Statements of the Supreme Leader at the Joint Morning Ceremony of IRGC Forces at 'Ansar al-Hossein Barracks'

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

One of the best sights for me has always been to see the sincere and nurtured children of the revolution, who bear the heavy burden of struggle and sacrifice during the difficult years of war, and have a significant share in those sacrifices, in the form of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; in the organized and structured face of an efficient and trained force.

Thanks be to God, what appears today shows a significant part of this rightful desire and aspiration in the Air Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Of course, I have repeatedly stated that appearances are not everything. However, in the armed forces, as in many other aspects of life, appearances can indicate part of the spirituality and inner aspects. And from this perspective, they are important. Discipline, adherence to hierarchy, and taking command seriously are things that, according to thousands of years of human experience in the armed forces, are essential requirements of these forces, and the events and incidents of early Islam also testify to this.

Thanks be to God, today, in addition to the spiritualities that are truly unique to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Corps possesses advantages in these mentioned aspects. We hope that in all these aspects, especially in the field of training, acquiring military knowledge, preserving the experiential assets that the Corps holds as a valuable treasury and great reserve, as well as preserving what you learn in various classes and courses, whether in operational matters or staff matters, the efficiency and power of the Corps and its capabilities, and also the exchange of its assets and experiences with the army, which the Islamic Republic system relies on, will make more progress as a combat organization of hope and trust.

There is a point, and that is that some things, my dear ones, in the world are learnable and teachable. They hold classes, they hold lessons, they hold courses, individuals with different talents go and learn them. These are opportunities available to humanity. As it is said: 'Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave.' These kinds of things command us to learn and gain experience. But there are other things that are not always available to all humans. Sometimes the window of divine mercy opens, the window of the heavens, or rather the window of paradise, opens, and a heavenly breath blows into the material life space of us people. This is not always. This is occasional. As it is said: 'Indeed, in the days of your life, there are divine breezes, so expose yourselves to them.' Blessed are those who find themselves in the rare moments of the divine and heavenly spiritual breeze and benefit from it. Occasionally and individually, it may occur throughout history. But rarer is when this breeze becomes general, and this very rare thing happened in our time.

Firstly, regarding this great revolution, you young people, with the clear and open minds you have; with the pure and sensitive hearts that God has given you, think. Look at the state of this world. See the mad rush towards materialism. Then turn back to your country and society and observe the message of a movement, a government, a system led by a purely divine mystic man, who had the least connection and attachment to material things according to what is customary for us ordinary people, in Islamic Iran, and see what a great breeze from the Lord it was! The very existence of that man and his words were one of the breezes that were taken from us. Another very valuable divine breeze and one of those heavenly windows that opened to us was this painful and troublesome war. Let no one think that we like war. Let no one think we are happy that we had eight years of war; no. War was a calamity, a disaster, a hardship. But:

In severe calamity, emerges Virtue and greatness and leadership

Such severe calamities are necessary for the ocean of human virtues to surge within humans in a miraculous way; not in a usual way, and for people to grow spiritually. You young people who saw the war; you young people who went through experiences in the war; you young people who felt the moments of danger with your skin, flesh, and bones and sought refuge in God in those moments, know that you benefited from an endless ocean of spirituality.

My point is that the Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Basij and any other individual and group from the armed forces in the army and beyond that have benefited from this spirituality and pure spirit and virtue must value it and preserve those achievements for themselves. Undoubtedly, the Corps, as an organization, has benefited the most from that stream of virtue; and this is specific to you. You must preserve this. Anyone in the Islamic Republic and in the path of God who takes a step is valuable, and God Almighty does not overlook even an atom's weight of anyone's reward. Everyone has a reward. But when we look, we see that the most effort, the most spiritual benefit, the most presence in these abundant spiritual fields, was had by you, our dear ones in the Corps. This is your specialty. Your DAFOS period, your officer university period, your specialized courses, your discipline, your various combat and staff training, all these are things in addition to that. When you have all these together, you are that unparalleled force that can be seriously, logically, and wisely relied upon for the future of high Islamic ideals. Value this and preserve it.

Some, when they look at the appearances of the world, become doubtful about divine ideals. This is short-sightedness; it is superficiality. It is true that material appearances are moving with a mad rush towards more and more immersion in materialism. There is no doubt about this. But spiritualities, like blossoms on the body of this old tree, show themselves. The sweetest truths in this regard are the emergence and continuation of the Islamic Republic and the strengthening of its foundations, and above all, the steadfastness of the Islamic Republic on the same correct path that it chose from the beginning; consciously and vigilantly and without leaning to this side or that. This must be preserved and will be preserved.

Weak-hearted and small-minded people who are attracted by the glitter of the material world should not think that Imam did not see them and was unaware of them. The great Imam who came said: 'Our nation has risen for God and virtue and spirituality, not for material glitter. And it stands in this path.' Those glitters do not satisfy and fulfill humans and humanity. They are not for humans. They are a deviation in human life. Today, Western sages and those who look with a wise eye are shouting this. Let the politicians hide it; let the propagandists shout the opposite; let the unseen and superficial ones not understand the depth of the matter and not see the inner aspects. But this is the reality. What saves humans is Islam, spirituality, virtue, indifference to glitters. What brings humanity to justice is the straight divine path.

The powerful of the world have built their powers on the basis of injustice and force, and from there, with the strong loudspeakers they have, they laugh at humanity. They mock all truths, human rights, justice, humanity, the issue of youth, and the issue of women. Humanity on a global scale, billions of people; of which a very important part also lives in those Western countries themselves, are dying under the pressure of this false and wrong system. To everyone they meet, they say: 'Come join us!' meaning 'You too come and laugh at humanity; ignore the truths; accept deceit.' They have mixed force and deceit together. Of course, they have also taken the weapon of science. This is also a bitter truth. Who should stand against this oppressive and malicious movement that is not related to one or two governments, but is related to a very dangerous movement on a global scale that started decades ago and perhaps can be said to have started two or three centuries ago? Which humans? Sturdy and strong humans equipped with the weapon of reason and wisdom and religion; equipped with the weapon of logic and reasoning and equipped with the weapons of the day that they need to remove the thorns from the path. And you are those Mojahedin in the path of God who wanted to have all these together, and the scene of this field and your military uniform is its manifestation.

We hope that you will be under the grace of the Guardian of the Age, may our souls be sacrificed for him. We hope that the sacred spirit of the Imam is pleased with you, and we hope that the officials can meet the needs of the Air Force of the Corps as much as possible; whether the officials at the level of the Corps, the officials at the level of the armed forces, or the officials at the national level.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings