Statements in Meeting with Seminary Students from Across the Country at Imam Khomeini's Hosseiniye

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 among the earth's inhabitants.

Welcome, my dear ones, brothers and sisters. This session is very enjoyable and sweet for me; both the meeting with you and the topics that the friends have expressed here. Many of these remarks from the gentlemen reflect our own thoughts, and I see that they come from the young scholars of the seminary with good expressions, well-structured sentences, and mature interpretations that indicate deep thinking; truly, it is delightful, and I thank God.

One of the gentlemen referred to my youth; I must say that the level of what you have expressed and the thoughts you have shared is much higher than what we thought in our youth; this is truly the case, and I say this without exaggeration. In our youth, we also had some thoughts, we expressed some ideas, but now the level of your work, your thoughts, and your cultural expressions is much higher than what we had in our youth. What does this mean? It means progress; it means movement. And this movement is a very blessed thing. Of course, the movement must be intrinsic, self-generated, and based on authenticity. A very beautiful poem was recited by one of the gentlemen that I had not heard before, and I noted it:

"Water that is not sought is not always a desire; Sometimes it is an excuse to sacrifice you."

This water that is not sought, this [thing] that is brought to us from outside, is not water; it is muddy water; we must spring forth from within; we must bubble like a spring and move and irrigate. Therefore, for me, this session is a very good one.

I would like to refer to the points that the gentlemen have made. Mr. A'arafi mentioned a program that is being prepared or has been prepared and is intended to be implemented; a program with the principles he mentioned is very interesting and covers many of the requests that were expressed, and since Mr. A'arafi is stating this, I am completely hopeful that this will be realized; because he himself, thanks be to God, is a very valuable capacity, and I have great hope that, God willing, these works will be carried out; of course, we must move, we must act, we must cooperate, we must strive to ensure that the program is implemented. Preparing and organizing the program is half of the work, which is important, but the realization of the program is a subsequent matter.

One of the gentlemen mentioned that the ideation related to the seminary should be carried out with the help of the students themselves and suggested that an innovation center be established; this is good, and I approve it; it is a good idea. Of course, the feasibility and details should be examined by the senior scholars of the seminary, but having a center that can assess and gather the existing capacities of young students and their creative potentials, have a database, and utilize them in times of need is a very good idea; if it can be done, it would be excellent.

[Discussion was held about] specialization. Several gentlemen - especially one or two of them in detail - discussed specialization. Fortunately, this work - [i.e.,] specialized jurisprudence - has begun in Qom; of course, there is much to say about jurisprudence. Jurisprudence is very important; some people think that jurisprudence, because it is called the branches of religion, means peripheral matters; no, jurisprudence is the backbone and, in fact, the backbone of social life; jurisprudence is this, it is responsible for this. Now, if we do not pay attention to many of its aspects, the fault is ours; otherwise, jurisprudence means managing life, it means defining the social and political system of life. Ultimately, that we specialize in this area and refine the specializations is, of course, a very good idea, and it is happening, but we should not neglect some of the flaws of specialization. For years, some thinkers in the world have concluded that specialization, alongside its benefits, also has drawbacks. Some interdisciplinary sciences and such are meant to compensate for these flaws; if you pursue specialization, you must pay attention to the point that specialization is good, but it may also have flaws that you need to address.

It was mentioned to form a headquarters for identification; well, we do not need to form a headquarters; this seminary itself is a headquarters; this management structure of the seminary is itself a headquarters; constantly creating organizations alongside each other, according to our experience, is not very effective.

Another important matter, I think, is the question of one of these virtuous ladies about the social status of female students. Yes, it is indeed a pertinent question; of course, we know in general. These female students, when they study seminary studies, and we have so many virtuous women, their presence among families, in women's gatherings is very valuable. One day, there was a lady from Isfahan, a good scholar, who had more specialization in rational sciences and such; she was a respectable lady; the late Mr. Tabatabai visited her, met with her, debated with her, and so on; and we were proud that we have a virtuous and knowledgeable lady; now we have several tens of thousands of virtuous students among whom there are many distinguished scholars - whether in the field of rational sciences, jurisprudence, or other common fields of the seminary - [this] is very important; [the status of these women] must be clarified.

And finally, another lady had suggestions in this regard that are also important, [including that] the capacities that exist among female students should be officially recognized and utilized in various cultural and intellectual centers, in these commissions, committees, councils, and in official centers; this, in my opinion, is one of the important tasks that must be carried out in the seminary. If we need to provide any executive assistance, we have no objection. This work is not our task; it is the task of the seminary; however, we can recommend and assist from an executive perspective, which we will do if a matter arises.

Another point that the gentlemen mentioned was the "gap between the understanding of the seminary students"; no, thanks be to God, the manifestation of the understanding of the seminary students is you; you, the seminary of Mashhad, the seminary of Isfahan, the seminary of Tehran, and then the center, the seminary of Qom; the level of understanding of the seminary is what you are expressing. Of course, there are differences of opinion everywhere, there are differences in levels; that is another matter, it has its own remedy, but I think it is very good.

In any case, the friends expressed good points. I request that all the writings that the gentlemen have should be given to us; I mean, since I saw that everyone reads from their writings - this is also a good practice - these writings that the gentlemen have written, they should be given to us; the seminary gentlemen should also think and work on these, and we should be informed and kept in the loop about what these works are.

The point I want to express and have noted is that dear ones! Know that today the duty of the seminaries is heavier than in the past. The reason is that today the need and acceptance is greater than in the past; both the need is greater, and the acceptance is greater. Today, there is a significant inclination towards prominent and high religious concepts among the youth - not just our youth, but the youth of the Islamic world and even the youth outside the Islamic world. Now, we do not want to exaggerate, [but] in Islamic countries, in some places, there is indeed a lot of interest, in some places less, but it exists; in non-Islamic countries, it is the same. For example, we wrote a letter to the youth of Western countries; well, there was a response, meaning in some cases, its feedback was seen. [Of course] some exaggerated that it spread, it became this way; no, it was not like that, but it was attended to, responses were given; they sent us messages, letters, and writings. This indicates that these words have an audience, they have seekers. Therefore, the need for the high concepts of the seminary today is great, and the acceptance is also high.

Perhaps [among] those who lived, for example, a hundred years ago, there were strong beliefs among the religious people, but there was no practical manifestation. You observe Sheikh Fazlollah Nouri with that greatness, that great scholar, who was hanged here in the middle of Tehran; the one who hanged him was an Armenian - an Iranian Armenian officer; that is, a non-Muslim - some people shed a tear here and there, but no movement took place; even though at that time, Reza Khan was not in power to say that, for example, there was such a dictatorial government; that is, there was no movement. Now compare this with our martyr student from Hamadan; a student from Hamadan was martyred in the street with oppression; you saw what a commotion there was in Hamadan for his funeral! What a reflection it created in Iran? Everyone felt sympathy, everyone felt affection; if that pure body were to be buried in Tehran or Mashhad or Isfahan or Tabriz, the same kind of massive gathering would occur; today, people are like this. Now, some are propagating that people have distanced themselves from religion; no, not at all, it is not like that. We have seen that time too; we were students then.

Some gentlemen propagate that the clergy fell after the establishment of the Islamic Republic; absolutely not, what is this talk? [At that time] the clergy were mocked in the streets. I was standing at the railway station in Mashhad when a few young people passed by, openly and explicitly - at that time, I was a student, a teacher of Risaleh and Makasib in the seminary of Mashhad - they began to insult us, mock us, laughing loudly; what could we do? I said to myself that this person might not even have proper literacy [but] I am a teacher of the seminary; this was the social order of that day [then]. Today, with all the attacks against the clergy in the propaganda apparatus and such, see the [reception] of the people, see the congregational prayers, see the attendance at the pulpits; never before, never in any city, in any session of a pulpit, have the gatherings that you observe today at these pulpits existed - not that they did not exist at all; not even a tenth of this existed - in Mashhad, Isfahan, Tehran, and other places; we were in the gatherings; we both went to the pulpits and saw the pulpits of great preachers; the gatherings that are formed today at the pulpits, which are mostly young, did not exist; congregational prayers are the same, and the donations [are the same]; money is a good criterion! Today, people's financial situation is not good, but they come and give donations; to us, to other authorities, they give donations; that is, people are religious, they are in the field of religion; what is this talk? The clergy is respected, the clergy is trusted. These are the realities that exist. Well, blackening and irrelevant remarks are sometimes made against all these words; without field research, without consideration, without any scientific criteria, some things are said that are incorrect, and some believe them; but the reality is that I have stated, and this makes the duty of the seminaries heavier.

What I wanted to express is that the seminaries are the center of Islamic education; ultimately, religion must be understood, recognized, known, and deeply explored; therefore, a center is needed; this center is the seminaries that produce religious scholars. The seminaries are the center of Islamic teaching. Islam is not just knowledge; commitment to action and the realization of Islamic laws is also part of Islam; that is, there is a time when we consider Islam - which we want to learn in the seminary - only as principles and branches and ethics and the like - [which] is indeed the reality; [that is] the principles of religion, the branches of religion, ethical values, the style of life, the governance system, all of these are part of Islam and part of Islamic knowledge - well, we must go and learn these in the seminary. However, this [interpretation] is not correct; this is part of the work of the seminaries; why? Because this is part of Islam; another part of Islam is the realization of these truths in the context of society, in the context of people's lives, meaning guidance; this is also part of Islam.

Is it not said: "The scholars are the heirs of the prophets?" The scholars of religion are the heirs of the prophets; here, the scholars refer to the scholars of religion, and they are the heirs of the prophets. What were the prophets for? Did the prophets come to merely express the knowledge of religion, or did they come to realize the knowledge of religion in society? Certainly, it is the second: "Indeed, We sent Our messengers with clear signs and sent down with them the Book and the balance so that people may maintain justice." This "so that people may maintain justice" indicates that the presence of the prophets is necessary for "establishing justice"; now, whether this "lam" in "so that people may maintain justice" is a "lam of causality" or a "lam of consequence" makes no difference; that is, a prophet must establish justice in society, and since he wants to establish justice, he struggles; otherwise, if the prophet did not want to establish justice, he would not want to implement monotheism, he would not want to eliminate the arrogant powers, jihad would not be necessary. This "and how many a prophet fought alongside many worshippers" is for what? Why did they strive? All the prophets struggled; now some were able, their hands reached, they fought: "fought alongside many worshippers" [some could not]. We do not have the news of the prophets, but in some narrations, there is a reference: "The first to fight in the way of God was Ibrahim"; now we do not have this in the accounts of Prophet Ibrahim [in the Quran], but we have it in narration; and the rest of the prophets also fought, they struggled in the way of God. In Islam [we also have] "Fight those who are nearest to you among the disbelievers," or "Those who believe fight in the way of God"; what is this fighting and jihad for?

Before the Prophet came to Medina, he took allegiance from the people of Medina who had come, from the representatives of Aws and Khazraj; he said, "You must accompany me with your lives and your wealth," and they accepted, and the Prophet [also] came to Medina. When he entered Medina, he did not ask whether, for example, governance is also our responsibility or not; no, it was clear; everyone knew that he had come, and governance and administration of the government were his responsibility. Religion is for this: "We did not send any messenger except that he should be obeyed by the permission of God"; the meaning of "to be obeyed" is not just that if he says to pray, you pray; no, [it means] obedience in all matters of life [is required], meaning governance. Well, then, part of Islam is that part of Islamic knowledge that includes rational and transmitted sciences, ethical values, and the expression of lifestyle and governance; and all of these are part of Islamic knowledge that knowing these is necessary. This is part of Islam; another part of Islam is the realization of these in the outside world; that is, monotheism must be realized in the outside world, prophethood must be realized in the leadership of society. Well, "The scholars are the heirs of the prophets" must be realized by you. I am not saying that you must necessarily be at the head of society - well, the form of governance may have various types - but you, as a religious scholar and specialist in religion, are obliged to realize Islam in the outside world, in the environment of life; this is our duty. This is the work that Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) did. One of the friends rightly referred to the Charter of Clergy and that detailed letter of the Imam. Read the Charter of Clergy, read it repeatedly. The Imam was truly a wise man - wisdom is not just someone who knows philosophy - wisdom was evident in his behavior, in his speech, in his writing.

