Message to the Pilgrims of the Sacred House of God

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

Thanks be to God, Lord of the worlds, and prayers upon His Messenger, the Prophet of the unlettered, and upon his pure family and chosen companions, and peace upon all righteous servants of God. God, the Wise, said: And when We designated for Abraham the site of the House, saying, 'Do not associate anything with Me and purify My House for those who perform Tawaf and those who stand and bow and prostrate in prayer.'

Once again, the decisive will of God has gathered the believers in the birthplace of monotheism, the sanctuary of divine mercy and grace, around the Kaaba of hearts, and in the direction of the Qibla of the souls of Muslims worldwide. The celestial call: 'And proclaim the pilgrimage among men,' has overcome the natural and imposed distances among Muslim brothers, drawing countless hearts that beat with equal faith, love, and need towards the center of monotheism and the unity of the Ummah. For many years, the hands of ignorance and enmity have tried to separate the great Islamic family from its roots of belief and its bonds of faith, but every year, the obligation of Hajj injects the lesson of monotheism and unity into this ancient and deep-rooted family, promising new blossoms of renewed faith and religious life, and Islamic intimacy and affection, nullifying the constructs of the enemy. This is the miracle of Hajj, that despite the conflicts and disputes in which Muslim governments have often lined up against each other, the intellectual, emotional, and faith-based ties among Muslim nations have never been severed, and the mutual influences of these nations have always been on the rise. Although the secrets and mysteries of Hajj are too numerous to be reported in a speech, every discerning eye can recognize three prominent features at first glance: First, Hajj is the only obligation for which God calls all Muslims who have the ability from all over the world and from the solitude of their homes and places of worship to one point, and in the known days, connects them to each other in various efforts, movements, and stillness: 'Then depart from where the people depart and ask forgiveness of God; indeed, God is Forgiving and Merciful.' Second, in this collective and public act, the highest goal is the remembrance of God, which is a spiritual and inner act: 'And remember the name of God during specific days over what He has provided for them of the beast of cattle.' Third, in its clear and universally recognizable page, it presents an image of the overall view of the life of a monotheistic human and, in a symbolic act, teaches Muslims a purposeful and directed life. From entering the Miqat and being present in the state of Ihram and Talbiyah and abstentions to Tawaf around the center of the Kaaba and Sa'i between Safa and Marwah and standing in the gathering of Arafat and Mash'ar and the remembrance and supplication and acquaintance therein, and reaching Mina and its sacrifice and stoning of the Jamarat and shaving, and then returning again to Tawaf and Sa'i. All these are clear and eloquent lessons of directed, collective, and knowledgeable movement of Muslims in the field of monotheism and in the pursuit of life around the axis of 'God.' Life in the mirror of Hajj is a continuous journey, rather a continuous becoming towards God, and Hajj is that ever-living practical and constructive lesson that, if we are alert, outlines our way and method of life in a practical and clear scene. An annual gathering is held so that Muslims, in that environment of unity and understanding, and in the light of the remembrance of God, learn the way and direction of life, then return to their land and among their people, and in subsequent years, other groups come and go, learn and accumulate, speak and act, listen and reflect, and ultimately the entire Ummah reaches what God has desired and religion has taught. Looking at the vast arena of the life of the Islamic Ummah, beyond the dimensions of nations and races and tribes, and looking into the depths of one's existence and learning the way and direction and method of life, as befits it, all in the light of the remembrance of God. This is the source of knowledge that annually in Hajj, abundantly and inexhaustibly, flows over the multitude gathered in the sacred sanctuary of God and quenches those who open the vessel of their mind and heart from this pure knowledge. In the past and today, efforts have been made and are being made to portray Hajj as an individual obligation, where each person is only engaged in worship and supplication with God. Let us overlook those heedless ones who view the journey of Hajj as a touristic and commercial trip. Hajj, with its prominent features that cannot be found in any other Islamic obligation, is far superior to their narrow-minded vision and the dim and misguided view of these individuals. In our time, the greatest person who unveiled Hajj from the veil of illusions and revealed its secrets in the minds and actions of a large number of Muslims was our great departed Imam. He called for the Abrahamic Hajj and invited the masses to it. Once again, he conveyed the call: 'Proclaim the pilgrimage among men' to the ears of the world. The Abrahamic Hajj is the same Muhammadan Hajj in which the movement towards monotheism and unity is the spirit and headline of all ceremonies and rituals, a Hajj that is a source of blessing and guidance and the main pillar in the life and uprising of the united Ummah, a Hajj full of benefits and rich in the remembrance of God, a Hajj in which Muslim nations feel the existence of the encompassing Muhammadan Ummah (peace be upon him and his family) and their presence in it and are freed from the feeling of weakness and helplessness and self-abandonment with the feeling of brotherhood and closeness of nations. The Abrahamic Hajj is one in which Muslims move from division to unity and circumambulate the Kaaba, which is a monument of monotheism and a symbol of disavowal and hatred of polytheism and idolatry, with knowledge of its symbolic meaning and reach from the outward and body of the rituals to its inner and spirit and take provisions from it for their life and the life of the Islamic Ummah. Now, I, with hope in divine mercy and guidance and with prayers for the acceptance and abundance of your Hajj, my Muslim brothers and sisters from all over the Islamic world, take the opportunity to reflect on the rituals of Hajj and present some points that are beneficial for all Muslims as a reminder:

