Supreme Leader’s Address to Instructors and Reciters of Holy Quran

Supreme Leader’s Address to Instructors and Reciters of Holy Quran
02/08/2011

The following is the full text of the speech delivered on August 2, 2011 by Ayatollah Khamenei the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic in a meeting with a group of reciters and instructors of the Holy Quran.

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

I would like to thank the dear brothers who recited verses from the Holy Quran in a beautiful voice and enlightened our hearts with the light of the divine Book. I hope Allah the Exalted will increase the familiarity of our people, especially our youth, with the Holy Quran as much as possible.

Closeness to the Holy Quran will make our hearts more familiar with Quranic teachings. All the shortcomings in the world of Islam are the result of having strayed away from divine and Quranic teachings. The Holy Quran is the Book of wisdom, knowledge and life. The life of nations depends on familiarity with Quranic teachings, acting according to the requirements of these teachings and practicing Quranic ahkaam [Islamic rules extracted from religious texts through Islamic jurisprudence]. If human beings like justice and if they hate oppression, they should learn the ways of fighting oppression from the Holy Quran. If human beings are determined to acquire knowledge and if they want to use their knowledge to improve their life and bring about comfort and welfare for themselves, they can learn how to do so from the Holy Quran. If human beings are after spiritual purity, closeness to Allah the Exalted and establishing a relationship with Him, the Holy Quran is the solution.

The weakness of the Islamic Ummah, our backwardness, our wrong behaviors, our moral deviations - all of these things are the result of having strayed away from the Holy Quran. The rule of defiant people and taghuts sucked the blood of Muslim nations and the Holy Quran has frequently warned everybody against taghuts. They sucked the blood of Muslim nations in the case of economic matters and natural resources. They also drained Muslim nations' spirit of resistance and spirit of seeking progress and dignity in the material world. Muslim nations turned their back on their own culture and they accepted the materialistic culture. On the face of it, we were shouting "there is no god but God" and we remained Muslims, but western culture and western teachings affected our hearts and made us stray away from the truths. Then we lost not only our economic privilege and material dignity, but also our morality and ethical principles. If we are suffering from laziness and weakness, if our hearts are not close to each other, if there is malevolence among us - these are the results of the non-Islamic and anti-Islamic culture that has been imposed on us.

The role of the Holy Quran is to improve us materially and spiritually and the Holy Quran does this. Those who are familiar with history have read about the examples in history books. And we modern people can see the examples in our modern world. One of the examples is the Iranian nation. It is wrong to think that the Iranian nation had the slightest credibility on international fronts during the time of satanic regimes - both during the time of the Pahlavi regime and during the time of the Qajar regime. The enormous talent that our nation enjoys had been buried like a forgotten treasure. Proving one's talent was a matter of chance and it did not really happen. There are so many active, dynamic and innovative youth who are interested in the progress of the country and bring about honor and fame for our country in different areas. There were similar youth in the country at that time as well, but they could not do anything due to the hegemony of satanic governments.

We took a step towards the Holy Quran and Quranic teachings - and what we have done is not more than a step - and Allah the Exalted bestowed dignity on us. He bestowed awareness and insight on us. He bestowed power on us. Today our nation is one of the most responsive and most powerful nations in the world. There is potential and enormous talent in different areas and we see numerous advances on different fronts: this is the situation of our country today. Moreover, other nations praise our nation.

Fortunately Islamic slogans that would provoke Muslim nations into action have been witnessed in different countries, just as you see and hear today. This is the case in places where there is more activity and dynamism, where there is more efficiency and influence, where there is little susceptibility to the enemies and hypocrites and where there are Islamic slogans, Islamic demands and Islamic determination. This is the characteristic of Quranic teachings. It is necessary to become familiar with the Holy Quran.

Of course today is not comparable with the past. In the past, we did not have so many qura in the country. We did not have so many memorizers of the Holy Quran. We did not have so many people who loved reciting the Holy Quran.

I remember that a prominent Egyptian qari - the late Abul Ayneyn Shaisha - had travelled to Mashhad and was reciting the Holy Quran in Goharshad Mosque. His recitation was very good. The meeting had been arranged by the organization in charge of religious endowments. Unlike today's endowments organization, which is thankfully an honorable organization, the organization in charge of endowments was a notorious organization at that time. Although I was very eager to listen to the recitation by that qari, I was reluctant to go to that meeting. I listened to his recitation from a distance. There were not more than 50-60 people in that meeting. Some of them were government agents and some others were famous qura from the city of Mashhad.

Today it is necessary to increase the interest in the Holy Quran, the interest which is prevalent everywhere. It is necessary to increase this interest on a daily basis. This good recitation, these good voices and the skill to keep Quranic meetings lively are valuable things. Thankfully I see that today our reciters have become skilled and experienced in keeping Quranic meetings lively. These things are valuable in that they make us familiar with the Holy Quran, Quranic teachings and Quranic concepts.

Memorizing the Holy Quran is one of the things that can teach us to reflect on the Holy Quran. We have a shortage of memorizers. Previously I said that we should have at least one million memorizers of the Holy Quran in the country. Compared to our population, one million is not a big number. Now that our friends have made preparations and plans in order to promote memorization of the Holy Quran, I have become more hopeful and I would say we should have ten million memorizers in the country, not just one million.

Of course you should note that memorizing the Holy Quran is the first step. First of all, it is necessary to remember what one has memorized. Therefore, memorizers of the Holy Quran should constantly recite the Holy Quran. Otherwise, they will forget what they have memorized. Second, this memorization should facilitate the process of reflecting on the Holy Quran. In fact memorizing facilitates the process of reflection. As a memorizer, when you have to recite the Holy Quran repeatedly, you will have the opportunity to reflect on Quranic verses.

Of course it is necessary to become familiar with the interpretation of Quranic verses as well. When a person has memorized the Holy Quran, when he is familiar with the interpretation of Quranic verses and when he reflects on the verses, what will happen will be the same thing that our society expects: Quranic blossoming. Imagine that ten, fifteen million men and women in our country were familiar with Quranic teachings. Notice how valuable this would be. Imagine so many people keeping Quranic teachings, Quranic lessons, Quranic recommendations and Quranic warnings in mind and reviewing them on a regular basis. A steely nation would be formed. Fortunately the ground is prepared for this to happen. Today our nation enjoys steely determination. But building such a Quranic society will only be possible in those conditions and I hope the conditions will be created.

As the people who are familiar with the Holy Quran, who recite the Holy Quran and who are interested in listening to recitations by qura with pleasant voices, you dear youth should appreciate your value. By Allah's favor, you will be rewarded by God. You are in fact at the vanguard of this general movement in society. You may be faced with more hardships, but you will be rewarded more by Allah the Exalted.

Dear God, make us be accompanied by the Holy Quran throughout our life. Dear God, do not separate us from the Holy Quran neither in this world nor in the next. Dear God, put us in the shade of the Holy Quran in the hereafter. Dear God, bestow a Quranic, divine and Islamic life on us. Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (s.w.a.) and his household, make the holy heart of the Imam of the Age satisfied with us. Do not separate us from the Holy Quran and the Holy Prophet's (s.w.a.) household.

Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings

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