Statements in Meeting with Families of Border Guards and Defenders of the Shrine

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 and prophet, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure and chosen progeny, the guided and awaited ones, especially the remaining one of God on the earth.

This is a very sweet and interesting gathering in that the fragrance of martyrdom has filled this session. Yes, not all families of the martyrs are here, but a collection of the dear families of our martyrs, whether the martyrs of the shrine, the border guards, the army - the ground forces - the IRGC, the police, and others have gathered here, and the fragrance of the martyrs has filled the atmosphere of the Hussainiya.

Martyrdom is a strange concept, a profound issue. Martyrdom means a transaction with God, a worry-free two-way transaction with the Almighty God; the commodity is known, and the price of the commodity is known. The commodity is the soul. The soul is the main capital of every human being in this material world; this is the commodity; you offer it; in return, what do you receive? In return, you receive eternal happiness and everlasting life in the highest divine blessings. Well, this commodity that you give in martyrdom is not a lasting commodity. This commodity is like the ice that the ice seller brought in the summer, saying, 'People! Buy this commodity from me, for if you do not buy it, the essence will be lost.' This is how it is. Now that there is ice in homes, in the past when we bought ice from the market, the ice seller kept this ice wrapped in a sack to preserve it until people came to buy it. If they did not buy it, what would happen? If there were no customers and the ice was not bought, what would happen? The ice would melt and be lost. This customer who comes to buy this perishable commodity from you is a very valuable customer. This soul that you and I have is like that ice; it is gradually [disappearing]; is it not so? It is gradually coming to an end. With each passing day, we are getting closer to that end; that is, we are getting closer to the grave; it is gradually [disappearing]. Now how long will it take? Some people's end is at forty years, some at fifty years, some at eighty years; eventually, it will end; it has its delays and hastens; it is coming to an end. Now, for this commodity that whether you sell it or not will eventually come to an end, a customer has appeared and says, 'I will buy this from you, and I will buy it at the highest price.' What is that highest price? Paradise. This very verse that our dear reciter has recited today: 'Indeed, God has purchased from the believers their souls and their wealth in exchange for Paradise for them.' They buy this commodity from you to give you Paradise. 'They fight in the way of God, and they kill and are killed;' that is, when you strive in the way of God, it is not that you hand over your soul to the enemy and say, 'Kill me;' no, dear! You also strike back at him. This border guard who is martyred at the borders has struck many blows against the enemy before being martyred, has prevented the enemy's infiltration, has thwarted the enemy's plots, has stopped the enemy's corruption; this young man who stands in defense of the shrine, in a foreign country against ISIS, before being martyred, has struck a hundred blows against him, has thwarted him, has foiled his objectives, has made him suffer, and now he is martyred. 'They kill and are killed;' they kill, and then they themselves are killed. 'A promise upon Him;' this is a divine promise; God is promising you. When He says, 'We buy this commodity from you at the price of Paradise;' Paradise means eternal happiness, a happiness that there is no melting like this ice; no, it is permanent existence, everlasting pleasure, everlasting blessing; in return for this, they are buying and taking this perishable soul from you; this promise is God's promise. This is a true promise that the Almighty God has given you, and it is not exclusive to your religion; God has given this promise in previous heavenly books as well: 'A true promise upon Him in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Quran;' this is martyrdom. Then He says: 'And who is more faithful to his covenant than God?' Who is more faithful to his promise than God? This promise will be fulfilled. Therefore, martyrdom is a concept like this. When you look at its outward appearance, it has a painful appearance, it has bitterness; the father of a person, the mother of a person, the spouse of a person, the child of a person, the brother and sister of a person grieve; its outward appearance is this; but what is its essence? Its essence is the sale of a perishable and destructible commodity at an extraordinarily high price. I have long said in discussions and speeches with friends that martyrdom is a merchant's death; that is, there is cleverness in it; those who are martyred, the Almighty God shows them the greatest kindness, the highest kindness; this is martyrdom.