1 The first point is about monotheism, which is the essential spirit of Hajj and the content of many of its acts and rituals. Monotheism, with its deep Quranic concept, means attention and movement towards God and rejection and negation of idols and satanic powers. The most dangerous of these powers within the human being is the commanding self and misleading and degrading desires, and at the level of society and the world, it is the same arrogant and seditious and corrupting powers that today have seized the lives of Muslims and with satanic methods have subjected the body and soul of many Muslim nations to their policies. The ceremony of disavowal in Hajj is the declaration of disavowal from these powers. Every clear eye and insightful look can observe in the lives of Muslim societies the sign of the domination of powers or their efforts to dominate Islamic countries. In some of these countries, politics and economy and international relations and stance towards world events are aligned with and influenced by the domineering powers, with America at the forefront. The spread of corruption and the official status of immorality and religious prohibitions in many of these countries are influenced by the satanic policies of those powers. The duty that Hajj and its monotheistic acts and rituals impose on the Muslim pilgrim is to express disavowal and rejection of all this, and this is the first step in the way of embodying the Islamic will in negating these satanic phenomena and establishing the rule of Islam and monotheism over all Islamic societies.

2 The next point is about the unity and solidarity of Muslims, which is another prominent content of the rituals of Hajj. From the beginning of European colonialism's entry into Islamic countries, one of the definite policies of the colonizers has been to create division among Muslims. Sometimes with the weapon of sectarian differences and sometimes with the tool of nationalism and tribalism and sometimes with other means. Unfortunately, despite the cries of reformers and advocates of unity, this weapon of the enemy still inflicts blows and wounds on the body of the Islamic Ummah to some extent. Fanning the flames of Shia-Sunni differences, Arab and non-Arab, Asian and African, and emphasizing Arab, Turanian, and Persian nationalism, although initiated by foreigners, unfortunately, today continues by insiders who, due to misunderstanding or servitude to foreigners, pour water into the enemy's mill. This deviation sometimes reaches the point where some Muslim governments spend money to create division among Islamic sects or nations and ethnicities, or some pseudo-scholars openly issue fatwas declaring some Islamic sects, whose illustrious history in Islam is clear, as infidels. Muslim nations should recognize the malicious motives of these actions, see the hidden hand of the great Satan and its agents and followers behind it, and expose the traitors.

