Statements at the Gathering of Connection with the Quran

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

We express our heartfelt gratitude to the Almighty God for granting us the opportunity to connect with the Quran and enjoy its recitation. Certainly, each of these gatherings dedicated to the Quran and its recitation, where the Quranic nightingales sing, has a significant impact on deepening our faith, love, and affection for the Quran; and everything hinges on this. If a nation accompanies its belief in the truth, its belief in the Quran and Islamic teachings, with love, it is the delicate fragrance of the flower of love that can nurture deep convictions in the realm of human life. If these beliefs, these rational commitments, are intertwined with love and emotions, then the arena will become one of Quranic action; successes will increase and follow one another; this is what we seek. If these Quranic gatherings can bring our hearts closer to the Quran beyond the rational aspect, to the emotional aspect and the bond of love and affection, the problems facing the Islamic community will be resolved; this is our belief.

Of course, we do not solely rely on feelings and emotions, but we deem it necessary. Fortunately, in our society, in the Islamic teachings we have learned through the Ahlulbayt (peace be upon them), this meaning exists; reason and emotion go hand in hand.

Fortunately, our country, our nation, our youth are performing well in the stage of connecting with the Quran. The familiarity, knowledge, and understanding of the Quran that one observes in these gatherings and recitations, and what we hear or see outside of this session, is vastly different from what existed in the early years of the revolution in this country. Thanks be to God, our youth, our adolescents, our men, and our women have made progress in connecting with the Quran; this is a great blessing; we were once deprived of this.

When a connection with the Quran is established, the opportunity for contemplation and reflection on the teachings of the Quran will arise. The Quran cannot be read superficially and passed by; it requires contemplation, reliance on each word and each combination of verbal expressions. The more one contemplates, reflects, and connects with it, the more benefit one will derive; this is how the Quran works.

The problems of any society will be solved with the Quran. With Quranic teachings, problems are resolved. The Quran offers solutions to the dilemmas of human life as a gift to the children of Adam; this is a Quranic promise, and the experience of the Islamic era has shown this. The closer we get to the Quran, the more Quranic action increases among us - whether in our spirits, in our physical actions, in our individual lives, or in our society - the closer we will be to happiness and the resolution of problems and dilemmas.

Dignity is in the shade of the Quran, prosperity is in the shade of the Quran, material and spiritual advancement is in the shade of the Quran, good ethics are in the shade of the Quran, and dominance over the enemies is in the shade of the Quran. If we Muslim nations truly understand these truths and strive towards achieving these goals, we will undoubtedly reap great benefits.

Today, Muslim nations are grappling with numerous problems due to the dominance of those whose view of creation is materialistic; a profit-seeking perspective; a lowly view of a human who has not caught a whiff of spirituality. Today, the civilization that has provided military capabilities to the arrogant powers is based on a materialistic view of the universe. It is this materialistic perspective that has brought misery to the world; it has made them miserable as well. When the perspective is materialistic, profit-driven, devoid of spirituality, and far from human ethics, the result is that military power, political power, and intelligence power are used to chain nations. The Western civilization that has reached its peak in recent centuries has had no other art than this; it has exploited humanity, chained nations, and used their knowledge to destroy the civilizations of other nations and dominate them, their cultures, and their economies.

If you study the conditions of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries - as documented by the Westerners themselves, not what their opponents and enemies have documented - you will see what they did in East Asia, in India, in China, in Africa, in America; what calamity they brought upon humanity; what hell they created for nations and individuals, burning them; all for exploitation, for oppression. They advanced in science, they advanced in technology, they brought their industry to its peak, but they used it to make nations miserable; why? Because that civilization lacked a spiritual foundation, there was no spirituality in it. When there is no spirituality, there will be no ethics either. Their claims to ethics are false claims; they have no reality. Yes, in movies, in Hollywood's efforts, there is ethics, there is patience, there is reason; but in the reality of life, these words do not exist. When there is a distance from spirituality, this is what happens.

Even today, you observe; in a country in East Asia - in Myanmar - thousands of Muslim individuals are being killed, sacrificed, due to fanaticism, due to ignorance - if we do not say that political hands are involved in this issue; let us assume, as claimed, that it is due to religious and sectarian fanaticism - the false claimants of human rights do not utter a word. Those who care for animals, those who, if they find the slightest excuse in societies that are independent of them, not dependent on them, magnify it a hundredfold, here, in the face of the massacre of innocent, defenseless individuals, men, women, and children, remain silent; they even justify it! This is their human rights; human rights disconnected from ethics, disconnected from spirituality, disconnected from God. They say these are not Myanmaris; well, even if they are not - although they lie, they have lived there for three or four hundred years; as reported to us - should they be killed?! This same situation has existed for years in that country and in neighboring countries, especially from the West, particularly from England, towards those people. They have tormented the fathers of these people; wherever they stepped, they did nothing but corruption and destruction of crops and generations - just as the Almighty God states in the Quran. Yes, to find a market for their products, they adorned markets; they acquainted people with new products to boost their trade. This civilization is disconnected from spirituality and the Quran.

Our claim is to create a civilization based on spirituality, based on God, based on divine revelation, based on divine teachings, based on divine guidance. Today, if such a civilization can be established by the Islamic nations - which, thanks be to God, many Islamic nations have awakened and risen - humanity will be blessed. This is the claim of the Islamic Republic and the Islamic Revolution; we are pursuing such a civilization. Remember this, dear youth, and set it as a standard and criterion.

We must make our actions Quranic, divine. It is not about mere words, it is not about language, it is not about making claims; we must move and take steps in this path. When you connect with the Quran, when you recite the Quran, wherever there is a command, a guidance, a piece of advice, first strive to establish it within yourself, in your essence, in your heart, and bring it closer to your actions. If each of us commits to this in practice, society will progress, and it will become a Quranic society.

Thanks be to God, in our society, in our country, the movement of connecting with the Quran has become a good movement. This issue of memorizing the Quran, which we previously recommended, is fortunately spreading among our youth; it must spread; we must become familiar with the Quran, we must become accustomed to it. When you memorize the Quran, you can understand its meanings correctly; when a person understands the meaning of the Quran, they can contemplate it; when they contemplate, they can reach high teachings and grow. A person grows within through connecting with the Quran.

O Lord! By Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, do not separate us from the Quran. O Lord! Make our society a Quranic society; let our lives be with the Quran, and our deaths be in the way of the Quran. O Lord! By Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, make the Quran an intercessor for us on the Day of Judgment. O Lord! Do not let our hands be cut off from the Quran and from the Ahlulbayt - who are the two great weights that the Prophet left among us. O Lord! Make the Quran pleased with us; make the Ahlulbayt of the Prophet and the Awaited Savior (may our souls be sacrificed for him) pleased with us. O Lord! Grant us success in fulfilling our duties. In this blessed month of Ramadan, in these blessed days and nights, grant us the opportunity for servitude, supplication, humility, and closeness to You.

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