Speech [Superiority of self-purification over education; mission of mothers for upbringing of children]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

The verse which this gentleman recited and the verse which that lady recited are of those verses discussion of which is lengthy. But I shall mention one point and because time is short, and I too am not feeling very well, I shall not dwell on it more. This verse states," Allah verily hath shown grace to the believers by sending unto them a messenger of their own who reciteth unto them His revelations, and causeth them to grow, and teacheth them the Scripture and wisdom." «1» Self-purification has been mentioned first which shows that it is superior to knowledge and wisdom; and it is such that a nation whose individuals are trained to be spiritually pure, this nation forges ahead.

All the miseries that befall our nation are because there was no self-purification involved. Had the leaders of the nation, those who were managing the country undergone self-purification; their souls been cleansed; they been brought up well, these miseries would not have befallen our nation. Neither would those sufferings befall our nation nor those miseries for themselves. The origin of all these miseries everywhere is that those who are custodians of the affairs of the nation are not self-purified. A single human being, who is not self-purified takes over a nation, shall create all these sufferings that befell our nation in the course of more than fifty years. One who dictates over a nation, one who rules over the nation, should this person be a supporter of justice, his administrative apparatus will support justice; the strata that are connected to him will definitely incline toward justice; all the administrative offices that are affiliated to the state and are under that government's control will somehow incline toward justice. Justice shall spread provided that the person who is ruling over the people has undergone self-purification and is a purified person. If the entire nation becomes cleansed, the entire world shall be their heaven; all the sufferings shall cease to exist. On the other hand, considering that the governments that ruled over the people during the taghouti regime were unclean governments and when the government is not purified, the head of the state of a country, since the government is not purified, his moral character is not purified, his deeds are not purified deeds; this single person shall doom the nation. As you witnessed, all the corruptions originated from Rida Khan and all those who had gathered around him were his own people. When we were in Paris, one person- whose name I do not remember- came to me and said that another person had told him that if they would find five corrupt persons in Iran, this Muhammad Rida was sure to employ all five of them! Those persons who are not purified spiritually have nothing to do with spiritually purified people; they would not go after trustworthy and upright individuals. One who is not trustworthy himself attracts his own kind; he goes after like-minded people. Therefore, corruptions originate from governments while a government of justice secures all the best interests of the state in the same manner that the power and rule of oppression creates all the miseries for a nation. Thus, in the above noble verse, self-purification has been mentioned before education and wisdom; rather education and wisdom is a prelude to self-purification.

Prophets came to mould people. Prophets were commissioned to make human beings out of individuals- individuals that are human beings but in some respects are no different from animals- and to purify their souls; to cleanse them. This is the task of the prophets and this must also be the task of the mothers vis-a-vis the children who are brought up in their bosoms. From the beginning when they are still infants, they should attend to their purification. Children are brought up well by good behavior, by good actions at that stage of infancy. Children are brought up better in the bosom of their mothers than with the teacher. The attachment that a child has for the mother, it has for no one else. The things that a child hears or sees in infancy from the mother form images that are etched in his heart, and they live with him to the very end. Mothers must take care of upbringing their children and ensure that they are brought up as purified souls; she should be a spiritual-cum-academ institution and this is a very important matter that only the mothers can accomplish and no one else can. The amount that a child hears from the mother, it does not hear from the father. The amount of influence that the behavior of the mother has on the small infant and which she transmits to the infant child, the others do not pass on. Mothers are the origins of good and if God forbid, a mother brings up a child badly, they become origins of evil.

It is possible that a mother rears a child and rears him well, and that one child saves a nation; and it possible that she rears him badly and results in the obliteration of a people. Unfortunately, throughout this monarchy, they tried to separate the mother from the child. They inculcated this in mothers that rearing children was not important and that they should work in offices instead. They separated these innocent children who must have to be reared in the bosoms of their mothers and took them to the nurseries and child care centers and placed them in the hands of strangers who were unkind to rear them- a decadent upbringing. A child who is separated from the mother will become disturbed with any one else; and when it becomes a disturbed child, it becomes the source of many immoralities. Many of these killings that take place are out of frustrations that have been created; and many of the frustrations are born out of separation of a mother from the child. She is in one place and the child in another; the small child needs the mother. The mother has an occupation which is the occupation of the prophets. This great occupation of motherhood was made to look insignificant in the sight of mothers. That the prophets arrived at all was because God, the Blessed and Exalted, has granted a favor to the people in sending one of them to purify their progeny. The job of the prophets is to purify the souls of the people; to make them human, which is the same job of the mothers; which is what the teachers must do; which is what the universities must do. It starts from the bosom of the mother until it reaches the schools and onto the universities and then to other places. If it gets a good start from the bosom of the mother, the child is reared well, and when the child is handed over to the primary school, and the primary school trains him well and then when it is handed to the secondary school, there also in similar manner over to the university or other academic institutions such that at a point of time you see that all the youth have been brought up well, and thus making the country good.

This treacherous former regime seriously engaged in combating self-purification from all angles and with all its power, and prevented our youth from being reared well. They say that in those times in Tehran- God willing, now it is not so anymore- there were more liquor shops than bookshops! You know how many centers of immorality they had created; centers that should have been centers of education were corrupt such as the cinema, the radio and the publications. They tried with all their strength to prevent our youth from having a humane development. This generation must be transformed.

This taghouti upbringing must be transformed into a humane-Islamic one; I hope that it originates from the bosom of the mothers and culminates at the university and higher, and similarly our schools. The happiness of a nation depends on the leaders of that nation; those who hold the destinies of the nation in their hands being self-purified; being cleansed spiritually. God willing, may He guide all of you on His right path; and may He grant us the favor to be the servants of Islam and the Muslims.

May God's peace and mercy be upon you.