Speech in Meeting with a Large Group of University Scholars and Seminary Students

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

First, I extend a warm welcome to all of you, brothers and sisters, whether you have come from distant places and other cities or are present from various organizations and institutions. We honor and commemorate our dear and esteemed martyr, the late Ayatollah Dr. Mofatteh, whose name is associated with these days.

The issue these days revolves around the university, the seminary, and unity. These three words and concepts are very important in the revolution. The title of unity between the seminary and the university, which our great Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) issued from his wise and divinely inspired heart, is based on three fundamental pillars. These three pillars—namely, the seminary, the university, and unity—are among the main issues of this revolution and country.

The foundation of monotheism, which is our intellectual, doctrinal, social, and practical basis, lies in unity. Polytheistic thoughts divided people. A society built on polytheism has human classes that are separate and alien to each other. When in a polytheistic society, the connection of humans to the origin of existence and the dominant force of the universe is discussed, naturally and inevitably, people in this society become separated from each other; one to one god, another to another god, and a third to yet another god. A society based on polytheism has an impenetrable wall and an unbridgeable chasm of separation among its individuals and tribes. In contrast, in a monotheistic society, when the origin and owner of existence and the sovereign of the universe, who is alive, self-subsisting, and dominant, and upon whose will and power all movements and phenomena of the world depend, is one, humans—whether black or white, with different bloods and various races and social statuses—are related to each other; because they are connected to that God, they are connected to one place and receive help and assistance from one source. This is the inevitable result of belief in monotheism. In this view, not only are humans connected to each other, but with a monotheistic perspective, objects and parts of the world, animals, inanimate objects, the sky, the earth, and everything are connected and related to each other and are all related to humans. Therefore, everything that a person sees, feels, and perceives is a horizon, a world, and a collection that is placed in a healthy world and a safe environment.

This is why the Quran states: "God guides those who follow His pleasure to the ways of peace." Those who find faith in God are guided by Him and directed to the paths of peace and coexistence, due to the monotheistic foundation of the Islamic society. Guardianship also means this. Guardianship means a close, strong, and inseparable connection and relationship. An Islamic society that has guardianship means that all its parts are connected to each other and to the axis and center of this society—the Guardian. The necessity of this connection and attachment is that the Islamic society is united and cohesive within itself and attracts compatible parts from outside and strongly repels and opposes parts that are hostile to it. This means "severe against the disbelievers, merciful among themselves," which is the necessity of the guardianship and monotheism of the Islamic society.

This foundation of monotheism and belief in the oneness of the Almighty God (Glorious and Exalted is He) affects all individual and social aspects of the Islamic society and makes the society a harmonious and interconnected community, enjoying unity (unity of direction, unity of movement, and unity of purpose). These societies are the opposite of the influence of polytheism and polytheists and the gods that create polytheism. Therefore, wherever there is unity among the believers and the righteous servants of God, there is also monotheism and God. Wherever there is discord among the believers and the righteous servants of God, there is certainly Satan and the enemy of God present. Wherever you see discord, search, and without difficulty, you will find Satan there, or the Satan within our own souls, known as the commanding self, which is the most dangerous of Satans. Therefore, behind all discord, there is either our selfishness, ambition, and egotism, or external Satans, meaning the hands of the enemy and global arrogance and oppressive and tyrannical powers.

In our country, for a thousand years, science and religion were side by side. The great scholars, physicians, astronomers, and mathematicians of our history—those whose names and discoveries are still discussed in the world today—were among the scholars of God and religious thinkers. Avicenna, whose book on medicine is still considered a living scientific book in the world and is regarded as a prominent figure in the history of mankind in various scientific fields throughout this thousand years and is still discussed, and some works in the history of science are registered in his name, was also a religious scholar. Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, and other scholars, scientists, thinkers, discoverers, and inventors of the Islamic world were the same. This was the situation of our country and the Islamic world.

As long as religion was dominant and the scene of people's lives was not completely devoid of religion and its spiritual influence, the situation was like this. From the time when Europeans, Westerners, Zionist politicians, and thinkers who were plotting to destroy the Islamic world brought knowledge along with politics into our country, they separated science from religion, and consequently, the field of religion became devoid of science, and the field of science became devoid of religion.

In the scientific seminaries, modern advancements in science were not introduced. We must search for why in the decades of this century and the past century, the learning of non-religious sciences—these common sciences that were taught and learned in seminaries before—did not enter the seminaries, and why the scholars, who themselves were thinkers and heirs and owners of these sciences in past periods, rejected them? There were two factors, both related to the fact that Westerners had become the custodians and owners of natural science in the world. The first factor was that religious scholars viewed the science that the enemies of religion and infidels wanted to promote with suspicion and rejected it. The second factor was that those same enemies and infidels were not willing to allow the science they possessed to penetrate into the seminaries, which were the centers of religion. Both were estranged and hostile to each other, and the main reason was that everywhere in the world, including in Islamic countries, science was a tool in the hands of anti-religious policies.

The nineteenth century, which is the peak of scientific research in the Western world, is the century of separation from religion and the expulsion of religion from the scene of life. This thought also affected our country, and the main foundation of our university was laid on a non-religious basis. Scholars turned away from the university, and the university also turned away from scholars and seminaries. This bitter phenomenon had adverse effects both in the seminary and in the universities. It had adverse effects in the seminaries because it limited and confined religious scholars solely to mental religious issues—and nothing else—and kept them unaware of the developments in the outside world. Scientific advancements remained hidden from them, and the spirit of transformation and the necessity of transformation in Islamic jurisprudence and the deduction of religious rulings—which has always existed in the great global transformations, such a transformation in the deduction of religion and Islamic jurisprudence, and jurisprudence is based on the Quran and Sunnah to meet the needs of society—disappeared in the seminaries. The seminaries remained unaware of the realities of life and the great events occurring in the outside world and were limited to a series of jurisprudential issues, often secondary. The main issues of jurisprudence—such as jihad, the establishment of government, the economy of Islamic societies, and in summary, governmental jurisprudence—became isolated, abandoned, and "forgotten," and more attention was paid to secondary and tertiary issues, often far from the important events and issues of life. This was a blow that was dealt to the seminaries, and the hands of politics also took advantage of this and, with devilish methods and propaganda, distanced the seminaries from the transformations of life as much as they could.

As for the university—which was initially separated from the seminary and religion—fell into the hands of those who had no share in religion, Islamic ethics, political ethics, or the conscience of a citizen towards their country and nation. In the last seventy years, except for a few individuals like Amir Kabir and later a few others who were very few, most of those who held the reins of higher education in this country and whose will and planning were connected to the issues of higher education were people for whom the interests of the Iranian nation had no preference over the interests of foreigners, and they were more concerned with other things than the future of this nation and country!

It is not accidental that the Iranian nation, with its historical scientific background and with this brilliant talent it possesses (all those who have worked on the issues of nations and we are informed, have said about the Iranian nation that this nation has a talent above the average human talents) and with that rich, deep Islamic culture and having very great scholars throughout successive centuries and with the natural enthusiasm and interest in learning and knowing, in these two hundred years or one hundred and fifty years when the world has moved rapidly towards knowledge and science and the peaks of science, Iran and the Iranian nation have been among the backward groups and nations.

If this nation had been left to its own devices, it would have advanced in sciences and in most of the sciences that initially emerged and blossomed from the heart and within societies, it would have progressed and kept pace with the world and would not have lagged so far behind.

After the path of Western contemporary knowledge and sciences was opened in Iran, treacherous and heedless hands caused this nation to lag behind and not progress. For years and even centuries, our nation was at the peak of the pinnacle of science, and nowhere in the world during that period did sciences shine so brightly. You have heard that the Middle Ages are the ages of darkness and ignorance. Even today, when Europeans want to criticize people, they say they are medieval! The Middle Ages mean the centuries of ignorance and darkness of European nations. Exactly at the same time as these centuries, the centuries of the brilliance of knowledge in Iran and Islamic countries were occurring. Avicenna, Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, and Omar Khayyam—the great astronomer and mathematician—and our greatest literati and our greatest scholars in natural sciences and our greatest mathematicians and astronomers and physicians, whose scientific works are still discussed in the world today, lived during the Middle Ages. Yes, the Middle Ages are the ages of darkness and ignorance for Europeans and the ages of the brilliance of knowledge for us Muslims. Europeans conceal this truth, and Western historians do not speak of it, and we have become accustomed and believed it!

A nation with this brilliant historical background, during the pervasive oppression of the monarchical government in this country—and worse than all, in these two hundred or one hundred and fifty years, meaning the late Qajar period and the entire Pahlavi era—fell to this level of scientific decline. This is what they did, and the main reason for this issue was the separation of religion from science in our country. Scholars and scientists and researchers of natural sciences in our country remained separate from religion and consequently did not benefit the people and their country and nation. The better and best of them went and became useful for foreigners. Some remained here and worked for foreigners. The intellectuals who studied in these same universities were the ones who, throughout the Pahlavi government, managed this country in the most treacherous way and betrayed this nation. They were graduates of these same universities, and God had mercy that the Islamic Revolution emerged. The generation that gradually graduated from the later intellectuals of this society and was moving towards political work was such a rootless and faithless and disconnected generation that God knows if they had come to power, what they would have done with this nation and this country. They would have burned and destroyed the existence and non-existence of this nation! Thank God they did not get the chance, and the Islamic Revolution came and tore that chain and scroll apart.

In the Islamic system, science and religion must move side by side. The unity of the seminary and the university means this. The unity of the seminary and the university does not mean that necessarily the specialties of the seminary should be pursued in the university and the specialties of the university in the seminary. No, it is not necessary. If the seminary and the university are connected and optimistic towards each other and help each other and cooperate with each other, they are two branches of one institution of science and religion. The institution of science and religion is one institution, and science and religion are together. This institution has two branches: one branch is the seminaries, and the other branch is the universities; but they must be connected and optimistic towards each other, work together, not separate from each other, and benefit from each other. The sciences that the seminaries want to learn today should be taught to them by the university people. The religion and religious knowledge that the university people need should be taught to them by the scholars of the seminary. The presence of religious representatives in universities is for this reason. How good it is that these connections are planned and organized. This is one of the best and most natural unities.

