Televised Message [A radio and television message on the occasion of the New Year]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I implore God Almighty to bless this New Year for Muslims of the world, particularly our dear people by the grace of the Wali-e Amr (peace be upon him). Congratulations on this great victory of Islam over blasphemy and on this great struggle of our strugglers in the cause of Islam! God willing, this day of the festivity is happy to all. It is hoped that God almighty will lead this nation to victory as He has so far done by His special favor. I hope God will bestow His blessings upon the martyrs, who have lost their lives for this victory and this Year will be blessed for the whole nation, particularly the family of martyrs, those wounded in action, the disabled, those missing in action, their families and all the strugglers from any stratum. I hope by the grace of God Almighty and the favors of vali-e-amr (peace be upon him) - May our souls be sacrificed for him- this nation obtains whatever it has asked from God and wish God will curtail the grip of the oppressors from this country. This festive occassion and New Year will be the dawn of fulfillment of the request of this nation from God, a request that conforms to the will of God. I hope people will proceed with the same vigor- as they have done so far and curtailed the grip of the oppressors- and vitality and be able to protect the country. I hope the flag of Islam will be hoisted over the world Muslims and the grip of tyrants will be curtailed from Islamic countries and this nation succeed in acting to gratify God Almighty.

Of course, the feasts prescribed by Islam have been differently treated in accordance with different views of different schools. The understanding of he men of knowledge of feast widely differs from what others have. After men of knowledge suffer those pains in the holy month of Ramadan, the feast is their day of gaining proximity to God. For other than You what appearance is conceivable that cannot be conceived for You? «1» They consider everything from Him and felicitate the day because after the austere practices, it is the day to enter the Proximity of God. After they lost their self in the Feast of Sacrifice, men of knowledge prepare for the meeting. This meeting comes about after they sacrificed their self and whatever is dear to them in the cause of God. Then arrives the day of meeting. On Friday when Muslims assemble, they get prepared for meeting God. Therefore, their understanding of feast is different from ours. We hope that like the saints of God we can attend one of those manifestations and a beam of that knowledge starts shining in our hearts.

I hope in the same way that our youths underwent change and traversed the 100 year long path overnight, our nation also undergo transformation. Thank God a breeze of this understanding had been blowing through this country. Therefore, the victories we have achieved were not attainable by an empty-handed, 40- million nation. These are victories Islam has brought and God Almighty has favored us. no matter what the east and west may say, we will continue with our own way. I hope we can reach the destination. They are, of course, angry because of losing their interests in this country. They fear lest their interests be curtailed in other countries. That is why they are always engaged in hatching plots against us. Expectantly, God Almightly will foil all their plots. I hope by the grace of the Savior (peace be upon him) - May our souls be sacrificed for him- this country will grow into an advanced country from ethical, religiouos, spiritual and material aspects. Thank God, every day we pass is better than the previous day. I hope that this year is better than the previous years and that God grant success to all to appreciate His blessings and know that everything is from Him. If one sees everything from Him, one will no longer feel upset. This feeling appears when people think these things belong to them. We become sad about the loss of our dear ones because we consider them from us. We should consider things from God and see things as blessings bestowed upon us by God and taken away by Him. Martyrs are guests of God. If we really appreciate these concepts in our heart, it will be feast for martyrs, for those wounded in action and for those offering heir dear ones in the cause of God, because these dear ones are the dear ones of God; they are all from Him.

I hope that this feeling and faith appear in us and be strengthened. I hope that these Muslims will come to their senses. You see that while Saddam committed those crimes, we were the one to be condemned rather than condemning the one who showered chemical bombs on Muslims, `Arabs, non-`Arabs, Persians and all. This is to be condemned. However, the international agencies hesitate to blame Saddam and say it was not clear whether they were Iraqi bombs and condemn us instead. And while the United Nation is following up the issue, they immediately condemn Iran for violating human rights. This is a plot to cover Saddam's crimes. However, we trust God Almighty. I hope the New Year is a blessed year for the country and for Muslims. I hope God Almighty will grant us success to serve Him. When we are at His service, we fear nothing. I hope this year is blessed for all classes of the nation and all those under the shadow of Islamic Republic as well as all oppressed people of the world.

May God's peace and mercy be upon you!