Supreme Leader’s Speech to People of Qom

Supreme Leader’s Speech to People of Qom
09/01/2011

The following is the full text of the speech delivered on January 9, 2011 by Ayatollah Khamenei to thousands of people from Qom. The speech was delivered on the occasion of the uprising of the people of Qom against the Pahlavi regime on January 9, 1978.

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Dear brothers and sisters, welcome. I would like to thank every one of you who have travelled here and imbued this Hussayniyyah with your warm and friendly presence and the signs of sincerity and love that I have always noticed among the people of Qom.

I am grateful to God and I am happy that this meeting is being held shortly after my trip to the city of Qom. The dear people of Qom, the youth of Qom, men and women of Qom, demonstrated such signs of commitment and loyalty to Islam and the Islamic system and such signs of insight that even the enemies of the Iranian nation could not deny.

It is always possible to use the reactions of enemies to determine the importance of things. This is one way to determine the importance of matters, actions and issues. Imagine that you are walking on the street. If somebody walks into you accidentally, you do not show any reactions. But if somebody attacks you with his or her fists, you do something in response. You react. The harm that is done to you is insignificant in the former case, but it is important in the latter. Reactions can show significance or insignificance of things.

One can see that this principle applies to all events of the Revolution, including big issues, small issues, daily matters and large-scale and prevalent issues. The reactions that were shown by the world of kufr and arrogance to the Revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic are indicative of the significance of this issue.

Since the first day after the establishment of the Islamic Republic, the organizations that have global power, money, weaponry, means of propaganda and media outlets have taken various actions against the Islamic system. This is indicative of the fact that the establishment of the Islamic system was a crucial and intolerable event to oppressors and global arrogance. And this is how it is because Islam is the religion of justice and humanity. Islam is the religion of confronting injustice, oppression and violation of rights. Naturally, the people whose existence is based on oppression, violation of rights and suppression of human beings are afraid of the presence of Islam, and they oppose it. This is the reason behind the opposition to the Islamic Republic. Of course they have their own pretexts. Every now and then they invent a pretext. But this is the fact of the situation.

Islam and the Islamic Republic provided humanity with a novel path. They presented a novel movement to peoples of the world. They showed that a nation can stand up against the most bullying governments of the world, even a nation that does not have many weapons and material facilities. They showed that it is possible for such a nation not to give in to those bullying governments, follow its own path and raise the flag of justice and humanity. This is something new in the modern world. You are the ones who opened up this path. This is true of all the events of the Revolution.

The enemies of the country and the Revolution are very sensitive to you dear people of Qom. They are strongly opposed to Qom, the people of Qom, Qom Seminary, the youth of Qom and the spirits of the people of Qom. Why? Because Qom slapped them across the face. Qom slapped the arrogant powers, the anti-Islam camp and the anti-Iranian camp across the face. The 19th of Dey was one occasion on which they were slapped across the face. The people of Qom felt responsible sooner than others. They evaluated the situation, felt responsible and stepped into the arena. These things are very important. The ability to evaluate the situation appropriately requires insight, and feeling responsible requires the spirit of commitment and faith. These are both important. When we see that the enemy has deployed its forces, we have to feel responsible. This is what commitment and faith require. Some people fail to feel responsible. Of course the dear people of Iran enjoy this spirit. And this spirit was strengthened through the Islamic movement. It became deep-rooted and revealed itself during the Revolution. The people of Qom were pioneers on different occasions. They felt responsible on the 19th of Dey and stepped into the arena. And it was not easy because they had to take bullets and stand up against the violent suppression by the police forces and security system of the evil Pahlavi regime: they did not show any mercy. But the people of Qom stepped into the arena.

This insight, this sense of responsibility and this presence on the scene were a strong slap across the face of the enemy. This was why the people of Tabriz, Yazd and other cities suddenly responded. Thus, this great movement was started. Our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) had prepared the ground for this movement over many years. This movement is a slap across their face. When the enemy is slapped across the face, it becomes spiteful and responds. If we want to evaluate our capabilities, we need to watch the enemy. When the enemy clearly threatens us, we should feel that we are highly capable and that we can harm it.

During my recent trip, the movement by Qom - its people, seminary, religious scholars and youth - was a slap across the face of the enemy. They felt the pain. They showed that they are vulnerable when faced with such show of power, such insight and such public presence. This is a lesson for the Iranian nation.

We overcame the enemy whenever we managed to develop an appropriate understanding and evaluation through insight, felt responsible and entered the arena. "When you have entered it, you shall surely be victorious." [The Holy Quran, 5: 23] When you enter the arena with insight and faith, you will definitely win. Why? Because the opposing camp does not have religious faith and deep spiritual motives. Those who act as the agents of this camp are just mercenaries who have been deceived. And the plotters and masterminds do not have religious faith. When you enter the arena with faith, you win. This is an experience for the Iranian nation.

During the past 32 years, the Iranian nation has managed to make great achievements through this experience. It has improved in terms of material standards. These scientific advances, technological advances and constant efforts made across the country are signs of material progress. The Iranian nation has also managed to achieve a high spiritual position. We saw the divine signs. We saw the signs of divine assistance. Previously, we used to read about divine assistance in religious books only. Today we feel it in the real world, just as Imam Khomeini (r.a.) did. Our magnanimous Imam told me that he had felt this divine assistance.

The Iranian nation has felt divine assistance and support in various arenas - when it was present in the arena, when it was prepared to engage in selfless efforts. It has felt divine assistance in one way or another during the imposed war, in political activities, in times of fitna and on different other occasions. For example, during the fitna of the year 1388, one could see the hand of divine power. The people woke up, entered the arena and foiled a great plot.

There is a lot of room for analysis, explanation and clarification of the aspects and dimensions of the fitna that had been planned by the enemy. The enemy had carried out careful calculations, but its calculations turned out to be wrong. It did not know the Iranian nation. Behind the scene, the enemy had seen everything. The people whom you call the heads of fitna had been pushed onto the scene by the enemy. Of course they committed a sin. One must not be manipulated by the enemy. One must understand the truth immediately. When a person suffers from lack of vigilance, but then realizes that he has made a mistake, he must change his path immediately. Well, they failed to do so. The main elements were those who had planned the fitna, those who had carried out the calculations. They wrongly believed that the Islamic Republic would be wiped off. They believed that not only the essence of religion but also religious slogans would disappear. This was the plan. The plan was that if they managed to change the foundations of the government the way they wanted, they would proceed in a certain manner. And if they failed to change the foundations of the government the way they wanted, they would create uproar in the country. As I said once, the plan was to create a caricature of the Revolution. They wanted to fake a revolution by imitating the Revolution, just like an admirer of a hero who tries to act like the hero. This was the plan. The Iranian nation gave them a punch in the mouth and put an end to their activities.

Today the Revolution, the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation are far stronger than last year when those events took place, and the right path of religion is far clearer now. The reason is that whenever Allah the Exalted puts people through a test, He gives them a score. When a person, a group of people or a nation passes a divine test, Allah the Exalted gives them a good score. The score improves their position. This is how divine tests work. Allah the Exalted gives us a bad score if we fail a divine test, and that bad score entails decline and degeneration. That is to say, the situation of those who get a bad score from God becomes worse. The same is true of the successful passing of divine tests - the position of the nations that pass the tests is improved.

During the time of Imam Ali (a.s.), the people failed a divine test. As a result, the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.) was martyred during worship. The performance of the people was bad. Why would the situation of a society become so bad that the embodiment of justice, spirituality and monotheism is martyred by the most wretched person? This was indicative of the fact that the people had failed a divine test. Therefore, God made their situation worse. They regressed so much that Imam Hussein (a.s.) was martyred in front of their eyes.

When you pass a divine test, God improves your position. Today the path of Islam, the path of faith in God and the path of the Revolution are far stronger and far clearer than they used to be before last year's fitna. Why? Because the people did well on the test. This improvement is the result of receiving a good divine score. These are guidelines for us. We should act like this in the case of all events. It is necessary to look, evaluate and calculate appropriately. We should take care not to make a mistake in our evaluations. We must not confuse primary issue with secondary issues. We must not consider big and important events as insignificant. Similarly, we must not consider small events as big. We need to evaluate things in an appropriate manner. This is the first step. Then we need to feel responsible. This is how a responsive nation lives its happy life, the kind of life that God has promised for believers. "Whoever does good whether male or female and he is a believer, We will most certainly make him live a happy life." [The Holy Quran, 16: 97] This means increasing success in divine tests and increasing progress. Those who pass away while treading this path achieve God's company and higher levels of happiness. And those who stay alive make constant spiritual as well as material progress in the world.

The Iranian nation has started treading a path. It has successfully passed many divine tests. The imposed war was a great test. Our people emerged victorious out of this test. They did not just achieve victory in the war, but they were also victorious in terms of divine and spiritual standards, which was more important than their victory in the war. This was because they showed that they were selfless and prepared and that they had patience and insight on the path of God. Allah the Exalted helped this nation improve up until today, and it will continue improving in the future as well. The enemies that confront the Iranian nation do not understand these truths.

Today the Iranian nation is successful in its domestic policies. It is successful in its foreign policies. It is successful in terms of its influence in the region. It is successful in terms of its influence on important global issues. These are a set of realities. The enemy wants to challenge the Iranian nation in all these ways. It wants to create obstacles on the path of the Iranian nation. Of course it will fail. The enemy wants to create economic problems for our people. It wants to create trouble for our government officials through such things as sanctions. But they have been unsuccessful. They try to make other countries, governments and peoples afraid of the Iranian nation. All the propaganda by the Americans and Zionists about human rights, the nuclear issue and the imaginary atomic bomb is broadcast with the purpose of presenting a distorted image of the Iranian nation to the countries of this region. But they have been unsuccessful, and this is evidenced by America's defeat in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq. Who defeated America? America was defeated by the appropriate policies adopted by nations. They say that Iran is their enemy in different regional issues. Their enemy is not Iran. The influence of the Islamic Republic of Iran is spiritual. Yes, the power of the Islamic Republic awakens nations. There is no doubt in this regard. As a result of this, a government comes to power in Iraq in spite of all the efforts by the Americans to stop it. But due to the vigilance of the people of Iraq, this government comes to power. This is how the Islamic Republic demonstrates its influence. This is true of other areas as well.

We will continue this path. We are familiar with the peaks now. We know where we want to go. "And thus We have made you a medium (just) nation that you may be the bearers of witness to the people." [The Holy Quran, 2: 143] This is the path that should help our nation achieve pure Islam because it will benefit them both in this world and in the hereafter. Happy life in the world and the next depends on perfect Islam. We are at the beginning of our path. There are a lot of shortcomings that we are suffering from. We are far from perfect Islam. This is our path. We are familiar with the peaks. And Allah the Exalted has shown us the path. The Iranian nation and its government officials are firmly determined to move ahead on this path.

Of course we need to be vigilant. Everybody must be vigilant. We do not want to - and we should not - put our heads on a soft pillow and lull ourselves into a false sense of security. We must not keep telling ourselves that the enemy is defeated, that the enemy is weak and that we are powerful until we fall asleep. We have to be vigilant. Just as the Commander of the Faithful said, "Remember, a warrior is always wary and vigilant and never careless and negligent, and the enemy will not fall asleep whenever one falls asleep." [Nahjul Balaghah, Letter 62] You have to stay vigilant whenever there is a conflict. Conflicts are not in our hands. It is the enemy that creates conflicts - political conflicts, security conflicts, economic conflicts. Conflicts are not necessarily military. We need to stay awake and vigilant whenever there is a conflict. Our youth should stay vigilant. Our clergy should stay vigilant. Our universities should stay vigilant. Our government officials should stay vigilant. Vigilance of our government officials means that they should render as many services to the people as they can. They should work as hard as possible. They should make every effort to preserve this unity - which is like a thorn in the enemy's side.

May God bestow success and approval on you. Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (s.w.a.) and his household, make these dear people benefit from the spring of Your grace and blessings. Dear God, make us steadfast on this path. Dear God, associate the pure souls of our martyrs and the immaculate soul of our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) with Your saints in the hereafter.

Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings

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