Statements on the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)

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, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure and virtuous family and his chosen companions, and those who follow them with goodness until the Day of Judgment.

I congratulate all the esteemed attendees, the dear guests who are in the Islamic Republic, the honorable ambassadors of Islamic countries, all the people of Iran, all the Muslims of the world, and all the freedom-seekers of the world on the great and unparalleled occasion of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.

The birth of the Prophet is a unique and unparalleled event; truly, no other event in human history holds the significance and greatness of the Prophet's birth. The birth of the Prophet was the peak of God's mercy upon humanity. The sending of prophets for the guidance of humanity, to elevate humanity to its highest point, is the greatest mercy of God towards mankind, and the peak of this movement was in the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. A path was opened for humanity that has the power and capacity to advance humanity until the end of the world, just as humanity has progressed from that day until now; human thought, human intellect, and many truths that religions have taken upon themselves to express have become part of the common understanding of human society, and thanks be to God, the hearts of individuals have inclined towards spirituality.

In the essence of the birth, the core message is monotheism; monotheism means the exclusive servitude to the Almighty God; it means that desires, lusts, and anger should not dominate human life; it means that dictatorships, tyrannies, and egos should not govern human life; the source of managing human life should be divine knowledge, divine power, divine mercy, divine grace, and divine guidance; this is the meaning of monotheism. First and foremost, all those who wish to dominate human societies with their egos, their arrogance, their tyranny, and their oppression are pushed back by the slogan of monotheism, hence they become enemies. And thus We have made for every prophet an enemy, devils among men and jinn, inspiring some of them to others with adorned speech, in order to deceive; all prophets faced the owners of wealth and power, the tyrants of the world, the bullies of the world, and the pharaohs of the world, and they confronted and fought against them. Without the struggle of truth, falsehood cannot be compelled to retreat. The fact that humanity has gradually come closer to divine knowledge from the beginning of human history until today is due to struggle; because truth must struggle. Those who believe fight in the way of God, and those who disbelieve fight in the way of tyranny; without the struggle against tyrants, bullies, and the enemies of humanity, it is impossible to advance the truth; struggle is necessary, and the prophets did this; and monotheism encompasses the generalities, principles, and main lines of this struggle.

"There is no god but God" is not merely a purely intellectual and mental issue; "There is no god but God" is a source of effect, a source of action. This Islamic government that the President referred to, which was established in Medina, is a result of "There is no god but God"; that is, governance has no meaning except in the hands of the Almighty God and His messengers in divine religions; for this reason, as soon as the Prophet said: Say, 'There is no god but God,' you will succeed, the owners of wealth and power in that limited and small environment of Mecca rallied against him; then in Medina, when the Islamic government was formed, again governments and empires and global powers rallied against Islam; this rallying has existed from the very first day until today, and from the very first day until today, retreat in this confrontation has been the fate of falsehood, and advancement has been the fate of truth. The same limited group that lived under pressure in Mecca has today become a vast human community with numerous honors, abundant resources, great hope, and a bright future. This must be understood: the Islamic nation must return to monotheism from the depths of their being.

If we truly believe in monotheism, we cannot submit to oppression, we cannot submit to tyranny, we cannot stand idly by in the face of the oppressor; this is the nature of monotheism. The fact that the Islamic Republic declares that wherever there is an oppressed person and assistance is needed, we are present there, is because of this; the reason we insist on the issue of Palestine is because of this. Because the essence of monotheism is that a person must stand against the oppression of the oppressor towards the oppressed; this is the truth of monotheism, and the birth reminds us of this; and this certainly has progress as well. Now, of course, the pressures on the people of Palestine in these days and in the past - over these seventy years - have been numerous, but you observe that the same limited oppressed population that the Zionists were able to easily dominate and alienate from their country and cut off their hands and control that country, that weak nation has today transformed into a powerful Palestine that threatens the Zionist regime, and the Zionist regime feels weakness and incapacity in the face of it; and without a doubt, the Palestinians will prevail over the Zionists, and Palestine will return to the hands of the Palestinians.

Our standing alongside the resistance groups in the region of West Asia is for this reason. Our presence in Syria, in confronting the terrorists that America and its agents have created in the region, is for this reason. To say that "the Islamic Republic of Iran is expansionist, it wants to seize this or that place," these are meaningless, baseless, and false statements; no, we have no intention of expansion or an expansionist outlook towards any point in the world; we have a large, prosperous, and capable country at our disposal, thanks be to God. [This presence] is because there was and is resistance against oppression in the region of Syria, and that is why we have been present there. Thus, you observe that, by God's grace, the [front of] resistance, thanks to the assistance that was given and the bravery of the Syrian forces, was able to defeat the terrorists supported and indeed created by America and the West and their mercenaries in the region - such as the Saudis and others.

Those who openly and covertly supported ISIS yesterday now claim that they were present in confronting them and defeated them; that too is a lie! Such a thing is not true; they had no involvement. In this speech that the President of the United States made just a few hours ago, he says, "We were able to defeat ISIS in Syria"; a clear and disgraceful lie! They intervened where they deemed necessary and helped; where the main elements of ISIS were besieged, they intervened and rescued them. Before that, they were influential in the creation of ISIS; with Saudi money and similar funds, they were able to bring these wicked beings into existence and unleash them upon the people of Iraq and Syria; however, "resistance" against America and its agents was able to save these two countries; and this will continue.

The attack last night on Syria is a crime! I explicitly declare that the President of the United States, the President of France, and the Prime Minister of England are criminals and have committed crimes! Of course, they will not achieve anything; just as they have been present in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan in recent years and have committed such crimes and gained nothing. Just a few days ago, the President of the United States said that we have spent seven trillion in the region of West Asia - as he calls it the Middle East - and we have gained nothing; he speaks the truth, they have gained nothing. After this, America should know that no matter how much it spends, no matter how much effort it makes, it will certainly gain nothing in this region.

In the face of these events, we must awaken; we must be vigilant; Islamic nations, Islamic countries, and Muslim governments must learn from experience; they must understand what they are doing. They want to strike a blow to the Islamic nation; the target is not just Syria or Iraq or Afghanistan; the target is the presence of Islam in this region; they want to harm this. Islamic countries must understand this meaning; Islamic governments should not place themselves in the service of the goals of America and some aggressive Western countries. It is not an honor for a Muslim country that the President of the United States openly says, "We look at them as a milk cow"! He looks at them as a milk cow; is this an honor? In the recent electoral propaganda last year, the current President of the United States said this; he said we look at the Saudis as a milk cow! Is there greater humiliation than this? For a government, for a nation, is there greater humiliation than this? They take their money and then address them as a milk cow, insulting them; the humiliation of a country and a government cannot be greater than this; Islam opposes such humiliations. And to God belongs the honor and to His Messenger! And to the believers; if they are believers, they must be honored; this state of humiliation is a sign that they do not have faith, they are not believers, they lie, just as their masters lie. The President of the United States says, "We attacked Syria to combat the use of chemical weapons"! This statement is a lie; they [are the ones who] have no objection to the use of chemical weapons - neither chemical weapons nor any other crime against humanity - they are not bothered by the suffering of people. These are the same ones who supported the criminal Saddam, who supported him; thousands of people in Iran and Iraq were destroyed or harmed by the chemical weapons that Saddam used; there are still young people among us who were harmed back then, who are present and suffering. They are not opposed to [chemical weapons]; they act for their colonial and international dictatorial goals and accuse others of dictatorship, while they themselves are the international dictators. Of course, dictators and tyrants will not succeed anywhere in the world; they will not succeed either, and certainly America will fail in its goals in this region and in any region where it commits oppression, and the nations will certainly prevail, and God willing, it will be the same in this region.

Our nation, thanks be to God, stands firm; the Iranian nation, with its forty years of experience, is steadfast in resistance and perseverance. We have tested this: in the face of the enemy, "retreat" encourages the enemy; in the face of the enemy, "standing firm" causes the enemy to retreat. And if those who disbelieve fight against you, they will surely turn their backs, and they will find no protector or helper; this is the tradition of God that has passed before, and you will not find any change in the tradition of God; this is the divine tradition: if you stand against oppression, tyranny, bullying, and the wickedness and crimes of the world's criminals, they will certainly be compelled to retreat; this is the Holy Quran that mentions this as a certain tradition of history and divine tradition, and this tradition, God willing, will be realized. And we hope that the Iranian nation, the Syrian nation, the Iraqi nation, the oppressed nation of Palestine, the nation of Kashmir and Myanmar, and all the regions in the world where Muslims are under pressure will, God willing, achieve success in the not-too-distant future and be able to push back the enemies. O Lord! Grant the pure souls of the martyrs - martyrs on the path of truth and reality - and the pure spirit of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) the nourishment of Your grace and bounty.

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