Speech [Self-edification and inner self construction]

Our country and our nation need to be reconstructed. Spiritual and moral reconstruction is prior to any other type of reconstructions. The internal reconstruction should start from within and one should be ready to combat the interior Satan of the self. This holy war against one's self is the root for other reconstruction plans. One may not reconstruct others unless he has constructed himself. And a country could not be rebuilt unless all citizens are internally reconstructed. The reconstruction should start from within.

The holy war against one's self is a Greater War. All other reconstruction plans rest on this kind of warfare against one's self. If individuals did not try to combat against their true selves, they would not be able to carry out any reconstruction plans at the community. They might even get involved in corruption. All corruptions in the world take place because one's internal reconstruction has not occurred: the Greater war has not yet taken place. All man's problems stem from himself. It is man who ruins another man. Other beasts, however fierce they might be, are not capable of committing crimes. Man is fiercer than animals since he has not tried to reconstruct himself. No beast can be linked to man no other animal can ever reach man's station.

No other animal could commit so many cases of corruption as this two-legged animal, called man. And no other animal needs training and education more than man. All the prophets, from Adam to the Great Prophet of Islam, were appointed by God to change an animal into a man. This has been their objective. All the heavenly and divine books, the most glorious of which is the Holy Qur'an, which had descended to man, have had this objective in mind. These prophets and their books want to lead the self-centered egoistic man from darkness into light. Look at the following holy verse from the Holy Qur'an: Allah is the guardian of those who believe. He brings them out of the darkness into the light. «1» God considers this world as the world of light. There is much darkness which has shrouded man. This darkness includes both internal and social darkness. When man gets rid of this darkness he will surely join the origin of light.

The prophets came to salvage those who are engulfed in darkness, who are selfish, who do not value other and who are self-centered. They tried to lead them towards God seeking the light. Those who have attained such a stage of God-seeking, which is one of the stages of perfection, are different from us. They care for others prior to themselves. The Great Prophet (s) used to be deeply sorry for those infidels who refused to convert into Muslims. In the sacred verse, God says: Perhaps you will kill yourself with grief because they do not believe. «2» The Prophet (s) of Islam wanted everybody to attain light. He had been elevated by God to dispense with all the desires concerning gaining power in this world and to implant in people's mind a sense to seek and fear God. If this sense prevailed on the earth, all conflicts would vanish.

If all the prophets could gather at one place, they would never have any conflict. This is because conflicts and discontent stem from selfishness. Those who have done away with their selfishness have reached the stage of humanity. They have done holy war against themselves and are looking for God. One who wants to meet with God does not get himself involved in quarrels. A quarrel takes place when a person asks something for himself and the second one plans to get it. Then there develops a conflict between these two. This one wants to capture the power, the other one, too, does the same. Then a quarrel starts between the two. If people were trained in the school of the prophets, all these conflicts would vanish. All human conflicts would be non-existent. All would become brethren. This fact is brought up in the Holy Qur'an through the sacred verse the believers are but brethren, «3» which means they are brothers. They faithful believers are brethren. A true believer is one who wishes his brother well. If two persons do not stick to their religious brotherhood and refrain from helping each other, they are not true believers. If two brothers quarrel over insignificant matters, they are not believers.

True faith is not merely based on our belief that there is God or that there is a prophet. Rather, the genuine faith involves more than this. What man has perceived through his wisdom should be directed towards his heart so that his heart becomes aware of such an issue. We know many things through our wisdom, but if the required faith is not there, these things would not be of any effect. An example will make the issue clear. Most people are frightened to stay with a dead person in a dark place at night, although through their wisdom they know that a corpse is harmless since it cannot move to create problems. This fact is perceived by our wisdom. However, this knowledge has not reached our hearts. But the washer of the dead knows this fact in his heart. He can sleep with the corpse at night at the mortuary. This does not frighten him. This is the difference between the intellectual perception and the faith. The intellectual perception does not have any effect on us. Its effect is meager unless our heart has understood it.

When we have perceived something through our wisdom and have relayed it to our heart, faith is created. Our hearts should believe in things. We should try hard to convey what we perceive through our intellect and wisdom to our hearts, i. e. we should comprehend things through our hearts. Our hears should believe that we are now in God's presence that we are sitting in God's presence. If our hearts realized that we are now in God's presence, we would not get ourselves involve in wrongdoings. All sins are committed because man has not comprehended this issue yet. Our intellectual perception, too, leads us to the fact that God is everywhere. This is asserted by both our wisdom and by the prophets: He is with you wherever you are. «4» This is from the Holy Qur'an. He is with you. Wherever you are, God is with you. We have seen this in the Holy Qur'an; our wisdom verifies it, too, but it has not reached our hearts. We have not become like the washer of the dead. But if it reached our hearts, then it would be difficult for us to do anything wrong, to slander or accuse anybody of some wrongdoing because we believe God is present in front of us. This is because God's presence is an honorable position. We should respect that position. When you were in the presence of a great man, you would not do anything wrong. When you have found yourselves in the presence of some honorable persons, you would not carry out any wrong thing. The entire world is in the presence of God. Doing wrong things is to oppose God. Make friends with God because you are in His presence.

Let us start this internal reconstruction from ourselves. When we initiate this edification this way, anything we do is divine. When you reconstruct yourselves, all your work will be divine. It is because you have left darkness and have entered light. All your actions would be radiant. Your very speech is filled with light. What you hear is light. When you perceive through your hears, your perception is through light. You have been converted into light. The prophets have come to take us, who are engulfed by darkness from every side and who are deprived of the light, towards light and brightness. As soon as you reach the world of light, you will become radiant yourselves. You will become the light per se. What you utter is luminous; what you hear is luminous. You have put aside your natural ears and have got luminous ears instead. You have left the dark eyes and have obtained luminous eyes instead. These are the eyes through which you could observe God. These are the ears with which you can hear God.

We have to reconstruct ourselves. When you have reconstructed yourselves all your actions would be a holy struggle. You have struggled in the way of God. You actions are striving towards virtuous purification. Try to bring about these changes within yourselves. Do it now. Do not wait till it is too late. One of Satan's temptations is for us to procrastinate repenting to an old age. We would say to ourselves," we are now young; we will repent when we are older." You are not aware that it is extremely difficult for an old man to repent. A young tree can be easily uprooted even by a child. When it becomes a little thicker, a man can take it out of the ground. When it becomes thicker, still it will need some apparatus to uproot. When it becomes corpulent, however, like the maple tree at Imam Zadeh Salih (Shrine) - I do not know whether it exists now or not- it is impossible to root it out. The corrupt behaviors have roots in our true selves. At the beginning, repenting is easy and we can easily cut out the root. The older one becomes, the harder it becomes to root out a sin. Man's determination becomes weaker and weaker everyday. Do not postpone repentance till you become older. The Satan of our true selves tempts us to enter the other world an infidel.

All temptations posed on vis-a-vis prophetic calls are meant to bar us from reaching the light (of God). Satanic forces do not want us to; these devil forces are debarring our brothers and sisters who are now taking part in the mobilization programs. But there are some Satans down there who tempt them not to, let reconstruction take place, Islam materialize. These are the children of Satan. These make temptations. Those who enter the farm lands or the factories and inveigle the farmers and the workers to go on strike are the Satan's offsprings. One Satan is within us preventing us to repent. Another Satan is within them selves luring others not to take part in the reconstruction of the country. You have to identify the Satans within you. Know your internal Satan. Know the external Satans, as well, so that you could overpower them. Man's internal Satan is himself: man's selfishness and the man's wishes and whims. These are Satan's layers within us. These are Satan's armies. If you do not recognize these Satans, you may not fight them. There are Satanic men here who would not let Islam materialize or an Islamic humane system get established. The prophets and God's men have always tried to make a man out of a beast. When we become true human beings, then we will have proper regimes. Everything else would follow suit. All prophets tried to bring forth justice for man as a social being and internal justice within himself. But there are some Satans out there who want to waste the efforts of these prophets.

You, young men, who vehemently supported the Islamic Republic, you desired that the governmental regime of this country be Islamic. You tried hard for the Islamic feature of this government. But there are some who hate this concept. These are the Satan's army. In order to defend yourselves, you have to identify them. Get rid of them. These exist so far as man exists. The prophets and the men of God tried hard to uproot these corrupt men and to build up a real human society. Unfortunately, they failed. It is impossible for us and for you, too. But we have to try and do our best. We should not wait for the excellent form of an Islamic regime. We will try to give an Islamic feature to this regime as far as possible. We should try to go under the banner of Islam is meant to act out what is commanded for us to do.

Try to stay under the banner of Islam. Anybody among your relatives and friends who is tempted not to use the Islamic covering (hijab) should be advised by you to use the Islamic hijab. Enjoining good and forbidding evil is our duty. It is compulsory for everybody. In the same way that we have to take ourselves out of the dark and put in the light, we have to lead others towards light. You should not shun your task by saying that you are not an orator or a cleric or a religious scholar. However, you are able to talk to your son or daughter or your wife or your friend. This is the limit of your task. If somebody is committing a sin, we should stop him.

I hope God will lead us all toward the right path. I hope God will guide us towards light and turn into light this darkness beleaguering us and is dwelling in our hearts and which has engulfed every limb and parts of our body.

May God's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.