Statements in Meeting with Teachers and Professors of North Khorasan Province

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

This is a very magnificent and glorious gathering, both in appearance and in meaning. The large number of teachers in this province - teachers of education and university teachers - fills the eyes and brings joy to the heart. The remarks made here were thoughtful, professional, and entirely expert. One enjoys seeing that in this province - which is certainly considered one of the poorer provinces of the country in terms of material aspects and facilities, despite being very rich in talent and nature - there exists such a wealth of good thoughts, clear ideas, and well-considered expert speech. You dear brothers and sisters can be assured that this gathering was a divine gift for me, and I am very grateful to God Almighty for allowing me to see you here and hear these good words.

Some of the proposals made by friends are indeed related to the executive bodies and officials of various sectors, and our usual practice is to convey these proposals to the relevant bodies; we do not take action on them ourselves. However, some of these proposals are fundamental suggestions. What that lady teacher mentioned was very correct, very thoughtful, and logical; likewise, some other proposals mentioned here - which I noted down - are all worthy of study, consideration, and action. We ask God Almighty to grant us the success to be able to utilize this intellectual product of yours, God willing, and to the extent of the ability, capacity, and success that God bestows upon us, to use it in a part of the management of society - which now pertains to us - God willing.

I would like to point out one thing. A beautiful song was performed with a good melody, and there were useful contents in that song, which were expressed. I mention this point not only for this gathering but also wish for such matters to spread at the national level and throughout society. Well, expressing affection between officials and the people, especially the elites, is a good thing. That a group of elites, cultural figures, professors, and teachers express affection towards a servant who has a responsibility is very desirable, and fortunately, this exists in our country; however, in many parts of the world, this is not the case. This is one of the blessings of Islam, one of the blessings of faith; and it is mutual. It is said: "The secret of my silence is that I love you more." There is no one-sided affection between officials and the people or the elites; one-sided affection is impossible. If there is no mutual attraction and pull, soon one-sided affections become entangled and disappear; therefore, affections are mutual. However, the point I want to make is that this expression of affection should not lead to saying words and expressions that are clearly exaggerated for everyone. Of course, poetry is a place for exaggeration and hyperbole; however, to mention individuals who are small and imperfect like myself with expressions that are specific to the greats of the creation, related to the infallibles, prophets, and saints, is not good. We should not spread this culture in society. Eliminating such expressions does not contradict mutual affection.

Well, among the points that friends expressed - both those who spoke from the university and those who expressed matters from education - there were very good points, precise points. We truly need to promote the education and training system in our country. The issue of the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Republic system was and is not merely that a country should be counted among other countries and compete with them in terms of material progress, scientific advancement, military progress, and political progress; as is usually pursued by the leaders of countries. The issue of Islam and the establishment of a government in Islam is a matter of transformation; a transformation within the human being. Within us, there are both angelic elements and elements of savagery; "Indeed, We created man in the best of stature. Then We returned him to the lowest of the low." (1) This means that the potential for elevation and advancement and the potential for descent and decline exist almost infinitely within us human beings. The philosophy of human creation is that those outstanding positive potentials that are beneficial and excellent in terms of divine values, through the free will of the human being and through human struggle, should prevail over those animalistic and savage traits; and if this dominance occurs, then even those animalistic potentials will find a correct orientation. The spirit of aggression and transgression, if placed in the service of piety, will prevent transgression against sacred boundaries - human boundaries, social boundaries, moral boundaries - and will be directed correctly. In the Quran and in Islam, "fighting" is commanded. Fighting means killing, facing slaughter; but this fighting is the optimal use of that spirit that exists in humans; it is employed in the service of guiding humanity and in the service of building a prosperous, free, and elevated world. This fighting is, in fact, about removing the veils and obstacles to human access to the lofty peaks of human dignity and humanity. If these superior and noble traits are preferred, the world will be a good world; it will be a world of happiness. In that world, there is no aggression, no transgression; in that world, there is no baseness and meanness; in that world, there is no cessation of human potentials, no deviation of these potentials; in that world, there is no poverty, no discrimination. Just see what a good world it will be. In that world, humans will be able to utilize all their existential capacities. Our existential capacity is not limited to what human knowledge and experience have reached so far; the capacities are much greater than this.

I often give examples, saying, look at a gymnast; does it even occur to the mind of an untrained, uneducated person that a human can move their body in such a way? But, with practice, a person who is not extraordinary, who does not differ much from others, can create these movements within themselves. Calculate this against all the human capacities, which are thousands, and see what humans become; what a tremendous ability emerges. All of this is in that world where the dominance of divine and human traits over base traits is realized and achieved. This is the mission; this is the goal. If this is the goal, then much effort must be made.

We are in the initial steps of this path; no matter how much we have progressed. Not that we do not value these scientific advancements; well, you see how much we take pride in them; we have scientific progress, technological progress, political progress, constructive advancements, national capabilities, and public dignity; all of these are very valuable; however, these are the initial steps of the work.

Well, when one looks at the mission of the country and the Islamic mission of the nation with this perspective - that it is a comprehensive transformation for the country - then the role of education, the role of training, and the role of educational environments becomes clear. In our country, education and training and higher education play a significant role.

And I must tell you; from holding these gatherings, whether with professors or students - especially with professors or teachers - here in Tehran, more than it is about us saying a few words or hearing from friends - which is also beneficial - the aim is to institutionalize respect and appreciation for teachers and professors in society; we need this. We want the value of the teacher to be recognized - whether the teacher of education or the university teacher - when the value of the teacher is recognized, first and foremost, it is that teacher who must uphold this value and apply all that they can in teaching and training, and of course, increase this ability. Therefore, in this gathering, our main purpose is to say that we respect the group of teachers in this newly established province, who, thanks be to God, we see how valuable they are both quantitatively and qualitatively; whether the teachers of education or the university teachers.

One point that was among the remarks of these friends has always been very much on my mind, which is that we must first focus on shaping the spiritual form of our children. If we can shape the human identity of this child from the beginning of childhood and instill traits in them, this will be beneficial forever. There are factors that usually affect moralities; however, if the child's personality is shaped from the beginning, the effects of these factors will be less, and supportive factors along the way will help.

This lady referred to the term "philosophizing"; this is a very correct expression. Today, in the advanced materialistic countries, one of the fundamental tasks and an important field is teaching philosophy to children. Many in our society do not even imagine that philosophy is necessary for children. Some think philosophy means something complicated that a group of older individuals pay attention to; this is not the case. Philosophy is about shaping thought, teaching understanding, and habituating the mind to understanding and thinking; this must be established from the beginning. The form is important. Although the content is also significant in this philosophy for children, the main thing is the method; that is, the child should be accustomed from the beginning to thinking, accustomed to reasoning; this is very important. I was pleased to see that this was mentioned during the discussions.

The next point is self-belief. We must raise the child from the beginning to have self-confidence and belief in their identity. Of course, this is not limited to elementary school children; it is the same in high school and university. Unfortunately, in our country, a completely distorted culture has been established from the past, the effects of which have not yet disappeared - despite all the propaganda we have had since the beginning of the revolution until today - and that is the needy gaze towards the West, seeing the West as great and seeing ourselves as small in comparison; unfortunately, this culture has not been eradicated and still exists; this is due to a lack of self-belief. When you observe that a certain foreign brand demands more money, but also has more supporters among a certain class, while a similar domestic product sometimes has better quality, it is because of this perspective; this is a disease, this is a plague. If it is said that a certain specialist has completed their specialization courses domestically and has not gone abroad, there will initially be a negative perception towards them. Yes, if this domestic specialist who studied domestically can dispel this belief with their outstanding work - which has happened frequently in recent years - that is another matter; however, as long as it is said that this person is a foreign graduate and that person is a domestic graduate, the perception of them will be superior. These are flaws.

You may have heard me say many times that I am not against acquiring knowledge from foreigners at all; I have repeatedly said that we are not ashamed to be students of others and learn; however, we are ashamed to think that we must always have our eyes greedily, wishfully, and with a sense of inferiority looking towards others, towards the thoughts of others, towards the works of others. This is a bad thing; this must be eradicated. One observes; sometimes we want to create a good morality in society, and the example we give in praise of that good morality is certainly from Western countries! What necessity is there? Why should we constantly strengthen this spirit in our audience that to distinguish between good and bad and prominent and non-prominent, they must look towards the West? This is what some friends have now mentioned: Western belief. This self-belief is in contrast to that. This does not mean enmity with anyone; this does not mean prejudice against a geographical or political region; this means that when a nation turns away from its own capabilities, its own talents, its own products, and loses faith in them, its fate will be the same as that of dependent countries - whether we ourselves during the Pahlavi era or other countries we observe - that have fallen into that.

We must strengthen self-belief in our youth, in our children. I see, sometimes I receive reports that a certain teacher in class, or a certain professor in university class, has expressed doubt about a certain scientific advancement; this has happened. Suppose in the field of stem cells, in the field of nanotechnology, in various scientific fields - which fortunately, the scientific advancements of the country in various sectors are very significant - something has happened; this is a real event, undeniable, visible, tangible; but this person in the university class or high school class begins to cast doubt: No, sir, it is not like that; it is not certain! What motivation do we have? If we assume that we ourselves have doubts about whether this advancement has occurred, what reason do we have to convey that to our young audience? Well, let us investigate; let it become clear to us whether it has happened or not. Injecting and creating this self-belief is one of the main tasks.

The next point is patience. One of the things we need in social interaction is the spirit of patience; forbearance. The reason that forbearance is mentioned so much in Islam and Islamic ethics is that the absence of patience creates many problems at lower levels, individual levels, and social levels. If our political groups also interact with each other with patience, things will improve. Different factions supporting this or that, if they interact with each other with forbearance, the situation will be much better. Interacting with forbearance does not mean overlooking evils and ugliness; it does not mean ignoring the principles and values we believe in; the manner of interaction is what matters; "Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best." (2) Disputing with another over a belief, over an important issue must also be "in a way that is best."

Another issue is curiosity, which was also mentioned in the friends' statements; the state of inquiry and questioning and following up. Another point is teamwork, cooperation with one another, and having high aspirations. We should accustom children and also youth to look with high aspirations. There are various issues that must be viewed at the global level, at the international level, not at the regional level, let alone that one wants to see them at the national or provincial level. There are issues that must be viewed in the horizons of a hundred years or a hundred and fifty years, not in a limited five-year or ten-year horizon or less. These require high aspirations; a lofty perspective on various issues. This student or this student you are educating today will soon be a professor, an active manager, a prominent expert, an influential element in the political movement of society; soon this being will be an effective presence in society. Educate them in such a way that they can carry this high aspiration.

The next point is putting oneself to work. One of our problems is laziness. The issue of studying and reading books is important. In our society, there is negligence towards books. Sometimes one sees on television when asking this and that: Sir, how many hours do you study per day, or how much time do you spend reading books? One says five minutes, another says half an hour! One is astonished. We must accustom the youth to reading books, accustom children to reading books; this will accompany them for life. Reading books at my age - which of course I read many times more than the youth - is often much less effective than reading books at the young ages of you dear ones who are present here. What always remains for a person is reading books at a young age. Your youth, your children should read as much as they can, in various fields, in various ways, learning something. Of course, they must also avoid wandering in the realm of books, but this is a subsequent issue; the first issue is that they learn, get accustomed to referring to books, looking at books. Of course, the institutions must be vigilant, individuals must be careful, guiding them towards good books; so that with bad books, their time is not wasted.

Another important point that one of the ladies mentioned, which I noted down; is that the characteristics we want to instill in our children - now perhaps they mentioned in relation to education - do not naturally come into being; this must be worked on. Who should do this work? Teachers; whether at the levels of education or at the levels of university. Teachers must be prepared for this work, be experts in this work; this requires a higher authority to create this training. Yes, this is logical. Now the esteemed Minister of Education is also here; take this to the government, and you yourself see what you can do at the level of education. They are right; if we want these good traits to emerge in our audience in class, it requires that our teacher knows what to do. Not everyone knows; they must learn. Centers must be established; it was mentioned that cultural research centers for families or family culture; this was one of the proposals that some made; it is very good, completely correct; work must be done on these issues. Of course, these are related to the moral security of the family, but all of these also exist in schools and universities.

Well, our progress in these areas that are of interest to us and the entire cultural and scientific class of the country is, honestly, an extraordinary progress. That is, we should not doubt that we can. This is evident to everyone. At the beginning of the revolution, we had about one hundred and seventy thousand students; today we have more than four million students. At that time, we had five thousand faculty members. I remember that in those early days, this figure of five thousand was repeatedly mentioned. Some would come and go, which was countable; they would say, sir, one has decreased, ten have decreased! Today, our faculty members are far beyond these numbers. Fortunately, we have tens of thousands of faculty members. Today, there are two hundred comprehensive universities across the country, and two thousand universities and higher education centers exist nationwide; these are not insignificant matters. We accomplished all of this under conditions of hardship. The sanctions that are now said to have intensified or are on a permanent increase have existed from the beginning. In addition to this, we had a war; in addition to this, we had various periods of declining oil prices; numerous internal problems were imposed on us; we had a population increase - our population at the beginning of the revolution was thirty-five million; it has doubled - all of these issues have existed; yet, thanks be to God, we have made this progress.

And I must tell you; these advancements that have occurred in scientific fields are not related to saying that a collective effort has been made in a specific point; no, in many of these areas where we have progress, a talented interested group from a certain point received some support and suddenly reached the peak. Years ago, officials from a friendly country - I do not want to name it - came here and said we allocated a certain amount of budget for a specific topic - for example, for biotechnology - and the whole country focused on that. We did not do this. What has happened is due to the existence of talent, due to the existence of enthusiasm from various groups; much of it has emerged in a greenhouse manner, not that the whole country should concentrate to achieve, for example, stem cells; no, a few talented interested youths pursued the issue of stem cells, and from a certain corner, a little support was given to them; suddenly you observed that they became prominent in the world. The discussion of nanotechnology is exactly the same, and various other discussions are the same. The discussions related to missiles, whether space missiles or military missiles, are all works that have started out of enthusiasm and interest from a group, and then everyone observed the results. I want to say that talent and capability at the national level are infinite. We can go much further than this.

Now, at the global level, Iran ranks sixteenth in science. Who would have believed it? This has been announced by reputable statistical centers worldwide. At that time, a center predicts that by 2018, Iran will reach the fourth scientific rank in the world. The capabilities of the country and the abilities of the country are such. Iran's share in the production of science is now two percent in the world; that is, two times what Iran can and should naturally have in the production of science globally. These are remarkable things; these are important things.

Therefore, we must increase hope; I want to convey this. We must do many things at the governmental levels, at the levels of high officials; however, what is fundamental is that you in the classrooms, whether in education or in university, should cultivate hope for movement in this youth and your audience; this will become like a snowball and will progress. If such an event occurs, the country will make maximum use of their existence. Let us strive to create vitality, to create hope. There are dangers on the path of youth; one of the dangers is hopelessness; we must avoid instilling hopelessness.

Of course, in this province, there are problems, both in education in terms of facilities and in universities; which I have been reported about, and some of them were mentioned by friends here. We hope, God willing, that these will also be resolved. Of course, we will convey this to the officials. Executive tasks and these matters pertain to specific responsibilities; we should not interfere in these. Of course, we emphasize, we confirm, we convey, and we ask them to do this as far as their capabilities allow.

Additionally, in youth environments, be cautious of these false mysticisms; these particularly infiltrate universities. One of the programs is to infiltrate false mysticisms into universities; this is also one of those paralyzing things. If someone becomes ensnared and afflicted by these baseless and false mysticisms - which have often infiltrated from outside the country - it truly paralyzes them. The criterion we have for moving towards spiritual elevation and closeness to God is piety, God-consciousness, and purity. Our youth - both our daughters and our sons - if they are pure, if they practice piety, if they strive to avoid sin, if they perform prayers with attention and care, and do not sever their connection with the Quran, will not fall prey to these false mysticisms.

I often advise the youth regarding the Quran. Strive to maintain your relationship with the Quran. Every day, even if it is half a page, read the Quran; all of these create proximity to the human being; they bring about spiritual purity and openness and spiritual breakthroughs. That tranquility, that patience and serenity that a human needs - "Then Allah sent down His tranquility upon His Messenger and upon the believers and made them adhere to the word of piety"; (3) this is a blessing that God Almighty boasts to the believers, that we granted tranquility, patience, and peace to the Prophet and to the believers - is achieved through what we have mentioned; primarily through striving to distance oneself from sins.

When we say to avoid sins, it does not mean that one must first completely abandon all sins to enter the second stage; no, these coexist. The aspiration must be that sin does not arise from us. Piety is the same. Commitment to attention in prayer and in reciting the Quran and these matters are things that bring spirituality and purity of soul to us; they provide us with the tranquility and peace we need; there is no need to go into the realm of false, materialistic, imaginary, and illusory mysticisms, which have no reality behind them. Both students and high school youth should be directed towards these aspects of faith and devotion. Make devotion a fundamental element for your audience and know that, God willing, God Almighty will also assist.

Well, time is up. We hope that God Almighty makes what we have said and heard beneficial for us and grants His successes to you and to us so that we can, God willing, fulfill our duties.

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