Statements of the Supreme Leader in Meeting with Imams, Clergy, and Preachers on the Eve of the Blessed Month of Ramadan

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

First, I extend a warm welcome to the esteemed gentlemen, the high-ranking scholars, speakers, preachers, and respected students who have come from Tehran or some other cities. We hope that this meeting and our gathering will be among those that bring goodness, blessings, and guidance for ourselves and all believers. It is a good tradition that on the eve of the blessed month of Ramadan, an opportunity arises to discuss some issues that are present in the spiritual and scholarly environment.

While welcoming this meeting and thanking the esteemed gentlemen for creating this opportunity, I wish to address a matter related to the community of clergy—across its various classes and ranks. The matter is that in our country, at least for several centuries, the clergy, due to their unique position and connection with the people and the belief that people have in them, have been the source of significant social, religious, and political transformations or have played a significant role in these transformations. Among these are the events of the Constitutional Revolution, the nationalization of the oil industry in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and most clearly, the victory of the Islamic Revolution and the expansion of this movement. Of course, it should not be thought that only young, passionate, and enthusiastic students influenced these great gatherings before the victory. It was not so. All the gentlemen involved in these matters know that in the cities, the presence of respected scholars and elderly, revered figures whom people believed in was very influential. Although these individuals had no prior involvement in struggles—they had not been imprisoned, had not fought, and had not written declarations—when they realized in the last year and months before the victory that they had to enter the field, they did so, and their presence had a tremendous impact in attracting all classes of people. Thus, in the marches, you would see all segments of the people. Women felt a duty inside their homes; the elderly felt an obligation; those without a history of struggle felt an obligation; people in cities and villages felt an obligation, and suddenly a nation rose up, because of this; because of the comprehensive presence of religious scholars and clergy, from the greatest to the smallest, the elderly jurist, the young fervent preacher, because when they entered, it meant that all segments of the people would enter. This is the nature of the work. In Iran, at least in the last three or four centuries, it has been this way. Before this, the situation may have been different. In some other Islamic countries, it may be the same. We do not judge countries we do not have accurate information about; but our country is like this. It is possible that if the scholars are not present, a segment of the people may enter the field and a group of society may engage in a struggle; but suppressing, silencing, and bribing a group is not difficult. A great group that cannot be eliminated and whose path to victory cannot be blocked is the nation. If you want the general public and its segments to be present in one place, the clergy must be there. If the clergy and religious scholars are present somewhere, it means that all classes, or a decisive majority of the nation, will be present there. This is the nature of our Iran. This is a characteristic that has been proven over the years—indeed, over the centuries.

What is the reason for this? The reason is the position of the clergy. I have repeatedly stated that we should not think that the reputation of the current generation of clergy caused people to lean towards the Islamic Revolution. No; this is a mistake. Rather, the thousand-year reputation of the clergy, which was an inexhaustible reserve, led to these victories and successes. This thousand-year reputation consists of the credibility that has been gained over the centuries from the knowledge and piety of great scholars. This means that Allameh Hilli has a role in this collection; Muhaqqiq has a role; Majlisi has a role; the two martyrs have a role, Sheikh Tusi has a role, Sayyid Murtadha has a role; Sheikh Ansari has a role; the great scholars over the centuries in Najaf have a role; the greats of Qom have a role; the late Sheikh (Ayatollah Sheikh Abdul Karim Haeri Yazdi, founder of the Qom Seminary) has a role, and the late Ayatollah Boroujerdi has a role. This means that thousands of chosen individuals spent their lives in purity and piety, created high-level scientific collections, and presented scientific works, gradually making a society and a nation fundamentally believe in the clergy. This is not something that a group of people; the people of a time and a generation, want someone, but the next generation does not. When love becomes fundamental and deep, it is inherited from generation to generation, like the love for Hussein ibn Ali (peace be upon him) or the love for the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them). These are not characteristics that one generation has and the next wants to acquire. No; these are not acquired. These are inherited from generation to generation and manifest themselves in the teachings of fathers, in the upbringing of mothers, in the caresses of mentors, and in the lullabies of nannies for children. The fundamental nature of a subject means this, and belief in the clergy in our society has been and is fundamental.

When such a thing exists and such an effect like the revolution is based on it, it is clear that two major events are expected. The revolution is no joke! The establishment of the Islamic Republic is no joke! This means threatening all the powerful and tyrants of the world! The victory of the revolution means awakening over a billion Muslims from a centuries-long slumber. This means that suddenly in all Islamic countries, a group of Muslim intellectuals and scholars and the masses rise up, clench their fists, and raise the slogan of reviving Islam. The victory of the revolution means these things! The victory of the revolution is not that four officers stage a military coup; remove a government; bring another; then some others come and remove that government and bring another! The issue of the victory of the Islamic Revolution is not like this! The victory of the Islamic Revolution means raising a flag that the world's powerful had worked hard to lower; they had spent a lot of money; they had devised many plans; they had killed many people and done many things. Suddenly, the Islamic Revolution triumphed, and with its victory, all the plans of the powerful were nullified. All those powerful ones were left bewildered and their interests were threatened. This is the meaning of the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

Therefore, when this reputation and this spread of religion and clergy among the people can have such a great effect, then two major subjects are expected: one is that we, the descendants of those pure, learned, and sacred ancestors, must preserve their reputation. Because if this is not done and this generation does not preserve the reputation of the past, that which was institutionalized and fundamental will gradually fade and disappear. This is the nature of the matter. Now, how should we preserve their reputation? This is itself a detailed story.

Firstly, they were knowledgeable; we must also strive to advance their knowledge. Their knowledge is a great and important heritage. Do not pay attention to those who, without understanding Islamic legal and jurisprudential issues, or Islamic philosophy, or Islamic theology—though they may have expertise in a field—insult and belittle. Islamic jurisprudence, and among Islamic jurisprudence, Shia jurisprudence, in terms of scholarly advancements and precise scholarly insights for those who are experts and understand, is an astonishing subject. It is no joke that a person like the author of Jawahir (Sheikh Muhammad Hasan Najafi) sits down, writes a complete cycle of jurisprudence from beginning to end, with all that precision and research, alone, and creates an encyclopedia in Islamic law alone! This is akin to a miracle. The same is true for Sheikh Ansari. The same is true for the author of Riyadh (Sayyid Ali Tabatabai). The same is true for the rest of the great scholars, both early and late. Sheikh Mufid has two hundred writings. Allameh Hilli has nearly three hundred writings. Khwaja Nasir al-Din Tusi is another way. Sheikh Tusi is another way. These have a lot of meaning and words for those who are experts. Of course, if an ignorant and uninformed person is busy being arrogant somewhere and a great jurist passes by, for him, it is no different from an illiterate person. If a great doctor passes by, for him, it is the same as an ignorant person. His judgment is not the criterion; the judgment of experts is the criterion. Shia knowledge is a high knowledge that is very large and very great in terms of quantity and quality. Do not look at those who stand and belittle and say, "The Shia scholars did nothing." You do not understand what they did. "You are not a connoisseur of speech, my soul, the error is here." It is not that anyone can stand somewhere and make a judgment that he is not qualified for. This is not the method of scholars; it is the method of fools.

Their knowledge was vast. If today's scholarly community wants to honor that heritage and preserve that reputation, it must advance in knowledge and make progress. The seminaries in one field and the scholars outside the seminaries, in another field. Suppose you are striving in the field of preaching and propagation. Very well; the words and speeches must be scholarly. Weak speech should be avoided. Unstudied sermons should be avoided. The best and latest new statements about Islamic issues should be known. Of course, we may preach less; it does not matter. A person who wants to speak well must necessarily speak less: "Boasting of speech when it can be done - that is the brick that can be laid." If we want to find its door, of course, we must work hard; there is no other way. Whoever is engaged in preaching and special spiritual work in universities or in the army or in the Revolutionary Guards must intelligently and cleverly recognize the intellectual needs of that group and his audience. He must see what knot, ambiguity, and question his audience has in mind; even if it is not expressed. He must solve that problem scholarly. If he can, he should solve it himself, and if he cannot, he should go to someone more knowledgeable than himself and solve the problem. This is how the level of knowledge rises. Everyone, wherever they are engaged—even in jobs that are not directly related to scholarly work and study, such as judicial jobs—must pay attention to these issues. Of course, judicial jobs are scholarly; but they are not directly related to scholarly advancement and study. One is a judge; an Islamic jurist; he must work diligently to find the true divine ruling regarding that incident and event.

This is in the field of knowledge. In the field of sanctity and piety, it is clear; a scholar who is greedy for the world is rejected. A scholar who does not abstain from prohibitions is rejected. It is not that a scholar should not enjoy the pleasures of life; but there are levels where a person must truly and fairly forgo pleasures. Scholars, like other people, should enjoy the ordinary pleasures of life; just as God said about the Prophet: "Say, I am only a human like you" (Fussilat: 6). But these two things—greed for the world and lack of abstinence from the forbidden—are prohibited. If greed for the world is felt in a scholar—even if he does not commit an apparent forbidden act; but he is constantly seeking to accumulate worldly wealth from left and right—it is against sanctity. Or if, God forbid, he does not abstain from the forbidden and it is seen that it is easy for him to backbite, easy to lie, and God forbid, easy to commit various forbidden acts. Therefore, this generation is obliged, both through knowledge and the continuation of the scholarly field and scientific advancement, and in terms of maintaining the credibility of piety and sanctity, to preserve the reputation of the ancestors.

Those who want to discredit the Islamic Republic, if necessary, will slander and fabricate lies to undermine the sanctity and knowledge of the clergy. They spread false news, fabricate false events, and magnify a small issue to discredit the clergy in the eyes of the people. It is clear that this reputation is very important to them. They know how much difference it makes if this reputation exists or not. Some even formulate this, dress it in scientific clothing and argumentative discussion—as if they are conducting a scientific discussion—that "yes; there is no knowledge and piety in the seminary!" No sir; honestly, piety and sanctity, in this group, are relatively more than in all other groups. Look and see how much the income and salary of these seminary students are? Today, the highest salary of a seminary student—a learned student, not a student who has just entered the seminary; that too in Qom, which is the highest seminary—who has a wife and several children and has studied for years, is much less than the average salary of workers and employees in this country. That is, it is less than half. Half of the average salary of workers is more than all the salary of a learned student in the seminary of Qom—I am not talking about Mashhad; I am not talking about Isfahan; I am not talking about small cities; I am talking about Qom, which is the center! But still, they live with piety and purity. Well, what does sanctity mean? What does abstinence mean? What does indifference to the world mean? It means this. Of course, there are also bad people; there are also scoundrels everywhere. But the majority and the predominant form among the students is what we observe. These are the highlights that, if they remain in the student throughout the years he is engaged in responsibilities, it is truly a high status and high rank.

This is the first event and subject that the clerical class must think about itself; think about that reserve; think about that reputation. They generally do; but it is possible to add to that reputation; just as our great Imam added to the thousand-year reputation of the clergy. The Imam doubled and elevated the reputation of the clergy from the time of Sheikh Mufid to today. He showed the power of the clergy in confronting evil and oppression; how a scholar can be the heir of Moses and Jesus and Abraham (peace be upon them) and the final Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). Woe to those who do not appreciate this high role of that great man and think they are sympathetic or interested in the clergy! Woe to their ignorance and heedlessness, that they do not know and do not understand how to make a correct evaluation!

But the second event that we should naturally expect when faced with such greatness is the enmity of the enemies. You should know that when you are effective in removing oppression from the oppressed, the oppressor will hold a grudge against you. This is a natural matter that when you are a ready and prepared entity in arousing a nation to confront oppression, you should know that oppression and the oppressor and the oppressive environments will negate you and will do whatever they can to negate you. Of course, they are rational—materially rational, not truly rational—they are clever, and they start with easier ways. First, they try to perhaps bribe you to remove you from their path. If they cannot, with threats; if not, with action; if not, with propaganda; if not, with physical assassination; if not, with spiritual and titular assassination. In the end, they want to pour their poison. There is a struggle between you and them, and it is not a joke. Know that today the enemies of Islam are strongly opposed to the clergy and its valuable scholarly reserve—from centuries ago to today—and also to the bearers of this divine trust. They will do whatever they can, and know that they are more opposed to Islam than to you. If they can separate you from Islam; if they can separate you from your Islamic duty and pursuing it, they will be relieved, and then you will no longer be considered a threat to them. They are opposed to Islam.

In recent years, that is, from about five or six years ago to now, the policies of global arrogance have tried as much as they could to discredit and discredit Islam in the eyes of the masses and nations. Not in the eyes of masses that are not Muslim, but in the eyes of Muslim nations! They tried to make them disbelieve in Islam. How? By making their youth disbelieve and engage in corruption; by occupying their minds with doubts and distancing them from that deep faith. They tried in our country too. In other Islamic countries—in Iraq, in the countries of North Africa, and in the countries of the Islamic East—they did whatever they could. One of the subjects they intensely promoted was Islamic fundamentalism! They said: "Islam is different from Islamic fundamentalism. We are not opposed to Islam; rather, we are opposed to fundamentalism!" What does fundamentalism mean? Our understanding of fundamentalism is different from the understanding of the masses and the mental space of people in the West. Fundamentalism, in our view, means adhering to religious principles and foundations. This is not a bad thing; we are proud of it. When they say, "Sir, you are a fundamentalist," we say, "Of course, we are fundamentalists." We do not deny or negate it. Adherence to principles is not bad! Moral integrity is also a principle; truthfulness is also a principle; justice is also a moral principle; not betraying is also a moral principle, condemning bad deeds is also a moral principle. The whole world also adheres to these moral principles and institutions and takes pride in them, and no one considers them bad. We have such an understanding of fundamentalism, and of course, with this view, it is correct. We even see that in some countries, governments encourage people to adhere to meaningless, decayed national traditions. They bring out the decayed bones of their ancestors from the graves and sanctify them! In these various European countries, people are encouraged to preserve some meaningless, decayed old customs and traditions. So, there is no problem with a person adhering to the principles of religion; to the high principles of faith and religious knowledge.

According to our view and understanding, this matter is commendable. But in Western cultural usage, fundamentalism is equated with rigidity and being closed to reason and not understanding logic, and in fact, they accuse us of this! They do not say these people adhere to monotheism. When they say they are fundamentalists, it does not mean that they adhere to monotheism and truthfulness in speech and asceticism towards material phenomena. They say these people are rigid! They close their eyes to the world's advancements! That is, an accusation and a lie. In this way, they want to discredit Islam in the eyes of Muslim societies and make Muslim masses disbelieve in their religion. They also want to increase disbelief among Western masses who are inclined towards Islam. This is among the things they do along with propaganda.

The point that is appropriate to mention here is that they have started insulting Islam and have made it a policy. Of course, when a religion like Islam is sacred in the eyes of a billion-strong community and the movement of that great community is based on this religion, insulting it is a difficult task. They do not dare to openly insult Islam. Therefore, you see that even the presidents of America and some of the powerful countries no longer dare to openly and directly insult Islam. For this reason, they sat down and found a way: they decided to find individuals who would be their shields and ask them to insult Islam in the guise of intellectuals, poets, and writers, so that gradually insulting Islam becomes common and widespread. This was done through the book "The Satanic Verses" by that apostate person. He wrote his book in England, and American magazines began to promote that book. I used to see American magazines that came here and wondered what kind of book this is that they want to promote so much?! So many books are written! But there was a reason that suddenly the world's media, the world's mercenary pens, the world's Zionists—who run most of the Western media and radio and television—joined hands and promoted a book. What was its content? It soon became clear what was in this book. This book was supposed to pave the way for insulting Islam. It mentioned the Prophet's name and mocked him. Allegedly, it wrote a fictional story; it mentioned the Prophet's name, the names of the Prophet's wives, the names of the Prophet's companions, and insulted them in a very obscene manner.

When this book became widespread and people read it, gradually insulting Islam would become normal. This is what they wanted! This is where divine inspiration prompted that divine man to take that great action, and their conspiracies were stopped. The Imam, based on this precise and luminous understanding and insight—a light that God places in the hearts of His servants—issued the fatwa of apostasy for that apostate man and stopped their path. Suddenly, the whole world was astonished! The Imam issued the fatwa of apostasy for an apostate and said: "This man must be subjected to the divine punishment." European governments recalled all their ambassadors from Iran. Is this reaction related to an ordinary book? Do the governments of England and France and Italy and where and where care about the life of a person? They mow down thousands of people for a small matter. Which of them has not done so? Which of them has not killed groups of people? Which of them, if their interests require it today, will not kill thousands of people? Do they care about human life? Even today, the Serbs are massacring Muslims; they do not care! Even today, the Israelis are torturing the original owners of the land, the Palestinians, in that way; they do not lose sleep! Then, for the sake of one person who is supposed to be executed after this, they react in this way?!

This was another matter. The plan that was devised was a plan to insult Islam. It was intended to belittle Islam. The Imam, with that fatwa, suddenly nullified all their plans. The Islamic world also endorsed it and showed its adherence to the Imam's fatwa. Now some time has passed. That ignorant person and his ignorant supporters think the matter is over. No; this matter is not over. At that time, in one of the interviews conducted in Europe, when I was asked, "How is the Imam's fatwa?" I said, "The Imam shot an arrow at this wicked and insulting man. This arrow has left the bowstring, and the targeting is precise. Sooner or later, this arrow will reach its target. Undoubtedly, this ruling must be executed and will be executed." Muslims who today can remove this harmful and harmful creature, who appeared as a vile and despicable agent for a great anti-Islamic movement, from the path of Muslims, must remove and punish him. Even now, it is the duty of everyone. It is the duty of all those who can do this and reach this person.

Now they are looking for whether the Imam's fatwa has changed. Is a fatwa changeable? Can anyone negotiate this matter with anyone? Does the British government dislike it? Well, we also dislike many of the British government's actions! Does a certain European government get upset? We also get upset about many of their actions. Have we promised not to do anything that the British government dislikes?! The British government dislikes, more than anything, the independence of Iran. These are the same people who ate and plundered in this country for many years, and now that the country is independent, they are upset. What should we do? The British government, even now, if it finds an opportunity, would like to come to the Persian Gulf, like the time of "Lord Curzon," and issue orders to the governments around the Persian Gulf, including Iran! The Iranian nation will not allow it. Now, whether it is the British government, the American government, or any other bully who wants to interfere in our affairs, our desires, our great goals, and our sacred things! What does it have to do with them?! If they want to solve this incident and this problem easily, they should hand over that apostate, atheist person to the Muslims and say: "This person has committed a crime and offense. You Muslims, whatever his punishment is, carry it out." This is the rational way. They should do this. Why don't they? We object to them for stopping the Imam's ruling! What objection can they have?! These are warnings for you and me. Know that if we are slightly negligent, the enemy will start attacking and acting against our sacred things. This is one example, and there are many similar examples. Our duty is great.

Now Ramadan is approaching. In Ramadan, we must take care of ourselves and also take care of the people. Meanwhile, we should know that if we do not take care of ourselves, we cannot take care of the people. These prayers of Ramadan, this fasting of Ramadan, these supplications, these pleadings, these remembrances, these supererogatory prayers in Ramadan, are all for us to first illuminate ourselves a little. If we become illuminated, then we can also reach others. Otherwise, if we do not become illuminated, we cannot illuminate others. Whatever we say will be excessive, harmful, and will not be beneficial.

We hope that God Almighty grants us success, both to build ourselves and to help in the construction and spirituality and spirit of the people; and may God make the sacred heart of the Master of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for him) kind towards us and include us in the prayers of that great one.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings