Statements at the Meeting with the Organizers of the Congress of 15,000 Martyrs of Fars Province

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 and infallible progeny, especially the Awaited One on earth.

Welcome, dear brothers and sisters. I am very grateful for the brief and concise remarks of the esteemed Friday prayer leader and for the very beautiful and complete writing of this honorable commander.

One of the civilizational advantages of our dear country that must always be considered is its ability to integrate religion, epic, and art. In many parts of the world, religion goes its own way—if it exists—art does its own work, and epic, where it exists, is for itself. The integration of these three elements in Islamic Iran is an attractive and interesting phenomenon that is not just from today or yesterday; it is derived from the essence of Islam. The Quran itself has "And those who believe are stronger in love for God" (2:165), "He loves them and they love Him" (5:54), and "So let them fight in the way of God" (4:74) until the end: "Those who believe fight in the way of God, and those who disbelieve fight in the way of the tyrant" (4:76). It also has "They are severe against the disbelievers" (48:29) and "They are merciful among themselves" (48:29); meaning the Quran itself is an integration of divine religion and great epics and art; the Quran is an artistic work, a very exalted work, in addition to which it refers to love and affection and depicts these for its audience. This exists in our history.

If it is not considered an exaggeration, I would say that perhaps the best point in our country where these three integrated and combined elements are clearly observed is Fars and Shiraz; truly and justly, it is a correct statement if someone says this or we say it. Shiraz is a place where these three elements intertwine and show themselves. From the time of the honorable Ahmad ibn Musa (peace be upon him) and the other martyr Imams who are in that province and city, to later periods, to today and to this martyr, Ms. Masoumeh Karbasi (may her soul be sanctified), who was martyred a few days ago, these three elements have always been together and partners throughout all these periods.

The most famous and beloved poet of the country, namely Hafez Shirazi, is a guardian of the Quran, who "recited the Quran by heart with fourteen recitations". This sweet-speaking ghazal poet has memorized the Quran with fourteen recitations, with fourteen differences in recitation. Among these recitations, we have seen few reciters who are proficient in the recitation of the seven famous reciters of history, each of whom has two narrators, which makes fourteen recitations. Then he says: "Whatever I have, I have all from the grace of the Quran"; meaning his poetry is from the Quran, his art is from the Quran, his knowledge is from the Quran, his mysticism is from the Quran, his cleverness is from the Quran; everything is derived from the Quran. What could be more beautiful than this integration of religion and art? Alongside these, there is epic. From Ahmad ibn Musa to Abbas Douran to the renowned martyrs, [such as] martyr Morteza Javadi, martyr Shirali Soltani, and now [also] this lady Masoumeh Karbasi and the other great martyrs of the province, some of whom our dear commander (may his soul be sanctified) mentioned, and fifteen thousand martyrs, fifteen thousand role models, fifteen thousand examples of martyrs in various fields.

The first armed struggle against European colonialism was conducted by Imam Quli Khan, the governor of Fars, who managed to expel the Portuguese from Hormuz. The first soft war in our country's history was conducted by Mirza Shirazi; the tobacco boycott was a soft war; the greatest war, that is, this kind of war that managed to dismantle the economic domination of England over the country. Gandhi did this in India, but thirty years after Mirza Shirazi; meaning the initiative of this unparalleled soft war belongs to Mirza Shirazi. The strongest resistance of the Iraqis against the domination of the British government over Iraq was led by Mirza Muhammad Taqi Shirazi. The first coin of the Islamic government was minted by the late Seyyed Abdol Hossein Lari in Shiraz and in Jahrom and Lar; he minted coins and established the Islamic government. Of course, it did not last, and he could not continue, but he took action and started. These are great honors. If we return to our own time, we see a scholar, a mystic, and a seeker like martyr Dastgheib, who was truly a manifestation of spirituality and morality, as well as a symbol of jihad. In 1961 and 1962, when this struggle had just begun and we were in Qom, at that time, tapes of the late Dastgheib were brought from Shiraz to Qom, and we listened to them. The late Hajj Sheikh Baha al-Din Mahallati and the other scholars of Shiraz had formed a session, and the spokesperson of this group was the late Dastgheib, who apparently gathered and spoke at the Jame Mosque of Shiraz. This continued until he was martyred. In other words, there are martyrs of all kinds; in all fields, martyrs from this land, from this region have shown themselves and distinguished themselves; these are the identity cards of Shiraz, the identity cards of Fars.

Those who thought they could turn Shiraz from being a sanctuary of the Ahl al-Bayt and a center of religion and faith into a place of corruption with something like the trivial art festival of Shiraz were mistaken; they were wrong in the truest sense of the word! The great scholar of Shiraz, namely Mulla Sadra (may God be pleased with him), who we consider to be one of the prominent figures in the philosophy of the world, in the few poems that remain from him, said this couplet: In the battle of the two worlds, victory is from love Although his entire army is martyred.

This is from a philosopher scholar. This spirit, this beautiful combination of religion, art, and epic continues. The late Dastgheib was also a person of knowledge, poetry, and meaning; we knew these things closely. Others were the same; these are very important.

Your congress must show this to the country; it must make this enduring in the country; you must show that for a civilized nation, possessing knowledge, and progressive, what is important is to be religious, to create epic, and to be artistic; these three together. Art in the service of religion, religion accompanied by epic, epic in the direction of the nation's progress; these are what matter. This must come out of your congress; this must be shown. Now you will secure this with books, with poetry, with songs, or for example, with performances; ultimately, this must come out; this must be shown; this is what our nation needs. Today, just like in the time of those who were mistaken during the Pahlavi era, there are those who want to separate art from spirituality, to separate art from epic, to advance these in sometimes contradictory directions; today, there are those who are remnants of that organization among our dear country and this valuable enclosure of ours. You must secure these [three directions].

One of my strong recommendations that I have noted here is: monitor the impact of the congress. Because you want to have an effect; very well, monitor to see, for example, at the end of a year, this congress that you have put in so much effort and labor to create, what impact it has had on public opinion, on the behavior of your youth; how many of your youth's religiosity, their attendance at mosques, their intellectual struggle, their thinking, their reading of books, their correct outlook and movement have progressed; monitor this. Find the way; you can do it; of course, it is not easy. This monitoring should not be interpreted as spying and catching someone; it should not go in those directions and those paths; a correct perspective and correct discernment must prevail.

The desire to serve is one of the outcomes of this congress. You must see how much the desire to serve has emerged in the youth; intellectual service, jihadist service, presence in service arenas: jihadist camps, construction mobilization, caravans that go to war centers and see the efforts of our dear commanders and fighters and the Basijis of the Sacred Defense; [see] how much the desire for these has progressed. If you see that no progress has been made, return to your work and see where the problem is; why could it not have an effect? If you see that progress has been made, look to see what the factor of progress is; strengthen that. What has been able to push this youth forward and motivate them?

Our youth today need to recognize the glorious past of the country, especially the past of these few decades related to the revolution. We are weak in narratives; for example, do our youth correctly understand the dimensions of the takeover of the spy den? [Do they] know the correct story of the beginning of the eight-year war? If someone thinks, well, why did we fight for eight years, losing so many youths, do they know the answer? Do they know what happened that led to this? These must be narrated; a correct narrative must be made. Of course, fortunately, I see good works being done; some books, some writings, some works, as much as time allows, I observe. Well, this is regarding these issues.

Today we are in the midst of a fundamental and important issue in the region; the issues related to the West Asia region, the issues of Lebanon, the issues of Gaza, the issues of the West Bank, these are historic events; each of these incidents can be the source of a historical movement in one direction. If figures like martyr Sanwar (may his soul be sanctified) had not emerged to fight until the last moment, the fate of the region would have been one way; now that they have emerged, it is another way; if great figures like martyr Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah had not emerged to mix jihad, intellect, courage, and self-sacrifice and bring them to the field, the movement would have been one way; now that they have emerged, the movement is another way; these are very important.

In what has happened until today, a great defeat has occurred; not only for the Zionist regime, but for Western civilization, for Western culture, for Western claims; they have suffered a great defeat. The Zionist regime has been defeated because it thought it could easily dissolve and destroy the resistance groups; today it sees that it has martyred fifty-three thousand defenseless and non-combatant people, has martyred several prominent resistance leaders, but on the front of resistance, not a single drop of water has moved; the resistance front is fighting today with the same strength and determination. Is this not a defeat? This is the greatest defeat. They spent so much, they made so much effort, America came to their aid with all its might, many Europeans did the same, they committed so many crimes, their faces became black and ugly and hated in the world, so much so that there were protests against them in the streets of America, in the universities of America against them, yet the resistance groups remain; Hamas exists, Jihad exists, Hezbollah exists, the fighting people and youth of the West Bank exist, and others in other places are also engaged in struggle. This is a great defeat; this is the greatest defeat.

But it is not just this; greater than this defeat is the defeat of "Western culture"; the Westerners have shown that in these many years or centuries, while they talk about human rights and similar issues, they have been lying all along; [this war] has shown this, has proven it; that is, ten thousand children have been killed, is this a joke? A child is a symbol of innocence, a symbol of tenderness, a fundamental point that stirs human emotions; ten thousand of these innocent beings have been destroyed by Israel with two-ton bombs, with various kinds of weapons, and the Westerners did not bat an eyelash. Western politicians have been disgraced, Western policy has been disgraced, they have been defeated; this is a great defeat. No one should speak of "Western civilization" anymore! This is Western civilization. This is the Western civilization that does not care to take money from its own people in various ways and send it so that innocent children and innocent offspring are killed, families are destroyed, ten thousand children are martyred, and several thousand children become orphans; this is Western culture. Now, if someone protests against Western culture, explicitly states its invalidity, no one should blame him for saying, "Sir, do not say this"; no, this is Western culture, this is Western civilization, this is its product. This is the greatest defeat that has occurred for the West.

Behind the Zionist regime is a front of evil; a front of evil has lined up in support of the Zionist regime, and then the resistance front stands against that front of evil. This resistance front stands against that front of evil, and by God's grace, victory belongs to the resistance front.

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