars and esteemed jurists having a different opinion from what our ruling was, there was no display of opposition to this opinion; you observed. This is very important; this is a very significant matter; it must be appreciated. It was not the case that now a prayer for Eid was held on a Sunday in, for example, Isfahan or Mashhad or Tehran or elsewhere, and another Eid prayer was held on Monday. Such a thing did not happen; this is very important. Well, the elders, honestly, as has always been our belief and is still, are very committed to the interests of the system and the principles of the system; one can see this; and truly, gratitude must be expressed. I am very thankful to many of the esteemed and great scholars whose fatwas were different from what our ruling was, but at the same time, they did not display any opposition; this is very important. The enemy, of course, may say a word and exaggerate it and create a fuss and uproar; we are not followers of the enemy's tune. God willing, may God grant us all success and support.

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