In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Richness of Iranian culture and literature
I appreciate you gentlemen who have taken the trouble to come here to meet you closely. It is the time to realize that we should do things ourselves. The erroneous notion that has been inculcated in the mind of our students, that they cannot reach anywhere without going to the US, France, England and elsewhere thus causing our youth to rush to these countries and become corrupt should be cleared from our mind. We know that the east and the west are not and will not be on good terms with us. The reason is the situation you see. Most political groups of all denominations carry out anti-Iran propagate. It is because they do not want Islam and any country desiring to act according to Islam will be subjected to their attack. We should therefore, provide the ground for our youths to study here. If there is a need to send them abroad, they should go to countries, which have no colonization record and do not want to dominate us. I hope the time will come when we no longer need to send students abroad. This depends on the activity of you gentlemen and other friends in this vital matter. We should use the good youths we have and educate them to serve God and people. We should clean the idea from our mind that everything we need should come from abroad. Sometimes, we have to import something out of necessity, but there is no justification to borrow culture and literature from abroad. We have a rich literature and culture. Is it correct to argue that since they make missiles, we should obey them? They are destroying the world with these industries. We want to have an industry that is not destructive but useful and constructive.
With the relations, you have with seminaries and you can render many services. Perhaps you may not have noticed that during the reign of Rida Khan and his son- I witnessed from beginning to the end- how they exerted pressure on seminaries so that no seminary could exist. On the one hand, they opened the doors and said they would so such and such for every one coming to them. On the other hand, they exerted so much pressure on theology students that they could not stay in their chambers in the mornings. They had to go out prior to the sunrise and return after the sunset. Thanks God, however, they did not succeed. Theological seminaries remained and were preserved in the same pristine form and should be preserved in the same way. Universities should have good relations with theological seminaries and exchange views. In culture and most of the sciences, we do not need foreign countries. If in industry we are not as developed as they are, we should not lose hope and say since they are developed, everything we have should come from them. Not at all, This is not the case. If we acquirea type of industry from them, we should not become British, Russian or American. We should remain Muslim. Obviously, there is no objection to using the sciences and borrowing it from others, but we should note that we should borrow the sciences from countries, which do not intend to deflect us. In the past if they gave us some of the sciences and expertise, they wanted to deflect us from everything we had and orient us towards consumerism. I hope that God willing you gentlemen and others help so that the university established at the suggestion of Mr. Hashemi and was a very good idea broaden its activities and expand everywhere. May God grant you success, health and salvation!
May God's peace and mercy be upon you!