Statements in Meeting with the Commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps

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

First, I extend my greetings; second, I congratulate you on this blessed holiday. With your presence and your warm breaths and the good programs you have executed, you have made our day a celebration; we hope, God willing, that your hearts are always joyful, always mindful, and always in pursuit of higher ranks.

I would like to say a few words about the esteemed Imam and the scholar of the family of Muhammad, Hazrat Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha (peace be upon him). The spiritual and moral ranks of these sacred beings are truly beyond our rational comprehension, let alone our verbal description; however, in front of our eyes and the eyes of history, the lives of these great figures serve as an everlasting and undeniable practical lesson. When we delve into the lives of the Imams (peace be upon them), focusing on their policies, their strategies, and their biographies, it does not mean that this aspect is the most important or significant part of their lives; no, the world of meaning and the nearness to God and the knowledge and love that radiates from those unparalleled hearts is another story. However, what is before our eyes is the lives of these great figures from which we must learn.

The blessed life of Imam Ridha (peace be upon him) lasted approximately fifty-five years—from the year 148, which is the year of the martyrdom of Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), until the year 203. All the greatness, depth, and various dimensions that can be mentioned and depicted about this great figure occurred within this relatively short lifespan. Of these fifty-five years, nearly twenty years—approximately nineteen years—were the period of his Imamate; yet, even within this short time, the impact he had on the reality of the Islamic world and the depth he brought to the true meaning of Islam and the connection to the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) and the familiarity with the teachings of these great figures is a remarkable story, a deep ocean. When Hazrat assumed the Imamate, his friends and close ones wondered what Ali ibn Musa could do in this atmosphere of the oppressive regime of Harun, which is narrated as saying: 'And the sword of Harun drips with blood'; what could this young man do in these conditions, continuing the struggle of the Shiite Imams and bearing the immense responsibility on his shoulders? This was the beginning of the Imamate of Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha (peace be upon him). After these nineteen or twenty years, which mark the end of the Imamate and the martyrdom of Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha, when you look, you see that the same thought of the Guardianship of the Ahl al-Bayt and the connection to the family of the Prophet has spread so widely in the Islamic world that the oppressive and dictatorial Abbasid regime is unable to confront it; this was accomplished by Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha. You have heard that Dabil came to Marv, to Khorasan, and composed those famous poems in praise of Imam Ridha; he then received a reward; and now suppose he stayed a few days in Marv and in other cities of Khorasan, then set off towards Baghdad and Kufa and those places he intended to go. On the way, thieves attacked the caravan that Dabil was in and looted it. The caravan members sat watching, their belongings all plundered, while the chief of the thieves sat on a high rock, watching the captives and the belongings they had taken. Dabil heard the chief of the thieves murmuring to himself, reciting a poem; he listened and realized it was his own poem. A couplet from that ode he had composed a month or a month and a half earlier in Marv—'I see their spoils among others'—was being recited by the chief of the thieves. Dabil was delighted, stood up, and asked, 'Whose poem are you reciting?' The chief replied, 'This poem belongs to Dabil Khuzai.' Dabil said, 'Well, I am Dabil Khuzai!' When the chief of the thieves realized that this person was Dabil Khuzai, he stood up, embraced him, kissed him, and said, 'By the blessing of this person’s presence in the caravan, return all the belongings.' They returned all the belongings, respected the caravan members, and let them go. This is a small incident in history, but it carries great meaning. The poem composed about Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha in Marv, after about a month or a month and a half—less or more—was recited from the lips of a thief, preserved in memory, on the way near Rey and Iraq. What does this mean? It means that the environment was so conducive to promoting the Ahl al-Bayt and the blessed name of Imam Ridha that this poem—which at that time was one of the most influential and penetrating media—circulated in a short time until it reached a person who was, for example, a thief in the middle of the desert. This indicates the immense movement that took place during the Imamate of Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha (peace be upon him) for promoting the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt; their love became widespread; their presence and existence in the Islamic community penetrated the depths of people's hearts. When you see the great Imams rising up, coming here, apart from the aspect of mourning and sadness that their martyrdom represents along the way, there is a positive and meaningful aspect; this signifies the people's request, the people's demand, the acceptance and readiness of the people towards the Ahl al-Bayt. You know that when we say 'Ahl al-Bayt', we mean this school, this essence that the Ahl al-Bayt introduced from Islam; it is a profoundly cultural and spiritual endeavor and a significant ideological work.

This is the movement of Imam Ridha (peace be upon him); until finally, Mamun, through the events you have heard about and are aware of, felt compelled to martyr Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha (peace be upon him)—who, with his own specific intentions, had brought him from Medina, drawn him close, and had no intention of killing him—contrary to what he had planned, to bring about his martyrdom; this was the divine decree and will and divine planning—that a part of the Prophet's body be buried in this distant point from Medina, which itself is a divine plan, a divine engineering—was carried out by the enemies of the Ahl al-Bayt.

Work for lofty goals must be done this way; one must look at the long term with these motivations, these intentions, and these hopes; the Guards are in such a position. The issue is not that a new government came to power after the revolution, that some support it, some oppose it, and some naturally have soldiers and guards and armed forces; that is not the issue; the issue of the Islamic Revolution—which you are the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps—is a matter that transcends these discussions. Now, I will first say a word about the experience of the Guards in these continuous years, and then I will address the matter that I wish to convey to you, dear brothers.

The record of the Guards over these thirty-some years is a brilliant record; I do not say this as a common and usual phrase that is often used; the reality is that the record of the Guards during this period truly reflects the experience of a nation; that is, the depths of the character and identity of the Iranian nation can be observed in this record; because the Guards entered the field with faith and conviction. The field of what? The field of 'struggle and resistance'. They trained the most intelligent and strongest military commanders; those who, at a young age and under thirty, became prominent planners and, in the language of the West, strategists of the battlefield in the Guards, had never seen a military university; this was the training of the Guards, the training of this environment, which is a radiant atmosphere, the training of this organization built on the foundation of faith and conviction; it trained those distinguished personalities—whose names our nation and history will never forget—this is the art of the Guards. This is in the context of war; in addition to this, we also see that the most prudent, strongest, and best managers of the country have been trained and delivered by the Guards in the non-military context; the human exports of the Guards to the various governing bodies of the Islamic Republic is a long and honorable list; this is the record of the Guards.

One of the important sections of the record of the Guards is living and remaining revolutionary; that is, events and currents could not divert this solid and strong organization from its original and correct path, under the pretext that the world has changed, life has changed; the excuses you hear and see that are brought forth for capitulation, for regret; the excuse is that the world has changed, everything has changed. Well, some things do not change; from the beginning of history until today, the virtue of justice and the quest for justice has not changed, the ugliness of oppression has not changed, the virtue of national independence and national dignity has not changed; these and many other principles are unchangeable. The claim that the world has changed is not an excuse for us to change our behavior, our goals, our ideals; when the ideal changes, the path changes; when the ultimate goal changes, it no longer makes sense for you to move along the previous path; you head towards a new goal, which is a new path. One of the most important strengths of the Guards is their steadfastness and stability in this radiant path. This is now about the Guards; of course, much can be said about the Guards, much has been said, much has been discussed, and many things remain unsaid that we will not elaborate on further.

What is important is this—I want to convey this—the Guards are the protectors of the Islamic Revolution; I do not mean to say that this protection means that in all fields—in the scientific field, the intellectual field, the cultural field, the economic field—the Guards must come to protect; no, that is not my intention; rather, the point is that the Guards, as a living entity, must know what they want to protect; what is this revolution? It is not necessary for the Guards to necessarily engage in political protection, but they must understand the political arena. This confusion that some create must be clarified; it is not possible for an organization to be defined as the arm of the guardian and protector of the revolution in the country, yet remain blind and ignorant in the face of various political currents—some deviant, some non-deviant, some dependent on this or that—this does not make sense; they must know what they want to defend. To reduce the challenges of the revolution to political and factional challenges and the confrontation of Zayd and Amr with each other is negligence, complacency, and carelessness; the fundamental challenge of the revolution is that the revolution has presented a new order for humanity. We do not say that the revolution initially addressed all of humanity; no, the Islamic Revolution of 'Iran' was focused on the issues of Iran, aimed at creating fundamental changes in Iran; however, the language of this revolution and the message of this revolution was a message and language that could not and cannot, by its very nature, remain confined within the borders of Iran; a global concept, a human truth was conveyed by the revolution that anyone in the world who hears it feels attached to this message. What is that message? If we want to express that message in its social and human form in one sentence: it is the confrontation with the system of domination; this is the message of the revolution. The system of domination is the system that divides the world into oppressor and oppressed; the logic of the revolution, which is the logic of Islam, is 'Do not oppress and do not be oppressed'; no one in the entire human realm and the existence of humanity can be pleased with this message, can become attached to this message. Do not oppress, nor be oppressed. This is precisely the opposite of the order prevailing over the world since the emergence of the new industrial civilization and the spread of industrial tools and, consequently, the spread of the culture of domination in the world. Any entity in the world that is dependent on the system of domination opposes this message. Those who are oppressors themselves—namely, the tyrannical governments, the economic networks that siphon off the wealth of nations—oppose this message because they oppress. The subordinate and subservient governments that rule over poor or wealthy nations and are subject to the global system of domination do not have their own power, do not have their own dominance, but follow them, oppose this message. Any government that implements the policies of the system of domination, the policies of, for example, America or, at one time, the policies of England, word for word in its own country, naturally opposes the message of 'Do not oppress and do not be oppressed'; international and multinational companies and those who gather public wealth oppose this as well; those policies that spread the three elements of war, poverty, and corruption are opposed to this. The wars of the world in recent times, in the last two or three centuries, have often been influenced by the system of domination; either they themselves were at war with someone or incited two groups to fight each other to profit. Poverty is also their doing; many of these poor countries, whose people live in poverty and cannot benefit from their own natural resources, bear the blame for their poverty on their shoulders. They have deprived many countries of their own knowledge due to political domination. Read this book by Jawaharlal Nehru—A Glimpse into World History—in the section where he describes the intervention and influence of the British in India; he is both trustworthy and knowledgeable; he says that the industry that existed in India, the knowledge that existed in India, was not less than and was even more than that of Europe and Britain. When the British entered India, one of their programs was to prevent the spread of indigenous industry. Well, then India reaches the point where tens of millions at that time, and hundreds of millions in later periods, are poor, homeless, and starving in the true sense; Africa is the same; many Latin American countries are the same. Thus, the system of domination is not only a promoter of war but also a creator of poverty. The immense wealth you see concentrated in the peaks of wealth—these first-rate wealthy individuals in the world—are the result of 'I have not seen a plentiful blessing except that alongside it is a right that has been violated.' When they plunder the oil of a country, when they seize the agricultural products of a country, when they take control of the trade of a country so that the people of that country remain deprived of it, they deprive a nation of production, industry, and other aspects of national progress; well, the nation becomes poor. Therefore, they are responsible for both war and poverty and corruption. The spread of corruption in the world and igniting the fire of sexual desire—which is a natural phenomenon and can be ignited and flared up in all humans—is their doing; each of these is a separate and detailed story.

Well, the system of domination spreads war, poverty, and corruption, with the same specific mechanism of dividing the world into oppressor and oppressed. Islam—the Islamic revolution, which is derived from those Islamic concepts—comes and says: 'Do not oppress and do not be oppressed,' meaning it negates all these factors; the main challenge is here; the main conflict is here; the conflict with the revolution is with these; the rest of the discussions are excuses. Sanctions, internal wars, creating coups, the other issues that have arisen in these years—issues of nuclear energy—must all be viewed within this framework; one must see: a revolution comes and, contrary to the expectations of the entire world, becomes victorious, forms a government, and that government becomes enduring and remains—contrary to the expectations of the entire world, which thought the Islamic Republic would disappear within six months, a year, or after a little concession, within three or four years—it became stronger day by day, became 'Its root is firm and its branches are in the sky. It bears fruit at all times by the permission of its Lord' (Quran 14:24-25), transformed into a regional power, became an influential country in major global issues; they oppose this, they are enemies of this.

They raise the issue of nuclear weapons. Well, we do not accept nuclear weapons—not for Zayd and Amr, not for America and others—because of our beliefs; no one should have them. When we say you should not have them, it means we also firmly say we should not have them and we will not have them; however, their issue is something else; they have no objection to some countries potentially emerging [to] disrupt their monopoly; of course, they do not want their monopoly disrupted, but they do not raise a commotion either; in the case of Islamic Iran and the Islamic Republic, they raise a commotion; why? Because having such a capability, such a power, is the backing of this system of 'Do not oppress and do not be oppressed'; this is the main challenge; this must be recognized, this must be seen, and within this framework, the approaches of America and the West and those dependent countries and those dependent and attached currents must be interpreted and analyzed; this is the Islamic revolution.

No one in the eyes of these enemies is more detestable than the brilliant face and radiant sun of our esteemed Imam; they respected him, but deep down, they were his enemies; because he stood firm, because the Imam, with his two unparalleled qualities of 'complete insight' and 'total decisiveness'—he saw well and understood correctly, and he stood firmly—was a barrier against their progress and against their attempts to undermine and harm him; therefore, they were enemies of him. Of course, we have said they respected him; they understood his greatness, but the greater he was, the more detestable he was in their eyes; today it is the same; anyone who is more committed to this fundamental and principal value, which determines the political identity of the revolution—namely, the value of 'Do not oppress and do not be oppressed'—and understands that the list of problems created and generated by the enemies against the Islamic system fits within this framework—anyone with such insight and steadfastness in this path is equally detestable to them. Of course, the world of diplomacy is a world of smiling; they smile, they negotiate, they request negotiations, they themselves say. A few days ago, one of these Western politicians was told, 'You want to negotiate with Iran; well, Iran is an enemy.' He said, 'Well, one negotiates with an enemy!' This is an acknowledgment of enmity with Iran; they explicitly say so. The cause of enmity is not individuals; the cause of enmity is this truth and this identity. Everything they say must be interpreted and analyzed within this framework; it must be understood within this framework.

We are not opposed to correct and logical diplomatic movements, whether in the realm of diplomacy or in the realm of domestic policies. I believe in what was termed years ago as 'heroic flexibility'; flexibility in certain areas is very necessary, very good; there is nothing wrong with it, but this wrestler who is wrestling with his opponent must not forget who his opponent is; he must not forget what he is doing; this is the main condition; they must understand what they are doing, know who they are facing, where the target of their opponent's attack lies; they must keep this in mind.

Well, you are the guardians of the Islamic Revolution; the meaning of being the guardians of the Islamic Revolution does not mean that in all fields and arenas you must go and be present [and] have a duty on your shoulders; no, there is a specific, defined, and established duty that was reflected in the statements of our esteemed and respected commander today; the same view of the scope of the activities of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps is correct, I confirm it; however, the Guards must first always know what they want to do, what they want to protect; secondly, they must not forget their steadfastness, which is the main component of the proud identity of the Guards; this must be kept in mind by everyone at all levels.

We have repeatedly stated that the work of the Guards is based on spirituality; spirituality does not contradict scientific advancements and various scientific and practical innovations and intelligent organizational methods. It is not that we should think that when a person's gaze is towards spirituality, they should not pay attention to the material aspects; no, the best and most artistic military methods were demonstrated by the Prophet Muhammad and Amir al-Mu'minin and the Muslims in the arenas of war in the early days of Islam; in our time, too, during the Sacred Defense, the revolutionary forces—whether the Guards, the Army, or the revolutionary forces—adopted the most artistic tactics and methods of work. Spirituality does not contradict focusing on the material principles of work and organizing work correctly; this spirituality must be preserved. This spirituality is the foundation of work.

My final point is this: I believe the future is bright for the Islamic Revolution; not in the sense of a mere comforting statement, but in the sense of observing all that is before our eyes. One argument to consider is the argument of experience; well, from what situation we started at the beginning of the revolution, in terms of the poverty of human resources, the poverty of material resources, the poverty of weapons, the poverty of managerial experience, and various other forms of poverty, to what situation we have reached today; the richness of human resources, the richness of material resources, the richness of scientific resources, the richness of political resources, the richness of international reputation and dignity. Well, in these thirty-some years, where have we come from and where have we reached?! All the movement we have made in these thirty-five years has faced pressure from the opposing side, meaning the headwinds were blowing against us, and we managed to move forward; the strong opposing current was present on the ground we moved on, and we were able to advance; is this not a good experience? Is it not enough? The opposing currents and enmities cannot confuse a nation that is united, determined, and faithful, that knows and understands what it wants to do. In the recent events that occurred in the Islamic world in our region, wherever you see losses incurred, it is because they did not know what to do; a correct guiding line was not governing their actions; well, this is how it happened; of course, it will not remain this way. Here, too, the events that have occurred in the Islamic region and in Islamic countries—that awakening—is an unprecedented phenomenon; it will do its work. This is one element, one argument, which is the argument of experience.

Another argument is that we are moving forward with logic, with scientific calculation; our opposing side is suffering from increasing weaknesses and internal contradictions due to the grossly flawed structure of that civilization; they are retreating—of course, it is not necessary for them to admit this retreat or for it to be visibly and clearly seen in their words; the reality is this, the truth is this. When a nation moves forward with correct calculations, finding the right point of action, it will certainly achieve desirable results. We have said that 'the internal structure of the system' must be strengthened; we have said that 'science' must grow; we have said that 'domestic production' must be the foundation of work; we have said that 'a positive outlook on the indigenous talents of the country' must be serious, talents must be nurtured; these are the main foundations of work. When a country moves forward relying on its internal talents, relying on the innovation of its human resources, relying on its own knowledge and science, relying on its faith, and moving with unity, it will certainly achieve desirable results. Therefore, we have no doubt that we have a bright future; of course, whether this future comes quickly or slowly depends on you and me: if we move well, the future will come sooner; if we become lazy, negligent, selfish, materialistic, and let ourselves be distracted by these appearances, we will delay its arrival; however, without a doubt, it will come, and this is thanks to the sacrifices and efforts that, thanks be to God, you have actively participated in the field of sacrifice, you have been good, you have made a brilliant movement, and in the future, God willing, it will be the same.

We hope, God willing, that God will include all of you in the prayers of Hazrat Baqiyatullah (may our souls be sacrificed for him) and truly make you and us the guardians of Islam and the guardians of the Islamic Revolution and unite the pure soul of the martyrs and the pure soul of the esteemed Imam with his friends and with the Prophet.

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