Statements in Meeting with Martyr Pilot Hossein Lashgari

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

I express my utmost gratitude to the Almighty God for, thanks be to God, removing this always sorrowful point from our minds and the minds of the Iranian nation, and for bringing you dear compatriots and beloved freedom fighters, who were truly the devoted soldiers of the Revolution and Islam in the most difficult conditions, back to the embrace of the homeland and your families. This hour in which I meet you is a very precious and dear hour for me.

Of course, you should know - perhaps you already do - that I and the officials, and perhaps many in the Iranian nation, have rarely been oblivious to your memory and have not suffered due to the distress of you dear ones and your families. Truly, in the hearts of the officials, there has been a constant sorrow due to the existence of our dear ones in the clutches of enemies who do not even adhere to the rules of war; however, this is not of great importance to you at the moment. What matters most is that you know every moment of your long sufferings is recorded and preserved before the Almighty God.

No one can describe the long moments of your distress. Neither those who have not experienced such things can understand, nor can tongues accurately express it. The experience of suffering and pain is something else. Hearing about them from others cannot depict what has transpired upon the afflicted person. However, it is not so before God; it is not so in the presence of the honorable scribes. On the Day of Resurrection, your very actions will be present there - "So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it" - meaning that a person will witness their own deeds there!

Those very seconds of suffering, those long nights, those loneliness, those separations and estrangements, all the calamities that a person endures in the enemy's prison - those humiliations, those deprivations, those uncertainties and anxieties, those memories of wife and child and father and mother and loved ones, those hopes that a person sees gradually fading from their horizon, and this itself is the greatest of calamities - all these indescribable things are present before the Lord and in the presence of the sacred divine essence. The very patience you exhibited is present - the embodiment of deeds - the actions are preserved before the Almighty God. The good deeds are preserved, and the Almighty God will return that goodness to you on the Day of Resurrection, at a time when you need it more than ever!

The only advice I give you is this: dear ones! Preserve your good deeds for yourselves. God forbid, throughout your lives, due to certain things, any of these good deeds should be lost; it would be a shame. These - this patience you exhibited - are very valuable reserves. There is an expression in Arabic that says: "The hardship has passed, but the reward remains." Hardships, like everything in the world, are transient. Joy also passes, hardship also passes. All of life passes. Well; this hardship has ended, but those rewards remain. It is very precious for a person to see that those rewards, those divine rewards, that gratitude which the Lord of the Universe has for your endurance of this patience and suffering, remains for you.

God willing, may the Almighty increase your rewards, preserve them before Himself, grant you many rewards, and prepare you, God willing, for a sweet life in the future - among your loved ones - for long years, continuously and in every respect, and God willing, provide the means of comfort and ease of mind and thought to compensate for those hardships.

All of you - especially those who remained for a long time - are the symbols of resistance and steadfastness. You represent the truth that sufferings pass, and rewards remain. Most of all, the sorrow and pain belonged to this gentleman "Lashgari"; whenever we remember him, truly a sorrow grips our hearts. Eighteen, nineteen years is a long time; it is not a short time that he was in the clutches of the enemy, and thanks be to God, he exhibited patience and steadfastness. We hope that the Almighty God grants all of you rewards and grants you success, and God willing, may He bestow mercy and goodness upon your families - your children and relatives and parents; the very rewards and merits that the Almighty God grants you, He will also grant to your families; for they too have endured much suffering, they have endured much torment. Sometimes, the one who is imprisoned and far from their beloved homeland and family suffers less than those who are waiting for them and constantly see their absence. They too have suffered greatly. May God, God willing, grant them abundant rewards - which He certainly will - and God willing, may you all be successful.

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