Search Result in All

Iran's Secretary General of the High Council for Human Rights, Mohammad Javad Larijani has said that the recent claims by the International Atomic Energy Agency against Tehran are “laughable.” In his November 8 report on Iran's nuclear program, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano claimed that Iran had engaged in activities related to developing nuclear weapons before 2003, adding that these activities “may still be ongoing.” Based on the report, which Iran has called "unfounded and unbalanced," the IAEA Board of Governors on Friday passed a new resolution on the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities. The resolution voices "deep and increasing concern" over Tehran's nuclear program and also calls for Iran and the IAEA to intensify dialogue to resolve the dispute over the issue. Larijani made the remarks in a heated television debate aired on the American channel MSNBC. US president of the Council on Foreign Relations, Dr. Richard Haass, Mike Barnicle and John Mitchun were the other guests on the television debate. What follows is a rough transcription of the interview: MSNBC: Let's go to the heart of the matter when it comes to Iran, the headlines of the past week, the IAEA report found evidence of nuclear weapons program in Iran and you are quoted as saying that is “quite laughable.” Why sir? Larijani: The reason is very simple. There is no single evidence in that. These allegations which is aired again is based on a document which was put to us four years ago based on a laptop somewhere found by United States authorities. And at that time, four years ago, it has been discussed with the agency and the conclusion was that none of these allegations could be verified. So by a letter it has been closed- the whole issue. Then again it has been renewed and [let me] just give you an example. A good part of this so-called document which is on the laptop, for example lecture notes that somebody presented in Brussels or at some universities. Some of them are parts of some textbook as put together with pictures, formulas, so it is totally inconclusive. MSNBC: Let's back up. Before I send this to Richard Haass- are you saying it doesn't exist? There is no nuclear program? Larijani: Well we have a very extensive nuclear program but not to the direction of producing arms. Our nuclear project is very extensive, very advanced. We are number one in the Middle East but we are not pursuing the nuclear armament for two basic reasons. Number one there is a Fatwa by Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader and it is against the Islamic jurisprudence to build and use mass destructing weapons. It is Haram we call it, unlawful. And secondly, it doesn't add to our security. It is more liability than asset for us. Our military muscle is strong enough to repel or to deter any imminent threat and this is basically very important achievement. MSNBC: Richard Haass, put this into perspective for us. What the reports were saying and what this gentleman is saying. Haass: Well quite frankly it is impossible to take the Iranian denial seriously. They are preposterous. The International Atomic Energy Agency taking information from all the member states in the United Nations have put together a comprehensive and extraordinarily damning report. And what there is, is a pattern, not a single incident, a pattern over years of Iranian program to move in the direction of developing nuclear weapons. We see a procurement mechanism to gain access to all sorts of equipment, we see all sorts of undeclared efforts to produce nuclear material now up to 20 percent well on its way to what it needs to produce a weapon, most important there is now serious evidence about the Iranian testing of the implosive device that would actually be the heart of the nuclear weapon. So the idea that the Iranians have all these underground and undeclared facilities, that they have been misleading the International Atomic Energy Agency for years, the idea they're doing this- this oil rich country in order to produce electricity? If you believe that you seriously have to believe in the tooth fairy. MSNBC: Sir this doesn't sound like preposterous, little pieces of information that were roaming together randomly. Larijani: Well the whole scenes of allegation is produced and initiated by the United States. It seems there is a good machinery to produce perpetual allegation against Iran, it is not only one case. I am telling you exactly that there are no secret programs in our nuclear program and development. Iran's transparency is far ahead of United States, far ahead of UK, far ahead of France and incomparable to Israel which is a renegade state in the sense of NPT. Barnicle: So you allow inspectors to just come into Iran. Larijani: The inspectors are coming to Iran periodically, the cameras are there 24 hours. This is quite obvious. Haass: But the whole concept the way this works, just when you talk about inspectors, let's just be clear, I am sure if everyone watching this will understand, the entire international nuclear inspection effort depends upon the willingness of the country in question to cooperate fully. This is a gentlemen's agreement. They declare their facilities that are involved in the nuclear business then the inspectors come in and look at them. If they do not declare facilities the inspectors don't give a chance and the problem is this is a gentlemen's agreement in a world where not every country is a gentleman. So Iran quite frankly has undeclared facilities and undeclared programs which the inspectors had not had access to and the reason we only know about it is that member states, not simply the United States sir, but many, many member states of the United Nations have provided independent information to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which by the way you know and I know is not controlled by the United States. We have fundamental differences with this agency over the years including over Iraq. We had fundamental differences and we've also had differences over Iran where we the United States felt, this agency was not being nearly tough enough. So now they have come in with an extraordinarily damning report and Iranian officials can dismiss it. MSNBC: So if this is a gentlemen's agreement, the gentlemen certainly don't agree and sir, you seem very confident and almost as if it's funny it's interesting because we interviewed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about this about a year ago, off camera, and he too seemed very comfortable about his position which is similar to yours. And if you are so comfortable with your position about the lack of nuclear armament and the facilities that the IAEA is talking about, why not let inspectors completely come in? Open the door let them come in and see what you have. Larijani: Well the mechanism that the gentleman addressed is not complete because first of all there is no single secret installment or activity which is concealed from the agency. Secondly, two years ago we asked the agency tell us all the questions you have and he managed to put to us six groups of questions. The questions were raised by themselves not dictated by us. So one by one groups of inspectors came to Iran and we cleared them up and there is official letters from them this group has been finished then we moved to another one. Well it doesn't make sense that every morning somebody says we guess there is some secret things done there. There should be foundation for this allegation. What do you mean the door should be open? They should ask where do you want to inspect? Did they want to inspect my bedroom or other places? I mean it doesn't make sense. Barnicle: A few moments ago when you mentioned the nuclear programs of other nations I detected a definite edge in your voice when you mentioned the state of Israel. Do you fear an attack from the state of Israel on your nuclear facilities? Larijani: Well I am beyond the fear. What is the difference between us and Israel? Israel has a bomb, not a member of NPT; it doesn't disclose anything to agency, nothing wrong with it. You see what the double standard is in here. We are member of NPT, they periodically come to Iran, their cameras are there, we don't have the weapon then the whole pressure is put on us. No, not at all. We don't fear any attack from anyone. We take it serious in our calculation but we don't fear. There is a difference between that. Mitchum: Given your tone again Sir when you talk about Israel, just a second ago why shouldn't we suspect that there would be ambitions for Iran to join the club of which Israel is a part with the nuclear arms? Larijani: We are very advanced in the nuclear technology which is a matter of pride for us and that gentleman mentioned that we have plenty of gas and oil with all good calculations, the age of this is up to 20-25 period, 25 years from now. It means that if we don't have it, then we should beg in front of the Western countries to light our houses and we know how bad they are treating us in this area. We are right now very happy that we have the first power plant, we know how to make the fuel. We already have more than 25 percent share of sodalite and erudite they don't give us a bit of this fuel that we need, even the twenty percent that we needed for Tehran. Haass: It's important to keep in mind we are not talking about an established democracy that treats its own people with respect, we are talking about a country also that is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. So this is obvious and understandable concern about what Iran is doing. Larijani: In terms of record I think United States of America is the largest and the greatest country supporting terrorism. The records of terrorist activity which is supported by the tax money of these people is enormous, I can go one by one. Barnicle: Wait a minute. This is a free country. And part of our gift is we have the liberty and the freedom to say anything and to sound foolish, to sound absurd, to sound smart. That's absurd saying that America is the biggest terrorist nation in the world. My question to you Sir is, you seem like a really nice guy, alright, why doesn't your country be a better neighbor? Larijani: We have fantastic relations with all of our neighbors... Barnicle: Really? [laughing] Larijani: Definitely, but the policy of demonizing Iran, a very important policy which is pursued in the region- well it has its own benefit. Barnicle But it's just in little things, like the American tourists cross the border, supposedly cross the border, you grab them, you scoop them, you hold them for months on end. Why? Larijani: This is a very simple question I answered before; suppose the security of your people... Barnicle You're here... Larijani: No, I'm here with visa- It's quite different. [Suppose] The security of the United States' people, on a patrol with Mexico elsewhere they pick 3 Iranians and ask them why are you here? They say well we are just walking in the desert. Well, with the whole hostility and suspicion which is between the two countries, you are in here to blow up somewhere definitely they will be put into jail for years if not in Guantanamo, they bring them somewhere else. It took a lot of time that we convince- I was working on this case because they were like me from ... Berkeley. I talked with their families, managed to contact between them and their families when they were arrested- for their families to come to Iran to take the suspicion away. This is very natural for security of people to suspect a cross bordering which is in the most volatile regional area of Iran- in which there is daily shooting over there. Barnicle Ok. They're going to blow up the desert. What is the root? What do you think is the root of Iranian paranoia towards the United States and towards many of its neighbors? What is the root of this paranoia? Is it the fear that we find out about your nuclear program? Larijani: We don't have any paranoia about our neighbors. We are very suspicious of American paranoia with us. The question is what is wrong with Iran that this persistent hostility... Barnicle: You have a track record of international terrorism. Larijani: This is not true. We are ourselves the victim of international terrorism- terrorism in the area. Let me ask you, who was helping Al-Qaida and Taliban for years while we were at war with them in Afghanistan? The United States of America. The money from the United States was pouring to Al-Qaida and Taliban- the idea was we should curb Iran by another religious front. Is it correct? Haass: No it's not correct. The United States did support the Mujahidin; obviously in order to get rid of the Soviet... to say that the United States supported Al-Qaida is again preposterous- the fact is that Iran is supporting terrorism in Lebanon, it's supporting groups like Hezbollah, groups like Hamas; it is involved in Iraq; it is involved in Afghanistan. Iran has basically become a regional power that is trying to destabilize many countries, trying to make them in some ways heavily influenced by Tehran and that is simply a fact of life- which again is one of the reasons the world is so concerned about Iranian nuclear program. How do we know Iran will not become even more aggressive? How do we know that nuclear materials will not end in the hands of a group like Hezbollah? What do we see about Iran's track record that would lead us to believe that Iran in any way would be responsible with nuclear material? This is a genuine concern and if you dismiss it as laughable Sir you are seriously underestimating not simply the American, not simply the Israeli, but I would suggest the world's concern over the direction your government is heading. Larijani: The disastrous thing is the blind policy of the United States in supporting carte blanche renegade Israel which is the source of all tension in the region. If you call Hezbollah and Hamas terrorist groups- they are fighting to be given the permission to live. What about Israel? Israel is involved in government sponsored terrorism. Kills anybody who thinks that it's not correct and deprives millions of people from basic tenures of life. 60 years of atrocity in that area is supported carte blanche by the US, this is even against the basic interests of that nation- they don't know it. Mitchum:Sir do you recognize the right of Israel to exist? Larijani: We recognize the rights of Jews, Christians and Muslims to live together in peace and tranquility- to create a racist regime in the middle of a land put the others out is like creating a small colony for the blacks and leave the rest for the whites. Mitchum: Thank you for the answer. Barnicle: The answer is no. Larijani: No, the answer is not no. We respect any decision by Palestinians. We are not in a position to tell them what kind of state they [should] have. But they should be given the chance to decide. MSNBC:This has been fascinating and a great picture window into the choices that Americans make when they're choosing their president and also a sense of what our Secretary of State and what our diplomats have to confront in dealing with when they're going out into the world and working with other countries. It is extremely complicated and often conversations feel like they're going in circles because it's very hard to develop a common understanding or even a place where you can start engaging and I think this was an example of that. Mohammad Javad Larijani, thank you for coming on the show this morning.

NATO-supported politicians in Syria are isolated since the national election. Meanwhile the UN has about-turned to announce the presence of al-Qaeda inside Syria. Press TV has interviewed Webster Griffin Tarpley, author and historian from Washington about the admission by UN and US heads that al-Qaeda is attempting to destabilize Syria from inside the country after so long refusing to admit its presence and surmises on why the announcement would be made at this point in time. What follows is an approximate transcript of the interview. Press TV: How surprising is it to you to see UN Chief Ban Ki Moon expressing concern about the situation in Syria? And what does Ban Ki Moon's breaking of his own silence mean to the UN Security Council? Tarpley: In the case of Ban Ki Moon we must always suspect ulterior motives i.e. an evil intent. And in these circles that Ban Ki Moon speaks for, that is to say NATO and imperialism in general, the new line is no longer to deny the presence of al-Qaeda in Syria, but to begin to cite al-Qaeda as yet another reason why an invasion and bombing will be necessary that is to say, if this terrible situation goes on any longer that al-Qaeda might get the upper hand. We heard Hilry Clinton in a rare moment of candor in the past week also conceding the presence of al-Qaeda in Syria. However, we need to point out that the reason al-Qaeda is there is because these NATO heads of government, heads of state and other officials have brought al-Qaeda into the picture. Al-Qaeda is what it always was, the CIA Arab Legion and in particular some of the most experienced al-Qaeda operatives were brought from Tripoli in Libya all the way to southern Turkey to Iskandaron and other places in kind of an airlift by NATO some months ago. So much so that when Ambassador Jafari of Syria showed his CD at the UN - he said that the Syrian government has these confessions of foreign fighters including Turkish and Libyan foreign fighters and I think we can assume that's the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which is therefore al-Qaeda. So, Ban Ki Moon is just as morally bankrupt as he always was, it's just that he has had to change his mode of attack. The entire situation of this resistance is of course desperate. As a result of the Syrian election a couple of weeks ago when more than half of the possible voters voted under the worst possible conditions, the Syrian National Council is breaking apart and the leader (Berhan) Ghalioun has now resigned, he's out. So, there is no coherent opposition so now they're less worried about trying to pretend that there's a political opposition and more with let's get on with the invasion. Press TV: Just imagine if those armed gangs who claim to be the saviors of the Syrian people, yet kill civilians and use the human population as a human shield according to reports - just imagine if they came to power, I mean, what kind of a government would we see? Isn't it paradoxical? Tarpley: This is of course the essence of the imperialist policy, it is partition, mini-states, micro-states and failed states. It's more or less what you see in Libya. We notice that the Western media have been much less interested in showing us the wonders of democracy, the singing tomorrows of the National Transitional Council in Libya because that country of course is tragically breaking up and you've got terrorist gangs and the beginnings of a separation of different parts of the country. This is what they would like to bring to Syria using NATO bombing, invasion… and the shock troops i.e. the people NATO has on the ground at the moment are these al-Qaeda types supplemented of course by mercenaries from France, turkey and other countries. The specific emphasis we have right now though is to try to cut a corridor - and it won't be a humanitarian corridor, it will be a terror corridor - starting with Tripoli to northern Lebanon and this Kleyate airport, which NATO would like to seize. That's why we've had an increase in terrorist assassinations in that area; we've had the kidnapping of the pilgrims… This is a thrust to try to get a corridor from the Mediterranean into Syria through Tripoli and the Kleyate airport. Press TV: What lies ahead for Syria in the long term especially in terms of the Assad government? How long can the Assad government resist and maintain its power? Tarpley: I think the Assad government politically is better off in the last two weeks than it was before because they've successfully carried out a national election, a multi-party election; the Constitution has been changed so that the Baath Party no longer has a monopoly of power. I think anybody who is sincerely interested in democratic reforms has participated in that election; some of them did get elected. The people who have been boycotting it have isolated themselves - they're now exposed as either al-Qaeda or fellow travelers with al-Qaeda. So it seems to me the NATO political situation has gotten desperate and the only way out of that is to try to escalate the military side. But there once again they risk the collision with Russia, China and others who are not going to allow them to do that at least under the UN cover. One of the places to look for a possible resolution for this is the Bilderberg-er meeting here in Washington SC at the end of next week, would typically be a place where a solution to that dilemma might emerge and therefore bears very, very careful watching.

Supreme Leader\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Speech to Basijis 21/11/2012 The following is the full text of the speech delivered on November 21, 2012 by Ayatollah Khamenei the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in a meeting with Basijis and Salehin activists. In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful Thankfully, an event similar to the great event of Ashura - which has been narrated for us - took place in our own times. During the Sacred Defense Era, many men, women and young people who were trying to achieve their noble goals, laid down their lives and wealth and forgot about the material aspects of their lives. Today we are benefiting from the blessings of this event. The coincidence of this event with the great event of Ashura is a lesson for us. The Islamic Ummah should never forget the event of Ashura which is a lesson and a source of guidance for us. Definitely Islam is alive because of the event of Ashura and the efforts of Hussein ibn Ali (a.s.). \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"And I am from Hussein.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" This narration means that Hussein (a.s.) continued the path of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and he continued to promote Islam after him. If it had not been for the event of Ashura and if these great sacrifices had not been made in the history of Islam, this valuable experience and this practical lesson would not have been bestowed on the Islamic Ummah and Islam would have definitely deviated from its path - as many religions before Islam did - and nothing would have remained from it. The greatness of Ashura is because of this. Of course, the pain and suffering which Imam Hussein (a.s.) and his followers endured on the day of Ashura were too agonizing and the harm which was inflicted was very serious. The life of Hussein ibn Ali (a.s.) is more valuable than everything in the world. The pure and sacred lives of those followers of Imam Hussein (a.s.), the lives of those youth and those members of Imam Hussein\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (a.s.) household are not comparable to the life of other people. Their bodies were covered in blood and dirt. They made sacrifices and they laid down their lives. The households of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and Imam Ali (a.s.) were imprisoned. Those events are very tragic and very difficult to tolerate. But what was achieved on the day of Ashura was so great and glorious that it made it easy for Imam Hussein (a.s.), his followers and his household to endure the sufferings. This has been narrated by prominent figures. The late Hajj Mirza Javad Agha Maleki (may God bestow paradise on him) stressed in his book \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Muraqibaat\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" - what he has said in this book is certainly true - that the greater the sufferings grew on the day of Ashura, the brighter and more cheerful the face of Hussein ibn Ali (a.s.) would become. You should always keep in mind these important and extraordinary facts about Ashura. In our own times, we have seen similar examples of these sacrifices. We have seen similar examples of sacrifices which we have read about in history books. One significant and remarkable example of these sacrifices is what Basij did before the start of the imposed war, during the Sacred Defense Era and after it ended. We have enormously benefited from the blessings of Basij and by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, these blessings should and will continue to benefit us. An important point about Basij is that during the Sacred Defense Era, we could see that Basij enjoyed great purity. We should preserve this purity in Basij. The present situation is more complicated. It is dangerous to go to war, kill, fight and take on responsibilities which may result in martyrdom or disability. It is still dangerous even if nothing happens to you, but being present in a military confrontation is not complicated. The present situation in which you are faced with the enemy\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s plots and attacks has certain complications. The confrontation between you and the enemy has certain complications. The dangers that our soldiers were exposed to may not exist today, but the present situation has more complications. An advantage of the military confrontation we experienced was that whoever entered it showed great purity of intention. Entering the arena of war was a life and death situation. It was not a joke. It needed courage, selfless efforts, faith and reliance on God, but our soldiers went to war and they were martyred. Today we still need that kind of courage and faith in different arenas, but it is possible that certain people call themselves basijis without having these characteristics. You should be vigilant about this. First, we should guard ourselves against this and second, we should guard Basij against this. This is the duty of all members of Basij. You should strengthen the basiji spirit in Basij organizations including Salehin organizations which you manage. We should make sure that Basij has purity in everything it does. This is difficult to some extent. One reason why practicing self-restraint and paying attention to spiritual matters is called \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"greater jihad\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" is the difficulty of this task. In a military confrontation with the enemy, one can easily measure one\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s and other people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s purity. It is easier to do this in the case of a military confrontation, but in the arena of practicing self-restraint this is not very easy. In latter case, you may make a mistake in judging how pure your actions are and others may also misjudge what kind of person you are. Another point is that we should avoid negative qualities such as arrogance, pretension and hypocrisy. These qualities are very destructive. If we make an achievement, we should be thankful to God and we should know that our achievement has been made with the help of God and we should ask God to help us continue making these achievements. It is very important not to be arrogant and not be over-confident. We should not think that we have made achievements on our own and we should rely on God Almighty. It is a fact that there is no power except the power of God Almighty. Everything is done by God. Our achievements, our capabilities, our enthusiasm, our faith and our love all come from God. We should know this and we should be thankful to God. We should ask God Almighty to increase these qualities in our characters. This is an important issue. I noticed an important point in the statements of the dear people who spoke in this meeting. That point is the high quality of organizations which form the basis of Basij. What is damaging is superficiality in our beliefs, our understanding of different matters and our principles. Superficiality is damaging. It is like a precarious stack of things which is easily blown down by a strong wind. We should give depth to our beliefs. Thankfully, you pay attention to these issues. Salehin organizations were created with a view to giving depth to the thoughts and the spirits of young basijis in spiritual and educational matters. Generally, Basij is one of the miracles of the Revolution. Basij reflects the innovation of our magnanimous Imam (r.a.). It shows his understanding, his wisdom and it reflects the connection between his enlightened heart and the source of divine wisdom. Basij provided a solid foundation for the Revolution. See how active Basij is in the area of scientific matters, in the area of practical matters, in the area of technological matters, in the area of spiritual matters, in the area of social services, in the area of formulating theories on different parts of social life, and in different other areas. If one day something happens which makes our people arm themselves against the enemy for the purpose of defending their country, these youth, these basijis, these brave youth of our dear nation will once more prove the courage of the Iranian nation, the resistance of the Iranian nation, the power of the Iranian nation and the invincibility of the Iranian nation to the enemy. Other groups of people and other countries which have tried to tread the enlightened path of Islam will follow our example. We have a valuable experience in this regard. We should perform well because it will make Basij a living and dynamic role model in the world of Islam. Today this has almost happened. Therefore strengthening Basij, making all its members as pure and spiritual as possible, expanding its activities to all areas of life are among the tasks which should be carried out by the people in charge of Basij, member of Basij and everyone connected with Basij. Islam has advised us to start from ourselves. All of us, at all levels, should start from ourselves. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"He who considers himself the leader of people should educate himself before educating others.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [Nahjul Balaghah, Saying 73] This piece of advice is true at all levels. We should start from ourselves. We should establish this idea in Basij. The Islamic view of lifestyle can be a standard for self-evaluation in Basij. I am not saying that organizations which are higher in rank should evaluate our behavior. I am saying that we should be the people who evaluate our own behavior. How is our behavior in our workplace? How is our behavior towards our wife and children? How is our behavior at home and in social environments? How is our behavior towards people who stand below us in rank? How is our behavior towards people who stand above us in rank? How is our behavior towards the enemy? In Islam, there are certain criteria for all of these. We should evaluate ourselves. This is self-evaluation. This can lay a firm foundation for our lives and for the work we should do in all areas - especially the work we should do in Basij, which is the topic of our discussion. Anyway, our country, our nation, our Revolution and our history need Basij and Basij needs to improve itself on a daily basis in terms of quality. What you dear brothers and sisters are doing - in Salehin organizations - is very good and outstanding and it perfectly complements Basij. By Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, we should improve Basij on a daily basis. We should raise quality in Basij. Of course, quality should be given more significance than quantity, but increasing the quantity of work as well as the quality of work is also important. That is to say, we should both increase the volume of our work and add depth to it. Both should be taken into consideration. Today the world of Islam needs this movement by Basij. The savage attack on Gaza over the past week, which is truly shocking, should awaken the world of Islam and it should give fresh impetus to the movement of Muslim peoples. The enemy is not sitting idle. This effort by the Zionist regime has several dimensions. First, it shows the extreme brutality of the Zionist regime. How savage these people are. They have no conscience at all. You become shocked when you see how savagely they attack innocent people and civilians. They have no human qualities. They are against the world of Islam and the Islamic Republic of Iran. These creatures who have no human qualities want to challenge the Islamic Republic of Iran at international meetings. This is one aspect of the issue which is very important. Another shocking aspect of the issue is that the leaders of global arrogance behave so shamelessly in this crisis. They not only do not frown at the brutal Zionist regime and they not only do not prevent it from doing what it is doing, but they rather support and encourage it. America explicitly supported the Zionists. England supported them. France supported them. These are the leaders of global arrogance. Muslim peoples do not have enemies who are as hated and brutal as these people. All these people explicitly supported them. The recent event shows how willing the leaders of global arrogance are to observe morality. They are very far away from human qualities. Now that they give political support to the Zionist regime for the purpose of safeguarding their corrupt political interests, why do they claim that they support human rights? Does America - which not only fails to condemn this violent and savage attack in Gaza, but also supports it - have the right to claim that it supports human rights? Does it have the right to put itself in the position of prosecutors of other nations and governments in the name of defending human rights? This is a shameless claim. The same is true of France and England. Muslim nations have not forgotten their past behavior in the world of Islam, the crimes that they committed, the killings that were carried out and the pressures that they exerted on Muslim peoples in different countries. And today they support the actions of a brutal regime, namely the Zionist regime. This is another aspect of the issue. Another aspect of the issue is the behavior of Arab and Islamic governments regarding the event of Gaza which was not acceptable. Some of them only condemned the Zionists in words and some others did not even condemn the Zionists in words. Those who call Muslim nations to unity and claim to be the leaders of the Islamic Ummah should prove themselves in such situations. They are very outspoken on issues which suit their political agenda, but in this case - because they have to face America and England - they refuse to condemn the Zionists in an outspoken and genuine way or they merely offer verbal support, which is of little value and is not very effective. Today the world of Islam, especially Arab countries, should join hands to defend the people of Gaza and make the enemy lift the siege. They should try to help the innocent people of Gaza. Of course, God Almighty has bestowed on the people of Gaza the blessing to resist and stand up against this violent and savage enemy. The people of Gaza saw the result of their resistance: they managed to preserve their dignity. They proved that by relying on resistance and hard work it is possible - even with a small number of people - to defeat large and heavily armed groups that are supported by the arrogant powers. Today the Zionists, who have occupied Palestine, are looking for a ceasefire more desperately than the people and the officials of Gaza. Although they committed these crimes and brutal actions, they were harmed more. This happened because of the resistance of the small number of Muslim people and youth in Gaza. There is no other way to defeat the enemies. This is a message to the world of Islam. If the world of Islam wants to be invulnerable to the attacks, machinations and plots of the enemy, it should defend itself strongly. It should strengthen itself, both spiritually - strengthening one\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s faith and determination - and materially. Material strength includes making scientific and technological progress, gaining experience and making advances in the area of building weapons and in other areas. The world of Islam and Islamic societies should equip themselves with these. If they do this, then every district even as small as Gaza can inflict as much harm on the enemy as the people of Gaza did. As I said before, what the people of Gaza did made the enemy look for a ceasefire more desperately than the people and the officials in Gaza although they went through pain and suffering and a number of them were martyred. This is a lesson for the world of Islam and of course we learned this lesson during the Sacred Defense Era. Thankfully, our people, our youth, our scientists and our experts have made progress in this regard. We have made progress in theoretical and practical areas. We have become fully aware of the fact that we should stand on our own feet which is one of the requirements for resistance. Another point is the issue of unity among the Islamic Ummah and among the people of each country. The unity among the people and the political parties of each country is important. The same is true of our nation. The reason I repeatedly point out that political parties, our dear officials, people who can address the public - including newspapers, websites, executive and other organizations in charge of our media - writers and people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s representatives should preserve unity among themselves, is that unity is very important in essence. Fortunately our country has managed to preserve its unity and cohesion. Fortunately the recent disagreements between the officials have not shattered the unity of our nation. The fact that there are differences of opinion between the officials creates no problems as long as these differences do not result in major disputes. In the eyes of the enemy, our country has been very powerful since the start of the Revolution and this has happened because of our unity. Today they have the same opinion. Some time ago I advised the officials to preserve unity among themselves. Fortunately the esteemed officials of the three branches of government listened to my advice. This is very valuable. It is necessary to thank these people. The officials and the heads of the three branches of government listened to my advice. They stressed that they will preserve their unity in different areas although they have differences of opinion. We welcome this positive move made by these dear brothers and esteemed officials and we believe that it was a wise move and they should continue to be careful about what they say. What the MPs are doing in the Majlis is one of the things that has certain praiseworthy aspects. You dear brothers and sisters and the honorable people of Iran should know that asking questions of our government officials, whether the President or other executive officials, is a positive move because of two reasons. One reason is that it shows the people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s representatives in the legislative branch have a sense of responsibility towards issues of the country. This is positive. Another reason is that the executive branch announced with confidence and with praiseworthy courage that it is prepared for answering the questions posed by the MPs. This is positive too. The legislative branch carries out its responsibility and our executive officials show that they have confidence in their decisions and sincerity. What else do we expect? This is the best situation. This decision has been made: the Majlis has announced that it wants to summon the President for questioning which shows their sense of responsibility, and the executive branch has announced that it is prepared to answer the questions with confidence - they said this to me too. This too is praiseworthy. These two moves made by the Majlis and the executive branch are both good. But I believe that the efforts should not be continued. They should end the issue immediately. This was a good test for both the Majlis and the executive branch. The people are also insightful and wise. Continuing this issue is exactly what the enemies want. The enemies want to pitch the two branches against each other. The enemies want to provoke people on each side to give in to their feelings and create uproar through newspapers, websites and other such things. Our country needs tranquility. All the officials, no matter which branch of government they belong to, need tranquility to do their duties and the people also want tranquility. The Majlis did its duty and in response to the decision of the Majlis, the executive branch showed that it has the necessary self-confidence to defend its actions. What these two branches of government did is satisfactory. Now I ask the brothers who made this decision in the Majlis to end this issue and show that government officials in the executive, legislative and judiciary branches of government respect unity and tranquility more than anything else. I thank all the brothers and sisters in Basij. I hope that Allah the Exalted bestows success on all of you. I thank all the brothers and sisters who spoke in this meeting. I hope that God Almighty bestows great rewards on them. I also thank the dear brother who gave me his medal. I have accepted this medal, but I would like to give it back to him as gift. It is better for him to keep the medal because it will evoke the memory of his championship and something to remember me by. I hope that Allah the Exalted bestows success on you. Source : http://english.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1727&Itemid=4

Supreme Leader\\\'s Speech to Government Officials and Participants of Conference on Islamic Unity 29/01/2013 The following is the full text of the speech delivered on January 29, 2013 by Ayatollah Khamenei the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in a meeting with government officials and foreign participants of the 26th Conference on Islamic Unity. The meeting was held on the occasion of the birthday anniversaries of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and Imam Sadiq (a.s.). In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful I would like to congratulate all of you honorable audience, the dear guests, who have come here from other countries, the ambassadors of Islamic countries and also all the great people of Iran - who proved their kindness and commitment to the issue of prophethood in practice - on this auspicious and great Eid. I also congratulate the entire Islamic Ummah - who has a feeling of unity and unanimity centered on the auspicious name of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) - on this great Eid. I would like to extend my congratulation to all the liberated people throughout the world on this auspicious Eid. The blessings which have been bestowed on the great birthday of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) really belong to all the liberated people throughout the world. These blessings belong to all the people who are after liberation, justice and achieving lofty and divine values. A number of mystics believe that the month of Rabi al-Awwal is the spring of life in the real sense of the word because in this month the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and also his honorable grandson, Imam Abu Abdullah Ja\\\'far ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq were born. And the birthday of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) is the beginning of all the blessings that Allah the Exalted has bestowed on humanity. We - who consider Islam as a tool for humanity to achieve happiness and salvation - [should know that] this divine blessing is because of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) which has been bestowed on us in this month. In fact, we should consider this great birthday as the beginning of all the blessings with which Allah the Exalted honored the human community, the Islamic Ummah and the followers of truth. It is not enough to merely celebrate this birthday anniversary. We should primarily strengthen our spiritual relationship with the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.). The world of Islam should strengthen its spiritual and emotional relationship with the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) on a daily basis. This is the common ground between all the Muslims throughout the world. Those whose hearts beat for the formation of the Islamic Ummah should rely on this issue: the spiritual and emotional relationship with the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.). That is to say, they should primarily make a serious decision to follow this great personality in all the issues. In a number of holy Quranic ayahs, certain points have been explained about the Holy Prophet\\\'s (s.w.a.) behavior, his political behavior, the kind of government he had and his feeling towards the people - whether towards Muslims or non-Muslims. The moral education of the great companions of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and their behavior show the kind of orientation that Islam and the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) adopted towards education of the Islamic Ummah. We should practice these in our own lives. We should do these in practice. It is not enough to say these in words. Today, the ground is prepared for this issue. Islamic Awakening is a truth and it has happened. After many decades of domination during which the enemies of Islam and the enemies of Muslims spread their domination over Islamic countries - in the form of direct colonialism, neocolonialism, indirect colonialism and in the form of cultural, economic and political domination - the core of awakening has grown gradually. And after many years during which the Muslim nations were crushed under the enormous pressure of domination of the west and European and American governments, Islamic Awakening has been established and it is revealing itself. Today, people throughout the world of Islam feel that Islam is their tool for achieving dignity, glory and independence. Thanks to Islam, all the national dreams of a nation can come true in the world of Islam. Thanks to Islam, Islamic nations can stand up against the domination of the west and against the arrogance, oppressive domination and exploitation of western governments. And the west has to retreat. Today, you can see this in the world of Islam. More than thirty years ago this event took place in Iran. Today, we also see this in the world of Islam such as in North Africa. Steps are taken towards victory. Of course, there are certain problems, but if we remain vigilant, problems cannot create obstacles in our way. The Holy Quran says, \\\"They shall by no means harm you but with a slight evil\\\" [The Holy Quran, 3: 111]. Yes, they harm us and create problems for us. But, if we have determination, rely on God and decide to move forward, they cannot create obstacles in our way. Today, Islamic nations have awakened. Thanks to Islam, they feel that they can get their message across to the enemies of the world of Islam and the corrupt Zionist network which has established domination over policies of western governments. These victories are very valuable. \\\"Allah promised you many acquisitions which you will take, then He hastened on this one for you\\\". This is part of the divine promise which was fulfilled. \\\"And held back the hands of men from you, and that it may be a sign for the believers and that He may guide you on a right path\\\" [The Holy Quran, 48: 20]. Each victory that a nation achieves against the enemies and against their propaganda and evil tools is a divine testimony and a divine sign: \\\"And that it may be a sign\\\". If you move forward, you will achieve results. Today the world of Islam is faced with the plots of the enemies. I would tell you dear brothers and sisters - whether Iranian or non-Iranian - that today, the enemy\\\'s most important tool for confronting Islamic Awakening is creating discord. They want to pitch Muslims against Muslims, destroy Muslims at the hands of Muslims and keep them busy with conflicts. What is better than keeping Muslims busy with conflicts for the enemies of Islamic independence? Since the first day that the Islamic Revolution achieved victory, they pursued the policy of creating discord among our nation and our country. But the Islamic Republic stood up against this plot with absolute determination. We announced, our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) announced and the Iranian nation repeatedly stressed - throughout his lifetime and after his demise - that we believe in Islamic brotherhood. We condemn any rift among Muslims. This is exactly the opposite of what the enemies\\\' agents, who use any small incident to create discord among Muslims, want. If you take a look, you see that today the policy of the enemies of Islamic Awakening in North African countries is to create discord. This is the policy of global arrogance. They want to make them kill one another and pitch them against one another. The cure for this disease is a feeling of unity between Muslims. Muslim nations should become united. Inside each country, different groups, different denominations and different parties should join hands. They should not let religious, political and partisan differences and differences of opinion dominate their major moves so that they can stand up against the enemy. Today, this is the only way. The enemies try to create discord by using all kinds of tricks. You can see this. When Muslims busy themselves with conflicts, the issue of Palestine and standing up against the greed of America and the west will be sidelined and the enemies will find the opportunity to hatch their plots. Today, we can see that westerners have started a new movement in Africa in order to dominate African nations and to maintain their presence again in the lives of African people. When the fire of discord is kindled, the enemy finds the opportunity to do anything. What disasters they are creating in Pakistan, our neighboring country, under the pretext of differences in this country. How they make a group of people kill another group of people in Syria. How they completely silence the voice of a nation in Bahrain. They deprive a nation of everything. How they pitch the people against one another in Egypt and other areas. These are the policies which may have been shaped as a result of certain individuals\\\' personal and religious motives. But the main plot has been hatched by the enemies. I do not accuse anybody of intentionally and willingly hatching the plot of the enemy. But I firmly say that each kind of discord among Muslim nations or inside each Islamic country means that they are playing into the enemies\\\' hands. This is a kind of help offered to the enemy. Everybody should take the issue of unity seriously. Primarily elites, including political, religious, academic and seminary elites should do this. Elites, wherever they are, should do this. In our country, everybody should take the issue of unity seriously. Creating religious discord among different Muslim groups is a great danger. If the enemies can fuel the fire of sectarian discord somewhere, extinguishing this fire is one of the most difficult tasks. We should prevent this from happening. This is not possible except if the elites, in each country, show their initiative, make efforts and preserve their purity. Scholars, academics, politicians and those who are influential, should explain to the people the plot of the enemy and his hope of creating discord among the people, Islamic countries, Islamic parties, different orientations in different Islamic denominations and between Shia and Sunni. They should inform the people. This is a great danger which the enemies have been involved with. The English have long experiences in this regard. We have read about them in history books and we can see what they have done to create discord. They know how to do it and the others have learnt this from them. They are busy trying to create discord. We should avoid discord. We should not fuel the fire of discord by arousing shallow and vulgar feelings. This will burn the fate of nations. It will completely destroy them, it will help the enemies of Islam, the enemies of Muslims and the enemies of independence succeed in their goals and it will help them hatch their plots. We should remain vigilant. Islamic unity is a sacred slogan. If the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) were among us today, he would invite us to promote unity as this holy ayah says, \\\"It grieves him that you should perish: ardently anxious is he over you: to the believers is he most kind and merciful\\\" [The Holy Quran, 9: 128]. He would prevent these kinds of discord. If we love the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.), we should meet this major demand that he made. I ask Allah the Exalted to bestow on all of us the blessing to do what we say. Greetings be upon you and Allah\\\'s mercy and blessing Source: http://english.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1739&Itemid=4

Sayyed Nasrallah: Syria’s Friends won’t Let It Fall in US, Israel, Takfiri Hands Sara Taha Moughnieh Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah delivered a televised speech on Tuesday in which he tackled topics related to the Israeli enemy, the Syrian crisis, and Hezbollah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s fighters as well as martyrs. Sayyed Nasrallah Warns \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Israel\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" of Committing Folly in Lebanon His eminence reassured in his statement that Hezbollah was not behind sending an unmanned aircraft over occupied Palestine, indicating that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"because of the sensitive situation in the region, and because it didn’t send the aircraft, Hezbollah instantly issued a precise statement, denying it had sent any unmanned aircraft over occupied Palestine\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Hezbollah has the courage to bear the responsibility of any action it makes, especially when it is related to the Israeli enemy,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" adding that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"what was said about this drone was not more important or dangerous than Hezbollah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s responsibility of Ayyoub drone which flew over Palestine and reached Dimona.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" As he clarified he does not deny that an aircraft did enter the occupied territories, his eminence pointed out that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"there isn’t any evidence that an aircraft did enter… until this moment, the Israelis have not broadcast a film or images of the wreck of the aircraft they claimed they have downed…\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Sayyed Nasrallah proposed several assumptions about the side behind the drone. He excluded the first assumption which claims that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards sent the drone over \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Israel\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", and dubbed it \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"unrealistic\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The second assumption: Saying a Lebanese or Palestinian side had the power to send a small drone over Palestine, is a proposed assumption, but doesn’t have any indicators. The third assumption: an unfriendly side, which is not \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Israel\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", sent the drone from the Lebanese or non-Lebanese territories, so that Israel would accuse Hezbollah and wage a military operation, and then Hezbollah would have to defend itself, pushing Lebanon ino a clash between Israel and Hezbollah.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The fourth assumption is that Israel had sent the drone over Lebanon and returned it to the occupied territories, to down it later on, and this is very much possible.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Here, his eminence assured \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"we are following up this issue,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" and considered \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"there are disturbing indicators in the region, and there is a massive deployment North Palestine, but we believe all these are related to the developments in Syria.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Sayyed Nasrallah also warned Israel against committing any folly in Lebanon. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Who assumes that the resistance is weak and vague is mistaken, and I warn the enemy, and the sides standing behind it, from committing any folly in Lebanon, because the resistance is on alert, prepared, and determined to defend Lebanon,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he said, reassuring that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"we will triumph in any future battle, God willing\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". His eminence considered the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Lebanese are concerned of examining these assumptions carefully.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Some sides are satisfied by just accusing Hezbollah, but this is wrong,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he stressed, pointing out that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"there are American, Arab and Gulf efforts regarding the Palestinian cause, and are related to imposing new conditions on the Palestinians. This brings fear, because usually conditions are preceded by an aggression, in order to shake the courage and firmness of the Palestinians.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" We are not Ashamed of Our Martyrs, We Bury Them Publicly His eminence tackled what he considered were media \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"lies\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" about \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"convoys and large numbers of martyrs\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". He considered that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"media have opened an auction on the number of martyrs, claiming it had reached 500. Yesterday, Al-Arabiya claimed 30 martyrs were killed, and other media mentioned mass graves, hidden corpses of martyrs, and gradual burying.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Sayyed Nasrallah indicated that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Lebanon is a small country, who could hide these numbers of martyrs? Throughout our path, we have not hidden the bodies of our martyrs or buried them gradually. We inform the family of any martyr who falls, and we escort him to grave the next day.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We bury our martyrs publicly. We are not ashamed of our martyrs, specifically those who fell in the past couple of days…\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he added, stressing that all the claims about the large number of martyrs \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"lie in the context of a psychological war, and there is deliberate lying in this context, on the base of: Lie, lie, until some people would believe you.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Goal behind War Is to Destroy Syria On the ongoing Syrian crisis, Sayyed Nasrallah considered \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"the goal behind the events in Syria is no longer to take Syria out of the axis of resistance and the Arab-Israeli clash equation. It is no longer to gain power at any price. It could be said that the goal of anyone standing behind the war in Syria, is destroying Syria so that a strong, centralized state would not be established in it, and so that it would become too weak to take decisions related to its oil, sea, or borders.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, a military decision was taken to topple the regime. It reached slaughtering people, calling for foreign intervention, the use of chemical weapons… some scholars even issued strict Fatwas that permit the killing of civilians… As for the other direction, which we are part of, we called and still call for a political settlement.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" His eminence added: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Because of what is happening in Syria, the Palestinian cause is facing the danger of serious elimination. The Syrian situation also has an effect on Lebanon, Iraq, and the whole region.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Syria has real friends, in the region and the world, who will not let it fall in the hands of America, Israel, and Takfiri groups,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Hezbollah secretary general further assured, revealing that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"the Syrian regime has informed the Russian leadership about the names of members of the Syrian delegation which will participate in the dialogue with the opposition, but the other part is still refusing.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" He considered that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"those who claim they grieve over the bloodshed in Syria, those who do not want to lose the Palestinian cause, and those who are worried about Syria, should work to reach a political settlement and a political solution for the Syrian situation.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" We will Take All Necessary Actions to Protect Al-Qusayr Countryside Residents Sayyed Nasrallah pointed out that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"attacks on Al-Qusayr countryside villages have escalated lately, and information have revealed that some Lebanese are involved in these attacks, which urged the Syrian army to confront the attackers and protect the villages.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" He wondered: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"What have the Lebanese government done to protect the Lebanese inside the villages of Al-Qusayr, and can the Lebanese government send the army to protect these people?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" In this context, Sayyed Nasrallah considered that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"all the Lebanese government could do is send a complaint to the Arab League. Can we complain to the executioner?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We state clearly that we will not let the Lebanese in Al-Qusayr countryside stay subject to attacks by armed groups, and we will take all the necessary actions to preserve their steadfastness,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he added, indicating that some Lebanese parts are \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"issuing Fatwas, making speeches, and sending money and militants to Syria through Lebanon and other countries; thus, let no one claim he is innocent from the events in Syria.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Destruction of Sayyeda Zainab Shrine will Have Serious Repercussions Hezbollah secretary general indicated that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"in Sayyeda Zainab region, where the shrine of Sayyed Zainab (as), daughter of Imam Ali (as), is located, some armed groups are present. This is a very sensitive issue, especially after Takfiri sides \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"announced that if they reached the place they will destroy it. In contrast, there are defenders of this holy shrine who are being martyred for that. Therefore, these (defenders) are actually preventing sedition, not inciting it.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" He added: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"It is not enough that the opposition and the so-called \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Syrian Coalition\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" oppose the destruction of the holy shrine. Countries that support these groups must hold the responsibility of this crime if it takes place.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Sayyed Nasrallah warned: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"If this crime falls, it will have serious repercussions.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Azaz Abductees Are not Part of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Political Conflict\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", They must be Instantly Released Regarding the case of the Lebanese abductees in Azaz, his eminence considered that the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"persistence of this case is very painful, and so is seeing the kin of the abductees move with their protests from one place to another.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Sayyed Nastallah considered that its persistence until today raises many questions about the parts and reasons behind the abduction. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"If they wanted to impose a political pressure, then this has obviously failed since the beginning… It was said that they wanted a swap deal, I said I was ready to go to Damascus and solve this issue, but they denied that later on.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" His eminence indicated that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Qatar, Turkey, and Saudi negotiations did not bring any result,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" and demanded the instant release of the abductees as they were not part of the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"political conflict\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". We Don’t Want Conflict to be Moved to Lebanon \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We don’t want any conflict in Lebanon, and we don’t want the (Syrian) conflict to be moved to Lebanon. We know some Lebanese groups that have attacked Al-Qusayr countryside. We know them by name, but we will not take any action about it because we want to protect Lebanon from any fight,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Sayyed Nasrallah stressed. Source: http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?fromval=2&cid=19&frid=21&seccatid=19&eid=91960

Full English Voice-over of the speech of the secretary general of Hizbullah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah(HA) delivered on May 9, 2013 on the 25th Anniversary of the al-Nour Radio Station. Syria is to supply Hizbullah with game-changing weapons despite Israel\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s air strikes reportedly aimed at cutting off the flow of arms, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday, vowing to back \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"the Syrian popular resistance in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. You Israelis say your objective is to stop the capability of the resistance from growing ... but Syria will provide (Hizbullah) with game-changing weapons it has not had before, Nasrallah said in a televised speech on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Hizbullah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s al-Nour radio station. We declare that we are ready to receive any game-changing weapons and we\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'re competent to possess and protect such type of weapons and we will use them to defend our people, he added. Nasrallah said the shipments of new types of weapons would serve as the Syrian reaction to Israel\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s airstrikes. Syria has long been a conduit for Iranian weapons bound for Hizbullah. Israeli officials say the Lebanese group has tens of thousands of rockets, but that most of them are unguided. Israeli officials said the shipments targeted twice last week included precision-guided missiles. After the Israeli attacks, there had been speculation about whether Syria would retaliate, at the risk of drawing Israel into Syria\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s civil war. This is the Syrian strategic reaction, said Nasrallah of future weapons shipments. This is more important than firing a rocket or carrying out an airstrike in occupied Palestine, he said. Israel never formally acknowledged the airstrikes, but Israeli officials have said Israel would keep striking any shipments of advanced weapons meant for Hizbullah. Everyone knows what Syria has offered to resistance movements, especially the Palestinian resistance. Israel knows that the source of strength of the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine is Syria, that\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s why it wants to remove it from the equation and to besiege the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine, said Nasrallah. The response was foiling the objectives of the aggression and this is what the Syrian leadership did, although friends and foes wanted Syria to respond and bomb the enemy, added Nasrallah. He noted that Syria\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s highly-strategic response against Israel involves the decision to open the door to popular resistance in the Golan. The same as Syria stood by Lebanon, we in the resistance declare that we will stand by the Syrian popular resistance that is aimed at liberating the Syrian Golan, Nasrallah pledged. I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'m not speaking out of enthusiasm or sentiments, but a calm evaluation says that the stances issued by the Syrian leadership prove its strength of nerve, said Hizbullah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s leader. He pointed out that Syria has \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"a wise leadership that oversees the battle with the Israelis through a strategic mind, not through anger. Commenting on the joint Russian-U.S. effort to organize a conference to end Syria\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s two-year-old conflict, Nasrallah said it is shameful that the U.S. is being depicted as Syria\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s savior through the proposed political solution. But he added that any time wasted means \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"further destruction and losses and this is all in the enemy\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s interest. Addressing the Palestinians, Nasrallah said: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"You won\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t find anyone to stand by your side other than those who have stood by you since years. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The Palestinians benefit from any serious efforts to achieve a political settlement in Syria and prevent its fall into the hands of the Takfiris, the Americans and the Israelis, he said. Nasrallah stressed that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"the only choice is resistance for those who want to preserve al-Aqsa Mosque and the Christian holy sites and for those who want to give back Jerusalem to the Palestinian people and to the Ummah. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The choice is neither the Arab League nor the U.N., the choice has always been the resistance, he said. Nasrallah lamented that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"today, after this Arab Spring, the Arab regimes are more willing to offer compromises to the enemy. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The Palestinians were hoping that the Arab Spring would make Arabs less willing to offer compromises, but the scene of the Arab foreign ministers making a dangerous compromise, with the U.S. secretary of state sitting in the middle, indicates that the Palestinian cause is in danger, Nasrallah added. Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassem has said an Arab League delegation that met U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington last month recognized the possibility of a land swap. His statement was welcomed by the United States, the main broker in talks between the Palestinians and Israel, and by Israel itself. The Palestinians have played down a shift in the Arab League\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s stance, saying they had already agreed in past talks with Israel on minor land swaps in which Israel would retain some settlement blocs in the West Bank.

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah lauded on Monday the deployment of security forces in the southern suburbs of Beirut (Dahiyeh) as a positive step hoping the State would bear its responsibilities and duties towards all Lebanese regions. Sayyed Nasrallah In a televised speech broadcast at Al-Manar TV, Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that Hezbollah had contacted the state since the explosion took place in Dahiyeh, noting that the state said it needs time to carry out its responsibilities and not because we have failed, and the problems that happened were normal and anticipated when we endured responsibility for security . Hezbollah S.G. said Hezbollah took serious responsibility since August 15 when Ruweis attack took place because of a security vacuum in the country and statements were issued rejecting autonomous security. “We also reject autonomous security and this has never been part of our agenda and we did not practice it and when we took security measures that was because we had to prevent the entry of booby-trapped cars.” “Some went on to accuse Hezbollah of practicing autonomous security as part of our ‘statelet’, but today’s deployment refuted their claims because Hezbollah would have rejected this measure if their claims were true. We had asked the official bodies to take over the reins from the outset,” His eminence said. Sayyed Nasrallah called on all Dahiyeh residents and passers-by to show the highest levels of cooperation, respect, acceptance and responsiveness to the security measures and provide all the assistance and support needed to help the security forces perform their mission. As he assured that the State is solely responsible and must definitely extend its authority in all regions, Sayyed Nasrallah hoped these security forces and state authorities will shoulder their full responsibility and assume all the intelligence and preventative missions as well. “Only the state is responsible for security in all regions and we will leave any point to which the state might send forces. Today it happened in Dahiyeh and tomorrow it might happen in Baalbek and we welcome any efforts that contribute to the success of the mission.” Some People feels Delighted with Killing of People in Dahiyeh His eminence addressed some sides that condemned Hezbollah’s measures in Dahiyeh, saying: “I feel that those people are delighted with the killing of people in Dahiyeh, Tripoli and elsewhere, it is regrettable that hostility reached to that level of thinking.” Ruweis attackSayyed Nasrallah thanked the Palestinian factions and especially the families of martyr Mohammad Samrawi over their noble stance on the regrettable incident in Burj al-Barajneh. On the investigations after Ruweis attack took place, Sayyed Nasrallah said: “As promised, we reached decisive results concerning the perpetrators of Ruweis attack. It’s a Takfiri party that is affiliated with the Syrian opposition and which is based the Syrian territories, and the same results were reached by local security apparatuses. All the details were passed on to the relevant authorities, which must take the necessary measures, especially against the perpetrators who are inside Lebanon.” Chemical Weapons Campaign against Hezbollah “Funny” The S.G. denied accusations that the Syrian government handed chemical weapons to Hezbollah and said that this accusation is funny. “The U.S. defense secretary said after reaching an agreement with Russia that chemical weapons should not be transferred to Hezbollah and on the next day some Syrian Coalition officials claimed that the Syrian government has transferred chemical arms to Hezbollah and some officials claimed that we have received a ton of chemical agents,” his eminence said. “It’s funny, it’s not like transporting wheat or flour. Unfortunately, some parties in Lebanon launched a media campaign and said they fear that the chemical weapons might be transferred to Hezbollah,” Sayyed Nasrallah noted, saying he understands the backgrounds of these serious accusations which have serious repercussions on Lebanon, and stressed that “Hezbollah did not ask our brothers in Syria to transfer such weapons and will not do in the future.” “Some friends advised me not to comment on these claims as part of psychological war against enemies, but I rejected that because Hezbollah has religious taboos with the use of such weapons and using this as psychological warfare is not an option,” S. Nasrallah added. Some Invented Mock Battle in Zahle On the scuffle that erupted over claims Hezbollah was installing a telecom network in Zahle, Sayyed Nasrallah denied these claims saying Hezbollah has never sought to install such network in Zahle. “This does not exist today and will not exist in the future. The Bekaa and Baalbek are part of the battle with the enemy and we need to have communications with the Baalbek-Hermel region. Years ago, we extended a cable at the outskirts of the city of Zahle and not inside it, it’s a cable for connecting lines. What happened few days ago was that Hezbollah young men were doing maintenance for the cable.” Unfortunately, the S.G. said, some parties were launching a mock battle to what happened in Zahle and were seeking stunts and illusionary heroism. “The head of one of March 14 parties said that Hezbollah’s wired telecom network breaches the privacy of people. I hope that he asks any security official to explain to him about our network which is incapable of spying on anyone.” Let\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Discuss Hezbollah Intervention in Syria Concerning the national dialogue, Sayyed Nasrallah said Hezbollah supported Speaker Nabih Berri’s initiative, “but we have heard calls for boycotting and setting conditions for dialogue. When the national dialogue table was held the other team disrupted it and required the resignation of Mikati in order to return to it and the government’s resignation they did not return to dialogue.” He pointed out that Hezbollah will participate in the dialogue called for by the Lebanese President, and said: “Let’s discuss the intervention in Syria, and who did so. Isn’t it considered intervention the writing of speeches and statements urging [US President Barack] Obama to launch a military attack on Syria which if it had taken place would have serious repercussions on the world and especially Lebanon? We want to discuss on the table whichever is the most dangerous, appealing to Obama to intervene in Syria or what our young people are doing in Syria?” referring to former PM Fuad Saniora’s op-ed published by the Foreign Policy magazine recently. “Those who are obstructing dialogue in Lebanon are well-known and we are willing to participate in the dialogue regardless of who would take part or not.” Gov\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t Representation = Parties\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' Political Weight On the issue of the delayed formation of the Lebanese government, Sayyed Nasrallah said that the interest of the country requires that March 14 stop stalling and form a national unity government based on real political weight of each party and urged them to stop betting on regional developments. “Despite Lebanese consensus on the need to form a government, it has yet to be formed because from the first moment Tammam Salam was designated as PM, Al-Mustaqbal Party and some of its allies said they don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t want the participation of Hezbollah in the government,” S. Nasrallah said, noting “they said they accept the participation of Hezbollah on two conditions: no tripartite formula, no to the guaranteeing one-third. However, we set one condition overtly and clearly that each political party should be represented according to the size of its Deputies.” “We reject the three-8s (8-8-8) formula because it’s unrealistic. The PM-designate is part of March 14 coalition and the minister whom he will nominate would be committed to his political decision, that means March 14 will have 10 ministers not 8.” Betting on Military Option in Syria Futile Hezbollah leader said some Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia, are insisting on accusing Hezbollah of occupying Syria and building on this to say that what is happening in Syria is not a conflict of countries, projects and nations, but rather a conflict against an “occupation force” which the Arab States should help to confront. And on such accusation they took retaliatory steps against Hezbollah. “In this context, March 14’s Veto on the participation of Hezbollah is Saudi and punishing the Lebanese in the Gulf is under the title of punishing Hezbollah.” “Is it reasonable to believe that Hezbollah has the ability to occupy Syria!” his eminence wondered, announcing that Hezbollah’s contribution with the Syrian army is modest. “Isn’t Syria occupied by the tens of thousands of fighters you brought from all countries? And today the Syrian Coalition began to raise the voice against them.” [Turkish President Abdullah] Gul was told that the Pakistani scenario will be repeated in Turkey because of its intervention in Syria, he said. Sayyed Nasrallah called upon Saudi Arabia, Gulf States and Turkey to review their positions on what is happening in Syria, saying “betting on the military option in Syria is futile.” “The salvation of Syria and the peoples of the region will be only with the political solution. The continuation of fighting in Syria will not lead to the goals you are looking for.” Criminalizing Hezbollah in Bahrain Political Hezbollah, BahrainConcerning the Bahraini crisis, the Secretary General said Bahrain regime’s insistence on criminalizing communicating with Hezbollah is a political position. “We are not surprised by the position of the Government of Bahrain in describing Hezbollah as terrorists. We supported the peaceful revolution in the Gulf country and then Manama expelled the Lebanese living there!” While insuring that the decision of the Bahraini opposition is internal and independent, Sayyed Nasrallah said Iran does not interfere in the course of the situation in Bahrain, urging Muslim scholars and states to react to confront repression in Bahrain as mosques are being destroyed and clergy men are forced in prisons. Credit: LitleButerfli

The following is the full text of the speech delivered on September 17, 2013 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with commanders and officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The meeting was held on the occasion of the 20th Congress of Officials and Commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful First, I would like to welcome you and second, I congratulate you on this auspicious Eid. You turned our day into an Eid with your presence and warm breath and with the good programs that you performed. I hope that, by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, your hearts will always be happy. I hope that your hearts will always remember God and achieve loftier positions. I would like to say a few things about our great Imam and knowledgeable member of the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household, Imam Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha (thousands of greetings and praise be upon him). In fact, we cannot understand the spiritual position of these holy personalities, let alone describe them in words. However, before our eyes and before the eyes of history, the lives of these great personalities are a practical, eternal and undeniable lesson. If, in certain cases, we take a look at the lives of the Imams (a.s.) and if we put great emphasis on their policies, the measures they took and their biographies, this does not mean that these are the most important parts of their lives. This is not the case. Their spiritual world, their effort to get close to God and the wisdom and love which radiated from their peerless hearts are other important parts of their lives. However, what is before our eyes is the lives of these great personalities and we should learn from them. Imam Ridha (a.s.) lived for almost 55 years. That is to say, he was born in the year 148 - the year when Imam Sadiq (a.s.) was martyred - and he was martyred in the year 203 of the Hijri calendar. The entire life of this great personality with all its greatness, depth and dimensions took place in this fairly short era. Nineteen, twenty years out of these 55 years constituted the era of the Imamate of this great personality. But if you take a look at this short era, you will see that it exerted a considerable influence on the world of Islam, it gave great depth to the true meaning of Islam and it helped people follow the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household and get familiar with their teachings. This is an extraordinary phenomenon and it is like a deep sea. When that Imam achieved Imamate, his close friends and his followers said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"What can Ali ibn Musa do in such an environment which is filled with Harun\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s oppression?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" There is a narration which says, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Blood trickles from Harun\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s sword.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" These friends and followers used to say, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"In such conditions, what can this young Imam do to continue the jihad of Shia Imams and to carry out the great responsibility which falls on his shoulders?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" This is the beginning of the Imamate of Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha (a.s.). When you take a look, you will see that after the passage of 19, 20 years - when Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha was martyred and his Imamate ended - the ideas and thoughts of the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household and the issue of commitment to the Imams were established, in the world of Islam, so firmly that the oppressive and dictatorial Abbasid regime could not confront it. Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha had done this. You have heard that De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel-e Khozayee went to Merv in Khorasan and composed and recited a number of well-known poems in praise of Imam Ridha for which he was rewarded. He stayed in Merv and other cities of Khorasan for a few days and then he went towards Baghdad, Kufa and other cities that he wanted to visit. In the middle of the way, some bandits attacked and looted the caravan on which De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel was travelling. The travelers sat and watched the looting of their property. The chief of the bandits was sitting on a rock and proudly watching the prisoners and captives of this caravan and the things which they had stolen and collected. De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel heard that the chief was whispering a poem. He listened and he realized that it was his own poem. It was one of the couplets of the qasida that he had recited one month or one month and a half ago in Merv: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I see that their property has been looted and divided among outsiders and wicked people.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [Speaking in Arabic] In the middle of the way to Rey and Iraq, the chief of the bandits was reciting this poem from memory. De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel became happy. He stood up and said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Who has composed the poem that you are reciting?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" The chief said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"It belongs to De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel-e Khozayee.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Well, I am De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel-e Khozayee.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" When the chief saw that this person was De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel-e Khozayee, he stood up, held De\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'bel in his arms, kissed him and said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Because of the presence of this person in the caravan, give them back all their property.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" They gave them back all their property, respected them and helped them move towards their destination. Well, this is a small event in history, but it has a great significance. The poem which was composed in praise of Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha was recited and memorized, in Rey and Iraq, by a bandit after the passage of almost one month or one month and a half since the poem was composed. What does this mean? It means that the ground for promoting the position of the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household and the auspicious name of Imam Ridha was so prepared that, in a short time, this poem - at that time, poetry was one of the most effective means of communication - spread rapidly by word of mouth until it was picked up by a bandit in the middle of a desert. This indicates the great movement which was launched during the Imamate of Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha in order to promote the school of thought of the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household. During this time, the love of the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household was shared by all individuals and the hearts of all people felt the presence and existence of the Imams in the Islamic community. The movement of the honorable children of the Imams towards Iran has a positive and meaningful dimension as well as a tragic dimension because of their martyrdom in the middle of the way to Iran. The reason for their movement towards Iran was the request of the people and their acceptance of the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household. As you know, when we speak about the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household, we mean the school of thought which was established by the Imams and the Islamic concepts which they introduced. It means a deeply cultural and spiritual achievement and a great ideological feat. This is the movement of Imam Ridha (a.s.). According to the events that you know and have heard about, Ma\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'mun finally feels that he has to martyr Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha (a.s.) - he had forced that great Imam to leave Medina in order to get close to him and he did not plan to kill Imam Ridha at first - contrary to what he had planned. The divine will and plan to bury a member of the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household in this place, which was faraway from Medina, was exercised by the enemies of the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) household. This is divine wisdom and engineering. In order to reach lofty goals, one should carry out his responsibilities in such a way. Long-term outlooks should be adopted with such intention, motives and hopes. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has such a position. The issue is not that a new government was formed after the Revolution and that it has certain supporters and opponents and certain soldiers, guardians and armed forces. The issue is not this. It is beyond such things. The issue of the Islamic Revolution - which is protected by you members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps - is beyond such things. First of all, I would like to say a few things about the experience of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps over these many years. Then, I will raise the point which I had wanted to discuss with you dear brothers. The performance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps over the past 30-plus years has been brilliant. I am not saying this as a ceremonial gesture, like the words of praise which are uttered in many places. This is a fact. The performance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps represents the experience of our nation. That is to say, the depth of the personality and identity of the Iranian nation can be seen in this performance because the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps enters the arena with faith and belief. What kind of arena? The arena of jihad and resistance. It has built the strongest and the most intelligent military commanders. During the war, those who became designers- and as foreigners say \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"strategists\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"- while they were young and below thirty years old and had not received any military education. It was the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps who built them. It was this organization which created such a spiritual environment. It was the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps which founded such an organization on the basis of faith and belief. It has built a number of outstanding personalities whom our nation and our history will never forget. This is the art of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. These are the things which this organization has done in the area of war. Besides these, we can see that it has built and introduced the wisest, the strongest and the best managers in non-military areas. The list of people that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has introduced to the ruling organizations of the Islamic Republic is very long and glorious. This is the performance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. One of the important parts of the performance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is that it lives a revolutionary life and it preserves its revolutionary nature. That is to say, different events have not been able to make this strong and powerful organization deviate from the main and the right path. It has not changed its path just because life and the world have changed. These are the excuses that a number of people make. These people make excuses for compromising their principles and they justify their mistakes. Their excuse is that the world has changed, that everything has changed. Well, certain things do not change. Since the beginning of history until today, the virtue of justice and the tendency of human beings to seek justice have not changed. The fact that oppression is bad and national independence and national dignity are great virtues has not changed. These things and many other principles cannot be changed. The fact that the world has changed cannot give us an excuse to change our behavior, our ideals and our goals. When our ideals change, our path changes too. When our ultimate goal changes, then it is absurd to follow the previous path. In such circumstances, we should move towards achieving a new goal and we should follow a new path. One of the most important strong points of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is its resistance and steadfastness on this enlightened path. These are the points which I wanted to raise about the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Of course, one can say many things about this organization. We have said many things about it. Other people too have said many things. Of course, there are many points which have not been raised about this organization, but right now, I am not going to speak about this issue more than this. What is important is that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is the guardian of the Islamic Revolution. I do not want to say that this guardianship means the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps should protect the Islamic Revolution in all arenas including scientific, intellectual, cultural and economic arenas. This is not what I mean. What I want to say is that as a living organism, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps should know what it wants to protect and what this Revolution is. It is not necessary for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to engage in protection of the Islamic Revolution in political arenas, but it should gain a proper understanding of political arenas. Some people mix certain issues together. This should be clarified. It is not possible to describe a certain organization as the arm and the guardian of the Revolution, but make it ignore and close its eyes to different political orientations - while some of these orientations behave in a deviant way and become dependent on such and such a group and some of them do not. This is meaningless. Such an organization should know what it wants to protect. If we relegate the challenges that the Revolution is faced with to political and partisan challenges and to confrontation between certain people, this is negligence and carelessness. These are not the challenges that the Revolution is faced with. The main challenge of the Revolution is that it has introduced a new system for humanity. We are not saying that since the beginning, the Revolution addressed the entire humanity. This is not the case. At first, it was the Islamic Revolution of Iran and it only addressed issues which were related to Iran and fundamental changes in this country. However, the language and message of this Revolution could not naturally be confined to the borders of Iran. Through this Revolution, a message which was based on a universal and human truth was conveyed to the entire humanity. Anybody in the world who hears this message feels that they are attached to it. What is this message? If we want to describe the social and human function of this message in a phrase we should say that it is: confrontation with global arrogance. This is the message of the Revolution. Global arrogance is a system which divides the world into the oppressed and the oppressor. The logic of the Revolution, which is based on the logic of Islam, is \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Deal not unjustly, nor shall you be dealt with unjustly.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 2: 279] You should not oppress others and you should not let others oppress you. Who in the world is not happy about and interested in this message? This message is: neither oppress other people nor let them oppress you. This is the exact opposite of the current order in the world which was imposed after the emergence of the new industrial civilization and the prevalence of industrial tools and the culture of domination. Any organization in the world which is dependent on global arrogance is against this message. Those who like to achieve domination over other countries - that is to say, oppressive governments and economic networks which suck at the resources of other nations - are against this message because they are oppressors. The dependent governments which rule over poor or rich nations, which follow global arrogance, which have no power but which follow and obey these arrogant powers are also against this message. Such and such a government which completely implements the policies of arrogant powers such as America or England is naturally against the message of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"[D]eal not unjustly, nor shall you be dealt with unjustly.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" The international, multinational or domestic organizations which loot people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s wealth are against this message. Those politicians who promote the three elements of war, poverty and decadence throughout the world are against this message. During the last two, three centuries, many of the wars which were waged were influenced by global arrogance. Global powers either waged a war against a certain country or made two other countries fight one another. They have done this for the sake of their own interests. Poverty too is the result of their policies. They are to blame for the situation that they have created in many poor countries where the people live in poverty and cannot benefit from their natural resources. With their political domination, these arrogant powers have prevented many countries from drawing on their own intellectual resources. You should read the book \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Glances at World History\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" written by Jawaharlal Nehru. In the chapter which is about the interference of the English in India, he says that the kind of industry and science which existed in India was not inferior to the one in Europe, England and the west. Rather it was superior to European science. Well, Nehru was both trustworthy and well-informed. When the English entered India, one of their plans was to prevent the domestic industry of India from developing. Well, India ended up watching tens of millions of people in that era and hundreds of millions of people in future eras suffer from hunger in the real sense of the word. The same is true of Africa. The same is true of many Latin American countries. So, not only does global arrogance wage wars but it also brings about poverty. The great treasure which has been accumulated on the peaks of wealth and which belongs to the richest individuals in the world reminds us of this hadith: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I have not seen any kind of wealth which was accumulated without someone\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s right being violated.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [Derasat fi Nahjul Balaghah, page 40] When they loot the oil, agricultural products and tea resources of a country, when they take control of financial sectors of a country in a way that the people have no access to it and when they do not let the people in such a country have control over production, industry and other areas related to national progress, this country and nation becomes poor. So, they are responsible for war, poverty and decadence. They are responsible for the prevalence of decadence and fueling the fire of sexual desire - which is a natural process and which can be ignited in all individuals. Each of these issues requires a long and detailed discussion. Well, global arrogance promotes war, poverty and decadence and it does this by dividing the world into the oppressed and the oppressor. Islam - that is to say, the Islamic Revolution which is based on Islamic concepts - says, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Deal not unjustly, nor shall you be dealt with unjustly.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" It rejects all these negative elements. This is the main challenge. This is the root of their enmity. This is why they fight the Islamic Revolution. Other issues are all excuses. We should adopt such an outlook on sanctions, domestic wars, coups d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'état and other events which have taken place during the recent years such as the nuclear issue. Contrary to what everyone thought, our Revolution achieved victory. Then it formed a government which managed to prevail. This was while everyone in the world thought that the Islamic Republic would be destroyed in six months or in one or two years. Then they gave a generous figure and said that the Islamic Republic would be destroyed in three, four years. Contrary to what they thought, it became stronger on a daily basis and its \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"root is firm and its branches are in heaven, yielding its fruit in every season by the permission of its Lord\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 14: 24-25]. It has turned into a regional power and a country which is influential in major international issues. They are against this. They raise the issue of nuclear weapons. Well, we do not believe in nuclear weapons, not because of such and such people and not because of America and other countries. Rather, we are against nuclear weapons because of our belief. No one should have nuclear weapons. When we say that other countries should not have nuclear weapons, it means that we ourselves should not and will not have them. But, their problem is something else. If certain countries emerge which put an end to their exclusive right, they will have no problems with that. Of course, they do not want to give up their self-proclaimed right, but if this happens, they will not create uproar about it. But when it comes to Islamic Iran and the Islamic Republic, they create uproar. Why do they do this? It is because having such a capability and power is a source of support for the Islamic Republic which is based on \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"[D]eal not unjustly, nor shall you be dealt with unjustly.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" This is the main challenge. We should know and see this. With such an outlook, we should analyze and interpret the behavior of America, the west and such and such a country and orientation which is dependent on and attached to these powers. This is the Islamic Revolution. In the eyes of these enemies, no one is more hated than our magnanimous Imam who was an outstanding personality and who was like a shining sun. They looked at him with respect, but they also showed enmity towards him from the bottom of their hearts because he resisted and because he was perceptive and wise due to two unique characteristics that he enjoyed: complete wisdom and complete decisiveness. He put up resistance in a determined way and he was like a barrier in the way of their progress and in the way of the harm which they wanted to inflict. This was why they were his enemies. Of course, as I said, they looked at him with respect. They knew about his greatness, but the greater he was, the angrier they became. Today, the same situation exists. They show the same hatred towards anybody who is committed to these main values and principles - that is to say, values which determine the political identity of the Revolution such as \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"[D]eal not unjustly, nor shall you be dealt with unjustly\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". They hate anybody who realizes that the problems the enemies created for the Islamic Republic are based on this outlook and who takes this path by adopting such an outlook and showing such resistance. Of course, the world of diplomacy is the world of smiling. They smile and ask to negotiate with us. They themselves offer to negotiate with us. A few days ago, one of the western politicians was asked, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"You want to negotiate with Iran. This is while Iran is your enemy.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" He said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Well, negotiations should be conducted with the enemy, not other people.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" That is to say, they admit that they are the enemies of Iran and they say this openly. The reason for their enmity is not the behavior of certain people. Rather, the reason is the true nature and identity of the Islamic Revolution. Everything that they say should be analyzed, interpreted and identified from this perspective. We are not against proper and reasonable moves, whether in the world of diplomacy or in the world of domestic policies. I believe in the idea which was referred to as \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"heroic flexibility\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". Flexibility is necessary in many areas. It is very good and there is nothing wrong with it. But the wrestler who is wrestling against his opponent and who shows flexibility for technical reasons should not forget who his opponent is and what he is doing. This is the main condition. Our politicians too should know what they are doing, who they are faced with, who their opponent is and which area the opposing side wants to attack. They should pay attention to this point. Well, you are the guardians of the Islamic Revolution. The meaning of the guardian of the Islamic Revolution is not that you should be present in all arenas and you should have a responsibility in all areas. As it was reflected in the statements of the dear and honorable commander who delivered a speech today, you have a certain and clear responsibility. As he pointed out, it is an appropriate move to take a look on the scope of activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. I agree with what he said. But, first, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps should always know what it wants to do and what it wants to protect. Second, it should preserve its stability and steadfastness which is the main characteristic of the glorious identity of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. It should not forget this. Everybody, at all levels, should pay attention to this point. I have repeatedly pointed out that what the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps does is based on spirituality. Spirituality does not contradict scientific progress, systematic organization, new methods and different scientific and practical innovations. We should not think that when we pay attention to spirituality, we should ignore the material aspects of life. This is not the case. During the early Islamic era, the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.), the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.) and Muslims employed the best and the cleverest tactics in the arenas of war. In our own times too, revolutionary elements - whether the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army or other revolutionary elements - employed the cleverest tactics and methods during the Sacred Defense Era. Spirituality does not contradict the idea that we should pay attention to the material aspects of our work and the effective organization of things. This spirituality should be preserved because it is the essence of our work. The last point I want to raise is that, in my opinion, the future of the Islamic Revolution is a bright future. This is not a vain hope. I am saying this because we have taken everything into consideration. There are two reasons for this. The first reason is experience. Well, during the early years of the Revolution, we were in a terrible condition because of our lack of manpower, lack of material resources, lack of weapons, lack of executive experience and different other shortcomings. But, where are we now? Today, we benefit from a wealth of manpower, material resources, scientific and political progress and international dignity. Where were we 30-plus years ago and where are we now? All of our moves during the past 35 years were made while we were under pressure from the opposing side. That is to say, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction, but we managed to move forward. On the path that we were taking, there were fierce and adverse winds, but we managed to move forward. Is this experience not good? Is it not enough? Hostile orientations cannot confuse or stop a nation who is united, determined and religious and who knows what is wants to do. On the issue of the regional events which recently took place in the world of Islam, wherever Muslims suffered a loss, it was because they did not know what they should do. In these events, there was not a clear guideline and therefore such things happened. Of course, it will not remain like this. The event which happened in regional and Islamic countries - that is to say, Islamic Awakening - is an unprecedented phenomenon and it will play its part in these events. So, our experience is the first reason. Another reason is that we are moving forward with rationality and scientific precision. Our opposing side suffers from increasing weaknesses and internal contradictions because of the wrong way the infrastructures of this civilization are built. They are retreating. Of course, they do not need to admit that they are retreating and it is not necessary to visibly and clearly see this in their statements. This is the truth of the matter. When a people move things forward with precision and by finding the right way, they will definitely achieve the desired results. We have said that we should promote the idea of building the Islamic Republic from the inside. We have said that knowledge should develop and spread. We have said that domestic production should be the essence of our work. We have said that we should adopt a serious outlook on the issue of optimism about the domestic capabilities of the country. We have said that talents should develop and blossom. These things are the essence of our work. When a country moves forward by relying on its domestic capabilities, its manpower, its knowledge, its faith and its unity, it will certainly achieve the desired results. Therefore, we have no doubts that we have a bright future ahead of us. Whether this future arrives sooner or later depends on you and I. If laziness, negligence, selfishness, materialism and attachment to superficial things divert our attention and if we do something to cause our downfall - whether individual downfall or social downfall - then this future will be achieved later than expected. But it will definitely be achieved and this is because of the efforts and sacrifices which were made. Thankfully, in the arena of sacrifices too, you have been very active. You have put in a good performance and made brilliant moves in this arena. By Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, it will be the same in the future. I hope that God will make you benefit from the prayers of the Imam of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for his sake). I hope that He will make you and us the guardians of Islam and the Islamic Revolution in the real sense of the word. I hope that He will associate the pure souls of our martyrs and the immaculate soul of our magnanimous Imam with His saints and with the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.). Greetings be upon you and Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mercy and blessings

Supreme Leader\\\\\\\'s Speech on 25th Demise Anniversary of Imam Khomeini (r.a.) Print 06/06/2014 Hotuba ya Kiongozi Muadhamu katika Maadhimisho ya Mwaka wa 25 wa Kufariki Dunia Imam KhomeiniThe following is the full text of the speech delivered on June 4, 2014 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, on the occasion of the demise anniversary of Imam Khomeini (r.a.). The speech was delivered at Imam Khomeini\\\\\\\'s shrine. In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings upon our Master and Prophet, Muhammad, and upon his immaculate household, especially the one remaining with Allah on earth. \\\\\\\"Our Lord, forgive us and those of our brethren who had precedence of us in faith, and do not allow any spite to remain in our hearts towards those who believe. Our Lord, surely You are Kind, Merciful\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 59: 10]. \\\\\\\"Our Lord, surely You have given to Pharaoh and his chiefs finery and riches in this world\\\\\\\'s life. To this end, our Lord, that they lead people astray from Your way. Our Lord, destroy their riches and harden their hearts so that they believe not until they see the painful punishment\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 10: 88]. Allah the Omniscient said in His book: \\\\\\\"Have you not considered how Allah sets forth a parable of a good word being like a good tree, whose root is firm and whose branches are in heaven, yielding its fruit in every season by the permission of its Lord?\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 14: 24-25] On this unforgettable and important day, I would like to divide my statements to you dear brothers and sisters into three parts. In the first part, I will speak about an important reality which exists about the Islamic Republic. Today, paying attention to this reality is very important. In the second part, I will provide a brief explanation of our magnanimous Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) permanent and eternal school of thought. Although we have said and heard many things about Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) school of thought, it is necessary to provide a brief explanation at this point in time. I will provide a short portrayal of all the things that our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) created as a unique phenomenon in the contemporary world. The third part is about two important challenges which lie ahead of the people of Iran and the Islamic Republic. It is important for us to pay attention to these two challenges in order to move forward in the right way and on the right path. As for the first part, the reality that I referred to is that 25 years have passed from the demise of our great Imam (r.a.), but people\\\\\\\'s enthusiasm and excitement to hear and know about him has not diminished. And this is not particular to our country. Rather, this reality exists in the world of Islam and even beyond that. Not only in our country - where the third generation of the Revolution is growing and blossoming - but also in the entire world of Islam, the youth of the age of communications and Internet are after gaining more information about the issues of the Revolution, about the Islamic Republic and about the architect of this great structure. And these youth can easily familiarize themselves with the issues which occur far away from their own environment. The phenomenon of religious democracy and the theory of Wilayat-e Faqih are issues which are significant and attractive for the intellectual environments of the world of Islam. From the first days, our enemies began making a comprehensive effort and the more we moved forward, the more comprehensive this effort became. They used hundreds and thousands of television, radio stations and Internet sites to abuse the Islamic Republic, its great founder and its supporters. Of course, this issue has been helpful to us because it has aroused the curiosity of listeners and viewers throughout the world. These listeners and viewers want to know the reason behind all these enmities, hostilities and mudslinging. They want to know the nature of the truth which has been the target of these enmities. So, our enemies mentioned our names and they spoke about our Imam (r.a.) and our system with the purpose of showing their enmity, but \\\\\\\"...surely they will scheme, and I too will scheme\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 86: 15-16]. This is what Allah the Exalted says. They started this widespread movement with such an intention, but it eventually created an opportunity for us because the sense of curiosity of the listeners to these stations was aroused throughout the world. Islamic Awakening - in which anti-arrogant feelings were dominant more than any other phenomenon - in Islamic countries and our region is the sign of this curiosity and search for the truth and it continues to exist. It is possible that western and American intelligence services report to their seniors that they have managed to suppress Islamic Awakening in our region. If they have such a notion, then this will be another strategic mistake and another wrong interpretation on the part of our enemies. Islamic Awakening might be suppressed for a while in part of the world of Islam, but it will undoubtedly not be uprooted. On the contrary, it will develop. This understanding, this perception and this awareness in all countries and among Muslim youth in the region is not something that can be destroyed easily. Of course, they will make certain efforts in order to destroy it and these efforts may seem to be successful in some areas in the short run, but in the end, they will prove to be fruitless. The curiosity that exists in today\\\\\\\'s young generation all over the world - particularly in the world of Islam - about the phenomenon of religious democracy is rooted in the fact that the Islamic Republic is a phenomenon from whose birth 35 years have passed. And during all these 35 years, it has faced the violent and hostile reactions of the dominant powers in the world. They showed military reactions, they showed propaganda reactions, they showed economic reactions - which began from the beginning of the Revolution and which have been reinforced on a daily basis - and they showed political reactions. It is 35 years now that this powerful western camp has been doing whatever it could against the Islamic Republic. It has made military efforts, it has helped the aggressors who attacked our country, it has supported the enemies of the Islamic Republic in any area, it has used widespread propaganda and it has made perfect and unprecedented efforts in the area of sanctions and economic siege. But in the face of all these invasions and all these violent and unscrupulous hostilities, the Islamic Republic was not destroyed, it did not adopt a conservative outlook, it was not blackmailed by the west and it made progress on a daily basis. This is what forms the essence of this curiosity. Despite the fact that the primary military, political and economic powers of the world joined hands against a country and a government and despite the fact that they made efforts for 35 years, not only was this government not destroyed, but it also became stronger on a daily basis. This government was not blackmailed by them and it did not pay any attention to them at all. The Islamic Republic showed its power and capability to survive in different arenas. Today, when they look at the Islamic Republic, they see that the second and third generations of the Revolution in the country are comprised of several million students, several thousand knowledgeable clergy, several thousand researchers, several thousand university and seminary professors, thousands of scientific and intellectual personalities - some of whom are well-known on an international level - and thousands of activists and producers and thousands of political, cultural and economic personalities. This is the reality about our today\\\\\\\'s society. In the arena of science and technology, the Islamic Republic launches satellites into space despite all sanctions. It sends living creatures into space and it brings them back. It produces nuclear energy. It is ranked among the first ten countries in the world in many new sciences. The centers in charge of releasing statistics have announced that the rate of scientific progress in the Islamic Republic is 13 times faster than the global average. It gives scientific and technological services to different countries. Despite unprecedented sanctions, it manages a 75-million-strong country. It has the final word on regional policies. It shows resistance against the usurping Zionist regime, which is supported by global bullies, and it does this on its own. It does not compromise with oppressors and it defends the oppressed. Any well-informed individual becomes curious to know what this organism and phenomenon is and how it benefits from all these innate capabilities and this potential to survive despite all the enmities. This is the nature of this curiosity. This was about the issues related to scientific, technological and other such areas. As for political and social issues, the higher aspect of this religious democracy is that we have had 32 elections during the 35 years from the beginning of our Revolution. Thirty two public elections have been held in this country. Is this a minor achievement? This is an exceptional phenomenon. Elections in the Islamic Republic are held with a high turnout - higher than the global average and in some cases, it is much higher. Our elections witness a turnout of 70, 72 percent. Our elections are like this. These elections are the manifestation of democracy. Another exceptional example is the two phenomena which we people have gotten used to, but which are extraordinarily exciting and important for global inspectors and witnesses. These two phenomena are the 22nd of Bahman rallies and Quds Day Rallies in the month of Ramadan. During the past 35 years, the people have held the Revolution celebration each year with a great, exciting and glorious rally on the cold days of late Bahman. We have gotten used to this and we do not truly see the significance and greatness of this issue, but global witnesses see these things and they are very astonishing to them. These are the factors behind the element which arouses people\\\\\\\'s curiosity and which presents a new path to the minds of enthusiastic, inquisitive and research-oriented individuals. This is the important reality of our time which can be described as the general curiosity of youth, intellectuals, well-informed personalities and analysts throughout the world of Islam about the phenomenon which has emerged and grown on a daily basis in Islamic Iran. This is the first issue. This reality has been built by the hands of our great architect. We have said many things about Imam (r.a.). Perhaps some people think that we have spoken about Imam in an exaggerated way. But this is not the case. What we have said about our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) is neither exaggeration nor magnification of the truth. Rather, it is the truth. Our magnanimous and dear Imam (r.a.) was more complex and meaningful than what we managed to say and reflect about him. What is available to the people of Iran and what is in front of the eyes of people throughout the world has been built by those powerful hands. We should know about the architect\\\\\\\'s plan in order to take the path in the right way. If developers and builders do not have access to a plan in order to build an ordinary building and if it is not clear what the main plan is, then they may make a mistake no matter how skilled they are. We should know the main plan so that we can use our expertise in building on the basis of this plan. Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) plan was not one that could be designed by a human being. It was definitely God\\\\\\\'s work. Our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) himself knew and acknowledged this. He himself used to say, \\\\\\\"What has occurred is a handicraft of divine power\\\\\\\". He had understood this correctly and his insightful and vigilant eyes had seen this correctly. We should be careful. We should know the plan so that we can continue the path. If we do not know the plan, we will deviate from the right path. And when we deviate, we will drift away from the main and the straight path on a daily basis. When we drift away from the straight path, we will drift away from goals and we will fail to reach them. In order to reach the goals, we should take care not to lose the path and in order to avoid losing the path, we should have the main plan in front of our eyes. We should know and identify this plan. Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) plan and main task was to create a civil-political system on the basis of Islamic reason. The prerequisite for carrying out this task was to uproot the monarchic regime which was corrupt, dependent and dictatorial. The monarchic regime had these three characteristics: it was corrupt - different moral, financial and other such corruptions. It was dependent on powers. One day, it was dependent on England and another day, it was dependent on America. It was prepared to abandon its own interests and the interests of the people for the sake of the interests of foreigners. And it was dictatorial and oppressive. For the monarchic regime, the people\\\\\\\'s votes and requests counted for nothing. Each of these characteristics forms a long chapter. Each of them forms a long book. The prerequisite for the great task that Imam (r.a.) wanted to carry out was to uproot this corrupt, dependent and dictatorial regime. He focused his efforts on doing this and consequently, the regime was uprooted. In our country, the issue was not replacing a monarchic regime with another monarchic or semi-monarchic regime. The issue was uprooting the characteristics that the monarchic regime had and this was done by our magnanimous Imam (r.a.). Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) statements, guidelines and behavior were oriented towards this goal. There are two fundamental points in building this civil-political system and these two points are interconnected. In one sense, these two points are two sides of the coin of truth. One is entrusting the affairs of the country to the people through democracy and elections and another is launching this movement - which originated from Islam - and any movement which originates from democracy and entrusting tasks to people, within the framework of Islamic sharia. These are two parts. In other words, these are two sides of the same truth. Some people should not think that our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) derived elections from the western culture and then mixed it with Islamic thoughts and Islamic sharia. This was not the case. If elections, democracy and reliance on the votes of people had not been part of religion and Islamic sharia, then Imam (r.a.) would have told us. If this had been the case, he would have announced it in an outspoken and decisive way. Democracy is part of religion. Therefore, Islamic sharia is the framework. When passing and implementing laws, when assigning individuals different tasks and discharging them from their service and during all tasks that follow this political-civil system, Islamic sharia should be observed. All tasks in this system revolve around democracy. All the people elect the members of the Majlis and the president, they elect ministers indirectly, they elect the members of the Assembly of Experts and they elect the Leader indirectly. All tasks are in the hands of the people. This was the main base of our magnanimous Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) movement. The great structure that this great personality built was founded on these two bases. Commitment to Islamic sharia is the soul and truth of the Islamic government. Everyone should pay attention to this issue. If Islamic sharia is completely observed in society, this will ensure both civil and individual freedom - the freedom of individuals - and collective freedom which is called independence. Independence means freedom of a people. It means that a people are not dependent on anyone and any place. \\\\\\\"A free people\\\\\\\" means a people who are not under the influence and domination of their opponents, their enemies and foreigners in any way. If Islamic sharia is observed, it will ensure both justice and spirituality in society. These are the four main elements: freedom, independence, justice and spirituality. If Islamic sharia dominates society, these main phenomena in the order of Islamic society will show themselves. Therefore, our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) stressed the necessity of Islamic sharia which is the soul of the Islamic Republic. He also stressed the necessity of religious democracy which is a means and a tool and which is derived from sharia. According to Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) school of thought, any power and force which has come into being through deception and oppression is unacceptable. In the Islamic government, oppression and subjugation are meaningless. Power and authority are meaningful, but only the one that originates from people\\\\\\\'s free will and choice. The kind of power which originates from bullying, subjugation and weapons is meaningless from the viewpoint of Islam, Islamic sharia and Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) school of thought. The kind of power which emerges on the basis of people\\\\\\\'s choice is respectable. No one should confront this power. No one should try to suppress and subjugate this power. If they do so, this is called fitna. This is the new prescription that our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) introduced to the world. He added this important chapter to the political literature of the world. As we pointed out, one of the main elements in this new version is rushing to help the oppressed and confronting the oppressor. We should help the oppressed and in the present time, the concrete manifestation of being oppressed is the people of Palestine. As you witnessed, from the first day until the end of his life, our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) stressed the issue of Palestine. He supported the issue of Palestine and stated in his testament that the people of Iran and the officials of the country should not forget about this issue. Helping the oppressed, showing resistance against the oppressor, condemning his transgressions, rejecting his power and grandeur in an outspoken way and shattering this grandeur are among the parts of this system and this new version presented by our magnanimous Imam (r.a.). This is a short summary, portrayal and description of the political order and the foundation that our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) introduced to society after overthrowing the monarchic regime in the country. This matter was completely accepted by the people and it was put into practice. Unlike many political slogans, this matter was not confined to books. Rather, it was realized, put into practice and reflected in reality. And the people of Iran showed their determination, loyalty and self-sacrifice by preserving this matter and strengthening it on a daily basis until today. So, Imam (r.a.) succeeded. He achieved complete success in what he wanted to do. Will this great task continue? Will the empty boxes of this table - naturally, there are some empty boxes in social and historical tables - be filled in? This depends on how determined and aware you and I are and to what extent we observe and move in the direction of that clear line. It is completely possible to do this. Considering the people that we see, considering the experience that they have gained and considering the successful and continuous movement that they have launched in the past 35 years - and in the past 25 years since Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) demise - it is possible to continue this path. The empty boxes will be filled in, great feats will be accomplished and by Allah\\\\\\\'s favor and grace, our people will reach the peaks. Like all the important paths which have been delineated for reaching great goals, this path involves certain challenges and obstacles. We should identify these obstacles so that we can pass through them. If we do not identify obstacles, overcoming them will be either difficult or impossible. I am saying these things to you honorable participants of this great and magnificent meeting and, in fact, to the people of Iran who will hear these statements. But it is our youth, our scholars and our intellectuals who should think about, work on and study each of these chapters and parts. They should work on not only semi-intellectual and theoretical discussions but also on practical and functional discussions which reflect the truth. What we are saying is some chapters for carrying out intellectual tasks. By Allah\\\\\\\'s favor, these chapters will be followed up by our youth who are much better and prepared than we are. I would like to refer to two challenges: one is an external challenge and another is an internal challenge. Our external challenge is the interferences of global arrogance. I would like to speak without any consideration. The external challenge is the interferences of America. They engage in mudslinging. Although some of their thinkers say in their analyses that it is useless or impossible to confront this great movement, they engage in mudslinging. We should know their plan. This is America\\\\\\\'s plan which has been revealed through their discussions, reports, statements and behavior: America divides all countries, orientations and people throughout the world into three groups: the first group is made up of the submissive including submissive countries, submissive political and social orientations and submissive individuals. The first group is comprised of these people. The second group is comprised of countries which are not submissive and which should be tolerated. From the viewpoint of America, a number of countries, personalities and orientations should be tolerated. They believe that they should define common interests with these countries and that they should get along with them somehow. Later on, I will explain this more. The third group is made up of disobedient countries, those which do not give in to America and which refuse to be blackmailed by it. The third group is comprised of these countries. From the viewpoint of the Americans, no country, no political, social, civil and economic orientation and no individual in the world is out of these three groups. Everyone is either submissive and docile or independent - and you should get along with them - or disobedient, bold and courageous. One should behave in a different way towards the third group. America\\\\\\\'s policy towards the first group is complete support. Of course, they do not provide this support for free. They support them, but they also milk them. In fact, they use their capabilities and resources to the advantage of their own interests and for safeguarding their own interests. The Americans ride roughshod over these people and they make them render all kinds of services to them. As I said, they milk them and they do not care at all. Of course, if these people and countries behave in a way that is considered to be indecent according to global conventions, the Americans do not condemn it. On the contrary, they defend and justify it. For example, there are some dictatorial countries which are managed by biased, reactionary and completely dictatorial regimes, but they have friendly relations with the Americans. These countries give in to the Americans and they are prepared to serve and obey them. They are members of the first group. When the Americans want to describe them, they do not refer to them as dictatorial countries. Rather, they say that they are patriarchal countries and thus they cover up their dictatorship. They say, \\\\\\\"They are not dictators. Rather, they are patriarchal countries\\\\\\\". What is the meaning of patriarchal in political systems? What does it mean? Is a patriarchal country a country in which there is no parliament, no elections, no power to speak freely, no freedom of speech and no freedom of expression? Is a patriarchal country a country in which the slightest disobedience to the wishes of the rulers is suppressed in a very serious and severe way? In one part of his life, Saddam Hussein was one of these obedient and submissive individuals. In that stage of his life, they gave him all kinds of support and they rendered some services to him. They gave him chemical weapons and they provided him with the plans of our military movement which had been discovered via satellite. They gave him military plans because he was at their service and because he was against the disobedient Islamic Republic which was a member of the third group. So, these people represent the first group. As I said, the second group is made up of the countries which America gets along with. The policy and plan of America is to get along with these countries. What does getting along mean? It means defining common interests and establishing friendly relations with someone. But when America has the opportunity, it will stab them in the back and tear their hearts open and it will not show any consideration for them. Which countries represent the second group? European countries represent the second group. Today, European countries are in such conditions. America gets along with them, but this does not mean that it defends their interests. This is not the case. It will kick them as much as it can. For example, it spies - Internet espionage - on the number one in its allied country. It also spies on him by tapping his cell phone. The Americans even keep watch on his personal life and they have no scruples whatsoever. When it comes out, they say, \\\\\\\"Sorry, it happened because we had no choice\\\\\\\". They are not even willing to apologize in a sincere way. My understanding of political issues tells me that the Europeans are making a great strategic mistake by serving America. They promote the interests of America, but America does not and will not do so and it will be the same until the end. This was about the second group. The third group is made up of countries which do not give in to America. America\\\\\\\'s policy towards this group is to use each and every tool they find against these disobedient countries. They use any tool they find and they do not have any limits for that. If you see that there is a country which is disobedient to America and that America does not attack or impose sanctions on it, then you should know that there is a problem - that is to say, there is an obstacle in their way. To put it simply, they cannot do it. If they can, they will definitely do it. The only crime that this disobedient country has committed is that it is not willing to give in to America, to be blackmailed by it and to let the interests of America have priority over its own interests. This is the definition of a disobedient country. In order to bring this country to its knees, the Americans do everything that they can. They do whatever is possible for them. If they do not do something, it is because they cannot. Well, what are the things that the Americans do? Today, launching a military attack is not a priority from the viewpoint of the Americans. They have understood that they suffered a loss on the issue of Iraq and Afghanistan where they launched military attacks. They have understood that launching a military attack is as dangerous for the aggressor as it is for the defender and sometimes, it is even more dangerous for the aggressor. They have understood this correctly. Therefore, it can be said that they have changed their mind about launching a military attack. They have other ways ahead of them. One of these ways is entrusting the task of furthering their goals in the target country - which is the target of their attacks - to the elements inside this country. The issue is not only about Islamic Iran and the Islamic Republic. They are doing these things all over the world and we are witnessing some instances of their effort in the present time. Another way is launching a coup d\\\\\\\'état. They empower some people inside the target country so that they can launch a coup d\\\\\\\'état and overthrow those governments and political systems which do not give in to them. One of the ways that they use is this. Another way is drawing part of the people to the streets. An example is the color revolutions which were carried out in each and every part of the region in recent years. Take the case of a government which comes to power in a country. After all, if the government that comes to power holds 60 percent of the votes, it means that 40 percent of the people did not vote for it. The Americans go to that 40 percent, choose certain elements and leaders among them and make them - either by bribing or by threatening them - draw that 40 percent or part of it to the streets. America\\\\\\\'s hands were behind the color revolutions - for example, such and such an orange revolution and other revolutions in different countries - that were carried out in recent years. We do not make any judgment about the events which are taking place in an area in Europe. But when one takes a look, one sees what a role an American senator and official can play - by showing his presence - in the demonstrations of a minority against a country. They showed their presence in such areas. One of the measures that they adopt is that they draw part of the people to the streets and make them break the law, thereby overthrowing the government which they do not approve of and which is not blackmailed. Another measure that they adopt is empowering and forming terrorist groups. They did this in Iraq, Afghanistan and some Arab countries in the region. They did it in our country as well. They form terrorist groups in order to kill well-known personalities. In our country, they struck and martyred scientists and experts on atomic energy. Before that too, they struck political, cultural, scientific and seminary personalities. These terrorists grew with the help of the Americans. Some of them were accepted into America by the Americans for the services that they rendered. Today, munafeqeen are in America\\\\\\\'s arms. They take part in different meetings and commissions of the U.S. Congress. The same munafeqeen who killed people from different social backgrounds - including great personalities, ulama, scientists and political personalities - and who carried out explosions are with the Americans today. So, this is another way they use. Another way is creating discord among decision-makers of countries. One of the measures that they adopt is this: they try to create a rift in the highest levels of the government and system that is not with them. They try to establish a dual government. Of course, they do not succeed in many countries. But unfortunately, they succeed in some areas. This is one of their ways. Another way is that they discourage - with their propaganda - the hearts and minds of people from following their ideological and religious principles. They try such measures. The regime of the United States of America has done all these things to our dear and Islamic Iran and by Allah\\\\\\\'s favor, it has failed in all of them. Launching military coups d\\\\\\\'état, supporting those who instigate fitna, drawing some people to the streets, confronting elections and creating rifts were some of the measures that they either adopted or tried to adopt and thankfully, they failed in all of them. Why did they fail? It was because the people were vigilant and religious. It is here that I want to speak about the second challenge which is the internal challenge. Dear brothers and sisters, the internal challenge for our people is the risk of ignoring, forgetting about and losing the spirit and orientation of our magnanimous Imam (r.a). This is the greatest danger. The internal challenge is making a mistake in knowing our enemies and our friends and confusing the camp of our enemies and friends so much so that we do not know who our enemies and friends are. Another mistake is failing to know our major and minor enemies. This is another danger. You dear brothers and sisters and all the people of Iran should pay attention that sometimes, someone shows enmity towards you. But if you pay careful attention, you will see that his enmity is not the main one. It is a function of another factor and another person. You should find the main enemy. Otherwise, if one confronts the lesser enemy, one\\\\\\\'s energy is sapped and the result will not be good. Today, some people in different parts of the world of Islam - which go by the name of takfiri, Wahhabi and Salafi groups - are adopting bad and inappropriate measures against Iran, Shia Muslims and Shia Islam. But everyone should know that they are not the main enemies. They show enmity and they adopt foolish measures, but the main enemy is the person who provokes them, who gives them money and who motivates them with different means when their motivation is weakened to some extent. The main enemy is the person who sows the seeds of rupture and discord between that foolish and ignorant group and the oppressed people of Iran. These measures are adopted by the hidden hands of intelligence and security services. That is why we have constantly said that we do not consider these foolish groups - who confront the Islamic Republic in the name of Salafism, takfiri and Islam - to be our main enemy. We consider you to be the deceived. We have said to these people: \\\\\\\"If you stretch your hand against me to slay me, it is not for me to stretch my hand against you to slay you: for I fear Allah, the Cherisher of the worlds\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 5: 28]. If you make a mistake and if you prepare yourself to kill your Muslim brothers, we do not consider you to be so important that we try to kill you. Of course, we defend ourselves. Anyone who attacks us will face our firm fist. This is natural, but we believe that these people are not our main enemies. They have been deceived. The main enemy is the person who acts behind the scenes. The main enemy is the visible hand that comes out of the sleeve of intelligence services, that confronts Muslims and that pits them against one another. This is our internal challenge: becoming busy with domestic differences - those which are trivial and unimportant. Such differences make us busy, pit us against one another, create tension and make us forget about the main issues and guidelines. This is one of the manifestations of the main challenge which was referred to. Losing national solidarity is one of our challenges. Suffering from laziness, lack of confidence, idleness, desperation and hopelessness and thinking that we cannot succeed and that we have not succeeded until today are among the internal challenges we should confront. As Imam (r.a.) said, we can. We should show determination. National determination and jihadi management can untie all the knots. As we said, our dear youth, our outstanding personalities and our scholars should sit and study these issues. These are our main points. The auspicious name of our magnanimous Imam (r.a.), the remembrance of that great man and the plan of that great architect can help us in all these chapters. It can give us hope, enthusiasm and morale, as it has done this until today and by Allah\\\\\\\'s favor, it will continue to do this in the future. Dear God, bestow your blessings on our dear people. Dear God, help our dear youth on the path of building an ideal Islamic structure. Dear God, protect us from deviations and digressions. Dear God, make the hands of the people of Iran stronger than the hands of their enemies. Help them achieve victory over their enemies. Make the holy heart of the Imam of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for his sake) kind to us. Help us benefit from the prayers of that great Imam (a.s.). Associate the pure souls of Imam (r.a.) and our dear martyrs with the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.). Greetings be upon you and Allah\\\\\\\'s mercy and blessings Source: http://english.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1921

