Speech at the Gathering of Students and Scholars of Qom Seminary

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 Muhammad, and upon his pure and chosen household, the tree of prophethood, the place of the message, the frequenting place of angels, the source of knowledge, the stronghold, the refuge of the distressed and the oppressed, the sanctuary of the fugitives, and the protection of those who seek refuge, especially the remainder of God on earth.

God, the Wise, said in His Book: "Do you not see how God sets forth a parable of a good word as a good tree, whose root is firmly fixed, and its branches reach to the sky, yielding its fruit at all times by the permission of its Lord? And God sets forth parables for mankind so that they may reflect." (Ibrahim: 24-25)

Your gathering of students and scholars of the Qom Seminary, you who are students of the school of Ahl al-Bayt and followers of that path, is a very delightful and sweet assembly; especially in this school, which has been the birthplace of the revolution and the center of resistance, sacrifice, jihad, and martyrdom; a school where every corner holds a valuable memory of the shining stars of knowledge, spirituality, and wisdom; the school of the late Ayatollah Haeri; the school of the late Ayatollah Khansari; the school of the late Haj Mirza Javad Agha; the school of the second of Farvardin; the school of the fifteenth of Khordad; the school of courage and sacrifice; a gathering of thoughts, feelings, and motivations that not only preserved the seminary against the storms of events but also spread the light of spirituality and wisdom throughout the country and even the entire Islamic world; and that too on a day like today, which is the day of the martyrs of the clergy; a day named after the unjustly shed blood of the Basiji students and the known and unknown scholars - those pure souls, those pure hearts, and those luminous motivations. The time, place, and all of you dear ones are all memorable, attractive, and delightful.

Before I enter into the discussion I thought to present here, I must thank the dear people of Qom who, yesterday, during my arrival and after my arrival, during the speech ceremony, and throughout these blessed hours that we were present in this holy city, as always, showed their overflowing spirit and their abundant religious and revolutionary motivations; I also thank you dear students, respected scholars, and teachers. May God continuously and repeatedly bestow His blessings and favors upon all of you and all the people of this city of uprising, jihad, ijtihad, and martyrdom.

The main focus of our discussion today is the seminary. Of course, today the seminary, like in the past, is not separate from the issues and events of the world; today the seminary is a reality that is connected to the entire world - directly and indirectly; therefore, speaking about the seminary is undoubtedly related to the current issues of the Islamic world, as well as to the issues of the country and the government. We have stated that the Islamic Republic system is not one from which a group of religious scholars can be separated; especially the great seminary of Qom, which itself was the creator of this revolution, the groundwork for its victory, and its spiritual support throughout the past years, and God willing, will always be.

What we observe today in the issues of the Islamic world is not new or unexpected for those familiar with the motivation and thought of the revolution. The Islamic Revolution was not one that only aimed to change one governmental regime to another; nor was it merely concerned with the issues of a group of Muslims living within the geographical boundaries of a country. From the first day the revolution succeeded, and even before that - today when we hear the words from before the revolution, we remember that even before the victory of the revolution, the issues of Muslims were also raised for the revolutionaries and those involved in this great movement - not just the issues of the Iranian nation.

Of course, there is no doubt that in construction, the issues of the Iranian nation - for various reasons - have precedence and priority. This system and this government must be able to create a model so that its actions confirm its words; it must be able to realize Islam in this country so that the Islamic movement is recognized as truthful; it must turn slogans into reality so that those slogans warm the hearts of slogan-givers in other countries. Therefore, the issues of Iran have precedence and priority; but undoubtedly, in the main goals of the Islamic movement and the Islamic system, the issues of Muslims are raised. If in a corner of the world, a group of Muslims makes a move, makes a decision, gains a benefit, or suffers a loss, the Iranian nation, our revolution, and our system cannot take a negative and indifferent stance. Therefore, from the first day our revolution turned into a government and a system, this system, in the language of its Imam and teacher and architect, and in the language of its officials and speakers, has always raised and paid attention to the issues of Muslim nations. Today, if you see that, for example, in Africa, nations have done something that has completely confused the global arrogance; if you see that the arrogant policymakers are thinking about what we will do if the issues of Algeria spread to such and such a country; if you see that the Muslim nations of the Central Asian republics express their Islamic sentiments and want Islam - to the extent that their leaders and officials and rulers have no choice but to speak of a tendency towards Islamic motivations - and similarly in other cases, you should consider these as sparks that have spread from this center of fire.

Undoubtedly, the world has become a different world. The day this revolution succeeded, the state of Islam in the world was not what it is today; it was very different. The day this movement started, the state of Islam and religion and religiosity in this very country was not what you see today; religion was strange, oppressed, and isolated; they disavowed religion; even the religious were ashamed of their religiosity! The state of non-religious - rather anti-religious - culture had reached a point where the greatest religious definition of a young person was to say that such and such a young person is a prayerful one! Everything was moving away from Islam and away from God. They had polluted the walls of this country with sin. Some appearances were preserved; but from the inner aspects of religion, from the spirit of religion, from the general movement towards the goals of religion, there was no news; and this was in Iran, whose people were among the most religious Muslim people in various countries. In some other Islamic countries, the situation was like this; in some places, it was even worse. The leaders of Islamic countries did not remember that they were Muslims! In political and official Islamic gatherings, something that absolutely did not come to anyone's mind was that an Islamic movement or demonstration should take place, or that an anti-Islamic demonstration should be prevented; there was absolutely nothing presented as Islam!

Today, the situation has reached a point where the enemies of Islam and religion - I do not mean individual and personal and ideological enemies; I mean political enemies; those who see the religiosity of the people as a barrier to their greed and desires and lusts - speak of the spread of religion worldwide as a dangerous phenomenon! We must pay great attention to this reality; whose work is this? This is your work; this is the work of the great jihad that our nation has carried out.

No one learns a true and lasting lesson from words without action. The Iranian nation did something that their actions confirmed their words and endorsed them; therefore, this word became blessed. The divine conduct of that sincere and devoted Imam, that pure-hearted person who considered God in all his existence and movements and stillness, did its work. Dear brothers! Dear young people! These are lessons for us; these illuminate our future path.

We have not yet reached our goals; we are still far from that great scene that arises from the spread of Islamic thought and which God Almighty has depicted in the Quranic verses - "that He may make it prevail over all religion, even though the polytheists dislike it." (Tawbah: 33) The path is this path: the path of jihad, the path of effort, the path of knowledge and action, the path of sincerity, the path of purity, the path of remembrance and attention to God, the path of resorting to Ahl al-Bayt, the path of keeping alive the memories and values of Islam; not only in the heart and mind, but even in action; these are what will lead us to results.

So, today when the seminary looks, it must feel that its movement over the past few decades has been a fruitful movement; and essentially, the seminary has been a fruitful existence with leaves and fruits; "a good word as a good tree, whose root is firmly fixed, and its branches reach to the sky. It yields its fruit at all times by the permission of its Lord;" and it has been this way until today.

In the year 1340 AH - that is, seventy-two years ago - the day the late Ayatollah Haeri (may God's mercy be upon him) entered this city, there was no news of all these blessings; neither in this city, nor in this country, nor throughout the world. He founded this seminary, and almost forty years after that date - that is, in the years 1381 and 1382 AH - this movement began; see how close this fruit is to the root and how that sincerity that the planter of this sapling - that is, the sapling of the seminary - had in himself bore fruit, so that this movement emerged and the planter of the sapling of the movement - that is, that teacher of the current generation and future generations of humanity, that man of God, that righteous servant, that follower of the path of the prophets - with his sincerity, what he did so that this sapling has borne so many fruits until today that you see them throughout the world; and one of the fruits of that effort in Iran is the establishment of the Islamic Republic with all its blessings; and in other places, the awakening of Muslims and the rest of the matters that you know.

Today, I and you must move with sincerity and effort and jihad so that this tree remains fruitful and becomes more fruitful; this is a burden that we pass hand to hand. So the seminary has been a fruitful existence; it must remain fruitful after this; otherwise, a fruitless seminary is of no use and is not worth the trouble of maintaining. No gardener would burden himself with the trouble of maintaining a tree if it bears no fruit or at least does not cast a shadow over anyone.

The seminary is a living entity; individuals come and go in this seminary. One day you filled this place; one day before you, another group filled this space and courtyard; they left and you came; I and you will also leave and others will come and God willing, more brilliant and more glorious than our time will fill this place. We change; but what remains is the seminary. The seminary is an ever-living entity; but its life is in our hands and in the hands of every other generation. If I and you do not inject life and the essence of life into the seminary, the life of the seminary will weaken and will not reach future generations. The seminary is not related to individuals - individuals leave, the seminary remains - but the continuous and historical life of the seminary depends on the jihad and effort of individuals. We can act poorly - God forbid - and get bad results; or we can act well and get brilliant results. So it is our actions that secure and determine the future and the effects and fruits of the seminary.

Now what should we do to keep this seminary fruitful? One issue is whether the students of religious sciences and young scholars have a role in the construction and future of the seminary or not; the answer is yes, they do. Everyone has their own role. In a collection, all individuals have a role. In a healthy body, every cell is working. If each of us does our job well in the place we are, we have helped the health of the collection; but if each of us does not do our job well, we have harmed the health of the collection to the extent of our existential radius; "May God have mercy on a person who does a righteous deed and perfects it." The work must be done perfectly and well; the lesson must be studied well; ethics must be observed; religiosity must be considered the principle in one's life; the way of the elders in the manners of life, in devotional and practical ethics must be set as an example and model. There are things that, of course, evolve with the evolution of time; they must also be evolved and transformed. So the individuals of the seminary, from big to small, to the student who has just come to the seminary, can play a role in their personal actions that will affect the health of the present and future of the seminary.

If our student today is indifferent to studying, or remains indifferent to his religious and devotional and ethical individual efforts, or does not use his talent, or loses his goal - like someone who is moving towards a destination, but when he reaches a pleasant coffeehouse in the middle of the road, he dismounts and anchors there and stays there and forgets the goal - or if during the journey he sees a scene, he unknowingly and unknowingly sets off towards it and becomes heedless of the goal, all these are the pests of our path.

The student must choose the path with knowledge and certainty and continue it with knowledge and certainty; what concerns the individual student is these. Of course, there are other responsibilities that are naturally the work of other people; the work of managers and the work of teachers and elders - which is another story - is not the work of students.

Regarding what must undergo transformation and evolution in the seminary - which is a very important part - if I want to briefly and concisely present a point - which I have, of course, detailed with details and fine issues in the assembly of scholars and scholars and elders of the seminary - it is that this great collection that today is a source of reliance and hope for the Islamic Republic system and the future of the country and serves as a guide for the overall movement of the country, not only today, but for tomorrow and the days to come - where each of you must perform this guidance in a section and God willing, among you there must be those who will perform the guidance of the entire collection in its time and era - this collection that today, in a sense, the global eye is on it, must align itself with the conditions and facilities and advancements of the time; study this lesson, learn this knowledge, have this ethical and spiritual conduct; but also use the tools of the world.

It is not possible that there are computers in the world; speed has reached from hours and minutes to seconds; every moment and energy is accounted for; universities and research centers around the world provide research facilities for their students and researchers and sub-researchers; but we act according to the old methods that our elders (may God sanctify their secrets) used - because they were empty-handed - is such a thing possible and permissible? It is not permissible at all. These are things that must evolve. It is not possible that today when you want to go from here to Tehran, you find a donkey and ride it and go step by step from here to Koushk-e Nosrat, from there to Aliabad and other points, until after four or five days you reach Tehran; such a thing is not possible. You find a car and ride it and reach Tehran in an hour or two; this tool is at our disposal. We study jurisprudence, but we also use fast-moving tools; is there any obstacle or contradiction? We study jurisprudence, but we also use computers for jurisprudence. We study jurisprudence, but we also use new research methods. In the world, there are special and very new methods for researching non-experimental sciences - jurisprudence is not an experimental science - we also use them. We study jurisprudence, but we also use collective work tools.

Our work is not collective. I once said that in this regard, we are like Abu Dharr (peace be upon him) who "lives alone and dies alone." All our work is alone: we learn from the teacher alone and study alone. Although our discussion is also a two-person work, it is alone; that is, there is no intellectual partnership. One day Zayd reads, Amr becomes his student and listens; the next day Amr reads, Zayd becomes his student and listens; that is, it is individual work. Collective work, sharing efforts and gathering and bringing appropriate tools, are new things in the world. When we say new, this part of it is not very new; it is almost old; but still, we are not very familiar with it!

We should gather and classify the brilliant talents in the seminary; this is one of the things that is common in the world today. We cannot say that this lesson is here; whoever wants to come, come; whoever does not want to, do not come; we teach this way and consider the weakest of the followers! Is such a thing possible? A special lesson must be set for the strongest of the followers. Talents must be identified and classified; that brilliant talent must be raised and taught and used; these are things that fall into the category of new work; these must be done in the seminary.

Specialization and branching and testing and other various works are also of this kind. Do not come and say that our elders studied the same way and reached those places. In fact, our elders did not have tools and means. If someone like Avicenna studied in today's world with today's facilities, he would do something that the world would owe him for a thousand years; just as in that era and according to that time he did something that the world owed him for a thousand years. They did not have facilities, they lived that way; but today there are facilities and advancements; we should not only bring the fluorescent lamp into our room from the advancement! We must seek work tools; and this is a very important thing; we cannot pass by these. The purpose is, these are things related to the elders of the seminary; God willing, they must do these.

The seminary needs a centralized management that is supported by the elders of the seminary, the great references of the seminary, the scholars of the seminary, and the society of teachers of the seminary, and the students accept that management as an inclusive management. A group of capable people should sit and roll up their sleeves and use this great collection that the global eye is on it as it can and should and ought to be; this is one of the things that must be done in the seminary; then the seminary will be fruitful.

One issue is the issue of values in the seminary. Students must always remember values as fixed and indestructible values; among them are the value of knowledge and the value of jihad. Do not underestimate the value of jihad. The jihadist student, the striving student, the Basiji student, the student who is ready to be present in dangerous fields, this is the student who, if equipped with the tools of knowledge, then a world cannot withstand him. I was reading this book about the memories of the Basijis of Brigade 83, which has recently been published; how delightful and beautiful it is. The student of Imam Sadiq, in defense of the sanctuary of Imam Sadiq - that is, the Islamic Republic system; because our war was a defense of the sanctuary of Imam Sadiq and a defense of the sanctuary of Islam and the Quran - advances fearlessly in dangerous fields and creates epics that seem like legends; so far from the minds of today's people; these are inexhaustible values; nothing is equivalent to these; the seminary system must grow and advance these values. The value of religiosity and devotion and remembrance is a very great value.

We have always been proud that the seminaries are such that when someone enters them, even if they do not have a lot of spiritual and religious and practical load, when they leave, they are full and religious; and we have always expected from the universities of the country - the new style universities - to be such that if young people enter and are not religious, when they leave, they leave religious; this must reach the highest level in the seminary.

The student must become familiar with prayer, with remembrance, and with supplication. The student must make his life a purely religious life. The student must purify and cleanse his heart so that when he is exposed to the lights of knowledge and divine success, he shines; brothers! Without these, it is not possible. We had people who were also in high scientific ranks and had strong minds; but their hearts and souls were weak and vulnerable. When this spiritual and religious foundation is not built here, when it comes to position and material facilities, a person trembles; when it comes to sacrifice, a person trembles and cannot move forward; then how can a nation and a collection be guided?

We must act in order to be able to have an effect. Did you see the Imam? The Imam in this city during the time of the late Ayatollah Boroujerdi was a high-ranking teacher whom only his students knew. Young students and scholars were interested in him and at that time his class was a crowded class; but outside the seminary, no one in the city of Qom knew him well, let alone at the national level; except for a few rare and very few elites who were familiar with his ethics and moral lessons, or had heard of them. This same person who was pursuing a semi-isolated and purely scientific life in the corner of the seminary, when it came to action, entered so firmly and strongly that he truly shook and shattered the iron powers of the world. These owners of material powers of the world with all their pomp and circumstance, with all their show and ceremonies, with all their fore and aft, none of them could resist that burning breath, that firm foot, and that steadfast and strong person; even their harsh ones puffed out their chests; but all of them, one after another, were forced to retreat. What did that man gain this steadfastness from? From his faith and piety and sincerity and purity. He was a pure and sincere person and the world did not matter to him; maintaining that position was not of value and goal to him; he thought of the divine duty.

Dear brothers! Young students and scholars! This foundation is formed in youth. Build yourself in youth; you will have important and sensitive times ahead. This country and this system and this great Islamic movement at the global level will need you; you must build yourself spiritually. Of course, the plan is an easy plan; but traversing it requires determination. The plan is piety; piety means avoiding sin; it means performing obligations and avoiding prohibitions; doing work with sincerity and being away from hypocrisy and deception. Contrary to what is imagined, these tasks are much easier in youth; when you reach our age, the work will become more difficult. Therefore, the value of religiosity is one of those values; this value must be observed. Praying at night, performing supererogatory prayers, reading supplications, saying remembrance, being attentive to God, going on pilgrimage, resorting, and going to the Jamkaran Mosque are constructive; these will make you steel. We cannot have an ideal seminary; while these things are not in its students.

Another value is advancing knowledge in this seminary. Those who are at levels where they can advance knowledge must do this work. Knowledge must be advanced; jurisprudence must be advanced. Our jurisprudence has a very solid and firm method; that method is what we call jurisprudence. Jurisprudence is a method for deducing and understanding divine and Islamic rulings. The method of understanding the knowledge of rulings from the book and tradition, how and with what tools to understand the matter, is called the method of jurisprudence. This method is a very effective method and this great source that is at our disposal - that is, the book and tradition and the intellectual achievements of the past - is its raw material. With this method and in these frameworks, all the needs of humanity can be extracted and placed at the disposal of misguided humanity. Today we need a lot to make optimal use of this method.

Of course, those who have high scientific merit and rank must also complete this method. There is nothing that cannot be completed; everything in this world moves towards perfection; even the sacred beings of the infallibles became more complete day by day and achieved perfection. The holy existence of the infallible with that greatness that is not even conceivable for us - that today you look and see in terms of greatness, it is a sun whose dimensions we cannot even understand; if we look closely, it will blind our eyes - tomorrow is more complete than today. So you see that even in those stages, there is perfection. In everything and in all methods, there is perfection. We must also perfect the method of jurisprudence; then when this method is in hand, then we enter, open the book and tradition, and use them.

Dear brothers! Today there are many unanswered questions and undone tasks. From the first day this revolution succeeded, wherever we went and whoever came, we saw that they say to us what do you say; what is your word. We must explain the foundations of Islamic thought and Islamic worldview and the foundations of the Islamic system and the main pillars and lines of the Islamic revolution - that is, this transformation and changing from one form to another - then explain the pillars of the Islamic Republic system and economy and politics and collective relations and individual relations and ethics and culture and the place of knowledge in it; all these require work; many of these tasks are vacant; these must gush from the seminary and overflow.

Today, ideas are presented in the world and philosophies are proposed in various fields - in mentalities, in social issues, in history, in economics - and there are responses in this field. Every few days someone in the world raises his head and writes a book; his book is translated into other languages and four people also promote it; what should we do? Should we sit here in the Fayziyeh School, or in the Qom Seminary, or in our mosque in such and such a city in the country, to see what word came from outside that such and such a point refers or alludes to religious issues and start refuting that point?! Is this correct?! After some people read it, knew it, taught it, understood it; someone also translated it; a long time passed and that translation reached me, the cleric; now I understand that ten years ago, twenty years ago, forty years ago, in Europe a scholar or thinker or philosopher or pseudo-philosopher came and attacked such and such a point of my beliefs and now I answer him! Is this the right method?! Or not; the seminary must be in the midst of the scientific events of the world.

Today you must know and be aware that, for example, in the field of sociology, what opinions and ideas are there in the world and what thoughts are brewing. Sometimes there are desirable elements in these thoughts; absorb them; there are also undesirable elements; before they come, prepare the appropriate defense and vaccinate the mindset of society. It should not be that when it comes and some people go and read and become supporters, we say yes, so and so said this in such and such a matter and this matter is not correct for this reason and this reason and this reason; this is not the way to deal with it! So, research and investigation and awareness and knowledge of the truths and knowledge of the world and the scientific state of the world are things that are necessary for the seminary.

The seminary should not be isolated from the scientific and intellectual currents of the world; it should be in the midst of scientific currents. Of course, this statement does not mean that tomorrow each and every student of Qom says very well, we want to be in the midst of scientific currents now, so we put our lessons aside and first learn a little language and then come! No, the seminary must be, not each and every student. The seminary as a whole should not be like a separate pool from the scientific and intellectual currents of the world; it should be a great sea where currents enter and currents also exit; thoughts enter it and thoughts also exit it. You must quench a world; the seminary cannot remain on the sidelines. These are things that concern us about the Qom Seminary. Sometimes when I think about the issues of the seminary, I truly get a state of anxiety! The seminary is very important.

Fortunately, in Qom, there are great references. Today there are great figures in the seminary. These two great references who are in the seminary today - these old bones of the seminary; these people who have each served this seminary for sixty years, seventy years - their existence is very blessed. Besides them, there are scholars and teachers and personalities and caring people. Sometimes when one sees these, one says we should also be busy with our own work; these works will eventually be done; but on the other hand, one sees that it is the seminary; it is no joke. The realities that exist in the seminary, the empty places that one feels, these are not things that one can see and not think about them; one's concern is not directed towards these matters. A very fast and wide and comprehensive and substantial and mature effort - not hasty and superficial - must be made in Qom; students and scholars must also help; teachers and instructors must also, God willing, take the lead.

One of the things that the great Imam emphasized was the connection between the seminary and the university; what does the seminary want to do in this regard? How will the connection between the seminary and the university be formed? We have the office of cooperation between the seminary and the university - which, of course, has done very valuable and very good work - but compared to that great work, it has only occupied a small part. Joint research, joint studies, and joint work can exist.

Students must become familiar with the knowledge of their time and know the sciences of the day; of course, this should not mean that they abandon their lessons. The seminary's programs must be comprehensive and familiarize students to the necessary and sufficient extent.

The last point is that students have always been the Basijis of the system in the field of preaching. Helping the system, helping the officials, helping the government, and helping those who are striving with all their being has always been one of the things that, thanks be to God, students have always done; they must do it now as well.

Be careful that political factions and divisions do not infiltrate and grow in the seminary. The political direction of the students is the same as the political direction of the system and the revolution; the same direction of the revolution must be pursued, God willing, in preaching and in dealing with people - in word and deed. God willing, you must provide a good image of the revolution and the efforts of the officials and the services that our statesmen are doing today, thanks be to God, to the people; God will also help you.

We hope that the sacred heart of the Imam of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for him) is pleased and satisfied with you and that you are always and truly his soldiers.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings