Speech [The role of reform and self-purification in training and education]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I hope that as our country is now an Islamic one; the Islamic Republic is our form of government; the taghout «2» regime has vanished; and the hands of the traitors and oppressors have been curtailed (from our country); all of us and you honorable students, these students, our sisters, and all of us, should try hard to act the way we must and the way that is necessary in an Islamic Republic. It should not be such that we claim being an Islamic Republic only in words but neither our universities, our colleges, our courts of law, our Revolutionary Guards, nor our revolutionary committees would mean what they must really mean in an Islamic context. If, God forbid, it is such that we only voted for the Islamic Republic but do not nurture the thought that this Islamic Republic should be Islamic in its fullest sense; not that it is Islamic Republic in words but un-Islamic in content. And this depends on the way we all act, in particular the university students population, the members of university faculties, the college instructors, and those young generation who look after teaching and learning, the students who want to be useful for their country in the future. There are many individuals who are educated- intellectuals indeed- but since they lack an Islamic training, they are often harmful for both the country and Islam. The difference here is not whether they are educated in the traditional knowledge or modern knowledge; or, whether the learned men of Islam and the clergies. Or, whether it is you university students and the universities or other classes who intend to enter the arena of teaching and learning content. This depends on the way we all act, in particular the university students population, the members of university faculties, the college instructors, and those young generation who look after training and education, the students who want to be useful for their country in the future.

If you are only after learning and this learning does not accompany a correct nurturing and the purification of one's soul, and taking steps in a correct manner, is only storage of knowledge. Or, in Sa`di's words being an interpretation of the Qur'an," The likeness of those who are entrusted with the Law of Moses, yet apply it not, is as the likeness of the ass carrying books," «3» he is one who learns but his learning is a mere accumulation of learning without putting it into use and thus is not following a human way of learning. In the exegesis of the Holy Qur'an, the receiver of such learning is likened to an animal, a donkey, which is laden with books. Now, it would not make a difference whether or not these books are loaded on someone's back, or, whether they are in his mind and thought. Rather, he who has books in his mind and thought and has knowledge in his mind and thought, but has not acquired this learning in a humane way, that learning will be harmful for the society- it would not make a difference whether this happens on your part or ours- whether it happens to the Islamic sciences and the divine philosophy or whether it is natural sciences or anything related to the nature. If these are not accompanied by teaching of knowledge and are not accompanied by the acquisition of knowledge and a humane training, in this case a human being is likened to an animal that is storage of knowledge. In fact, he is literally an animal who has a lot of knowledge, and not a human being who has the knowledge.

At times the harm inflicted on Islam and on the country by this social stratum is greater than that inflicted by other strata. Most of those falsestories in prose. He also wrote a number of odes, and collections of poems known as Pleasantries, Jests and Obscenities. His influence on Persian, Turkish and Indian literatures has been very considerable, and his works were often translated into European languages from the 17 th century onwards.

religions that have been fabricated, they have been fabricated by the learned men. No other than learned men have fabricated any religion. It is the learned men who have been fabricating religions. And most of these betrays of our country, comes from this very educated ones. It was the educated that helped the regime and then you had the" doctors," and the like. They were the ones who helped the regime and destroyed our country. If the universities are not improved and our schools are not improved, there is no hope that we will find an Islamic Republic. If these two strata are educated in a way that Islam wants it; if they are educated in a humane way, then on the one hand our country will become safe from the possession of the evils and it will revolve round her own pivot and without being dependent on the foreigners and without the domestic treasons. And progress will result for you as well. The importance about being a university student, an associate professor, a full professor and a pupil- in both education and science- is that there exists a proper way that accompanies the science and education; the learned man who is educated in a humane way which is the same as Islamic teaching. Any step that you take for the sake of knowledge, for an outward deed or the inwardly deeds, to create piety, perseverance and trust in you, so that when you leave the university, be a human being who is both educated and who is a trustee, God willing. As for your education, you should both act as a trustee and have a purified soul; then you have leashed your ego. Human's soul is mutinous and that mutiny will overthrow the man. In the same way that when a person rides an obstinate horse and it is unleashed, such mutinous horse will cause the death of man. Man's ego is worse than any mutinous creature. The mutiny of the ego will cause the death of man. Any step that you take in the course of education, take a parallel step for taming of your ego from this mutiny it has and the freedom from being leashed that it assumes for itself. You leash your ego. Should such a teaching-learning system exists in a country, that country could be independent; it can be free; it can secure its economy; it can rectify its culture; and it can set straight everything else. In such a country, the head of the state cannot be a crooked; its army cannot be a bully; its gendarmerie cannot infringe on the rights of the citizens; its police cannot do wrong. Most important of all it is for these universities- whether the universities of the new sciences or the universities of the old sciences both of which have the destiny of the country in their hands- will produce human beings, not a quadruped with some books laden on its back. It should not be mere acquisition of knowledge where you are on the side of natural sciences and the other group on the side of divine sciences. Scrutinize the sciences. However, stay away from the egoistic mutiny. If you neglect, every step that you take in (acquiring) knowledge, you stay away from humanity; and away yet. Humanity is on a straight course. If someone steps in that path, they are considered crooked and against humanity. Should you step in the other direction, it is the wrong way. And he who chose to be crooked and deviated from the straight path, the farther they go the farther they move away from the path of humanity. It is as if you draw a straight line- two lines like this- the more this line moves forward, the more it is removed from the straight path.

The more you all study and we all study, if we do not follow the straight path and do not control our knowledge and do not leash our ego, and do not kill our ego in this course, the more educated we are the farther we get from humanity and from the human beings. Thus, it gets more difficult for the humankind to restore to his previous quality.

You who are now in your youthful years, thanks to God, you possess the youth potency and are not afflicted by the frailty of old age; you are able to quickly improve yourselves. Do not ever think of repentance as belonging to the last years of your life. Repentance is not possible in the last years of one's life. If one does not follow the issue and does not build himself from the beginning of his life; one cannot do this in the last years of his life; Satanic forces are rooted in man and are strengthened while man's (physical) strength is weakened; his will is weakened and not much would come from him.

The youth must be aware of the value of their young age and spend it in the acquisition of knowledge and in piety and in strengthening their own creativity so that they can become trustworthy and pious individuals. The country will be able to stay independent by having trustworthy individuals. The reason we were that dependent on the foreign lands was because we lacked pious statesmen; and if we had any pious statesmen, they were on the sideline- they were put aside. And those who were in the arena were not pious. There were even scientists among them, but were not pious statesmen and were not competent enough to serve the country. It was they who made us dependent on the foreign countries. The foreigners pocketed our country's revenues and they did to us what we see now; we do not have anything left. You are the only resources of this country: you youth, you university students. You are the resources of this country. Act in such a way that these resources become beneficial to your country. Improve yourselves so that, as committed and honest individuals, you run your country, God willing. No one will be able to (make you crooked). Those individuals, who are crooked, are not trustworthy; they are not competent.

May God, keep all of you- sisters and brothers, all of whom are dear and are the resources of this country, safe, God willing. May God guide us all to the right path.