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1994-2010
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's Message to Muslim Pilgrims
Supreme Leader Iran sends his messages to the pilgrims gathered at the Hajj rituals in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
khamenei.ir
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2010
Imam Khamenei's Message to Hajj Pilgrims
(1431 A.H.) (2010/11/15) #
In the name of Allah, all beneficent, all merciful.
All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds and may Allah’s blessings be upon our Master, Muhammad al-Mustafa and his immaculate Family and his elect Companions.
As a symbol of Islamic unity and honour and the emblem of monotheism and spirituality, the Holy Ka’bah, during the Hajj season, is host to the ardent and hopeful hearts, who come hurrying from all over the world to the birthplace of Islam in response to the call of the Glorious Lord. At this time, the Islamic Ummah can have a bird’s eye view of its own great extent and diversity, seen through the eyes of its envoys who gather here from all over the world, and be witness to the profound faith that rules over the hearts of the followers of the True Religion, and appreciate its great and peerless heritage.
This self-discovery of the Ummah enables us as Muslims to become aware of the position which is worthy of them in the world, today and tomorrow, and to keep moving towards it.
The expanding wave of Islamic awakening in the world today is a reality that heralds a bright future for the Islamic Ummah. This powerful surge started three decades ago with the victory of the Islamic Revolution and establishment of the system of the Islamic Republic. Our great Ummah has continued to march ahead non-stop, removing the obstacles from its way and conquering new fronts. The sophisticated stratagems of the global Arrogance and its costly maneuvers aimed at countering Islam are also a consequence of these victories.
The extensive propaganda of the enemy to spread Islamophobia, its offhand efforts to create discord among Muslim sects, to incite sectarian prejudices, to bring about pseudo-confrontations between the Sunnis and the Shi’ah, to create disunity between Islamic states and to aggravate their differences, to change them into hostility and unsolvable conflicts, its employment of intelligence and espionage outfits to propagate corruption and immorality amongst the youth all these are nervous and bewildered responses to the steady and firm advances of the Islamic Ummah towards awakening, honour and freedom.
Today the Zionist regime is no more the undefeatable monster of 30 years ago. The United States and the West are also no more the unquestionable decision-makers of the Middle East that they were two decades ago. Contrary to the situation that existed ten years ago, the nuclear know-how and other complex technologies are no longer considered inaccessible daydreams for Muslim nations of the region. Today the Palestinian nation is an acknowledged paragon of resistance, the Lebanese nation has single-handedly demolished the fake awesomeness of the Zionist regime and emerged as the victor of the 33-day war, and the Iranian nation is at the vanguard of the movement towards the looming peaks.
Today the arrogant United States, the self -styled commandant of the Islamic region and the real sponsor of the Zionist regime, is bogged down in the quagmire of its own making in Afghanistan. As a result of all its crimes against the people of Iraq, it is in the course of becoming isolated in that country. It is hated more than ever before in disaster-stricken Pakistan. Today, the influence of the anti-Islamic front which since the past two centuries has acted as a despotic overlord over Islamic nations and states and plundered their resources, is receding before the heroic resistance of the Muslim nations.
On the opposite side, the wave of Islamic awakening is steadily advancing and growing in depth day by day.
On the one hand, this hopeful and promising situation should inspire us, the Muslim nations, to keep marching ahead towards the desirable future with ever greater confidence. On the other hand, the past lessons and experience should make us more vigilant than ever before. This general imperative undoubtedly cal ls for greater commitment from religious scholars, political leaders, intellectuals and youth than the others and requires them to be at the vanguard of the struggle.
The clear and living message of the Noble Qur’an is addressed to us:
You are the best nation ever brought forth for mankind: you bid what is right and forbid what is wrong, and have faith in Allah. (3:110)
In this majestic address the Islamic Ummah is declared as one which has been brought forth for the sake of humanity. The aim of its birth is the good of mankind and its deliverance.
Its major duty is to urge what is good and to forbid evil while maintaining unshakeable faith in God. There is no ‘right thing’ (ma’ruf) more significant than rescuing nations from the satanic claws of the global Arrogance, and there is no ‘wrong thing’ (munkar) uglier than dependence on the Arrogant and servitude to them.
Today the major duties of the elite of the Islamic Ummah is to provide help to th e Palestinian nation and the besieged people of Gaza, to sympathize and provide assistance to the nations of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Kashmir, to engage in struggle and resistance against the aggressions of the United States and the Zionist regime, to safeguard the solidarity of Muslims and stop tainted hands and mercenary voices that try to damage this unity, to spread awakening and the sense of responsibility and commitment among Muslim youth throughout Islamic communities.
The glorious spectacle and stage of Hajj provides us with an opportunity for the fulfillment of these duties and summons us to intensify and redouble our resolution and efforts.
Peace and Allah’s mercy be upon you!
Sayyid Ali Hussaini Khamenei
1 Dhul Hijjah, 1431
(8 Nov, 2010)
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2009
The Supreme Leader's Hajj Message
Thursday, 26 November 2009 #
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
The season of Hajj is the time of a spiritual rebirth and the dawn of monotheism across horizons over the world. Its rituals flow like a limpid river, offering chances to pilgrims to wash away the filth of sins or negligence and to eventually restore the sheen of their God-like innate disposition.
The shedding of the attire of snobbery and privilege in the Hajj rendezvous and the subsequent wearing of the uniform garment of Ihram altogether symbolize a unanimous Islamic Ummah and decree a symbolic call of unity and empathy to Muslims worldwide.
The Hajj calls "Your God is One God, so to Him surrender. And give good tidings unto the humble" (The Hajj: 34) on the one hand and "the Holy Mosque that We have appointed equal unto men, alike him who cleaves to it and the tent-dweller" (The Hajj: 25) on the other and in doing so, the Ka’aba embodies a call in unison for Islamic fraternity besides its call of monotheism.
The Muslims who have converged onto the holy place from the four corners of the world with an ardent desire for circumambulating around the Ka’aba or visiting the shrine of the Noblest Messenger, may the peace of Allah be upon him and his progeny, are expected to cherish the opportunity in consolidating their mutual brotherly bonds as it would heal many woes of the Islamic Ummah.
Nowadays, we clearly see that the hands of the ill-wishers of the world of Islam are busy more than the past driving wedges among Muslims, thus the Islamic Ummah is in need of integrity and unanimity more than ever before.
Today, the bloodstained claws of enemies are busy unleashing tragic scenes here and there across the Islamic lands; Palestine languishes under the wicked grip of Zionists and suffers a widening tribulation. The Al-Aqsa Mosque faces a grave threat; innocent people of Gaza, having already been subjected to an unprecedented genocide and still endure the harshest conditions; Afghanistan, under the boots of the occupiers, witnesses a new suffering on a daily basis; in Iraq instability has robbed people of their calm and their peace of mind; in Yemen fratricide has struck the Islamic Ummah with a fresh grief.
Muslims worldwide should rather stop and think how and where these blind seditions, wars, blasts, assassination bids and massacres which have gripped Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan have been planned. Why was it that before the American-led Western troops arrived in this region in a peremptory and possessory manner, the regional nations had never been subjected to such a long list of sufferings?
The occupiers, on the one hand, brand any popular resistance movements in Palestine, Lebanon or any other place as terroristic, and on the other hand, are organizing or masterminding a violent sectarian terrorism among the regional nations.
The Middle East and the North African region was once colonized and humiliated for more than a century by the Western governments of Britain and France and subsequently by America; their natural reserves were plundered, their free spirit was trodden upon and their nations were taken hostage by the greed of the aggressive aliens.
Yet, after an Islamic awakening coupled with a popular resistance movements made it impossible for them to proceed and following a re- emergence of the issue of martyrdom and ascension to God and on the path of God , as an exceptional factor in the scene of Islamic jihad, the aggressors, having been pushed to a defensive position, resorted to duplicitous methods after replacing their old approach with a new type of colonialism.
Nonetheless, the multi-faced demon of colonialism has now fielded all its capacities to bring Islam to its knees, from military might, an iron fist and flagrant occupation to an evil chain of propagandas and a myriad of lie-spreading and rumor-mongering media centers, from the organization of networks to ruthlessly carry out assassination and homicide to promotion of promiscuity and the proliferation of narcotics targeting the morale and the morality of the youth, and, finally, from a thoroughgoing diplomatic assail on any hub of resistance to the provocation of sectarian snobbery, prejudice and enmity among brothers.
If affection, trust and empathy take the place of the enemy-desired mistrust and animosity among Muslim nations or Islamic sects, the conspiracy of the ill-wishers would be defeated for the most part and their sinister plots in seeking a growing dominance over the Islamic Ummah would be foiled.
The Hajj is one of those precious opportunities for this sublime goal.
Muslims will only be able to withstand the multi-faced demon and overcome it through cooperation with one another and reliance on their common foundations which are encapsulated in the Holy Koran and the practice of the Messenger. Islamic Iran, following the lessons of our great Imam Khomeini, has epitomized this fruitful resistance. The enemies have faced defeat in Islamic Iran.
Thirty years of plotting, conspiring and ill feeling, from staging a coup and imposing an eight-year war, to imposition sanctions and the freezing of assets, from the unleashing of psychological warfare and media confrontation to making efforts to hinder scientific growth and the acquisition of modern sciences including nuclear expertise by the Iranian nation, and even blatant provocations and interventions during the recent glorious and meaningful elections, all turned into scenes of setbacks, passiveness and confusion on the part of the enemy, re-evoking a verse in the Iranian mind: "Surely the guile of Satan is ever feeble" (The Women: 76).
In all other areas of the world too, where people have countered the arrogant powers through a faith-inspired resistance, the faithful achieved victory while the tyrants ended up in scandal and retreat. The shining victory of the Lebanese in the 33-day war and the prideful and victorious jihad of the Gazans during the past three years stand as living evidence in this regard.
I emphatically recommend the fortunate pilgrims in general and especially the scholars and orators of the Islamic countries who have attended the Hajj gathering, as well as the leaders of Friday prayers in the noble sanctuaries, to recognize their your immediate duty, to expose the conspiracy of the enemies of Islam in the eyes of your audience, and to call the people to affection and unity, they should strictly avoid anything which may provoke a sense of mistrust among Muslims, and vent all cries at the arrogant and the enemies of the Islamic Ummah and the masterminds of all seditions headed by the Zionists and Americans, and in doing so, help materialize the practice of renouncing the infidels in word and in deed.
I humbly pray to God, the Most High, to confer His succor and blessing on me and to you all.
Wassalam-o Alaikum
Seyyed Ali Husseini Khamenei
November 21, 2009
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2008
Supreme Leader's Hajj Message
Sunday, 07 December 2008 #
In the Name of God the Beneficent the Merciful
Once again the Land of Revelation has gathered legions of true-believers for its annual banquet. In the birthplace of Islam and the Holy Qur'an, eager hearts from throughout the world are now engaged in such rites which indeed show a sign of the eternal lesson of Islam and the Holy Qur'an to mankind: symbolic steps for implementing and applying such a lesson.
The aim of this great lesson is to ensure the eternal salvation and dignity of mankind by training righteous people and establishing a righteous society; people who worship the One and Only God in their hearts and in practice and cleanse themselves from polytheism, moral impurities and deviant desires, and a society built out of justice, freedom, faith, vitality and all the other signs of life and progress.
The main elements for such personal and social training are incorporated in the Hajj. Going into ihram and leaving individual distinctions behind, abstaining from many carnal joys and desires, circumambulating around the symbol of monotheism and praying in the Place of Ibrahim the Idol-breaker and the Self-Sacrificing, the hurrying between the two hills, finding tranquility in Arafat among the great numbers of monotheists from every color and ethnic background to passing the night in prayer and supplication in al-Mash`ar al-Haram with a fondness for God in one's heart, devoting one's heart and soul to God the Almighty in such a congested crowd, being present in Mina and stoning the satanic symbols, the meaningful concretization of sacrificing and feeding the poor and the wayfarer are all aimed at training, practicing and reminding us of it.
In this perfect ritual, sincerity, purity of heart and disentanglement from materialistic engagements, endeavor, resilience, intimacy and seclusion with God, unity, concordance, homogeneity, adorning the soul and heart, committing the heart to solidarity with the great body of the Muslim Ummah, humility before the Ultimate Truth, firmness against falsehood, soaring in the desire for the hereafter and the firm resolution to adorn the world are all interwoven and constantly practiced:
"And among them there are those who say, "Our Lord, give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and save us from the punishment of the Fire."
This way, the Honored Kaaba and the Hajj rituals contribute to the resilience and the uprising of human societies and are filled with benefit and enjoyment for all mankind:
Allah has made the Kaaba, the Sacred House, a means of sustenance for mankind...
That they may witness the benefits for them, and mention Allah's Name during the known days.
Today, Muslims from all countries and races should appreciate the value of this great ritual more than before and benefit from it, for the horizon is brighter than ever in the eyes of the Muslim Ummah and the hope for reaching the goals Islam has envisaged for individuals and societies is greater than ever. If, in the last two centuries the Muslim Ummah got disintegrated and was defeated in the confrontation with the Western materialistic civilization and the atheist schools of thought of both the right and the left, today, in the 15th century of the Lunar Hegira, it is the economic and political theories of the West that are paralyzed and fading away. Today, as a result of the Muslims' reawakening and the retrieval of their identity and with the resurgence of monotheistic ideas and the logic of justice and divinity, a new dawn of prosperity and glory has begun for Muslims.
Those who, in the not-so-distant past, were singing the tune of despair and believed that not only Islam and Muslims but also the foundations of spirituality and religiosity had been lost in the invasion of the Western civilization, are now today witnessing the resurgence of Islam and the revival of the Holy Qur'an as well as the gradual debilitation and collapse of those invaders, confirming all this with their tongues and hearts.
I say with full confidence that this is only the beginning and the complete fulfillment of the divine promise of the victory of truth over falsehood, the reconstruction of the Ummah of the Qur'an and the new Islamic civilization are on the way:
Allah has promised those of you who have faith and do righteous deeds that He will surely make them successors in the earth, just as He made those who were before them successors, and He will surely establish for them their religion which He has approved for them, and that He will surely change their state to security after their fear, while they worship Me, not ascribing any partners to Me. And whoever is ungrateful after that it is they who are the transgressors.
The first and foremost sign of this inescapable promise was the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the establishment of the glorious Islamic system which turned Iran into a strong fortress for the idea of Islamic rule and civilization. The birth of this miraculous phenomenon amidst the height of the materialism and Islamophobia of rightist and leftist politicians and thinkers, and then its resistance against political, military, economic and propaganda strikes coming from all directions, gave rise to the creation of new hope and passion in the hearts of Muslims. With the passage of time and by the grace of God the Almighty, the strength and capabilities of the Islamic Revolution have increased and the hope it created is now more deeply rooted than ever. Over the last thirty years, the Middle East and Muslim countries in Asia and Africa have been the arenas where this victorious struggle is taking place: Palestine and the Islamic Intifada and the emergence of a Muslim Palestinian government; Lebanon and the historic victory of Hizbollah and the Islamic resistance against the arrogant bloodthirsty Zionist regime; Iraq and the establishment of a Muslim and populist government on the ruins of the atheist regime and the dictator Saddam; Afghanistan and the humiliating defeat of the Communist occupiers and their puppet government; the defeat and failure of all the plots hatched by arrogant America to dominate the Middle East; the incurable problems and chaos inside the usurper Zionist regime; the prevalence of the Islam-seeking masses in all or most of the neighboring countries and especially among the youth and intellectuals; the amazing scientific and technological progress in Islamic Iran achieved under severe economic sanctions and embargoes; the defeat of warmongers in America in the political and economic arenas and Muslim minorities' regaining their true identity and dignity in most of the Western countries. These are all clear indications of the triumph and advancements of Islam in its struggle against its enemies in this century that is the 15th century of Lunar Hegira.
Brothers and sisters! These victories are all the fruits of jihad and sincerity. When the voice of God was heard from the lips of His servants, and the resoluteness and strength of the fighters of the true path were deployed and when the Muslims fulfilled their promise to God the Exalted and the Almighty fulfilled His promise in response, the path of history was changed:
Fulfill My covenant that I may fulfill your covenant, and be in awe of Me alone.
If you help Allah, He will help you and make your feet steady.
Allah will surely help those who help Him. Indeed Allah is all-Strong, all-Mighty.
Indeed We shall help Our apostles and those who have faith in the life of the world and on the day when the witnesses rise up.
But this is still the beginning. Muslim nations still face treacherous roads ahead. One can never survive them unless one is equipped with the power of faith, sincerity, hope and jihad as well as insight and patience. This path cannot be taken with despair and pessimism, apathy and lack of spirit, impatience, lethargy and disbelief in the fulfillment of the divine promise.
The wounded enemy is now resorting to anything and will spare no effort to strike back. We need to be resourceful, wise and to take advantage of opportunities. This way all the efforts of the enemy will fail. In the last thirty years, the enemies, mostly the US and Zionism, have been utilizing all their capacities but have failed miserably. The same thing will happen in the future, too, inshallah.
The severity and intensity of the enemy's actions usually show just how weak and imprudent he is. Look at Palestine and especially Gaza. The cruel and ruthless acts of the enemy, which are unprecedented in the history of human atrocities, are indicative of his weakness in overcoming the firm resolve of men, women and children who, with their empty hands, are standing against the Occupant Regime and its supporter, the superpower called America; they have spurned its demand which is to reject the Hamas government. May God the Almighty's blessings be showered upon this resolute and great nation. The people of Gaza and the Hamas government have given meaning to the following everlasting verses of the Holy Qur'an which says:
We will surely test you with a measure of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth, lives, and fruits; and give good news to the patient.
Those who, when an affliction visits them, say, "Indeed we belong to Allah, and to Him do we indeed return."
It is they who receive the blessings of their Lord and His mercy, and it is they who are the rightly guided.
You will surely be tested in your possessions and your souls, and you will surely hear from those who were given the Book before you and from the polytheists much affront; but if you are patient and God wary, that is indeed the steadiest of courses.
Truth will emerge triumphant in its battle with falsehood and it is the oppressed and steadfast nation of Palestine that will ultimately be victorious over the enemy.
And Allah is all-Strong, all-Mighty.
Even today, the enemy has failed to break the resistance of the Palestinians. The claims of freedom and democracy and the slogans of human rights have turned out to be nothing but lies. This has greatly disgraced the US and most European regimes; disgraces from which they will not be able to recover soon. The infamous Zionist regime is more notorious than before and some Arab regimes have lost their honor and reputation which they did not have in this test.
Sayyed Ali Husainy Khamenei
4 Dhil-Hijjah 1429/ 3 December 2008
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2007
Imam Khamenei’s Hajj Message
The message of H. E. Ayatollah Khamenei to the Hajj pilgrims from the whole world.
18.12.2007 #
In the Name of God the Beneficent the Merciful
Praise be unto God, the Lord of all the world and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his pure Household and his companions
Greetings to the pilgrims of the House of God, the guests of the Almighty's abode and those who have answered His Divine call… and hail to hearts freshened by the remembrance of God and opened to His unsparing blessings and bounties. In these elixir-like days, nights and hours, many a man who gratefully consigned themselves to the Divine attraction, illuminated their hearts through penitence and repentance and cleansed themselves of the darkness of sin and idolatry in the waves of Divine mercifulness coming constantly one after another in this holy land. May God's peace be upon these hearts and these virtuous and self-purified people.
It would be most appropriate if all my brothers and sisters did think deeply over such a blessing and avail themselves of this great opportunity. They should not allow the worldly preoccupations which are our habitual engagements to occupy their hearts as usual. In this atmosphere of monotheism and unadulterated divinity, they should let their craving hearts soar and collect the necessary provisions to persevere on the path of God and the right path by the remembrance of God, penitence and supplication, a resolute will of truthfulness, good thinking and rectitude and seeking the help of God.
Here is the center of true and pure monotheism. Here is the place where Abraham (A.S), The Friend of God, left as a memorial for all the true believers of the world throughout history a symbol of monotheism which is the subjugation of one's carnal desires and complete submission before the Divine command by bringing his beloved to the altar. Here is the place where Muhammad Mustafa (S.A) raised the flag of monotheism against the wishes of the arrogant and bullying elements and the wealthy of his time and deemed aversion to Taghoot along with belief in God as the condition for salvation: "Therefore whoever forsakes Taghoot and does believe in Allah, he shall grasp a most secure handle that never breaks" (2-256)
Hajj is the opportunity to review and revisit these great lessons. Disavowal from the infidels and aversion to idols and idolaters is the prevailing spirit of the believers' Hajj. Each and every corner of Hajj is a manifestation of devoting one's heart to God, striving in His name and path, disavowing from Satan, stoning and rejecting and standing against him. Each and every corner of Hajj is the embodiment of unity and solidarity among the believers where natural and contractual differences fade away and the significance of the true and monotheistic unity and brotherhood is upheld.
These are the lessons that we, the Muslims, from all parts of the world, have to learn; lessons on which bases we have to plan our lives and futures.
