Statements on the Occasion of the Ascension of the Prophet

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

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his pure family, especially the Awaited One on earth.

I congratulate the great Islamic nation, the dear people of Iran, and all the freedom-seekers of the world on the auspicious and significant occasion of the Ascension of the Noble Messenger. The day and night of the Ascension is the time when the greatest gift of existence - referred to in the prayer of the night of Ascension as "the greatest manifestation" - was bestowed upon the esteemed Prophet of Islam, the greatest servant of God.

Certainly, the Ascension of the esteemed Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) is a gift to all of humanity as well. If we consider just two values among the many values of Islam, namely the element of "expansion of rationality" and the element of "moral cultivation," which are two prominent elements of these values, we will confirm that Islam has granted the highest gift and means of happiness to humanity.

The fact that Islam invites to rationality and the expansion of rationality is very important. In the Quran, there are dozens of instances, and if one counts, there may be close to a hundred instances where the Almighty God, with various expressions, such as "Do you not reason?" (تَعقِلون), "Do you not reflect?" (تَتَفَکَّرون), "Those of understanding" (اُولِی‌الاَلباب), and "Do they not contemplate?" (یَتَدَبَّرون), calls upon the audience and the people to think and reflect.

Regarding the expansion of moral concepts and moral cultivation, it suffices to mention that in several places in the Quran, among the primary objectives of the Ascension, ethics and purification are mentioned: "He it is who has sent among the unlettered a Messenger from among themselves, reciting to them His verses and purifying them"; the first is purification. Similarly, in other verses: "Indeed, God has bestowed a favor upon the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from themselves, reciting to them His verses and purifying them." There are several other places in the Quran where the goal of the Ascension is defined as "purification"; at the forefront of the objectives [of the Ascension] is purification.

Thus, Islam has gifted these two sublime and unparalleled values to humanity and has urged its believers and, consequently, all of humanity to reason, reflect, and purify themselves, which is the greatest gift that Islam can and has granted to humanity.

Now, I will briefly mention a few points regarding the Ascension, and then I will address a current issue.

One point regarding the Ascension is that the Ascension of the Messenger of Islam realized something that seemed impossible; and what was it? It was that from the people of the Arabian Peninsula during the Age of Ignorance - I will now describe their characteristics - a virtuous nation like the Islamic nation of the Prophet's time was formed; such a thing seems impossible from a common perspective. The people of Arabia during the Age of Ignorance, before the Prophet's Ascension, had characteristics that some of them are mentioned in Nahj al-Balagha, and some are in history: misguided people, aimless, extremely ignorant, caught up in great tribulations - tribulations arising from great ignorance and tribalism - yet, despite all these characteristics we mentioned - lack of knowledge, lack of understanding, lack of any morality, lack of purpose - they were extremely arrogant, extremely harsh, unaccepting of the truth, obstinate; these were the characteristics of the people of Arabia; the people of Mecca and other places at that time, both their leaders and their subordinates, had these characteristics. The esteemed Prophet came and, in a short time - which I will explain - created a united, virtuous, self-sacrificing nation with the highest moral qualities from these very people; look at the Muslims of the Prophet's time - whether when they were confined to Medina or when they expanded to Mecca, Ta'if, and some other places - [the Prophet] transformed those very people into such individuals. This seemed impossible; by any calculation, it was not possible for such a people to transform into such a community in a short period. Then, in less than twenty years, they gained global fame; these people, with those moral characteristics, after accepting Islam, within twenty years gained global recognition and were able to spread their thoughts, their ideas, and their greatness from the East to the West, and in modern terms, developed both materially and spiritually. This was the work that Islam accomplished, and it truly was an impossible task; it seemed impossible, yet Islam [achieved it]; the Ascension [realized it].

Well, this is an event that has occurred in history, but today we can benefit from this event; in the sense that this is a message to all Muslims throughout history that whenever the will of the people aligns with the divine will and submits to it, humans can accomplish tasks that seem impossible, they can reach goals that, according to conventional calculations, seem out of reach; this is always the case. Throughout history, this prophetic experience is repeatable; if humans align with that path, they can achieve lofty goals that, according to ordinary calculations, seemed impossible.

Now, this experience - of course with differences - has occurred for the Iranian nation, and God has bestowed this experience upon the Iranian nation; the Almighty God has shown the Iranian nation the success of this experience, which was the uprooting of the monarchy in this country, which had an absolute monarchy and a tyrannical rule based on material power and devoid of spirituality, with a very long historical root. This event occurred in this country, while the supporters of this monarchical government were also the United States and the great powers of the world; both the United States and England, and in recent times the former Soviet Union, all supported the Pahlavi regime, yet the Iranian nation was able to realize the uprooting of this government, which seemed impossible - it truly seemed impossible - thanks to the sincere leadership of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) and the high aspirations and sacrifices of the people. We were in the field, we were in the process; at that time, if any of us had been told that such an event could happen, it would have been very hard to believe, yet it came to pass. And this revolution awakened the nation from lethargy, brought the nation into motion, invigorated it, and not only did this revolution show its greatness to the world, but it also elevated the Iranian nation and granted the Islamic Iran greatness in the eyes of the world. This is the first point: if we move along the path of the Ascension, we will make the impossible possible and can reach goals that seem unattainable.

The next point regarding the Ascension of the Seal of the Prophets (peace be upon him and his family) is that contrary to the view of those who introduce religion as separate from politics, completely separating religion from life, from politics, and from governance - various groups have worked in this regard; this has been the case before and with the revolutionary movement, this effort was neutralized, but still, one observes that some have begun to murmur this again through writing and speaking and so on - the pinnacle of the prophetic movement was the establishment of a government, the groundwork for which was laid by the Prophet himself; with the leaders of Medina who had heard the fame of Islam and came to see what the matter was, the esteemed Prophet spoke with them, made agreements, and established a contract, and the leaders of Yathrib - of course, at that time it was not yet called Medina, it was Yathrib - laid the groundwork, then the esteemed Prophet, in that extraordinary situation, began his migration, and gradually the migration of the Muslims began. Before the migration, the Prophet sent Mus'ab ibn Umayr as a representative to read the verses of the Quran to the people; he prepared these preliminaries, and then the Prophet himself migrated to Yathrib and established the Islamic government there; this was the pinnacle of the Prophet's movement. And they did not stop at merely establishing a government and managing the people; no, they began a comprehensive confrontation with the enemies. Because the enemies, after all, would not leave the Muslims in peace; they formed armies, prepared weapons, and attacked the enemies; in some places they defended, in some places they attacked; both forms existed. The claim that the Prophet's wars were merely defensive is not true; some were defensive, some were offensive; the conditions varied. Then they conquered the stronghold of polytheism; the stronghold of polytheism was Mecca; they conquered it and placed the House of God in the hands of Islam and the Muslims; they established the Islamic government. This is the most inspiring part of the Islamic movement. How can those who make such efforts want to separate Islam, religion, from governance?

The next point regarding the Ascension is that one of the most important slogans and orientations of the esteemed Prophet in the Ascension was the confrontation with ignorance. In the Quran, ignorance is condemned repeatedly. The term ignorance - which I will explain what is meant by ignorance - has been condemned many times in the Quran. In Surah Al-Ma'idah: "Do they seek the judgment of ignorance?"; in Surah Al-Ahzab: "And do not display yourselves as [in] the former time of ignorance"; in Surah Al-Fath: "When those who disbelieved had in their hearts the fervor of ignorance"; and in several other places in the Quran, I noted these three verses. Ignorance has been condemned. What does this ignorance mean? This ignorance does not merely refer to illiteracy; of course, illiteracy is part of it, but this ignorance has a broader meaning; lowly morals are also part of this ignorance, which I have previously referred to. The savage behaviors of the people: their killing, their stealing, their transgressions, their injustices, their oppression of the weak, which were all prevalent among the people of the Arabian Peninsula, are part of that ignorance. Sexual depravity, sexual chaos, moral degradation, the dismantling of modesty among the people; these were all part of that ignorance. And the Ascension confronted all of this. That is, the ignorance that "And do not display yourselves as [in] the former time of ignorance" which is addressed to the esteemed Prophet's wives, is such that it includes both ignorance and illiteracy, as well as immorality, oppression, discrimination, injustice, and the killing of the weak; it also includes sexual depravity and moral chaos; all of these are part of ignorance. Well, the Prophet confronted ignorance.