You are the families of the martyrs; of course, you suffer; your son, your brother, your father, your spouse is lost to you, you love them, you have affection for them, it is natural that you grieve; there is no doubt about it. But when you look at it this way, you will see that you are also winners. Why? Because the one who ascended and went to the highest ranks has the power to intercede; he can play a role in Barzakh and in the Day of Resurrection. Even now, some people who are in the world, some who are more attached to the martyrs, turn to the martyrs in life's problems, and the martyrs respond. In the accounts we read about the families of the martyrs, there are many instances where the spouse of a martyr, the father of a martyr, the mother of a martyr face a problem, turn to the martyr; they say, 'You who have the power, you who can, help us,' and he helps. It is the same in Barzakh. You will go too; you will not remain; you and I are all going; we all have this Barzakh world, this corridor, this valley ahead of us, and we will reach there. When you go, there are many troubles there; if a person can have an intercessor there who can help him, it is very valuable. This martyr is your intercessor.

Of course, I have much to say about the families of the martyrs; I have spoken a lot; I have many words about the families of the martyrs. The issue of the families of the martyrs is not just that a martyr from them has been martyred in the way of truth; their patience is a valuable mountain in itself. Just the fact that the father of a martyr, the mother of a martyr, the spouse of a martyr, the child of a martyr endure this calamity, this itself is a very high value; very high. 'Those are upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy;' do you believe that God sends blessings upon you? God sends blessings upon you! You who are the families of martyrs, when you endure this calamity and thank God and bear it and consider it for God, your patience causes the Almighty God - who is the owner of the kingdom and the dominion, the owner of the universe - to send blessings upon you. These are values; we must understand these concepts correctly. These concepts create extraordinary forces within us, prepare us for many great tasks.

The enemies want to take these concepts away from us. Some of these mercenary pen-pushers - who want to win the hearts of foreigners instead of winning the hearts of the friends of God - write some things, say some words in some of these publications, newspapers, or social media; they do not understand what they are doing. The concept of martyrdom, the concept of striving in the way of God, the concept of patience on these are great concepts; these have an impact on the daily life of the Islamic community. Brother, sister! These have preserved the revolution.

This revolution and the system that was established has faced severe enmities from the beginning; do not look at the bluster of this guy who has just come to America; these are not new; these have been from the beginning, now their tongues and tones have changed. From the very first day, this bluster has been against the Islamic Republic until today; it has been nearly forty years. They have not been able to do anything. When this sapling was a thin twig on the ground, they could not uproot it; today it has become a mighty tree; can they uproot it? They are mistaken. They say they want to change the Islamic Republic; well, when has it been that you did not want to do this? You have always wanted to, you have always hit your head against the stone, you have always rubbed your nose in the dirt; after this, it will be the same. The Iranian nation has not been recognized by them; these concepts have kept the Iranian nation alive.

Those who have just come to power in America are like those who have just entered the world of knife-fighting - these inexperienced knife fighters who stab wherever they go - they do not understand what they are doing; until they get hit in the mouth; when they get hit in the mouth, then they will understand what the account is, what the book is. They have not recognized the Islamic Republic, they have not recognized the Iranian nation, they have not recognized the officials of the Islamic Republic. The Iranian nation is the nation that from the very first day until today has faced these kinds of plots and these kinds of words; they wanted to slap the Iranian nation, but the Iranian nation slapped them; they wanted to overthrow the Islamic Republic, but one by one they went to their graves with this wish unfulfilled. You see from the beginning of the revolution, the number of those who wished for the destruction of the Islamic Republic and have now left this world with regret and failure in the depths of hell is considerable. The Islamic Republic stands with complete authority; after this, it will be the same. Everyone should know this - both the enemy should know, and the sincere friends should know, and those friends who sometimes tremble should know - that the Islamic Republic stands firm, and know that they cannot slap us; we will slap them.

And this is not because of material equipment. Material equipment does not have a fundamental and decisive role; there are other things; that is, spiritual equipment; that steadfast will; that ways of internal strengthening of the hearts of each and every individual of the people; that power to train young people who stand firm and strong in the straight path in Iran amidst this strange storm of corruption - which is being promoted in the world by the Zionists and their ilk. The Islamic Republic, the Islamic power, can train such young people, and today it has trained them and they are present. This is the power of the Islamic Republic; with this power, no material power has the ability to confront. And the spirit [of this power] is the spirit of this very martyrdom.

Of course, alongside these words, the value of our martyrs must also be recognized. If the martyrs defending the shrine had not been there, we would have to be fighting with the wicked elements of the enemy of the Ahl al-Bayt and the enemy of the Shia people in the cities of Iran now. It was in the enemy's plans; when they were in Iraq, they were in a certain area and tried to move towards the border area with the Islamic Republic; and they tried to reach their eastern regions that are neighboring the Islamic Republic; they tried to come to these provinces that border us; they were stopped, they were slapped down, they were crushed, they suffered greatly, and now they are being completely eliminated, swept away. It is the same in Syria; if the valuable actions of our commanders had not been carried out, as our dear eulogist said, we would have to be fighting with them right here in our surroundings; we would have to be struggling with them in our own streets and cities. A significant part of the security you have today is related to these defenders of the shrine.

Another significant part of security is related to our border guards; whether from the police stationed at the borders, or from the ground forces of the IRGC stationed at the borders, or from the other forces that are active and working at the borders; this is due to their blessings; they - poor souls - are not even seen! You are sitting in your homes; what do you know about the border? You send your son, your daughter to school, they come back, you are not worried; you go to work and come back, you are not worried; you sit in the park, you are not worried; you march, you are not worried; you are not worried about insecurity; you are living securely. What do you know about the one who is standing at the border and preventing the enemy from entering the country, what he is enduring? The people do not know this; he is oppressed. Our border martyrs are oppressed; whether in the southeastern borders, that is, the regions of Baluchistan and Kerman and such places, or the northwestern region, that is, the Kurdistan and Kermanshah regions and other areas where there are problems at the borders; in all of these, it is our border guards who are defending there with all their being. If these border guards were not there, thousands of kilograms of drugs would enter our country from some of our borders, each kilogram of which could ruin a hundred young people and bring them to a dark day and bury them in the dust. Who stops these? Our border guard! They are the ones who are sacrificing; then they are martyred; this martyr is very valuable. The martyr defending the shrine is like that, the border martyr is like this.

The martyr of security and intelligence inside the country is also a kind; those who with their keen eyes search for the saboteurs, the terrorist teams - whose appearance and demeanor do not differ from the rest of the people, but their hearts are hellish that cannot be seen - our security officer with the experience he has, with the intelligence he possesses, with the help he receives from the people, with the guidance that God provides, can find them. They find them, and one time you hear that they have struck down forty teams, twenty teams that each of these teams could have killed dozens of people; one time one of them is martyred; these are very valuable.

You who are the families of the martyrs, you are grieving and your hands are in the work; I want to say this - these words are broadcast, they are said so that people know how much these martyrs are serving this country - service is not just providing food and water; above food and water, it is security; they are providing the security of the country. This is the case at all borders of the country; whether those who work outside the country in defense of the shrine, or those who work at the borders, or those who work in the cities and roads for security, all of these have a right to life over the country.

We must appreciate the martyrs, we must appreciate the families of the martyrs. Dear brothers, dear sisters! Anyone who tries to make the memory of the martyrs forgotten has betrayed this country; anyone who tries to insult the families of the martyrs or neglect them or verbally assault them has betrayed this country; because this is not just a matter of the system, it is a matter of the country; it is a betrayal to the country. They must respect the martyrs and appreciate them; they must respect the families of the martyrs and appreciate them; they must consider themselves under the burden of the martyrs' gratitude. Well, what does 'being under the burden of the martyrs' gratitude' mean? It means being under the burden of that spouse who agrees to let her husband go to the battlefield to be martyred; thus, they are also under the burden of that woman; they are under the burden of that father or that mother who agrees to let their child go; they must be under the burden of these and everyone must know that these are what keep the values alive in our country.

O Lord! By Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, we beseech You to make the memory of our martyrs more alive in our country day by day. O Lord! Day by day, increase the honor of the martyrs and the honor of the families of the martyrs in our country. O Lord! Do not extinguish this light of martyrdom, this atmosphere of martyrdom, this desire for martyrdom, this enthusiasm and eagerness for martyrdom that is in the hearts of some. O Lord! Whoever has this eagerness and enthusiasm in the true sense of the word in his heart, grant him this virtue; increase Your favors upon them, unite the martyrs with the Prophet, unite them with the martyrs of Karbala. Make the pure soul of our great Imam, who was the initiator of martyrdom, pleased and satisfied with us. Make the pure heart of the Awaited One pleased and satisfied with us and bring us closer to the pleasure of those great ones day by day.

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