Statements in Meeting with the President, Officials, Professors, Researchers, and Staff of the Dar al-Hekma Institute and the Quran and Hadith Research Center

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

We congratulate you on the anniversary of the blessed birth of the Awaited Savior (may our souls be sacrificed for him) and the auspicious days of the blessed month of Sha'ban. God willing, may the Almighty place you and us among the followers of this great figure, and count us among the Shi'ah of this noble person. We express our gratitude to Mr. Reyshahri and his esteemed colleagues for this valuable gift presented to the Islamic community and the scientific community on this occasion; namely, this encyclopedia of Mahdism, with the important characteristics mentioned. I believe the book was brought to me yesterday or the day before, and I had the opportunity to glance through it briefly; it seems to be an outstanding and interesting book. God willing, I will dedicate time to read the book from beginning to end. However, this work is of great importance; it is a significant endeavor. The main point is that the mind becomes aware of a need and a gap, and the determination to fill this gap and meet this need is stimulated. Such works have been done — of course, no work by us humans is without flaws and shortcomings — what matters is not whether this book is complete or comprehensive, or whether it has deficiencies; what matters is that this book exists; the need for it was felt, and the determination to produce it was stimulated, and thanks be to God, it was born and came into existence. I sincerely thank him and his esteemed colleagues.

I would like to say a word regarding these blessed days and the great and precious existence of the Awaited Savior (may our souls be sacrificed for him); I will later say a word about your assembly and your research center and Dar al-Hekma.

Regarding the issue of Imam al-Mahdi (peace be upon him), you have worked well and made efforts, and you have a comprehensive understanding of all aspects of the matter; what is important is that belief in the Imam al-Mahdi is a part of the worldview of religions; that is, divine religions, just as they express their worldview regarding the world, humanity, the origin of creation, and the ultimate course of human life — that is, about the beginning and the end — one of the sections of this worldview — this vast collection that underlies all thoughts, reflections, laws, and regulations of religions — is the issue of the ultimate destination of the caravan of humanity in this world. The issue of the hereafter and that realm is another matter; it is the issue of the afterlife. One question is where humanity is headed. If we liken the human community throughout history to a caravan that is traveling a path, the question arises: where is this caravan going? What is the destination of this caravan? Where is the ultimate end of this journey? This is a serious question; it must be answered in every worldview. Religions have provided answers to this. The responses of non-religious schools of thought in this regard are not uniform, but the responses of religions to this question are almost uniform; they provide a specific answer. As far as we know the divine religions and those that are imitations of divine religions — even if they themselves are not divine, it is evident that they have taken the principles and rules of work from divine religions — all believe that this caravan will ultimately reach a desirable and pleasant destination. The main characteristic of this destination is "justice"; justice is the universal demand of humanity from the beginning until today and until the end. Those who strive to believe in diversity, change, and transformation in fundamental principles cannot deny that the demand of humanity from the very beginning until today has been several demands, among which the most fundamental is justice; humanity seeks justice; it has never turned away from this demand, and ultimately, this demand will be fulfilled, as stated in our texts: "God will fill the earth with justice and fairness as it has been filled with oppression and tyranny" — in most texts it is "as it has been filled," while in some it is "after it has been filled" — this is the response of all religions. In fact, every individual among humanity knows where this general journey of humanity will end. If we want to make an analogy, we should say that a traveler or a caravan is passing through difficult twists and turns, through hard paths, through mountains, through valleys, through swamps, through thorny bushes, and is making its way to reach a certain point; where is this point? This point is a highway, an important road, an open road, a smooth path. Everything we observe in human history until today has been movement along those narrow paths and in those ups and downs and in those thorny and muddy places; humanity is making its way along this path until it reaches the highway; this highway is the era of Mahdism, the era of the appearance of Imam Mahdi (peace be upon him).

It is not the case that when we reach there, a sudden movement will take place and then it will all end; no, there is a path there. In fact, it must be said that the true life of humanity and the desired existence of humanity begins from there, and humanity will then embark on a path that is a straight path leading to the destination of creation; it leads "humanity," not individuals, not singular beings, but groups. Of course, this does not mean that at that time the nature of humanity will change; no, the nature of humanity, the nature of internal conflict and struggle between good and evil remains. Human reason exists, and human nature exists; human instincts have their own laws, their own attractions, and natural inclinations do their work, and reason also does its work; this struggle will also exist in that era. It is not the case that in that era, humanity will be transformed into angels; no, there will naturally be this conflict, and good and evil will also exist at that time; however, the path and the road will be one that facilitates goodness and good movement and correctly traversing the path toward the true destination; this is the characteristic of that path, which is the true and real meaning of "justice." And this is certain. The successes that humanity has achieved along the way affirm this meaning for the skeptical mind that what has been promised will indeed be realized. The verses that were recited are, in my opinion, interesting and important verses. There is a point in these verses — where the mother of Moses places him in the water at the beginning of his birth — and We inspired to the mother of Moses, "Suckle him, and when you fear for him, cast him into the river... Indeed, We will return him to you and make him one of the messengers"; here there are two promises: one promise is the promise of returning Moses to his mother; the other promise is the promise of "We will make him one of the messengers"; that is, the general promise given to the Children of Israel, who were waiting for a savior to come; and this savior is from God and will come and save the Children of Israel from Pharaoh. The Almighty God, in revelation to the mother of Moses, also gave this second promise — "We will make him one of the messengers" — meaning we will send him from our side, and he will be the messenger who is supposed to fulfill that great promise and that great aspiration; God Almighty gave these two promises. One promise was immediate and close, and that was "Indeed, We will return him to you." In the subsequent verses — which unfortunately Mr. Sabzali did not read — it states: "So We returned him to his mother that she might be comforted and not grieve, and that she might know that the promise of God is true"; that we returned the child to his mother, yes, it has "that she might be comforted" and "not grieve" — her heart was happy, her heart was at ease, her eyes were bright — but another effect of this return was that "and that she might know that the promise of God is true"; so that she would know that this promise we made — that we would send a savior and someone who is supposed to take the Children of Israel out of oppression in Egypt — is a true promise; so that her heart would be assured and confident. That is, a small promise from the Lord is fulfilled so that every thoughtful person can gain assurance from the fulfillment of this small promise that the great promise will also be fulfilled. What has been achieved for humanity throughout history through religion is precisely those small promises; among them is the Islamic Republic. The Islamic Republic is also one of those promises; God Almighty had promised that if you struggle, if you are patient, if you rely on God Almighty, in a place where you do not expect it and do not hope for it, We will grant you power; this event occurred: the Iranian nation struggled, was patient, stood firm, made sacrifices, did not hesitate to give their lives, and an event occurred that no one could have imagined! Who would have thought that in this very sensitive region, in this very important country, in the face of that regime which was heavily supported by international powers, a government would emerge and a revolution would succeed, based on religion, based on jurisprudence, based on Sharia? Who could have imagined such a thing? No one. If anyone claims that they knew it would happen this way, they must have understood it through divine means; calculations absolutely did not indicate this, but this event occurred. Let us know that the main promise, that great work will also happen. This is an example of what will occur.

We must wait. This perspective of religions regarding the end of the journey of humanity is a very hopeful perspective; truly, the spirit of waiting and the spirit of connection with the Master of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for him) and being expectant of the appearance and waiting for that day is one of the greatest windows of relief for the Islamic community. We are waiting for relief; this very waiting is relief; this very waiting is a window of relief, it is hopeful, it is empowering; it prevents feelings of futility, feelings of being wasted, despair, and confusion regarding the future; it gives hope, it provides direction. This is the issue of Imam al-Mahdi (peace be upon him), and we hope that the Almighty God will truly place us among the waiters and open our eyes to the realization of this divine promise.

Regarding the collection of works that you dear brothers and sisters have carried out under the management of Mr. Reyshahri over these years, I truly must express my gratitude. Very good works have been done, innovative works have been accomplished. What is important is that minds become active in recognizing points of gaps; and this, itself, is a great art; identifying issues is an important art: a person looks and finds the gaps. Fortunately, your collection has passed a good test in this regard; it has identified the gaps and has dedicated itself to filling them.

The issue of the Quran and Hadith is a very important matter. In the same context of Mahdism and the issues related to Imam al-Mahdi — the issue of waiting, the issue of longevity, the issue of the era of governance, the duties of the waiters, and various issues that exist — the best reference is the Hadith and what has been narrated from the Imams (peace be upon them), which leaves no room for doubt and is the most important matter. Just as Mr. Reyshahri pointed out, I also believe that rational and credible evidence can serve as support, but what is decisive and conclusive are the narrative and hadith sources and the Quranic texts that must be relied upon, and from which we must benefit. Of course, they must be refined; we should not trust weak statements. We have no shortage of strong words; strong, solid, and fundamentally sound ideas are plentiful in this regard, and we can rely on them and benefit from them.

We ask the Almighty God to grant you success. And once again, we thank you for presenting this valuable gift to the Islamic community during these blessed days of this holiday, and may the intellectual and knowledge community of the country, God willing, fully benefit from this gift you have provided.

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