Statements in Meeting with System Officials, Representatives of Islamic Countries, and Various Segments of the People

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 and prophet, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure and chosen progeny, especially the Awaited One among the people of the earth.

I congratulate all of you esteemed attendees, the people of Iran, and all Muslims around the world on the blessed and great occasion of the Prophet's Ascension. The Ascension is a reminder of the greatest event in history; it can be boldly stated that the most blessed and significant event that has occurred in the world throughout history for humanity is the Ascension of the noble Prophet of Islam. We make this claim regarding the birth of that great figure as well; it is also due to the blessing of the Ascension. Why can one claim so much virtue and value regarding the Ascension of the Prophet? Because with this Ascension, the complete and final prescription for the worldly and otherworldly happiness of humanity was presented; the complete, final, and everlasting prescription for human happiness—both worldly and otherworldly—was provided in the Ascension.

The first miracle and extraordinary event that one observes in this matter is the emergence of the Ascension in that unfavorable context in which it took place; the beginning of the Ascension was accompanied by this strange matter. At that time, the world was one that was entirely filled with deviation, crookedness, and calamity for humanity. Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) speaks about that age of ignorance in which the Prophet began his mission, saying: "And the world was dark as the light of the sun was hidden; the world was dark, and there was no growth, awareness, or insight among the people. The beacons of guidance had become old, tampered with, ruined, and distorted. The signs of decline and the fall of humanity were manifesting themselves." This discussion is not limited to the Arab environment and the Arabian Peninsula; it refers to the Iranian civilization of that day, the Roman civilization of that day, and other great civilizations that existed in the world; this statement of Amir al-Mu'minin applies to all. Well, this Ascension and this awakening occurred, and we have spoken a lot about this awakening; the inner awakening of the Prophet and then its overflow into society are other discussions.

The Ascension took place. What is the program of action of this Ascension? I want to present this. In the Quran, it is specified in various verses; one of the verses is this noble verse from Surah Al-Jumu'ah: "He it is Who raised among the unlettered a Messenger from among themselves, reciting to them His verses, purifying them, and teaching them the Book and wisdom." This is the program of action. The first task is to open the door of communication with the unseen and with divinity; to take materialistic and confined humanity, which knows nothing outside of matter and is unaware of it, out of this confinement and into the vast space of divine knowledge. This is the first step; that is, faith; the first step is faith.

After humanity exits this limited and narrow enclosure of matter, the next step is "purification". Purification means elevating and growing through the removal of defects and shortcomings; it means removing the dark spots from the object of purification and preparing it for growth and development. What needs to be purified? The issue is not merely the moral purification of the individual; that is important. Purification means removing ugliness and evils and eliminating falsehood from the essence of humanity, from our inner morals, from society, from beliefs, from actions, from behaviors, from lifestyles; this is the meaning of purification; it is a comprehensive movement for the reform of individual and societal affairs in all dimensions, including politics, economic relations, social relations, addressing injustices in society, addressing injustices at the global level, at the level of governments, and at the level of individuals, negating class distances; purification encompasses all of these.

After the issue of purification is raised, the matter of education arises. It is not that these are sequentially dependent on each other; no, it is gradual; purification is gradual, and alongside it is education. What does education mean? It means that after the mind and spirit are prepared by removing darkness, deficiencies, and evils, it is time for the manifestation of the lights of divine wisdom and knowledge, which is a lengthy and detailed discussion. In fact, purification cleanses the ground, and education enriches humanity spiritually, intellectually, and knowledge-wise, creating the ideal human according to what Islam demands and desires for humanity. All of our current problems and those of humanity lie here.

Well, there is a fundamental point here, and that is that this Ascension and this transformation, this change, this dissemination of goodness and beauty and light, and the removal of darkness, calamity, and misfortune, is not a one-time event that we can say the Ascension occurred and that is it; whatever happens afterward is a result of that first Ascension; it is not so. This verse does not say that. This verse states: "He it is Who raised among the unlettered a Messenger from among themselves, reciting to them His verses, purifying them, and teaching them the Book and wisdom, and indeed, they were previously in manifest error, and [there are] others among them who have not yet joined them." This Ascension is among those people and among the last ones; this "and" is a conjunction to "unlettered": raised among the unlettered and among the last ones. Who are the "last ones"? Those who have "not yet joined them"; that is, until today, we are the audience of the Ascension; the Ascension is among us as well; that is, right now, the noble Prophet of Islam is in the process of educating and purifying us; we are currently the audience, we are the audience of the Ascension. Throughout the eternal history of humanity, this will exist; humanity will always be the audience of the education and purification of the noble Prophet.

Just as the Prophet called the people to distance themselves from idols and to break idols on that day, today, this call exists as well. The first idol is our own idol; the idol within ourselves, the idol of our desires, and in the words of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified), that dangerous animal within us; the first danger is this; that is, the first struggle is against that, as the closest enemy to us is our own self; we must struggle against our self. Then, the external deviations arise, and now the first task is to reform the closer region; that is, our own society. Some say that you want to reform the world; first, reform yourselves; well, yes, we must first reform ourselves, we must first reform our own society. This is the demand of the noble Prophet and the Ascension of Islam from us to first reform ourselves; if we become a reformed example of Islam for humanity, it will have its own attraction and will draw people in.

Purification and education have two sides: one side is the inviter, and the other side is the invited. If the inviter exists—who does; the Prophet is currently inviting all of us—but if the invited does not respond, nothing will happen. What happened in our revolution was that the invited responded. Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) articulated the words of the Prophet, the Ascension of the Prophet, to the people, demanded struggle from the people, and the people responded; this great movement occurred, this great work was accomplished. Subsequently, our people, with God's grace and the favor of the Lord, continued their movement in the right direction, achieving successes; there were also some shortcomings, and we faced failures.

This tradition continues; this is a perpetual tradition; as long as we respond to the invitation of the Prophet, that purification will be achieved, that education will be achieved, and that growth and progress will come into existence. Growth is not only spiritual and otherworldly; no, "Our Lord, grant us good in this world and good in the Hereafter"; growth is both worldly and otherworldly; it is the happiness of this world and the Hereafter; it is the best example of life for the world of humanity, the world of society, and the Hereafter of society. If we, who are the invited, respond, this will happen. The inviter exists; the Prophet is currently inviting us. We are the last ones who have "not yet joined them"; we must respond. On the day of the Ascension, the anniversary of the Ascension, we must pay attention to this point that we are also addressed by the Ascension of the noble Prophet of Islam; if we do not respond, then we will be like the continuation of that noble verse: "The example of those who were burdened with the Torah but did not carry it"; they were given the Torah—in the Torah, there was light, divine wisdom, divine invitation, and the Torah was a collection of divine commandments—but they did not act; if we do not act, we will be like them: "The example of those who were burdened with the Torah but did not carry it." This is the matter regarding the Ascension that I have presented.

I want to say that today the world is in need of this invitation, in need of this Ascension. Today, the lives of the people of the world are not good lives. Now, there are appearances in some countries of the world, but these appearances do not indicate the happiness of those societies; in those societies, like all other societies, there is poverty, misery, discrimination, oppression, and injustice. Today, humanity is trapped within the confines of matter and has an urgent need for this purification and education of the Prophet and the Prophetic Ascension. We have a responsibility. Our responsibility is to build ourselves and show the world how an Islamic country, an Islamic community can be managed; to act in the true sense of the word, just as we have acted in some cases, and thanks be to God, we have had impacts in the world. We have shortcomings, and we also have successes, thanks be to God.

Regarding Gaza, I want to say a word. The tragedy of Gaza unfortunately continues. This tragedy is the tragedy of the Islamic world, and even more so, it is the tragedy of humanity. This indicates how false the current global order is; a significant part of the global powers today stand behind the criminal and blood-soaked hands of the Zionist regime, whose opponents are not fighters, but children, women, the sick, hospitals, and the homes of people. America stands behind them, England stands behind them, and many European countries stand behind them, and their subjects are the same; countries that are subservient to them, following them. You can understand the falsity of this global order from this incident in Gaza; and this will not last, this is not sustainable, this will be eradicated.

The incident in Gaza has exposed Western civilization and Western culture in the world; it has shown that their civilization is one in which such ruthlessness is prevalent and permissible that we see hospitals being attacked before our eyes, hundreds being killed in one night, and in three or four months, nearly thirty thousand people—most of whom are women and children—being killed in one area!

And behind the Zionist regime is America; the Zionists themselves say this, they confess; they say that if it were not for American weapons, the Zionist regime could not continue this war for even one day. From the very beginning, American weapons have been directed toward them; both money, weapons, and political support, and so on. They are also guilty and among the responsible for this bitter incident.

The only solution is for the great global powers to withdraw themselves, for the powers that support the Zionist regime to withdraw from this issue, and the Palestinian fighters know how to manage the field, just as they have managed it until now, and thanks be to God, they have not suffered a significant and hard blow. The opponents of the Zionists are the oppressed and defenseless people who are there.

What governments must do is to cut political, promotional, military, and consumer goods support to the Zionist regime; this is the duty of governments. What nations must do is to pressure their governments to carry out this great duty. This work must be done, and God willing, day by day, the victory of the people of Gaza will become more apparent. We hope that the oppressed people of Palestine, the oppressed people of Gaza, and other areas of Palestine witness victory and can, God willing, bring their enemy to their knees.

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