The following is the full text of the speech delivered on July 23, 2014 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with students. The meeting was held on the eve of Quds Day. 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 and Prophet, Muhammad, and upon his immaculate household I thank Allah the Exalted because at this point in time our country is witness to a group of young, religious, enthusiastic, motivated, reasonable and thoughtful people. Today, our meeting was a very good meeting. This matter has two parts: one is related to the details of the statements that the friends madew in this meeting. Well, good and valuable statements were made. It is possible that this humble person agrees or disagrees with these statements. The issue of content is one part of the issue. In my opinion, the part that is important and praiseworthy is the enthusiastic and inquiring spirit of students. This showed itself in the statements of the students who delivered a speech. This is important. It is possible that some of the requests that these students made are reasonable and that some are not reasonable, achievable and acceptable. But the essence of this inquiring spirit and this motivation for wanting, thinking, suggesting and criticizing is perfect. Of course, one should observe morality, piety and religious obligations in all affairs. We should avoid unfair statements. We should avoid baseless and unsubstantiated statements. These points are important in their own respect, but what is of primary importance is that our young students should be inquiring, motivated, enthusiastic, present on the scene and attentive to the issues of the country. Well, let us spend a few minutes discussing some of the issues that the friends raised in the meeting. The first issue is what I just said. I became happy with the spirit that exists in our young students - most of whom are representatives of student groups - and I thank God because one can feel that they enjoy enthusiasm, new ideas, motivation and an inquiring spirit. I hope that by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, this spirit remains in you until you will be in charge of affairs because in the future, you will be officials in charge of affairs and you will be the managers of the country. I hope that by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, this spirit and this critical, inquiring, responsible and dutiful outlook remains in you. If this happens, the country will be saved. The friends in the meeting raised a number of issues which, in my opinion, are noteworthy and important. The issue of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"knowledge for the sake of knowledge without paying attention to its benefits for the country\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" - which was raised by a number of friends - is completely correct and we have repeatedly brought it up as well. Today, scientific work and endeavor in the country and in our universities and research centers is a lively, successful and praiseworthy endeavor. However, everyone should pay attention that knowledge is an introduction to action. Valuable knowledge is the kind of knowledge that helps the country and that is useful for solving its problems. Mere publication of our articles in, say, ISI journals and other such journals - even if they become a reference point - is not an ideal although it is praiseworthy in terms of knowledge. Scientific work should address the needs of the country. This was mentioned by the friends in this meeting as well and I would like to stress it. The officials and high-ranking managers in charge of higher education are present in this meeting. I hope that by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, they pay attention to this point. There was another point in the statements of the friends which was correct. I too would like to place emphasis on it. This point is the relationship between methods of economic management and the culture of society. The idea that we brought up the issue of cultural invasion in the 1370s while the invasion was economic is completely correct. We do not reject this, but our outlook on knowledge as an original and vital issue should receive everyone\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s attention at any level. At that time too, certain complaints were made about the methods of economic management. However, what was important and what is important today is our outlook on cultural orientations. Of course, we agree that the methods of economic management have certain effects on culture, but the opposite is true as well. An issue that was discussed as a peripheral issue - but that is not peripheral to me and that is an important issue - is the issue of youth\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s marriage [students laugh and make noises indicating support]. We knew that you would have such a reaction to this issue. The issue of youth\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s marriage is an important issue. I fear that this indifferent outlook towards the issue of marriage - unfortunately, this indifferent outlook exists more or less today - will have terrible consequences for the future of the country. You brought up the issue of military service, but in my opinion, the issue of military service is not a difficult issue. It is possible to think about and work on this issue. The solution for the problem of military service as an obstacle in the way of marriage is not that we shorten the term. We can adopt other methods for this problem, but it remains an issue. Motivation for marriage should turn into a practical measure. That is to say, marriage should be promoted. Allah the Exalted says, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"If they are in poverty, Allah will give them means out of His grace\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 24: 32]. This is a divine promise. We should trust this promise as we trust other divine promises. Marriage and starting a family has not made and will not make individuals experience hard living conditions. This means that one does not necessarily go through rough times because of marriage- on the contrary- marriage may solve the problems of individuals. The academic environment is a good and appropriate environment for preparing the ground for marriage. In my opinion, youth themselves, their families and officials in charge of universities should think about and make a decision about the issue of youth\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s marriage. We should not allow the age of marriage - which has unfortunately gone up today, particularly among women - to continue going up. There are certain wrong notions and traditions that are highly problematic. These wrong traditions are an obstacle in the way of promoting marriage among youth. Therefore, they should be practically broken. In my opinion, you - who are young, inquiring and enthusiastic and you who suggest breaking many habits and traditions - you should break the wrong traditions that exist on the issue of marriage. This is another issue that I deem necessary to stress. Of course, it was common in the past for a number of well-intentioned matchmakers and religious individuals to act as intermediaries and to introduce eligible women and men to one another. In this way, they helped them get married. Such tasks should be carried out. There should really be a movement in society in this regard. Another point that was witnessed in the statements of the friends in the meeting - this point also existed in the questions that students asked me indirectly - is about the compatibility between the political positions of students or student groups, and the viewpoints of the Leadership. Before this meeting, students had been asked: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"What would you say if you were present in this meeting?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" We have received certain answers. They brought us a book that contained 100 - or even more - pages. This book is about the opinions of students. I saw in the book that this question has been posed. And in this meeting, it was posed in a different way. In my opinion, this is not a very good and reasonable question. It is not the case that all the positions that people from different social backgrounds - including students who are among the leading groups among the people - adopt should be a copy of the viewpoints that the Leadership puts forward. This is not the case. As Muslims and as religious and thoughtful individuals, you should take a careful look in order to perceive your responsibilities and to make your own analyses. I will expand on this later on. You should adopt a position and express your viewpoints about individuals, orientations, policies and governments. It is not the case that you should wait and see what position the Leadership adopts about such and such an individual, movement, measure and policy so that you adopt your position on the basis of this position. This will lock affairs up. The Leadership has certain responsibilities. If Allah the Exalted helps him and bestows His blessings on him, he will carry them out. You too have certain responsibilities. You should look at the scene and make your own decisions. However, the standard should be piety. The standard should be piety. Piety means exercising self-restraint in supporting or opposing someone and in criticizing or praising someone. You should observe piety. If it is observed, then both criticizing, and supporting and praising people is good no matter if it is an individual, an administration, a political orientation or a political event that you criticize or support. There is nothing wrong with this criticism and support. Of course, if this humble person expresses his viewpoint about an issue, it is possible that it influences the decision of those who have trust in him and who accept this viewpoint. However, this does not mean that individuals should be absolved of responsibilities and opinions. This is not what I mean. Everyone should take a look and carry out their responsibility. As I said, the standard is that piety should be observed. That is to say, if we make a criticism, if we support someone, if we approve of a movement and a policy or if we reject it, this should really be done out of a sense of responsibility and without engaging our personal interests and temptations. This is another point. One of the friends in the meeting said that students have lost sleep over a certain issue. If concerns make students be so sensitive, this is very good. Of course, we hope that you get enough sleep and go to sleep on time! The expression \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I have lost sleep over something\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" is a very good expression. If this is really the case, we become very happy. This feeling of worry and anxiety about different issues makes you look at issues with open eyes. As for what I have written down to discuss, it has two, three parts and I will discuss each part by paying attention to our time. First of all, we should consider students to be among those individuals who manifest the vigilant conscience of a people and a country. Of course, this is the truth of the matter. If students launch a movement in a society and if they make a move and a request, this shows the general orientation of that society. This is the case all over the world. Students are, in fact, among those groups of people who show the vigilant conscience and orientation of a nation. Therefore, students should pay attention to issues in a very wise way. They should know their conditions and their environment. They should know threats, opportunities, enemies and enmities. Of course, we do not expect students to forget about their lessons and different affairs in order to engage in political work only. This is not what we expect them to do. Rather, we expect them to look at issues with open eyes, with a clear outlook, with a sense of responsibility and with a high motivation. This is our expectation of students. Some of the issues that we are faced with today are issues related to our surrounding environment and to the region. Regional issues are not separate from the issues of the country. Today, one important and fundamental issue is the issue of Palestine and Gaza. Well, the issue of Gaza and the disasters that have befallen the people of Gaza today and that have a long history should receive our attention from two perspectives: one perspective is that this shows the truth of the Zionist regime. This is the Zionist regime. In my opinion, this is not the important part of the issue. The Zionist regime is a regime that has set itself the goal of showing blatant violence since the beginning of its illegitimate birth. They do not even deny this violence. They have set themselves the goal of clenching an iron fist. They say this everywhere and they are proud of it. This is their policy. Since the year 1948 - when this fake regime came into being officially - until today, they have been pursuing this policy. It is 66 years now that they have been pursuing this policy. Of course, it had committed many crimes in Palestine even before it was officially recognized and even before colonialists imposed it on the world and on the region. But during these 66 years, they did whatever they could as a government and as a political system. They committed any violent act that one can think a government can do to a people. And they have no scruples whatsoever. This is the truth of the Zionist regime. There is no cure for this except the annihilation of this regime. Annihilating the Zionist regime does not at all mean massacring the Jewish people in the region. The logical statement that our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) made - that Israel should be annihilated - is based on a human principle. We presented to the world the practical solution for this and no one could criticize it in a reasonable way. We said that a poll and a referendum should be conducted so that the people who live in, come from and belong to this region determine who should rule over it. We said that the people should resolve this issue. This is the meaning of annihilating the Zionist regime. This is the solution. This is a solution that is understandable and favored by today\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s standards of logic in the world. This is a practical solution. We even put forward a proposal to the United Nations and a number of international organizations in charge of such affairs. And this proposal was discussed by them. There is no cure for the problem that this savage and wolfish regime - whose policy is to behave towards people with iron fists, cruelty and savagery and that does not care about and deny killing people and children, attacking different regions and causing destruction - has created except its destruction and annihilation. If, by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, that day comes and if it is annihilated, then so much the better. But what is the cure as long as this fake regime survives? The cure is decisive and militant resistance against this regime. The Palestinians should display power in the face of the Zionist regime. No one should think that if it had not been for the missiles of Gaza, the Zionist regime would have stopped their incursions. This is not the case. Notice what they are doing in the West Bank. This is while there is no missile, weapon and gun in the West Bank. The only weapon that the people have there is stones. Notice what the Zionist regime is doing there. It is doing whatever it can. It destroys people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s homes, it destroys their gardens, it destroys their lives and it humiliates and belittles them. If it is necessary, it closes water on them and it blacks out electricity. The Zionists could not tolerate someone like Yasser Arafat who compromised with them. They besieged, humiliated, poisoned and destroyed him. It is not the case that if we do not display power in the face of the Zionists, they will tolerate and show mercy to people and observe their rights. This is not the case at all. The only cure that exists before the Zionist regime is annihilated is that the Palestinians manage to act in a powerful way. If they act in a powerful way, it is possible that the other side - which is this wolfish and violent regime - will retreat, as they are looking for a truce with all their power. This means that they have become desperate. They kill people and children and they show cruelty in an excessive way. But they are desperate as well. They are in dire straits and this is why they are after a truce. Therefore, we believe that the West Bank should become armed like Gaza. It is necessary to show power. Those people who are interested in the fate of Palestine should do whatever they can. This is what should be done: the people in the West Bank should become armed as well. The only thing that can alleviate the Palestinians\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' pains is to show power. Otherwise, if we act in a tame, subservient and obedient way, nothing that is to the advantage of the Palestinians will be done and the violence that this violent, malevolent and wolfish creature is showing will not decrease. Today, the responsibility of people all over the world is political support. There is no doubt about this. As you can see, there are popular movements in Islamic and even non-Islamic countries. By Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, the world will witness the loud and great voice of the people of Iran on Quds Day. God willing, on Quds Day, the people of Iran will show how motivated they are about Palestine. Of course, some people wanted to show the opposite of this with the slogan \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"neither Gaza nor Lebanon\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". They are wrong. The people of Iran believe in defending the oppressed: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Be an enemy of the oppressor and helper of the oppressed\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [Nahjul Balaghah, Letter 47]. This is what the people of Iran want and by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, it will be shown. This is one perspective about the issue of Gaza. This is important and great emphasis should be placed on it. Today, western imperialist powers - that is to say, a few large, rich and powerful western powers which are headed by America and malevolent England behind it - have stood firm in order to defend this usurping, oppressive and cold-hearted regime. This is a very important issue. They are supporting it openly. What are they supporting? They are supporting a creator of disasters and no ordinary and fair-minded person can accept any indifference towards these crimes. A small area and a piece of land named Gaza is being attacked by airplanes, missiles, armies and tanks. They have used all kinds of munitions on these people. This is really an astonishing event. So many children are being killed, so many houses are being destroyed and people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s lives are being accompanied by so much bitterness, cruelty and torture. This is while these so-called gentlemen are supporting it. With what reason do they support this regime? They support it with the stupid reason that the President of America gives. He says, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Israel has the right to ensure its own security\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". Well, do the Palestinians not have the right to ensure their security? Is it acceptable for a government to threaten the lives of a people who have been cruelly besieged by it and who show no reaction? Does anyone accept this? How will history judge this reason? The officials of these arrogant countries do not understand what they are doing - with these kinds of support - to their dignity and the dignity of their countries and regimes in history. They stand up with complete shamelessness and say that they support Israel. They do not at all point to the events that are happening in the region and to the disasters that this destructive and dangerous element is creating. This shows that today, the logic of liberal democracy - the logic and the intellectual system on the basis of which western countries are ruled and controlled - does not benefit from the slightest moral value. There is not any moral value and humane feeling in it. In fact, they are disgracing themselves. They are disgracing themselves in the face of the critical look of nations throughout the world, whether those who live in the present time or those who will live in the future. We should preserve this as an important experience for ourselves and we should know America. This is liberal democracy. This will and should influence our actions, our judgment and our behavior. This is the camp - that is to say, the government of the United States of America and its followers - that has stood up against the Islamic Republic today and that has challenged the Islamic Republic in different events. This is the truth about them. The truth about them is this: not only do they not show any sensitivity about the massacre of human beings and defenseless people but they also defend and support oppressors and perpetrators of appalling and great crimes - such as what is happening in Gaza today. This should be a standard for us. The people of Iran, our intellectual apparatus, our students and our broad-minded personalities should not forget this. This is America. This is western power and its intellectual basis - which is liberal democracy. Today, it is this intellectual basis that is confronting the Islamic system. Today, the politicians who are most indifferent to human rights are those who are in charge of managing these countries. They do not at all believe in human beings, human rights and human principles. Their behavior in Gaza and other such events is proving this. They do not at all believe in human rights, human dignity and respect, people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s votes and anything else. The only thing that they believe in is money and bullying. There is no other reason for their behavior. In my opinion, whatever comes out of their mouths about the issue of freedom, human rights and other such things is a travesty of freedom and human rights. Well, we are not saying this as a piece of advice to America, the President of America and American politicians. It is clear [that they do not listen]. We are saying this for ourselves so that when we want to carry out an analysis, make a judgment and adopt a measure, we understand who we are dealing with and who the people we are faced with are. We are saying this so that we know what exists at the bottom of their thoughts. We should determine our responsibilities. What is important is that we should have a correct analysis of the west\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s behavior in the present time. Their confrontation with the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic movement and Awakening is part of their major polices. The major policy of global arrogance is enslaving nations and dominating their fate without paying the least attention to their interests and requests. This is the major policy of arrogance and we should pay attention to it. Anti-American, anti-western and anti-arrogance slogans in our country reflect this truth. Some people should not immediately jump to the conclusion that a biased or completely unreasonable task is being carried out as soon as they hear an anti-western or anti-American slogan. They should not think like this because this is not the case. This anti-western and anti-American outlook in the Islamic Revolution is based on a correct experience, outlook and calculation. On that day, I said to the executive officials and decision-makers of the country that the main goal of the enemy is to create disruption in our calculation system. When one\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s calculation system is disrupted, it produces wrong outputs out of correct inputs. That is to say, experiences will no longer be useful to it. When our calculation system does not function properly and correctly and when calculation is not carried out in the right way, experiences will no longer be beneficial. Notice how westerners and the leaders of the current western civilization have treated our country during the past 80, 90, 100 years. We have a long experience of receiving blows from the west. There are some people in the country - some western-oriented, westernized and westoxicated individuals - who witness these experiences in front of their eyes, but who do not learn a lesson from them. Well, they saw that westerners brought Reza Khan to power and helped him dominate the country. As a result of this, a bizarre Reza Khani dictatorship was established in the country by the English. They helped a thuggish and unreasonable person who was completely indifferent to the principles of the country. Afterwards during the 1320s, the same powers came and occupied Iran. In fact, they divided it among themselves in one sense. The same powers looted our oil and imposed cruel contracts on this country. The same powers launched the coup d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'état of the 28th of Mordad and overthrew and destroyed a national government which originated from the votes of the people despite all its flaws. The same powers made our national oil movement deviate from its path and consequently, they once more dominated our natural and material sources. The same powers established Mohammad Reza\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s dictatorship in the country for a long time and they supported it with all their power. During the 30-plus-year rule of Mohammad Reza over the country, our material and spiritual sources of wealth were looted. They created a disastrous situation for our people. They kept them in poverty and ignorance, they promoted public corruption in all bases of the country and they truly destroyed the culture of the country, the people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s religion and everything. This was done with the support of the same western governments. They created as many obstacles as they could during their confrontation with the Iranian peoples\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' Revolution and great movement. They supported and defended Saddam Hussein although they did not approve of him. Because Saddam was against the Islamic Republic, they helped him as much as they could. Westerners, England, America and France provided him with chemical bombs and different kinds of military weapons. Well, these are our experiences. Westoxicated intellectuals do not benefit from these experiences and they do not analyze them correctly because their calculation system has been disrupted. One of the most important services of the Islamic Revolution was reviving true logic and reason in the country. The fact that you young students analyze regional issues, look at different events with complete precision, identify the enemy, analyze regional events and stand firm shows the reasonable life of a country. It was the Revolution that offered this to us, but today, some people still want to go back to prior conditions. The same westernized orientations - the ones that love the west, that humiliate our people and our achievements and that humiliate national culture and identity to the advantage of western powers - want the same powers to come again and to define and introduce standards for the affairs, culture and orientation of the country. Those who are working against the Islamic Republic under the flag of the bloody enemies of the people of Iran are people who are after dominating the same ignorance - calculational ignorance - and the same satanic temptation that once existed opposed to the rationality of this country. I advise the dear students to strengthen their studies - both on the issue of religious and political areas - as well their scientific work. You should try to strengthen your power of analysis. Of course, when I take a look at students\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' statements today, I witness good and outstanding points. This really requires our gratitude. It really requires that we thank God, but you should work on this as much as you can. Today, we did not have the time to discuss different issues of the country. By Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, we will discuss these issues in the other meetings that we will hold with students or other groups of people. Students should provide people with analyses on different issues of the country including social, economic and political issues. The people should be able to benefit from students\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' analyses. Students\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' power of analysis should be like this. This depends on studying. Therefore, students should study. It should not be the case that students\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' outlook is a purely emotional one. Your intellectual products should not only be based on tabloid issues. You should deeply study, think about and discuss issues. Many of the statements that the friends in this meeting discussed are statements that should be resolved in student meetings and in free discussions. I have written this down. The free debates that we brought up and that requires free discussions in academic environments can resolve and clarify many of the issues that the friends discussed in this meeting. Students should be able to find the pros and cons of every issue in their student discussions. Another point that I want to discuss is that competitive discourse in academic environments is a good thing provided that it is accompanied by tolerating the opposing views. One should not become surprised, angry and intimidated at the existence of opponents. None of these three feelings is acceptable in the face of opponents. If we become surprised at the existence of opponents, this means that we are overconfident about ourselves. This is the reason why we are surprised when someone is opposed to us, but there is no room for surprise. Well, every individual, every thought, every movement and every orientation has certain opponents. And it is not the case that we think those opponents are necessarily wrong. This is not the case. There are certain weak points and these weak points make some people oppose us. Therefore, the existence of opponents should not make us surprised, as it should not provoke our anger. We should not become angry at their opposition. Opposition is understandable and acceptable. We should not be intimidated either. Being afraid of the existence of opponents shows that we are not confident about the power and strength of our position. This should not be the case. We have a reason. We should strengthen and build up the bases of our reason and then we should enter the arena of competitive discourse and engage in discussion. The spirit of students should be like this. Therefore, academic environments should continue working with the same spirit that they thankfully enjoy today. They should tolerate one another, they should speak to one another, they should discuss different issues with one another and they should strengthen the bases. In practical areas, the basis of their work should be piety and in intellectual areas, the basis of their work should be observing Islamic limits, knowing the enemy and knowing the methods that he uses for showing his enmity. I hope that Allah the Exalted bestows success on all of you and preserves you youth for furthering the goals of the Revolution. I hope that He increases your achievements on a daily basis. I hope that by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, you youth create a good future for your Revolution and for your country. Greetings be upon you and Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mercy and blessings.

Aisha El-Mekki’s mother didn’t believe in ‘sparing the rod’. She also had a deep respect for teachers, nuns and other authority figures; a respect that never trickled down to her youngest daughter. Discipline was real in the El-Mekki household, so from an early age she and her older sister formed an alliance. They promised not to tell on each other. Sometimes El-Mekki even took a beating for her sister. When she was in first grade, the two were sent away to a private, all-white boarding school. In third grade, El-Mekki was expelled. “As a child, if I got backed into a wall, I would refuse to do whatever you wanted me to do because you were trying to force me.” Upon returning to her home in Philadelphia, El-Mekki’s mother – who worked until five everyday – enrolled her daughter in the neighborhood school. It was around this time that El-Mekki met her best friend, Shakora. The two began spending afternoons together, deepening their friendship and getting into trouble. “One time I was on a bus. It was a Friday afternoon. The bus driver said my pass had expired; that I had to get a transfer…so he gave me a transfer while waiting for the next bus and the next bus was late. We waited for a while. There was a crowd of people by the time the bus came. [The next bus driver] said that my pass had expired and that I needed to get off the bus. Well I didn’t have any more money, so I said, ‘I paid my fare and I will ride.’ This man decided that he was going to send a message. So he stopped a police car and told them that I refused to pay. The police emptied the bus and told the driver to drive to the police station with just me on it….so he drives this empty bus to the police station and they arrested me. And this just infuriated me. My mother had to be called and of course she was just livid….she had to end up getting a lawyer, and had to go court, miss time from work…and eventually it was resolved but I mean they charged me. I had a record. It was ridiculous. That was my first incident with what I consider police brutality…and how they can escalate a situation unnecessarily.” Three years later, El Mekki graduated from an all-girls Catholic high school. It was at this point that she began to question the Trinity. She didn’t want to leave the church; she believed she would go to hell if she did. Still, the questions remained. So she kept her eyes open. After college, El-Mekki decided she wanted to become a social worker. She learned about a group called the Black Panther Party that was organizing programs for the needy. “When I heard about these people feeding children – and I worked on the midnight shift – I said, ‘you know what? I’m gonna go up there’. And there were tables and tables of children being fed cereal and toast, and I was really amazed. People were doing this out of the bottom of their hearts. They weren’t getting paid for it. But they wanted to make sure the children were getting a decent breakfast.” El-Mekki joined the group. At the same time, her religious search continued. “I had an aunt that was Muslim. I used to visit her. She was not aggressive, she was not pushy, she was not trying to convert me. Anytime I had a question, she would answer. Her husband was very nice. And I liked the way her family was so calm. It was so peaceful. And so I would go visit her often. During that time I was in the Black Panther Party, and she didn’t disapprove. Everybody else in my family said, ‘Here she goes again, doing something off the beaten path.’ But not aunt Mariam. One time when we knew that there was going to be a police raid, and we were trying to get the children out because I didn’t want the children to be there. And she just told me to bring them to her house. You know? And I just admired her. I just said wow, if her religion supports revolutionary acts like that, then I want to hear more about it. So she would always be listening to Shaheed Malcolm’s albums. She owned every word he ever said. And she’d often have his records on when I’d go over there. And she gave me his book to read because I was always asking questions about him. And that was like the answer to my prayer. You know? The part where he said that our religion doesn’t teach us to be aggressive, but if you lay a hand on me, then I can send you to the cemetery. And I said, ‘I can do that. That is the religion that I need.’ You know, that allows me to defend myself. That doesn’t encourage me to just constantly turn the other cheek. Nobody else is turning the other cheek. They’re turning the other side of their hand. And so i decided you know what, that’s when I decided Islam was for me because it allowed me to be religious and at the same time, be revolutionary.” innerrevolutions.net

A young man came to me and said, “Haj Agha, I have a problem and I want to talk to you.” I said, “Go ahead.” So we talked together. He said, “My first problem is that my death is certain. Because of a problem, I will certainly pass away.” I said, “No, with God’s grace. The length of one’s life is in God’s hands. Many have had the worst disease...” He said, “No, this is different.” Maybe it was my first time meeting a person who was passing away. I was wondering, “So he won’t be alive shortly?” It was a strange feeling. He said, “I’ve accepted this. In the beginning, it was very hard to accept this truth. One morning when I woke up, I told myself, ‘You’re going to die. Live for now. Go out. Work. Talk. Communicate with people. You’ll eventually die!’ So I got up and started living. After that, when someone bothered me, I wouldn’t get upset. I would say, ‘I’m dying! I wasn’t bothered at all. I wasn’t jealous. I would say, ‘I don’t want anything. Let others collect these things.’ If a car with a bride and groom passed by, I was happy for them like their mothers. [I would say,] ‘Aww, it’s their wedding. I hope they’ll be happy.’ I would pray for young people like older people do. If a person stepped on me to move up, I would say, ‘It’s fine. Let him take it.’ If I helped someone, I wasn’t trying to become known because I wouldn’t be alive that long to benefit from such fame. I’ve become very relaxed. I don’t see any badness. My understanding of good words has increased.” He mentioned these things one by one. I felt he was talking about the pious people’s features that are mentioned in Nahj al-Balaghah. I said, “I see.” He said, “If I pass away, will God accept these from me?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “But I’ve become like this due to my thinking of death.” I asked, “Don’t you believe in God?” He said, “Yes! I do. But I haven’t become better because of that. I love God very much too. God is the only one that I have now. No one will remain for me. But death is what has corrected me. Is this ok? Won’t they tell me, ‘When you found out you’re dying you corrected yourself’?” I said, “No, the Commander of the Faithful, Ali (as), said, ‘Death is enough to advise one.’ You were advised and corrected yourself.” [He said,] “Thank you. I’ll go.” [I said,] “Wait! Let’s become friends. I’ve found a real person.” He said, “No, I don’t want to put you out.” “No, sit down. I want to talk with you more. What’s your illness?” “I’m not ill.” “But you said you’ll certainly die.” “I said I’ll certainly die, but I didn’t say that I’m sick.” “What? What do you mean that you’ll certainly die?” “I’ve asked if there’s anyone who can help me so that I won’t die and they said no.” “So when?” “One day, 1000 days, 30,000 days from now. I don’t know.” I thought a little and saw that I’ll die too - either in a day or a thousand days… I said, “So you’re not sick.” “No.” How many days from now will you die? =================================== Follow us: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Panahianen/​... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PanahianEN/... Twitter: https://twitter.com/PanahianEN​​​​​​ Telegram: https://telegram.me/Panahianen/​​​​​​ The link for the book \"How to Pray a Good Prayer,\" written by Ali Reza Panahian: http://amazon.com/author/panahian​ ==============================

“How can I be separated from you?” Follow us: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Panahianen/ ... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PanahianEN/... Twitter: https://twitter.com/PanahianEN Telegram: https://telegram.me/Panahianen/ ============================== May this never happen to you that they tell you that you can’t participate in mourning ceremonies for Husayn (as) anymore. Wouldn’t this be terrible? It is not even imaginable that they stop us from participating in such meetings. But tonight, Zaynab was told that she should give up her Husayn since this is Karbala. You’re not willing to abandon Husayn’s (as) mourning ceremony. But from tonight, Zaynab (as) had to prepare herself to lose Husayn (as). Alas for Zaynab’s heart from tonight. What was the philosophy behind Imam Husayn’s (as) head being carried along with Zaynab from Karbala to Kufa and Damascus? Maybe it was for Zaynab to be able to slowly detach herself from Husayn (as). Alas for Zaynab’s heart from tonight. [When they reached Karbala,] the Imam (as) asked, “What’s the name of this land?” They replied, “Karbala.” He said, “I seek refuge in God from sorrow (Karb) and tragedy (bala).” Whenever he talked about Karbala, he would look at Zaynab (as). [It was as if he was saying,] “My Zaynab, this is Karbala. I’m addressing you. We’re going to be separated from each other here. Be ready.” Zaynab (as) would ignore these words and look in a different direction. Aba Abdillah al-Husayn (as) would glance at Zaynab (as), “Did my Zaynab believe this is Karbala? If she had believed it, she would have started wailing. No, she doesn’t believe it. She doesn’t want to accept it.” He would look at his Zaynab caringly. I talked about this story in the last meeting, and I’m talking about it again now. And I’ll always talk about it. Because it took nine days for Husayn (as) to tell Zaynab (as), “This is Karbala. Believe this.” She ignored this until the evening of Tasu’a when Husayn (as) said, “O world! Woe to you.” When Zaynab (as) heard this, she threw herself in front of Husayn (as), screamed and fainted. “My Husayn, don’t talk about leaving.” “My Zaynab, I have tried to tell you many times that this is Karbala! Why didn’t you want to believe this?” “I can’t tolerate this. Don’t talk about leaving!” This means, “I was trying to ignore the fact that we have been in Karbala during these nine days. No matter how much you said this is Karbala, I tried to keep myself busy and didn’t want to accept it.” Imam Husayn (as) said, “My Zaynab! My ancestor (the Prophet), father, brother and mother were all better than I am. They all passed away and you were patient.” She replied, “I was able to be patient because you were there. How can I be separated from you?” May God’s curse be upon the oppressors.

This documentary tells the story of Gamal Nasser and Prime Minister Eden wrestling over the control of the Suez Canal. Israel as always plays the role of a STAB IN THE HEART of the Muslim world in this crisis. ---------- FROM WIKIPEDIA SUEZ CRISIS THE PROTOCOL OF SEVRES Three months after Egypts nationalization of the canal company a secret meeting took place at Sevres outside Paris. Britain and France enlisted Israeli support for an alliance against Egypt. The parties agreed that Israel would invade the Sinai. Britain and France would then intervene instructing that both the Israeli and Egyptian armies withdraw their forces to a distance of 16 km from either side of the canal. The British and French would then argue that Egypts control of such an important route was too tenuous and that it need be placed under Anglo-French management. - The interests of the parties were various. Britain was anxious lest it lose access to the remains of its empire. France was nervous about the growing influence that Nasser exerted on its North African colonies and protectorates. Both Britain and France were eager that the canal should remain open as an important conduit of oil. Israel wanted to reopen the canal to Israeli shipping and saw the opportunity to strengthen its southern border and to weaken a dangerous and hostile state. - Prior to the operation Britain deliberately neglected to take counsel with the Americans trusting instead that Nassers engagement with communist states would persuade the Americans to accept British and French actions if they were presented as a fait accompli. This proved to be a fatal miscalculation for the colonial powers. --

This documentary tells the story of Nasser and Eden wrestling over the control of the Suez Canal. Israel as always plays the role of a STAB IN THE HEART of the Muslim World in this crisis. - From WIKIPEDIA - SUEZ CRISIS - The Protocoal of Sevres - Three months after Egypts nationalization of the canal company a secret meeting took place at Sevres outside Paris. Britain and France enlisted Israeli support for an alliance against Egypt. The parties agreed that Israel would invade the Sinai. Britain and France would then intervene instructing that both the Israeli and Egyptian armies withdraw their forces to a distance of 16 km from either side of the canal. The British and French would then argue that Egypts control of such an important route was too tenuous and that it need be placed under Anglo-French management. - The interests of the parties were various. Britain was anxious lest it lose access to the remains of its empire. France was nervous about the growing influence that Nasser exerted on its North African colonies and protectorates. Both Britain and France were eager that the canal should remain open as an important conduit of oil. Israel wanted to reopen the canal to Israeli shipping and saw the opportunity to strengthen its southern border and to weaken a dangerous and hostile state.- Prior to the operation Britain deliberately neglected to take counsel with the Americans trusting instead that Nassers engagement with communist states would persuade the Americans to accept British and French actions if they were presented as a fait accompli. This proved to be a fatal miscalculation for the colonial powers. ---

This documentary tells the story of Nasser and Eden wrestling over the control of the Suez Canal. Israel as always plays the role of a STAB IN THE HEART of the Muslim World in this crisis. - From WIKIPEDIA - SUEZ CRISIS - The Protocoal of Sevres - Three months after Egypts nationalization of the canal company a secret meeting took place at Sevres outside Paris. Britain and France enlisted Israeli support for an alliance against Egypt. The parties agreed that Israel would invade the Sinai. Britain and France would then intervene instructing that both the Israeli and Egyptian armies withdraw their forces to a distance of 16 km from either side of the canal. The British and French would then argue that Egypts control of such an important route was too tenuous and that it need be placed under Anglo-French management. - The interests of the parties were various. Britain was anxious lest it lose access to the remains of its empire. France was nervous about the growing influence that Nasser exerted on its North African colonies and protectorates. Both Britain and France were eager that the canal should remain open as an important conduit of oil. Israel wanted to reopen the canal to Israeli shipping and saw the opportunity to strengthen its southern border and to weaken a dangerous and hostile state.- Prior to the operation Britain deliberately neglected to take counsel with the Americans trusting instead that Nassers engagement with communist states would persuade the Americans to accept British and French actions if they were presented as a fait accompli. This proved to be a fatal miscalculation for the colonial powers. ---

This documentary tells the story of Nasser and Eden wrestling over the control of the Suez Canal. Israel as always plays the role of a STAB IN THE HEART of the Muslim World in this crisis. - From WIKIPEDIA - SUEZ CRISIS - The Protocoal of Sevres - Three months after Egypts nationalization of the canal company a secret meeting took place at Sevres outside Paris. Britain and France enlisted Israeli support for an alliance against Egypt. The parties agreed that Israel would invade the Sinai. Britain and France would then intervene instructing that both the Israeli and Egyptian armies withdraw their forces to a distance of 16 km from either side of the canal. The British and French would then argue that Egypts control of such an important route was too tenuous and that it need be placed under Anglo-French management. - The interests of the parties were various. Britain was anxious lest it lose access to the remains of its empire. France was nervous about the growing influence that Nasser exerted on its North African colonies and protectorates. Both Britain and France were eager that the canal should remain open as an important conduit of oil. Israel wanted to reopen the canal to Israeli shipping and saw the opportunity to strengthen its southern border and to weaken a dangerous and hostile state.- Prior to the operation Britain deliberately neglected to take counsel with the Americans trusting instead that Nassers engagement with communist states would persuade the Americans to accept British and French actions if they were presented as a fait accompli. This proved to be a fatal miscalculation for the colonial powers. ---

This documentary tells the story of Nasser and Eden wrestling over the control of the Suez Canal. Israel as always plays the role of a STAB IN THE HEART of the Muslim World in this crisis. - From WIKIPEDIA - SUEZ CRISIS - The Protocoal of Sevres - Three months after Egypts nationalization of the canal company a secret meeting took place at Sevres outside Paris. Britain and France enlisted Israeli support for an alliance against Egypt. The parties agreed that Israel would invade the Sinai. Britain and France would then intervene instructing that both the Israeli and Egyptian armies withdraw their forces to a distance of 16 km from either side of the canal. The British and French would then argue that Egypts control of such an important route was too tenuous and that it need be placed under Anglo-French management. - The interests of the parties were various. Britain was anxious lest it lose access to the remains of its empire. France was nervous about the growing influence that Nasser exerted on its North African colonies and protectorates. Both Britain and France were eager that the canal should remain open as an important conduit of oil. Israel wanted to reopen the canal to Israeli shipping and saw the opportunity to strengthen its southern border and to weaken a dangerous and hostile state.- Prior to the operation Britain deliberately neglected to take counsel with the Americans trusting instead that Nassers engagement with communist states would persuade the Americans to accept British and French actions if they were presented as a fait accompli. This proved to be a fatal miscalculation for the colonial powers. ---

This documentary tells the story of Nasser and Eden wrestling over the control of the Suez Canal. Israel as always plays the role of a STAB IN THE HEART of the Muslim World in this crisis. - From WIKIPEDIA - SUEZ CRISIS - The Protocoal of Sevres - Three months after Egypts nationalization of the canal company a secret meeting took place at Sevres outside Paris. Britain and France enlisted Israeli support for an alliance against Egypt. The parties agreed that Israel would invade the Sinai. Britain and France would then intervene instructing that both the Israeli and Egyptian armies withdraw their forces to a distance of 16 km from either side of the canal. The British and French would then argue that Egypts control of such an important route was too tenuous and that it need be placed under Anglo-French management. - The interests of the parties were various. Britain was anxious lest it lose access to the remains of its empire. France was nervous about the growing influence that Nasser exerted on its North African colonies and protectorates. Both Britain and France were eager that the canal should remain open as an important conduit of oil. Israel wanted to reopen the canal to Israeli shipping and saw the opportunity to strengthen its southern border and to weaken a dangerous and hostile state.- Prior to the operation Britain deliberately neglected to take counsel with the Americans trusting instead that Nassers engagement with communist states would persuade the Americans to accept British and French actions if they were presented as a fait accompli. This proved to be a fatal miscalculation for the colonial powers. ---

This documentary tells the story of Nasser and Eden wrestling over the control of the Suez Canal. Israel as always plays the role of a STAB IN THE HEART of the Muslim World in this crisis. - From WIKIPEDIA - SUEZ CRISIS - The Protocoal of Sevres - Three months after Egypts nationalization of the canal company a secret meeting took place at Sevres outside Paris. Britain and France enlisted Israeli support for an alliance against Egypt. The parties agreed that Israel would invade the Sinai. Britain and France would then intervene instructing that both the Israeli and Egyptian armies withdraw their forces to a distance of 16 km from either side of the canal. The British and French would then argue that Egypts control of such an important route was too tenuous and that it need be placed under Anglo-French management. - The interests of the parties were various. Britain was anxious lest it lose access to the remains of its empire. France was nervous about the growing influence that Nasser exerted on its North African colonies and protectorates. Both Britain and France were eager that the canal should remain open as an important conduit of oil. Israel wanted to reopen the canal to Israeli shipping and saw the opportunity to strengthen its southern border and to weaken a dangerous and hostile state.- Prior to the operation Britain deliberately neglected to take counsel with the Americans trusting instead that Nassers engagement with communist states would persuade the Americans to accept British and French actions if they were presented as a fait accompli. This proved to be a fatal miscalculation for the colonial powers. ---

This documentary tells the story of Nasser and Eden wrestling over the control of the Suez Canal. Israel as always plays the role of a STAB IN THE HEART of the Muslim World in this crisis. - From WIKIPEDIA - SUEZ CRISIS - The Protocoal of Sevres - Three months after Egypts nationalization of the canal company a secret meeting took place at Sevres outside Paris. Britain and France enlisted Israeli support for an alliance against Egypt. The parties agreed that Israel would invade the Sinai. Britain and France would then intervene instructing that both the Israeli and Egyptian armies withdraw their forces to a distance of 16 km from either side of the canal. The British and French would then argue that Egypts control of such an important route was too tenuous and that it need be placed under Anglo-French management. - The interests of the parties were various. Britain was anxious lest it lose access to the remains of its empire. France was nervous about the growing influence that Nasser exerted on its North African colonies and protectorates. Both Britain and France were eager that the canal should remain open as an important conduit of oil. Israel wanted to reopen the canal to Israeli shipping and saw the opportunity to strengthen its southern border and to weaken a dangerous and hostile state.- Prior to the operation Britain deliberately neglected to take counsel with the Americans trusting instead that Nassers engagement with communist states would persuade the Americans to accept British and French actions if they were presented as a fait accompli. This proved to be a fatal miscalculation for the colonial powers. ---

This documentary tells the story of Nasser and Eden wrestling over the control of the Suez Canal. Israel as always plays the role of a STAB IN THE HEART of the Muslim World in this crisis. - From WIKIPEDIA - SUEZ CRISIS - The Protocoal of Sevres - Three months after Egypts nationalization of the canal company a secret meeting took place at Sevres outside Paris. Britain and France enlisted Israeli support for an alliance against Egypt. The parties agreed that Israel would invade the Sinai. Britain and France would then intervene instructing that both the Israeli and Egyptian armies withdraw their forces to a distance of 16 km from either side of the canal. The British and French would then argue that Egypts control of such an important route was too tenuous and that it need be placed under Anglo-French management. - The interests of the parties were various. Britain was anxious lest it lose access to the remains of its empire. France was nervous about the growing influence that Nasser exerted on its North African colonies and protectorates. Both Britain and France were eager that the canal should remain open as an important conduit of oil. Israel wanted to reopen the canal to Israeli shipping and saw the opportunity to strengthen its southern border and to weaken a dangerous and hostile state.- Prior to the operation Britain deliberately neglected to take counsel with the Americans trusting instead that Nassers engagement with communist states would persuade the Americans to accept British and French actions if they were presented as a fait accompli. This proved to be a fatal miscalculation for the colonial powers. ---

Fatima Zahra, Prophet Mohammad's Dear Daughter: Not more than three months had passed since the sad departure of God's last messenger Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH) from the mortal world, his noble daughter, Fatemah Zahra (SA), fell was confined to bed with serious illness. Some 90 days had passed since the passing-away of the Last Messenger of Allah Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH), and every day, Fatemah (SA) used to sit beside the tomb of her dear father, and in doleful whispers, disclose to him her inner mysteries, because the people of Medina had complained that her grief for the Departed Messenger was disturbing their peace. Strange way indeed for the Muslims to behave. But, now the holy lady, especially after the injury inflicted on her and her feelings by people who denied her rights, had elapsed into her last moments of mortal life. Her devoted husband, Imam Ali (PBUH) and four siblings, had surrounded her bed. A bitter sense of grief was looming on the noble Ahl ol-Bayt. A strange feeling was contorting Ali's throat. He remembered how much her dear wife had dedicated her entire life to the path of Allah. The scenes of Fatemah's kind and gentle conduct were passing in Imam Ali's mind. He remembered Fatemah engrossed in midnight prayer, supplicating for the well being of neighbours. Meanwhile, Imam Ali recalled Hazrat Mohammad's (Pbuh) words that "God becomes angry by Fatemah's anger and is pleased at her satisfaction." He also remembered the last will of Hazrat Mohammad (Pbuh) about Fatemah. In the meantime, Fatemah opened her mouth and said: "My cousin, in my marital life with you, I never lied to you or acted against your will." The heart-rendering words deeply affected Imam Ali. She added: "Now the angels, along with Messenger Mohammad are coming towards me. Greetings to Gabriel. Greetings to the Messenger of Allah. Greetings to your promised words, O my father. Greetings to your sweet smile." Fatemah left the world a martyr and her noble spirit was carried on the wings of the angels to the presence of her Creator, Almighty Allah. Imam Ali took Fatemah's hand, looked at the sky and remembered the day Messenger Mohammad had blessed their marriage by putting her hand in his. But, now it was the time of separation. Shedding tears of sorrow, Imam Ali told Fatemah in a trembling tone: "After you, I will not have a happy moment in the world. I am crying because I fear my life may be prolonged after you." It was on 20th Jamadi al-Akhar, 5th year after the divine revelation (corresponding to 613 AD), Messenger Mohammad and his faithful wife Khadijah, were blessed by the birth of a baby girl, whom the Messenger named Fatemah. The Prophet said: "I named my daughter Fatemah because Allah has protected her and her followers from fire." She was also known as Zahra or the Radiant. The childhood era of Hazrat Fatemah was the most difficult era of the history of Islam. For, the small community of Muslims in Mecca, were under increasing pressure from idolaters and disbelieves. Fatemah was raised in the school of her father and the loving lap of her mother Khadijah. Since childhood, Fatemah witnessed the sufferings of her father, and was always at his side to soothe him. Following the demise of Hazrat Khadijah, the young Fatemah took upon herself all household tasks and was often referred by her father as an angel in human cover, and a part of his heart. Whenever the Messenger looked at his daughter, he became filled with joy. After migration to Medina, the Messenger rejected all offers for Fatemah's hand from wealthy Arabs, and married her to his young cousin, the valiant Ali. It was said that if there was no Ali, Fatemah would have remained without a consort. The Messenger used to stand whenever his daughter would enter her house. Before going on a trip, Fatemah's house was the last one the Messenger would bid farewell, and after returning from the trip, it was the first one that he would visit. The ultimate sense of love, kindness and devotion between father and daughter was manifested in the attribute the Messenger gave her, that is: Omme Abiha - which means Mother of Her Father. Peace be upon her immaculate soul.

Iran's president lashes out at Western powers for their opposition to the outcome of the June 12 presidential election. In a Thursday address to thousands of people in the northeastern city of Mashad, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the West has gone as far as setting up satellite channels to influence Iranians against their better judgment. Ahmadinejad, who was speaking during his first provincial trip after the June 12 presidential vote, said foreign countries have no right to insult the choice made during the election. "During the whole election process, certain foreign countries attempted to push the country to the brink of civil war," argued Ahmadinejad. Iran turned into a scene of opposition rallies after the re-election of president Ahmadinejad with nearly two-thirds of the vote. President Ahmadinejad's rivals -- Mehdi Karroubi and Mir-Hossein Mousavi -- reject the election result as fraudulent and have yet to acknowledge the Iranian president's re-election. On June 20, the unrest over the result of the vote took a turn for the worse after protesters, who demanded a re-run of the 10th presidential election, gathered to hold a rally without the official permission of the country's Interior Ministry. The day turned bloody -- increasing the post-vote deaths to at least 20 -- when, according to Iranian officials, terrorist elements infiltrated the rallies. Ahmadinejad went on to say that the West has trouble tolerating an independent nation that takes a stand against their policies. He said Iran would respond to any aggressors in a way that they would forget how to return home. "I have told the enemies that this nation will strike you in the face so hard you will lose your way home," he said. The president said the high voter turnout in the recent elections has caught Westerners off guard and "has foiled all their evil plans". On the Iranian nuclear issue, Ahmadinejad said that his government would remain open to "logic and dialogue" to end the international deadlock. He, however, issued a warning. "If each and every one of the Western countries that oppose Iran's nuclear program joins forces, they would still fail to deprive the Iranian nation of its inalienable nuclear rights," he said.

Israeli PM rebuffs settlement freeze Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has once again rejected calls to extend a partial freeze on settlement activities in the occupied territories. "The prime minister has not changed his position on this issue, there is no question of extending the moratorium," an unnamed Israeli official told AFP on Friday. Last week, US President Barack Obama said it would make sense for Tel Aviv to extend the 10-month moratorium during its direct talks with the Palestinian Authority. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Tel Aviv on Thursday to extend the deadline, which expires at the end of this month. "Where we sit now it would be useful for some extension, it would be extremely useful," Clinton said. Meanwhile, the European Union said that the settlements are "illegal under international law" and called for an "extension of the moratorium decided by Israel." Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to leave the negotiations if Israel resumes its settlement activities in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem). According to Palestinians, Israel's insistence of the continuation of settlement projects would be a major obstacle to the establishment of a viable Palestinian state. Article Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/142828.html

Iran tests radars on 3rd day of drills Iran's military has entered the third day of its biggest ever nationwide air drills, with testing radar capabilities in defending the country's territory. The anti-air defense units from Iran's Armed Forces and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) are taking part in the five-day air defense maneuvers dubbed Defenders of Velayat Skies, which began on Tuesday. According to the spokesman for the military drills Brigadier Hamid Arzhangi, various kinds of fixed and mobile radars that have been domestically manufactured or refurbished would be tested during the third day of the drills on Thursday. He further explained that radars would be used to detect and identify objects and pass relevant data to the operational units. The military official added that all types of the country's radar systems, which would relay intelligence to the unified command and control network of the central headquarters, would be utilized and examined during the third day of the maneuvers. He pointed out that reconnaissance missions to detect state-of-the-art systems of theatrical enemies using radars were also on the agenda of the third day of drills. During the second day of the maneuvers on Wednesday, advanced equipment used for communication and exchange of intelligence along with modern electro-optical systems were successfully tested and utilized. The air maneuvers are being held near Iran's strategic sights and landmarks, aiming to assess performance of new air defense systems and enhance rapid response capabilities in countering potential aerial attacks. Iranian military officials say the drills convey a message of peace and friendship to neighboring countries and a fierce warning against enemies. Iran simulates Electronic Warfare in drills An Iranian commander says the Air Force has "analyzed and conducted" Electronic Warfare (EW) missions during the first three days of its biggest defense drills. "EW means jamming the enemies' electronic systems, equipment, and capabilities and the mission of this war is to seize and control electromagnetic fields," Colonel Moharam Qolizadeh said on Thursday. "We have analyzed and conducted EW missions in the drills [dubbed] 'Modafean Aseman Velayt 3' (Guardians of Velayati Skies)," he added. The colonel said the maneuvers were aimed at "spotting [the enemy] without being spotted" and tapping the enemy communications lines without compromising transmissions by Iranian forces. Earlier on Thursday, the spokesman for the military drills Brigadier General Hamid Arzhangi said Iran had successfully tested a new generation of its first domestically-manufactured air defense system during the third day of the nationwide air drills. The Mersad (Ambush) modern medium-range system is capable of spotting and destroying advanced aircraft at low and high altitudes. In addition to its high mobility, Mersad's new generation can be used in electronic warfare and can be networked with other radar and defense systems, Arzhangi added. The forces were also set to test various models of fixed and mobile radars that have been domestically manufactured or refurbished. Air defense units from Iran's Armed Forces and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) are taking part in the five-day air maneuvers.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/24/us-syria-idUSTRE72N2MC20110324. President Bashar al-Assad made an unprecedented pledge of greater freedom and more prosperity to Syrians Thursday as anger mounted following a crackdown on protesters that left at least 37 dead. As an aide to Assad in Damascus read out a list of decrees, which included a possible end to 48 years of emergency rule, a human rights group said a leading pro-democracy activist, Mazen Darwish, had been arrested. In the southern city of Deraa, a hospital official said at least 37 people had been killed there Wednesday when security forces opened fire on demonstrators inspired by uprisings across the Arab world that have shaken authoritarian leaders. Announcing the sort of concessions that would have seemed almost unimaginable three months ago in Syria, Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban told a news conference the president had not himself ordered his forces to fire on protesters: "I was a witness to the instructions of His Excellency that live ammunition should not be fired -- even if the police, security forces or officers of the status were being killed." Assad, she said, would draft laws to provide for media freedoms and allow political movements other than the Baath party, which has ruled for half a century. Assad, who succeed his late father Hafez al-Assed in 2000, had, Shaaban said, decreed the drafting of a law for political parties "to be presented for public debate" and would strive above all to raise living standards across the country. She said another decree would look at "ending with great urgency the emergency law, along with issuing legislation that assures the security of the nation and its citizens." DERAA KILLINGS Security forces opened fire on hundreds of youths on the outskirts of Deraa Wednesday, witnesses said, after nearly a week of protests in which seven civilians had already died. The main hospital in Deraa, in southern Syria near the Jordanian border, had received the bodies of at least 37 protesters killed Wednesday, a hospital official said. Around 20,000 people marched Thursday in the funerals for nine of those killed, chanting freedom slogans and denying official accounts that infiltrators and "armed gangs" were behind the killings and violence in Deraa. "Traitors do not kill their own people," they chanted. "God, Syria, Freedom. The blood of martyrs is not spilled in vain!" As Syrian soldiers armed with automatic rifles roamed the streets of the southern city, residents emptied shops of basic goods and said they feared Assad's government was intent on crushing the revolt by force. Assad, a close ally of Iran, key player in neighboring Lebanon and supporter of militant groups opposed to Israel, had earlier dismissed demands for reform in Syria, a country of 20 million people run by the Baath Party since a 1963 coup. Assad's father took personal in 1970.

Message of Thaqalayn \"Al-Ghadir\" and its Relevance to Islamic Unity ________________________________________ Ayatullah Murtaza Mutahhari Translated by Mojgan Jalali Vol. 3, No. 1 and 2 (1417 AH/1996 CE) The distinguished book entitled \"al-Ghadir\" has raised a huge wave in the world of Islam. Islamic thinkers shed light on the book in different perspectives; in literature, history, theology, tradition, tafsir, and sociology. From the social perspective we can deal with the Islamic unity. In this review the Islamic unity has been dealt with from a social point of view. Contemporary Muslim thinkers and reformists are of the view that unity and solidarity of Muslims are the most imperative Islamic exigencies at the present juncture when the enemies have made extensive inroads upon the Islamic community and have tried to resort to different ways and means to spread the old differences and create new ones. We are aware that Islamic unity and fraternity is the focus of attention of the Holy Legislator of Islam and is actually the major objective pursued by this Divine religion as firmed by the Qur\'an, the \"Sunnah\", and the history of Islam. For this reason, some people have been faced with this question: Wouldn\'t the compilation and publication of a book such as \"al-Ghadir\" which deals with the oldest issue of differences among the Muslims- create a barrier in the way of the sublime and lofty objective of the Islamic unity? To answer this question, it is necessary first to elucidate the essence of this issue, that is, the Islamic unity, and then proceed to examine the role of the magnum opus entitled \"al-Ghadir\"and its eminent compiler \'Allamah Amini in bringing about Islamic unity. Islamic Unity What is meant by the Islamic unity? Does it mean that one Islamic school of thought should be unanimously followed and others be set aside? Or does it mean that the commonalties of all Islamic schools of thought should be taken up and their differences be put away to make up a new denomination which is not completely the same as the previous ones? Or does it mean that Islamic unity is in no way related to the unity of the different schools of Fiqh (jurisprudence) but signifies the unity of the Muslims and the unity of the followers of different schools of Fiqh, with their different religious ideas and views, vis-a-vis the aliens? To give an illogical and impractical meaning to the issue of the Islamic unity, the opponents of the issue have called it to be the formation of a single Madhhab, so as to defeat it in the very first step. Without doubt, by the term Islamic unity, the intellectual Islamic \'Ulama\' (scholars) do not mean that all denominations should give in to one denomination or that the commonalties should be taken up and the different views and ideas be set aside, as these are neither rational and logical nor favorable and practical. By the Islamic unity these scholars mean that all Muslims should unite in one line against their common enemies. These scholars slate that Muslims have many things in common, which can serve as the foundations of a firm unity. All Muslims worship the One Almighty and believe in the Prophethood of the Holy Prophet (s). The Qur\'an is the Book of all Muslims and Ka\'abah is their \"qiblah\" (direction of prayer). They go to\"hajj\" pilgrimage with each other and perform the \"hajj\" rites and rituals like one another. They say the daily prayers and fast like each other. They establish families and engage in transactions like one another. They have similar ways of bringing up their children and burying their dead. Apart from minor affairs, they share similarities in all the aforementioned cases. Muslims also share one kind of world view, one common culture, and one grand, glorious, and long-standing civilization. Unity in the world view, in culture, in the civilization, in insight and disposition, in religious beliefs, in acts of worship and prayers, in social rites and customs can well turn the Muslim into a unified nation to serve as a massive and dominant power before which the big global powers would have to bow down. This is especially true in view of the stress laid by Islam on this principle. According to the explicit wording of the Qur\'an, the Muslims are brothers, and special rights and duties link them together. So, why shouldn\'t the Muslims use all these extensive facilities accorded to them as the blessing of Islam? This group of \'Ulama\' are of the view that there is no need for the Muslims to make any compromise on the primary or secondary principles of their religion for the sake of Islamic unity. Also it is not necessary for the Muslims to avoid engaging in discussions and reasons and writing books on primary and secondary principles about which they have differences. The only consideration for Islamic unity in this case is that the Muslims- in order to avoid the emergence or accentuation of vengeance - preserve their possession, avoid insulting and accusing each other and uttering fabrications, abandon ridiculing the logic of one another, and finally abstain from hurting one another and going beyond the borders of logic and reasoning. In fact, they should, at least, observe the limits which Islam has set forth for inviting non-Muslims to embrace it: \"Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good exhortation, and have disputations with them in the best manner... \"(16: 125) Some people are of the view that those schools of fiqh, such as, Shafi\'i and Hanafi which have no differences in principle should establish brotherhood and stand in one line. They believe that denominations which have differences in the principles can in no way be brothers. This group view the religious principles as an interconnected set as termed by scholars of Usul, as an interrelated and interdependent set; any damage to one principle harms all principles. As a result, those who believe in this principle are of the view that when, for instance, the principle of \"imamah\" is damaged and victimized, unity and fraternity will bear no meaning and for this reason the Shi\'ah and the Sunnis cannot shake hands as two Muslim brothers and be in the same rank, no matter who their enemy is. The first group answers this group by saying: \"There is no reason for us to consider the principles as an interrelated set and follow the principle of \"all or none\". Imam \'Ali (\'a) chose a very logical and reasonable approach. He left no stone unturned to retrieve his right. He used everything within his power to restore the principle of \"imamah\", but he never adhered to the motto of \"all or none\". \'Ali (\'a) did not rise up for his right, and that was not compulsory. On the contrary, it was a calculated and chosen approach. He did not fear death. Why didn\'t he rise up? There could have been nothing above martyrdom. Being killed for the cause of the Almighty was his ultimate desire. He was more intimate with martyrdom than a child is with his mother\'s breast. But in his sound calculations, Imam \'All (\'a) had reached the conclusion that under the existing conditions it was to the interest of Islam to foster collaboration and cooperation among the Muslims and give up revolt. He repeatedly stressed this point. In one of his letters (No.62 \"Nahj al Balaghah\") to Malik al-Ashtar, he wrote the following: \"First I pulled back my hand until I realized that a group of people converted from Islam and invited the people toward annihilating the religion of Muhammad(s). So I feared that if I did not rush to help Islam and the Muslims, I would see gaps or destruction which calamity would be far worse than the several-day-long demise of caliphate.\" In the six-man council, after appointment of \'Uthman by \'Abdul-Rahman ibn \'Awf, \'Ali (\'a) set forth his objection as well as his readiness for collaboration as follows:\" You well know that I am more deserving than others for caliphate. But now by Allah, so long as the affairs of the Muslims are in order and my rivals suffice with setting me aside and only I am alone subjected to oppression, I will not oppose (the move) and will give in (to it).\" (From Sermon 72, \"Nahj al- Balaghah\"). These indicate that in this issue \'Ali (\'a) condemned the principle of \"all or none\". There is no need to further elaborate the approach taken by \'Ali (\'a) toward this issue. There are ample historical proofs and reasons in this regard. \'Allamah Amini Now it is time to see to which group the eminent \'Allamah, Ayatullah Amini - the distinguished compiler of the \"al-Ghadir\" - belonged and how he thought. Did he approve of the unity of the Muslims only within the light of Shi\'ism? Or did he consider Islamic fraternity to be broader? Did he believe that Islam which is embraced by uttering the \"shahadatayn\" (the Muslim creed) would willy-nilly create some rights for the Muslims and that the brotherhood and fraternity set forth in the Qur\'an exists among all Muslims? \'Allamah Amini personally considered this point - i.e. the need to elucidate his viewpoint on this subject and elaborate whether\"al-Ghadir\" has a positive or a negative role in (the establishment of) Islamic unity. In order not to be subject to abuse by his opponent - be they among the pros and cons - he has repeatedly explained and elucidated his views. \'Allamah Amini supported Islamic unity and viewed an open mind and clear insight. On different occasions, he set forth this matter in various volumes of the \"al-Ghadir\'. Reference will be made to some of them below: In the preface to volume I, he briefly mentions the role of \"al-Ghadir\" in the world of Islam. He states: \"And we consider all this as service to religion, sublimation of the word of the truth, and restoration of the Islamic \'ummah\' (community).\" In volume 3 (page 77), after quoting the fabrications of Ibn Taymiyah, Alusi, and Qasimi to the effect that Shi \'ism is hostile to some of the Ahl al-Bayt (the Household of the Prophet) such as Zayd bin \'Ali bin al-Huseyn, he notes the following under the title of \"Criticism and Correction\": \"These fabrications and accusations sow the seeds of corruption, stir hostilities among the \'ummah\',create discord among the Islamic community, divide the \'ummah\', and clash with the public interests of the Muslims. Again in volume 3 (page 268), he quotes the accusation leveled on the Shi\'ahs by Sayyid Muhammad Rashid Rida to the effect that \"Shi\'ahs are pleased with any defeat incurred by Muslims, so much as they celebrated the victory of the Russians over the Muslims.\" Then he says: \"These falsehoods are fabricated by persons like Sayyid Muhammad Rashid Rida. The Shi\'ahs of Iran and Iraq against whom this accusation is leveled, as well as the orientalists, tourists, envoys of Islamic countries, and those who traveled and still travel to Iran and Iraq, have no information about this trend. Shi\'ahs, without exception, respect the lives, blood, reputation, and property of the Muslims be they Shi\'ahs or Sunnis. Whenever a calamity has befallen the Islamic community anywhere, in any region, and for any sects, the Shi\'ahs have shared their sorrow. The Shi\'ahs have never been confined to the Shi\'ah world, the (concept of) Islamic brotherhood which has been set forth in the Qur\'an and the \'sunnah\'(the Prophet\'s sayings and actions), and in this respect, no discrimination has been made between the Shi\'ahs and the Sunnis.\" Also at the close of volume 3, he criticizes several books penned by the ancients such as \"Iqd al-Farid\" by Ibn Abd al-Rabbih, \"al-Intisar\" by Abu al-Husayn Khayyat al-Mu\'tazili,\"al Farq bayn al-Firaq\" by Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi, \"al-Fasl\" by Ibn Hazm al-Andulusi, \"al-Milal wa al-Nihal\" by Muhammad ibn Abdul-Karim al-Shahristani \"Minhaj al-Sunnah\" by Ibn Taymiah and \"al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah\"by Ibn Kathir and several by the later writers such as \"Tarikh al-Umam al-Islamiyyah\" by Shaykh Muhammad Khizri, \"Fajr al Islam\" by Ahmad Amin, \"al-Jawlat fi Rubu al-Sharq al-Adna\" by Muhammad Thabit al-Mesri, \"al-Sira Bayn al-Islam wa al-Wathaniyah\" by Qasimi, and \"al- Washi\'ah\" by Musa Jarallah. Then he states the following: \"By quoting and criticizing these books, we aim at warning and awakening the Islamic \'ummah\' (to the fact) that these books create the greatest danger for the Islamic community, they destabilize the Islamic unity and scatter the Muslim lines. In fact nothing can disrupt the ranks of the Muslims, destroy their unity, and tear their Islamic fraternity more severely than these books.\" \'Allamah Amini, in the preface to volume 5, under title of\"Nazariyah Karimah\" on the occasion of a plaque of honor forwarded from Egypt for \"al-Ghadir\", clearly sets forth his view on this issue and leaves no room for any doubt. He remarks: \"People are free to express views and ideas on religion. These (views and ideas) will never tear apart the bond of Islamic brotherhood to which the holy Qur\'an has referred by stating that \'surely the believers are brethren\'; even though academic discussion and theological and religious debates reach a peak. This has been the style of the predecessors, and of the \'sahaba\' and the\'tabi\'un\', at the head of them. \"Notwithstanding all the differences that we have in the primary and secondary principles, we, the compilers and writers in nooks and corners of the world of Islam, share a common point and that is belief in the Almighty and His Prophet. A single spirit and one (form of) sentiment exists in all our bodies, and that is the spirit of Islam and the term\'ikhlas,\" \"We, the Muslim compilers, all live under the banner of truth and carry out our duties under the guidance of the Qur\'an and the Prophetic Mission of the Holy Prophet (s). The message of all of us is \'Surely the (true) religion with Allah is Islam ... (3:18)\' and the slogan of all of us is \'There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger.\' Indeed, we are (the members of) the party of Allah and the supporters of his religion. In the preface to volume 8, under the title of \"al-Ghadir Yowahhad al-Sufuf fil-Mila al-Islami\", \'Allamah Amini directly makes researches into the role of \"Al- Ghadir\" in (the establishment of) Islamic unity. In this discussion, this great scholar categorically rejects the accusations leveled by those who said: \'Al-Ghadir\' causes greater discord among the Muslims. He proves that, on the contrary, \"Al-Ghadir\"removes many misunderstandings and brings the Muslims closer to one another. Then he brings evidence by mentioning the confessions of the non-Shi\'i Islamic scholars. At the close, he quotes the letter of Shaykh Muhammad Saeed Dahduh written in this connection. To avoid prolongation of this article, we will not quote and translate the entire statements of \'Allamah Amini in explaining the positive role of \"al-Ghadir\" in (establishing) Islamic unity, since what has already been mentioned sufficiently proves this fact. The positive role of \"al-Ghadir\" is established by the facts that it firstly clarifies the proven logic of the Shi\'ahs and proves that the inclination of Muslims to Shi\'ism - notwithstanding the poisonous publicity of some people - is not due to political, ethnic, or other trends and considerations. It also verifies that a powerful logic based on the Qur\'an and the \"sunnah\" has given rise to this tendency. Secondly, it reflects that some accusations leveled on Shi\'ism - which have made other Muslims distanced from the Shi\'ah- are totally baseless and false. Examples of these accusations are the notion that the Shi\'ites prefer the non-Muslims to the non- Shi\'i Muslims, rejoice at the defeat of non-Shi\'ite Muslims at the hands of non-Muslims, and other accusations such as the idea that instead of going to hajj pilgrimage, the Shi\'ahs go on pilgrimage to shrines of the Imams, or have particular rites in prayers and in temporary marriage. Thirdly, it introduces to the world of Islam the eminent Commander of the faithful \'Ali (\'a) who is the most oppressed and the least praised grand Islamic personality and who could be the leader of all Muslims, as well as his pure offspring. Other Comments on \"al-Ghadir\" Many unbiased non-Shia Muslims interpret the \"al-Ghadir\" in the same way that has already been mentioned. Muhammad Abdul-Ghani Hasan al-Mesri, in his foreword on\"al-Ghadir\", which has been published in the preface to volume I, second edition, states: \"I call on the Almighty to make your limpid brook (in Arabic, \'Ghadir\' means brook) the cause of peace and cordiality between the Shia and Sunni brothers to cooperate with one another in building the Islamic \"ummah.\" \'Adil Ghadban, the managing editor of the Egyptian magazine entitled \"al-Kitab\", said the following in the preface to volume 3: \"This book clarifies the Shi\'ite logic. The Sunnis can correctly learn about the Shi\'i through this book. Correct recognition of the Shi\'ahs brings the views of the Shi\'ahs and the Sunnis closer, and they can make a unified rank\". In his foreword to the \"al-Ghadir\" which was published in thepreface to volume 4, Dr. Muhammad Ghallab, professor of philosophy at the Faculty of Religious Studies al-Azhar University said: \"I got hold of your book at a very opportune time, because right now I am busy collecting and compiling a book on the lives of the Muslims from various perspectives. Therefore, I am highly avidfor obtaining sound information about \'Imamiyah\' Shi\'ism. Your book will help me. And I will not make mistakes about the Shi\'ahs as others have\". In this foreword published in the preface to volume 4 of the\"al-Ghadir\", Dr. \'Abdul-Rahman Kiali Halabi says the following after referring to the decline of the Muslims in the present age and the factors which can lead to the Muslims\' salvation, one of which is the sound recognition of the successor of the Holy Prophet (s): \"The book entitled \"al-Ghadir\" and its rich content deserves to be known by every Muslim to learn how historians have been negligent and see where the truth lies. Through this means, we should compensate for the past, and by striving to foster the unity of the Muslims, we should try to gain the due rewards\". These were the views of \'Allamah Amini about the important social issues of our age and such were his sound reflections in the world of Islam. Peace be upon him. Text Source: http://www.al-islam.org/mot/default.asp?url=ghadir-relevance.htm