Statements in Meeting with a Large Group of Exemplary Nurses of the Country

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

First of all, I congratulate all of you dear brothers and sisters and esteemed nurses on Nurse Day and the birth of Zainab the Great, this exemplary woman in the history of mankind. We hope that God, in reward for this great service, this very valuable effort, will bestow His mercy, guidance, and grace upon all of you, all the nurses of the country, and all those involved in health matters in the country.

The main point of our discussion today and our meeting today is to express gratitude for the efforts of nurses. Truly, it is appropriate to thank the entire nursing community in the country and to appreciate this great, arduous work and the heavy responsibility you have taken on.

The issue of health is among the foremost important matters in the lives of societies. This well-known saying, "Two blessings are unknown: health and security," truly points to a fundamental and vital matter. Both health and security are among the great blessings that a person does not understand the importance and value of until deprived of them; like air, like breathing. As long as a person breathes, they do not realize the importance of this free and ubiquitous blessing; when breathing becomes difficult, a person then feels what a great blessing has been lost. The medical and nursing community and the other health systems are, in fact, the providers of this great blessing for society. And the role of the nurse in this regard is a very prominent one. The nurse is in a constant spiritual and psychological struggle; it is not just a matter of their physical being. The spiritual fatigue, the encounter with the sick and suffering, and the sense of duty that they must provide both physical and spiritual healing for this suffering and sick person is a very exhausting matter; it is a heavy task. This heavy responsibility has been taken on by nurses.

Rest assured that every moment, every second, every minute that you spend in this work, with a sense of duty towards the patient, towards the suffering person, you receive a good deed from God the Almighty and a reward from the Lord. No second is lost in divine calculations. One should not think that the difficult moments for a nurse at the bedside of a patient will be neglected in divine calculations; it is not so. Every moment you spend and every effort you make, every breath you take in the face of difficulties is a good deed, a work worthy of reward, and God the Almighty records all these moments. These difficult tasks, which have significant and important impacts, must be appreciated.

Of course, the duties are also heavy. The duties must also be considered. The ethics of nursing, like the ethics of medicine, is a duty, a responsibility. Your reward is very great, and your duty is also very heavy; because a human patient is not a machine; they are not a collection of iron, steel, screws, and bolts; they are not just a body. The human soul, human feelings, human emotions, especially when they are sick, in pain, are very much in need of kindness, in need of tenderness. Sometimes your smile is worth more than the medicine and treatment given to this patient; its effect is greater. The patient is in turmoil, in distress—especially the severely ill—helping them is not just helping their body; their body must be treated with medicine, treatment, injections, and medical measures; but their soul is healed with love, kindness, tenderness, and compassion. Sometimes this spiritual healing even takes the place of physical healing; this is both scientific and has been proven by experience that the joy of the human soul, the emotional and nervous joy of a person, positively affects their body. This is in your hands; it is in the hands of nurses.

The nurse has a hard job, but they also have a great reward; however, they have a heavy responsibility. This balance between duty and reward, between rights and obligations, is one of the great pillars of Islamic concepts and Islamic foundations. This retraining that the esteemed minister mentioned—which is very valuable—should exist not only in scientific matters but also in the field of nursing ethics. Truly, a code of ethics for nurses must be prepared, a nursing covenant and agreement must be taught and instructed; nurses must know the greatness of their work—which naturally is accompanied by the importance of their own personality—and perform the work as it deserves.

I express my gratitude to all the dear nurses across the country; especially to you exemplary nurses, and I ask God the Almighty to assist you and grant you success so that this high value you have chosen for your profession and work is preserved in divine records by the honorable scribes and that you are rewarded and, God willing, have a good end.

Well, in the Islamic Republic, Nurse Day has been aligned with the birth of Lady Zainab the Great (peace be upon her); this also has a great meaning. Zainab the Great is a prominent example in history that demonstrates the greatness of a woman's presence in one of the most important issues in history. The saying that "on Ashura, blood triumphed over the sword"—which indeed triumphed—was due to the presence of Lady Zainab; otherwise, blood was shed in Karbala. The military incident ended with the apparent defeat of the forces of truth on the battlefield of Ashura; however, what caused this apparent military defeat to turn into a definitive and permanent victory was the character of Zainab the Great; the role that Lady Zainab took on; this is very important. This incident showed that women are not on the margins of history; women are at the heart of significant historical events. The Quran also speaks to this point in several instances; however, this is related to recent history, not to past nations; it is a living and tangible incident where one observes Zainab the Great appearing with a dazzling and radiant greatness; she does something that causes the enemy, who has apparently triumphed in the military campaign and has annihilated his opponents and is seated on the throne of victory, to be humiliated and degraded in his seat of power, in his palace of presidency; she brands him with the eternal mark of disgrace and turns his victory into a defeat; this is the work of Zainab the Great. Zainab (peace be upon her) showed that one can transform feminine modesty and chastity into a warrior's dignity, into a great jihad.

What remains of the statements of Zainab the Great and is now accessible to us shows the greatness of her movement. The unforgettable sermon of Zainab the Great in the market of Kufa is not an ordinary speech; it is not an ordinary commentary from a great personality; it is a profound analysis of the state of the Islamic community at that time, expressed with the most beautiful words and the deepest and richest concepts in those circumstances. Observe the strength of her character; how strong this character is. Two days earlier, in a desert, her brother, her Imam, her leader, along with all those dear ones and young ones, were killed; they have captured this group of women and children and brought them before the eyes of the people, on the camel of captivity, and the people have come to watch; some cheer, some cry; in such a critical situation, suddenly this sun of greatness rises; she uses the same tone that her father, Amir al-Mu'minin, used on the pulpit of the caliphate in front of his community; she speaks in the same way, with the same words, with the same eloquence and rhetoric, with the same depth of meaning: "O people of Kufa, O people of treachery and deceit!"; O deceivers, O those who pretended! Perhaps you even believed that you were followers of Islam and the Ahl al-Bayt; but in the test, you showed such weakness, in the sedition you displayed such blindness. "Is there among you anything but arrogance, vanity, deceit, and the flattery of the slaves and the scorn of the enemies?"; your behavior, your words were not the same as your hearts. You became arrogant, thought you had faith, thought you were still revolutionary, thought you were still followers of Amir al-Mu'minin; while the reality was not so. You could not cope with the sedition, you could not save yourselves. "You are like the one who unraveled her yarn after it had been spun."; you became like the one who spins wool into thread, then unravels the threads back into the same wool or unspun cotton. With blindness, with not recognizing the atmosphere, with not distinguishing between right and wrong, you invalidated your actions, your past. The appearance was that of faith, the mouth full of claims of revolution; but the essence was hollow, a substance without resistance against opposing winds. This is a diagnosis of the damage.

With this strong statement, with these eloquent words, even in those difficult circumstances, she spoke like this. It was not that a group of listeners were sitting in front of Lady Zainab, listening attentively, and she was reading a sermon for them; no, a group of enemies, the spearmen of the enemy surrounded them; a group of various people were present; those who handed Muslim over to Ibn Ziyad, those who wrote to Imam Hussein and defected, those who, on the day they should have confronted Ibn Ziyad, hid in their homes—these were the ones in the market of Kufa—some were those who showed weakness of spirit, and now they look on, seeing the daughter of Amir al-Mu'minin, crying. Lady Zainab the Great faces this heterogeneous and unreliable crowd, yet she speaks so firmly. She is the woman of history; this woman is no longer a weakling. One cannot consider a woman to be weak. This faithful feminine essence shows itself in difficult circumstances. This woman is the model; a model for all the great men and women of the world. She analyzes the prophetic and Alawi revolutions; she says you could not distinguish the truth in the sedition; you could not fulfill your duty; the result was that the beloved of the Prophet was raised on a spear. Here, the greatness of Zainab can be understood.

Nurse Day coincides with the anniversary of the birth of Lady Zainab; this is a warning to our women: find your role. Understand the greatness of being a woman by blending feminine modesty and chastity with Muslim and faithful dignity. This is how our Muslim women are.

The corrupt world of the West sought to impose the emergence of women, the personality of women, through wrong and deviant methods that are accompanied by the humiliation of the female gender, forcibly into the minds of the world: for a woman to show her personality, she must be pleasing to men. Is this the personality of a woman?! She must set aside her hijab and chastity, and display herself to please men. Is this honoring women or humiliating women? This intoxicated, ignorant West, under the influence of Zionist hands, has raised this as a banner of honoring women; some have believed it. The greatness of a woman is not that she can attract the gaze of men, the lust of the lustful; this is not an honor for a woman; this is not honoring women; this is humiliating women. The greatness of a woman is that she can preserve the modesty and chastity that God has placed in the nature of women; she can blend this with faithful dignity; she can combine this with a sense of duty and obligation; she can apply that tenderness in its place and that sharpness and incisiveness of faith in its place. This delicate combination belongs only to women; this blend of delicacy and sharpness is specific to women; this is a privilege that God the Almighty has given to women; thus, in the Quran, as a model of faith—not a model of women's faith, but a model of the faith of all humanity; both women and men—two women are exemplified: "And God has set forth an example for those who believe: the wife of Pharaoh" and "Mary, daughter of Imran"; one is the wife of Pharaoh, the other is Lady Mary. These are references and signs that demonstrate the logic of Islam.

Our revolution is a Zainabi revolution. From the very beginning of the revolution, women played one of the most prominent roles in this revolution. Both in the great event of the revolution itself and in the very significant event of the eight-year Sacred Defense, the roles of mothers, the roles of wives, were at least as heavy, painful, and demanding as those of the fighters, if not more so. A mother who has nurtured her young one, her beloved, her flower for eighteen years, twenty years—more or less—with that maternal love has brought them to fruition, now sends them to the battlefield, where it is uncertain whether their body will even return. Where is this, and where is the going of this young one? This young one, with the enthusiasm of youth, accompanied by faith and revolutionary spirit, moves forward and goes. The work of this mother is not smaller than that of this young one. Then, when they return the body, she takes pride in that her child has become a martyr. Is this a small matter? This was the feminine movement, the Zainab-like movement in our revolution.

My dear ones, sisters, brothers! This is how our revolution progressed. The power and greatness of this revolution lie in these matters; in giving oneself to spirituality, being captivated by divine grace. When the enemy wants to reproach Lady Zainab for what has happened to her, she says: "I saw nothing but beauty"; she saw beauty! Her brothers, her children, her dearest ones, her closest companions, these were slaughtered before her eyes, their blood spilled, their heads raised on spears; she says beautiful! What kind of beauty is this? This beauty is accompanied by what has been narrated that Lady Zainab did not miss her night prayers even on the eleventh night. Throughout the period of captivity, her connection to God, her attachment to God did not weaken, did not diminish, but rather increased. This woman is a model.

The same droplets and remnants of this truth that exist in our society, in our revolution have given greatness to this revolution; it is these that have placed the Iranian nation, with all this enmity, today as an inspiring face among the nations. The Iranian nation today stands as an inspiring nation among the Muslim nations. Of course, the enemies do not like this; they also try to conceal it; but the reality is this.

The power of this nation is not in missiles, cannons, tanks, and airplanes, and military equipment; these are necessary, and we have them, thanks be to God; but the power of this nation lies in its faith. Our nation, with divine grace, with the guidance of the Lord, with God's help, has also made leaps in hardware fields. The capabilities we have today are not comparable to the capabilities of the early days of our revolution—and even less so before the revolution—nor are they comparable to many countries that have not faced these troubles for many years; they were dependent on the help of foreigners and enemies. Thanks be to God, the Iranian nation is far ahead in these aspects as well; but these are not the source of our power. The source of power for the Islamic country and the Islamic nation is its faith; it is that essence of faith within it. For it, it does not matter whether it has this material capability or not. Thirty years ago, this nation stood firm. Today, it has been thirty years that they have imposed sanctions, threatened, launched military attacks, committed malice, and unleashed intertwined political and security networks against it; yet this nation has continued to grow day by day, not only has it not regressed, it has not even stopped; it has grown more than the ordinary. Therefore, the greatness of the Iranian nation is due to this essence of faith.

Now, the foolish threaten the Iranian nation! The President of the United States last week implicitly and indirectly threatened nuclear action. These threats do not work on the Iranian nation, but this has become a disgrace for the political history of America; this has become a dark spot in the record of the American government. Nuclear threats?! It has become clear what lies behind the facade of peace-loving and humanitarian displays and adherence to and insistence on nuclear treaties. It has become clear what lies behind the show of extending a hand of friendship. The language of fox-like behavior has turned into the language of wolf-like behavior. Until now, they said, yes, we extend a hand of friendship, we do this, we do that; it has become clear what the reality is; it has become clear what the bloodthirsty and domineering nature seeks. They want to use nuclear power and nuclear capability as a means to dominate the world. All nuclear powers are like this; they all use it as a tool to gain dominance over nations, to dominate the world. None of these nuclear treaties of the International Atomic Energy Agency have been signed, accepted, or acted upon by them. They are blatant liars. Then, regarding other countries, they begin to criticize, to nitpick, that a certain part of the treaty, a certain clause of the treaty was not adhered to. They do not accept; they want no rival in the field of nuclear power and nuclear weapons against them; that is the issue.

Our nuclear policy is clear; we have said it many times and repeated it: we are not in favor of using weapons of mass destruction; but they should also know that in facing the nation, such threats and such grandstanding will not yield any results. The Iranian nation will humiliate them with all their claims and bring them to their knees.

International organizations have no right to let this threat from the President of the United States go unaddressed; they have no right to let this be forgotten; they must pursue it, they must hold him accountable. Why do you threaten with nuclear action? Why do you threaten the world with destruction? How dare you do such a thing? No one should dare to confront humanity with such threats. Even saying it is wrong; even if they say, no, we did not intend it; we made a mistake in saying it. They should not even speak it. Such statements that threaten world peace, threaten the security of the global community cannot be easily overlooked.

Of course, the Iranian nation is invincible against such words. They cannot push the Iranian nation back with these things. We will not allow the Americans to renew their hellish domination over our country with these means, with these tools; the Iranian nation will not allow this. They still dream of the same domination that was executed in this country for many years through the treachery of the tyrannical Pahlavi regime—may God's curse and the curse of His servants be upon them—; they long for those days. The Iranian nation will not allow such things.

Despite the enemy, in all areas, with divine grace, with God's help, we will move forward; know this. Our youth are striving. God willing, the ever-increasing faith of our youth and the ever-increasing insight of our nation will overcome both these threats and the plots aimed at disrupting the internal situation of the country—such as what was seen in 2009.

Our nation is an insightful nation, a faithful nation. We hope that God, by the blessing of the pure prayers of the Awaited Savior (may our souls be sacrificed for him), will increase this insight day by day and, God willing, will grant our nation victory and honor in all fields, and you youth, God willing, in the not-too-distant future, will feel and see the greatness of your country, the progress of your country, and the need of these superpowers for yourselves.

May God's mercy be upon the pure soul of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) and the pure souls of the martyrs. We hope that God the Almighty will grant you all success and support.

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