The Holy Koran refers to the strong stand against the enemies, compassion and kindness among the believers as well as courtesy and obedience to God as the three indications of an Islamic society.
"Muhammad is the Messenger of God, and his followers should be solid of heart against the disbelievers, but most compassionate amongst themselves; you see them bowing down, prostrating, imploring Grace from God" (48-29)
These are the three basic pillars necessary for the establishment of the glorious and dignified body of the Muslim Ummah.
Bearing in mind this fact, all the Muslim people can appropriately identify the ailments of the present Muslim world.
Today, the treacherous enemies of the Muslim Ummah are the organizers of the hegemonic centers and expansionist and aggressive powers which consider the Islamic awakening as a great threat to their illegitimate interests and their oppressive domination over the Muslim world. All the Muslim nations led by their political and religious authorities, intellectuals and national leaders need to form a united Islamic front against this invading enemy with full strength. They need to muster all the elements of power within themselves and properly strengthen the Muslim Ummah. Knowledge and insight, resourcefulness and vigilance, responsibility and commitment, confidence and hope in Divine promises, refraining from petty and trivial wants in order to attain the consent of God and abiding by the duties… are all the basic elements contributing to the sovereignty of the Islamic Ummah leading it to dignity, independence and material and spiritual progress and preventing the enemies from the attainment of their unlawful wishes.
Compassion among the believers is the second pillar and another indication for the desired status of the Muslim Ummah. Disunity and conflict among the parts of the Muslim Ummah are dangerous diseases which must be treated with all might. Our enemies have long been making great efforts in this area. Today, those who have become terrified due to the Islamic awakening have intensified their efforts. All that the caring people are saying is that the differences must not turn into conflicts and that plurality should not lead to belligerence.
The Iranian nation has named this year as the year of Islamic solidarity. This naming was used due to the awareness of the intensified plots hatched in order to sow the seeds of discord among our brothers. These plots proved to be effective in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and some people in these Islamic countries were instigated to oppose some of their own countrymen and to spill their blood. The traces of this conspiracy were visible in all these bitter and tragic incidents and people with keen sights noticed the hands of the enemy in them.
The command of "being compassionate amongst themselves" in the Holy Koran is tantamount to the extirpation of such pugnacities. In these glorious days and during the various rituals of Hajj, one may see Muslims from all over the world and from various faiths going around one single house, praying in the direction of one Qibla, stoning in unison the symbol of the rejected Satan, acting in the same way to sacrifice the carnal desires and passions and, in unison, practicing supplication during the Arafat and Mashar gathering places. The same closeness and togetherness is also visible among all the Islamic faiths in terms of the most basic religious percepts, regulations and beliefs. Therefore, why should the prejudices and prejudgments be allowed to kindle fire among them and why should the treacherous hands of enemies be allowed to stoke this ravaging fire?
Today there are some who, under false pretexts and due to their narrow-mindedness and lack of prudence, consider a great number of Muslims as infidels and even consider spilling their blood as lawful. Whether they are aware of it or not, they are in the servitude of idolatry, unbelief and arrogance. Many a person who used the term of infidelity for the reverence of the holy shrines of Muhammad the Great Prophet of Islam (S.A), the Pious and the Imams (PBUH) which is actually honoring religion and religiousness, became the servants of infields and oppressors and collaborated with them in attaining their wicked goals.
The real religious figures and scholars, committed intellectuals and sincere authorities must combat such perilous phenomena.
Today, Islamic unity and solidarity are definite religious duties which may be materialized and practiced through cooperation among the wise and caring people.
Formation of a fortified front against the Arrogant powers on one hand and compassion and convergence on the other are the two pillars of dignity. Accompanied by the third pillar which is comprised of the courtesy and obedience to God, these pillars enable the Muslim Ummah to tread steadfastly on the same path which led to the pinnacle of glory and dignity for Muslims during the very outset of Islam. Consequently, the Muslim Ummah will be saved from the humiliating backwardness which has been imposed on it in recent centuries. The precursor of this great move has emerged and the awakening waves are more or less on the move in the Muslim world. The media and propaganda belonging to the enemies try to attribute any freedom and justice seeking movement in any part of the world to Iran or Shiâism. They try to hold Iran, which was the first flagbearer of the victory of the Islamic awakening, responsible for the blows dealt to them by the zealots in the Muslim countries in the areas of politics or culture. The peerless epic of Hizbollah created in the 33-Day War, the prudent ressitance of the Iraqi nation which led to the formation of a parliament and a government not favored by the occupiers, the astonishing patience and perseverance of the legal government of Palestine and its self-sacrificing people and many other signs of the revival of Islam in Muslim countries are all accused of being linked to Iranism or Shiâism in order to impede the unanimous support of the Muslim world. However, such a ruse will not be able to withstand the Divine tradition which heralds the victory for the strugglers in the cause of God and the victory-bearers of the religion of God. The future belongs to the Muslim Ummah and each and every one of us may contribute to the nearness of that future proportionate to the amount of responsibility or capability we have.
Hajj rituals are a great opportunity for you fortunate Hajjis to prepare yourselves for this cause more than before.
I hope the Divine aid and the blessing of Hazrat Al-Mahdi, May God hasten His arrival, will be with you in this great aim.
Greeting to you
Peace of God and his blessings and bounties upon you
Sayyed Ali Al-Hosseini Al-Khamenei
4 Zil-Hajja, 1428
December 15, 2007
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2006 [actually 2005]
Hajj Message 1426
The Following is the Message of H. E. Imam Khamenei to the Hajj pilgrims from the whole world
2005/01/9 # [ Note: Hajj occurred twice in 2005]
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
"So when you have performed your devotions, then laud Allah as you lauded your fathers, rather a greater lauding" (2: 200)
Dear Muslim brothers and sister
The Hajj season is an occasion for hope and good tidings. On the one hand, the magnificence of solidarity among the travelers of the House of Unity raises hope in the hearts, and on the other, the refreshing of the souls through the blessing of the divine lauding gives the good tiding of the unbolting of gates of mercy. After the pilgrims have performed the rituals of Hajj, which are full of secrets and are brimful of lauding and humbleness, once again they are called to laud Allah. The reason for this stress is that lauding of Allah illuminates the saddened hearts, raising hope and granting light of faith to them. Once the heart is hopeful and faithful, it enables man to properly go through the slippery and challenging bottlenecks of life to reach the summits of material and spiritual perfection. The spirituality of Hajj lies in this very celebration of the praise of Allah which has been incorporated in each and every Hajj ritual. This auspicious spring must continue to simmer after the Hajj season and this accomplishment should go on.
In different fields of life man is a victim of his own negligence. Where there is negligence there is also ethical degeneration, intellectual distortion and spiritual decline. And it is this very degeneration that on its turn can cause the defeat of the nations and disintegration of the civilizations besides the destruction of the personality of individual human beings. Hajj is one of the best means of Islam for the elimination of negligence. As if the universality of this ritual imparts the message that the Muslim Ummah in their collective identity, besides the individual duty of every Muslim, are duty-bound to remove negligence from themselves.
The rites and rituals of Hajj provide us with an opportunity to temporarily give up servitude to and neglectful dependence on hedonism, caprice and comfort. The ihram (pilgrim's garb), tawaf (circumambulation), prayers, sa'i and woquf fill us with the celebration of the praise of Allah and bring us closer to the Divine sanctorum, embedding the joy of acquaintance with Allah in our hearts. On the other hand, the glory and grandeur of this unique congregation acquaints us with the reality of the great Islamic Ummah, which transcends the nations, races, colors and languages. This intertwined and harmonic congregation, these tongues all chanting a single word, these bodies and hearts all marching towards a single Qibla and these human beings representing tens of countries and nations all belong to a great unit and collection, that is, the Islamic Ummah.
As a matter of fact the Islamic Ummah has lived in negligence for a long time. Today's scientific and practical backwardness and inferiority in the fields of politics, industry and economy are the bitter fruits of the said negligence. Now, in the light of astonishing developments that have emerged or are emerging in the world, the Islamic Ummah must make up for the past negligence.
Fortunately, some of the phenomena of the contemporary era point to the beginning of this compensating move. There should be no doubt that the world of arrogance considers the awakening of the Muslims, Islamic unity, and progress of our nations in the fields of science, politics and innovation the greatest obstacle in the way of its international domination and hegemony and will confront them by all means. Our Muslim nations have the experience of colonialism and neocolonialism in front of them. Now, during the period of postmodern colonialism we should take lessons from those experiences and should not once again allow the enemy to dominate our destiny for a long time. During those bitter, black periods, the dominant Western powers employed all cultural, economic, political and military means to weaken the Muslim nations and countries and imposed disunity, poverty and ignorance on them. The negligence, laziness and indolence of many of our political figures and the irresponsibility of many cultural elites helped them and the result was the plunder of our wealth, humiliation and even denial of our identity and obliteration of our independence. We, the Muslim nations, grew weaker day by day while the expansionist, hegemonic plunderers became stronger and stronger day by day.
Thanks to the devotion of courageous strugglers and sincerity of the leaders in some parts of the Islamic world the waves of Islamic awakening are now spreading and the youth, elite and masses of many Islamic countries have been brought to the scene, exposing the bullying face of the domineering powers for many Muslim politicians and rulers. Hence once again the imperialist leaders are after new ploys to perpetuate and consolidate their domination over the Islamic world.
The slogan of advocacy of human rights and democracy is one of those ploys. Today, the Great Satan the embodiment of evil and cruelty against mankind has hoisted the banner of advocacy of human rights and invites the Middle Eastern nations to democracy. The democracy the US advocates for these countries means the installation of some timid, obedient lackeys through plot, bribery, and deceptive propaganda in an apparently popular, but inherently, American election, who will be the US agents in the realization of the nasty imperialistic objectives.
Top on the agenda of these objectives is the suppression of Islamist wave and isolation of Islamic values. All the propaganda and political means of the United States and other hegemonic powers are at work today to postpone and if possible suppress the Islamic awakening movement. The Muslim nations must be completely wakeful and vigilant today. The ulema, religious leaders, intellectuals, academics, writers, poets, artists, the youth and the elite all through wakeful and timely action must not allow the world-devouring US to begin a new period of colonial domination over the Islamic World.
The slogan of democratization is not accepted from the hegemonic powers that for many years have been the supporters of dictatorial regimes in Asia, Africa and the Americas. The claim of campaign against terrorism and violence is abominating when made by the promoters of Zionist terrorism and perpetrators of harshest kinds of violence in Iraq and Afghanistan. The claim of advocacy of civil rights by the devils, who have always praised and encouraged the crimes of a bloodsucking terrorist like Sharon against the oppressed Palestinians, is merely a blameworthy deception. The perpetrators of crimes in Guantanoma, Abu Ghuraib and clandestine prisons in Europe, the humiliators of the Iraqi and Palestinian nations and the promoters of the groups that in the name of Islam consider it permissible to shed the blood of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan do not have any right to speak of human rights. The American and British governments that permit the torture and even shedding of the blood of the accused on the streets and the eavesdropping of the telephone calls of the citizens without a judicial verdict do not have any right to introduce themselves as advocates of civil rights. The governments that have tarnished their contemporary history by production and employment of nuclear and chemical weapons do not have any right to consider themselves the custodians of nuclear non-proliferation.
Dear Muslim brothers and sisters
Today, the world, particularly the Islamic World, is going through a crucial juncture. On the one hand, the waves of awakening have permeated the entire Islamic World, and on the other, the bullying face of the United States and other arrogant powers has been unveiled. At the same time the move towards restoration of identity and sovereignty has begun in some parts of the Islamic World and in a country as magnificent as Iran the saplings of indigenous knowledge and technology have yielded fruit and the self-confidence that had transformed the social and political atmosphere in Iran has now spilled over to the environment of science and reconstruction. On the other hand the cracks of weakness and decline have appeared in the edifice of political and military permutation of the enemies. Today, Iraq on the one hand and Palestine and Lebanon on the other are an exhibition of weakness and helplessness of the US and Zionist false power. The US Middle Eastern policy has faced great obstacles in its primary steps and the failure of this policy has been turned into a tool against its planners.
Today is the day the Muslim governments and nations take the initiative and a great measure. Assisting the oppressed Palestinian nation, supporting the wakeful nation of Iraq and safeguarding the stability and independence of Lebanon, Syria and other countries of the region is a general duty, while the responsibility of the political, religious, and cultural elites as well as that of the national figures, the youth and the academics is heavier than others. Unity and sympathy among the followers of the Islamic schools of thought and avoidance of sectarian and ethnic differences should be the boldest slogan of these elites. Scientific endeavor, political liveliness, cultural effort and mobilization of all forces in these main arenas should be top on the anvil of their call.
The Islamic World does not need the flawed and frequently violated prescription of the West for democracy and human rights; democracy is inherent in the Islamic teachings and human rights is among the most outstanding themes of Islam. Knowledge should be learnt from anywhere and anybody, but the Islamic World should try not to remain a disciple for ever, rather must rely on its own talents and efforts for innovation and production of knowledge. The Western values that have led to the collapse of ethics and spread of revelry, violence, legalization of homosexuality and other such fiascos in their countries, can not be followed. Islam with its sublime values is the highest source of salvation for human beings. The elites of the nations shoulder the responsibility of rereading and promotion of these values.
The blind, savage terrorism, which is a pretext for the occupiers of Iraq to attack Islam and the Muslims and an excuse for the perpetuation of the military occupation of this Islamic country is rejected and condemned according to the Islamic teachings. The prime accused of these criminal events are the US army and its intelligence services and Israel whose immediate nasty objective is to influence the trend of formation of government in Iraq.
Dear Muslim brothers and sisters
Trust in God, belief in the definite promise of the Quran and consolidation of Islamic unity guarantee the accomplishment of all great objectives of the Islamic Ummah and the Hajj, with its rich, effective essence of celebration of the praise of Allah, and the great congregation of the Muslims during the Hajj rituals can be the starting point and the launching pad to march towards this comprehensive movement. And deliverance from the polytheist and arrogant leaders in saying and action during this worship should become a model for action and the first step in this line.
I beseech the Almighty God that He may grant success to the pilgrims and may the Imam of Time pray for all the Muslims.
Wassalam-u-Alykum Wa Rahmatullah
Seyed Ali Khamenei
9th January 2005
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2005
Hajj Message 1425
The Following is the Message of H. E. Imam Khamenei to the Hajj pilgrims from the whole world
2005/01/18 # [ Note: Hajj occurred twice in 2005]
In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful
O our people! Respond to Allah’s summoner and have faith in Him. He will forgive you some of your sins and save you from a painful punishment.’ (The Qur’an,46 :31)
Hastening in response to the Divine call with the cries of “Labbayk,” once again the devout have arrived by the House of the Beloved. The Hajj season has returned and, for the seekers of grace and spirituality, the road is open towards the summits of love and communion.
Right in front of you is the House of God, the cynosure of the hearts, and the plains of Arafaat and Mash‘ar are all set for the surging mainspring of remembrance of God and gnosis of the Divine. Mina and the Safa are poised to deliver their lessons of endeavor and effort for attainment of nearness to God and casting out of the Devil at Jamaraat.
The time is opportune for self-edification from the boon of the refreshing waterfalls of the Unity of God and the solidarity of the Ummah. Let the responding call of “Labbayk,” which you make while assuming ihram and entering the state of pilgrim sanctity, become firmly implanted in your heart. Let your Hajj journey, made in response to the Divine invitation to visit the holy precincts of the Beloved, be enriched to its utmost degree with thought and contemplation over the meaning and purpose of Hajj.
When performed with intelligence and understanding, the duty of Hajj is a source of grace for the individual pilgrim as well as for the great Islamic Ummah. It sets the pilgrim on the path of piety and spirituality and brings the Ummah closer to the goals of solidarity, honor and power.
The first step for the pilgrim is self-development. The rites of ihram, tawaf and salat, the sojourns at Arafaat, Mash‘ar and Mina, the rituals of the sacrifice, the symbolic stoning and head-shaving— all are expressions of the human being’s humbleness before God and cues for remembering Him, entreating Him, and seeking nearness to Him.
These rites should not be gone through in a casual manner. While performing them the pilgrim faring through the land of Hajj should constantly consider himself to be in the presence of God, the Exalted. In the midst of the pressing crowd, he should find himself alone in the company of the Beloved, while he communes with Him in prayer and supplication, opening his heart to Him and casting out from it the Devil and desire.
The pilgrim should cleanse his heart of the defilements of greed, envy, cowardice and lust, and thank God for His gifts of guidance and blessings. He must learn to train his heart for the struggle in His way, and dispose it to feel kindness for the faithful and dislike for the enemies and opponents of the truth. He should make a firm resolve to reform his own person as well as the world about him, and make a pledge with his God to work for the good of the world and the Hereafter.
The Hajj is nevertheless a collective maneuver. The Divine invitation to Hajj is meant to bring the faithful together, so that they may see themselves by the side of one another and experience this paradigm of oneness of the Muslim polity.
The Hajj is meant as a collective movement directed towards nearness to God as well as a collective repudiation of the devils of all kinds, human and demonic. It is a drill for the advancement of the solidarity of the Islamic Ummah and its relatedness. Never before to the extent of today has the Islamic Ummah stood in greater need of mutual brotherhood and outright repudiation of the polytheists and the arrogant imperialists.
At the present, the Islamic world is faced with an all-out siege, both on the economic and the technological fronts, as well as with a propaganda offensive and, most recently, with military occupation. The occupation of Palestine and the holy city of Quds have culminated in the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Zionist octopus along with the U.S. imperialism, vicious and despicable, now harbor plans for the entire region of the Middle East, as well as North Africa and the whole Islamic world. They have made the general awakening, which has breathed a new life into the Islamic Ummah, the target of their vengeance and spite.
The U.S. and Western imperialists have finally concluded that Muslim countries and nations, especially those of the Middle East, form the core of this awakening and resistance to their plans for global domination. They foresee that if they fail to control or suppress this Islamic awakening in the next few years with political and economic measures, through propaganda, and as the last resort through military aggression, all their plans for an absolute global hegemony and control of the most vital oil and gas resources, which make the sole powerhouse of their industrial machinery and cause of their material edge over the rest of humanity will come to nothing. If that happens, the big Western and Zionist capitalists, who are the real backstage actors of all imperialist governments will fall from the height of their power and their imposed domination over the nations.
Imperialist arrogance has deployed all its capabilities to this end. It has launched this fateful war, using political pressure on one front, threats of economic sanctions on another, employing propaganda tactics at one place and deploying bombs, missiles, tanks and troops in some other places, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, exactly as it did earlier in Palestine and Quds.
The most important tool of these predatory savages is the deceptive mask of hypocrisy they wear. They equip and dispatch their assassination squads to murder innocent persons and talk of waging war on terrorism. They openly support the bloodthirsty terrorist regime that has usurped Palestine, and label the defenders of Palestine who strive with their backs to the wall as terrorists.
They manufacture, supply and use nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. They have perpetrated such horrors as those at Hiroshima and Halabja and on the Iranian warfront during the imposed war, while they profess to be against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
They are themselves behind the dirty drug-trade mafia, but claim to be fighting the narcotics trade.
They make a display of support for science and globalization of science, and yet obstruct the development of science and technology in the Islamic world, considering the emergence of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes in Islamic countries as a mortal sin.
They talk of freedom and the rights of minorities while depriving Muslim girls of the right to education for the sin of wearing the Islamic scarf.
They speak glibly about the freedom of expression and belief, while counting every expression of opinion about Zionism as a crime. They ban the publication of many outstanding Islamic works and forbid even the publication of the documents retrieved from the U.S. spy-den in Tehran in the United States.
They rant about human rights, while they set up scores of torture centers, such as the ones at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, or maintain a conniving silence over such extraordinary enormities.
They talk about respect for all religions, while extending their support to such renegades as Salman Rushdie, who has been sentenced to capital punishment, and the BBC broadcasts sacrilegious statements against Islamic sanctities.
However, as a consequence of the insolent and foolishly reckless conduct of the U.S. and British rulers, this mask of deception and hypocrisy has been fractured. With their own hands they have stuffed the hearts of Muslim nations and youth with hatred for the arrogant imperialists. Should free elections be held today in any Muslim country, the people will definitely vote against the wishes of the U.S. and Britain.
Now we have the elections in Iraq in front of us. The meditated goal of these elections for the Iraqi people and their genuine leaders is the very opposite of the objective sought by the occupiers.
The Iraqi nation and leaders want to hold elections for establishing a popular government derived from the will of the people and for the sake of a free, independent and undivided Iraq. From their viewpoint, the elections are the means to ending military occupation and the political control of the U.S. and Britain. To them, the elections should put an end to the vicious presence of the Zionists, who have alighted on the banks of the Euphrates in the shadow of American arms and seem to have found some kind of a partial fulfillment of their garbled dream of a land extending “from the Nile to the Euphrates.” To them, the elections should provide for a transition from sectarian and ethnic conflict—itself incited by the malice of the common enemies—to brotherhood and national unity.
But the elections have a different objective within the fantasies of the occupiers. In the guise of popular elections, they want to impose on the people their own mercenaries, most of whom, on account of past connections with the Baath Party, are abject and docile puppets in the hands of the occupiers. With the assistance of these mercenaries, the occupiers seek to relieve themselves of the expenditures of military presence and to finance them at the cost of the Iraqi people and from their oil revenues.
In this postmodern colonialism, the foreign puppets are not appointed directly by the colonial power. Rather, the helm of the government is taken over by the puppets through the process of elections wherein the will of the people is superseded and set aside through fraud or with well-known stratagems. The façade will be that of a democracy, while in reality it will be the absolute dominance of aliens over the fate of a hapless people.
Now there are two great dangers which loom over the Iraqi elections. The first is that of outright fraud and manipulation of the popular vote—something which is a specialty of the Americans. If the Iraqi elite and the country’s educated and politically active youth, working day-and-night, are able to prevent such a fraud and succeed in bringing a popular government into power, there appears the prospect of a second danger: the danger of a military coup and imposition of another dictatorship over the destiny of the Iraqi nation.
This latter danger can also be forestalled with vigilance, timely alertness and courage of the proud and faithful people of Iraq and their genuine and venerable leaders. At this critical historic juncture whose outcome will affect their destiny for decades to come, they should make the utmost use of their faith, courage and solidarity, to hold sound countrywide elections fired with a spirit of enthusiasm and secure the election results with all the power they can command.
The Shiah-Sunni differences, or those between Arabs, Kurds and Turkemans, or those arising from any other kind of divisive grouping, are fostered only by the enemies. So also insecurity, which always makes an excuse for the emergence of dictatorship, is planned and promoted by the enemy’s intelligence services. Those who target Iraqi citizens and academic and political figures with their criminal assaults are not to be counted among warriors fighting oppressive occupiers for the sake of Islamic honor and independence.
Brothers and sisters who have assembled for Hajj! Muslim nations and governments!
Today, more than ever before, the Islamic world stands in need of solidarity, unity of purpose and the discipleship of the Quran.
On the one hand, the potential of the Islamic world for development and restitution of its honor and power are more evident than ever before. Throughout the Islamic world today the elite and the youth aspire for the restitution of the grandeur and glory of the Islamic Ummah. The hypocritical slogans of the imperialists have lost their charm and their foul intentions have gradually become exposed for the Islamic Ummah.
On the other hand, the world-eaters, who entertain hopes of global dominance are alarmed by the awakening of the Islamic Ummah and its unity. They regard them as the obstacle in the way of their destructive plots that they are striving to overcome.
Today is the time to foster brotherhood practically in all the spheres and as a deterrent against all the threats. Today is the time to work for bringing about conditions conducive to the establishment of the government of Imam Mahdi, may Allah soon bring about his noble appearance. Today is the time to respond to the Divine summons in all the walks of life. Today is the time to accustom our hearts to the chant of such Qur’anic verses as “Indeed the faithful are brethren,” and “Do not say to someone who offers you peace, ‘You are not a believer,’” and the verse “hard against the faithless and merciful amongst themselves.”
Let us realize our God-assigned duties whether it is with regard to the bombardment of Najaf, Falluja and Mosul, or the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean which has left tens of thousands of bereaved families, whether it is with respect to the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan or the chronicles of Palestine written everyday in blood.
We call on all Muslims to unite. This unity is neither directed against the Christians nor against followers of any other religion or creed. It is in fact a call for resistance to aggressors, occupiers and war-mongers. It is a call for carrying out the norms of ethics and spirituality, for the revival of rationality and Islamic justice, for scientific and economic progress and for the restitution of Islamic honor.
We remind the people of the world that Christians and Jews enjoyed complete peace and security in the city of Quds under Muslim rule during the era of the caliphate. But now that Quds and other territories are under the yoke of the Zionists and the Zionist crusaders, shedding the blood of Muslims is not considered an offence.
I call upon the dear Hajj pilgrims to remember God with humility and penitence, to read the Qur’an with thought and reflection, to attend regularly the congregational prayers, and to treat with kindness pilgrims from other countries, and I advise them to refrain from whiling away their time.
I pray to God to accept your worship and to grant you success and welfare. I invite everyone to pray for the personage of the Baqiyyatullah, may our souls be ransomed for him, and for the establishment of the just world government by him—he whom God has reserved for this task.
Was-Salamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh
Sayyid Ali Khamene’i
7th Dhul Hijjah,1425
18th January 2005
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2003
Leader's message to this year's Haj pilgrims
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei on Sunday issued a message to this year's Haj pilgrims on the threshold of the annual Haj rituals:
7 Feb 2003 #
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
The assemblage of Muslims in millions during the Haj ceremony is a unique phenomenon and a pure demonstration of greatness in our faith. Muslims from all over the world and from all walks of life gather together in the House of Allah and in the birthplace of Islam, where our great prophet was born. During these symbolic rites and demonstrations, Muslims learn how to tie their hearts to Allah, how to stay together soul and body, and how to rally around our common belief to one God. "Everything we do is about our unity and togetherness to curse Satan, disavow infidels and evil forces, prostrate before divine glory, profess and renew our obedience, and feel dignity and honor under the light of Islam, that never fades. The lessons we learn is about being together, Islamic fraternity, perseverance in the face of hardships and against enemies, freedom from all materialistic manifestations of life, and joining to the ocean of divine grandeur. "Haj symbolizes the model of behavior the Ummah must adopt to achieve happiness. Haj can be briefly interpreted as a purposeful and conscious journey of the entire Ummah in the same direction. Its theme is remembering the Almighty, and staying in harmony together. Its goal is to build a solid spiritual base for humankind to live a life of happiness and dignity:
Allah has made the Ka‘bah, the Sacred House, a [means of] sustentation for mankind, and [also] the sacred month, the offering and the garlands. . . (5:97).
"The Muslim Ummah must seek inspirations from the model of Hajj in building the foundation of an all-out and purposeful movement. This is a crucial responsibility of all Muslim nations and states. "Over the past century, Islamic nations have endured a life of pain and anguish. Colonialism and expansionist world powers inflicted heavy losses on Muslims. They looted their wealth and resources, making them the target of their most horrific oppressions and ambitions.
"As a result of these encroachments on Islamic Lands, Muslims fell captive to colonial powers economically, politically and culturally. During this period of sufferings, colonialists benefited much from the material and human resources of Muslim nations through war, brutality, violence and occupations.
"Years after, Islamic awakening movements began to emerge. The flags of liberation started to rise throughout the entire Islamic world, opening new horizons for freedom. Finally, Islam embraced victory, as Islamic Republic was proclaimed in Iran, and a new chapter was opened in the history of Islam.
"Obviously, world powers, with all their material resources and destructive forces, will never easily succumb. Muslim nations will have a long painful way to go. However, the future ahead of us is bright and the outlook is promising. If we follow this path persistently with vigor and perseverance, we can save the future generations from the humiliation of political, economic and cultural captivity and that time will come when they can experience a life of dignity and freedom under Islam.
"This is a path to scientific and knowledge campaigns. This is a path to political struggles, and this is a path of fighting for and defending our cause. And in these campaigns, Muslims become the defenders of dignity seeking to restore their rights. It is human conscience, which consciously and uncompromisingly endorses Muslims' Jihad for freedom, and it is the divine tradition that gives them the promise of final victory:
Those who are fought against are permitted [to fight] because they have been wronged, and Allah is indeed able to help them. (22:39)
"The world arrogance, which is a complicated network of oil and arms cartels, world Zionism, and puppet regimes, have now felt the threat from the spread of Islamic movements. They have hysterically mobilized their forces to attack Islamic nations. The manifestations of new offensives involving political, propaganda, military and terrorist campaigns, can be clearly seen in the behavior, words and aggressive remarks of the military cliques ruling the United States and the Zionist regime.
"Palestinian people continue to be the target of the most barbaric and brutal crimes of the Zionists. They are being massacred, tortured, humiliated, with their property being pillaged and their houses demolished, only because they have now found the courage and the motives to fight for the restoration of their inalienable and downtrodden rights after half a century.
"The people of Iraq are facing war threats, because the United States needs to be militarily present in Iraq besides the borders of Palestine, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria, in order to dominate the entire energy resources in the region, and control all Middle East countries.
"During the past year, Afghanistan suffered heavily with bombs, missiles and weapons of mass destruction poured on the Afghan population by the American and British forces. They have been forced to tolerate the bitterness of a foreign occupation, because the illegitimate interests of the United States have been defined in this way.
"There is no doubt that the United States and its allies will fail to achieve their goals, and once more the world will witness the collapse of another empire which is intoxicated with its evil power and whims. We saw how they miscalculated the situation in Afghanistan and Palestine. However, unless the Muslim Ummah -- Islamic states and nations -- make wise and bold decisions, once again they will suffer heavy losses, and pain.
"Following Sep. 11th attacks, which still remain a mystery, the United States staged a new round of its hysteric moves using its propaganda machines. They started their campaigns by flying the flag of democracy and anti-terrorism, uttering harsh rhetoric, and preaching Islamic nations on the consequences of the development of weapons of mass-destruction or chemical weapons. Don't they think that Muslims may have questions to ask: what government or companies gave all these weapons to the Iraqi regime? Your try to justify military action because you keep saying that Iraqis had 19,000 chemical bombs in their arsenals, used 13,000 of those bombs against Iranians, and now they are hiding the remaining 6,000 bombs. Who has provided all these chemical bombs and facilities for Iraq? Is there anybody else other than you and your allies who created this catastrophe in the history of mankind.
"Don't they ever think that they can not deceive Muslim nations with their rhetoric against terrorism and against an unknown group, while supporting widely the Israelis, who proved to be the most barbaric and dreadful terrorists of the world. With these costly campaigns and hysteria, the United States has now become the symbol of lie, deceit and deception before the public opinion in the entire Islamic world.
"The United States, with all its arrogance and illusions, has not been able to realize its goals in Palestine and Afghanistan, while suffering heavy spiritual and material losses. And Insha'Allah, the course of events will continue in the same direction. "Americans say they are going to overthrow Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi regime. They are lying. Their real intention is to control OPEC, dominate oil fields in the region, provide greater support to the Zionist regime, and redouble their conspiracies against Islamic Republic of Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. The people of Iraq -- their dignity, wealth, honor -- will be the first victim of such a scenario. If the Iraqi nation and neighboring countries remain vigilant, the alien forces can not accomplish their goals, Insha'Allah. "The World Arrogance knows that the lofty teachings is the main source of inspirations for all Islamic resistance or movements towards freedom. Therefore, the enemies, started worldwide psychological war against Muslims and Islam after Sept. 11th. Although, there was strong evidence suggesting the involvement of the underground Zionist networks in those terrorist acts, they never hesitated to point their fingers to Muslims and Islam. A number of Muslims in the United States and Afghanistan were taken captives and sent to their horrific prison cells. Charges against them were never proved, and no names ever announced. But, they continue their psychological war against Muslims and Islam, and it seems that they will not stop their campaigns in the foreseeable future.
"Islam is the religion of freedom and justice. A real democracy is a religious one, that must be founded on the strong pillars of faith and religious responsibility, as it has been experienced in our Islamic country. The kind of democracy we promote is much more reliable and popular than other democracies such as the one in the United States. The democracy that Americans claim they want to offer to Islamic and Arab nations will certain bring the same devastations and losses as their missiles and bombs did. Even a single date offered by the enemy can be contaminated by poison. The Muslim Ummah in Africa, the Middle East, and West Asia have experienced all these agonies and pains all these years.
"At this sensitive juncture and at this crucial time, the Muslim Ummah need, ever than before, to seek blessings from the great tradition of Haj: a movement that embraces our purpose and spirations; a movement of awareness and universality, guiding us by the lofty principles and teachings of the Holy Qoran and on the path of Islam, as Allah says:
Those who have faith fight in the way of Allah, and those who are faithless fight in the way of the Rebel. So fight the friends of Satan; indeed the stratagems of Satan are always flimsy.(4:76). And God, the Most High, says: Moses said to his people, ‘Turn to Allah for help and be patient. The earth indeed belongs to Allah, and He gives its inheritance to whomever He wishes of His servants, and the outcome will be in favour of the Godwary.’ (7:128)
Vassalamo-Aleikom-va-Rahmatollah
Seyed Ali Khamenei
Feb. 7, 2003
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2002
Message of His Eminence Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, Addressed to the Haj Pilgrims of the Holy Mecca
5 Dhul Hijjah 1422 - 29 Bahman 1380 - 19 February 2002 #
In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful.
All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. May blessings and peace be upon Muhammad, the Master of creation, upon the pure ones of his progeny and his dedicated Companions. May peace be upon all righteous servants of Allah.
Allah, the Exalted, says:
This ummah (community) of yours is a single ummah, and I am your Lord, so worship Me.
The desire of the pious, the delight of the devout, and a boon to the righteous—the Hajj season is back again, and a multitude have found way to this general feast. A dip into the lights of worship and reverence, a recollection of the reminiscences of the first era of Islam, a renewed quest for the tracks of salvation and honour that make this land a radiant sun on the distant horizons of history—these are the first rewards received here by the heart and mind of an eager and earnest traveler.
Here the bonds of attachment, of neglect and spiritual pollution are removed—albeit temporarily—together with the physical attires and adornments, and the white of the dress of ihram overwhelms the bodies and hearts with a sense of purity, elegance and oneness. The doors are opened, to see, listen and perceive that which is source of everlasting salvation. The buds of righteousness, knowledge and Islamic fraternity sprout, and the guiding hand of Allah becomes visible.
Here is the great camp of the Islamic Ummah, a drilling ground meant to produce godliness and fellowship with the people, and to liberate from false and profane identities and restore the real divine identity. Here is the site of the disavowal of the devil and Satan, and the place to join the hosts of the All-beneficent. Here is the place to renew the covenant to avoid the worship of Satan and to respond to the declaration that Allah and His Apostle repudiate the polytheists. Here is the site for self-expression of the one Islamic Ummah, and a stage for expression of the spiritual dignity and human power of Muslims.
These characteristics assume a greater prominence in our era and at this critical and sensitive juncture, which is one of confrontation between truth and falsehood and the forces of good and evil.
Today the call of the Prophet of Mercy resounds with greater power and clarity. The call of Islam, which is the summons to justice, freedom and salvation, echoes with a greater force. The gloomy spells of the night of injustice, arrogance and despotism on the one hand, and ignorance, superstition and deception on the other, make urgent, more than ever before, man’s need for the light of salvation and his thirst for justice, peace and brotherhood. Today, the celestial summons of “Come to the word common between you and us, that we worship none except Allah,” which is a repudiation of the idols of power and wealth and a clarion call to join the forces of resistance to injustice and oppression, draws the hearts of the victims and gives them hope and reassurance with the words “Indeed Allah is able to grant them victory.”
The Muslim nations are the first addressees of this Divine message. The Islamic world, east and west, surges with Islamic awakening and a reawakened sense of identity and dignity. The triumphant banner of Islamic honour and authority flies over Islamic Iran, and the oppressed Palestinian people, by taking resort in Islamic ideals, have darkened the horizons of Zionism covered with billowing clouds of despair and defeat. In Islamic countries, the youth have launched a struggle inspired by Islamic ideals and posed a great threat to the world’s aggressive and arrogant powers.
Despite the flood of false allegations and distortions of facts released by centers of Zionist and imperialist propaganda and directed towards Islam and its courageous and self-sacrificing votaries, the visage of genuine Islam taught by Muhammad—may Allah bless him and his progeny—has gradually become visible today for the world’s people. Gradually, they are finding out that Islam is a religion of justice, freedom and salvation, a creed of reason, thought and learning. Islam is a faith of life, but it regards a life devoid of honour, freedom and dignity as death. It is a creed of rationality; but it fights those who would masquerade sensuality as rationality, a device of those who would label God’s prophets as madmen. It is a religion of solidarity, brotherhood, and world peace; but it regards alliance between the oppressor and the oppressed and shaking hands with the executioner over the corpses of martyrs as treason. It is a religion of realism and objective calculation, but it considers it a sin to justify wrongdoing in the name of realism. It is a religion of unchanging laws, but it does not accept stagnation and slavish literalism. It is a religion of ijtihad and renewal of thought, but it rejects heretical innovation and syncretism. It is a religion of forgiveness and pardon, but it does not permit submission to injustice and humiliation. It is a religion of civilization, science and development; but it rejects as ignorance a science that serves as the means of enslavement of nations and mass destruction and denounces as barbarism a civilization that serves as the tool of abasement of human beings. It is a religion of jihad, but it does not consider a war devoid of logic and waged merely for domination as jihad. It is a religion of honour, power and sovereignty, but it does not make them a basis for justifying ignoble means.
Islam protects the rights of human beings and their inviolability. It provides a guarantee for the fulfillment of moral values and merits. It is a votary of peace and security. The ugliest and the most unmanly of allegations are leveled against it by those who label Islam as a danger to human rights, civilization and security, and who make them a means of justifying their oppressive domination over Muslim nations.
Muslim nations! Scholars of religion!Intellectuals!Youths and self-respecting people of the Islamic world!
The Islamic Ummah is today a target of all kinds of threats and allegations. Amuck imperialism led by the US regime, and pandered and incited by the Zionist regime, exploits the division and separation between Muslim nations. The uprising of the Palestinian nation and the proud banner of the Intifada have enraged and frightened the political strategists of imperialism, inciting them to insolent moves and frenzied saber rattling. The events of September 11 in New York have provided an excuse for the mounting highhandedness of the White House and the unprecedented crimes of the Zionist regime in Palestine. After the catastrophic American operations in Afghanistan, the sinister militaristic countenance of the US government threatens the world more than ever before with insecurity, war and bloodshed. The war against terrorism and support for ‘peace’ in the Middle East have become pretexts for US violence and militancy and a disguise for domination over other nations and encroachment on their vital interests and resources.
It is indeed an ugly joke that the promoter of most acts of terrorism, the divisor of most coup d’etats, the producer of the most lethal of weapons, the patron of the most dangerous terrorists, should claim to be the leader of the rightful international war on terrorism! And it is indeed the most vulgar of ironies that the massacre of Palestinian men, women and children, the destruction of their homes and their expulsion from their ancestral homeland should be styled as the defense of peace!
Islamic Iran is charged by the rulers of the White House of undercutting the Middle East peace process. They are unaware that unjust aggression against the rights of the Palestinian nation and the usurpation of their homeland—actions which are misleadingly called ‘peace’—do not need to be undermined by any state to end in failure and defeat. This unjust process is intrinsically condemned to collapse and failure. The present awakening of the Palestinian nation, informed as it is with a spirit of self-respect and sacrifice, is one of its sure signs.
Islamic Iran will not set aside the banner of Islam as a creed of self-respect, clarity of vision, freedom and salvation, due to the bullying threats of the imperialists. Islamic Iran considers terrorism as the enemy of human welfare and it has itself paid a heavy price in its struggle against terrorists reared by the United States and Israel. Islamic Iran will not be daunted by the threats of imperialism or frightened by its scowling visage. The Iranian nation and government have a great regard for their bold, independent and wise policies, which are a legacy of the great Imam Khomeini. The impressive march of February 10 (22 Behman) this year staged by the Iranian people was a sagacious response to the nonsense of those who dreamt of creating or publicizing a fissure between the people and the Islamic order, or between the principal constituents of the system. The Iranian people and government denounce America’s threatening postures and its war-mongering, which are evidence of barbarism and bellicosity. They consider the infirm logic and hawkishness of this government as a sign of fundamental and deep-seated infirmities and flaws in the foundations of the oppressive imperialist system.
The Iranian people and government invite the brotherly nations to solidarity and extend them a friendly hand. The ulema, intellectuals, statesmen and the Muslim world should rehearse the lessons of solidarity, steadfastness and understanding for their peoples and prepare the sturdy youth of this generation for confronting great events, for carrying the burden of a great trust, of laying the foundations of a united monolithic Ummah of Islam.
The Hajj is the starting point and a perennial source for this momentous and blessed struggle.
I beseech Allah, the Exalted, to enable you all to return to your homelands with rich rewards of spirituality and gnosis, and to bless the Muslim Ummah with the prayers of the Great Wali of Allah.
Was-Salamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh
Sayyid Ali Khamene’i
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2001
Leader's Hajj Message (3.3.2001)
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent a message to the annual Hajj congregation here Sunday.
Mecca, March 4, 2001 #
In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful
All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. May blessings and peace be upon our Master, Muhammad, and the pure ones of his progeny.
Allah, the All-wise, says in the Qur'an: This ummah (community) of yours is a single ummah, and I am your Lord, so worship Me.
Once again the Hajj season is back with its great pageant held yearly in the land of revelation and prophethood, once more with its wonderful and inspiring scenes. Like an ocean it receives the torrential streams of Muslim nations from all over the world, giving a concrete expression to the solidarity and amity of the one ummah under the banner of tawhid. The common sentiments of this huge congregation express the hopes, needs, problems and capacities of the great Islamic ummah.
The Hajj grounds are now playing host to visitors from Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, the Indian subcontinent, North Africa, Turkey, Bosnia, and from all over Asia and Europe. Their eager hearts may be spokesmen of the heart of the Islamic ummah. Of the purposes of Hajj is to bring about this nearness and exchange within the worldwide Muslim community.
The bond that connects all these hearts is the message that was first proclaimed in this land. It then spread throughout the world and history. It is the message of tawhid and wahdah, the unity of God (tawhid) and the unity of the Muslim ummah (wahdah). Tawhid means negation of the lordship of tyrants and despots and rejection of the supremacy of wealth and might. The wahdah is expressive of the honour and power of Muslims. More than anything that may be said or written, the hajj rehearses this eternal message every year in the form of its great congregation and sends it out to Muslims all over the world. Once again in the Hajj season it makes every Muslim, whatever part of the world he may inhabit, recognize the fact that the prestige, all-round success and welfare of Islamic countries can be attained only under the light of these two principles: tawhid in all its individual, social and political aspects, and wahdah in its correct, feasible sense in the contemporary world.
In the great Hajj congregation of this year one may receive scores of sweet and bitter reports from dozens of Islamic countries. Each of these messages creates responsibility for other brothers, and together they set in perspective before us the realities faced by the great Islamic ummah.
There is the message of the people of Iraq, who face adversity, poverty and humiliating conditions due to the wrongdoings of foreign intervention and the disruption caused by it, as well due to the dictatorship and unwisdom of its rulers. There is the message of the people of Afghanistan, the fruits of whose past struggles have been cast to the winds by prejudice and shortsightedness, making this nation a victim of a mindless belligerent group. There is the message of the people of Bosnia whose Islamic identity is threatened by the policies of de-Islamization pursued by the Americans and their allies, subjecting their national sovereignty to gradual destruction. There is the call of the people of Palestine who have firmly held up the proud banner of the Intifada and blunted the sword or Zionist oppression and cruelty with the blood of their youth. There is the message of the glorious resistance of the people of Lebanon, who have turned to a jest the myth of the invincibility of the usurpers of Palestine, making them swallow humiliation and ignominious defeats. There are the messages from the nations of Central Asia, East Asia, Africa, the Muslim minorities in Europe and the United States, each of which bring reports of their joys and sufferings, success and hardship. Ultimately there is the message of the proud people of Iran, who with all their endurance, resourceful faith, and daily accumulating experience in confronting hostilities and plots, convey to their admirers and enthusiasts their unshakable determination to establish an ideal Islamic society.
The Islamic Ummah is presently experiencing these victories and reversals.
The Muslim governments and nations have a great responsibility in relation to these facts. The Islamic world is passing through a critical phase in its history. Admission of this responsibility and commitment to it can close a sorry chapter of weakness and misfortune in the history of Islam and inaugurate another chapter of the prestige and greatness of the Islamic world and its material and intellectual glory.
The Western world, which has been an aggravating agent of the weakness and backwardness of the Islamic countries, is itself entrenched in great and insoluble problems. The corrosive influences of materialism and capitalism on the foundations of that materialistic civilization have become gradually evident. Step by step they expose the chronic maladies that have remained hidden under the glitter of industry and capital, giving warnings of an imminent crisis.
A gentle breeze of awakening caresses the bruised and vexed face of the Islamic world. The signs of this awakening are visible in its different parts, especially in the heroic Iran and in Lebanon and Palestine as well. The glow of hope illuminates the hearts of the youth everywhere. The spell of indignity and the domination of the West has been broken. This opportunity has not been obtained easy and cheap. Thousands of precious lives have been sacrificed for its sake. The road ahead is still a long and arduous one, but is one which is without any uncertainty.
At the present moment the people of Palestine have taken up a great share in opening this road and in advancing on it. We should all assist that brave and oppressed nation. Other nations and governments can fulfill their role in advancing on this road by helping the heroic people of Palestine.
The biggest weapon against this rising tide of awakening in the hands of the arrogant enemy, whose illegitimate interests are threatened by the awakening of the Islamic ummah, is that of psychological warfare. It consists of creation of despair and hopelessness among Muslims, affronts to Muslim identity, flaunting of its material power and capacities. Thousands of propaganda means are active today, and so will be tomorrow, to make Muslims lose hope in their future and to allure them towards a future that suits the enemy's evil intentions. This cultural propaganda and psychological warfare have been the West's most effective tool in its bid to dominate Islamic countries. The targets of this barrage have been the intelligentsia and educated elite in the first place, and then the mass of the people. Struggle against this ploy is not possible except by rejection of the West's domineering and self-imposing culture. Western culture needs to be fractionalized and separated by the intelligentsia and the elite. Its useful elements may be absorbed and its harmful, destructive and corrupting elements need to be wiped out from the mind and practice of Islamic societies. The criterion of judgment in this prodigious process of purification is the Islamic culture and the fruitful, guiding and resourceful ideas of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. This is a basic part of the all-round and promising struggle that lies in front of the scholars of religion, the intelligentsia and the political elite throughout the Islamic world.
With the hope that the hajj this year will make everyone more resolute in advancing on this worthy and blessed path, I plead to Allah, the Most Exalted, to bless all the pilgrims with the performance of a hajj worthy of His acceptance, and to enable them to profit from the blessings and barakaat of this matchless observance. I invoke blessings on the Baqiyyatullah, (the Imam al-Mahdi), blessings as vast as Divine mercy and beneficence, may Allah appoint an early breakthrough for him and may our souls be ransomed for him whose auspicious presence is expected in this yearly ceremony, and I pray to Allah to grant the supplications and prayers of all the pilgrims.
Was-Salamu alayhi wa alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh
Ali al-Husayni al-Khamene'i
6 Dhul Hijjah, 1421, 12 Isfand, 1379 (3 March, 2001)
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2000
Message to the Hajj pilgrims of the Muslim Ummah (15.3.2000) #
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
"And (remember) when Ibrâhim and Ismâ’il were raising the foundations of the House, (saying), "Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us. Verily, You are the All-Hearer, the All-Knower." (al-Baqarah:127) Dear Muslim brothers and sisters, Hajj Pilgrims of the Muslim Ummah Salamun Alaykum va Rahmatullah! When the great propagators of Tawhid (Monotheism), Ibrâhim (A.S.) and Ismâ’il (A.S.) were laying the foundations of the Ka’bah in the remote and arid valley and foothills, even the most farsighted eyes could not anticipate that such a place would turn into the center of faith, hope and focus of hearts and souls. Today, the Ka’bah is the spiritual center of the Muslim World and the House for the greatest annual congregation of the Muslim Ummah. The Ka’bah is the spring of love and hope, an ocean of greatness and trust, and, at the same time, the meeting point of great nations and communities. The sincerity of its founders and approval of the Almighty Allah have turned that seed into such a fruitful and great tree.
But is the Muslim Ummah taking advantage of this bountiful source, as it should? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is appalling and deplorable. Today, the Muslim World is being deeply afflicted by chronic illnesses, the most significant of them could be summarized into the following ten points: political and religious strife; weakening of bonds of morality and faith; scientific and technological backwardness; political and economic dependence; indulgence and lavish life-styles and arrogance along with poverty, hunger and degradation; weakening of self-confidence and hope for future among leaders; isolating religion and separating it from politics and daily life; lack of creativity for new understandings based on the infinite source of the Holy Qur’an; surrendering before the imposed western cultural onslaught; and the Muslim dignity being trampled due to degradation and greed of some political leaders.
These chronic illnesses — some of which are caused by others and all of them have been created in the course of time through treason, lack of will, ignorance and dictatorship of internal elements or out of enmity, cruelty and satanic acts of foreigners — have inflicted the greatest blows upon the Muslim Ummah. Failures in the Muslim World result from those problems and the only way to achieve happiness and success is to overcome these obstacles.
Today, the natural wealth of the Muslim World is being plundered. The precious intellectual and cultural resources are intentionally covered under false cultural propaganda attacks, and young talents and minds are taken out, or their energy is wasted in political and military conflicts. Carelessness and moral degradation are being injected into the life, education and sport activities of the youth, using the most advanced means of communication. The oil of the Muslim World is increasing the wealth of oil companies and treasuries of alien countries; hence the enemies of Islamic countries, rather than the countries themselves, are getting wealthier each and every day. All this is happening while in the heart of the Muslim World and in various parts of Asia, Africa and Europe, millions of Muslims are facing the lashes of cruelty of infidels, and Palestine and Lebanon are being burnt in the fire of the Zionists’ brutality. And none of these sufferings and hardships induces statesmen and intellectuals of the Muslim Ummah to work out a solution.
All this happens while valuable resources are available everywhere to help us establish a new situation, and while the necessary means and motivation for changing this situation exist in all Islamic countries. Today, we can hardly find an Islamic country whose youth are not feeling strong Islamic zeal and motivation, and whose people are not inclined to keep their faith seriously while at the same time feeling concerned about their present situation and looking forward for a better Islamic World.
The most important obstacle for the activation of the existing potentials is that the political power inside these countries is not oriented towards these desires and expectations. In some cases, the weak, dependent, dictatorial or suppressive governments cannot catch up with the great Islamic aspirations of their people. Also, such governments are blind to the glory of the Muslim World and its great impacts upon world events; therefore, each Muslim nation finds itself alone in front of pressures exerted by anti-Islamic arrogant powers and therefore is unable to confront their political propaganda onslaught and possible military threats. Finally, the practical and objective experience of Islamic sovereignty in the present era, i.e. the Islamic Republic of Iran, has been blurred by thick clouds of hostile propaganda; hundreds of audio-visual and printed mass media and thousands of surrogate minds and pens are working each and every day to distort realities, magnify weaknesses or failures and deny any success and progress.
A lot of these obstacles burdening the Muslim nations will be removed if Muslims understand the great power of Hajj and take the best advantage of this important annual meeting and the center of congregation. The Hajj occasion can clearly demonstrate the glory and spiritual strength of the Muslim World to pilgrims from different countries and can provide a unique opportunity for the meaningful cooperation among various Muslim nations. During the Hajj season, Muslims can obtain accurate news from their brothers and put away the hostile propaganda cover created by enemies of the Muslim World. They can also make use of the spirituality of the Sanctified House of Allah to produce concerted and sincere efforts to return to Islamic sovereignty and achieve dignity and independence and make efforts to bring about major developments in their countries. Establishing Islamic sovereignty in Islamic countries is an auspicious but difficult task. The next stage is to take care of this newly established Islamic State and to safeguard and nurture it materially and spiritually — a task which is difficult and requires a more persistent effort.
In Islamic Iran, this newly established Islamic State has faced various overt and covert hostilities; nevertheless, praise to Allah, it has reached the stage of independence, stability and growth. Of course, hurricanes of hostility, launched by the malicious centers of arrogance and anti-Islamic powers, are still surrounding it from all sides. The long-awaited phenomenon faced hostile and hastened enmity from all arrogant world powers because it was the first example in the contemporary world and could turn into an ideal model for other countries, thus jeopardizing the interests of the United States, the Zionists and other world devouring powers. Instigating ethnic and communal conflicts inside the country was the first step which was followed by activating mercenaries of the ex-regime, preparing military coups, and finally persuading a neighboring country to launch a devastating massive attack along the 1300-km-long border. Each of these acts was sufficient to overthrow a national government; yet, the Islamic Republic of Iran was not merely a national government but in fact a foundation laid upon the basis of the peoples; faith and deep beliefs. The war imposed by the treacherous neighbor lasted 8 years and even though America's efforts succeeded in creating distrust and suspicion against us among some of our neighboring countries, who provided unlimited assistance to the enemy, at last the aggressor retreated while it was exhausted, poor, and defeated.
During the 21-year-long existence of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the mass media empire of arrogant world powers waged a continuous propaganda war against us, with a view to mobilize the world public opinion against the Islamic government. Using vast resources of Zionist capitalists, the foreign policy apparatus of the United States and its security system did their utmost in imposing economic sanctions and confronting the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in each and every field. All over the world, scores of terrorist grouplets and clusters of political mercenaries, composed of traitors and aided by large amounts of funds and promises of enemies, tried to overthrow the Islamic system. Hundreds of our noble people, who fell victim of mean criminal acts of the mercenaries and became martyrs, have marked the history of our revolution, which has endured all the hardships and is moving towards glory and perfection.
In a summary, it is more than 20 years that our enemies, led by the U.S. and Zionism, have not left a single stone unturned to confront this newly established Islamic Republic; in spite of that, all along this period the Islamic Republic has fully utilized every chance and opportunity to grow and move towards stability and perfection. Today, stronger than ever, the Islamic Republic of Iran is proclaiming Islam, Islamic unity and dignity, making our enemies completely disappointed, divided and confused.
Today, even years after the demise of the great architect and founder of this lofty institution, Imam Khomeini (R.A.), the Islamic Republic of Iran is still following the goals and objectives laid down and cherished by its great founder. The honor of this stability and power belongs, first and foremost, to Islam and its life-inspiring guidelines, and secondly to the Iranian nation who stepped forward in the path of Islam with firm beliefs, offered great sacrifices with sincerity, and defended its achievements with forbearance.
It is obvious that if we, the responsible officials of the Islamic Republic, had not shown weaknesses and if we had not committed justified or unjustified omissions, today the Islamic Republic would have been much closer in attaining its goals and objectives under the guidance of lofty, divine Islamic principles and teachings.
As always, today the main propaganda tricks of the arrogant world power are to show that the Iranian nation and the Islamic government have given up their desired goals. This is a malicious lie to disappoint all those who cherish Islamic sovereignty all over the world, as well as to weaken the determination of our young generation in Iran. It is in this background that they are celebrating the outcome of the 21st general elections of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Parliament). While admitting democracy in Iran, they are not yet ready to acknowledge the popular participation of Iranian masses throughout the existence of the Islamic Republic in Iran. They are having reservations in admitting that the same kind of popular elections were held four years ago to elect the members of parliament as well as the last presidential elections held three years ago.
They are hoping, in vain, that opponents of the Islamic sovereignty and supporters of restoring domination of Iran to arrogant powers would take control of power. This is the same misinterpretation and wishful thinking that led the U.S. and its mercenaries to fail many times in their challenges with the great power of Islam and the strong will of Iranian people. Relying and trusting in the Almighty Allah, with deep and unbreakable faith in the divine, life-inspiring guidelines of Islam, with complete recognition of the great nation to whom I belong and have spent all my life and spending the remaining years of my life, I hereby assure all friends and enemies that our great nation is determined to follow the path of Islam until it achieves its goals, and that this nation is committed to demonstrate to the world that dignity, growth, material & spiritual progress, and lofty human ideals will be obtained only through practicing Islam and the Holy Qur’an in all aspects of life.
The United States of America should better stop thinking that Iran would return to its fold of domination, that desire of Muslim people for lofty causes and sovereignty of Islam could be subdued in Islamic countries, that Palestine would be left to the racist and blood-shedding Zionists, who could easily get away with it, and that they could decrease the wave of hatred spreading against them fast throughout the Islamic World. If this point could be recognized by all the Islamic states, then the dignity of Islam would become manifested throughout the Islamic World, and the Hajj congregation will become a genuine, permanent source of power for Islam, and natural resources of the Muslim World would serve the Muslim nations and the rich, life-inspiring Islamic culture would have the opportunity to bless the mankind.
I implore the Almighty Allah to bring that day closer to us; I call on all respectable Hajj pilgrims to pray for the salvation of Muslims in this world and for the divine help to the combatant nation of Iran; I also ask all dear Iranian Hajj pilgrims to make endeavors for attaining spiritual bounties, to show self-restraint and unity, to participate in congregations, and to strive for spiritual and moral achievements.
Vassalamu Alaykum va Rahmatullah
Seyyed Ali Khamenei
Dhul Hajjah 3, 1420
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1999
Leader's message to this year's Hajj
The supreme leader of islamic revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's message to this year's hajj:
26.03.1999 #
in the name of god, the beneficent, the merciful. praise be to god, the lord of all the world and salutation and peace be upon his trusted, noble messenger, and his immaculate progeny and chosen companions. once again the memorable days of hajj are with us and the divine caller is summoning the eager souls of the faithful towards the mecca of all hopes, bringing some fortunate souls together from every corner of the world for an assembly at a blessed sanctuary which has witnessed abraham's (peace be upon him) call to unity and mohammad's (may peace be upon him and his posterity) call to islam. it is an auspicious occasion for the elect pilgrim of the great and singular islamic ummah to take a searching look at its ways to rectitude and salvation, and to discern the truth manifested at this universal congregation divorced from the walls of ethnic, racial or linguistic prejudices. amongst many great lessons that may be drawn from such a contemplation and introspection, two stand out more conspicuously: a) the wealth of treasures and bountiful assets possessed by the islamic ummah, on the one hand and b) the extreme dangers threatening this immense trove of treasures on the other. this bountiful asset and wealth of treasures of the islamic ummah encompasses the islamic ideology, its explicit teachings and clear-cut instructions, and its solemn wholesome, comprehensive injunction for man's life. islam is inviting each and every member of the human races to cleanse oneself from all evil and every weakness, meanness and impurity inwardly through the presention of a wise and profound perception of man and universe, advocation of pure monotheism, sound ethical and spiritual teachings, establishment of all-embracing social and political norms and individual and people's observance of divine obligations and practices in order to illuminate his soul with the radiance of faith, purity, detachment, sincerity, love, hope and happiness and also to purge his external world from all vestiges of poverty, ignorance, discrimination, backwardness, inertia, oppression, imposition, humiliation and deceipt. in order to provide for the desired, happy life of humankind, it is necessary, even inevitable, for man to benefit from moral values that cleanses him from evils and abominable deeds. through collective action and endeavors in social arenas his determination is fortified to help him stand and guard against inevitable nature and the guardians of oppressive and arrogant regimes. islam helps man to provide for himself a truly blissful life and guides him to the straight path of god, by defining the meaning of life and existence, and showing the right direction. all islamic injunctions, laws, codes, norms inclusive of all of its principal guidelines in political, economic and social areas together with its individual, devotional obligations are complementary parts of one prescription leading to a tranquil and blissful life for humanity. and immortal rites at the congregation of hajj are in fact the the true symbols of fusion of the spiritual transcendance and inner sublimity of muslims that has been nurtured through their harmonious, coordinated, collective efforts. the pilgrimage with its magnificient mysterious mystical rites, is a blend of glory, might, humility, humbleness, and expression of both internal and external jihad of purification of deeds. it is the continuous struggle in subjugating the inner man in the process of true purification of the soul and that of his outer world that prepares the pilgrim for the greater tasks that lay ahead of him. today many communities have sunk into the quagmire of spiritual vacuity, bewilderment and aimlessness that has trapped them into endless difficulties and conflicts. individuals in the society are caught in world materialist and power maze. they are in dire need of islamic ideology, teaching and guidance. a call to islam, therefore is captivating, hope-inducing, and impelling not only to the nations burning in the flames of poverty, deprivity and impotency, but probably more so to the people in the wealthier, industrialized countries who are perpetually deeply entrapped in the mires of spiritual vacuity, bewilderment and nothingness. according to available research, the ever-growing tendency of the people in these advanced, western countries towards islam especially among their younger generations who are frustrated with the vacuity of their material world is a great indicator of the spiritual trend of growth. precise recognition and proper appreciation of the bountiful assets and wealth of treasures of the world of muslims, muslims will be made capable of bringing about real transformation in their community and help rescue muslim nations from the current impotency, dependence, backwardness and denudation. once upon a time as a consequence of certain deviasive thoughts and ill-intentions of the enmities, islam was made to appear that it could only be practiced within the four walls of the mosques and minbars (preaching platforms) and that it was valuable in the matters related to private life and purification of individual's inner-self. colonial powers, governments and despotic regimes in order to sell out their satanic conspiracy of separation of powers, promulgated the idea `the separation of religion from politics' as an excuse to to silence the muslims, quell all the islamic uprisings and suppress societies which rose to bring about reforms. according to their concept, "islam has no voice over any of the aspects in the economic, political and international issues and social challenges. with the triumph of the islamic revolution in 1979, today the islamic republic in iran has successfully overcome all designs and plots, political, economic and military, single-handedly. iran has not only resisted the onslaught of the powerful front of unbelief, arrogance and tyranny, but has also foiled all forms of conspiracies by the united states, world zionism and their allies that tried to either destroy the bases of the islam republic or lead it astray with all their might. today, we are observers to the great strides taken in the direction of the establishment of solid foundation of the islamic sovereign state and achievements in the social, economic, political and cultural areas during the last two decades. all those false concepts have been proved to be futile. the islamic republic, after a long hard march, going through numerous obstacles set up by the arrogant, oppressive international powers, after victory in an eight-year military confrontation and many other political, economic security and propaganda battles, has shown its mettle in administering the affairs of a large country. in addition, it has proved its capablity in mobilizing the masses of the people, in foreseeing and confronting great events and in its successful presence in the international scene. the islamic republic has also shown its competence and genius in the areas of construction and reconstruction, despite many hostile international confrontations and without receiving any political or economic assistance from others. the other accomplishment of the islamic republic of iran include the strengthening, acceleration and the reawakening movements among the islamic nations, which have resulted in certain great achievements of the muslims throughout the world. the reawakening process is perpetually gaining momentum in dignity and power everywhere in the world of islam. today islam takes more pride at its newly revived position than before. it is showing its powerful presence everywhere, kindling the flames of hope in the souls of contemporary mankind. such is the boutiful asset and wealth of treasures of the islamic ummah. thanks to the blessed victory of islam in iran. yet there are great dangers ahead in the way of exploiting this everlasting asset. the two lurking perils that threaten the muslim world are, what may be termed as the internal hazards and the external threat. the internal peril is the old enemy that has often taken the shapes of a distorted conception of islam, dogmatism, obscurantism, alienation, eclectic tendencies, hopelessness, spiritual weakness, skepticism, or a combination of all or some of these factors. the enlightened progressive people of iran, under the leadership the late great leader, imam khomeini, were made able to overcome and defeat this internal enemy completely thus paving the way for many victories at various political and military fronts for establishing an islamic, republican sovereign state in iran besides fighting for its survival for some two decades. yet as long as external enemy is actively confronting islam and islamic republic, the danger exists that the internal enemy may be brought back to life, and this is a threat which is taken most seriously by the responsible leaders and officials in this country. we have termed this the enemy's `cultural encroachment' and have often warned our people, specially our youth, about it and have asked them to combat it ceaselessly. the external enemy is thus manifested by the accumulated efforts of all our enemies through the exploitation of every political weapon, all news media and publicity channels, and security instruments at their disposal for awakening the enemy within, that is, to revive the internal enemy. in fact, today the whole financial-military empire, headed by the united states of america, is utilising all the available resources not only to greatly minimize but effectively curtail the constructive influence of the islamic republic of iran in the world of islam. the american regime and the international, zionist network, having been frustrated by the failure of their economic and military confrontations with the islamic republic, have now embarked upon intensified their political and publicity campaigns to influence the minds and souls of world muslims, who are sympathetic to iran. their satanic goal is particularly aimed at frustrating the faithful, iranian people. their intention is to make the islamic republic, the very symbol of islam's comprehensiveness, adopt a defensive position and become deprived of taking initiatives in its confrontation with the enemies; to achieve this evil purpose, they hypocritically and demagogic accuse the islamic republic of violating human rights, freedoms and liberties, women's rights and sponsoring terrorism. the american government speaks of `human rights', while they themselves, in their arrogant dealings with weaker nations, have the most abominable record of the violation of human rights. they claim to `combat terrorism' while they have some of the most dangerous terrorists under their protection. in american political idiom of judgment, the palestinian and lebanese refugees, who fight against the occupiers of their homes are labelled as `terrorists. the zionist terrorists who are incessantly launching military attacks against lebanese towns and villages, who torture the palestinian prisoners by the most medieval methods, and who demolish palestinian homes and set up zionist settlements in their places, are `not terrorists' but people worthy of receiving billions of dollars in aid. they speak of `democracy' when they support some of the most despotic regimes in different regions of the world. they speak of `freedom and liberties' while they cannot tolerate the slightest example of free speech with regard to the nature of the zionist regime, and its increasing atrocities and cruelties against other peoples, neither do they tolerate such criticism in their own country, nor anywhere else. they speak of `women's rights' while american women are being ever harassed and humiliated at home and in the office. they always boast of being the standard-bearers of `democratic participation' in government, but whenever and wherever the muslim people establish a government, they try to crush them with all their might and support any military coup or political conspiracy to oust the muslim people from governing themselves. in american political jargon of `judgment', a sovereign state as that of the islamic republic, being a unique model of the strongest ties between the people and their government, whose constitution, every legal organ and establishment have been decided on free will and the free election of its people, is `undemocratic'! however, some of the most tyrannical autocracies whose people have never known any election, polling or the rule of law, are acceptable to them in the least objectionable ways! the islamic republic that has never attacked another country is not allowed to possess even conventional weapons classified as `non-nuclear weapons'. however, it is legal to usurp and freeze spare-parts of aircraft and helicopters already paid for. super saturating the persian gulf region with all sorts of unnecessary weapons and fighters, and the arming to the teeth the zionist state with all forms of nuclear weapon and other chemical weapons of mass destruction is regarded as a defensive measure. in the american jargon of publicity logic and the zionist media, the execution of heroin smugglers is a violation of human rights, but the kidnapping of the lebanese people and bombarding and the massacre of homeless villagers who have run away from their blasted homes, have no relevance at all to respecting human rights! if you help oppressed muslims in the balkan, it is against international norms, but staging military coups by the cia and mossad in different countries is respecting international norms. assisting the iraqi regime when it has attacked iran and dropped chemicals on halabche, is no offense, but sending foodstuff to the iraqi people whose children, as a result of the american blockade, starve to death at the rate of half a million a year, is a big crime! and this very american regime with such abominable past record, claims the leadership of the world. such a regime advocates a unipolar world order headed by half-willed american leaders usually trapped in their own personal follies! they wishfully try to drive the honored iranian people, their honest officials and their deeply-rooted, popular government, into a defensive position! our muslim brothers and sisters throughout the world should know that the islamic republic system of iran is strongly and steadfastly marching along the path illuminated by the teachings of pure islam. the proud country, with its united, unanimous leaders and the support and solidarity of its faithful, intellectual people shall be marching on the lines drown drawn by its late grate leader, imam khomeini, and will, despite all hostile, political, economic and security conspiracies and the loud-mouthed publicity campaigns of the enemies, get closer and closer to its important goals. by the help and grace of god, the enemy was frequently frustrated in the last twenty years so will it continue to be. the iranian people, through their faith and their virtuous deeds, implored god to bestow on them his assistance, blessings and mercy in the future once again. so be it, if god will. 'in the end, i ask all our brothers and sisters, who have come from different parts of the world to gather around the beloved ka'ba to pray to god for the well-being of all muslims and the victory of islam.
--
1998
Message of Ayatollah Khamenei on the auspicious occasion of Hajj
Islamic Centre England
www.ic-el.org
03 Dhu al-Hijjah 1418
01 April 1998 #
In the Name of he Almighty Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and salutation and peace be upon the harbinger of good tidings, the warner, the light of illumination, our lord Abil Qassem Mustafa Mohammad, and his immaculate progeny and his virtuous, chosen companions. The Hajj season has arrived, bearing the good tidings of the greatest annual gathering of Muslims. It would, therefore, be most fitting if those hundreds of thousands of eager heart, enjoying the happy blessing of this divine meeting, should be elated with continuing excitement preparing themselves for this grand occasion. It would be most appropriate that millions of other longing hearts, not included in the list of the present year's happy ones, should visualise the blessed moments of those fortunate pilgrims and through praying for them and for themselves, purify and perfume their hearts and souls, and certainly all Muslims with craving hearts could, during the season of Hajj enhance their days and nights with the rites and signs of this blessed period. The pilgrimage to Mecca is the greatest event of every year, and it would be proper if within these specified days, all thoughts, feelings and attentions be sincerely given to it alone, so that each individual could contemplate it. According to his own mental, spiritual and political capacity and certainly those who have succeeded in gaining the grace shall be most favoured to make the most of all the spiritual benefits that the Hajj offers; they are best placed to reap the best spiritual individual and social fruits from it and bless their souls hearts and thoughts through it. God willing, so shall it be. Although the blessings of Hajj practically cover all aspects of human life not only one's innermost feelings and thoughts but also politics, social affairs, the combined power of Muslims, co-operation among Muslim nations which are all given a fresh life and vitality, yet one may safely declare that gaining a new insight knowledge or recognition is the golden key to all these spiritual treasures. The first gift of Hajj to any person wishing to have his eyes opened to the truth of things and to benefit from the God-given phenomena, is the unique insight and cognition available to all Muslims at Hadj only, never found at any other time or place. No other act of a religious nature may provide the Islamic Ummah with the congregation of insights and enlightenment available at the pilgrimage. This particular insight consists of a group of cognitions, of which the following are some: Recognising oneself as an individual recognising oneself as a part of the great Islamic Ummah recognising representative models of that unique Ummah, recognising the greatness of God and his abundant grace, and recognition of the enemies. Recognising oneself as an individual. This means contemplating one's own being and discovering one's weakness and strengths at a place where all material manifestations such as status, race, possessions, titles, clothes and ornaments are completely removed and at a time when man divorced from all those privileges, along with thousands of others, is performing Tawaf, Sa'y, Salat, Efazeh and wuquf. When the rich and the poor, the rulers and the ruled and the educated and the illiterate and the black and the white, all attired in the same garment at the same location, are facing God with hands raised in supplication and feeling themselves to be present at the centre of God's greatness brilliance power and grace. Yea then and only then, may a thinking human discover his weakness and his heedfulness before God and find at the same time that all His elevation, strength and glory lies in his link with the Almighty alone, then only he could do away with all false, illusionary and arrogant conception about his own dismal individuality, then he could throw away his egotism self pride and love for oneself which are the sources of every ugly deed and evil behaviour. It is, on the other hand, also at Hajj when one may taste the sweetness of separation of one's self from all inner idols and join the source of all greatness. This fundamental enlightenment is the essence of every worship and service to God, it is the innermost content of the supplications of all men of God; and it is that insight which purifies and brightens every human soul, prepares it for acquiring the other insight and enable it to tread upon all paths of perfection. The routine of temporal life, worldly engagement extreme occupations with material strife, unending disputes in one's every-day life, makes the human heart heedless of this basic insight. It leaves him alone in the spider's web of illusions and false conceptions darkens his heart and soul; Hajj is the final and decisive cure of all these maladies. Recognising oneself as part of the Islamic Ummah: is the vision that looks at the whole world, and at all the nations and territories which have sent pilgrims to the house of God, it is seeing all the pilgrims in the mirror of this human gathering, and it is the vision of this great human gathering and it is the vision of the great Islamic Ummah, consisting of dozens of nations, hundreds of millions of people throughout the earth, possessing some of the most important material and spiritual Potentials for living and social welfare, and the whole of mankind and the industrial Civilisation, despite of its great material volume, is in need of and benefits from the great resources of this Ummah and its markets and its cultural and scientific heritage. Recognising oneself as part of this great Ummah shall join the pilgrim with his own brothers and sisters and kinsfolk in a real emotional bond, disowning the false concepts of separateness which have ruled for decades, encouraged by yesterday's colonialism and today's global arrogant under pretexts of race, language, religions, sects and nationalism. The perpetuators of a world of class societies, that is the politicians who mean to keep the world divided into strong and weak poles, and people into oppressors and the oppressed, who are always sharing out the poles of powers between themselves to the detriment of the oppressed nations, have, for the last two centuries, feared the unity of the Islamic Ummah, and done their best not to let it be realised. These are the sort of elements, who, at the present decade, turned a blind eye to the massacres of Muslims in the Balkans, who continuously discriminate against their Muslim minorities, revealing their true nature of wishing to "christianise" all Europe but always speaking contemptuously of unity of the world of Islam and preventing its realisation by adverse publicity and actual measures. Strengthening this feeling that an individual is a member of the vast body of the Ummah together with proper guidance should go a long way to neutralise the plots for creating discord. This feeling of Ummah membership, while reserving the national sectarian identities of the components of the Ummah, will help all members to enjoy the abundant goodness and the power and strength inherent in the oneness and unity of the Islamic Ummah; all the sites of Hajj such as tawaf, sa'yi, congregational prayers and similar, collective actions and movements are valuable lessons for the pilgrims in this respect, and penetrate the depths of his soul. Recognising representative models of one Ummah. This requires taking practical steps towards the realisation of the great dream of Islamic unity and, finally at least, witnessing the actual rise of the united Islamic power in the arena of global politics. Watching the pilgrims, masses of them, from many different countries, speaking various languages, and of varying races and colours, shall certainly widen his vision and take him beyond personal, tribal and national frontiers, the Islamic, moral obligation of behaving in brotherly manners, shall bring him closer to the hearts and tongues and feelings of the others, shall help the news from every country to spread throughout the Islamic world, shall neutralise the propaganda plots of the enemy, who is today more than ever before engaged in falsifying truths, fabricating lies and spreading rumours , and shall, finally, remove all distances in location, language, and conception between them: the secret of the success of one nation gives hope to other batons, the analyses of one country's experience makes other nations wiser, and removes the feelings of Isolation and loneliness from the heart of others, and the examination of the suffering of one nation, helps others find ways of combating and curing them. The pilgrim's staying at the same places during the Hajj season especially the staying at Arafat Mash'ar and Mabeet at Mina, are all preparation grounds for this effective and decisive recognition. Recognition of God's greatest and His Abundant Grace. By this is meant musing over and contemplating the foundation of this house, which is both the house of God and the house of people; Indeed the first Houses ever, built for all men was that at Becca, Blessed in location and a beacon for every nation (Qur'an 3:96) It is a place where all needful humans resort to, wherein the majesty of the divine faith is manifestes, it is a mixture of glory and greatness, purity and simplicity. It is a place that permanent echoes of the very first calls to the unity of the word was realised; it still preserves traces of the first combatants of the early days of Islam who put up a defenceless struggle, and emigrated from it in the most oppressed manner, but later, did, powerfully and triumphantly, returned to it and pruned it from all its signs and traces of Arab ignorance; it is perfumed by the breath of its worshippers, prostrates and sincere admirers, it was the rising part of the sun of Islam in the beginnings, and it will be the location from which another sun, the promised Mahdi shall rise in the end, final refuge for the fugitive hearts and the source of hope for desperate souls. The traditions of Hajj and its ordered rites, symbolise both God's greatness and gracefulness. And it is by such recognition that hearts are moved at the sight of the holy Ka'ba at Masjid al-haram, and all gone astray return to the straight path and humans undergo a great change. The recognition of enemies. This knowledge is the end result of all those other recognitions. It completes and perfects them; and without it the heart and mind of a Muslim is like an unwalled magazine, disposed to every highway robber, plunderer or traitor. In the rites of Hajj the very Ramy-al-Hajarat is a telling symbol of knowing and fighting the enemies, the holy prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) did himself proclaimed "bara'a" (declaration of disassociation from the enemies of Islam) at Hajj and had the verses of bara'a read by the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) in the course of Hajj. Should the day arrive when the world of Islam and the Islamic Ummah, does not confront ruthless enemies, if such an era should be plausible, then the wisdom of "bara'a" would become baseless. Yet at present, when we are facing all sorts of enemies by evil-wishers, being heedless of enemies and neglecting "bara'a" would be a big error that causes irreparable losses. If those recognitions are acquired, then the enemies of the world of Islam shall also be recognised. Any phenomenon, person, government or system that may strive to alienate from the Islamic identity, or causes discord and separation among them, or makes them heedless of or indifferent to the struggle for regaining their glory and dignity, is in fact engaged in an act of enmity, and, if not the enemy itself, it is still the fingertip of the enemies. Satan, as interpreted from the holy Qur'an, is also a manifestation of all evil and corrupt forces facing the ranks of the prophets of God: "And this have we assigned a foe, for every prophet: Satans, of men and Jinns " (6:112) The fact that the names and designations of Satan have been repeatedly mentioned everywhere in the Qur’an and throughout the period of revelation, goes to prove that Muslim communities should never, for a moment, become heedless of the designations and signs of the enemy. Therefore, the most intensive endeavours of Satan, through the political weapons of global arrogant, are focused on making Muslims despair of their future and letting them forget the treasures of their own knowledge and culture. And for this reason, any factor that may give hope to world Muslims to think of establishing future for themselves on the basis of Islam, is violently hated and opposed by the global arrogant The great Satan's enmity towards Islamic Iran springs from the fact that the very establishment of this Islamic republic, and the running of a big country, with a sizeable population and infinite spiritual and material resources, is a herald of Islamic dignity and glory to all Muslims and keeps the flames of hopefulness alight in their hearts. In the 19 years since the establishment of the Islamic republic the whole world has witnessed the beacons of hope in the behaviour of Muslim nations, and, with the passage of time, the efforts of global arrogant have faced more defeats against the long, extensive ways of this Islamic event and thus Muslims have increasingly become more hopeful. The reawakening of the Palestinian people, their freedom struggle inspired by Islamic slogans against Zionist usurpers, the awakening usurpers, the awakening of the Muslim nations in Europe, and the establishment of the Muslim Bosnia-Herzegovina (despite a systematic genocide and wanton blood letting of Muslims, which was carried out by the instigation or cheerful violence of Europeans), the coming to power of believers in the Islamic government in Turkey and Algeria through the usual channels of Western democracy (though both cases were made abortive by the military supported by the illegitimate powers and helped by the enmity of the global arrogance towards any Islamic power), the establishment of a government based on Islamic principals in the Sudan (which despite detrimental foreign interventions is, praise by God, still marching towards full Islamic sovereignty), the revival of Islamic mottoes in many Muslim countries, forgotten for many long years, and numerous other examples are tokens of the deep and increasing influence of the birth of an the Islamic republic in Iran throughout the Islamic world and Islamic Ummah. And, of course, the enmity of the global arrogance towards Iran has also daily increased and has become more intense and hateful. Today, after repeated defeats of its military, economics, political and propaganda campaign and conspiracies, the global arrogance has opened a new front: it is a new publicity campaign, it is based on an accusation against the Iranian people and government and it aims at extinguishing all flames of hope in the hearts of the Muslim nations. The message of this campaign is to insinuate that the Iranian people regret their great revolution, the sovereignty of Islam and the Qur'an and all their revolutionary slogans, and those in charge of the government are turning away from Islam and the revolution. For evidence of this and as an example, it is claimed that the Iranian government intend on establishing friendly relations with the United States administration. The oft-repeated denials of the Iranian officials and the frequent emphasis on their love for and adherence to Islam, the revolution and the late Imam's (may his soul be blessed) policies, however, never the publicity machine of the global arrogance and its political leaders, especially those of the imperial-minded regime of the USA, from repeating their baseless allegations by different tongues and in various forms and methods; the allegations which constantly blown up in their news bulletins, international reports and analyses particularly those meant for the world of Islam. At Hajj, the recognition of the enemy means the recognition of such policies and their motives, bara'a at Hajj means revealing the enemies conspiracies and declaring bara'a from them. With their great revolution under the leadership of Imam Khomeini, may God bless his soul, and continuing his wise policies, the Iranian people and government raised the honourable banner of Islam and Iran, and revived its dignity, national independence and historical importance. By the blessing of its revolution, the Iranian nation has put an end to the previous trends of Corruption scientific decay, moral degradation, political despotism and American dependence; it has regained its vitality and started reconstruction, it did rid itself from the domination of the servile, incompetent dishonest corrupted, despotic and oppressive elements that ruled, and replaced them with a people's government and caring, competent faithful and honest managers and officials; it gained control of its God-given national wealth and resources which were plundered by foreign elements; it gave a fresh life to its own creativity and the power of construction which had deteriorated under dependent traitorous kings. It has now taken some long steps in all political and scientific areas and is making up for some two centuries of lagging behind; and for its future the Iranian nation is banking on its high morals, iron determination, enlightened ideas and the experience gained during the last nineteen years. Iran and Iranians owe their life to Islam and the Islamic revolution and their great Imam. The Iranian people and government shall always remember this truth and will never deviate from the lucid and straight path of the revolution. Since about half a century ago, when the US administration began to play a role in the Iranian political scene, they have only been unjust and committed crimes against the Iranian people: they propped up the corrupt anti-people Pahlavi regime, they helped set up weak and subservient government they imposed their will on our nation and plundered our national resources. They wasted our national wealth through detrimental oil deals and arms sales, they controlled the Iranian armed forces, they established the Shah's security apparatus and instructed its torturers, they brought about many disputes between Iran and other Muslim countries including the Arabs, they encouraged Corruption and prostitution throughout our country, and helped the Shah to suppress Islamic movements everywhere, and they co-operated with that regime and guided it in all its actions and policies. And when revolution came about despite the combined efforts of the united fronts of darkness, unbelief and lawlessness, the US government did their best from the very first days after the establishment of the Islamic Republic, scheming and plotting against the revolutionary Iranian people, and obstructing the smooth running of affairs and even invading it. In the course of the eight year war against Iran, they actively helped the Iraqi invader, they blocked Iran economically, assisted the traitors and fugitives of the previous regime, prepared a publicity campaign against the revolution throughout the world, tried to sow differences between Iran and its regional neighbours. The Terrorist activities, attempted to overthrow the new regime by the CIA mercenaries, prevented Iran from entering into economic deals with other countries and carried out a host of other damaging, pernicious acts in every possible field. But despite all these adverse activities, the world knows, and the US officials bitterly know, better than others that the American administration have failed in most areas, and they themselves, rather than Iran, have become internationally isolated, and Iran has, by the grace of God and thanks to the dignity and the power acquired from Islam and the revolution managed to pull through, and then let the enemy taste the bitter fruit of frustration. Taking all these facts and truths in account how is it at all probable for the Iranian people and government to extend a hand of friendship to an enemy who is still, with a heart full of spite and vengeance and angered at its repeated failures, striving hard to strike a blow at Iran and the Iranian people? How could we be deceived by an adversary who, even today while smiling spitefully holds a poisoned dagger in his hand? Certainly the Islamic republic has prove d that it is not after creating tensions in his relations with other countries, and does advocate the sorts of relations in his foreign policies that are based on the "three principles of dignity, wisdom and expediency, it has shown that its main guidelines and criteria for such material and moral relations are the interests of the country, respects for the dignity and good of this great nation and maintenance of peace and security in the world's political climate. Our relations with our neighbours and other countries of the world including the European countries are clear, expressive, evidence of the policies. Our unfailing efforts at brotherly dialogues with every Muslim country, some of which are producing sweet results at present are there for all people of the world to see. Yet along with all these doings, we have set it as a principal for us to reorganise the true nature of the enemies, to be on our guard vigilantly and unshakingly; and for this reason we have not been deceived by the worship of the tempters, and God willing shall never fall pray to their satanic persuasions. In this light we shall never officially recognise the Zionist enemy, that has set-up an usurped regime of occupation of the Islamic land of Palestine, and shall never conceal our firm conviction that it is necessary that this regime of occupation should be removed, and government consisting of the people of Palestine before the united States of America, that is a great Satan, and the arrogant leader of the global trouble and tensions, we shall always consider it our enemy, as long as it adheres to its present places, and never, stretch out a friendly hand to it. Dear brothers and sisters, coming here from all over the world of Islam and at you Iranian pilgrims! Do your best, with the help of the Almighty God to acquire the kind of knowledge and recognition already explained, which will be your greatest achievement at Hajj, to return to your own lands, enlightened by new recognition in those vital fields, and turn them into new capital for your future and movements. Do, in this Hajj season, retell to each other the afflictions imposed on the Muslims of Kosovo, which are a continuation of the bloody episodes of the Balkans and another horrific experience as that inflicted upon Bosnia-Herzegovina. Pray for the victory and the salvation of those oppressed people, and take practical measures to help them. Pray for oppressed Muslims in the other parts of the world find ways and solutions for them and beseech God's infinite might and grace of the improvement of their affairs. Let us hope that all the pilgrims shall return to their homes, their pilgrimage having been approved, and their hearts full of spiritual, mortal and the political gains.
Was Salamu Ala Baqiatu Allahi Fi Ardhihi Wa 'Ajjalalahu Farajahu Was Salamu Alikum Wa Rahmatullahl Wa Barakatuhu
Ali al-Hussaini al-Khameni
3rd Dhu al-hijjah al-haram 1418
12 Farwardeen 1377
--
1997
Imam Khamene'i 's message on the occasion of Hajj.
1417 AH
08.04.1997 #
In the Name of Allah the All Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
All praise belong to Allah the Lord of all beings and may blessings and peace be upon Muhammed, our Master, and his immaculate Progeny God, the All Wise, has said,
" And remember when we made the House a place of homecoming for the people and sanctuary (declaring) ; Take the venue of prayer from the station of Abraham. And we charged Abraham and Ismail (saying): Purify My House from those who circle it, for those who stay there in confinement and those who bow and prostrate." (2:125)
These days yet again the House of God is a host to mighty caravan of eager and enthusiastic hearts which have gathered around the Kaaba of hope from all over the world. Of the millions who shelter under the sincere servitude of the One Lord, cherish a feeling of solidarity and belonging to a unified society. Of the eyes, which are full of tears of rose water that washes the ground on which, the Prophet (pbuh), his Progeny (pbut), Awliya of God (pbut), worriers and the illustrious sons of Islam have walked. Of the souls that receive light and purity from the spiritual effulgence of the sacred Bayt Allah and the shrine of Muhammed al Mustafa (pbuh) and on his Progeny. Of the hands raised in supplication, sending forth swarms of plea and request towards the court of the One Who is without needs and of the concerned who seek the cure at the Healer’s door from the chronic ailments of the Muslim world. There they find fellow sufferers and sympathisers from every race, colour and language from every part of the world. Those who having felt weak and lonely, now find power and majesty in that place.
Yes these are the days of festival and homecoming for the Islamic world and the Muslim Ummah. It is fitting that throughout the world, Muslims and in particular the pilgrims of the Sacred House of Allah should devote these hours and moments to worship a contemplation. Those who have been blessed with this precious opportunity to perform Hajj and visit the Prophet’s shrine this year, may return to their home with hands full of Gods blessings and Divine Wisdom. Or even with renewed determination and resolve about one’s own future and that of the Islamic Ummah. Among the religious obligatory duties of Muslims, Hajj is that biggest duty which brings together both the individual and social components.
In the individual aspect, the aim is of self-purification and acquiring the Inner Light and purity. Furthermore, being detached from all irrelevant materialistic attractions by retreating into the solitude of one’s spiritual self and intimacy with God the Exalted through consistent remembrance and recourse in Him with total subservience. So much so that man may be able to find that divine straight Path which leads to perfection and wonder around in it.
In this area, the opportunities as well as test are so numerous that if one passes through them with caution and care, then undoubtedly it would be an invaluable achievement. The opportunities provided by Ihram and Talbiyah, by Tawaf and Salaat, by Sa’y and Harwalah, by the stay in Srafat and Mash’ar, by Ramy and the sacrifice and by the remembrance of God, altogether produces an environment loaded with spirit and life in all these stages. All these opportunities can provide an individual with a short course in religious discipline and practice in self-restrain (Zuhr), forbearance, gentleness and other acceptable virtues.
Within the social aspect, Hajj is unique among all the Islamic obligations. This is because it is the manifestation of the prestige, power and the solidarity of the Islamic Ummah. No other religious duty teaches every single Muslim about the affairs of the Islamic Ummah and the Muslim world. Nor do they bring every single Muslim morally and truly together into a collective power, prestige and unity. To remove this aspect of Hajj amounts to depriving the Muslims of the spring of self-respect for the Muslims which cannot be derived as through other means.
National strength is the key to all forms of success for every society and it is necessary in attaining a complete natural life. ‘National power’ means that the society and country should possess ethical and scientific qualities along with material resources, a sound political system and a general will and determination. Its a fact that if a powerful society is devoid of proper guidance, supervision and implementation of justice then that very material resources and science will lead it towards self destruction. Its will and morality gets wasted and is directed onto a course of degeneration. This is what we observe today in the case of United States and some other countries. However due to the lack of these capabilities and factors of power, countries become readily prone to the evils of moral and political decay. Thereby depriving nations of the present and the Hereafter and all that of science and morality. That is why the political and social teachings of Islam are all orientated towards attainment of power and leadership in moral, scientific, political, spiritual and material spheres by Islamic nations. Furthermore, all national leaders, who are alert, attempt to employ every resources and opportunity to make their nations powerful.
The huge Islamic nation, despite of its number and resources, lacks the power and prestige on the international arena. How can it be possible for it to obtain power and prestige that it rightfully deserves? Every single Muslims and in particular the rulers and statements of Islamic countries and the Muslim ‘Ulama, intellectuals and personalities must keep this question in their minds and try to find an answer for it.
Today the largest part of the world’s oil resources, which, without any exaggeration, forms the bloodline of the present world civilisation, exists in Muslim countries. World’s most sensitive strategic points are under the control of Muslims. A major part of mineral resources needed by the world for its present and future lies in these countries. One-fifth of the whole population belongs to them. The biggest markets for the products of the countries, which impose their hegemony upon Muslims, are in their hands. Their rich and original culture, sciences and teachings taught the West how to take those first steps in acquiring the present peak, which exists in the world’s scientific achievements. This provided the Western culture with a true existence. In spite of it all, today, on the international arena and in the general political process, Muslims do not have any say in decision making on major world issues and in defining the system of international relations. Worst still, unfortunately, many Islamic countries are subservient in planning their national policies to one or several imperialist powers because their governments are weak puppets and their nations are victims of repression and inferiority complexes. While their ‘ullama and intellectuals are subjected to fear, indifference and love for comfort. As a result, their resources go to a waste and their political affairs are directed by the imperialist powers. The great Islamic Ummah, which should employ all its potentials to realise its power and prestige, is deprived of so much of the leverage of its population and resource. These are in turn used against Islam and the Muslims by the enemies.
It is observed that the present predicaments of the Islamic world and the tragic events make life a bitter burden for millions of Muslims in different parts of the world. The unfortunate tragedy of Palestine has no parallel in present day history. The historical catastrophe of Muslims in the Balkans, the plight of Kashmir and Afghanistan, the explosive situation in the Persian Gulf, the state of Muslim minorities in some European countries are all eloquent testimonies to this bitter fact.
In recent weeks the Islamic world has been a witness to two consecutive vetoes by the United States government of the condemnation of Zionist regimes by UN security Council for the destruction of Muslim homes in the eastern quarters of Baytul Muqaddas. This is the same United States, which derives a large part of its political and financial strength from the existence of Muslim Arab countries. The governments of these countries make open advances of friendship and respect towards her and offer her their wealth and even parts of their territories. Why is it that in return for these friendly terms, the United States is not ready, even for once, to heed to their wishes on the issue of Palestine? Without doubt, no Arab and Muslim statesman can remain indifferent or fail to be enraged by the recent aggression of the Zionist regime. These replicate the continuous crimes of that regime which had been perpetrated throughout the last fifty years and which have even violates the terms of the so-called peace agreement of recent years. Why does the long standing friendship and loyalty of Arab statesmen towards the United States fail to make the slightest impact on the daily escalating US support of the usurper regime? It’s a fact that the present government of more subservient to the Zionist that was the preceding government, but when if ever, has a successive US governments considered their Arab friends equal to their Zionist sibling or taken even once, any measures that might displease the Zionist usurpers?
There are many lamentable issues involved in this matter. The tale of the neglect and on occasion’s absolute treachery by insiders and the ultimate arrogance and obscenity by outsiders and enemies is not something, which can be told in this belief discourse. What I will say is that the enemy’s wrongdoing is due to the lack of enthusiasm of our front line in making full use of all its power and potentials and employing the capabilities its population and resources to encounter the enemies. The greatest reserve of the Islamic world is the huge Islamic ummah and the Muslim nations. Its thunderous protest arising from its unity, concord, mutual understanding coupled with the intellectual potentials, manpower and God given resources can deafen the ears of any imperialist power and send tremors into the hearts and compell it into submission.
Hajj highlights a manifestation and an example of this great and inexhaustible reserve before our eyes. It is here that the real significance of the declaration of bara’ah (with Mushrikeen) in Hajj becomes clear and that is how the collective cry of Muslims in declaring Bara’ah with the Mushrikeen breathes life into Hajj and gives it meaning and content.
Now, how can any Muslim have any doubt about the importance of the words of wisdom which declare, "A Hajj without the Bara’ar is no Hajj."
The Muslim nations should know that if they are united God shall be with them and God is more powerful than any potent phenomena in the material world. Muslim governments should know that their people are their strongest bastion in confrontation with aggressive, greedy and merciless predatory alien powers. If the powers are given ground and relied upon, and if they are treated with honesty and sincerity, then the government will come to enjoy power. Such that they would not need to be afraid of any enemy in battle nor stand in need of any alien power in public life and development.
It is with the blessing of this harmony that the government and the people of Iran have, trusting God, stood their ground against the arm twisting tactics of the United States, unshaken by their repeated threats. Confident of their rightful stance, they feel so strong that they see their future as bright, their path as clear and find their hearts to be full of confidence and hope, despite the pressures that are brought upon them on all sides by imperial stooges.
Dear brothers and sisters from all over the world! Utilise the precious opportunity provided by the great concourse of Hajj and strengthen the bonds of love and understanding of yourselves. Get acquainted with the destiny of one another and learn from each other’s experience. Learn the secrets of the steadfastness and fortitude of the Islamic Republic and the great Iranian people.
Proclaim loudly during Hajj your unity and solidarity. Declare vigorously your animosity to arrogance, injustice and hypocrisy. Summon your ‘ullama, intellectuals and political and renounced personalities to exchange views. Show your support for the oppressed people of Palestine and make the enemies hear your demands concerning the problems of Palestine.
Contrary to the biased propaganda of the enemies, the people of Iran consider Hajj a high platform for the growth of awakening of the Muslim Ummah. The seek to utilise their presence for the benefit of the whole Muslim world not merely their own interests. The Iranian people possess an experience that can be greatly valuable for all Islamic countries. With the blessing of the sovereignty of Islam this great nation has been able to recover and keep its political, economical and cultural independence. That which had been totally lost during the era of Taghut. Thereby revealing the greatness and glory of Islam in encountering global issues. She has successfully defended her frontiers against several years of aggression carried out by military, financial and psychological means in the hands of the enemies of Islam. After eight years of war she has managed to rebuild herself and thereby displayed the miracle of the revolution in rebuilding the country’s infrastructure. She has also succeeded in obtaining a high and prestigious position on the international arena. She has elected several consecutive governments to administer affairs of the country within the spheres of scientific, research, industrial and agricultural developments. This has made freat `dvancements hn the country’s development.
In foreign policy, Iran has boldly defended the position she considers right. The issue of Palestine is considered in it as the most important problem in the Islamic world despite the wishes of United States and the Zionists to try and cast it into oblivion. She has used every opportunity to keep this issue constantly alive every opportunity is taken in assisting the oppressed Bosnian people and always there is a helping hand for Muslim nations who are facing ordeals. These policies are pursued and firmness Is demonstrated despite the daily escalation nf pressure from imperialists and constant treats from America. This is `n experience that is valuable for all Muslim nations and states.
In all sincerity, I extend my hand of friendship towards all Muslim states and welcome their co-operation and mutual understanding in solving the problems of the Islamic world. It is my humble advice to all Muslim nations that they should realise the relevance of yourself and Islam and the luminous precepts of the Quran.
The great lessons taught to us by our respected Imam, the late Imam Khomeini, May God be pleased with him, was that of returning to one’s origins and returning to Islam. Thereby realising our own importance and that of our enormous spiritual reserves. The Iranian people have found the path of felicity by putting this lesson into practice. They have covered several stages of this path and have continued to march ahead. There is no other path of prosperity for other nations except this one.
If this was to happen then the usurper Zionist regime will not be able to resist the power of the Islamic Ummah. Likewise, the United States would not dare anymore consider the destiny of the people of Palestine as a joke and make a laughing stock of the Arab states.
Should this happen, the Arab states will not find themselves compelled, contrary to justice and fact, to disregard the people of Palestine or consider the Palestinian problem as being irrelevant. Thereby allowing the Zionist access to Arab societies by establishing political and economic relations with the usurper and aggressor regime and lifting the siege which could so easily strangle the Zionist regime in the course of time.
We have no doubt that in the very near future with the sacrifice and awareness of the Muslim world, the people of Palestine will ultimately recover their usurped rights. They will expel the alien aggressors and oppressors from their homeland. However, it will be the will and the determination of the Muslim states and nations, with the grace of God that would expedite this process and lessen the ordeals.
In concluding, I would like to invite all the dear pilgrims to make full use of this precious opportunity of Hajj for their personal spiritual development and to build their collective future. I hope that they will remember all the Muslims of the world in their prayers and particularly those who are victims of bitter events and ordeals of life. Furthermore, please do not forget me, a mere servant of God in your supplications.
May peace and God’s blessings be upon the Imam of the time and may Allah, the Exalted, expedite in his appearance by removing all obstacles.
WAS SALAMU ‘ALAYKUM WA RAHMATULLAHI WA BARAKATUH.
Ali al Husayni al Khamene’I
2nd Dhu al Hijjah 1417, 21 Farvardeen 1376, 08 April 1997
--
1996
Message to Hajj pilgrims
1416 AH
(25.4.1996) #
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful, and praise be to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds, and salutations upon the Sayyid lord of the first and the last, Prophet Muhammad al-Mustafa and his blessed household, and upon Baqiyatullah fil-Ard 12th and hidden Shi'i imam. Hajj (pilgrimage), this ever-flowing fountain of piety and spirituality, goodness and blessing shall, each year and for ever, supply the Islamic world, and each and every fortunate Muslim, with its abundant favors, and all individuals or congregations may draw benefits from it in proportion to their capacities and capabilities. The pilgrims to the Baytullah al-Haram Ka'bah are not the only ones who imbibe at this bountiful fountain: If this great obligation is truly recognized and properly carried out, then all Muslim nations and individual Muslims throughout the world will be overflowed by its blessings. Harm has always come to individuals and communities from two quarters: Firstly from within themselves, that is, through human weaknesses, unbridled desires, irresolution and lack of faith and other destructive traits, and secondly from without, namely by enemies who, because of their rebelliousness, paranoiac wishes, aggressiveness and devouring nature, oppress mankind and make their lives unbearable and miserable by forcing war, injustice and suppression upon them. And the Islamic world, both as individuals and nations, has always been exposed to the two kinds of threats, and today they are being threatened more than ever before: deliberate propagation of corruption in Islamic countries and imposition of the Western culture on them, to the spreading of which certain dependent regimes also contribute that affects not only individual behaviors, but also influences many aspects of life from city architecture to general living conditions to radio, television, the print media on the one hand, and military political and economic pressures on some Muslim nations coupled with human slaughter as in Lebanon, Palestine, Bosnia, Kashmir, Chechenya and Afghanistan on the other, are glaring examples of the two kinds of threats directed against the Islamic communities. The pilgrimage is like an everflowing river, divinely granted, at the banks of which Muslims may always wash from their faces the dusts of hardship and suffering, pollution and malaise, and to refresh themselves by this eternal provision in order to confront and overcome the two vulnerabilities at all times. In the performance of Hajj the elements of piety, remembrance, presence, submission and absorption in God Almighty, shall serve to remove the first threat, and the elements of togetherness, unity and feeling the enormity and the strength of the great, Islamic Ummah, of which Hajj is the crowning symbol, will tackle the second threat. The immunity and resistance of individual muslims and Muslim nations shall increase as these two aspects of Hajj are strengthened, but if one or both become weak or extinct, then the Islamic Ummah, as individuals, nations or states, shall become more vulnerable. In the texts of the holy shari'ah of Islam and in the holy Koran, sufficient emphasis is laid upon both these aspects of Hajj, and there shall be no doubt whatsoever about them for those with seeing eyes and unbiased hearts: Along with the command "Celebrate the praises of Allah, as you used to celebrate the praises of your fathers, yea, with far more heart and soul" (surah 2, verse 200), there is the order "and an announcement from Allah and His Messenger to the people assembled on the day of the great pilgrimage, that Allah and His Messenger absolve themselves from the polytheists and pagans" (surah 9, verse 3), and together with the divine wisdom "it is not their meat, nor their blood, that reaches Allah: it is your piety that reaches him, he has thus made them subject to you that you may glorify Allah for his guidance to you, and proclaim the good news to all who do good'' (surah 22, verse 37), we are also made hopeful "that they may witness the benefits provided for them" (surah 22, verse 28). Any recommendation, propagation or endeavor in the direction of weakening or abandoning these two aspects of the pilgrimage will undoubtedly be a confrontation with the verses and injunctions of the Holy Koran. There is no heavier loss to the Islamic Ummah than allowing the teachings and the guidance of Islam, which are vital, eternal, invaluable provisions for Muslims and the whole of humanity, to fall into oblivion through the negligence or ignorance of their religious, political leaders, and to deprive people from their benefits. Hajj is an everlasting valuable reserve of that kind, and it is obligatory upon all Muslims to get to know it better and to exploit it more deeply for the good of the Islamic Ummah. Today the Islamic world is faced with certain extremely threatening problems, and if Muslims do not strive to remove them through the power of faith, struggling, reliance on God, sublime selflessness and with open eyes to utilize the reserved potentials deposited by the Almighty in this straightforward religion, then their arrogant enemies, who are equipped with political and military power and technology, will tighten their encirclement of them and further postpone the days of freedom and salvation in the Islamic countries, not only for decades but for centuries, in the course of which certain nations might by annihilated or they may lose their Islamic identities by the imposition of the corrupting components of the West' s culture. Today, after the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran, and Islamic reawakening in many Islamic countries, numerous facts of bitter or sweet nature are known and great numbers of people in the Islamic world are able to properly analyze events around them and to understand the realities of their situations. Yet it must be admitted that the bewitching influence of radios, televisions and the print media, often run by Zionists, their Western allies, and certain seemingly Muslim elements who behave as servants of the arrogant powers, are perpetually engaged in distorting the truth. It may, therefore, be propitious here to give a brief summary of the problems facing the Islamic world as well as of the potentials and possibilities at the service of world Muslims. As far as potentials are concerned, we must, first of all, make mention of the numerical strength of over one billion Muslims throughout the world that embraces some 50 countries and extends from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. This great Ummah includes nations well known for their talents and intelligence, some civilizations that go back a few thousand years, and great individuals in the fields of science and politics. This great part of the world's population, better known as the Islamic Ummah, possesses a very rich culture and an everlasting heritage that brilliantly shines in history, and it does enjoy, despite its great variety, an amazing unity instilled in all its component parts and particles. These singlehearted brother nations, formed of different, racial designations, black, white and yellow, who speak dozens of tongues, believe in being parts of the same great, Islamic Ummah in which they take pride, and daily they pray to God in one language and receive their instructions and inspirations from the same divine book that explains all the truths and contains the orders for all their needs and obligations. "And we have sent down to you the Book explaining everything, a guide, a mercy and glad tidings to Muslims" (surah 16, verse 89). The geographical location of this great Ummah is perhaps the richest region of the world in natural resources, with the single commodity of oil being the support and sustenance of today's industrial civilization. And if the Ummah were to stop, for only a few months, the flow of oil to its customers, the larger part of the world, especially these countries whose governments have for centuries made the Islamic nations the victims of their greed and arrogance, shall face a dark, cold and helpless prospect. A complete list of all the potentials of the Islamic Ummah would embrace hundreds of other outstanding topics in fields ranging from culture, politics, economic to social, material and historical contributions that any researcher with some insight will be able to discover. Now we turn to the big problems that this great part of humanity, the Islamic Ummah, is today facing: Problems that have made it nigh impossible for such a great, rich and gifted portion of mankind to exploit its exceptional, practical potentials, which has left the Islamic countries behind the marching caravan of scientific advancement, deprived them of their own abundant, material wealth, subjugated them to foreign cultures, subjected them to others on the international political scene, and militarily exposed them to aggressions and aggressive policies of arrogant powers. These problems, that are mainly caused by negligence, mismanagement or treasonous behavior of elements within the Islamic Ummah, would form a long list. They could, however, be briefly categorized under the following headings: - Sectarian conflicts, mainly publicized and intensified by evil ulema and paid writers. - Ethnic and national conflicts, emanating from chauvinistic tendencies, the fires of which are often fanned by dependent, subservient intellectuals. - Submissiveness towards interventionist powers, turning certain governments into satellite states of the big powers. - Surrendering to the corrupt culture of the West and even helping to spread it for their own political and doctrinaire purposes. - The indifference of certain governments to their own people or their disregard of people's needs, beliefs and aspirations, and taking up despotic stands against them. - A dread of the arrogant powers, particularly of the United States, on the part of some political and cultural leaders in the Islamic world. - The presence of the usurper, Zionist regime in the heart of an Islamic region, that is the root cause of many other difficulties. - Promoting secularism and introducing Islam as an abstract experience for individuals that has nothing to do with questions relating to people's lives such as government, politics, economic management, etc. These and scores of other problems equally grave, though with historical roots mostly, were solvable if the religious and political leaders had shown any sincerity, determination and independence. They are the source of the present predicament of the Islamic world, bringing in their wake poverty, backwardness, ignorance, superstition, prejudice, discrimination, political servility, war and destruction. The point is that if Hajj were held rightly and as commanded by God, it is capable of remedying all the major maladies and causes of failure, though not all of a sudden but gradually in the course of several long years. This gathering of millions of brothers and sisters from all over the Islamic world at a single place, and that too at the scene of observance of spiritual rites performed in unison under the majestic banner of tawhid unification , with refreshed memories of the early years of Islam, of the battles of Badr and Uhud, and the pilgrims presence in the (Prophet's) mosque within whose walls still reverberate the animating revelations of the Koran as pronounced by the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and his family, and the resounding cries of "Allah Akbar God is Great " of the first warriors of Islam, in an atmosphere charged with zikr commemoration , supplication and the sense of presence before. God, the Almighty and the Glorious, which liberates human beings from their feeble, self-seeking and crooked-minded self and unites them with the source of divine majesty, greatness and power - this is healing spring that lends strength to the hearts, edifies the will and steadies the resolve, infusing confidence into the souls, broadening the visions, bringing the aspirations closer, uniting the brothers and disappointing the devil and defeating his ghul monster. Yes, a true and perfect Hajj, a Hajj worthy of tawhid, a Hajj that is the mainspring of the love of God and the faithful, of the rejection of satans, idols and idolaters, such a Hajj would first curb growth of all problems of the Islamic Ummah and then resolve them, to become a source of honor for Islam and vigor for Muslims and of the independence of Islamic countries and their freedom from the evil of the aliens. It was on the basis of such a correct view of the significance of Hajj that after the triumph of the great Islamic revolution of Iran, the issue of Hajj came to have top priority in the international agenda of the government of the Islamic Republic. Thus this noble regime combined the religious-political aspect of this rite, a manifestation of the divine majesty and power, with its devotional aspect, a manifestation of divine mercy and compassion, bringing the contemporary Hajj closer to the Hajj of early Islam. It revived the ceremony of Disavowal of the polytheists Infidels in Hajj as a symbol of this and it has pursued the observance of this Islamic duty, despite all the political harassment and obstructionist moves inspired by un-Islamic motives. As a system that has affirmed the life, dynamism and power of Islam in administering human societies despite the anti-Islamic propaganda and efforts of the last 100 years, the Islamic Republic views Hajj not as a means to further its own goals, but as a forum for the awakening of muslims and reviving of the spirit of Godwardness and faith in the implementation of the Islamic shari'ah as well as the honor and independence of the world's Muslims. Those who negate and reject the dynamic and comprehensive character of Hajj are in fact against the honor and independence of Muslims and their deliverance from the bloody claws of imperialism and Zionism. Any such kind of fatwa or religious decree is tantamount to giving a ruling in violation of God's revelations, and it derives most probably from ignorance of the realities of the world and its environs and a lack of adequate insight into the affairs of Muslims. Today everyone who knows the plight of Muslim nations under the tyrannical domination of the United States, whoever is aware of the crimes of the Zionists and their covert conspiracies against Muslim countries, whoever senses the danger of the growth of this malignant, cancerous tumor within the political and economic body of the regional states, whoever observes the gloomy conditions of the homeless Palestinians who suffer in refugee camps, seeing their country and homeland under the occupation of their oppressors, whoever is aware of the condition of south Lebanon, of its territories under Zionist occupation and its parts under perpetual threat of aggression, whoever has heard about the recent catastrophic events in Lebanon, where the Zionists, now for the 12th day and with the support of the US government, have been bombarding more than half of that country from air, land and sea, massacring children and women and ordinary civilians, whoever is aware of Bosnia, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Tajikistan and Chechenya, whoever knows about the successive hostile measures of the roguish US regime and the anti-human Zionists against the Islamic Republic which today is the manifestation of the sovereignty of the Koran and Islam. Yes, anyone who knows these facts and possesses a sense of Islamic honor and religious duty will not doubt that to forego such a great opportunity as the Hajj and waste such a powerful God-given source of support to Islam and Muslims is to incur an irremediable loss and commit an unforgivable sin. The present weakness of Muslim states and the sorry disunity of the Islamic countries cannot be concealed or denied. Today the Arab world by its own deeds placed itself in such a condition that, regrettably, it is unable to defend the Lebanese people who are victims of the crimes of the usurper Zionist regime, and face, even for a single day, an enemy that has usurped its territories. While stockpiles of fighter planes and air defense equipment bought `t stupendous cost from Western factories dxist today in these countries, the aircraft nf the bloodthirsty Zionists freely destroy the homes of @rab people `nd none of these governments is able to stop it. These bitter facts, along with the increased political influence of imperialist powers within many of these countries, as well as the unchecked nffensive aimed `t achieving a complete cultural invasion of these countries and many other regrettable and alarming events, are sufficient to make every sane mind and wakeful conscience realize that Islamic countries and nations, whose representative sample is now present around the Holy Ka'bah and at other sacred premises of this land of revelation, stand, more than ever before, in greater need of the spirit and spirituality of Hajj and its abundant resources, which it is essential for them to utilize. This is our viewpoint and thesis concerning Hajj and the other delivering sacraments of Islam. It is for this very straightforward and bold stance in the defense of Islam and Islamic laws that the Islamic Republic, from the very beginning, has been the target of the wrath and resentment of the imperialist powers with the USA, the big satan, at their head. They accuse the Islamic Republic of exporting insecurity and of pursuing expansionist policies so as to justify their malice and hostility in the eyes of the world's people and Muslim public opinion . Their mercenary radios and media funded by the Zionists or by American and Zionist stooges and propagated from the Islamic countries against the Islamic Republic incessantly broadcast accusations, rumors, commentaries and biased and false reports against the Islamic Republic, meant to curtail the spiritual influence of the Islamic revolution and to damage the sanctity and popularity of the name of our late Imam Khomeini , may Allah sanctify his soul. With the help of the most up-to-date propaganda techniques they try in an unmanly manner to cast disrepute on the Islamic Republic and to turn away its supporters in the Islamic world. With their lies and slander, they are trying to raise a wall between triumphant Islamic Iran and other Islamic countries, where they are afraid of the repetition of the Iranian experience. The most infamous of the world' s terrorists, that is, the leaders of the usurper Zionist regime and their perverse patrons in the US government, accuse Islamic Iran of terrorism. At the slightest pretext, the US and Israeli leaders are quick to raise their accusing finger at the Islamic Republic and to mention in their political statements, after every few words, the sacred, majestic and radiant name of Islamic Iran with resentment and rage. It is a matter of pride for us that the world's infamous scoundrels and perverts should hate us. We too regard their ugly character and polluted hands with disgust and resentment. God and His Messenger too hate and dislike them. Today, with God's grace and despite the hostility and obstructionism of the malevolent, the Islamic Republic marches onwards with power, honor and a steady resolve and determination, as a stable country with an accelerating pace of construction and development, with an administration that is popular and close to the masses, with a deserved presence and repute in the world, with a zealous faith in Islam, with its live and dynamic youth free from the grievous problems of the youth in many other countries, with a people intelligent, brave and ready to defend Islam and Iran, with an expansive spirituality side by side with growth and development, and, ultimately, with an exemplary and rare solidarity among the citizens. Thank God, the massive propaganda of the enemy serves us as the indicator of our increasing power and the greatness of our people and country. At the end, I call upon all the dear pilgrims to make the fullest use of the opportunity provided by these great days and I invite all of them to contemplate upon Hajj and to draw a spiritual provision for the rest of their lives. I ask the revered clergymen to raise these issues in an appropriate manner in the gatherings of Iranian and non -Iranian caravans and bring the spirituality of Hajj and its political message to the hearts and souls of the pilgrims. I beseech God, the exalted, to grant honor to Islam and Muslims and give real independence to Islamic countries, liberating them from the political and economic domination of the imperialists. I beseech the one Lord to preserve the majesty and glory of Islamic Iran under the shelter of the special favor and attention of the Imam of the Age, may our souls be his ransom. Peace be upon all our faithful brethren.
--
1995
Hajj message of Ayatollah Seyyid Ali Khamenei, the Leader of Islamic Revolution.
14.5.1995 #
In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful
And praise to God, the Lord of the worlds, and solution and greeting upon the best of his creation, Muhammad al- Mustafa and upon his pure household.
"And proclaim the pilgrimage among men; They will come to thee on foot and on the backs of swift beasts from every distant quarter." (22:27)
In the manner of spring season of nature, that arrives always, full of cheer of life, at its proper, permanent time, so the season of the pilgrimage, the ever refreshing spring of hearts and souls, the season of reappearance and growth of the spirit of monotheistic life in the heart of every Muslim who has reached Mighat, does return each year for its permanent, divine appointment, in order to, like a pure blessed fountain, shower the lands of Islam, to cleanse those who have succeeded to reach this fountain, from the dust and filth of sins, of polytheistic tendencies, of mammonism and materialism and of any inclination towards ill and evil, and to store up in them, if they are of those who do heed, a treasure of righteousness and salvation for an entire life.
For more than fourteen centuries now the call of Abraham, the Friend, echoed by Muhammad, the Chosen (s), has annually summoned 'the guests of the house' to come, at this season, to the great center of spirituality and unity, in order that they could circumambulate this monotheistic house, which is blessed by an eternal cycle of ascension, to pray at the back of Abraham's Maqaam, in the direction of Muhammedan Ka'ba, to demonstrate the unending endeavour of the faithful toward the origin of purity, in their movement between 'Safa' and 'Marwa' to recognize their own insig- nificance and the glory, the greatness and the might of the Most High at Arafaat, to learn the whispering of prayings, rememberings and love to the Holiest One, who has no equal, inside one's dark desert of being at Mash'ar, and to stone at Mina, the Satan and all other satans, to sacrifice sacrificial beasts a sign of sacrificing all misguiding desires and canal inclinations - and all this when the pilgrim is in ehraam, that is, when the heart and the soul of the pilgrim are faced with the forbidden fruits of paradise, and with other Muslims, shoulder to shoulder, from every place, from every race and of any material of spiritual status, belonging to any language of culture; and then as indication of removing every dust and dirt settled on their hearts and souls in the course of their polluted, worldly every-day lives, perform halq and taqsir; and to return, with a freshness resulting from having removed sins, and delighted by the manifestation of the knowledge and love of God, to the House of God again; and to perform their 'Tawaaf’, salaat, and 'Say' once again, but now in a superior horizon; and finally to prepare to go back, fortified by an abundant treasure of monotheism and unity, spirituality and purity, and determined to struggle against satans with a strengthened resolution to dominate one's self, in order to spread the perfumed scent of pilgrimage throughout the world.
In the noble wisdom of Islam, this amazing, meaningful and significant experience is so arranged as to enable, even by this one of the Islamic obligations, to ensure the unity, union and the inseparability of the great body of the Umma, despite the great spreading of Islam in the world, and disregarding the passage of centuries ... all in one place and always at a fixed period ... whether it was yesterday when it took the lovers of pilgrimage, from certain parts of the world almost a year to reach Ka'ba, or today when the enemies of the Islamic Umma do not require more than an hour to give coverage to their venomous propagations, always, then and now, the members of the great, wide spread body, have felt the need for this center of unity and strength, which fortifies their purity, brotherhood, spirituality and monotheism and also serves as a center for exchanging knowledge and information ... were Islam devoid of pilgrimage, it would surely lack a principal fundament and a substantial component.
Pilgrimage in its essence, contains two basic elements: Proximity to God in thought and action, and distancing from taquts and satans, with all one's heart soul ... all the performances and inhibition of hajj, are meant to ensure the provision and the realization of these two elements; in fact it is also a summation of Islam and all other divine calls:
"For We assuredly sent amongst every people a messenger (with the command), to serve Allah, and eschew evil." (16:36)
And certain other Quranic verses about pilgrimage also relate to these two important elements:
"Being true in faith to Allah, and never assigning partners to Him... But your God is one God; Submit then your wills to Him (in Islam). (22:34)
"So when ye have accomplished your rites, celebrate the praises of Allah as ye used to celebrate the praises of your father, yea, with far more heart and soul." (2:200)
Nearness to God, does require remembrance of God, prayers, submission, ehraam, contemplation on self on God, and performing Sa 'y between Safa' and Marwa', which leads to final virtuosity of the pilgrim:
"And take a provision with you for the journey, but the best of provisions is right conduct, so fear Me, o ye that are wise." (2:200)
And distancing oneself from, and avoidance of Satan and taaqut requires the abandoning of debasing passions and canal desires, exploiting one's patience and will, and the great powers of the Islamic Umma, and that is realized through the congregational movement of the pilgrims, their oneness of hearts, tongues and steps in Tawaaf and Sa 'y, in Woquf at Arafaat, and at Mash'ar and Mina, the en-mass aiming of Jamaraat at Satan, and the stoning from every where, and the collective absolution from it; and all this is finalized in the joining of the hands, hearts and wills of the Muslims from different parts of the Umma, the common feeling of strengthened security in the light of unity:
"Remember We made the house a place of assembly for men and a place of safety." (2:125)
If Hajj as enjoined by the Holy Quran and as recommended and practiced by the Prophet (pbuh), is performed, and as he said: "Take from me your practices," that is, the rituals to be performed according to his practice, it will undoubtedly ensure the individual perfection and the Umma 's glory. Anyone opposing such pilgrimage and wishing a pilgrimage divorced from its fundamental lines and signs, he is, in fact, opposing the movement of Muslims toward perfection and the greatness of the Islamic Umma. Today world arrogance, headed by the United States of America, and assisted by designs of Zionism, is engaged in an open confrontation with Islam and Muslims; this is certainly a continuation of old animosities towards Islam but through new methods, new motives and new means and devices. But then, the Islamic Umma possesses this unique center of resistance, power and unity; is it fair and proper for Muslims not to tale advantage of the pilgrimage vis-a-vis the conspiring, belligerent and divisive enemies? Should they face their enemies defenselessly?
A true, perfect pilgrimage, shall, by bringing the hearts of Muslims closer to one another, by exchanging information and by revealing conspiracies, neutralize the most dangerous plots against Islam and Muslims. Today the leaders of world arrogance and Zionism have set it as their most important task to fight, by sowing differences among Muslims and by deafening publicity and propagation, any country, government or people who does speak of Islamic Awakening, the sovereignty of the Holy Quran or call for the dignity and power of the Islamic Umma. They are certain that once they succeed in separating the lively, active, struggling parts from the rest of the Islamic Umma, then they shall be in a trouble-free position, not being faced with a great united Umma, to carry out their evil schemes against the Umma of Islam. The people of the world today witness how extensively and vehemently the trumpets of world arrogance have been sounding against the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is the very policy that has, by the grace of God, been so far left unfulfilled, yet it is still being vigorously pursued by world arrogance.
The most significant reason for enmity with the Islamic Republic since the days of the late Imam, is the fact that in this country all policies whether they are approved or rejected, are measured by Islamic criteria, and all political stands and positions are formed on the basis of Islamic injunctions. Governmental compromise with Zionism is rejected because it involves the permanent wandering of the Palestinian nation and the permanent occupation of Palestine by the enemy.
The people of Palestine, Bosnia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Chechnya, Azarbaijan, Algeria and other oppressed nations are supported because the Holy Quran categorically enjoins us to support the oppressed Mostaazafeen'.
"And why should ye not in the cause of Allah and of those who, being weak are ill-fated and oppressed, men, women and children, whose cry is: 'Out lord, rescue us from this town whose people are oppressors, and raise for us from Thee one who will protect, and raise for us from Thee one who will help!" (4:75)
And the domination and the influence of the United States in the Islamic and other oppressed countries are opposed, because the Holy Quran says:
"Take not My enemies and yours as friends (protectors), offering them your love." (60:1)
And in the Islamic Republic all laws emanate from Islamic injunctions, as it is believed that the strength and dignity, independence and welfare, and the material and spiritual perfection of a nation is only to be realized through the implementation of the laws of Islam.
These are the causes that make the leaders of world arrogance, helped by the brokerage and evil insinuations of the Zionist conspirators, consider Islamic Iran as their leading enemy and show hostility to it as much as they can.
Yet it is remarkable that today, throughout the Umma, enthusiasm for these aims and policies is daily increasing everywhere, in many an Islamic country, the youth and the elite and of the purest and most outstanding elements from amongst the clergy, university professor and learned men of science, artists, poets, writers, and even many civil servants and others belonging to the middle classes, are already devoting their hearts, their tongues and their pens to these goals: They oppose the Israeli-Arab compromise, and they oppose the indifference of their government regarding Islamic issues in Europe, Asia and Africa ... and world arrogance believes that these developments are consequences of the victory of Islam in Iran and the increasing strength of the Islamic Republic and therefore, they bear a sort of rabid grudge and insane enmity towards the Islamic Republic. This is also one of the important motivations for those who oppose the meaningful, purposeful, Abrahamite pilgrimage, because contemplation on "Hajj is a miraculous factor the dissemination and deepening of the idea among all Muslims, apart from being a great assembly for exchanging of information among people that come from the four comers of the world. l do humbly recommend, to all Muslim brothers and sisters who have got together in the great congregation of "Hajj that they ought to deeply ponder over the question of the " 'pilgrimage', and try to ensure for themselves the principal points already mentioned: Giving your heart and soul to God only, trying to approach the presence of the Holiest, in thought and action by true, pure worship on one hand, and distancing yourselves from Satan and the enemies of the path of God on the other, thereby enabling yourselves to return your home with spirits armed with virtue, hearts full of trust in God, souls delighted with renewed hope for the future of the Islamic Umma, and an iron will to pursue the goals of Islam for the sovereignty of Islamic teachings, laws and culture over Islamic communities.
The empty, vainglorious power of the enemies should not dazzle the eyes. They are only exploiting differences among Muslims and weaknesses in their determination to make a false demonstration of their power in the eyes simple-minded people. But the arrogant powers have, whenever Muslims truly resisted their oppression, repeatedly been defeated, or failed to achieve their ends. A glimpse at Islamic Iran shall verify our claim: Iran has, by the grave and power of the Almighty, overcome the greatest volume of animosity by the United States and its co.-conspirators for some 16 years, yet it has now emerged as a more powerful, more successful and more high-spiritedly hopeful country. And today the United States of America, the flag-bearer of world arrogance against the reawakened Islamic movement, has not only been frustrated and disgraced in its unequal fight, but is itself, facing many unsurmountable, economic, political and security problems.
The United State, in the course of its attempt as a superpower (which according to the false supposition of its inept but boastful leaders, must have some super-rights over others!) has often experienced the bitter taste of defeat and, God willing, shall suffer more defeats in the future, Glimpses at: the situation in Palestine and the unrealized sweet dreams of 'solving the Palestinian problem', which has only become a more difficult knot to open; East Africa and disgraceful withdrawal of American forces from Somalia: Europe and the neutral, ineffective role of the United States in the Balkans, the useless begging of the United States all over the world for stopping trade relations with Iran; the disgusting ploys of the United States to involve Iran in the ugly bombing incident In Argentina, which ended in their disgrace when truth come to light; and many other similar attempts are undeniable proofs that the claim of supporting human rights, are absolute lies. If Muslims are going to be determined, ready to resist and equipped with awareness and knowledge, they shall prove to be stronger than world arrogance. The forces of arrogance are suffering from extreme, incurable. social ills and, therefore, no government or community with determination and clear thinking need fear them, let alone a great community as the Islamic Umma.
At the end, I call all Muslims to ponder over performance and ritual in the course of the pilgrimage, and invite them only to seek assistance from the eternal power of God, and to hold to it firmly. I do hope that those whose hearts are bent on seeking divine light at the pilgrimage, shall be blessed by divine grace and succour. I pray for their benefiting from the pious prayers of Hazrat Baghiat-Allah-al-a 'zam (may our souls be given up for his sake, and may God expedite his appearance), and for their return, after an accepted pilgrimage, with their prayers being answered, together with a treasure house of spiritual gains.
Wassalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullah
14th Dhu al-Hajjah al-Haram 1415
Ali al-Hussayni al-Khamenei
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1994
Hajj message of Ayatollah Seyyid Ali Khamenei, the Leader of Islamic Revolution.
15th May 1994 #
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Praise be to God, the Sustainer of the Worlds and God's peace and blessing be upon the honorable, trustworthy Messenger and upon his blessed progeny and sincere companions and peace be upon us and the righteous servants of God.
"And proclaim among men the Pilgrimage: they will come to you on foot and on every lean camel, coming from every remote path." (The Holy Qur’an, 22:27)
The sacred month of Dhu Al-Hijjah is upon us with its eternal resources for the Islamic Ummah. Thanks be to God for this unending gift and this ever-vital spring, by the grace of which the Muslims of the world can benefit and reap rewards according to their own efforts and wisdom.
The extent and variety of the interests and benefits which the divine hand, with its knowledge and wisdom, has fitted into the duty of Hajj is of such magnitude that cannot be found in any other Islamic duty; ranging from spiritual presence and remembrance, the discovery of one's self when one finds himself alone with God and the cleansing of the heart from the stain of sin and negligence, to the sentiment felt by the individual who finds himself among a crowd and the sense of unity felt by each Muslim with the entire Islamic Ummah and the sense of strength arising from the greatness of the congregation of Muslims and to the effort made by every individual to attain a cure from spiritual
wounds and diseases, that is, from sins, to curiosity and the will to understand and heal the profound scars and pains affecting the body of the Ummah, to sympathy with all Muslim nations, that is, the members of that body, are all contained in the Hajj and its various rites and rituals.
The Holy Qur’an describes the rituals carried out during the Hajj as "Sha'aer" (symbols, 2:158). This means that they are not merely individual actions aimed at fulfilling an individual duty; they are, rather, symbols intended at raising the level of awareness and wisdom of the human beings toward that which those symbols point to and indicate. Underlying all these symbols lies the message of tawhid (monotheism); that is, to reject all powers that, in some way, are seizing control of the bodies and souls of human beings and to confirm the sovereignty of divine rule over one's entire existence; in other words, the rule of an Islamic system and Islamic regulations over the personal and social lives of Muslims.
In the Qur’anic verses referring to the Hajj, the Holy Qur’an calls on everyone to disavow the idols worshipped by the mushrekin (polytheists):
"...But shun the abomination of idols..." (22:30)
These idols may in some point in time refer to the idols which were placed on the Ka’bah, but, undoubtedly, today and always, they refer to those powers that have unjustly taken charge of the rule over the lives of humanity and, today, refer, most clearly, to the power of arrogance and the satanic power of the United States and the power of Western culture and the corruption and decadence which they are inflicting on Islamic countries and nations.
Of course, the pseudo-ulema affiliated to and mercenaries of some flimsy governments insist that, no, those idols refer only to Manat, Lat and Hubal [pre-Islamic idols]; those very same idols that were crushed and annihilated under the foot of the victorious soldiers of the Great Prophet (pbuh) on the day when Mecca was conquered. The intention of these court-clerics is to empty the Hajj of all political content to suit their own taste, ignorant of the fact that this very gathering of millions of Muslims that has come together from every corner of the world in one place at one time itself contains the richest political significance.
This is a display put on by the Islamic Ummah in which all differences of race, language, geography and history are set aside and in which everyone joins together to form a whole. In order to prevent Muslims from understanding the significance of this great unity and in order to prevent individuals from gaining a sense of collectivity, these pseudo-ulema and their masters have used every kind of lie, deceit and falsehood and will continue to do so in order to make life as difficult as possible for the people who call for unity and invite the pilgrims to disavow the ringleaders of shirk (polytheism).
Islamic Iran wished to do at least the minimum required by the Hajj, and that is to issue a call to unity to all Muslims, to invite all nations to learn the truth about one another and to ask people to express their hatred and disgust towards the ringleaders of shirk and corruption. Anyone who stands against these valuable and lofty aims is speaking unjustly, regardless of what he says. And the Holy Qur’an says:
"...Shun the word that is false" (22:30)
The word that is false is the unjust statements made by those who speak ill of the Islamic Republic, because the Islamic Republic rejects the rule of the Zionist government over Islamic Palestine and considers the compromises made with the usurpers by a few corrupt and isolated individuals as worthless. It condemns the master-like interventions of the United States in Arab countries. It exposes the ugliness of the treachery of some leaders of Muslim countries against their own Muslim nations for the pleasure of the United States and the Zionists. It calls on Muslims to recognize their own tremendous strength which no superpower can withstand today. It believes Islamic teachings and the rules of shari'ah are capable of ruling Islamic countries. It considers the imposed culture of the West, the manifestation of which lies in nakedness, drunkenness and faithlessness, to be harmful for Islamic countries, and simply insists on following the Holy Qur’an and the teachings of Islam.
Today, any Islamic country that states these things openly and adopts these same positions, that is, rejects the usurper Israel, rejects the bullying interventions of the United States, rejects drunkenness, decadence, sexual corruption and the immoral mingling of men and women, rejects the treachery of those who compromise with Israel, calls on Muslims to unite against and resist the superpowers, implements the rulings of Islam in government, the economy, politics and so on, will be on the receiving end of exactly the same kind of propaganda, insults and falsehoods which are spread throughout the world against Islamic Iran and its leaders. And the news agencies of the arrogant powers and Zionism and the radios of the United States and Britain and their allies will speak in exactly the same insulting way, with exactly the same kind of nonsense, about them. This is what was meant by the Holy Qur’an when it mentions "the word that is false," which was put alongside and on the same level as shirk by God. How amazing that court-clerics in some corners of the world imitate these anti-Islamic and unlawful actions of the propagandists of the United States and the Zionists. Of course, the total submission to tyrannical rulers that, unfortunately, is the fate of clergymen in some Islamic countries does not leave any room for surprise.
Today, the Hajj, God's great blessing, is before you. Every single Muslim and the Islamic Ummah must benefit from it and as has been commanded in Qur’anic verse:
"God made the Ka’bah, the Sacred House, an asylum for mankind..." (5:100)
They must benefit from it to the advantage of their world and their religion.
Today, the religion of Muslims is threatened by the enemy's cultural onslaught and the spread of corruption, injustice, faithlessness and decadence among Islamic societies; something that is happening on the initiative of anti-Islamic powers and with the help of their propaganda and media and other tools, and the world is threatened by the ever-increasing hegemony of arrogance over the affairs of Islamic countries and by the ever-increasing pressure on and hostility against any government or group that wishes to direct the minds of people towards the true rule of Islam and towards the independence and strength of Muslim nations. And of course at the head of this all-embracing attack against Islam is the Great Satan, that is, the government of the United States of America. Any clear-sighted eye can see the hand and will of that anti-Islamic government behind all the hardships which are inflicted on Islam and Muslims.
In occupied Palestine, the main reason behind the impudent and the boldness of the Zionists and the most important factor behind the compromise made by most Arab governments before the endless demands of Israel is the United States. Without the backing of the United States, the reactionary governments of the region, which are well known for their submissiveness to the United States, would not have turned into the defenders of the usurping government and into the advisories of those Palestinians who are against compromise. And those who, according to their Islamic duties, must stand against Israel would not emerge as those who stand against the opponents of Israel. And without the unconditional support of the United States, the usurping government would not have been able to bring about a great tragedy such as the massacre at the noble shrine of Abraham, peace be upon him, and to avoid suffering all the consequences of such an action.
A similar situation applies to the Muslims of Bosnia-Hercegovina. The historical massacre of the people of Gorazde and Sarajevo by the Serbs, which can truly be seen as ranking among the most shameful deeds committed by humanity in our times, is a huge crime, the responsibility for which must be borne by the powers who dominate the world and, more than any other power, by the United States.
If it were not for their interference and their policies, the Muslims of Bosnia would not have been deprived of receiving assistance in the form of weapons in the face of well-equipped and well-armed Serbs, and a defenseless and besieged nation would not have been sacrificed to bloodthirsty, shameless and encouraged aggressors.
What is painful is that the United States and NATO - after laying the groundwork in this merciless way for the massacre of Bosnian Muslims, after using the United Nations and its secretary-general totally for their own ends, after displaying signs of their own pleasure at the killing of Muslims at the hands of the Serbs and after several weeks had passed since the savage attack of the aggressors against Muslim women, children, the old and young and the death of thousands of innocent people and the inflicting of suffering on such a scale on the people of the city of Gorazde, after all that - should call a halt to the torture by threatening the Serbs with air attacks and then describe that as their humanitarianism, love of peace and neutrality.
Is it the case that, when a torturer stops torturing a person after hours and days, he can claim to be humane and use as evidence of his humanity the fact that he has stopped torturing his victim?
This apparently neutral, but in practice aggressive, stance against Muslims, is seen in America and its European collaborators, such as Britain, in every incident in which innocent Muslims constitute one side, and are subjected to their enemies' oppressive behavior and pressures. Amongst the examples are the sorrowful events of Kashmir and the intense suffering of the Muslims in Karabakh and Tajikistan.
Wherever a government or a group raises the slogans of Islam, and strives towards the establishment of the rule of Islam, it becomes inevitable targets of U.S.'s abuse, slander, ruthlessness and malicious hostility. Clear examples are the Sudanese government, the Islamic front in Algeria, Lebanon's Hezbollah, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad of Palestine, the Muslims of Egypt and so on. In all these cases, the agents of global arrogance and above all U.S. have been displaying fanatical behavior, similar to those of tribal communities. The case of U.S.'s malicious hostilities, accompanied by wrath and injustice against Islamic Iran - although in most cases ineffective thanks to the divine will and blessing - is in itself a separate issue, of which many in the world are aware.
Now, does the great Islamic Ummah, its leaders and politicians, intellectuals and religious scholars have no responsibilities with regard to this tragic plight of Muslims throughout the world? Do those - who believe in the truth of this declaration of the Great Prophet of Islam (pbuh) who said: "One who begins the day unconcerned with the affairs of Muslims is not a Muslim" - know of an occasion more suitable than the pilgrimage to the "Baitallah" (House of God) and of a time more suitable than the "Ayyam malumat" (the appointed days, 22:28) for displaying this important obligation? It was indeed not without reason that the Exalted Prophet (pbuh) chose the Hajj period for declaration of the Bar'a (disavowal) of mushrekin, which was a totally political activity within the framework of the very first Islamic government's general policy, and proclaimed this divine and Qur’anic command:
"A proclamation, from God and His messenger, unto mankind on the day of the Great Pilgrimage, - God and His messenger disavow the mushrekin. So if you repent, that will be better for you but if you turn your backs, know that you cannot frustrate the will of God. And proclaim a grievous penalty to those who reject faith." (9:3)
Indeed, the Hajj is a duty during which and by way of which the most important political difficulties of the Islamic Ummah can be resolved. For that reason, the Hajj is a duty with political significance, and the nature and characteristics of it have made this very clear. Those who deny this and propagate against it are in effect against the resolution of those difficulties. In brief, the Hajj is a duty which concerns the Ummah, its unity, the power of Muslims, the improvement of the individual and the community and simply a duty concern with both this world and the hereafter.
Those who do not want to accept the political aspect of the Hajj in effect want to keep Islam away from politics and separate religion from politics. The issue of separating religion from politics is that very point which the enemies of sovereignty of Islam over Islamic societies have been raising for decades. Today, now that a government based on the sacred religion of Islam has emerged in Iran, and the ever-increasing enthusiasm for the formation of Islamic government has overwhelmed the entire Islamic world, they are raising that issue [of separating religion from politics] with more vigor and haste than ever. Wherever they see the preparations for the realization of this aim [of forming an Islamic governments], if they can, they enter the scene with force and aggression to fight against it.
The rule of Islam implies resistance against the intervention of the arrogance in Islamic countries. It also warrants the need to keep away those who are dependent on these powers, and the slaves of the satan of selfish desires and the satan of arrogance, from ruling these countries. Ht is therefore natural that the arrogance and those who rely on it and the satans and their followers should be angry about it [the rule of Islam]. By the same token, those who believe in God and the day of judgment and those who truly believe in Islam should welcome it [the rule of Islam] and struggle towards it .
Now that many people from all over the world have had the blessing of perceiving the appointed days and the Hajj to the House of God, I, in all sincerity and modesty, beseech the Almighty to accept their pilgrimage and to endow them and the entire Muslim Ummah with its benefits and make the following recommendations to brothers and sisters:
(1) Seize this opportunity for self-development, repentance and pleading [to God] and store spiritual assets to last you for the rest of your life.
(2) Ask Almighty God to eliminate big obstacles along the path of the Muslims, and keep repeating this request again and again in every prayer and supplication.
(3) Seize every opportunity to become acquainted with Muslims from other countries. Learn lessons from the positive and negative points of their daily life. Non-Iranian Muslims should particularly hear the truth and circumstances of Islamic Iran from their Iranian brothers, so that they discover for themselves whether the global propaganda [against Iran] is right or wrong. Today and always, try to strive to learn the instructions of the Great Imam, His Eminence Imam Khomeini, may God sanctify his noble soul, on Muslims' issues and problems and become better acquainted and more closely familiar with that great reformer and pious personality of Islamic history.
(4) Every accurate point of information and knowledge you have acquired on the situation of the Islamic Ummah or about your own country, pass it on to the Muslims from other countries.
(5) During conversations with your Muslim brothers from every corner of the Islamic world, bear in mind the plight of the Islamic Ummah and have an overall view of the Islamic world. Take your thoughts and others' thoughts beyond the confinement of geographical borders, racial, doctrinal, fictional and other such divides. Only think of Islam and Muslims.
(6) Keep reminding your conversational partners to think of the God-given might of more than one billion Muslims and dozens of Islamic countries with so much material and spiritual wealth and with a huge heritage of culture, civilization, religion and ethics.
(7) Break the myth of the West's invincible might and particularly that of U.S., which global arrogance has always tried to magnify several times above reality and has tried to instill into the Muslims' minds. Remind yourselves and others that the communist might, which on the surface seemed invulnerable, collapsed not too long ago and in front of this same generation's eyes and nothing is left of that might now. The existing over inflated powers, including the might of U.S., may be destroyed and annihilated just as easily.
(8) The responsibility of ulema and intellectuals of the Muslim countries is immense. Always remind them and others of this.
(9) Remind the heads of Islamic countries of their obligations towards the Islamic Ummah, which is to create unity among Muslims, to keep away from global powers, to rely on their own nations and to create healthy relations between the people and the rulers. Such a reminder by you is in accordance with "the reminder for Muslim leaders," and ask Almighty God to rectify this matter.
(10) Remember always that when we say the heads are responsible, it does not mean the individual members of a nation have no responsibility. On the contrary, they can play a decisive role in the achievement of all these great goals.
It is hoped that with divine grace and caring attention of God's Greatest Wali, may our souls be sacrificed for him and may God hasten his lofty advent, the esteemed pilgrims' Hajj rituals will be accepted by God and His blessings and vast mercy is upon the entire Islamic Ummah and all the Muslims.
Peace be upon all the righteous servants of God.
4th Dhu al-Hijjah 1414, corresponding to 15th May 1994;
Ali Al-Hoseyni Al-Khamene'i.
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2010
Supreme Leader's Message to Hajj Pilgrims
15/11/2010 #
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all sentient beings, and greetings be upon our Master, Muhammad Al-Mustafa, and upon his immaculate household and select companions.
The Ka’bah, the secret behind unity and dignity and the symbol of monotheism and spirituality, is host to enthusiastic and hopeful hearts in the hajj season who have responded to and accepted the call of Allah the Exalted and have rushed towards the birthplace of Islam. The Islamic Ummah can now see a condensed picture of its vastness and variety and the depth of religious faith that rules the hearts of this righteous religion with the eyes of its representatives who have gathered here from the four corners of the world. Now the Islamic Ummah can appropriately understand this great and unique asset.
This re-acquaintance with ourselves helps us Muslims to realize the position we deserve in today’s and tomorrow’s world and helps us move towards it.
The spread of the wave of Islamic Awakening in today’s world is a fact that promises a good future for the Islamic Ummah. Since three decades ago when this powerful movement started with the victory of the Islamic Revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic, our great Ummah has moved forward steadily, removed obstacles from its path and conquered certain strongholds. The increased complexity of the methods through which the arrogant powers show their enmity and the costly efforts that they make to oppose Islam are also due to these advances. The widespread propaganda of the enemy to promote fear of Islam, the hasty efforts that it makes to foment discord among Islamic sects and provoke sectarian prejudice, its efforts to make Shia and Sunni appear to be enemies of each other, fomenting discord among Muslim governments, making efforts to exacerbate disagreements and turn them into irremediable enmities and disputes, using intelligence and espionage organizations in order to promote corruption and prostitution among the youth – these are all frantic and confused reactions to the steady movement and firm progress of the Islamic Ummah towards awakening, dignity and liberation.
Unlike 30 years ago, today the Zionist regime is no longer an invincible monster. Unlike two decades ago, America and the west are not unquestionable decision-makers in the Middle East. Unlike 10 years ago, nuclear technology and other complex technologies are not considered unattainable and fantastical for the Muslim nations of the region. Today the Palestinian nation is the champion of resistance. The Lebanese nation broke the phony awe of the Zionist regime on its own and won the 33-day war. And the Iranian nation is the standard-bearer and vanguard of the movement which is moving towards the peaks.
Today arrogant America – the self-installed commander of the Islamic region and the main supporter of the Zionist regime – is caught up in a quagmire in Afghanistan, a quagmire which was created by America itself. It is being isolated in Iraq because of all the crimes that it has committed against the people of that country. It is hated more than ever before in tragedy-stricken Pakistan. Today the anti-Islam camp, which oppressively ruled Muslim governments and peoples for two centuries and plundered their resources, is now witness to its decline and to the valorous resistance of Muslim peoples.
Conversely, the Islamic Awakening is spreading and deepening on a daily basis.
This promising situation which bears good news should on the one hand, push us Muslim nations towards a favorable future more steadily than before and on the other hand, teach us to maintain our vigilance more than ever before. This public call undoubtedly makes religious scholars, political leaders, intellectuals and youth more committed than others and demands selfless efforts and a pioneering role from them.
The Holy Quran addresses us in a resonating and dynamic manner, “You are the best of the nations raised up for (the benefit of) men. You enjoin what is right and forbid the wrong and believe in Allah.” [Sura Al-e Imran, ayah 110] According to this dignified ayah, the Islamic Ummah is created for humanity. The purpose behind the creation of this Ummah is to save and benefit humanity.
And the great duty is counseling people to do good, advising them against evil and having firm faith in God. No good deed is better than delivering nations from the evil claws of the arrogant powers, and no evil is more unacceptable than dependence on the arrogant powers and serving them. Helping the Palestinian nation and the besieged people of Gaza, sympathy toward and cooperation with the people of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Kashmir, selfless efforts and resistance against the aggression of America and the Zionist regime, safeguarding the unity of Muslims, fighting evil hands and mercenary tongues that undermine this unity, and spreading awakening and sense of commitment and responsibility among Muslim youth in all Islamic lands – these are great responsibilities that currently lie on the shoulders of prominent figures of the Islamic Ummah.
The magnificent hajj ceremony shows us the appropriate grounds for fulfilling these responsibilities and it calls us to intensified effort and labor.
Wa salaam alaykum wa rahmat Allah
Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei
Dhul-Hijjah1, 1431
Aban 17, 1389
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Source: www.khamenei.ir
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