You know that during the time of oppression and when the tyrannical regime used all means to separate the clergy from the educated, we had a number of aware, knowledgeable, wise, and prudent clergy who strengthened their connection with the universities. The best sessions of scholarly lectures by scholars like the late Ayatollah Motahhari and others like him were in the universities, and the late Dr. Mofatteh (may God's mercy be upon him) was one of the most active and hardworking of these kinds of clergy.

Students and scholars should appreciate each other, be familiar and connected with each other, not feel alienated, maintain the feeling of kinship and brotherhood, and the clergy in universities should practically—before verbally—strive to present complete examples of religious scholars and students of religious sciences to students and university people and show that both are working together with positive sensitivity and interest. This is the cooperation and unity of the seminary and the university. Of course, this work must be planned and organized.

Fortunately, the Islamic Revolution unraveled all that the enemies of Islam, and indeed the enemies of the very essence of religion in the world, had woven over many years and destroyed the product of their work. What is happening and occurring in Iran today are things that billions have been spent to prevent from happening. What you see today in Iran, women moving towards hijab and chastity, and young people moving towards religion, and the system being one that progresses based on the Quran, what you see from the seminary of Qom, scholars actively participating in the battlefronts and the seminary of Qom forming a military, combat, and propaganda unit, and today some of these brothers are present in this gathering, what you see in our university, the name of religion and God and Islamic knowledge being taught, and the heads and professors of universities and ministers related to higher sciences being involved with religion, all these are things that our enemies had planned for years not to happen in Iran; but thanks to the revolution and Islam, they happened. Appreciate and preserve this.

Today, one of the sensitivities of colonialism and global arrogance and America and the Zionists who design corruption in the world is to prevent countries with revolutionary systems from advancing scientifically. This sensitivity is doubled towards our country; because the sensitivity they have towards Islam and the Islamic Revolution, they have not had and will not have towards any other revolution. Of course, if a non-Islamic revolution occurs in the future, they will not have this sensitivity. Today, those who can grow knowledge in this country must feel a doubled duty; because the enemy does not want to let us stand on our own feet. Standing on our own feet will be realized when knowledge springs from within us, and we do not extend a begging hand towards our enemies. Good and outstanding talents, gifted students, and those who can be useful for the future of the country must feel a great sense of duty and responsibility. Of course, they should also be very happy that despite the enemies' wishes, they can be useful and effective for their country and nation.

Global arrogance has spread its bloody claws over the world. Wherever you look in the world, you will see signs of the ruthless dominance of arrogance there. Of course, in some places, it is more and clearer, and in some places, it is not so clear; but it is there nonetheless. America and its power partners in the world are expanding this satanic trap of domination day by day. Of course, our belief is, and external realities also show, that this decaying empire of arrogance will not last long, and God willing, with the efforts of the faithful men of the world and the zealous Muslims of Islamic countries and the awakened consciences of non-Islamic countries, this demonic and satanic domination will be weakened and ultimately disintegrated.

Let me also say that where you feel the enemy is being harsh, it is exactly where the enemy is being hurt. The pressure that is being exerted these days by the Zionists on the oppressed Palestinian Muslims means that arrogance is seriously threatened in the occupied Palestinian lands. If there was no serious threat, there would not be so much pressure. These days, the usurping Zionist government attacks people daily in the occupied lands, and I have even heard that they have attacked women, injuring and wounding some of them, and have wounded many people through their military and police mercenaries. They arrest many individuals and detain and torture them in their prisons, keeping them under extreme pressure; but the sacred flame is becoming more and more inflamed in the occupied lands every day.

A young Palestinian Muslim said: Today, in the prisons of the occupied lands, prisoners sing in love of the Imam and in memory of the great leader of the Islamic Revolution. The memory of the revolution and the Imam and the memory of the struggles of the Iranian nation are present even in the depths of those cells. The enemy fears this. Therefore, the pressure on those people has had no effect. Now, in occupied Palestine, for over two years, people have been fighting with bare hands, and the enemy has not been able to suppress this struggle; just as they have not been able to suppress the struggle of Muslims who are fighting against the agents of arrogance in Islamic countries. This means that the wave of Islamism and Islamic culture is spreading more and more. The enemy's and Satan's plot is a weak plot, and wherever the pressure of arrogance is greater, its vulnerability is also greater.

We, as the Islamic Revolution and as the first nation that has been able to rub the nose of arrogance in the dirt with this revolution and with power and courage, destroy the stronghold of arrogance in this country and expel arrogance and America, declare that we support and defend the oppressed Palestinian Muslims and believe that their struggle, God willing, will reach good results.

May God, God willing, grant His successes to all of you, gentlemen and respected sisters. Once again, I recommend to all the respected attendees, especially university scholars and clergy and bright young people, to keep the field of science—whether seminary or university—and the unity between these two sources strong and to know that the progress of this revolution and the continuation and persistence of this struggle is against the enemies and the devils.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings