Statements at the Meeting of the Organizers of the Congress Commemorating the Martyrs of Mazandaran

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

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his pure family, especially the Remaining One of God among the people.

Welcome, dear brothers and sisters! You have revived the memory of the greatness of the jihad of the people of Mazandaran in this place, our home. Truly, one of the regions of the country that is exemplary and representative in terms of sacrifice and comprehensive expenditure for the revolution is undoubtedly the people of Mazandaran. Perhaps there is no city or village throughout Mazandaran, from east to west, that does not have a martyr or a disabled veteran.

A sweet and interesting point about the sacrifices of the martyrs of Mazandaran is that these martyrs are scattered throughout all the important periods of the struggle against the counter-revolution; they are not specific to the imposed war or the sacred defense or the defense of the shrine. From the very beginning of the revolution, if you look, the first people who went to fight against the counter-revolution in the east of Mazandaran were the children of these cities of Mazandaran; then, others joined them. Later, in the matter of the forest and the epic that was shown throughout Mazandaran, especially in Amol, which Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) took a stance on and spoke about, then in the imposed war, in the sacred defense, this expression of "special army" that he mentioned is worth pondering; why "special"? Well, we had so many armies; what does "special army" mean? This "special" is because all the conditions that arise in war for a military unit, if they arise for this army, it is ready. At that time, when I went to the barracks that this General Qorbani had established, which I think he had taken half of Mazandaran, he had turned a desert into a barracks! No matter how much we drove with the car, it did not end — it was a large place — everything was in this unit; there were human resources, experience, documents, individuals, information. After the sacred defense, too, in all fields, the people of Mazandaran participated, and if it was necessary for sacrifice and devotion to be performed, they did it; that is, the martyrs of Mazandaran are like this. Until it reached the defense of the shrine and the issue of Khan Tuman and such matters. This is a point that the diversity among the martyrs of Mazandaran is one of the prominent characteristics of this movement in this province.

Another characteristic is that from the IRGC, the army, the police, and various organizations, all are seen among the shining stars of the martyrs, among the commanders and great figures, from the army, like Niaki (may God have mercy on him) or like Shiroudi or the rest of those who were there; from the IRGC, prominent figures like these gentlemen who were mentioned and others; from the Basij, ordinary and common people, for example, consider a child of eleven or twelve years old and such; in the diversity of martyrs in this province, one observes all kinds of individuals. Well, this is very important. The memory of these martyrs must be cherished.

I want to mention two points: one about the martyrs themselves, and one about the work you want to do regarding the martyrs. The martyrs, in my opinion, are an endless treasure; that is, successive generations that come will all benefit if, for example, they know the biography of martyr Kashouri or Shiroudi or other great martyrs who are there; it is not specific to one period. After the martyrdom of Shiroudi, I went to Shiroud; it is a small village, and there is a small group of people there. From a village, a young man like this person emerges, performs heroic operations, is promoted, then writes a letter to his commander saying, "I request that you take this promotion from me; I did not come to the battlefield for this; I came for the sake of Imam's words, for the sake of duty, for the sake of Islam." These words are easy to say; which of us is ready to easily give up name, title, and position? From me, the turbaned one, to others. This is a young man — Shiroudi was a young boy; he was a young man from a village in Mazandaran — who reaches this level of understanding and certainty and sincerity that he sacrifices like this, speaks like this. For a soldier, even six months of promotion is important; [because of] the work you did, this six-month promotion! This is important. Then, to bring someone up two or three ranks for a great work he has done — this promotion that was given to that martyr was two or three ranks — to say, "I do not want it!" These are very important.

Today, you and I benefit from these, tomorrow our grandchildren will benefit from these, and in the next generation, the youth will benefit if they become aware; that is, this treasure does not end. Likewise, others who were there, the great martyrs we had, in Mazandaran and beyond; martyrs are altogether an endless treasure. The states and characteristics of these individuals should be examined, their points extracted, and then it is time for the second point that I will now mention to you.

You must work on the points that can be extracted from the lives of the martyrs; this is important. Of course, the works that he mentioned are good works, necessary works: making a carpet with the photo of the martyr to give to his family or naming a street after the martyr; but you do not have fourteen thousand and five hundred streets; what do you want to do?

Each of these martyrs has a story. The saying that "the world is small" is one of the false statements; the world is very large; because there are eight billion humans in the world, and each human has a world of their own, a story of their own, a thought, a goal; everyone has. If you sit next to anyone and they tell you their biography, their aspirations, it is a world. In every life, there will be points, and this [person] who has been martyred and has attained this rank of martyrdom and has sacrificed, those points are presentable. You must extract these, you must present them so that they remain. Now, of course, a book is one of the ways; good books.

My recommendation is this: when you want to give statistics, or calculate for yourselves that we have done these works, or present to people like me that we have done these works, more than counting the number of books, count the number of readers, how many have read this; how many have looked at this book, studied it; how many have taken notes from this book; these have paths; you must find the way. When you publish a book about the biography of a certain martyr, [see how] this can be delivered to the largest possible number of [readers], especially the youth and teenagers; then obtain their opinions about this book; then establish a relationship with them and transfer the points that you have in mind from the life of this character in this book to their minds; this is the fundamental work for you.

Of course, this work is done with books, with films and series, with painting, with sculpture, with storytelling; these works must be done, these works must be carried out, these must happen.

With [the formation of] various gatherings in the name of the martyrs; for example, consider a place — now it is not necessary to have a large building; for example, a mosque, thanks be to God, you do not lack mosques and shrines — a mosque, a shrine, is considered, this week a gathering is held in this mosque in the name of a certain martyr; a specific martyr; everyone who comes hears about that martyr or speaks or sees something. The following week, the same gathering is held here for another martyr; [then] this is not something that ends, this does not end. You may consider one place, one point for this work, or if necessary, ten points; because Mazandaran is a long province; its length is greater than its width; in the east of Mazandaran, in the middle of Mazandaran, in the west of Mazandaran, in Golestan itself — Golestan also, in a sense, is included in these matters and words — [hold sessions]. That is, introducing the "important characteristics of the martyrs" is the basis of your work that you must carry out; otherwise, well, a photo is on the shelf of the room and gradually becomes ordinary and forgotten.

You must keep the memory of the martyrs alive, you must keep it fresh. The fact that Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) — who truly that man's insight always amazes one; I do not know anyone else who looks at all the issues with such insight — said: "Islam was kept alive in Muharram and Safar, Ashura was kept alive"; why? Because Ashura cannot die, cannot be destroyed, it is martyrdom, after all, that martyr and those martyrs; this is alive; as long as it is alive, it flows — a living being is like this; it has movement, it has work, it has flow — and it preserves and has preserved Islam, has preserved Shi'ism, has preserved the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist.

Thanks be to God, the ground is also prepared in Mazandaran for these works; that is, the people of Mazandaran are truly ready for the path of righteousness. The amount that was invested in the north of the country — whether Mazandaran or Gilan — for secularization during the reign of the tyrants was less than in other places in the country. Then you see that these same people after the revolution — whether in Gilan or Mazandaran — what they did for Islam; this indicates the readiness of the ground. Islam did not enter Mazandaran with war and sword; at the time when the caliphs came and conquered Iran and brought the blessing of Islam to Iran, well, it was with military campaigns; these armies could not cross from these heights; Mazandaran remained behind and they could not reach it. Until the children of the Imams, in a state of taqiyya, with empty stomachs, with bare bodies, fleeing, crossed these mountains on foot and reached Mazandaran, and they were able to convert the people of Mazandaran to Islam; therefore, the Muslim Mazandaran was born as a Shiite from the beginning. Because those who went there to convert them to Islam were the children of the Imams; and with what effort! [If] you look in history, [you will see] with what effort they went from these mountains; the great and valuable shrine of Abd al-Saleh al-Ilahi, he and his wife have a prayer garment, when it is time for prayer, he takes the garment and prays, then gives it to him to pray; they managed to climb these mountains and cross them with their bare hands and feet and reach Mazandaran. This is how Mazandaran came to Islam; thus, when the Alawite government wanted to be established in Yemen, they took forces from Mazandaran; these Imams of Yemen who ruled there for a thousand years, their origin was actually from the Mazandaranis; from here, the young men of Mazandaran went to Yemen and fought to establish Islam and Shi'ism there.

God willing, may God grant you success so that you can bring this great work to fruition. Please convey my greetings to the dear people of Mazandaran in your speeches.

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