Now, the important point here is that many of the same moral vices that were prevalent in Mecca at that time, in the Arabian Peninsula, and which the Prophet confronted, many of those moral vices today exist in the so-called civilized Western world in a more organized and much more severe and widespread manner; the same moral vices exist today, but on a larger scale, with greater intensity.

Well, today, life in Western civilization is based on greed and avarice. The very foundation of life in Western civilization is greed and desire. Today, the basis of all Western values is money; everything is measured by money; ethics, spirituality, everything is measured by money; these are the criteria. The prevailing politics, the governance, all serve discrimination, serve the enrichment of companies and cartels; this is how it is.

Science and technology serve the killing of people. Sometimes science is used, for example, for vaccines or certain medicines that save some people, but [sometimes] this very science is used to create weapons of mass destruction, chemical weapons, nuclear weapons, which destroy hundreds of times more people; and this has happened in the world and is still happening. The plundering of weak countries; moral degradation. Moral degradation and moral chaos are severely present. The issue of homosexuality and the like - which is truly shameful, that one feels ashamed to repeat and mention - there is an incredible sexual chaos; these exist in the world today. These are the same things that existed then, and they still exist today; however, what was limited then is now widespread and organized. Behind many of these corruptions and evils, artificial logics have been created, meaning logical and intellectual justifications have been made for them, and they are presented to humanity.

Therefore, this ignorance exists today. So, if someone calls today's Western civilization "modern ignorance" - which has been said; many have called it modern ignorance - they are right; it truly is ignorance, only today it presents itself in a renewed and modernized form.

So what should we do? We must review the lessons of the Ascension. The same work that the esteemed Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) did in confronting that ignorance is now our responsibility to do in confronting this ignorance; this is our duty.

First and foremost, strengthening faith. One of the important tasks for us and for all the well-wishers of humanity around the world is to strengthen religious faith. The development of believing and resilient groups throughout the world; individuals who have religious motivation, who have faith, and who are resistant and work, strive; these must be developed.

And [strengthening] the power and solidity of the Islamic system. Now, by God's grace, under the banner of Islam and under the banner of Islam in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a system has been established; we must strengthen this, make it more solid, and expand its fruits and effects as much as possible.

Then, a wise and prudent program; this field is not one where one lowers their head and charges forward; it requires planning, it requires study, a wise program must be prepared, and one must confront this issue with wisdom. And this program must be based on a broad understanding of the characteristics of this ignorance; if we do not correctly understand the characteristics of this ignorance, we cannot confront it, we cannot struggle against it.

Of course, we cannot claim that we have reached our goals in these great endeavors; no, in all these significant steps, we are halfway there; there is no doubt about that. Of course, work has been done, we have progressed, thanks be to God, but in all of these, we are halfway there and still have a long way to go to reach our goal, yet despite this, even though we are still halfway there and have a long way to go to reach our goal, the model of the Islamic Revolution and the model of the Islamic Republic is an attractive model for the people of the world or at least for the Muslims of the world. You observe, see, in a few thousand kilometers from Tehran, in another country, an insult is made to the image of our dear martyr, martyr Soleimani, and the people react in such a way that the police officer who committed that insult is forced to come and apologize, to accompany the people, to reinstall that image in certain places in the city; this model is an attractive model, it shows that this model is a compelling one; even its unfinished state is attractive and compelling. If we can continue the path well, if we can carry out the work with precision, a very attractive and dynamic model will emerge in the world, and nations will naturally move towards it.

We are facing such ignorance. Of course, this modern ignorance is not uniform everywhere in the world. In my opinion, the clear and complete example of modern ignorance is the United States; this ignorance is more severe and dreadful there than anywhere else in the world; it is truly like that. America is a regime where undesirable morals are promoted; discrimination increases day by day; national wealth is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the wealthy and privileged. A country as wealthy as the United States has a situation where when it gets a little cold, some people die in the streets; when it gets too hot, some people die in the streets; why? What does this mean? Today, the epitome of modern ignorance, the epitome of discrimination, the epitome of oppression, the epitome of crisis creation in the world is the United States. Essentially, the regime of the United States of America is a crisis-creating and crisis-living regime; it feeds off crises, it survives off crises; it thrives on various crises around the world. [There] is such a movement.

The power mafia networks within America feed off the crises that occur around the world, they utilize them. Essentially, America is a mafia regime; it is a mafia regime: political mafia, economic mafia, arms manufacturing mafia; various types of mafias that control the policies of this country and guide it, and in reality, the control of the country is in their hands; they bring people to power behind the scenes, they remove people from power; these mafias bring presidents to power. Then this mafia collection, this mafia regime needs crises to exist around the world, so they create centers of crisis. In the region of West Asia, see how much they have created crises; they needed to create an entity like ISIS, which was their trained dog that openly, explicitly, in filmed actions, beheaded people, or burned them alive, or drowned them in water and showed the footage to the world; America created this; they admitted it themselves; they said they created it; they are crisis creators. If they cannot create crises, the arms manufacturing factories cannot maximize their benefits; they must create crises in the world to maximize the interests of these mafias.

Today, in my opinion, Ukraine is also a victim of this policy. Today, the issues in Ukraine are also related to this American policy. America brought Ukraine to this point; by intervening in the internal affairs of that country, instigating protests against governments, creating velvet revolutions, orchestrating color coups, and having American senators present in opposition gatherings, they removed this government and placed that government; these naturally lead to such outcomes.

Of course, we oppose war and destruction anywhere in the world; this is our fixed stance. We oppose the killing of people, the destruction of the infrastructures of nations; we do not endorse these actions wherever they occur in the world; this is our fixed stance. We are not like the Westerners who, if they drop a bomb on a wedding caravan in Afghanistan and turn their wedding into a mourning, say that this is a fight against terrorism; this is not a crime; their logic is like this; in Afghanistan, in Iraq. What is America doing in Eastern Syria? Why are they stealing Syrian oil? Why are they stealing Afghanistan's money? Why do they seize the national wealth of Afghanistan? Why do they defend the crimes of the Zionists, which are occurring day and night in the region of West Asia? These are crisis creations; these are the actions they take, and they carry out all of this in the name of defending human rights and the like!

We are not like them, that if something happens in a place that aligns with our interests, we judge it one way, and if it happens elsewhere, we judge it another way. For eight years, the people of Yemen have been under bombardment, and the Westerners do not condemn this; they support it; both verbally, through propaganda, media, and practically! This is how they are. Of course, in Ukraine, we advocate for the cessation of war; we want the war there to end; however, the remedy for any crisis is only possible if the root of the crisis is identified. The root of the crisis in Ukraine is the policies of America, the policies of the West; these are the roots of the crisis; these must be identified and judged based on them, and if we are people of action, we must take action.

Now that the issue of Ukraine has been raised, there are lessons in this Ukrainian issue that one observes, and some of these lessons have been pointed out by speakers and writers. I will mention two of these lessons. One is that the support of Western powers for countries and governments that are their puppets is an illusion, it is not real; all governments should know this. Those governments that rely on America and Europe should see the current situation of Ukraine and the past situation of Afghanistan. Both the President of Ukraine just a few days ago and the former President of Afghanistan said; they said we trusted America, we trusted the Western governments, [but] they left us alone. One cannot trust them; this is the first lesson. Now the Islamic Republic, which has raised the call of independence and dignity to the world, but those who rely on America should learn from this lesson and understand it.

The second lesson is that the people are the most important support for governments. If the people in Ukraine had entered the field, the situation of the Ukrainian government and the people of Ukraine would not have been like this. The people did not enter the field because they did not accept the government; just like when America attacked Saddam's Iraq, the people did not defend it, they withdrew, and America took control. But in Iraq, when ISIS attacked, the people entered the field, they were able to push back ISIS, which was a very great danger, they were able to suppress it. The main factor of independence for countries is the people; we have experienced this; during the Sacred Defense, the people entered the field, and despite all the powers supporting Saddam, helping him, the Islamic Republic was able to prevail with the help of the people and leave the enemy unsuccessful. Therefore, this is another lesson. We hope that all of us open our eyes, open our ears, think correctly, act correctly, and be able to benefit from these great lessons.

May God elevate the ranks of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified), who taught us these lessons, who set us in motion on this path. And may God, God willing, unite the pure souls of the martyrs with the pure soul of the Prophet of God, who made us proud in this world. Once again, I congratulate and send greetings to the Awaited One (may our souls be sacrificed for him).

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