Statements at the Gathering with the Holy Quran

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 chosen progeny, especially the Awaited One on earth.

Welcome! We have greatly benefited from the beautiful recitations and the programs that have been performed. Thanks be to God, year by year, day by day, our nation, our youth, our Quran reciters are growing and advancing, and this should be a cause for our eternal gratitude; thanks be to God, it was very good. And we thank God for granting us once again the opportunity, the life, and the chance to visit this gathering. God willing, may He gather all of you with the Quran.

The Quran is an unparalleled artistic work; one aspect of the greatness and importance of the Quran is its artistic beauty. Interestingly, what primarily attracted hearts like a magnet towards Islam was this artistic aspect of the Quran. The Arabs understood both the musicality of the words and were familiar with the language of literature—in that Arabic environment, it was like this—suddenly they saw a phenomenon that they had never heard before; it is neither poetry nor prose, but an extraordinary artistic phenomenon. This is what Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) says: "Its outward appearance is elegant, and its inner meaning is profound"; "elegant" means that astonishing beauty, that beauty which, when a person encounters it, leaves them in awe; beauty in the Quran is like this. Of course, we Persian speakers, meaning non-Arab speakers, and many Arab speakers do not have the opportunity to grasp this beauty; however, through frequent engagement with the Quran, it can be understood. When a person becomes familiar with the Quran, recites it often, and listens to it frequently, then they understand that apart from the spiritual aspect, this language, these sentences, are so eloquent, so beautiful.

Well, this artistic effect must be performed artistically. There is a time when you and I read the Quran at home for ourselves; well, however we read it is not a problem; we can read it aloud or silently—of course, it has been mentioned that the sound of the Quran should come out of the houses; this is for the purpose of creating a Quranic atmosphere in the entire society, so that a Quranic atmosphere is created, and the sound of the Quran comes out of the houses. However, when a person reads alone, for themselves, it does not matter whether they read softly, loudly, quietly, or with a voice—but when you have an audience, for example, when you are reading in a gathering, here you want to influence the audience; here, art must come into play, here is where art must play a role; the audience can be influenced by art. The recitations that we hear and listen to, and encourage and approve, mean this; that is, you are performing this unparalleled artistic work in an artistic manner, reading it artistically; then the result is that its effect becomes multiplied; of course, on the condition that this artistic recitation aspect is done correctly, with precision. For example, I often advise friends to recite the Quran in a way that conveys the meanings; read it in a way that you want to convey the meanings. We observe this in our Persian poetry recitation; a eulogist comes and stands, reading poetry with a pleasant voice; they can read it in two ways: "O heart, see the lesson, look with your eyes, O heart! Consider the arch of the cities as a mirror of lessons." They can read it like this, or they can say: "O heart, see the lesson! Look with your eyes, O heart! Consider the arch of the cities as a mirror of lessons." Are these two ways of reading the same? These two ways of reading are not the same. The second way is such that you emphasize appropriately on the sentences, on the words. This is the work that, for example, Sheikh Abdul Fattah Shashai does, Mustafa Ismail does; this is their work; that is, among the old Egyptian reciters, not all of them do this work or pay attention, but some of them understand what they are doing; when they read the Quran, they emphasize where they should emphasize; they speak in a way that you feel you are the audience of the words of God, your heart is attracted. This meaning must exist in our recitations—and especially you who, thanks be to God, have beautiful voices; I see, indeed, thanks be to God, all of you have beautiful voices and your voices and breaths are good and, for example, in various ways, you are skilled—in our Quran reading in gatherings and assemblies.

Of course, that second aspect—"and its inner meaning is profound"—is also related to this artistic work; it connects; that is, this way of reading can guide us to that inner meaning to a large extent; however, attention must be paid to the inner meaning of the Quran. By "inner meaning of the Quran," I do not mean those depths that only the people of knowledge, the Imams of guidance (peace be upon them) are aware of; that is not our job—we must go learn that from the narrations, from the statements of the Imams (peace be upon them) and understand it—what I mean is this outward expression. For example, the Quran says: "And the end is for the pious"; well, what does end mean? The end of the matter belongs to the pious; both the end of the worldly life belongs to the pious, and the end of the afterlife belongs to the pious, and if struggles are to be victorious, they must be pious, and if you want to be victorious over the enemy in the battlefield, you must be pious. See! If you pay attention, you will see that the end belongs to the pious; let us delve a little deeper, let us pay attention, let us not pass over the sentence. Or for example: "And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits; and give good tidings to the patient"; what is this fear? What is hunger? A person must reflect on these words, on these concepts; the meaning of this is the same as pondering over the Quran; pondering over the Quran is this.

"Its inner meaning is profound"; this depth can be advanced by everyone according to their own ability, according to their knowledge, their studies, their understanding, and intelligence; not everyone progresses to the same extent. We can also make some effort; this effort means paying attention to understand the teachings from the Quran. When it is said, "Learn lessons from the Quran for life," it does not mean that, for example, we must find the rules and regulations of traffic in the Quran; no, the Quran adorns our minds with lofty teachings. When a person's mind is elevated with lofty teachings, they can understand all the secrets of the universe; they learn wisdom: "He who possesses the essence of knowledge Is capable of all his endeavors." When you understand that these are the Quranic teachings and these are, for example, established in the minds of society, in the minds of the community in this country, or at least in our Quranic community, then the doors of various human teachings will open to a person.

In my opinion, one of the very important tasks is to increase Quranic courses, Quran sessions. Of course, the Quranic attention in the past cannot be compared to today; it cannot be said it was one-hundredth, [rather] it was not even one-thousandth; at the time when we were in the field and saw, it truly was not even one-thousandth of what it is now; however, there were some good habits that now, due to the television of the Quran and the radio of recitation and similar things that we have—which are very good—these things have somewhat fallen behind and need to be compensated. One of these was the home Quran courses, one was the Quran reading in mosques or in Hussainiyyas. Make mosques the bases of the Quran. There are two ways to hold a Quran session: one is that they gather around and a teacher sits there, reads, corrects the individuals' recitations, gives points, gives reminders; this is one way. Another way is that they gather, one person goes on the pulpit, begins to read the Quran, and for half an hour, an hour reads the Quran—like a preacher who goes on the pulpit and you sit at his feet, the Quran reader, the reciter goes on the pulpit and starts reading the Quran—you also sit there and listen, [open the Quran], look from the Quran that this work, of course, has gradually become common. When I see on television this work that has started in Ramadan in Mashhad and Qom and in many other cities where they gather inside the courtyard and read a part of the Quran, everyone listens, I truly enjoy it—that this work started from Qom, others learned it—it is a very good work. This must be repeated in various mosques throughout the year—not just in Ramadan. Various mosques should be Quran bases; they should announce, for example, suppose that on Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night—one night a week; if it cannot be every night—one Quran reader should come there, you also go there and sit, and the Quran should be opened, he reads, and you look; and refer to good translations; in our time, back when I was interpreting in Mashhad—many years ago—there were one or two translations of the Quran, and they were incomplete; now, thanks be to God, there are many very good translations available to the people, they should take these translations and look at them; this is one task.

Another task is interpretation sessions; interpretation is also very, very important. Those who can, those who know, mainly the respected clergy, the respected scholars, those who are familiar with the Quran, should study, think, and present interpretive discussions to elevate the level of knowledge in society. After all, what was said: "Indeed, this Quran guides to that which is most upright"; this Quran shows you the "most upright"—"most upright" means more steadfast, better, stronger, more stable—it guides you towards the "most upright"; "most upright" in what? "Most upright" in your worldly life, "most upright" in gaining your dignity, "most upright" in establishing your governance, and "most upright" in your true life and afterlife, which is the true life—"that is the true life"—when Quranic teachings become widespread, it becomes like this. Of course, today, thanks be to God, we have made a lot of progress; however, it is little; compared to what it should be, it is little, even though it is a lot compared to the past; but it should be more than this. It should be such that our society, our men and women, our youth become familiar with Quranic teachings; Quranic teachings should dominate minds. If this happens, the power of reasoning will emerge, the strength of defense will emerge, faiths will be completed, movements will reach results.

Regarding Quran sessions, I would like to mention a point: now, of course, you say "Allah Allah" and encourage the reader, and some go a little further, trying to imitate the noise of the Arabs that comes and they make some commotion—which is their nature, it is not that this is part of the Quran's requirements—[they have learned and] try to imitate them exactly, which is not necessary. Encouragement is good, there is no problem, but I see sometimes some of these foreign readers who come here read—from Arab countries, some of them are indeed good, not all of them are the same—these attendees who are sitting in the session seem to be obliged to cheer loudly after every verse or half verse that he reads; what is the necessity? One major flaw is that he understands you do not understand the recitation correctly; because he reads poorly, you say "Allah Allah," he understands that you are not paying attention; no, you should try to encourage him where he reads well. Of course, it is fine to encourage our own children as much as you want; I do not oppose this, but when that foreign reciter comes here and reads, it should not be that the audience is obliged to cheer like this; especially sometimes they say "Allah Allah" with the same tune that he reads; these are not necessary; however, a warm Quranic session is a very good thing that should spread in society. Therefore, what I am saying is that the Quran reader, when he has an audience, should pay attention to the point of the sentence and emphasize it, so that the understanding of Quranic concepts becomes easier and better for the audience.

My dear ones! We need the Quran; this Quran is our need today; not only for us, the nation of Iran, the Islamic community, but the human community today truly needs the Quran. It is the Quran that opposes global arrogance, it is the Quran that explicitly opposes oppression, it is the Quran that explicitly confronts disbelief in God, it is the Quran that confronts tyranny and the tyrants with power: "Those who believe fight in the way of God, and those who disbelieve fight in the way of the tyrant; so fight against the allies of Satan"; how powerful is the tone of the Quran! These are the very troubles of today's humanity. Those who you see shouting in the presidency of a certain country or the kingship of a certain country against nations, against people, against peace, against the stability of governments and countries, they are the same ones that the Quran has raised its voice against; this must be understood by the people. That the Quran tells us: "And do not lean towards those who have wronged, lest the fire should touch you"; do not trust the oppressors, this is the very trouble of today's people of the world. They trust, and they suffer the consequences. You saw in some of these Arab countries a good movement took place, a good struggle emerged, a commotion arose, a wakefulness occurred, but like a flame that they come and pour ashes on it and cover it with dirt, it was extinguished; why? Because they did not act on "do not lean towards those who have wronged." They leaned towards America, towards the Zionist regime; they did not understand what they should do, [thus] it became like this.

If God Almighty helps a nation and that nation does not appreciate that help, they will suffer the consequences; they must appreciate it. Our nation, thanks be to God, has appreciated from the very beginning. This great movement of our nation, the survival of the revolution, the steadfastness of this nation, and the ever-increasing dignity of this nation, this extraordinary progress of this country is due to the fact that this nation acted upon these few sentences from the verses of the Quran, thanks to the presence of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified); he taught us. He was filled with faith in God, overflowing with faith in God and Quranic teachings; he taught us what to do, and we moved forward; and thanks be to God, the nation stood firm. Today, the path is the same; today, there is no way for this country except standing firm against the devils, tyrants, and disbelievers, and God willing, God Almighty will grant His successes and assistance to this nation.

O Lord! Make us among the people of the Quran. O Lord! Keep us alive with the Quran; let us die with the Quran; gather us with the Quran. O Lord! By the right of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, gather us with Your friends; gather our esteemed martyrs with the martyrs of Karbala. O Lord! Guide our youth to the right path; make the end of all of us good; remove our troubles.

May God have mercy on whoever recites the Opening with prayers.