Full Text of Statements at the Meeting with the Organizers of the Commemoration Congress for the Martyrs of Alborz Province

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

Thanks be to God, 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 chosen progeny.

Welcome, dear brothers and sisters! I am very grateful that you have made the effort to create this beneficial and, in a sense, vital movement of reviving the name and memory of the martyrs in the city of Karaj and in Alborz Province.

Alborz Province has a characteristic that the gentlemen have pointed out; it is a collection of individuals from various parts of the country who have migrated to this city over the past several decades. Therefore, any good work done in this city has the potential to be transferred to the entire country and have an impact there as well. Thus, your work is very commendable, and your action is a God-pleasing and useful endeavor. I thank the organizers of this work.

One point is that you have expressed good explanations regarding the programs of this commemoration; both gentlemen have articulated important points and the expected impacts of this work. However, these are your desires; they must be realized. Think about this; that is, the book must have readers, the film must have viewers, and this requires a second effort. If you do not carry out the work artistically, or do not follow up, or do not consider the various aspects of the work, this effort, which has been well and appropriately done, will not yield its results. You must ensure that this effort reaches its outcomes, and this in itself requires a second effort. I want to say that thinking of a good work and planning for a good work is half of that work; the second half, which is more important, is the follow-up and execution of that work, and you must carry this out.

The issue at hand is the purpose of these commemorations; why do we hold these commemorations? When we examine the martyrs of the imposed war, the martyrs of this recent war, we see that the main motivations that led these individuals to the field of danger and sometimes cost them their lives were present. Many others had the same motivations and, thanks be to God, returned safely and soundly. What are these motivations? Why does a young person, leaving behind a comfortable life, being with their parents, studying, working, and all their aspirations, choose to engage in the hardships of war—those who were in this field know what difficulties it entails?

If we reduce this great act, this immense movement, merely to emotions, we have done injustice; to say they gave speeches, the emotions of these youths were stirred, and they went off; this is truly an injustice to this event, an injustice to these individuals; it is not like that. There are other factors; enumerate those factors, identify them.

One of these motivations is the "desire for meeting God." Among these youths, we find individuals who were truly eager for God; that is, they accomplished what Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) referred to regarding these great figures of knowledge and spirituality, saying that one may have worshipped for a lifetime, but go read the will of this young person; this young person has traversed the path of seventy or eighty years in sometimes just a few months or days and has reached that point. This issue of desire, the desire for God, must be instilled in the youth. The issue of "feeling a religious duty" is also significant; this is a duty that they have been told to fulfill, like prayer; this must happen, it must be carried out. The issue of "the sense of confronting the enemy"; this is an important feeling. When a young person reaches the understanding of their youth—at the point where they transition from childhood—they feel a duty towards their country that they must fulfill, and there are those who are eager to take away their home, their country, and their cultural and civil possessions; they want to stand against these. This is a feeling within a person; and similar to this. Perhaps one could enumerate ten important motivations behind this movement of these youths, which you gentlemen are now undertaking. We must transfer these to the next generation; that is my point.

I say you must not allow these motivations to extinguish; these motivations must be passed on to the next generation. The behavior observed from some cultural institutions and some responsible bodies and those who should be concerned about these matters does not reflect this; that is, we truly do not see that we are transferring these lofty concepts, these values, to the younger generation, and in many cases, we do not observe this.

Our youths are good youths. The tools that exist today were not present at the beginning of the imposed war during the revolution; these very advanced devices that are used today for conveying messages, concepts, and content to the minds of the audience and influencing them were not available then; today, our youth are resisting against these. Those who are committed to prayer, those who are committed to night prayers, those who are committed to voluntary prayers, those who frequent mosques, those who participate in mourning ceremonies, are indeed maintaining and strengthening their religious identity against such a massive wave; this is very valuable; we must appreciate this. Our youths today, in my opinion, are very good youths and are ready; our program must be to elucidate and transfer the values that created these martyrdoms, this greatness, this selflessness in the Iranian nation, so that they can, God willing, advance the country and society.

Thanks be to God, despite all the hardships, poverty, and problems that exist, we have many positive points in the country, and one can observe many readinesses in the country for movement towards the revolution, movement towards Islam; one can see and observe this. We hope that, God willing, these points will be strengthened, and your work can achieve a significant impact in this regard, and God willing, you can carry out this work in your region. As I mentioned, do not limit yourselves to your province; that is, actions must be taken so that those who are connected to other counties and cities and regions of the country can take this souvenir from here for them and prepare them and transfer thoughts, inclinations, and readinesses, and these values, God willing, will be transferred to other regions of the country as well.

May God, God willing, grant you success, support you, and assist you so that, God willing, you can achieve the goal for which you undertook this work, and may God accept it from you and all the brothers. We also send our greetings to the dear people of Karaj, especially to the families of the dear martyrs.

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