Statements at the Meeting with Participants of the International Quran Competitions

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 Muhammad, his pure family, his chosen companions, and those who follow them with goodness until the Day of Judgment.

I am very pleased and grateful to God for granting us the opportunity to once again hold this sweet, desirable, and cherished Quranic gathering in this Hosseiniyah. I thank Mr. Khamoushi and the Organization of Endowments for organizing this round of competitions, and thanks be to God for the continuous promotion of the Holy Quran in various forms across the country. I congratulate you on the birth of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) and hope that the Almighty God makes us among the followers of this great man and this honorable family.

Regarding the Holy Quran, the great scholars and sages have said thousands of profound and sweet points, and countless untold points remain. No matter how much we speak about the Quran, we will not reach the peak of its Quranic virtue and the value of this sacred heavenly book. Today, I will only mention one point and I expect that our dear people and the listeners of this speech pay attention to this point. That point is that whenever we refer to the Quran, we should remember that the Quran is the miracle of the Prophet. The Quran is a miracle; that is, the Almighty God has proven the prophethood of the esteemed Prophet of Islam through the Quran; this is a very important matter. The Quran is an everlasting miracle. The difference between this miracle and the miracles of other prophets is that those miracles belonged to the time of that esteemed prophet, and witnessing the divine miracle was specific to those people: the she-camel of Salih was seen only by the people of that time, the staff of Moses was seen only by the people of that time, others heard about it; however, the miracle of the Prophet is witnessed by people throughout history and for thousands of years to come; they see this miracle with their own eyes. This continuity of Quranic miracles and prophetic miracles is a great blessing for humanity and for the world of existence.

Everything in the Quran is a miracle; the words of the Quran are a miracle, the structure of the Quran is a miracle, the concepts of the Quran are a miracle, the news of the Quran from the past and the future is a miracle, the statements of the Quran about the traditions of the world of existence are a miracle, informing about the depths of humanity is a miracle; everything in the Quran is a miracle; we must benefit from this great miracle, we must utilize it. If we benefit from the Quran, human life will be organized, and all problems will be resolved. The lessons of the Quran for humanity are practical lessons, they are experiential; this is different from the lofty knowledge that is accessible only to the great ones and the saints and the close ones; what we mean by this is the very appearances of the Quran, the very words that all of us understand, the very "And We have certainly made the Quran easy to remember; so is there anyone who will remember?"; these are accessible for all of humanity; we should look at the Quran with this perspective.

I will give an example to illustrate the type of Quranic explanation; for instance, the Quran says: "And whoever relies upon God, then He is sufficient for him"; if you rely on the Almighty God, that is, you depend on Him and trust Him, God is sufficient for you, and you do not need any other means or any other factor to achieve your goal. Well, this is an important and general lesson; however, it requires contemplation. What does it mean "if we rely on God, we do not need any other factor"? Under what conditions, in what situation does this certain and definite truth come to fruition? This must be asked from the Quran itself; the Quran specifies this for us. Relying on God and the resulting effect of reliance on God has a mental condition and a practical and real condition. If these two conditions are met, then "And whoever relies upon God, then He is sufficient for him"; that is, you will not need any other factor.

One of those two conditions is the mental condition. What is the mental condition? The mental condition is that you must have confidence in the truth of God's promise; "And who is more truthful in speech than God?"; we must believe this. We must believe that God's promise is truthful and decisive; this is part of the mental grounds for reliance; if this is not there, reliance does not occur. Therefore, you notice that the Almighty God condemns those who have ill thoughts about God: "Those who think ill thoughts about God, upon them is a circle of evil, and God is angry with them and has cursed them and has prepared for them Hell, and wretched is the destination!"; that is, there should be no ill thoughts about God's promise. We must believe that what He says, "And certainly, God will aid those who aid Him" is true; we must have this confidence; this is the mental condition.

I will add this sentence that I have noted here: in that mental condition, we must be certain that with God's permission, the impossible becomes possible; what seems impossible becomes possible; we must be certain of this. Many things in our world and our lives are among the impossible; for example, bringing the dead back to life is among the impossible. We must be certain that with God's permission, if the Almighty God gives permission and wills, this impossible becomes possible, it becomes reality; just as the Quran narrates this from Jesus and from God Himself: "Indeed, I create for you from clay the likeness of a bird; then I breathe into it, and it becomes a bird by permission of God"; I create from clay a shape of a dove, an animal, a bird, then I breathe into it, and it becomes a bird; is this not among the impossible? But with God's permission, this impossible becomes possible. "And I heal the blind and the leper, and I bring the dead to life by permission of God"; this is how it is. We must believe that with God's permission, all the impossibilities of the world, and things that seem impossible to achieve, can be realized. [Or this verse:] "How many a small company has overcome a large company by permission of God"; a small number can overcome a large number by permission of God; this is how it is. "And they defeated them by permission of God"; a small group around Talut was able to overcome a powerful enemy by permission of God; that is, by permission of God, Gaza will overcome the Zionist regime and the American regime; this is how it is; was this not impossible? If someone told you that a tiny Gaza would confront a great power like the military power of America, and they would fight, and Gaza would overcome it, would you believe it? You would not believe it; this is among the impossible, but by God's permission, this work is possible. This mental condition is necessary; that is, we must know that all the existing impossibilities in the world, with God's permission, with God's will, can be realized, and it is possible to come to fruition; this is the mental condition.

[But] the practical condition; the practical condition is that for this event to occur, the Almighty God places a part of the work upon the human being. It is not that we sit in our homes and then say, well, "How many a small company has overcome a large company by permission of God"; no, a part of the work is upon us, just as in the case of Jesus, ultimately a part of the work was upon Jesus: making that bird from clay; this work had to be done by Jesus; if he did not do it, no bird would come into existence; this part is upon him. If Moses (peace be upon him) did not throw the staff on the ground, that event would not have occurred: "And what is that in your right hand, O Moses?" He said, "It is my staff; I lean on it and I beat down leaves for my sheep, and I have other needs for it." He said, "Throw it, O Moses"; so he threw it, and suddenly it became a serpent that moved swiftly; "Throw it" is necessary. [He said:] Throw the staff; when you throw the staff, then the result will be achieved, the miracle will occur, the impossible event – that is, turning wood into a serpent – will come to fruition. So this is the practical condition: we must take on a part of the work. "If there are twenty patient among you, they will overcome two hundred"; this is what the Quran narrates from the duty that was assigned to the early Muslims: even if you are few, you can overcome many.

We, the Iranian nation, we, the Islamic community, we, the human society, today have problems that some of these problems seem unsolvable; no, the solution is this: "And whoever relies upon God, then He is sufficient for him"; let us rely on God, with these two conditions: firstly, we must be certain, we must trust that if we enter the field, the Almighty God will help us; secondly, we must enter the field: "And when you enter it, you will surely be victorious"; God told the companions of Moses: you must enter this city; if you enter, "you will surely be victorious"; but they did not enter, and they did not achieve victory. If you perform the part that is upon you, you will certainly achieve that result, and the Almighty God will fulfill that promise.

Today we are facing global arrogance; [of course] not only we, the Iranian nation. The difference between the Iranian nation and many other nations is that the Iranian nation has the courage to say that America is an aggressor, America is a liar, America is deceitful, America is arrogant, and "Death to America"; while others feel that America is a liar, they feel that it is deceitful, they feel that it is colonial, they feel that it is aggressive, they feel that it does not adhere to any of the principles of humanity, [but] they do not dare to express this, they do not dare to stand against it. Very well, they do not perform their share; when they do not perform it, the result is not achieved. They must perform their share, they must have patience, they must strive and work until they achieve these results.

The Iranian nation, over these forty-plus years, has been patient, has strived, all the arrogant powers of the world have lined up against it, have worked against it, but the Iranian nation has not only not been harmed, [but] has advanced, has progressed, has grown; today’s Iran is not the Iran of forty years ago; we have grown in every aspect. Now some say we have not grown in spiritual aspects; no, in spiritual aspects, please note: this is its Quranic example. [When] these children recite the Quran, one enjoys listening to them; they are Quran memorizers and reciters. In our youth in Mashhad, we were also Quran enthusiasts, we also had Quran sessions [but] the number of those who could recite the Quran well was truly less than ten in all of Mashhad. Today, thousands of young people across the country recite the Quran beautifully, thousands are memorizers; today our spirituality has also advanced, our Quran has also advanced, thanks be to God; we have also progressed materially; our youth have done various works, and this progress will continue, and the Iranian nation, God willing, by the blessing of relying on the Almighty God, will reach its desired peak.

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