Statements in Meeting with Poets

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

The birth of Imam Mujtaba, Imam Hasan (peace be upon him); the embodiment of beauty as named by the Seal of Prophets (peace be upon him) - it is truly magnificent and significant that the Prophet named this blessed child "Hasan" - God willing, may it be a blessing for all of you.

I remind you of the blessings of Ramadan for your sensitive hearts, your tender souls, your flowing emotions; truly, if anyone is to benefit from this abundant harvest of blessings, among those who should and do benefit the most are those who possess taste, spirit, heart, and delicate feelings; that is, you. Who among you is better suited to take advantage of the moments, hours, days, and nights of this month - which is the month of drawing closer to God, the month of tender-heartedness, the month of communion with the Almighty, the month of remembrance, the month of humility - and who is more appropriate than those who possess these pure and delicate hearts and feelings?

To enter the paradise of remembrance, communion, and longing, the best means are the prayers that have been revealed in this month; whether those prayers specific to this month or those that can be recited at all sensitive times, such as the Sha'ban supplications, like the prayers of Sahifa Sajjadiya; utilizing these is very valuable. "And hear my supplication when I call upon You, and hear my voice when I call upon You, and turn towards me when I whisper to You;" these are expressions, words that have been issued from the most delicate hearts and the most eloquent tongues. Who should receive, understand, and benefit from these better than you, better than these pure and delicate hearts? Do not neglect prayer in this month. In the supplication of Sha'ban, "Grant me a heart that draws near to You with its longing, and a tongue that raises its sincerity to You, and a gaze that brings it closer to You with its truth;" this heart, whose longing elevates it, brings it closer to the Divine Essence, is what one seeks from God. Well, which heart is more prepared than that sensitive and delicate heart? Thanks be to God, you possess this.

In the supplication of Abu Hamzeh Thumali: "By You, I have come to know You, and You have guided me to You, and You have called me to You, and if it were not for You, I would not know what You are;" this delicate spiritual connection with the Truthful One, with the source of love and honor; these are very valuable, these are very important; they truly warm, preserve, and instill hope in sensitive hearts, becoming a refuge and support for them. I do not care for whom the late Akhavan wrote this poem and for what purpose; I read this poem addressing Sahifa Sajjadiya; I read this poem addressing the supplication of Abu Hamzeh Thumali: "O refuge and support of the most beautiful moments of my honorable and glorious solitude and seclusion, O my sweet and prosperous river." This is prayer. Do not turn away from it, do not turn your back on prayer; prayer is very valuable. Prayer is the elixir that can transform hearts that are tainted with despair, mixed with pessimism, or polluted with false emotions, guiding them to the right path; prayer is such a thing. Utilize these nights, you are the most deserving ones who can recite prayers and truly benefit from them. Of course, merely reciting the words of prayer is a lower stage of praying - where one reads these words without understanding their meaning correctly, or only comprehends a superficial aspect of the meaning - but to become intertwined with prayer, to immerse oneself in its themes, is very valuable.

Well, poetry is an influential element, and its impact is compounded within the collection of verbal factors; that is, no speech, however eloquent, beautiful, or profound, has the same effect if it lacks poetry; poetry is such a device, such an element. Poetry has an inspiring role, where inspiration is needed; it has a guiding role, a directing role, a role of orientation for the listener and for anyone who reads the poetry for themselves; well, this becomes a matter of responsibility. When you have a wealth, a capability at your disposal that can be used for great works, if you do not utilize it, you have acted contrary to responsibility, you have behaved contrary to commitment. This is a matter of responsibility. Now, the Almighty God has granted you this blessing, but like all blessings, you will be questioned about it, you will be questioned about the divine gift. You will be asked what you did with this blessing.

One can use the tool of poetry to guide the audience to the right path and the straight way; one can also lead them astray, bring them down. Poetry can bring people to the lowest depths; we have such poetry, especially today, when unfortunately the unbridled culture far from moral and human norms is proliferating through these new media tools - sometimes poetry becomes a tool for slipping, rolling, and deviating; this is also one side of the issue. Therefore, both actions can arise from poetry. The poet, with their delicate feelings, both perceives, becomes excited, becomes melancholic, and composes; this composing of the poet arises from longing, from melancholy, from feeling and perceiving something that others do not observe. Well, it has both sides: it can guide towards goodness, it can be the opposite. If poetry is excessively influenced by sexual instinct - which unfortunately some hands today in our country are pulling poetry in this direction, forcibly leading it, after our youth have moved in pure, delicate, and very beautiful spiritual, heroic, and revolutionary spaces, now hands have begun, in various places; among them, more than anything in the virtual space; now other methods aside, through poetry they also want to lead the youth towards excessive sexual instinct - this is very bad, this is a warning bell. Sometimes this is personal gain-seeking, and sometimes it is the glorification of oppression, which unfortunately has a long history in our history, the praise of oppression and the oppressor.

Today we have the opposite of this, thanks be to God, fortunately, I have seen several of our dear young poets standing against it; I have previously heard and read poems about Yemen - the poem of Mr. Sayyar - and other poems, they are very good, what you have said, what friends recited tonight, was very good; this is correct, this is the right work, this is the commitment that the Almighty God will question. One of the phrases in the supplication of Makarim al-Akhlaq is: "And employ me with what You will question me about tomorrow;" we must think about this; tomorrow they will ask us about certain things; He says, "O God, grant me today the means to engage in and act upon what You will question me about tomorrow." Well, now you have the means, there may be those whose hearts are full and cannot express, but you can express, thanks be to God; speak, it has an effect. This poetry that you recite for Bahrain, or for Yemen, or for Lebanon, or for Gaza, or for Palestine, or for Syria, any poetry you recite for the goals of the Islamic Ummah, in any place, this poetry is applicable and can be utilized. If this poetry takes off in these directions, then "Indeed, some poetry is wisdom" applies to your poetry, which certainly poetry is wisdom.

I want to say - I have of course said this many times in this session and in many other sessions - neutrality in the dispute of truth and falsehood has no meaning. Sometimes the dispute is ambiguous, that is another discussion; when there is a truth and a falsehood, here neutrality has no meaning; one must be on the side of truth, stand against falsehood; now one can stand militarily, one can stand politically; there are various forms of standing, one can also stand with language, with expression, with thought; one must stand. A poet cannot be neutral in the war of truth and falsehood. If a poet, an artist is neutral, they have wasted God's blessing; if, God forbid, they take the side of falsehood, then they have betrayed, committed a crime; this is not a matter of negligence, it is a matter of crime. Well, your nation has suffered many injustices over these long years, these injustices need to be spoken of, they need to be reflected to the world.

Sardasht was bombed in 1986 - this is just a few days ago - is it a joke? To chemically bomb a city, to annihilate thousands of people in a city - children, adults, elderly, young, women, men - and the world remains silent! A world that sometimes makes a big deal out of a cat falling into a well, as a matter that is reflected in news agencies, newspapers, and televisions that yes, a cat or a fox fell into a well, certain devices gathered to bring it out alive, or a marine animal that is dying on the shore, they try to return it to the water, for these things the world creates such uproar, and for the chemical massacre of a city, the world remains silent! When I say the world, I do not mean the nations, the nations have no means, no tools, I mean the powers that dominate the world’s propaganda apparatus, which in Persian translates to America, England, the dominant Western forces, the Zionist force. These are the ones who dominate the world’s propaganda space, do not allow water to stir. Now they are pounding Yemen like that - night and day - no voice comes out; they were pounding Gaza yesterday, they were pounding Lebanon a while ago, no voice comes out from anyone; now suppose two traffickers are tried somewhere, executed, a propaganda uproar is created; well, this is the world, what should be done in the face of such a stance, such audacity, such wickedness? Regardless of religious motivation and duty; what does human dignity, human conscience, humanity dictate in the face of such a situation? These are all burdens on our shoulders.

Of course, I am very pleased with the progress of poetry in the country after the revolution, and it has truly improved a lot. The young people who recited poetry today are very different from those who recited poetry ten years ago, meaning there has been real progress, the poetry is very good; however, the capacity of poetry in our country is much greater than this; much greater than this. You look now and see this young lady is a student - I heard that "Shahrestan-e Adab" has initiated student activities, gathering individuals - our students, our youth, our teenagers, our girls, our boys, are reciting poetry very well, with good themes, with strong imagination, this is very good; of course, I must say that the general level of poetry today has not yet reached the general level of poetry commensurate with Iran; meaning we have had periods - which are not very far from us - where the general level of poetry, considering the peaks that existed, was higher than our current level. Well, we had prominent figures, we had poets, whether in qasida, ghazal, in various styles, we must have them to raise this level; this requires work, this requires effort.

We are very broad in scope, we must strive to advance this broad scope, and this work requires effort. Of course, the Art Bureau has a responsibility, various other institutions also have responsibilities, governmental institutions and those related to the system and so on - the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting and others - all have duties. Poetry must be valued, poetry is a very great phenomenon, a very important phenomenon. I see that in our system, in our country, those who should understand this truth, it seems that some of them - now we do not say all - have not truly grasped the depth of the importance of poetry; they have not appreciated poetry at all; they have not valued poetry as it deserves; they have not understood the true value of poetry. Poetry has a very strange impact; sometimes a couplet of poetry or a ghazal, for example, or a piece of poetry, has more impact than a one or two-hour speech of an informed person. Well, this is a very important thing; it is a precious gem, it has such importance; this must be appreciated.

Additionally, among the very good things in our country, which thanks be to God have been seen in this session and previously, and I am very pleased with it, is the quick reaction that our young poets show to events, this is very valuable, this is very good. Let no one think that this is a negative thing; no, this is very positive. Throughout history and in our recent contemporary times, we have had instances where these quick reactions have produced the best works. When that Israeli airplane was hijacked by that girl, the late Amiri Firuzkuhi [composed a poem] now Amiri Firuzkuhi, those who know him [know] well, he was not young and revolutionary, but based on the feeling he had, he composed a beautiful and excellent poem at that time - in the early 40s - suitable for the occasion, suitable for the time; "There a gazelle...", now I do not remember many of its couplets, at that time we knew many of its couplets by heart; I had heard it from him. In any case, this is very good, that there is a quick reaction to events and it is elucidated, this is very good.

And we hope, God willing, that day by day the poetry of the revolution gains a higher rank and elevation. Of course, my intention with revolutionary poetry is not poetry that is written during the revolution, even if it is anti-revolution; this is not what I mean by revolutionary poetry. Some think that war poetry is poetry that is written about war, even if it is anti-war! This is not war poetry, this is anti-war poetry. Revolutionary poetry means that poetry which serves the goals of the revolution; this is revolutionary poetry, not poetry of the revolution period; this is not what I mean. My intention with revolutionary poetry is poetry that serves the goals of the revolution. In the service of justice, in the service of humanity, in the service of religion, in the service of unity, in the service of national elevation, in the service of comprehensive progress of the country, in the service of true human development in the country; this becomes revolutionary poetry that is in line with the goals of the revolution.

We hope, God willing, that God grants you all success, keeps you alive, and that your youth, God willing, continue to move along this straight path for many years, benefiting the country, the future, and generations.