The following is the full text of a speech delivered on July 28,2021, by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution,in the last meeting with President Hassan Rouhani and cabinet members on the occasion of Eid al-Ghadir
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master Muhammad, and upon his pure household, especially the one remaining with Allah on earth
May the auspicious Eid al-Ghadir be a joyous occasion for all believers, for you friends and for the Iranian nation, God willing. This is a very important celebration. The al-Ghadir event is an irrefutable reality. Some writers, historians and the like have tried to cast doubts on some of its details, all of which have been dispelled, but the essence of the issue and the fact that the Holy Prophet (God’s greetings be upon him and his household) introduced the Commander of the Faithful as a “Mowlah” – “Whoever considers me his leader should also consider this Ali as his leader” – is irrefutable.
This is an indisputable fact. This is not just a claim made by us. This is also acknowledged by great Sunni scholars, writers and intellectuals. For instance, the well-known Egyptian writer, Muhammad Abdul-Ghani Hassan who wrote a commentary on Allamah Amini’s al-Ghadir, says about the event of al-Ghadir, “One cannot have any doubt about al-Ghadir.” So, al-Ghadir is a very important issue.
Since the first Islamic centuries, Eid al-Ghadir has been a popular celebration. According to Allamah Amini’s (May God bestow paradise on him) al-Ghadir, there are some writings which refer to certain events as “An event like the Day of al-Ghadir” or “Like the eighteenth day of Dhul-Hijja.” In other words, there were many events in the early history of Islam – such as during the time of Fatimid caliphs in Egypt and in other countries – which were compared to Eid al-Ghadir.
The late Allamah Amini quotes 110 companions of the Holy Prophet narrating the al-Ghadir event. This signifies that there are very reliable narrations and documents citing 110 companions of the Holy Prophet. The fact that this large number of companions have narrated this hadith and this event is a very important matter.
Furthermore, the Commander of the Faithful’s own statements are very important. On many occasions, the Commander of the Faithful – that sincere tongue and that voice of God – drew upon the event of al-Ghadir when facing opponents. For instance, during the Battle of Siffin, he delivers a sermon for his troops where he explains the issue of al-Ghadir and where he describes the Holy Prophet’s words and actions during the event: “Later on he said, ‘Stand up, dear Ali.’ I stood up and then, he took my hand and said, ‘God is our Lord and He has made me your leader and whoever considers me his leader should also consider this Ali as his leader.’” This has been narrated by the Commander of the Faithful himself.
I hope that this Eid will be a joyous occasion for all Muslims and for our dear people. I hope that the people will become happy and that the existing problems will be eliminated, God willing.
Well, this meeting has been organized for thanking the gentlemen in the administration, whether the ones who held their position for eight years or the ones who were in office for a shorter period of time. You should know that whoever acted for the purpose of serving God and the public, this will not be forgotten in the divine office. It is possible that someone made an endeavor and went to great lengths over an issue, but that no one knows about it and that it has not been registered anywhere. However, you should know that the supreme angels of God are aware of it and Allah the Omniscient knows everything. Whoever has genuinely worked for God and for serving public interests should know that their endeavors have not been in vain and they will hopefully be rewarded by Allah the Exalted. This is the real provision. This is the real provision that one can garner during one’s responsibility.
Materialistic people use managerial, ministerial and other important positions to amass worldly possessions, secure a place and build a future for themselves somewhere. As you see, this is common in the world, but it is not common in the Islamic religion and culture. One’s provision is a spiritual one.
I have written down one of the Commander of the Faithful’s comments to Malik al-Ashtar. In the beginning of the edict, which as you know is long and detailed, he says to Malik, “the best collection with you should be the collection of good deeds”. In other words, you should do good deeds, work for God, do hard work and keep it as your provision for Judgment Day. Allah the Exalted will keep this provision for you in complete safety. This is the issue. You should pay attention to this. Whether the likes of us know or not, whether we thank God for it or not, those who work for God and who do good deeds will see their provision protected by God.
Well, the performance of Dr. Rouhani administration has not been the same in all areas. According to what I witnessed in the past eight years, in certain areas, its performance lived up to expectations and in some other areas, it fell short of expectations. Various sections made certain attempts, as mentioned by the President. In any case, the opportunity to render services is a blessing. The fact that you and I have found the opportunity to serve the people is a great blessing from God.
There are many individuals who want to serve the people, but who do not have the capability to do so. For example, they need money to serve the people, but they do not have it or they need physical strength, social influence and an influential position, but they do not have these. You who enjoyed an influential position should appreciate its value. This is a great blessing granted to us by God and every blessing requires gratitude. The way to express our gratitude is to use all our power for God, for His cause and for obeying His orders and in our own country and our society for advancing the goals of the Revolution. This is the basis.
On that day too, I said to Mr. Rouhani that our affairs should be based on furthering the goals of the Revolution. We are a revolutionary country. We have conducted a Revolution. Our people have conducted a Revolution. They have made the supreme sacrifice, they have been toiling away for many years. They have faced myriad dangers and have valiantly resisted for the sake of revolutionary goals and principles. Therefore, we too should work for these goals. Our efforts should be focused on and in accordance with these goals.
Others should benefit from your experiences. In particular, I have written down one experience which I have frequently cited in my meetings with you and the people. I would like to repeat that statement and that experience: It is about lack of trust in the west. Future generations should benefit from this experience. It became clear in this administration that trusting westerners does not work as they are not going to help us and they will strike a blow whenever they can and when they do not strike a blow, it is because they do not have the means to do so. Whenever they could, they dealt us a blow. This is a very important experience.
The national affairs of the country should never become contingent on the cooperation of westerners because this will definitely lead to failure. Whenever you made your affairs contingent on westerners’ cooperation, you failed and whenever you moved forward and showed initiative without trusting westerners, you succeeded. If you take a look at the performance of the 11th and 12th administrations, this is how it is. Whenever you made your affairs contingent on reaching an agreement with westerners and with the US, you came up against a brick wall and failed to advance. This is because they do not help. Instead, they show enmity because they are enemies anyway. However, whenever you stopped pinning your hopes on them and began to use different methods of your own – there are thousands of methods and it is not the case that there is only one method and one path as there are various methods: if people think, they will find a multitude of methods for their personal, social and managerial lives - you made progress.
I wish to say something about the recent negotiations as well. Most of you gentlemen are aware of the developments. In the recent negotiations, our diplomats really worked hard. Some of our diplomats really performed well, but the Americans stuck to their hostile position in an obstinate matter and they did not take a step forward. On paper and in words, they say that they will remove the sanctions, but they have not removed and are not going to remove them. The Americans have laid down a condition: they say that if we wish sanctions to be removed, we should include a clause in the agreement which signifies that we are willing to negotiate over certain matters in the future. They say that if we do not accept this clause, we will not have an agreement in the present time.
What is this clause? This clause is actually a pretext for future interferences. The clause is about the Bar-Jaam [JCPOA] itself and about various other matters such as missiles and regional issues. If later on, we say that we are not going to negotiate over these matters because the policies of the country and our parliament do not allow us to do so, they will say that there is no deal because we have allegedly violated it. These are their methods and their policies. They are behaving in a completely unfair and malicious manner and they have no scruples about breaking their promises in any way.
They violated the agreement once without paying any price and in the present time too, when they are told to promise and to guarantee that they will not violate it at another time, they respond that they cannot give such a guarantee. They are saying this explicitly to our friends and to our diplomats. They say that they will not give any guarantee about possible violations. They are like this.
This is an experience for the future administration and for men active in the political scene. Some people might be political activists, but they might not be executive officials. These individuals should take this into consideration. This is a very important experience which was witnessed in this administration and in all other administrations – of course, this administration experienced it more.
I hope that Allah the Exalted will help us. Well, our time is over. Of course, there are many things to be said, but there is no time. We even spent more time talking than the time we had. I hope that God will help all friends and brothers to carry out their religious and revolutionary duties wherever they are. I hope that wherever they are, they remain revolutionary in the true sense of the word and work in the direction of attaining revolutionary goals, God willing.
Greetings be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings
The following is the full text of a speech delivered on July 28, 2021, by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in the last meeting with President Hassan Rouhani and cabinet members on the occasion of Eid al-Ghadir.