3 Another important point that all Muslims should know and feel obligated to confront is that today, almost everywhere in the world, a fierce and conspiratorial struggle by the arrogant powers against Islam and Muslims is underway. Although the essence of this struggle is not new and its signs are well known in the history of European colonialism, it can be said that its diverse methods, its openness, and in some cases its extreme cruelty are unprecedented and a phenomenon of this era. A look at the current situation of the Islamic world reveals the reason for this phenomenon, namely the intensification and openness of the struggle against Islam. The reason is nothing but the spread of Muslim awakening. The truth is that Muslims in the past one or two decades in the east and west of the Islamic world and even in non-Islamic countries have started a genuine and deep movement that should be called the 'Islamic Revival Movement.' Now, it is this young and educated generation, benefiting from the knowledge of the times, that contrary to the expectations of yesterday's colonizers and today's arrogant powers, not only has not forgotten Islam but has turned to it with fervent faith, which has become much more enlightened and profound by using the advancement of human knowledge, and seeks its lost treasure in it. The uprising of the Islamic Republic in Iran and its increasing stability and power is the pinnacle of this young and deep-rooted movement, which itself has played the greatest role in spreading Muslim awakening. This is what forces the front of arrogance, which always avoided openly fighting against the beliefs and sanctities of nations, to enter the field openly and with all possible methods, and sometimes with cruelty and violence, in the fight against Islam. In America and European countries, many leaders and politicians can be identified who have at least once in their statements explicitly considered the growth and spread of Islamic faith a great danger and deemed it necessary to fight against it. The more the general inclination of Muslim youth towards Islamic faith and practice has spread, the clearer these statements of panic and hostility have become, and now it has reached the point where even the leaders and politicians of some Islamic countries, who always hid their enmity with Islam under a cover of hypocrisy, following their American and European masters, openly and explicitly speak of the danger of Islam! And they consider the sacred faith of the people they rule over a threat to themselves. The fight against Islamic awakening on a global scale takes various forms: In Algeria, the overwhelming majority of people in a free and completely democratic election vote for the Islamic Front's rule, a brutal coup nullifies the election, imprisons the elected, and suppresses the people, and then the arrogant powers of America and Europe breathe a sigh of relief and fully stand behind the coup plotters and reveal their hidden hand in it. In Sudan, Islamic groups, with the strong support of the nation, come to power, and then the West starts all kinds of provocations and constantly threatens them from inside and outside their borders. In Palestine and Lebanon, Palestinian Muslims are brutally suppressed and tortured by the usurping Zionists, then America helps those savage murderers and torturers and accuses those oppressed Muslims or their Lebanese defenders of terrorism. In southern Iraq, a large part of the Iraqi nation, who have taken up the fight against the Ba'athist regime with Islamic motivations and slogans, are subjected to the most brutal attacks by that regime, and America and the West, who have shown their motivation for a powerful confrontation with Saddam in other matters, here appear with a satisfied and encouraging silence. In Kashmir and India, the blind and ignorant Hindu fanaticism, with the connivance and sometimes help of the government, attacks the honor, life, and sanctities of Muslims, and this is met with the indifferent and smiling indifference of America and the West. In Egypt, the most enlightened generations of Muslims are pursued harshly and angrily by the corrupt and incompetent regime of that country, and the dependent and insignificant government of that great country is encouraged and financially and security-wise supported by America. In Tajikistan, the majority of the Muslim people, eager to live under the shadow of Islam, are severely suppressed by the remnants of the communist regime, and a large number of them are displaced from their homes, and the West, with all its concern about the return of communists in the former Soviet Union, considers this movement of theirs as advantageous and openly sides with the enemies of Islam in the comparison between Islam and communism. In America and Europe, Muslims and Islamic groups are insulted and accused, and in some cases, the demonstration of Islamic commitments such as women's hijab is prohibited. Open insults to Islam in the form of banned hijab and by a writer whose blood is permissible are repeatedly supported openly by the leaders of European regimes, and even the head of the infamous and ill-reputed British regime meets with that mercenary and worthless writer. Worse than all these is the unprecedented genocide of Muslims in Bosnia, for more than a year, the racist Serbs, recently accompanied by Croats, relying on the weapons and facilities of the Serbian regime and foreign aid, have been committing the ugliest and most inhumane types of massacre and cruelty against Muslims, the rightful owners of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the West and America, not only have not helped them and have not shown any prevention of the crimes of the Serbs, but have also prevented weapons from reaching the oppressed Muslims using the facilities of the Security Council and have completed their siege by sending UN forces. Muslims, today and in the future, should know that America and the major European powers are directly responsible and culpable in the unprecedented tragedy of Bosnia. In this year, they have delivered a handful of empty words and false promises but have not prevented the killing of even one person among the thousands of oppressed killed in that land, and moreover, have prevented them from finding the power to defend themselves. This is a brief picture of the enmity of the West and America with Islam and Muslims in our time. Neither pleading, nor surrender, nor negotiation, nor any of the ways that some naively propose to Muslims are solutions or means of salvation for Muslims. Only one thing is the remedy, and that is the unity of Muslims, insistence on Islam and its values and principles, resistance against pressures, and in the long term, tightening the field on the enemy. And today, the eyes of the Islamic world are on the brave and Basiji youth across Islamic countries to defend the essence of Islam and play their historical role.

4 Another important point that should be emphasized is that despite all its satanic measures and despite using force and political tricks and false propaganda, global arrogance has not been able and will never be able to stop the growing trend of Islamic awakening and the movement towards Islam. The comprehensive political and security activity and, above all, the propaganda of America and other arrogant countries and their regional agents against the Islamic movement in various countries, including against the sacred system of the Islamic Republic in Iran, in recent years, has been unprecedented and very extensive. And in this, the Zionist regime, like America's appendage in the region, has played a role with the utmost baseness and malice expected of it. Ordinary material calculations dictated that as a result of this comprehensive effort, which is arranged arrogantly and out of anger and enmity, the Islamic movement in Islamic countries should weaken or be eradicated. But quite the opposite, everyone witnesses that this movement has gradually become wider and deeper. Now, several Islamic countries can be pointed out where if elections similar to those that took place in Algeria two years ago are held, Islamic parties or activists will attract the majority of the people's votes in those countries, and this is while in most of these countries, the activities of Islamic groups and even political demonstrations and Islamic propaganda are prohibited. In these very years, it is within the occupied lands of Palestine that the people's struggles, with Islamic slogans and centered around mosques, have narrowed the field for the Zionists, and in these very years, it is the Islamic resistance groups in Lebanon that have achieved remarkable success even in parliamentary elections and popular positions. And in this same period, the Islamic Republic of Iran, which some naively expected to either reach a dead end or abandon its principles and ideals, has advanced faster than expected while insisting on its revolutionary principles. I say to the Muslim brothers and sisters throughout the Islamic world that the enemy's great trick is to make you despair and pessimistic about the future. And this alone is enough for no clear-sighted Muslim to allow despair into their heart. Nothing permits us to become hopeless; if the enemy were capable of destroying this divine movement, it should at least have been able to prevent its growth, and everyone sees that it has not been able to. Divine traditions and external realities herald the bright future of the new Islamic movement, and the Quran repeatedly states: 'And the end is for the pious.'

5 Modern and globally covered propaganda is undoubtedly the most effective weapon of global arrogance. Today, the number of audio, visual, and press media that devote most of their efforts to enmity with Islam is very large and continues to increase. Mercenary experts are only engaged in creating and crafting material, news, and analysis to mislead the minds of their listeners and to misrepresent and portray the Islamic movement and great Islamic personalities in a negative light, and the Islamic Republic has faced such hostile propaganda continuously and increasingly since the victory of the revolution until today. It must be said that this trick has also not had much success against the authentic Islamic movement that originates from nature and need and has not achieved the enemy's goal. The spread of the revolutionary call of our great departed Imam throughout the Islamic world and the presence of his thought, name, guidance, and image in the east and west of the world, despite all the false propaganda and false words that have been said and broadcast with the intention of tarnishing the heavenly image of that heir of the prophets, is the clearest proof of this claim. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that an important factor in maintaining the health and correctness of the thoughts of Muslim nations is the enlightenment of scholars, intellectuals, writers, artists, and active and aware youth. And all, especially committed religious scholars, have a great duty in this regard. After the victory of the Islamic revolution in Iran, the enemy has always directed a list of accusations towards Islamic Iran. We see that the same accusations are now also directed at all Islamic movements wherever they are in the world. The accusation of fanaticism and intellectual rigidity, which they call 'fundamentalism,' the accusation of terrorism, the accusation of disregard for human rights, the accusation of opposition to democracy, the accusation of disregard for women's rights, the accusation of opposition to peace and support for war. A little fairness makes anyone aware of the falsehood of these accusations and the shamelessness of their accusers. Islamic Iran is accused of opposing democracy while, from fifty days after the victory of the great Islamic revolution until fourteen months after it, two public referendums, in one of which the people of Iran chose the Islamic Republic as the political system of the country, and in the other, they voted for the constitution, and three elections in which, respectively, the members of the Assembly of Experts for writing the constitution, the president, and the representatives in the Islamic Consultative Assembly were determined, were held, and until today, free elections with the enthusiastic participation of the people to determine the president and representatives of the parliament have always been held at their legal time. The accusation of terrorism is made against Islamic Iran by those who have provided the most support to the terrorist Zionist state and have sheltered anti-revolutionary Iranian terrorist groups under their protection, and their paid agents have planted bombs hundreds of times inside Islamic Iran, killing thousands of ordinary people and revolutionary elements and innocent men, women, and children. The accusation of opposition to peace is made against the Islamic Republic by those who imposed an eight-year war on Iran by encouraging the Ba'athist regime of Iraq and through him, and during all that time, provided various aids to that regime, which was considered their favorite regime because of its attack on Islamic Iran. The accusation of violating women's rights is made by those who do not approve of the high status of Iranian women who, with the preservation of hijab and the legal limit, participate in the highest activities of the country and consider the prevailing decadence in the relations between men and women and the ruthless exploitation of women in Western societies as the desirable model in the social life of women. The accusation of violating human rights is directed at Iran by regimes that have themselves committed or facilitated great and astonishing violations of human rights. Has human rights ever been violated in the new world as it is today in Bosnia? Is the violation of the rights of a nation like the Palestinian nation not a violation of human rights? Is the collective expulsion of more than four hundred Palestinian citizens from their homes and homeland, in front of the so-called human rights-supporting world, excusable? Is shooting down an Iranian passenger plane by America over the Persian Gulf, or injustice towards blacks in America, or support for coup plotters in Algeria, or support for the corrupt regime of Egypt, or the collective burning of a group in America and the like, not breaking the sanctity of humanity and violating its rights? Are governments that so recklessly violate human rights or watch the violators with a cold and indifferent rather satisfied and encouraging look truly upset about the alleged violation of human rights in Islamic Iran?! The truth is that the accusers themselves, including the current leaders of America who have recently made a new fuss over this rusty and old propaganda weapon, know well that they are speaking falsely. What they do not like about the Islamic Republic is not these things; it is other things that political expediency does not allow them to declare openly, although examining the statements of their theorists and writers reveals their intention. In the Islamic Republic system, the things that anger America and any other arrogant power are these: First, the inseparability of religion from politics and the Islamic foundation of the Islamic Republic. Second, the political independence of this system, meaning its refusal to submit to the usual bullying of superpowers. Third, the clear solution of the Islamic Republic regarding the Palestinian issue, which is the dissolution of the usurping Zionist regime and the formation of a Palestinian state composed of the Palestinians themselves and the coexistence of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Palestine. Fourth, moral and political support for all Islamic movements and condemnation of pressure on Muslims everywhere in the world. Fifth, defending the dignity of Islam and the Quran and the great Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and other divine prophets and confronting the conspiracy to promote insults to these sanctities, as seen in the case of the writer of the Satanic Verses whose blood is permissible. Sixth, striving for the unity of the Islamic Ummah and political and economic cooperation of Islamic governments and countries and moving towards consolidating the power of Muslim nations in the form of the 'Great Islamic Ummah.' Seventh, rejecting and negating the imposed Western culture, which Western governments, with narrow-mindedness and prejudice, are determined to force all the world's nations to accept, and insisting on reviving Islamic culture in Muslim countries. Eighth, fighting against corruption and sexual immorality, which some Western governments, especially America and England, have recently shamelessly legalized in its most deviant form or are on the way to it, and have been planning and striving for decades to introduce various forms of this corruption into Islamic countries. These are what cause the hostile enmity of America and its cohorts with the Islamic Republic. It is obvious that if they openly state the reason for their enmity and reveal this list, they will, by their own hands, add to the credibility of the Islamic Republic in the eyes of Muslim nations who are all attached to these principles. Therefore, in their propaganda, they accuse Islamic Iran of terrorism and the like on one hand, and on the other hand, with false analyses and fabricated news, they try to make it seem as if the Islamic Republic has abandoned its principles and surrendered to the enemy's demands! Both statements are lies and stem from the deceitful nature of arrogance. The principles of the Islamic Republic, which are the path of the Imam and the established foundations of Islam, remain valid and the basis of our political and social life in Islamic Iran despite the enemy, and the government and people of Iran will never give up living under the shadow of pure Muhammadan Islam (peace be upon him and his family), which has been achieved with sacrifice and the offering of the dearest lives, under any circumstances, and the principles of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified), especially the principle of the inseparability of religion from politics and resistance against the materialistic pressures of modernity to isolate Islam and the Quran, will remain the ever-living principles of the Islamic Republic.

6 In conclusion, I recommend to the dear pilgrims to make the most of the opportunity of Hajj to get acquainted with their Muslim brothers and learn about the situation of the Islamic world from the words and behavior of Muslims, exchange experiences, aspirations, achievements, and capabilities with each other, and bring their Hajj as close as possible to the Hajj intended by Islam. I also recommend to the dear Iranian brothers and sisters to be the propagators and messengers of their glorious revolution and great country and heroic nation to the brothers of other countries with words and actions. The short-term proximity to the House of God and the sanctuary of the great Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and the valuable stations of Hajj and the memorable land of Hijaz should be used to revive the heart with the remembrance of God and strengthen their spiritual bond with the Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family) and his pure family (peace be upon them), especially attention and recourse to the presence of the great Wali of God, whose sacred presence undoubtedly includes the hearts with knowledge in the Hajj ceremonies, and to become familiar with the Quran and reflect on its clear verses and supplication and humility and recourse, which is a means of drawing closer to God, and to benefit from it and pray for the resolution of the difficulties of Muslims and the increasing strength and honor of Islam and the Islamic Republic and ask God for the elevation of the ranks of the pure soul of the departed Imam and the pure souls of the martyrs of Islam.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings

24 Dhu al-Qi'dah 1413 corresponding to 28 Ordibehesht 1372

Ali Hosseini Khamenei