Sermons of Eid al-Fitr Prayer at Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) Prayer Ground

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

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds. Thanks be to God who created the heavens and the earth and made darkness and light; then those who disbelieved in their Lord equate (others with Him). And peace and blessings be upon our master and prophet, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure and chosen progeny, especially the Awaited One of God among the inhabitants of the earth, and upon the Imams of the believers, the guides of the pious, and the protectors of the faithful. O God, I seek Your forgiveness and turn to You, and I praise You.

I congratulate and extend my best wishes on the occasion of the blessed Eid al-Fitr to the entire Islamic Ummah, to the dear nation of Iran, and to you worshippers. The cloud of God's mercy has poured down upon the Islamic Ummah for a whole month. God's mercy and divine banquet included all members of the Islamic Ummah during this month. The dear nation of Iran was able to make the utmost use of this divine banquet to the best of its ability, and it blessed the celebrations of the beginning of the solar year and the start of Farvardin with the spirituality of the blessed month of Ramadan. The manifestation of the Quran throughout this month was remarkable. One of the prominent points of this year's Ramadan was, thanks be to God, the widespread recitation of the Quran among various segments of the people across the country, which shone brighter and more beautifully than ever before, and the national media played a role in presenting this great progress. We must be grateful to God that day by day, the manifestation of the Quran and the bond with the Quran in the country is increasing. The gatherings of remembrance, supplication, and invocation throughout the month, especially during the blessed nights of Qadr, were other manifestations of the spirituality of this dear month, making the divine banquet more beautiful and desirable for our dear people, who were able to benefit from this banquet, thanks be to God.

The blessed month of Ramadan is a great opportunity; many have made the most of this opportunity, and the entire nation has benefited, thanks be to God. Our strong recommendation is to preserve this spiritual treasure for yourselves, especially for our dear youth. Thanks be to God, the youth of the country have a tendency towards religiosity and attention to remembrance and supplication; this is a great opportunity. This opportunity was utilized during Ramadan; keep it for yourselves; consider it as a spiritual treasure for yourselves.

The issue of fasting is very important. What has been reported to me this year is that sometimes the display of eating during the fasting hours has been observed in some streets of Tehran and other cities. Certainly, the Islamic Republic does not intend to force anyone to be religious, but it also has a duty against religious violations; we must not be negligent, and officials, the people, and those who enjoin good and forbid evil must fulfill their responsibilities in this regard. We hope, God willing, that this immense treasure of religion and spirituality in the country will always be preserved for this nation, remaining as a source of dignity, pride, and success in both religious and worldly matters.

O Lord! Keep our youth, our people, both men and women, steadfast on the straight path of truth. In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful * Say, He is God, the One * God, the Eternal Refuge * He neither begets nor is born * Nor is there to Him any equivalent.

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

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds. We praise Him, seek His help, ask for His forgiveness, turn to Him, and send blessings and peace upon His beloved and chosen one, the master of the prophets and messengers, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure and chosen progeny, especially the Commander of the Faithful, Ali ibn Abi Talib, and Hasan and Husayn, the masters of the youth of Paradise, and Ali ibn Husayn, the Lord of the Worshippers, and Muhammad ibn Ali al-Baqir, the scholar of the first and last, and Ja'far ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq, and Musa ibn Ja'far al-Kazim, and Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha, and Muhammad ibn Ali al-Jawad, and Ali ibn Muhammad al-Hadi, and Hasan ibn Ali al-Zaki al-Askari, and the Awaited Mahdi, may God's blessings and peace be upon them and upon their pure and immaculate mother, and may God gather us with them.

Once again, I congratulate and extend my best wishes on this blessed occasion, the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, to all of you dear ones.

What I find necessary to emphasize in this sermon is that this year, the bloody events in Gaza have soured the hearts of Muslims around the world. May God's curse be upon the usurping Zionist regime, which during this blessed month not only did not cease the killing of women, children, and defenseless people but intensified it. Western governments have always supported and backed the usurping regime over these many years; they have supported it in global forums; they have provided various forms of assistance to it; the right thing would have been for Western governments to intervene in this important issue, in this incident, in this catastrophe, to stop it, to prevent it, but they did not; they did not fulfill their duty. Some said something in support of the people verbally, but in practice, not only did they not prevent it, but many of them also provided assistance, especially the arrogant and oppressive government of America and the British government. Western governments have openly revealed the evil essence of Western civilization to the world in this year's events.

We have said, critics of Western civilization have repeatedly stated that this civilization is built on wickedness, on separation and enmity with spirituality and moral virtues and values; no good can be expected from it; everyone has said this, but in the events of the past six months regarding Gaza and Palestine, the Western governments themselves have laid bare this evil essence before the eyes of the entire world; they have shown what kind of civilization this is; they kill children in their mothers' arms, they kill the sick in hospitals; when they cannot overpower the resistance and the men of resistance, they attack families, children, and the defenseless elderly; over thirty thousand defenseless people have been killed by them in these six months. Where are those who make a discordant tune about human rights that deafens the world? Where are they? Why do they not see this? Are these not human beings? Do they not have rights? This is regarding them.

However, the wicked regime, which is entirely wicked and evil and erroneous, has added another error to its mistakes, which is the attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria. The consulate and the embassies in any country are considered the soil of that country to which the embassy belongs; when they attack our consulate, it is as if they have attacked our soil; this is the world's norm. The wicked regime made a mistake in this matter; it must be punished and will be punished.

Of course, we mourn our martyrs; martyrs such as Martyr Zahidi, Martyr Rahimi, and their companions. I have previously stated that they were lovers of martyrdom; they lost nothing; blessed are they! They were those who spent a lifetime seeking martyrdom; God granted them this reward for their jihad; blessed are they! We mourn, but they have succeeded; they have been able to achieve their goal; both they and the martyrs of security in Sistan and Baluchestan; these dear youths who guard the borders of the country and have put their lives on the line; the nation mourns for them. May the Almighty God grant strength, reward, patience, and success to the nation of Iran, and may He lead the nation to all its great national and popular aspirations.

I emphasize on "unity of word." Dear people, dear youth, political activists, social activists, media activists! Know that success lies in the unity of the word of the Iranian nation. You may have differing opinions; that is fine; political and non-political differences are not an issue, but fighting, bickering, breaking unity, creating divisions and fake factions is detrimental to the country, detrimental to your religion, detrimental to your world, detrimental to your strength.

O Lord! Bestow the best of blessings upon this nation, grant this nation victory over its enemies. O Lord! Do not make this nation a source of joy for its enemies. O Lord! Be pleased and satisfied with the pure soul of our great Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) and our dear martyrs for what we do; make the sacred heart of the Awaited Imam pleased with us.

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful * By time * Indeed, mankind is in loss * Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised one another to truth and advised one another to patience.

And peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.