Statements of His Eminence in Meeting with a Large Group of Pasdaran of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the Occasion of Pasdar Day

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

I also sincerely congratulate this noble day and blessed festival to the entire nation of Iran, to all the free people of the world, especially to the dear Pasdaran who have officially and explicitly taken the path of Hussein ibn Ali (peace be upon him) and have pledged with their lives to the Great God, standing firm on this pledge throughout the difficult years of the revolution.

This Pasdar Day—which coincides with the birth of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him)—and this very meaningful and profound choice is worthy of reflection and contemplation for each and every Pasdar. Both the Pasdaran of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Pasdaran of the committees—who are now part of the law enforcement forces—as well as those who were part of these two organizations and are now serving in various places, but have kept the honor of being a Pasdar in their hearts, all must ponder and pay attention to this point. This is a continuous lesson.

The illustrious and noble personality of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) has two aspects: one aspect is the aspect of jihad and martyrdom and the storm he stirred in history, which continues with all its blessings; you are familiar with this. Another aspect is the spiritual and mystical dimension, which is particularly evident in the supplication of Arafah. We have few supplications like the supplication of Arafah, which contains such fervor, strange order, and appeal to the grace of the Exalted Lord, seeing oneself as nothing before the sacred divine essence; it is a very strange supplication.

Another supplication related to the day of Arafah is in the Sahifa Sajjadiya, which is from the son of this noble figure. I once compared these two supplications; first, I read the supplication of Imam Hussein, then the supplication of the Sahifa Sajjadiya. Repeatedly, it seemed to me that the supplication of Imam Sajjad is like an explanation of the supplication of Arafah. That is the text; this is the explanation. That is the original; this is the branch. The supplication of Arafah is a strange supplication. You see the same spirit in the address that the Imam delivered in the gathering of the greats of his time—the greats of Islam and the survivors of the followers and the like—in Mina. Apparently, it also belongs to the last year or another year—I do not remember exactly now—which is also recorded in history and in the books of hadith.

Returning to the issue of Ashura and Karbala, we see that even though it is a field of epic and war, from the first moment to the last moment, it is narrated that the Imam placed his blessed face on the hot sands of Karbala and said: 'O God, I am content with Your decree and submit to Your command,' accompanied by remembrance, supplication, and appeal. From the time of departure from Mecca, when he said: 'Whoever is willing to sacrifice his life for us and has prepared himself for meeting God, let him come with us,' it begins with supplication, appeal, and the promise of meeting God and the same spirit of the supplication of Arafah, until the pit of the killing field and 'content with Your decree' at the last moment. That is, the event of Ashura itself is also a mystical event. It is war, killing and being killed, it is an epic—and the epics of Ashura are an extraordinarily brilliant chapter—but when you look at the main fabric of this epic event, you see that there is mysticism, spirituality, supplication, and the spirit of the supplication of Arafah. Therefore, the other aspect of Imam Hussein's (peace be upon him) personality must also be considered with the same grandeur as this aspect of jihad and martyrdom and with the same peak and ascent.

Now, the point I want to make is here. Perhaps it can be said decisively that it is this spirituality, mysticism, appeal, annihilation in God, and being absorbed in the Beloved and not seeing oneself before the will of the sacred divine essence that has made the event of Ashura so magnificent, glorious, and enduring. In other words, this first aspect—that is, the aspect of jihad and martyrdom—is created and produced by that second aspect; that is, the same spiritual and mystical spirit. Many are believers and go to struggle, and they also achieve martyrdom—martyrdom is there, nothing is lacking—but there is also a martyrdom that, more than the spirit of faith, stems from a burning heart, from an inflamed and restless spirit in the path of God and in the love of the Lord, and immersed in the divine essence and attributes. Such a struggle finds a different taste. This gives a different state. This leaves a different effect in creation.

We observed some of this in the war. When you saw that the Imam said to read the wills of these young people, my guess is—although I did not hear anything from the Imam on this matter—that this was not a dry and empty recommendation. The Imam himself had read those wills, and that fiery bullet had affected his blessed heart, and he wanted others not to be deprived of it. As I myself, during the years of the war and after that until today, thanks be to God, have been somewhat familiar with these wills and have seen how some of these wills reflect the same spirit of mysticism.

The path that a mystic and a seeker traverses over thirty years, forty years—enduring hardships, worshiping, being present, learning from teachers, how many tears, how many supplications, how many great deeds—this long path is found and traversed by a young person in ten days, fifteen days, twenty days at the front. That is, from the moment this young person, with any motivation—naturally with a religious motivation, along with those youthful epics—went to the front, and this state gradually turned into a state of determination for sacrifice and absolute renunciation of all his existence, and he wrote his memories or will, until the moment of martyrdom, this state became more and more passionate moment by moment, and this closeness became closer, and this journey became faster; until those last days and last moments and last hours, if anything is left of him, it affects the heart like a fiery bullet. These young people who wrote memories and were martyred, one can see such a characteristic very clearly in their writings. This is a reflection of the same Husayni spirit. Therefore, the backing of the Ashura event is spirituality.

This enduring storm in history—which has always frightened and defeated the palaces of oppression—has always, in various historical periods, wherever it has risen properly, done something similar to what it did on that day; like our revolution. This great event, whose effect has been seen moment by moment in different periods of time in history, has destroyed so many oppressive dynasties; has strengthened so many weak people; has given spirit to so many oppressed nations and has equipped so many people to resist in the path of God! In our time, too, with the insight of the great Imam, this event was able to suddenly appear in society like that first storm before the victory of the revolution. This itself is the result of attention, appeal, remembrance, presence, and connection with the Lord. Our great Imam was also one of these types of people; he himself was of this remembrance and presence. The brilliance of the Imam's work was also in this. The effect of his breath was also mainly related to this issue.

I want to tell you dear ones that the Revolutionary Guard Corps and every Pasdar and anyone not in the guise of a Pasdar who considers himself responsible for the trust of Islam and the trust of the revolution; who considers himself playing a role in the life of today's and tomorrow's humanity for Islamic values, must pay attention that with the end of the war, the work did not end; with the passing of a decade and two decades since the victory of the revolution, the effort did not end. The clear reason is that the hostilities and obstructive and opposing factors to this movement of righteousness and salvation have not ended.

The enemies with insight; enemies whose enmity is not related to a person—that is, the enemy fronts—have learned that to confront a great movement like the Islamic Revolution, if it cannot be faced head-on and they feel its crushing power is too much—as they felt about the revolution—the way is to temporarily withdraw themselves and hide behind the trenches and wait for an opportunity. They have done this with almost all the revolutions of the twentieth century.

You know that the twentieth century AD is the century of revolutions and popular movements based on new ideas, thoughts, and aspirations. It started with the socialist revolution of the Soviet Union in the early decades of this century and continued in this way—some leftist, some not so much within the framework of Marxist thoughts; but in any case, with a specific color—until our revolution, and after our revolution, some other revolutions.

Dozens of revolutions occurred around the world; each one also overthrew a system and created a government and organization. They did the same with each of them. That is, if they could, they went after them at the very beginning and tried to finish their work! Some were unable to hold themselves at the very beginning and were defeated. Those who had problems, while not abandoning the disturbances—they constantly disturbed them, harassed them, made propaganda, besieged them, tired them—they themselves also lay in ambush, waiting for the moment they felt these were tired, suddenly delivering the final blow; they almost did and generally succeeded. The same counter-revolutionary currents that were once isolated and defeated later managed to come and take control and do the work.

Regarding the Islamic Revolution, the enemy front—not individuals and persons—had the same plan and scheme from the beginning of the revolution. However, regarding our revolution over these eighteen years, not a single phenomenon emerged that could make the enemy front happy and hopeful. Once, during the presidency, I met with one of those who was at the head of a revolutionary group and was among the well-known politicians in the world—I do not want to name names—in his own country. He had done something contrary to his revolutionary claims and ideas and words. I asked him: How did you do this and with what logic? He laughed and said: This is a tactic(!) I said: One can accept a tactic as long as it does not completely change the line; you have changed your line. And it was so; their line and direction had completely changed; but that gentleman considered it a change of tactic! He said: I maneuver, I use tactics and act(!) What kind of tactic is this that a person allows the enemy to dominate himself! Is this called a tactic to retract one's words and completely change one's direction?! Such things were seen in the record of those revolutions. It tempted the enemy, the enemy also became hopeful, lay in ambush, and succeeded; as they almost succeeded everywhere.

Regarding our revolution, the presence of the Imam, that insightful, fearless person in observing divine laws, by making the divine command and the lawful and unlawful of Sharia the criterion, prevented any inclination towards the enemy from being shown during those ten years. After the Imam's passing, by the grace of the Lord, efforts have been made to keep it the same. Sometimes, in some things concerning some individuals, the enemy might have thought that, for example, it had managed to find a familiar face; but it did not take long for the enemy to realize it was mistaken. So far, by the grace of the Lord, this revolution has not shown a face that could make the enemy hopeful; but the enemy is still lying in ambush; everyone should know this.

What can stabilize the revolution and the great direction of this nation and the path it takes towards righteousness, salvation, dignity, divine satisfaction, and the happiness of this world and the hereafter, is vigilance, readiness, and the spirit of guardianship. This spirit of guardianship depends on that spiritual aspect. The reason I emphasize the observance of the spiritual aspect in meetings with Pasdaran brothers, with revolutionary groups, and with brothers and sisters who have sensitive responsibilities in various sectors, is precisely because of this. This attention, appeal, and heartfelt connection with the Lord of the worlds guarantee the strength and power of the forces that want to always stand against that front and resist. There is no other way.

If this relationship with God weakens, desires dominate a person, and these desires can regulate the direction, then the power to resist the enemy front also weakens. Of course, every human being is sometimes exposed to their own desires. This is not something that people can be completely removed from. What is important is that desires and material interests and petty desires are not allowed to determine the line of a person's life; to put the path of life before a person; to become decisive in a person's life and change the path. This is important.

What reduces vulnerability in this area is the same spiritual and moral issues, supplication, remembrance, attention, self-purification, and self-building against one's desires and fighting against corrupt morals in oneself. This is very important. There are many who, in terms of attention and remembrance and supplication, are also people of these things, but they have not been able to uproot corrupt morals—selfishness, self-admiration, stinginess, greed, envy, malice, suspicion, ill-will towards this and that—in themselves, or prevent their influence on their own behaviors.

Exactly the opposite of that is the moral paradise that Islam has depicted for people. Islam wants people to be kind to each other, to be intensely interested and attached to each other's fate, to be interested in each other's interests, to be affected and sorry for each other's sufferings and mistakes, to pray for each other, to treat each other with mercy; 'and they enjoin one another to mercy.' This hand of friendship, emotional bond, loving connection between brothers, between friends, between sisters, between the individuals of the Islamic nation, goodwill, good intentions, these are very prominent and excellent qualities; these should be strengthened in oneself. The worst qualities in a person are that a person places himself and his material interests at the center and is willing to expose countless people to destruction and misery to satisfy a personal feeling and a personal desire. God must remedy this and uproot these roots from our hearts. These meanings are also present in these supplications.

The strange thing is that although there are almost supplications from all the Imams (peace be upon them)—as far as I remember—there are more and the most famous supplications from three Imams, all three of whom were engaged in great struggles during their lifetime: one is the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him), from whom supplications like the supplication of Kumayl and other supplications have been received, which are a world and a tumult. Then the supplications related to Imam Hussein (peace be upon him), of which the supplication of Arafah is the manifestation. This supplication is truly a strange supplication. Then there is Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him), who is the son and messenger of Ashura and a fighter against the oppressive palace of Yazid. These three Imams, whose presence in the arenas of struggle is the most prominent, their supplications are also the most numerous; their lessons through supplication are also the most numerous. Then you look at these moral characteristics in the Sahifa Sajjadiya.

I recommend to each and every one of you dear ones to become familiar with the Sahifa Sajjadiya as much as you can. It is a very great book. What they have said is the Psalms of the family of Muhammad, it is truly so; full of spiritual melodies, supplication, and lessons; it is both a lesson in ethics, a lesson in psychology, and a lesson in social matters. There you observe: 'O God, I seek refuge in You from the surge of greed and the intensity of anger... and the insistence of desire.' That is, one by one, these spiritual and moral characteristics and these corrupt roots that are in our soul are introduced to us in the language of supplication.

You must also ask God for the remedy for these. When you converse with God, among the things you ask for is the remedy for these inner and psychological problems. That society in which at least a large group of it is nurtured with these characteristics is the same society in which no trick will work.

Our society, thanks be to God, is a young society; the face of society is young. Young people are the majority in our society, and it will remain so for several years until it reaches the lower birth rates that belong to later years. For now, for many years, the face of our society is young, and youth is the manifestation of divine favors to people; because youth has purity and sincerity. Due to some weaknesses, the enemy plans for the youth; but the strengths of the youth far outweigh their weaknesses.

If in this society, attention and appeal are accompanied by knowledge—not blind appeal, not appeal without knowledge and understanding—and the correct meaning of appeal to God, which the Quran and narrations and supplications and Nahj al-Balagha recommend to us, becomes prevalent—the Sahifa Sajjadiya can also play a very good role in this regard—and you yourself and the young people who associate with you become familiar with these spiritual stages and introduce your children, who gradually enter the stage of youth, to this spiritual position and this stage of spirituality and attention and presence; that too in the form of the words of Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him) in the Sahifa Sajjadiya and such things—and of course Nahj al-Balagha also has the same spiritual spirit—then this society is a society that any arrogant enemy must truly be afraid of; must be hopeless about attracting and absorbing it; must know that as long as the spirit of Islam, as long as the spirituality of Islam, as long as devotion to Islam and belief in Islam exist in society, no factor can divert this nation and this society from the straight path of the Islamic Revolution.

We hope that God Almighty will grant success to all of you, God willing. Grant success to all our young people; so that they can, God willing, learn this luminous path and these luminous rulings and these luminous teachings and knowledge; traverse this path and benefit from its blessings, and also benefit this nation and this country and future generations under the attention of the Guardian of the Age, may our souls be sacrificed for him.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings