Statements in Meeting with the People of Qom

On the occasion of the anniversary of the uprising of the 19th of Dey 1356

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, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure and chosen progeny, and may God's curse be upon all their enemies.

Welcome, dear people of Qom, brothers and sisters from the esteemed seminary of Qom; I extend my greetings to all of you; you have made the effort, and I appreciate your kindness.

I commemorate this great and impactful event in history. We have spoken extensively about the 19th of Dey and the virtues of the people of Qom. Whatever I say is repetitive and has been said many times. The essence of it is captured in this noble verse that this respected reciter has read: "Those of you who spent and fought before the victory are not equal to those who spent and fought afterwards." The people of Qom rose up before a great movement of the Iranian nation was seen and began. The movement of the people of Qom was very impactful and shook Iran; it made all prepared hearts aware of an opportunity, a possibility, and a reality, and the movement was set in motion, leading to the subsequent events that you know. There is no need to repeat the matter; what is necessary is to learn from these events. We must learn lessons from such matters. The lessons are presented anew. Every day, we—myself, you, and all people—need to learn from past events.

The main point in the matter of Qom, which I have mentioned many times and repeat, is that the people of Qom acted at the right moment. Whenever a task is performed at its proper time, it has an impact, or its impact increases. If we let the task become stale, if some time passes and then it is performed, it may sometimes have no effect or have a minimal effect. The art of the people of Qom was that they immediately grasped the point, recognized the enmity, and responded at that very moment. Otherwise, if they had waited until after the wicked and conspiratorial behavior of the enemy towards Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) occurred, and then they said, "Now we will act, tomorrow we will act, in a month we will act," the subsequent events would not have occurred at all. A duty has a time; it must be performed at its proper time; the best time to perform a duty is at the beginning—at the time of virtue. Some do not perform the duty at all, saying, "Forget it;" some perform it but with delay; some wait until the time has passed to perform it, like the Tawabin; the Tawabin did not come when they should have—when it was Ashura—they came when it was too late. Or the uprising of the people of Medina under the leadership of Abdullah ibn Hanzalah. They stood against Yazid, rose up, and expelled the governor of Medina, but it was too late; when they heard that Hussein ibn Ali (peace be upon them) had left Medina, that was when they should have thought about it, but they did not; they thought too late, a year later; and the result was as history has recorded: they were massacred, devastated, and destroyed, and they could do nothing. The task must be performed at the right time. If we want to perform the task at the right time, we must recognize the duty, know what must be done, and perform it at its proper time.

What I am saying is that this revolution was a great leap taken by the Iranian nation to free itself from the humiliation of dependency and the humiliation of backwardness. This revolution was a massive movement to eradicate dependency and backwardness—these two great humiliations—by the blessing of Islam and under the guidance and leadership of Islam. It was created for this purpose, and the Islamic Republic was established on this basis. Pay close attention: when a movement has arisen for this purpose—to eradicate dependency and backwardness from this nation—and it has succeeded and made progress, those who benefited from Iran's backwardness and dependency will stand against this movement, this revolution, and this system; this is natural. It is not that we create enemies; some people have the refrain that we should not constantly create enemies! The enemy is created by the movement of the nation. Suppose a bully has seized your home, your shop, your place of rest, your life; when you come and expel him, you have done your right, you have reclaimed your right, but he will be hostile towards you. As long as he has hope that he can overpower you, he will strike at you. We have not created any new enmity; they are the ones who are hostile. Those who benefited from Iran's dependency on themselves are today our enemies; they are blood enemies! Those who profited from the backwardness of the Iranian nation are today our enemies; they are blood enemies, irreconcilable enemies. Of course, this enmity may not last until the Day of Judgment; "It may be that God will establish friendship between you and those whom you have regarded as enemies." Perhaps at some point in the future—one hundred years from now, fifty years from now, we do not know—this enmity may cease; but what is the condition for the cessation of enmity? That he becomes hopeless or is reformed; but now this [reformation] is unlikely, the reformation of superpowers is unlikely. So, this enmity exists. The lesson we must learn is to act at the right time, which is based on recognizing the enemy, knowing the direction of the enemy's actions, and gaining enough insight to understand the purpose of every action the enemy takes. If he is targeting us and attacking us, we must remedy it, stand firm, and resist; this is our duty. Now, regarding this topic, I will share a few words today.

First, who is the enemy? The enemy today is specifically the United States, Britain, international usurers, Zionists, and their followers; now their followers are not very important, they are not worth mentioning; the main ones are these. The United States is an enemy of the Islamic Republic, of independent Iran, of progressive Iran; Britain, which is the old, decrepit colony of the past, now wants to re-establish its influence in this region, is an enemy; the Zionists are enemies; international capitalists and usurers are enemies; these are the main enemies.

Of course, I should also mention that they are not the only enemies; in addition to them, there is another enemy that exists within us. What do I mean by within us? I mean me, you, a certain official, a certain youth. What is this internal enemy? This internal enemy consists of lack of motivation, hopelessness, lethargy, lack of enthusiasm, laziness; these are our enemies. "O God, I seek refuge in You from laziness, old age, cowardice, stinginess, heedlessness, hardness of heart, and weakness;" these are our enemies. "O God, I seek refuge in You from a soul that is never satisfied, from a heart that does not humble itself, from a prayer that is not heard, and from a prayer that does not benefit;" these are our internal enemies; we do not place all the blame on the outsiders. If we act poorly, if we do not act at the right time, if we are lazy, if we misidentify the enemy, if we mistake a real major enemy for a misguided brother or a misguided person—who is still our brother, even if misguided—then we will suffer a blow. So, this is also our enemy; we must be aware of it. When we say the foreign enemy, it does not mean that there are no deficiencies within ourselves; no, wrong policies, bad policies, bad behaviors, various baseless disputes, laziness, failure to act, narrow-mindedness—these are our enemies; they also exist.

Well, when we say the United States, Britain, a certain foreign enemy, do we just shout slogans? Let me tell you, it is not a slogan; it is based on realities. Well, we become aware of world events; when, for instance, the charming (5) U.S. Secretary of State (6) advises the next government in his farewell letter to be tough on Iran, to impose as many sanctions as possible, to know that tough measures can extract concessions from Iran just as we did—he says this—well, this is the enemy; now this enemy is a smiling enemy; there was a time when he would openly say that Iran is the axis of evil (7); he does not say this openly now, but his behavior is the same. This is the enemy. So, when we constantly say enemy, enemy, it is not that we want to shout slogans, nor is it that, as some unfair people say, they are struggling with their internal issues and are forced to create enemies; no, it is not enemy fabrication; well, there is an enemy, open your eyes to see; if you close your eyes, of course, you will not see; if you bury your head in the snow, you will not see; but if you raise your head, look, you will see.

We said Britain! The British have come back to the Persian Gulf; of course, we had heard about this one or two years ago; we had heard that they intended to return to the Persian Gulf; now they have come. They come here to a number of the rulers of the Persian Gulf—who have no real intimacy among themselves; it is not that we should think they are truly close to these rulers of the Persian Gulf; no, they want to take advantage, they know they can put them under pressure; they come and speak to them like this—they say Iran is a threat! Well, the threat is the British themselves. Today, British circles sit down to make decisions for the region and for Islamic Iran; one of their decisions is the disintegration of the countries in the region. What I am saying is not analysis, it is not guesswork; this is information. They say the era of one Iraq, one Syria, one Yemen, one Libya is over; meaning Iraq should be disintegrated, Syria should be disintegrated, Libya should be disintegrated, Yemen should be disintegrated; they do not mention Iran's name because they do not dare, they are afraid. They are very afraid of the public opinion in Iran; otherwise, the same words that Mohammad Reza said before leaving, that "if we go, Iran will become Iranistan"—he meant that like Afghanistan, like Turkmenistan, here too there will be a part called Iranistan, while the rest will be divided among various governments—these [also] want to say the same thing; they were hopeful, they tried, they were thwarted, but the idea is still in their minds; but they do not say it out loud. Well, this is the enemy; does the enemy have horns and a tail? They are already sitting, thinking about what limitations to impose on Iran after the end of the JCPOA—thinking about what limitations to impose on Iran after that, which they think the JCPOA should last ten years, twelve years, for example—they are already thinking about what to do with Iran at that time, what to say, how to act to impose limitations. Is there a worse enemy than this? Is there a more wicked one? That is why I say the wicked British; this is their wickedness.

One of their programs that they explicitly state is the training and arming of selected local individuals; meaning they say we will select individuals from within these countries, including Iran, establish connections with them, train them, equip them—today equipping is easy, there is the internet, there are various communications—to turn against the country, to turn against the Islamic system, to turn against the nation; these are the words they are saying; well, this is the enemy.

This enemy must be recognized. We have said that we must recognize both the enemy and the methods of enmity. The ways and directions that they have in mind for enmity must be known; both officials and the people must know, our youth must know, our workers must know, our academics must know; they must know that the enemy's goal—sometimes in their radios and organizations they say that our target is such and such a person, for example, Ali Khamenei, but they are lying— their goal is the Iranian nation, their goal is Islamic Iran, their goal is the Islamic system. If they are in conflict with a certain Zaydi, with a certain Amri, with a certain organization, it is because they feel that this person has, for example, taken a stand, has stood firm; they must push him back; I will also address this issue.

Well, what should we do in response? Our duty is to strengthen the country and make it resilient; we must elevate the power of the country and fortify it. How does the power of the country increase? These are matters that we must think about and plan for; this planning is the responsibility of everyone; it is the responsibility of officials, it is the responsibility of politicians, it is the responsibility of the seminaries, it is the responsibility of universities, it is the responsibility of active cultural elements, it is the responsibility of active political elements; they must plan for these matters. We must fortify and strengthen the country.

How do we strengthen it? What are the elements of power for the country? I will enumerate a few of them: one is Islamic faith, religious faith. Religious faith is one of the most important elements of resistance and movement in this country; it is not just today, for 130 years, 140 years, every movement that has taken place in this country that has been impactful, influential, and effective has had the element of religious faith at its core. You can start from the Tobacco Movement; the Tobacco Movement was a massive popular movement in the country, it had a religious element; the religious authority issued a decree, and the people acted according to his decree due to their religious faith and removed a great betrayal that had been plaguing this nation for many years; this is one.

The Constitutional Movement; the Constitutional Movement was a movement that advanced under the leadership of scholars who were the embodiment of the people's religiosity. Yes, there were certain intellectuals, certain writers, certain secret circles in the country, not that they did not exist, but they could not advance, they could not do anything, they had no influence on the people. What brought the people to the field during the Constitutional Movement was the presence of first-rate scholars like the late Sheikh Fazlollah Nouri, the late Seyyed Mohammad Tabatabai, the late Seyyed Abdullah Behbahani; these were great scholars; in Tehran and Tabriz, there were great scholars, in Isfahan, there were great scholars, in some other cities as well, in Fars, there were great scholars who led the way, and the people followed them; however, the British were smarter than us here; they created discord among the scholars [and among the people]. In Tehran, they created discord between those two great men and the great martyr Sheikh Fazlollah Nouri. Sheikh Fazlollah Nouri, who was the most proactive scholar for establishing the Constitution, was executed on the charge of being against the Constitution! This was what they did. They led the people to the embassy, and a number of them handed the Constitution over to the British; and the Constitution became what it was that led to Reza Khan and fifty or sixty years of backwardness for this country, but the beginning of the movement was religious.

The Nationalization of the Oil Industry Movement; see, this is history. The reason I keep saying to read history, to reflect on history, is for this. If there were no scholars and no religious motivation, the Nationalization of the Oil Industry Movement would certainly not have advanced; everyone should know this. At the forefront of this movement was Ayatollah Kashani. His supporter was a religious authority like the late Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Taqi Khansari in Qom. The promoters of this idea were a group in Qom and Mashhad; we had a religious scholar, a first-rate speaker, and a first-rate religious activist; these were the promoters of the Nationalization Movement, and the people came out due to their religion. After Ayatollah Kashani was separated, the scholars were expelled, the religious people were sidelined, and Mossadegh was defeated. As long as there was religion, as long as the element of religious faith was present, there was movement forward; when this [element] was removed, the movement stopped, was defeated, and turned into its opposite. An American came with a suitcase full of cash to Tehran and disrupted everything.

The element of religious faith is evident in all movements; it is evident in the 15th of Khordad, it is evident in the Islamic Revolution, it is evident in the Sacred Defense. In various events, religion and the religious motivation of the people drew them in. The one whose four sons or three sons were martyred in the way of God is happy that they were martyred in the way of God. Religious motivation and faith motivation is a factor of power.

This must be preserved; they are hostile towards it. Today, from all sides, there is enmity against the religious motivation of the people; because they want to first eliminate the faith of the youth and then of various other classes under different pretexts, in various forms. This is what the enemy is doing today.

In addition to religious faith, religious knowledge is also necessary. Religious faith must be accompanied by knowledge; what is religious knowledge? It is the same statement that the late Modarres said that "our religion is identical with our politics, our politics is identical with our religion"—and our great Imam (may his soul be sanctified) also said and acted upon this meaning and this concept—this is one of the elements of the country's power. Today, one of the fundamental recommendations that American and British think tanks gather around to think, design, and present to media, press, internet, political, and other activists is that they say to oppose political religion; meaning to promote the separation of religion from politics; meaning the separation of religion from life; religion should be confined to the corner of the mosque, religion should be inside the home, religion should only be in the heart, not in action, so that the economy is non-religious, politics is non-religious, submitting to the enemy is non-religious, fighting with friends, aligning with enemies—contrary to the text of religion—exists, but the appearance is also religious; this is what they want. Religious knowledge means that religion—all religions; our claim is that all religions are like this, even Christianity, but the one that is certain and clear and evident is Islam, which the Prophet of Islam, the first thing he did after the exile of the Meccan period was to establish a government, and he was able to promote religion by establishing it in the form of government—cannot be separated from government. The meaning of a religion being separate from government is that religion sits down to give advice all the time, to speak all the time, and the powerful do whatever they want against religion and contrary to religion; whenever they want, they can kick these people; non-political religion means this. They want this; they pursue this. No, this knowledge must exist that religion is not separate from politics; and the enemy of religion fears the religion that has a government, has power, has an army, has an economy, has a financial system, has various administrative organizations; he fears this religion; otherwise, the religion that people go to worship in the mosque, well, let them do it for a hundred years; so this is also one of the factors [of the country's power]. You must know that the inseparability of religion from life and from politics and the flow of religion in all aspects (8) of community life is a correct religious knowledge; this must be realized and pursued; otherwise, the name of religion and the name of our clerical status and the like do not accomplish anything; we must truly act.

One of the factors of power is rapid scientific movement; scientific power. I have repeatedly read the hadith "Knowledge is power" (9). They are also opposed to our scientific power.

The same local elements that the wicked English recommended and emphasized that we should use them in these countries, including Iran, sometimes in universities they try to discourage our youth so that they do not engage in scientific movement; if they are talented, they push them towards abroad; they say, "Sir! Go somewhere else, what are you doing here; you are wasting yourself"; and they also pay money, they also give rewards. Of course, our faithful youth are standing firm; I can testify to this. Despite the wickedness of some elements of the enemy that are carried out in universities and outside universities to sow the seeds of despair, our youth, our faithful youth are standing firm. A few days ago, medalists and outstanding individuals from a prestigious university in the country came here; they spoke in such a way that one would truly be astonished by the beauty and correctness and precision of their speech. Now I will mention that they have not recognized our people, but we must recognize their plots. One of the ways to fortify the country is through scientific movement, which must not be stopped, nor should its momentum decrease.

Another issue is economic progress and solving the problems of the people. One of their goals with these sanctions is precisely to separate the people from the system; the people should face problems; there should be unemployment, recession, various economic problems; we should just keep talking, and the people should also face problems. They impose sanctions so that these things happen, and even when they ostensibly lift the sanctions, they do so in a way that these problems are not resolved. What should we do in response? Our antidote is to ensure that the economy becomes strong, resilient, and sustainable; that is the same "resilient economy" that we have repeatedly said and emphasized. This is also one of the factors of the country's power. A country that has a strong economy, its currency gains value, its officials gain value, its people gain credibility, and they cannot impose anything on them. We have repeatedly said that we must gradually separate ourselves from this sucking of oil and dependency on oil, and we must gradually reduce this. The oil policy and the fluctuations of oil are in the hands of others; oil belongs to us, but its control is in the hands of others. We must be able to fortify the country's economy, make it strong. This is one of the factors of power.

Preserving national dignity in international negotiations, in interactions, not submitting to coercion, preserving national dignity is one of the factors of the country's power. In the session where we are sitting and talking to our counterpart, he looks to see what our spirit is like, how motivated we are, how determined we are; based on that assessment, he will behave with us. We must preserve the dignity of the nation, the dignity of the country; [then] the people will also feel dignified; this becomes the capability and foundation of the country's power.

Well, if we truly recognize these means of resistance, if we recognize the direction of the enemy's actions, then we can plan in response to the enemy, draw up a map, and create these factors of power within ourselves; if we do not recognize them, sometimes we may even help the enemy. I have repeatedly said, if a soldier in the battlefield falls asleep, and after waking up, he is dazed and confused, does not know what he is doing, turns on the artillery, he may strike his own side. If you do not know where the enemy is, where the friend is, if you turn on the artillery, instead of hitting the enemy, you hit the friend; insight is necessary for this.

The enemy seeks to eliminate these elements of national power that I have mentioned; this is the enemy's goal. He wants to eliminate faith, eliminate modesty and chastity, eliminate adherence to religious principles, eliminate firm belief in the sovereignty of religion, undermine national dignity, halt scientific movement, weaken the institutions and entities that are manifestations of the country's power and the power of the nation. You see attacks on the IRGC, attacks on the Basij, attacks on the Guardian Council; this is the same; I do not care about the recent disputes between the heads of the two branches; these are not important matters, they will all end by the grace of God; they are not significant matters, the enemy wants to exaggerate these things; but the existence of an independent, brave, and decisive judiciary must be valued by all; everyone must support it. I support the governments, I support the judiciary, I support the Islamic Consultative Assembly—I support everyone—but we must see what can thwart the enemy in its goals. If we can have a strong security apparatus, a powerful popular military force, a massive popular movement called the Basij, an aware clergy that understands the times and is present in the scene, a powerful and complete judiciary, a courageous and precise planning government; if we have these things, the movement of the Iranian nation and the movement of the country will be successful. These must be secured, we must pursue these. Whatever we have, we thank God and preserve it; whatever we do not have, we must secure it; we must provide it for ourselves.

Today, fortunately, there are very good movements; both in the fields of science and culture—as I mentioned—[and in other fields]; the best medalists in the country are Basij children. Here, I have multiple meetings with students; one example was just a few days ago when medalists and Basij youth from Sharif University came here. Dozens of medals, dozens of outstanding and elite youth, one example was this; we have many other examples. Our elite youth, our active youth, our vibrant, intelligent, university students, and also among the professors, [individuals] with revolutionary thought, with revolutionary motivation and revolutionary determination, this exists today; in the field of culture, it is the same; in the field of art, it is the same; in the field of politics, it is the same. We must help these motivated youth in all these fields that I have mentioned.

Of course, I firmly state that the enemy, with all its planning, has not recognized our people, has not recognized the Iranian nation; they make mistakes. You saw in 2009, they made a mistake and ignited that sedition and brought things to places that they thought were very narrow, sensitive, and precise, but suddenly the public movement of the 9th of Dey astonished everyone. This movement of the 9th of Dey in 2009 is of the same nature as your movement of the 19th of Dey in 1978.

Therefore, all active sectors of the country, from clerics, academics, country officials, country managers, especially senior managers of the country, members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, intellectuals, writers, all have a duty to strengthen the factors of power in the country—which I have enumerated. Those who love Iran must know that attacking the Islamic faith of the youth is a betrayal to Iran. Some people love Iran, love the country, [but] do not have much attachment to religion and Sharia and such things; they must also know that if they truly love Iran, if they are not truly traitors and enemies in the guise of friends, they must not weaken religion—the faith of the youth. Those who weaken the faith of the youth are betraying the country; not just the religion. These factors of the country's and the nation's power must be strengthened, preserved, and pursued by all these sectors.

And fortunately, today a vast collection is fulfilling this duty, and it will increase after this. The lesson of today for you and me from the event of the 19th of Dey should be that we must recognize the enemy, understand the methods and direction of the enemy's actions, and at the right time, with every means at our disposal, we must stand against him. If we do this, know that the global and international enemies of ours—those I mentioned; from the United States and Britain and Zionism and international companies and international usurers and relentless enemies—will not be able to do anything against the Iranian nation.