Speech [Manifestations and stages of thanksgiving]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I hope that this auspicious feast would be a feast in its true sense for all Muslims. May God Almighty shower the blessing of this feast on the Iranian nation. The real feast is when man earns the pleasure of God and reforms his inner self. The affairs related to this world are transient and short-lived. The victories, defeats, joys and sorrows of this world do not last more than a few days. What will remain for you and me is the thing that we might have acquired in our inner self. We should believe that God Almighty is omnipresent. We should believe that everything is in His hand and that we are nothing. We should believe that we fall short of offering thanks to the favors of God.

In the holy month of Ramadan, with all the blessings it has, we cannot duly extend gratitude for a single one of these blessings. However, in the holy month of Ramadan if any spiritual stage is attained, one should strive to keep it till the next Ramadan. If that stage is not attained, we should feel regret and strive to attain it. All these tumults are temporary. What will remain is that which is in us. It shall stay and it is with us. We should endeavor to reform our inner self.

Thank God, your country today can be presented as a model. What I would like to say is that this response of the people to spiritual and outward matters, especially the response given by our youth in the warfronts and the Quds Day is more magnificent than the previous year, as I see it. Man cannot duly appreciate the value of this development and express gratitude for it, which causes us to feel a sense of responsibility. It multiplies the duty of the legislative, the executive and the judiciary. It magnifies the duty of the eminent clergy. We cannot fully extend gratitude for this favor, yet we should offer thanks as much as possible. Appreciation does not mean that we should simply say," Praise is to Allah" that is one way of expressing thanks. Thanksgiving means understanding the status of this nation and paying attention to the warfront and home front. God knows that every time I see the youth dispatched to the warfronts, I feel ashamed of myself. Who are we? What are we? We have been in this world for 80 years and so- I am referring to myself- but we did not render service as much as they do in these few days that they are busy rendering service; we did not reform ourselves. My time is over, but you should make efforts to reform yourselves. Be careful not to take the world seriously. Bear in mind that all are transient and that we should be closer to the God Almighty so as to be shown the way. Examine closely the supplications of the immaculate Imams; the supplications are like whips striking our head. Those who are really free from any sin groan and wail in their supplications. This is a serious question. Whatever the station of man is; even the highest station which belongs to the Seal of the Prophets, he is still nothing compared with the Divine Station. What they perceived from Majesty of God impelled them to implore and confess their shortcomings in that manner. Consider the supplications of the Commander of the Faithful, the Messenger of God, Imam Sajjad (`a) and the other Imams. How beautiful these invocations are and how far we are from these concepts! What gnosis is there in the supplications of which we are deprived of. What flame was in the hearts of these chosen ones of God that they sorely missed separation from God to the extent hat they would say:" Assuming I can endure the heat of the hellfire, how could I endure separation from You?" These are like fiction for us, but they are realities. They have discerned them, but we have not. Now, we have many duties. We are facing a nation that has sincerely offered everything it had for Islam. The nation offers the youth who offer their lives; women offer their dear youth who join the theater with such ardor, while the people are presently rendering sacrifices fervently in the warfronts and behind the frontlines. What is our duty with regard to them? What answer do we have for all the things they are offering? What answer do we have to give them? Anyhow, we should do that which is possible. In order to appreciate people and be grateful to them we should treat the people as major partners in this government. It is not governance; all of us must be servants of this nation: the youth, the aged, women and men.

We should let the people participate in all affairs. The government alone cannot bear the heavy burden which is now on the shoulder of this nation. As you notice, if the ardor and zeal of the nation and the dear youth were not present, no government could confront these powers that garnered all their strengths and attacked us. Without the nation joining, we could not have done anything. Whatever we have is from the people and whatever is there belongs to them; the government is their agent; the judicial branch is their agent; the executive branch is their agent; the legislative branch is their agent. The officials should perform their duty. They should let the people participate in all affairs. Just as with the participation of the people in the war, in which you were, thank God, victorious, you can administer this country with the people's participation. You should let the people participate the trade, in culture and in all affairs. Do not pose obstacles for people who want to build schools. Of course, supervision is necessary, criticism is necessary, too, but do not be an obstacle in people's way.

Be brothers among yourselves and keep this brotherhood. Through the preservation of brotherhood you reached this point and through the preservation of brotherhood you should make advancement. If, God forbid, there were rupture in this brotherhood, be it in Tehran itself, outside of Tehran, in other places, among the clerics, the people or the parties you would suffer defeat. Bear in mind that you are the protectors of Islam, not protectors of yourselves. You should protect Islam not only during your time but also after your departure. Just as the noble prophets tried to be protectors after their demise, it is the duty of us all to preserve this republic, which has reached this point, till the end. To preserve it till the end means that everyday we should strengthen our brotherhood. We should not harm Islam; we should not, God forbid, harm the Islamic Republic just for trivial and fleeting things. If there were problems with me and others, they should be raised, but the government should not be undermined; the legislative branch, the judiciary, the clergy and the like should not be undermined as doing so is a crime. Doing such things are unforgivable sins. You should be aware; our nation should be aware that a united nation will not be overwhelmed by any power. No power can confront a united and integrated nation. Thus, the devils are trying through other means to sow discord among the parties. Do not pay attention to these devils. In the cities, the gentlemen should not pay attention to the devils who want to sow discord.

Be strong and support one another; the government and the nation must be together; the nation must support the government; the government must serve the nation. They should let the people participate in all affairs. The people must get involved in the universities. The people must have university of their own but the government should supervise. The supervision of the government is indispensable but you should not imagine that the government can do all the jobs alone. You see it cannot. All admit this. The government admits; all admit that without the nation we cannot. Do not lose this nation. Keep the nation. The clerics are duty-bound to safeguard Islam which is accomplished through preserving units. They have to strive toward this end and this is incumbent upon all to safeguard unity and to keep the people. If a city happened to have misunderstanding with other cities, they should be aware that Satan has a hand in it. They should remove it; they should not allow, God forbid, to have misunderstanding even in a city or a village. The clerical brothers must be emphatically united and not withdraw. All should be in the scene. Be together. We want to safeguard Islam; by seclusion it cannot be safeguarded. Do not imagine that by seclusion we would be excused from performing the duty; the duty is multiplied. They are supposed to be in the scene. The clerics should tightly close their ranks. Seclusion is among the tricks of Satan that does not let all to have unity. Muster up your power; the Army, IRGC, Basij and the people must be together. If you are united, God Almighty will help you. The help of God is that you should be together to please God. You all should be in unison in strengthening Islam and extend Islam to other places. This is the help of God, God has promised," If ye help Allah, He will help you and will make your foothold firm." «1» You can see that He is currently helping. You see that one day the overall conditions were topsy-turvy and everywhere was in ruin. Now, thank God, all things are in proper order and in good condition, the concerns are no more and our fronts are strong while the domestic and external conditions are in good shape. Yet, the people should bear in mind supporting the ruling body, which should in turn be at the service of the people.

May God protect us all from the wickedness of Satan. May God give us the power to struggle against our self, to combat with our inner self and to reform ourselves.

May God's peace and mercy be upon you.