Meeting with the Guards of the Corps and Committee on the Birth Anniversary of Imam Hossein (peace be upon him)

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

I also extend my congratulations on this blessed occasion to you dear ones, the righteous of this nation, the distinguished youth of this nation, all the people of Iran, and all the oppressed of the world. The day of the birth of the Master of Martyrs (peace be upon him), which has been named the Day of the Guard, and also the day of the birth of Hazrat Abolfazl (peace be upon him), which is the Day of the Disabled Veteran, are prominent and doubly blessed days for our system and society.

Firstly, the two noble births of these days, especially the great Imam and the Master of the Youth of Paradise, Hossein ibn Ali (peace be upon him), are beyond the need for someone like me to speak of them. We are less than capable of entering the realm of understanding these great figures. We acknowledge our shortcomings, incapacity, and insignificance. All the Imams are like this, and this noble figure is more deserving of this description and praise than the rest of the Imams (peace be upon them).

It is true that if our other Imams had been in that time and in those circumstances, they would have done the same as Hazrat Abolfazl (peace be upon him) did, but the reality is that ultimately this lot fell to this great man, and God chose him for such a great sacrifice that was unprecedented in history as far as we know. Hasan ibn Ali (peace be upon him) and other great figures of the Prophet's family (peace be upon him) have said: "There is no day like your day, O Aba Abdillah." No day was like Ashura, and no sacrifice was like the sacrifice of those great figures. Sacrifice became a crown of honor on the head of this great man and his companions, and that group became the crown jewel of the collection of Islamic honors, from top to bottom. No one can be compared to them. Today is the commemoration of the birth of this noble figure and this personality, and this is a great thing.

Secondly, it is the Day of the Guard — this sweet, beautiful, and unforgettable title. The title of the Guard is a reminder of the days of glory for all the future history of our time and a reminder of the critical moments of this revolution; if there were no Guard, there would be nothing, and nothing would remain.

Anyone who today, in any way, guards and preserves Islamic values should remember that if one day our young Guards were not there and did not protect this new birth and sapling from the attacks of the enemies, nothing would remain for its scholars to discuss its scientific issues, its engineers to discuss its engineering issues, its doctors to discuss its other issues, and the rest of its servants to serve it in their respective fields. In the initial moments, the most compassionate people must take care of a new birth and a new sapling; it is not everyone's job. This is why the title of the Guard reminds us of those moments.

Initially, the Guard was the Committee. This name had no other meaning than protection and safeguarding with all its might and sacrificing life in the path of preserving the revolution. Everyone was busy in the streets, behind these barricades, in the alleys, at the gates, with barricading, holding weapons in hand, staying awake at night, and giving their lives — how many of our children gave their lives anonymously and innocently in those days, and no one knew. Initially, the name and title were the Islamic Revolution Committee. The father of the Committee is the Imam; the same one who is the father of the entire revolution and the father of all these values. Beyond the Imam, there is the Almighty God and Hazrat Vali Asr (may our souls be sacrificed for him).

The Committee was created by this hand of power. He gave life to a handful of young people so that their emotions, intellect, will, and physical strength would be in the service of Islam and the Quran. Later, other institutions were born from the Committee; among them, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which, thanks be to God, today is a vibrant, energetic, powerful force known worldwide. This great and dear institution of the Corps and other revolutionary institutions were all originally integrated and included in this revolutionary institution of the Guards of the Islamic Revolution Committee.

The Almighty God blessed and granted this abundance to the Imam; "Indeed, We have granted you abundance." This abundance is you, these revolutionary forces, this revolution. Abundance means increasing; it is more than just a lot. Great abundance means a lot of good. Abundance is more than that. Abundance is not just a lot; it is increasing, growing, and flourishing. God granted this to His chosen and righteous servant, just as He had granted it to his ancestor and Imam and the holy and revered Prophet of Islam (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) before him.

Today, many of those Guards have been martyred, many have become disabled veterans, and many are still in these military and law enforcement institutions — the Corps and the Committee and the like — or some other institutions and are busy. The title of the Guard remained for the revolution and Islam. Individuals change; but the title, like a credit and a crown of honor, remains. Whoever is under it gains honor. The title is important. It is good to adorn ourselves with this title.

Individuals, without being adorned with the necessary attributes of that title, are ordinary people; they are nothing. We must make the title of the Guard truly apply to us. If the title of the Guard truly applies to us, then this position gains value and will be the same dear thing, the same inexhaustible abundance, and the same divine honor that the Almighty God granted to this revolution, to the Imam of the revolution, and to this dear and self-sacrificing nation — of which you are the children. I advise you dear ones, who are the children of the Imam, to preserve the characteristics of the title of the Guard for yourselves; the name is not enough. The title must truly apply, and that is achieved by having the characteristics, and without them, it is not achieved.

The essence and core of the matter in the title of guarding is that a person is willing to sacrifice themselves for the protection of this revolution and this system. Sacrificing oneself is an easy and difficult word. Some say: we are ready to go to the heat of the battlefield and fight and be killed. They say this is self-sacrifice; but it is not so. Sacrificing oneself is, firstly, much more difficult than these words; secondly, it starts right now and from this moment. Self-sacrifice begins with this feeling that is in my mind and yours, and it reaches the point where a person can even sacrifice their life on the battlefield.

The first step is to give up something less than life, something small, a name, a sign, a respect, a material value, a good house, a car, money. If we can give up these, we can easily give up our lives. It is not that someone who is bound by their instincts — whether it is a lustful instinct or other instincts of life, which drag a person like a straw here and there — is captive, then thinks to themselves and says, we are ready to give our lives in the path of God! It is not like that; we imagine it.

By chance, it may happen that while walking on the street, an accident occurs, or a car hits us, or a bomb explodes in front of us; its name in common parlance will be martyr — if this act is done by the enemy — but this is different from that sacrifice. This martyr is very different from the martyr who gave up youth, pleasures, wife, life, children, father, mother, cold water in summer, and a warm stove in winter, and spent winters and summers in the snows on the mountains of "Gardarash," or in the heat of southern Khuzestan, and went to meet death — which lay in ambush at every step and on his path — and finally achieved martyrdom. That sacrifice is something that requires practice and maintenance. This is another point that young people should know.

Some people, with effort, determination, will, faith, and reliance, climb the peak of sacrifice, but then they also descend from the peak; it is over! When we descend from the peak, we have come down and are no longer at the peak. It cannot be said that we were once self-sacrificing, and today we want to live off it! Here, where a person wants to live off something they did in the path of God, is no longer the peak; here is the bottom of the valley, here is the warm embrace of the self that leads a person to the fiery embrace of hell, here is being at the mercy of whims and desires; not flying in the air of spirituality and high values. You must remain at the peak. The path of Islam and the path of spirituality is like this.

Of course, a person has ups and downs and contractions and expansions, and all kinds of obstacles are on a person's path. It is not such that we say and expect that good people will always move in the path of goodness. Ultimately, there is intention, hesitation, and decline; but the overall outcome must be progress; the cumulative result of these comings and goings must be a movement forward. Then the title of the Guard will remain on a person.

This Imam who made you and the world so enamored — it was not just infatuation, he uprooted hearts; just as he turned the world upside down — the secret of his work was in one word. The problem for me and those like me is to understand this word correctly and be able to act on it. Saying it is easy; acting on it is difficult. That word, which we may not even be able to understand correctly, he acted upon. That word was the constant journey towards perfection. Do not think that the Imam of 1989, who went to the divine presence, was the same Imam of 1979 who entered Iran. No, the Imam had advanced a lot, had progressed a lot, had risen a lot.

It is true that we cannot understand the stages of such great figures; but from down here, when one looks, one sees the soaring of that high-flying bird. God is witness that after every Ramadan, sometimes when I met the Imam, it was noticeable to me that in this Ramadan, the Imam had risen higher compared to the past, had flown, and had distanced himself from the material. He advanced day by day and completed himself. A believing person is like this. "He whose two days are equal is deceived." If our two days are the same, we have been deceived. Deceived means tricked, cheated. And he whose tomorrow is worse than his today, "he is cursed"; that is, he is rejected.

There were many who wielded swords in the company of the Prophet (peace be upon him); but they could not maintain their past. The Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) said about the sword of someone who fought in the company of the Prophet but was killed in a battle after him: This sword, what days it wiped the dust of discord from the face of the Prophet in battles. That same sword was the sword that was drawn against Ali ibn Abi Talib! The past must be maintained.

The divine record is not like this. We also have nullification, "Their deeds have become void." What does nullification mean? Nullification means their deeds became like air and disappeared. Do not think that if we did a good deed one day and put it in the bag and kept it, if we also did a bad deed, that good deed remains. No, a bad deed in the realm of the scales of deeds in the presence of God is such that it nullifies the good deed. Sometimes a bad deed and action are such that it even takes away the essence of faith from a person. "Then the end of those who did evil was that they denied the signs of God." Sometimes a bad deed leads a person to deny the signs of God.

We have such individuals now. I know people who did good deeds for a while, then due to a moment of negligence and a mistake and an excessive expectation and something they thought was their right and was not given to them, they harbored it in their hearts and created a distance. This angle of deviation from the straight path is very dangerous. No matter how small the angle is, gradually this gap widens and the further it goes, the further it gets from the line. Today their work has reached a point where they work against Islam and the revolution and the Islamic system; one day they were in the service of this same Islam and this same revolution.

Who should be blamed? Some think the revolution should be blamed for not keeping them. No, the matter is not like this. "So do not blame me, but blame yourselves." Even Satan tells them not to blame me, blame yourselves. No one has a favor over Islam for becoming a Muslim. No one has a favor over the revolution for becoming revolutionary. God told the Prophet: "They consider it a favor to you that they have become Muslims." They boast and tell the Prophet: On the day you had no one, we believed in you and became Muslims. God says: "Say: Do not consider your Islam a favor to me." "Rather, God has conferred a favor upon you that He has guided you to faith." God has a favor over all of us that He guided us.

Today, how many nations and people are in misguidance. In this same material world, how many are captive to the self. Today in this so-called civilized world, how many young people exist who, like an animal, understand nothing but their own base material needs. An animal is nothing other than this. A human is one who recognizes a goal with logic, with reason, with pure and correct emotions, and then moves towards it with all their being and removes obstacles from their path. They do not understand this. America and Europe and the oppressed countries are full of such young people.

Thank God that He guided you to pure and sincere faith and pure monotheism. God gave us personality and independence. Today these powers that are in charge do not serve God; they consider humans to be their servants; humans have also accepted. They only fear one human and that is you. They only account for one human and that is you. They only know one human who will not submit to them under any circumstances and that is you. You were not like this, Islam made you like this; the value of Islam must be known. Therefore, we should not imagine that if we made a move, it will remain for us. No, we must keep it.

Our dear disabled veterans and wounded who are truly the embodiment of sacrifice are living martyrs. This bullet that hit this young man and damaged his spinal cord could have hit a few millimeters this way or that and taken his life and he would have been martyred. Today he is a martyr; a martyr who is alive and among us and his presence is a blessing for us. God addresses them and says: "Those who have been wounded, for those who have done good and have piety, there is a great reward." Merely being wounded in the battlefield is not enough; if we do good and have piety, we have a great reward. Therefore, even someone who endured that hardship in the battlefield must be good and pious. As I mentioned earlier, the title of the Guard is a very high title. Preserve this title with its characteristics in your being, heart, soul, and mind. This is necessary for the revolution.

Our dear clerical brothers who are in the Corps or in the rest of the armed forces and whose blessings are bestowed upon these sincere and righteous young people, have this great responsibility to teach the spirituality of Islam in addition to beliefs and rulings and to remind them of ethics. Ethics is not a lesson. The lesson of ethics is a science. What is necessary is advice. We all need advice. They must advise the young people and keep them away from being taken over by the whims of the self, selfishness, looking at issues negatively, and being at the mercy of Satan. Besides, they must complete their knowledge, elevate their understanding, and give them the ability to analyze politically.

The Imam said: The armed forces should not be in political groups. Indeed, they should not be in factions, parties, organizations, and political lines. These are forbidden for the Committee and the Corps. The Imam (may his soul be sanctified) prohibited the armed forces from factionalism and engaging in ordinary political lines. These actions are prohibited and forbidden; but they must have the ability to understand, discern, and judge politically. They must provide the groundwork for these issues for these brothers.

Today we need a Guard with these characteristics to protect the revolution. The revolution needs protection and safeguarding from all aspects, including material and armed protection — besides scientific and spiritual protection and others — and that is your responsibility, especially the responsibility of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which today, thanks be to God, has become a strong sapling and has filled the eyes of friends and enemies and has become an honor for the revolution.

You must strengthen yourselves in terms of military and combat power. That discipline and training and spiritual and moral effort and all the things necessary for a military unit must be provided for yourselves in the best way. Be in complete unity and brotherhood with the other armed forces. The day when the Corps thought that if the army became strong, it must become weak; or the army thought that if the Corps became strong, it must become weak and disappear, is over. No, today the matter is not like this.

Today, the Corps, thanks be to God, with discipline and progress and a situation moving towards strength and growth, with its forces — which have been described and you know — and modern weapons and equipment and more and better things that, God willing, will be prepared for it, stands alongside a strong and powerful army that has also become stronger in terms of equipment and training and must become so. These two organizations must grow alongside each other. The Islamic Republic needs more than these words.

See how the enemy is an enemy. See how savage they are and what they do. See when the West feels it must defend its interests militarily, how it enters the field. Now they do not consider anything against Iraq and the people of that country. All the words they used to say are over. All the claims of human rights and the killing of civilians and the bombing of cities and the rest of the words they always said during these years of our war — which they themselves imposed on us — addressed to us and Iraq, are over.

America and Britain and France and others and others have put all their forces together to secure their interests here. Now today securing their interests is to fight with the Ba'athist regime of Iraq. One day their interests may require something else. You must be ready. The armed forces must be ready.

The reason I emphasize discipline and organization and planning and these words is because I know that without these, the readiness of the armed forces will not be realized. Like the rest of the characteristics, this discipline and order and obedience to commanders — the same thing the Imam repeatedly referred to as the chain of command — must be observed and armed defense of values must be done for God and in the path of God. Then the title of the Guard will be preserved.

Fortunately, until today, you have served a lot and the services that the Guards have provided — whether the Guards of the Committee or the Guards of the Corps — are indescribable; they are more than these words and cannot fit in one speech and two speeches and one book and two books, but thick books must be written. Even in books and writings, not everything can be reflected.

We hope that the Almighty God grants you success. May the sacred heart of Vali Asr (may our souls be sacrificed for him) and the sacred spirit of our dear Imam be pleased and satisfied with you and may you become stronger, dearer, more cohesive, more capable, more faithful, and more determined in the path of serving the revolution day by day.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings