Statements in Meeting with Commanders of Ashura Battalions of Basij Resistance Forces on the Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him)

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

This meeting is very appropriate, at an appropriate time. It is the days of Ashura of Husayn, and you brothers and sisters are also among the Ashura and Husayni people. The twenty-million-strong Basij of the Islamic Revolution has proven that it walks in the path of Husayn ibn Ali (peace be upon him) and the path of Ashura.

What I will say today pertains to this very issue of Ashura, which, despite all that has been said, heard, and spoken about this event, still leaves room for reflection, contemplation, and learning lessons. This great event, the event of Ashura, is worthy of reflection and contemplation from two perspectives. Often, one of these two perspectives is considered. Today, I want to focus more on the second perspective.

The first perspective is the lessons of Ashura. Ashura has messages and lessons. Ashura teaches that to preserve religion, one must sacrifice. It teaches that in the path of the Quran, one must give up everything. It teaches that in the battlefield of truth and falsehood, small and large, men and women, old and young, noble and common, and leader and follower stand in the same line. It teaches that the enemy's front, with all its apparent capabilities, is very vulnerable. (Just as the front of Bani Umayyah was damaged by the caravan of Ashura captives in Kufa, in Sham, in Medina, and ultimately this event led to the downfall of the Sufyani front.) It teaches that in the matter of defending religion, more than anything, insight is necessary for a person. Those without insight are deceived. Those without insight stand in the enemy's front without knowing it. Just as in the front of Ibn Ziyad, there were those who were not among the corrupt and wicked, but they were among those without insight.

These are the lessons of Ashura. Indeed, these lessons alone are enough to elevate a nation from humiliation to honor. These lessons can defeat the front of disbelief and global arrogance. These are life-building lessons. This is the first perspective.

The second perspective, which I mentioned, is the 'lessons of Ashura.' Besides lessons, Ashura is a scene of lessons. One must look at this scene to learn lessons. What does it mean to learn lessons? It means to compare oneself with that situation and understand what state and condition one is in; what threatens them; what is necessary for them? This is called 'lessons.' If you pass by a road and see a car overturned or crashed and damaged, crushed, and its passengers destroyed, you stop and look to learn lessons. It becomes clear what kind of speed, what kind of movement, and what kind of driving led to this situation. This is another type of lesson; but a lesson through learning lessons. Let's examine this a bit.

The first lesson that draws our attention in the case of Ashura is to see what happened that fifty years after the passing of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), the Islamic society reached a point where someone like Imam Husayn (peace be upon him) was forced to make such a sacrifice to save the Islamic society? This sacrifice of Husayn ibn Ali (peace be upon him) is one thing after a thousand years from the beginning of Islam; it is one thing in the heart of countries and nations opposed and hostile to Islam; this is one thing. But Husayn ibn Ali (peace be upon him), in the center of Islam, in Medina and Mecca - the center of prophetic revelation - saw a situation where he had no choice but to make such a great bloody sacrifice! What was the situation that Husayn ibn Ali (peace be upon him) felt that Islam would only survive with his sacrifice, otherwise it would be lost?! This is the lesson. Once, the leader and prophet of the Islamic society, from the same Mecca and Medina, would tie the flags, give them to the Muslims, and they would go to the farthest points of the Arabian Peninsula and to the borders of Sham; they would threaten the Roman Empire; they would flee from them, and the armies of Islam would return victoriously; in this regard, one can refer to the event of 'Tabuk.' Once, in the mosque and passage of the Islamic society, the sound and recitation of the Quran was loud, and the Prophet, with that tone and breath, would recite the verses of God to the people, admonish them, and lead them quickly on the path of guidance. But what happened that the same society, the same country, and the same cities reached a point where they became so distant from Islam that someone like Yazid ruled over them?! A situation arose where someone like Husayn ibn Ali (peace be upon him) saw that he had no choice but to make this great sacrifice! This sacrifice is unparalleled in history. How did they reach such a stage? This is the lesson. We must pay close attention to this today.

Today, we are an Islamic society. We must see what affliction that Islamic society encountered that led to Yazid? What happened that twenty years after the martyrdom of the Commander of the Faithful (peace and blessings be upon him), in the same city where he ruled, the heads of his sons were raised on spears and paraded in that city?! Kufa was not a place alien to religion! Kufa was the same place where the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) walked in its markets; he carried a whip on his shoulder; he enjoined good and forbade evil; the cry of Quran recitation in 'the hours of the night and the ends of the day' was loud from that mosque and that organization. This was the same city that after not so many years, in its market, the daughters and family of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) were paraded in captivity. In twenty years, what happened that they reached that point? If there is a disease that can bring a society, at the head of which were people like the Prophet of Islam and the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon them), to that state in a few decades, this disease is a dangerous disease, and we must also fear it. Our great Imam, if he considered himself a student of the students of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), would raise his head in pride to the sky. The Imam's pride was that he could understand, act upon, and propagate the Prophet's rulings. Where is our Imam, and where is the Prophet?! That society was built by the Prophet, and after a few years, it fell into that state. Our society must be very careful not to fall into that disease. The lesson is here! We must recognize that disease; consider it a great danger and avoid it.

In my opinion, this message of Ashura is more immediate for us today than the other lessons and messages of Ashura. We must understand what calamity befell that society that Husayn ibn Ali (peace be upon him), the first son of the Islamic world and the son of the Caliph of the Muslims, the son of Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace and blessings be upon him), in the same city where his noble father sat on the throne of the caliphate, his severed head was paraded, and not a ripple was stirred! From the same city, people came to Karbala, martyred him and his companions with parched lips, and took the family of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) captive!

There is much to say on this subject. I present a verse from the Quran in response to this question. The Quran has given us the answer. The Quran introduces that pain to the Muslims. That verse is: 'Then there succeeded them a generation who neglected prayer and followed desires; so they will meet misguidance.' (Maryam: 59) Two factors are the main causes of this general deviation and misguidance: one is distancing from the remembrance of God, which is manifested in prayer. Forgetting God and spirituality; separating the account of spirituality from life and setting aside attention, remembrance, supplication, seeking from God Almighty, reliance on God, and divine calculations from life. The second is 'and followed desires'; pursuing lusts; pursuing whims and, in a word: worldliness. Thinking about accumulating wealth, accumulating possessions, and indulging in worldly desires. Considering these as the main things and forgetting the ideals. This is the fundamental and great pain. We too may fall into this pain. If in the Islamic society, that state of idealism disappears or weakens; if everyone thinks about saving their own skin and not falling behind others in the world; if 'others have accumulated, we too should accumulate and ultimately prioritize ourselves and our interests over the interests of society,' it is clear that we will fall into this pain.

The Islamic system is created and preserved and progresses with faith, high aspirations, the presentation of ideals, and the importance and keeping alive of slogans. Fading slogans; disregarding the principles of Islam and the revolution and presenting and understanding everything with material calculations will lead society to such a state.

They fell into that state. Once, for Muslims, the advancement of Islam was important; the pleasure of God was important; teaching religion and Islamic knowledge was important; familiarity with the Quran and the knowledge of the Quran was important; the government apparatus, the administration apparatus of the country, was an apparatus of asceticism and piety and disregard for worldly adornments and personal desires, and the result was that great movement that people made towards God. In such a situation, a personality like Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) became the caliph. Someone like Husayn ibn Ali (peace be upon him) became a prominent personality. The criteria in these were more than anything else. When the criterion is God, piety, disregard for the world, and striving in the path of God; people who have these criteria come to the scene and take the reins of affairs, and society becomes an Islamic society. But when the divine criteria change, whoever is more worldly, whoever is more lustful, whoever is more cunning in obtaining personal benefits, whoever is more alien to truth and honesty, comes to power. Then the result is that people like Umar ibn Sa'd and Shimr and Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad reach leadership, and someone like Husayn ibn Ali (peace be upon him) goes to the slaughter, and is martyred in Karbala! This is a straightforward calculation. Those who are concerned should not let the divine criteria change in society. If the criterion of piety changes in society, it is clear that a pious person like Husayn ibn Ali (peace be upon him) must have his blood shed. If cunning and maneuvering in worldly affairs and deceit and lying and disregard for Islamic values become the standard, it is clear that someone like Yazid must be at the head of affairs and someone like Ubayd Allah becomes the first person in Iraq. All the work of Islam was to change these false criteria. All the work of our revolution was to stand against the false and wrong material criteria of the world and change them.

Today's world is a world of lies, a world of force, a world of lust, and a world of preferring material values over spiritual values. This is the world! It is not specific to today. For centuries, spirituality has been declining and weakening in the world. Money worshipers and capitalists have tried to eliminate spirituality. Those in power have set up a material system and arrangement in the world, at the head of which is a power more deceitful, more deceitful, more indifferent to human virtues, and more ruthless towards humans, like the power of America. This comes at the head, and so on, they come to lower levels. This is the state of the world. The Islamic Revolution means reviving Islam again; reviving 'Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of God is the most righteous of you.' (Hujurat: 13) This revolution came to break this global arrangement, this wrong global arrangement, and create a new arrangement. If that global material arrangement exists, it is clear that corrupt, black-faced, misguided lustful people like Mohammad Reza must be at the head of affairs, and a virtuous, enlightened person like the Imam must be in prison or exile! In such a situation, there is no place for the Imam in society. When force rules, when corruption rules, when lies rule, and when lack of virtue rules, someone who possesses virtue, possesses truth, possesses light, possesses mysticism, and possesses attention to God, their place is in prisons or in the slaughterhouse or in the pit of the killing fields. When someone like the Imam comes to power, it means the page has turned; lust and worldliness have gone into seclusion, dependency and corruption have gone into seclusion, piety has come to the forefront, asceticism has come to the forefront, purity and enlightenment have come, jihad has come, compassion for humans has come, mercy and brotherhood and sacrifice and selflessness have come. When the Imam comes to power, it means these qualities come; it means these virtues come; it means these values are presented. If you keep these values, the system of Imamate remains. Then people like Husayn ibn Ali (peace be upon him) will no longer be taken to the slaughter. But what if we lose these? What if we lose the Basiji spirit? What if instead of focusing on duty and divine mission, we focus on our personal luxuries? What if we isolate the Basiji youth, the faithful youth, the sincere youth - who wants nothing but a field to strive in the path of God - and empower the greedy, demanding, insincere, and unspiritual person? Then everything will change. If in the early days of Islam, the distance between the passing of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the martyrdom of his beloved was fifty years, in our time, this distance can be much shorter, and sooner than this, our virtues and virtuous people may go to the slaughter. We must not let this happen. We must stand against the deviation that the enemy may impose on us.

Therefore, learning lessons from Ashura is to not let the spirit of the revolution become isolated in society and the child of the revolution become secluded. Some have misunderstood the issues. Today, thanks be to God, concerned and interested officials and a revolutionary and faithful president are in power, and they want to build the country. But some have confused construction with materialism. Construction is one thing, materialism is another. Construction means the country is developed, and the deprived classes reach prosperity.

For many years, this country has been ruined. After the revolution, through foreign invaders, for eight years, the same thing continued. This country must be built. This construction requires effort. From the end of the war until today, only three years and a bit have passed. Not much time has passed since the end of the war until today. A bomb falls in one place, it is a moment of destruction; but building that ruin takes how long?! Suppose a building, a house, a two or three-story building, is blown up in a moment; but it is not built in a moment. A country was destroyed for eight years. Is it a joke?! Before this, the cursed Pahlavi dynasty - may God's curse be upon them and their agents and assistants, and may God's curse be upon the Qajar family and their assistants - ruined this country. After the revolution, when it wanted to build it, could the enemies tolerate it?! Today, the documents of America's cooperation with Iraq in the imposed war against us are being revealed. We said it that day; we said it decisively that day that the East and the West support Iraq. But some short-sighted internal people denied it and said on what basis? Here you go; this is the basis! Today, the documents of the Americans themselves are being revealed by the Americans, and it becomes clear what great help they gave to Iraq in these years. The East and the West joined hands; they started this war and ruined the country. After years of destruction by the corrupt rulers of Pahlavi and Qajar and after several years of war destruction, now the government of the Islamic Republic, with the help of the people and its agents and specialists and experts, wants to build this country. This is not the work of one day or two days; it is not the work of one year or two years. So many material centers have been destroyed, so many employment opportunities have been destroyed...! These are not things that can be returned in a short time. This is called 'construction.' This is a struggle, a jihad in the path of God. Anyone who participates in this struggle has performed jihad. Someone who has taken a step in the way of managing and preserving the Islamic society - which is a great duty - is very valuable. But on the other hand, materialism is, material worship is, worldliness is. That is another matter.

Construction was the work that Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) had; which even perhaps during the caliphate - which now I have doubts about. But before the caliphate, it is certain - he would cultivate palm groves with his own hands; he would revive land; he would plant trees; he would dig wells and irrigate. This is construction! Worldliness and materialism were the work that Ubayd Allah Ziyad and Yazid did. When did they ever create or build something?! They would destroy; they would consume; they would increase luxuries. These two should not be confused. Today, some people immerse themselves in money and the world and materialism in the name of construction. Is this construction?! What corrupts our society is drowning in desires; losing the spirit of piety and sacrifice; that is, the same spirit that is in the Basijis. The Basiji must be in the middle of the field so that the main virtues of the revolution remain alive.

The enemy tries to take our youth away from us through the spread of wrong culture - the culture of corruption and debauchery. What the enemy does culturally is a 'cultural invasion,' or rather, it should be said a 'cultural ambush,' a 'cultural plunder,' and a 'cultural massacre.' Today, the enemy is doing this to us. Who can defend these virtues? That faithful young person who is not attached to the world, not attached to personal interests, and can stand and defend the virtues. Someone who is tainted and trapped cannot defend the virtues! This sincere young person can defend. This young person can defend the revolution, Islam, and the virtues and values of Islam. Therefore, I said some time ago: 'Everyone should enjoin good and forbid evil.' I am saying now: Forbid evil. This is obligatory. This is your religious responsibility. Today, it is also your revolutionary and political responsibility.

They write letters to me; some also call and say: 'We enjoin good and forbid evil. But the official agents do not support us. They support the opposite side!' I say that official agents - whether law enforcement or judicial agents - have no right to defend the criminal. They must defend the enjoiner and forbider of good. All our government apparatus must defend the enjoiner of good and forbider of evil. This is a duty. If someone prays and someone else attacks the prayer, which one should our apparatus defend? The one who prays or the one who pulls the prayer rug from under the feet of the one who prays? Enjoining good and forbidding evil is the same. Enjoining good is obligatory like prayer. In Nahj al-Balagha, it says: 'And all good deeds and jihad in the path of God are like a drop in a vast ocean compared to enjoining good and forbidding evil.' (Nahj al-Balagha: Short Sayings, 374) That is, enjoining good and forbidding evil, in its broad and general scale, is even higher than jihad; because it strengthens the foundation of religion. The foundation of jihad is established by enjoining good and forbidding evil. Can our agents and officials equate the enjoiner of good and forbider of evil with others; let alone endorse the opposite side?! Of course, the Hezbollah youth must also be smart. They must open their eyes and not let anyone infiltrate their ranks and create corruption in the name of enjoining good and forbidding evil that ruins the image of Hezbollah. You must be careful. This is your responsibility. I am sure - and the experiences of these years have shown - that whenever the faithful and Hezbollah forces come to the field to do something, a number of fake and false elements, in their name, create corruption somewhere to make the officials' minds dirty towards the faithful and Hezbollah forces and the people. Be careful. The issue of enjoining good and forbidding evil is like the issue of prayer. It is learnable. You must go and learn. It has rules about where and how to enjoin good and forbid evil? Of course, I say - I have said before - in the Islamic society, the general duty of the people is to enjoin good and forbid evil with the tongue; with language. If it comes to confrontation, that is the duty of the officials. They must intervene. But verbal enjoining good and forbidding evil is more important. The factor that reforms society is this verbal forbidding of evil. To that wrongdoer, to that wrongdoer, to that person who spreads debauchery, to that person who wants to remove the ugliness of sin from society, people must speak. Ten people, a hundred people, a thousand people! Public opinion must weigh on his existence and mind. This is the most breaking thing. These faithful and Basiji and Hezbollah forces; that is, these same general faithful people; that is, this great majority of our dear country; these same people who managed the war; these same people who have faced all the events from the beginning of the revolution until now, can have the most important role in this matter. These same popular forces, if they were not - if this Basij did not exist, if this great Hezbollah force did not exist - we would have been defeated in the war; we would have been defeated and vulnerable in the face of various enemies in these years. They wanted to bring our factory to closure; the Hezbollah force from inside the factory would hit them in the chest. They wanted to set our farm on fire in the early days of the revolution; the Hezbollah force from the middle of the deserts and villages and farms would hit them in the mouth. They wanted to create chaos in the streets; the Hezbollah force would come and stand in front of them. The war is also clear! This is the main force of the country. The Islamic system relies on this force. If the people; that is, these faithful and Hezbollah forces, are with the system, with the government - which they are, thanks be to God - if this great and invincible popular force is alongside the officials and behind the officials - which it is, thanks be to God - no power can confront the Islamic Republic.

Our enemies fear this. In global propaganda, American and Zionist loudspeakers have been accusing the Islamic Republic of militarism and increasing weapons for some time now! They say: 'Iran has weapons of mass destruction! They are making nuclear weapons! They have brought nuclear warheads from such and such a place!' Words that any sane person in the world, if they think about it, understands are lies. Is a nuclear bomb something that can be quietly transferred from one country to another?! They understand it is a lie; they know it is a lie; they create rumors. To create an image of the Islamic system as if it is against peace and the establishment of peace in the world. One of the malicious efforts of America and the Zionists against the Islamic Republic is this. I say: You are mistaken. You are mistaken in thinking that the power of the Islamic Republic is in creating or building a nuclear bomb inside. It is not these. If it were that the Islamic Republic now wanted to make, for example, a nuclear bomb, the big countries have hundreds of them. If someone could win over someone with a nuclear bomb, America and the former Soviet Union and the rest of the wicked powers of the world would have destroyed the Islamic Republic a hundred times by now. What gives a system power is not a nuclear bomb. The power of the Islamic system - which America and the former Soviet Union and the rest of the small and large powers of the world have not been able and will not be able to confront until today - is the power of the faith of the Hezbollah forces.

The Islamic Republic must preserve this force. This great power must be preserved. You young people must always be on the scene. You must always show that the Islamic Republic is invulnerable. The faithful Basij force and the Hezbollah forces throughout the country and the faithful individuals in this country must do something that completely cuts off the hope of America and the Zionists and the rest of the enemy powers from the Islamic Republic.

We hope that God Almighty will protect you faithful, devoted, and pious young people and, God willing, the sacred heart of the Imam of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for him) will be pleased with all of you. God willing, with the power of faith and your presence, all the plots and conspiracies of the enemy will be thwarted.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings