Statements at the Meeting with Officials of the System, Ambassadors of Islamic Countries, and Guests of the Unity Conference

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 infallible family and his chosen companions, and those who follow them with goodness until the Day of Judgment.

I extend my warm welcome to all the esteemed attendees, to the respected officials of the country, to the dear guests, and to all the honorable participants present here. Today is a great holiday, a radiant and blessed day, the birth of the Greatest Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and the blessed birth of Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him).

Regarding the Greatest Prophet, truly my tongue and those like me are incapable of expressing, and my mind and heart are incapable of understanding the lofty personality of that great figure; this is indeed the case. Today, I will only briefly mention one word from this voluminous book of the Prophet's virtues, and that is this: this radiant sun of the universe has a right over all of humanity; I want to convey this. All of humanity, whether believers in this religion or not, are indebted to the Greatest Prophet and, in the truest sense, belong to the religion of that great figure; why? What is this immense right that this great figure has over humanity? It is that the Greatest Prophet presented the remedy for all the major pains of humanity; this is a reality. The Almighty God says, "A Book We have sent down to you that you may bring people out of darkness into light"; what are the darknesses? The darknesses are all those things that have darkened, soured, and poisoned human life throughout history; these are the darknesses. Ignorance is darkness; poverty is darkness; oppression is darkness; discrimination is darkness; being drowned in desires is darkness; moral corruption, social harms, all of these are darknesses. These are all the darknesses that humanity has suffered from throughout the long history of its life. Disbelief is darkness; aimlessness is darkness; these are the deep pains of humanity.

The Greatest Prophet presented the remedy for these pains—both the intellectual remedy and the practical remedy—to humanity. If you want to be free from these pains, the cure is these. This Sharia of the Prophet and the Quranic teachings are the remedy for the pains of humanity; this is what the Prophet of Islam has presented to humanity. Therefore, Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) says about the Prophet: "A physician who circulates with his medicine, having perfected his remedies and heated his cauteries"; this skilled physician has provided both the remedies—the medicine that is placed on the wound to heal it—and the means of cauterization; in the past, when a wound could not be healed with medicine, it was cauterized to heal. He has both: the remedy and the means of cauterization; these have been presented to humanity in the Quran. If you want to live well, act in this way.

In the logic of the wise of the world, above all the rights that humans have over one another is the right to life. When they want to exaggerate that someone has a right over me, for example, they say: [this] person has a right to life over me. What does the right to life mean? It means, for example, you were at risk of drowning, and he saved you; you were at risk of the collapse of a building, and he saved you; that is, he returned to you this material life that was being taken from you; this is the right to life, this is the highest of rights. When a person looks among the people, studies, [they see] that they consider this the highest right, they say: the right to life; but this life that has been returned to us, how long will it last? It is both limited and imperfect, and it is vulnerable; it may be taken from a person the very next day by a stroke, cancer, or various diseases. The Almighty God says, "O you who have believed, respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life"; the Prophet gives you life. This life is not that life; this is a life that provides both worldly happiness, enriches your heart, enlightens your soul, makes your life sweet, and continues. This life is not finite, it is not vulnerable, it is eternal. The life that Islam and religion and the Prophet grants to humanity is thousands of times more important than that life which, suppose, we were pulled from under the rubble or saved from drowning. This is the right of the Prophet over humanity. This is the right of the Prophet. We are indebted to the Prophet.

Well, some people have not had the opportunity to gain knowledge of the religion of the Prophet—non-Muslims—so the way to fulfill the debt to them is closed; now [as for] what the Almighty God does with them, that is not our discussion, but they cannot fulfill the debt, but the believers in Islam can fulfill the debt; they can; the way has been shown to them: "And strive in the cause of Allah with the striving due to Him. He has chosen you and has not placed upon you in the religion any difficulty; the religion of your father Abraham is what He has named you Muslims"; this "striving in the way of Allah" is, for the sake of being at peace with God, fulfilling the debt. If we want to repay the right of the Prophet, this great right of the Prophet, the way is this: strive in the way of Allah with the striving due to Him; complete jihad. The meaning of jihad is not merely swords and RPGs and such; jihad is in all fields: jihad in the field of knowledge, jihad in the field of politics, jihad in the field of understanding, jihad in the field of ethics, which we need very much. All of us need ethics, we need knowledge; let us strive. We can strive; if we obey this divine command, "strive in the way of Allah with the striving due to Him," then we can say that we have fulfilled the right of the Greatest Prophet to the extent of our ability. We must strive in the way of Islam.

Today, enmity with Islam is clearer than ever; there has always been enmity in the past [but] today it is evident; now a foolish example of it is the insult to the Holy Quran that you see is openly done by a foolish ignoramus, and a government [also] supports it; this indicates that the issue is not just the insult to the Holy Quran in the scene. My reference in this matter is not at all to that ignorant and foolish person who does this; he condemns himself to the severest punishments, to execution, in order to fulfill the goals of the elements behind the scenes; I have nothing to do with him; the discussion is about those elements behind the scenes; those who are the planners of such crimes and such hateful acts. They think that with such actions they can weaken the Quran; they are mistaken; they ruin themselves; they reveal their inner faces.

The Quran is a book of wisdom, a book of knowledge, a book of human formation; whoever is hostile to the Quran is hostile to knowledge, is hostile to wisdom, is hostile to human formation. The Quran is opposed to oppression; the Quran encourages people to confront oppression: "Do not oppress and do not be oppressed"; the Quran awakens the people; whoever is hostile to the Quran is opposed to the awakening of humanity, is opposed to the struggle against oppression. [With these actions] they expose themselves. The Quran becomes clearer day by day; this luminous face in the world is becoming more and more apparent and will continue to do so.

The Quran, of course, is considered a threat to corrupt powers; as we mentioned, it condemns oppression and reproaches the oppressed human for why they have submitted to oppression. This is dangerous for oppressive powers; yes, the Quran has this danger for them, this threat for them. Those who now justify these actions under the pretext of freedom of expression and these repetitive false claims are losing their reputation among the people of the world. In those countries where it is allowed to insult the Quran, do they allow attacks on Zionist symbols? How can it be better proven that they are under the influence of the domination of the usurping, oppressive, criminal, and plundering Zionists of the world; whether those who live in that usurped land or those who live elsewhere? Well, this was a few sentences regarding the noble Prophet of Islam.

The focus of this session and this week is on unity among Muslims and the unity among Muslims. Well, much has been said about the unity among Muslims; we have said it, others have said it, everyone has said it. I just want to mention a brief point in this regard: Who is the enemy of unity? Let us focus on this. Who is harmed by the unity of Muslims? Let us think about this. The enemies of the unity of Muslims are those who, if Islamic countries and Islamic governments unite, they will suffer losses, they will not be able to encroach, to plunder, they will face difficulties; [the enemies of the unity of Muslims] are those. Of course, Islamic countries have a wide circle; now I am speaking about our own region—West Asia and North Africa—this limited region. If the countries of this region unite, which international power can no longer bully, can no longer steal, can no longer interfere in the internal and external affairs of the countries? What power is that? America; it is clear.

If countries like Iran, like Iraq, like Syria, like Lebanon, like the countries bordering the Persian Gulf, like Saudi Arabia, like Egypt, like Jordan adopt a unified policy in their fundamental and general issues, the bullying powers cannot interfere in their internal affairs or in their foreign policy; they are interfering now. Now America is delivering economic blows, political blows, stealing Syrian oil, keeping the cruel and bloodthirsty ISIS in their camps, maintaining them for the day when [if] they need to bring them into the field and unleash them on this and that; they are doing these things. They interfere in the foreign policy of the regional governments, telling them to do this, do not do that; even in some countries, they interfere in their internal policies. If we all unite and choose a unified policy, America cannot do these things, they will not dare to intervene. This issue [should be] thought about; the leaders of countries, politicians, elites, and experts should think about this issue, weigh its benefits. Certainly, no country wishes for a foreign power to interfere in its affairs, in its policies, in its directives; it is clear, but they are forced to submit. Why? Because they are alone. If they join hands with one another, if governments support each other, if they are together and united, they can prevent the interference and meddling and encroachment of powers like America; it can be done.

Of course, it is clear and we have said many times that we do not encourage anyone to war and military action, we also avoid it; but I say let us be together to prevent America's warmongering; they are the ones who instigate wars. These regional wars are almost without exception externally driven; these border disputes and such cannot lead to such conflicts that we have seen in this region over the past few years; they have provoked, intervened, spent money, and incited criminals against the innocent non-combatant people. The elites of the countries, the politicians of the countries, the leaders of the countries should really think about this issue; [this] is an important issue for all these countries, a vital issue. No country loses anything from unity [rather] it gains something.

Well, the issue of the Zionist regime is another matter; that is also one of the issues of this region; now we have talked about America. The Zionist regime is filled with hatred and rage; not only towards us; now we do not care, it is clear and obvious towards the Islamic Republic, but they have the same hatred towards other countries. It is not that the Zionist regime is pleased and content with its neighboring countries; no, they have hatred towards Egypt, they have hatred towards Syria, they have hatred towards Iraq. Why? Because their goal was "from the Nile to the Euphrates"; well, it has not happened. These countries, at various times for various reasons, have not allowed it; therefore, they are filled with hatred, filled with rage. Of course, the Quran says: "Say, Die in your rage"; yes, be angry and die from your anger; and this will happen, they are dying. By God's grace, this "Say, Die in your rage" is being realized regarding the Zionist regime. Well, then the issue of unity also has an important impact here.

Today, Palestine is the foremost issue of the Islamic world. Of course, it has been for several decades; it is not just about today; for several decades, the issue of Palestine, in the truest sense, has been the foremost issue of the Islamic world. A nation has been expelled from their homes, usurped, seized; thousands of them have been killed, tortured, imprisoned, and displaced; this is not a small matter. The foremost issue of the Islamic world is the issue of Palestine.

The definitive view of the Islamic Republic is that the governments that make the gamble of normalizing [relations] with the Zionist regime are making a mistake, they will suffer losses; defeat awaits them; as the Europeans say, they are betting on a losing horse. Today, the situation of the Zionist regime is not one that encourages closeness to it; they should not make this mistake. The usurping regime is going to be removed. Today, the Palestinian movement is more vibrant than ever in these seventy or eighty years. You see that today the Palestinian youth and the Palestinian movement, the anti-usurpation movement, the anti-oppression movement, the anti-Zionism movement is more vibrant, more alive, and more prepared than ever, and God willing, this movement will reach its goal, and just as Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) referred to the usurping regime as a "cancer," this cancer will certainly be eradicated by the grace of God at the hands of the Palestinian people and the resistance forces throughout the region; God willing.

We hope that the Almighty God grants the Islamic nation dignity and honor and elevation so that it can, God willing, make the most of the unparalleled natural and human talents it possesses.

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