So, the work that the seminary did during the recent struggles - that is, the struggles leading to the establishment of the Islamic Republic - under the leadership of the Imam was precisely the duty that the seminary had to perform. It is not that we say the seminary did something outside its duties during the struggles; no. The Imam was at the forefront, the students and scholars and many of the greats of the seminary accompanied him, followed the Imam, and moved forward. I once likened this movement of the students at that time across the vast country to what is mentioned in this noble verse: "And your Lord inspired the bee, saying, 'Take for yourself houses in the mountains and in the trees and in what they construct. Then eat from all the fruits and follow the paths of your Lord, made easy for you; from their bellies comes a drink of varying color in it.'" I said they had both honey and sting; like the honeybee. The students of that day both awakened the people, made them aware, and quenched the youth's thirst with the knowledge of the revolution and the struggle in the way of God and in the way of Islam, and they also stung those who needed to be stung; this is the reality of the matter. This was the duty of the seminary, and it was the work that was done. That day, that work had to be done; today, thanks be to God, the Islamic system has come into being, has been established, and we are waiting for a truly Islamic government and then a truly Islamic society and then a true Islamic civilization to come into being; the seminary has responsibilities commensurate with this great work, and it must fulfill them. What must you do? You must sit down and think; these are among the topics and discussions that are your concern.

I now feel that among the discussions of the gentlemen, the good expressions, the tone and the appropriate literature that, thanks be to God, our young students have, are very much needed today. Go and spread throughout the country; now there is also the tradition of the pulpit. Convey these good words, these excellent topics in various fields to the people; the issue of lifestyle, the issue of Islamic governance, the issue of fighting against tyranny, the issue of establishing monotheism in the true sense in society, and the issue of justice, which is one of the most fundamental issues; go and say these things, elevate the people's knowledge, create revolutionary discourses among the people; and of course, it exists, strengthen it. A lot can be done by the seminary; part of it is related to the responsible institutions in the seminary and outside the seminary, and part of it is related to the students themselves.

So see! We have a matter [entitled] the identity of the seminary, the essence of the seminary; what is the seminary? The seminary is a center that nurtures religious scholars, and a religious scholar is one who acquires the knowledge of religion and enters the field to realize it. It does not matter whether this religious scholar has specialized in jurisprudence or in philosophy or in theology; it makes no difference. Our great Imam was a great jurist; he was truly an outstanding jurist, but in theoretical mysticism, he was also a full-fledged and knowledgeable jurist. Or his teacher, the late Shah Abadi; the Imam once told me, "Do not think that Mr. Shah Abadi was not involved in struggles; yes, he was struggling." Now, I do not remember his expression; I think I noted somewhere that the late Shah Abadi, that great mystic, told the Imam that "If I had a supporter, I would have revolted"; nearly these words, to this effect. Well, then, the identity of the Qom seminary and other seminaries is this; this is the main structure of the seminary; all the work done in the seminary must be done with this perspective. This specialization that you speak of, these systems that you demand, these proposals regarding capacity recognition and such, [these] very good words must all be done within this framework and with this perspective.

In matters that do not have a direct relationship with religion, such as natural sciences and the like, which do not have a direct connection with the religious foundational thought, the direction of these must also be determined by the seminary; that is, the direction of scientific movement must be determined by the seminaries, because this is the work of religion; it is religion that gives direction to science. Science can serve humanity, it can be against humanity; it can serve justice, it can serve the oppressors and the arrogant powers of the world; as it is now. This direction-giving to science is also the responsibility of the seminary.

Well, I had also noted some verses that I wanted to read to you, [but] since there are only a few minutes left until the call to prayer, there is no time left.

One point regarding "studying" I want to mention: take your studies seriously; take jurisprudence seriously. See! A religious scholar wants to acquire Islamic knowledge; from where? From the Book and the Sunnah and reason; this is it; part of it relates to reason, part of it also relates to the Book and the Sunnah and narration; well, he must know how to acquire it; this is what ijtihad is. Ijtihad means how to use this knowledge from its sources; that is, the method of - to use a foreign term that I insist on not using, but here I have to - using the truths and knowledge from its sources; this is ijtihad. Well, if a person wants to possess this ijtihad, he must practice, he must work. This jurisprudential lesson that you are studying, even if it is purity - now some students say: "Sir, why always purity and prayer and such?" - it does not matter; what teaches you this method of inference is what you need. [This] sometimes relates to a matter of purity, sometimes to a matter of prayer, sometimes to a matter of transactions and leasing and such; you must know how to infer. If you learn this method of inference, then you will also correctly infer ethical values from the Book and the Sunnah; [not] like some semi-educated people - now let us respect them, let us not say uneducated; semi-educated - who have learned something or four words, express opinions about religious matters, sometimes refer to a verse; well, the meaning of this verse is not this; this is due to a weakness in understanding the verse and inferring from the verse, and it is because of this that ijtihad does not exist. Therefore, studying is necessary for becoming a jurist; of course, I do not say everyone must become a jurist - in fact, it is a communal obligation - some may not need to become a jurist, but for acquiring Islamic knowledge, ijtihad is necessary. This is one point that the lesson must be well studied. A modern enlightened student has no right to say, "Sir, leave these talks, [these] lessons"; no, you must study; without substance [it is flat]. During the struggles when we were, for example, discussing Makasib, discussing Kifayah, some enthusiastic students were around us in Mashhad who were really struggling, [but] sometimes I heard them say, "Sir, what is this?"; I told them if you do not discuss [these topics], later you will not be able to be of use to the Islamic system, you will not be able to benefit, you will not be able to teach the people anything. This is why studying is an issue.

One issue is that there may be differences of opinion in various matters in the seminary; in scientific matters where there are differences of opinion, in intellectual orientations where there are differences of opinion, there may also be differences of opinion in political matters; this is not a problem; differences must be managed. Be careful that differences of opinion do not lead to conflict and scratching each other's faces! We have had in the past in our seminary tradition that now I want to mention the last case, the late Hajj Sheikh Mojtaba Qazwini (may God be pleased with him) [who was] a prominent scholar in Mashhad, against philosophy and mysticism. I myself was among his admirers and still am; he was truly a great man, but his scientific taste was this: he was completely against philosophy and against mysticism, having written a book in this regard, and taught; he was among the most prominent students of the late Amirza Mahdi Isfahani; and the great Imam was the brain of philosophy and mysticism, the essence of philosophy and mysticism; well, these two are very far apart, that is, they are truly at two poles of a spectrum. When the struggles began and the Imam showed that he was the leader of this struggle - the Imam proved this from the very first days of the struggle - this Mr. Hajj Sheikh Mojtaba Qazwini, with all these differences he had, rose from Mashhad and took a group with him, came to see the Imam in Qom; they came to express their respect to the Imam. As long as he was alive - he passed away in 1346 - he was with the revolution, meaning truly our hope as struggling students at that time in Mashhad was in the late Hajj Sheikh Mojtaba, even though his differences with the Imam were like this.

The late Amirza Jawad Tehrani was another scholar in the ranks of the same group of opponents of philosophy and mysticism, with whom we had studied. He was, of course, the opposite. Before the revolution, he expressed respect for the Imam. I myself had heard before the victory of the revolution about his expression of respect and affection for the Imam; after the victory of the revolution, this man rose and went to war; the seventy or eighty-year-old man rose, put on a Basij uniform, and stood by the mortar; that is, we had people like this. [That is] intellectual differences, while in true unity; for God, in the way of God.

In the past, we also had; the late owner of Hadaiq (may God be pleased with him) was truly a scholar; the owner of Hadaiq was truly a scholar - and the late Aqa Baqir Bahbahani, a pure Usuli, the reviver of Usul in a period of the history of our seminaries; these two were both in Karbala, had many intense debates with each other. The late owner of Hadaiq bequeathed that [when] I die, let Aqa Baqir Bahbahani perform my prayer, and this was done; he passed away, and the late Aqa Baqir Bahbahani performed his prayer. That is, these things existed in the seminary. Of course, there has also been the opposite and contrary; there have also been unnecessary conflicts, unwarranted oppositions, but our prominent figures were like this.

In the seminary, on one hand, young students must maintain respect and obedience towards the elders of the seminary, towards the religious authorities, just as in the Charter of Clergy of the Imam (may his soul be sanctified) these are all present. The elders of the seminary must also consider patience and tolerance towards the youth. On one hand, patience and tolerance are necessary, and on the other hand, respect and obedience are necessary. (Is the call to prayer made? I apologize.)

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