Statements in Meeting with the Eulogists of Ahlulbayt on the Occasion of the Birth of Lady Fatimah al-Zahra (peace be upon her)

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 al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure, virtuous, and infallible family, especially the Awaited One among the people of the earth.

First of all, congratulations on this holiday to all of you! Secondly, our eyes are brightened by the presence of so many eulogists and reciters! For nearly 37 or 38 years, this gathering has been held on this day, and thanks be to God, the quantity and quality have been increasing day by day; this is a treasure. Dear youth! I am with you; this is a treasure, a valuable human asset; if it remains void and ineffective, it is an injustice; if, God forbid, this asset is consumed in the wrong direction, a greater injustice has occurred; if we did not have this asset, we would not have such a heavy responsibility; but this asset exists, it belongs to the revolution, it belongs to Islam, it belongs to the Master of Martyrs, it belongs to Fatimah al-Zahra; this [asset] must be used in the path of the goals of Hussaini and Fatimi.

Most of the poems that were recited were good, and I truly benefited from the poems and the tones; however, what is before our nation today is the elucidation of the teachings of the Islamic Revolution; and this task is within your capacity. I have repeatedly stated in this very gathering that sometimes a poem of yours, a ghazal you recite, a mathnawi of yours, sometimes a single couplet of yours can have an impact on your audience equivalent to that of a pulpit; do not let this opportunity slip away. Poetry must be imbued with Quranic and Islamic content, and in today’s common expression, it must be Fatimi and Hussaini. Embed the goals of the revolution with clear vision, open thought, and deep contemplation in your poetry, and convey it with a pleasant voice, with a beautiful tone, and with artistic methods in the gathering; this will have a profound impact on the great movement of the Iranian nation and indeed on the Islamic movement and the Islamic community.

Sometimes I hear that in the gathering of an artistic eulogist, neither the poetry nor the content is aimed at increasing knowledge; this is a sin, this is injustice. You have art, you have ability, today you have an opportunity in the Islamic community; this opportunity has not always existed; this opportunity is precious whenever it arises in the historical moments of life, it must not be wasted. Today we can promote Islam; once it was only through books, through pulpits, through speeches; today, in addition to what was in the past, it is through eulogizing. In the past - during the era of tyranny - we did not have so many good singers, so many good poets in the service of the Ahlulbayt; today, thanks be to God, there are many; the quantity is very good, and the quality is also very good; increase this quality day by day.

Today, the enemies are closely observing the aspects of the lives of you, the revolutionary nation, to find a weakness and infiltrate from there; identify these areas of enemy infiltration and stand against them; do not waste time. Today, we are all obligated, we are all responsible; the community of eulogists is also among the responsible communities of the country. Elucidate the Islamic teachings.

Of course, the language of eulogizing and reciting praises is different from the language of speaking and lecturing; here there is poetry, imagination, artistic expression, artistic activity, and that is not a flaw, but the direction and content must be the same as what we expect to manifest in a good speech, in a good book, in a good film; the direction must be the same. The enemies of Islam have not just come into existence; the enemies of truth and the religion of God have been arrayed against it since the inception of the religion of God; today, that array still exists:

This sweet water and salty water flows through the people until the blowing of the trumpet.

This arraying is the same as that of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and the Seal of the Prophets (peace be upon him). Today, you are in the same ranks where one day Moses, one day Abraham, one day the Prophet, one day Ammar, one day the Commander of the Faithful stood. If we do not recognize our own ranks, we make a mistake; if we do not recognize the enemy's ranks, we make a mistake. Mr. Ammar saw in the Battle of Siffin that some individuals in the army seemed agitated, confused, and did not correctly discern the direction and goal of the work; he felt a duty. Ammar, the articulate voice of the Commander of the Faithful, stood before this crowd and said: Do you see this flag of the opposing front - the flag of Banu Umayyah? We had this same flag in the Battle of Badr and in the Battle of Uhud before us; this is the same flag.

I say today that the flag that stands against the revolution in the region of Asia, in Europe and America, in any part of the world is the same flag; it is the same flag that was raised against Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. They were destroyed, and Moses, Jesus, and Abraham are alive. The reason for their being alive is that the Almighty God said to Moses: Indeed, I am with you; I hear and see; do not be afraid, do not be afraid, do not be mistaken in your calculations, God is with you. He said: Indeed, I am with you. Two unarmed individuals against a vast army of Pharaoh's forces seem to have nothing, but in essence, all power belongs to them, because power belongs to God, and God says I am with you: Indeed, I am with you; I see, I hear, I know what is happening. This is our issue. Those who do not believe should look at these forty years. In these forty years, our enemies, who were the centers of material power in the world, came with all their might against this revolution and this movement and struck and exerted all their efforts. Truly, they did everything they could. [Now] after forty years, they are weaker than on the first day, and we are stronger than on the first day. This indicates that "Indeed, I am with you," the Almighty God is with us, "I hear and see"; but there is a condition: you must be with God: If you support God, He will support you and make your steps firm. This lesson was given to us by Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified), we did not fully understand it at that time, we did not grasp the depth of the issue, that great man understood it well; he said be with God, and he himself was with God. Your being with God is precisely what I said at the beginning: you must fulfill your duty. You are eulogists and reciters, and this is an honor in itself. You who praise Imam Hussein and Fatimah al-Zahra (peace be upon her) are, in fact, praising yourselves:

The eulogist of the sun is the eulogist of himself

For my two eyes are bright and my name is without blemish.

This means I see correctly, I understand correctly; you are praising yourselves. This is a great honor; from this honor, from this position, from this status, make the best use, guide the people towards the goals of the revolution, towards what the revolution was initiated for - to create a world of believers, a healthy world, a secure and peaceful world for humanity, a world that is truly a farm for the Hereafter - [guide them]. Creating such a world is the goal of the Islamic Revolution, which encompasses material prosperity, international dignity, and spiritual joy; we are pursuing this. Each of us has a duty, and all of you have a duty, and may God willing, you fulfill this duty.

Especially, I emphasize at this juncture to focus on the issue of family. The enemy - not the enemy of Iran or the enemy of the revolution; the enemy of humanity - has decided to destroy the family system among mankind. The family is a divine tradition. The enemy of humanity, namely the international capitalist movement and Zionism, has been planning to destroy the family among mankind for nearly a hundred years; and in some places, they have succeeded. In those places that were far from God, they succeeded; in some places, including in our Islamic Iran, they have not succeeded, but they are making efforts. These difficult marriages, these late marriages, this low birthrate, this wrongly termed ugly "white marriages" - which is the blackest type of married life - all of these are aimed at destroying the family. The promotion of lusts, the loss of modesty and chastity, are now part of the enemy's agenda. You should make the struggle against these part of your programs. Make the purity and cleanliness of the youth of this country your endeavor, and dedicate your efforts to this; and this is one of the best actions and one of the most effective methods for preserving the revolution and for the growth of the revolution and for maintaining the Islamic system.

I am very happy to have seen you. God willing, may all of you be encompassed by the grace of the Lord and the prayers of the Awaited Imam, and may you be under the attention of Lady Fatimah (peace be upon her).

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