Statements of the Supreme Leader in Meeting with Families of Martyrs from Tehran Province

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

The gathering is very magnificent and spiritually grand. The fragrance of martyrdom fills the air, and thanks be to God, in these past few days, the atmosphere of Tehran has been imbued with the scent of the memory of thousands of dear and noble martyrs from this province. Certainly, the virtue of the esteemed families of the martyrs, in terms of greatness, immediately follows the virtue of the martyrs. You families have been the guardians of martyrdom and the sentinels of virtue throughout the Sacred Defense period, and your spirit and that of the children of the martyrs—which we just heard beautiful glimpses of in the words of the honorable mother of three martyrs and the dear child of the martyred commander—have been able to preserve the greatness of the Islamic system and the high spirit of the great Iranian nation during and after the Sacred Defense, and to weaken the spirit of the enemies.

I am very grateful to the brothers of the Revolutionary Guards for this action, which is to honor the martyrs. Everyone must honor them. The Revolutionary Guards, the Army, the Basij, the Jihad, and the government agencies must keep the memory of the martyrs alive and revive and preserve the concept of martyrdom—this grand, valuable, and very effective concept—in the Islamic Republic of Iran and among the fighting Iranian nation; even though the pure blood of our martyrs has once again revived this concept worldwide.

What is important is to preserve the path of the martyrs; that is, to guard the blood of the martyrs. This is our primary duty. In regard to the martyrs, we are all obligated. It is not that some have a duty and others do not. Of course, those who have responsibilities and whose shoulders bear the burden of large or small responsibilities have a greater duty.

A martyr is a great and astonishing truth. Because we have become accustomed to witnessing martyrs and have seen many sacrifices, greatness, wills, and the path that led them to martyrdom, the greatness of this luminous and heavenly truth remains hidden from us; like the greatness of the sun and sunlight, which, due to its intense appearance, remains hidden from those who are constantly in the sun.

In the past, when a sample of today's martyrs was selected and introduced from the history of early Islam and their biography was narrated, it brought about a clear and astonishing change in hearts and souls and even in concerns and intentions. Each of these shining stars can illuminate a world. Therefore, the truth of martyrdom is a great truth.

If this truth is kept alive, preserved, and revered by those who today have responsibility towards the martyrs, the future history will always benefit from this great sacrifice they made. Just as the history of humanity still benefits from the unjustly shed blood of the master of the martyrs of history, Imam Hussein (peace be upon him), because those who inherited that blood employed the most prudent and eloquent methods to keep this blood alive.

Sometimes the hardship and effort of keeping the blood of a martyr alive is no less than martyrdom itself. The thirty-year hardship of Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him) and the several years of hardship of Zainab the Great (peace be upon her) are of this kind. They endured hardship to keep this blood alive. After that, all the Imams (peace be upon them) until the era of occultation endured this hardship. Today, we have such a duty. Of course, today's conditions are different from those days. Today, thanks be to God, the government of truth—the government of the martyrs—is established. Thus, we have duties.

In summary, one concludes that the martyrs demonstrated two beautiful and magnificent stances, each with a message. These two stances are one in regard to the sacred divine essence, the divine will, the religion of God, and the servants of God and their interests; and one stance in opposition to the enemies of God. That is, if you analyze the behavior, spirit, and stance of a martyr, you arrive at these two stances.

The stance in regard to God, the servants of God, the command of God, and what pertains to the sacred essence of the Lord is sacrifice. The martyr has sacrificed and given up in regard to God. Sacrifice means not seeing oneself and not accounting for oneself. This is the first stance of the martyr. If he accounted for himself and did not put himself in the face of destruction and danger, he would not reach this position. These young people who went to the battlefields, in the heat of Khuzestan, under the sixty-five-degree sun, or in the cold of Kurdistan, on snow-covered mountains, and sacrificed their lives, all had homes, lives, loving parents, some had dear and precious spouses, some had children and beloved ones, they had comfort, they had dreams; but they left it all and went.

What is the message we want to take from them? The message is that if you want to please God and make your existence useful in the path of God and realize the high divine and lordly goals regarding the world of creation, you must not see yourself in the face of divine goals. It is not an unbearable duty; as far as possible. Wherever a group of faithful people did this, the word of God prevailed. Wherever the faithful servants of God faltered, without exception, the word of falsehood prevailed.

In the revolution, the faithful servants of God who made this sacrifice and gave up, the revolution succeeded. Something happened that no analyst predicted could happen; that is, the establishment of the government of Islam, the government of religion; that too in this part of the world. Who would have thought? Who would have believed? But thanks to this movement of the martyrs and believers and sacrificers, this impossible task was accomplished; because a chosen group and a significant group of believers—not all, we do not say all—ignored themselves. Everyone must strive to be part of this group, so that this honor belongs to them.

Wherever this sacrifice was absent—like those places where it is not; like throughout history where it is not; like during the time of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) when the overwhelming majority of the elite and the faithful shirked and were afraid and retreated—the word of falsehood prevailed, the government of Yazid came to power, the government of the Umayyads lasted for ninety years, the government of the Abbasids lasted for five or six centuries and remained. Because this sacrifice was not made, what did the people endure! What did the Islamic communities endure! What did the believers endure!

The scene is a clear scene. My dear ones! All the periods of our lives are the Battle of Uhud. If we move well, the enemy will be defeated; but as soon as our eyes fall on the spoils and we see four people collecting spoils, and we too become envious, we abandon the position and go towards the spoils, the situation reverses. You saw that in the Battle of Uhud the situation reversed! Throughout the history of Islam, the Battle of Uhud has been repeated.

The divine commander familiar with the page of truth, with that luminous heart, left this group here and said that you should not move from here and be the guardians of the front; but as soon as their eyes fell and they saw four people collecting spoils down there, their feet also faltered. Of course, if you spoke to each of them, they would say we are also human after all, we also have hearts, we also want homes and lives. Yes; but you saw what happened with this surrender to the petty human desires! The Prophet's tooth was broken; his blessed body was wounded; the front of truth was defeated; the enemy prevailed and how many of the greats of Islam were martyred.

The message of the martyrs is not to surrender to the temptation of spoils. Their message to me and you and all those who respect these unjustly shed pure bloods is the same. Do not look at someone who commits a violation and goes to collect spoils. "It does not harm you who goes astray if you are guided." What do you care if someone else went astray? Keep and preserve yourself. The command of Islam and the message of the blood of the martyr is this.

On the day when these dear martyrs of ours were martyred on the front, not everyone went to the front; some were busy trading, some were busy making money, some were busy exploiting, some were busy betraying. These martyrs, without paying attention to them, went and the result was that they were able to preserve the Islamic system and today each one is a star and a sun. Therefore, the first message is that in regard to the Almighty God, in regard to the servants, in regard to the divine will, one must not recognize oneself. We must take this message. My dear ones! These truths cannot be joked with. They demand movement and decision from a person.

The second message is in opposition to the enemies of God; that is, steadfastness, absolute resistance, not fearing the enemy, not accounting for the enemy, not becoming passive in the face of the enemy. It is very important that a person does not become passive in the face of the enemy. All the efforts of today's materialistic arrogant world—that is, these arrogant governments that hold the reins of economic and armament issues of the world and even in many cases, the culture of many countries—is to crush any resistance by making it passive. Passivity in the face of the enemy is the most wrong action and the biggest mistake. The enemy must be accounted for in terms of enmity; that is, in opposition to him, he should not be underestimated and should be ready and defend; but one should not account for the enemy, should not be influenced by him, and should not become passive in the face of him. The enemy wants to make societies passive.

Today, from a cultural and political standpoint, their greatest emphasis is on this. They create a fuss about the issue of women; they create a fuss about human rights; they create a fuss about the issue of democracy; they create a fuss about the issue of liberation movements, to make the opposite side passive. The biggest mistake is that we speak in such a way on these issues that we want to please them. This is the same passivity.

It is very wrong for us to speak on human rights issues in such a way that they are pleased. The same ones who themselves do not value human rights—in the true sense—at all; but have made it a club to hit certain places! America has become the leader of human rights in the world! Before the war started, from America's perspective, the Iraqi government was in service to governments supporting terrorism. In the years 1982 and 1983, our brave fighters were able to bring the enemy to its knees and push it back from the borders, and the Ba'athist enemy was forced to use chemical weapons and weapons of mass destruction against us—to commit war crimes—at the same time, the American government felt that it should support the Iraqi front so that the Ba'athist government could play its treacherous role against the Islamic Republic system. In those same years when the Iraqi government used chemical weapons, they removed Iraq's name from the list of governments supporting terrorism! Their support for human rights is like this!

The greatest support for the violation of human rights wherever it is observed in the world is these arrogant governments—like America. Then they become claimants of human rights and make it a club for nations and governments that want to oppose them! If from this side, some come and speak about human rights in such a way to please them, this is a very wrong policy. This is passivity in the face of the enemy.

Regarding the issue of women, it is the same. After the establishment of the government of truth, by divine grace, the women of the Islamic Republic of Iran were able to find their true personality to a large extent, to be present in various fields, and to show the greatness of the spirit of the Muslim woman, which you can see and witness in the state of this martyr's mother and the dear and brave mothers of other martyrs. Wherever I have encountered the mothers of martyrs, I have seen them even stronger than the fathers of martyrs. You can often see an example of it in the spirit of these honorable and courageous mothers. This is the greatness of the Muslim woman in political and cultural fields. Then they come and write and create an atmosphere about the violation of women's rights in the Islamic Republic. If we come and speak about women in such a way to please them, which is contrary to the view of Islam—which is the source of women's dignity—it is wrong. Why should some speak about women or human rights in such a way that it seems we must strive to bring ourselves closer and familiar with the Westerners' point of view? They are wrong. They must bring their points of view closer to us. They must correct their wrong and false views on the issue of women, human rights, freedom, and democracy and confront Islamic views; not that some from this side become passive. The second message of the martyr—which he himself acted upon—is Islamic independence, Islamic steadfastness, not being absorbed in the face of the enemy, not fearing the enemy, not accounting for the enemy's hollow power, understanding and recognizing the greatness of self-reliance and trust in God in all aspects of life. The Iranian nation has shown this in all matters; it must show it after this as well. The Iranian nation has shown that it is in no way willing to retreat a step in the face of the insolence, greed, and demands of the enemy, and to abandon and set aside Islamic principles to satisfy the enemy's views. This is a good approach. In these important current issues, in the field of foreign policy issues, in the field of presidential election issues, thanks be to God, the Iranian nation has shown good positions and will show them. In all these political or cultural issues, the enemy tries to find a foothold and enter the cultural mental meaning of the Iranian nation. The Iranian nation stands firm and must stand firm. It has even been seen that the enemies express opinions about presidential candidates, speak, analyze. They say this person is closer to the West, this person defends Islam more, that person defends less! That is, the enemies want to interfere in all matters. The Iranian nation will insist on Islamic principles in all these fields. The whole world must know this. Among these principles is standing against arrogance and the arrogant spirit of governments that want to find a foothold in our country's internal affairs and interfere; but our nation will look carefully and must be careful. If any of the presidential candidates show the slightest sign of flexibility in the face of America, in the face of the interference of Western governments, in the face of foreign cultural and political aggressions, the whole world must know that our nation will definitely not vote for such a person. People will vote for someone they know will stand against America and the greed of aggressive, demanding, and tyrannical governments and those who want to impose their will on the Iranian nation, and will also stand against foreign cultural aggression. People will be more inclined towards someone from whom they observe these positions more. Of course, we are talking about the text of the people. There may be four people somewhere who have specific tastes and think contrary to the text of the people. We do not care about them. The text of the Iranian nation is this. The positions of the Iranian nation are the same positions for which it revolted, resisted for eighteen years, and managed the eight-year imposed war. This is what all the people of the world must know and will know. I am confident in the divine favors and the special attention of the Master of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for him) and the pure prayers of the pure soul of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) that the Lord will help and in this experience too, God willing, the people will advance what is in the best interest of their religion and world, and God willing, the Iranian nation, by the grace of the Lord, will witness another era of progress and development.

We hope that the pure souls of the martyrs will be pleased with all of us; and God willing, they will pray for the advancement of the high Islamic goals in the presence of the Lord and also request more divine grace and favor for the Iranian nation.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings