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In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful |
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"So when you have performed your devotions, then
laud Allah as you lauded your fathers, rather a greater lauding" (2:
200) |
| Dear Muslim brothers and sisters: |
| The Hajj season is an occasion for hope and good tidings.
On the one hand, the magnificence of solidarity among the travelers of the
House of Unity raises hope in the hearts, and on the other, the refreshing
of the souls through the blessing of the divine lauding gives the good
tiding of the unbolting of gates of mercy. |
| After the pilgrims have performed the rituals of Hajj,
which are full of secrets and are brimful of lauding and humbleness, once
again they are called to laud Allah. The reason for this stress is that
lauding of Allah illuminates the saddened hearts, raising hope and
granting light of faith to them. Once the heart is hopeful and faithful,
it enables man to properly go through the slippery and challenging
bottlenecks of life to reach the summits of material and spiritual
perfection. |
| The spirituality of Hajj lies in this very celebration of
the praise of Allah which has been incorporated in each and every Hajj
ritual. This auspicious spring must continue to simmer after the Hajj
season and this accomplishment should go on. |
| In different fields of life man is a victim of his own
negligence. Where there is negligence there is also ethical degeneration,
intellectual distortion and spiritual decline. And it is this very
degeneration that on its turn can cause the defeat of the nations and
disintegration of the civilizations besides the destruction of the
personality of individual human beings. Hajj is one of the best means of
Islam for the elimination of negligence. As if the universality of this
ritual imparts the message that the Muslim Ummah in their collective
identity, besides the individual duty of every Muslim, are duty-bound to
remove negligence from themselves. |
| The rites and rituals of Hajj provide us with an
opportunity to temporarily give up servitude to and neglectful dependence
on hedonism, caprice and comfort. The ihram (pilgrim's garb), tawaf
(circumambulation), prayers, sa'i and woquf fill us with the celebration
of the praise of Allah and bring us closer to the Divine sanctorum,
embedding the joy of acquaintance with Allah in our hearts. |
| On the other hand, the glory and grandeur of this unique
congregation acquaints us with the reality of the great Islamic Ummah,
which transcends the nations, races, colors and languages. This
intertwined and harmonic congregation, these tongues all chanting a single
word, these bodies and hearts all marching towards a single Qibla and
these human beings representing tens of countries and nations all belong
to a great unit and collection, that is, the Islamic Ummah. |
| As a matter of fact the Islamic Ummah has lived in
negligence for a long time. Today's scientific and practical backwardness
and inferiority in the fields of politics, industry and economy are the
bitter fruits of the said negligence. Now, in the light of astonishing
developments that have emerged or are emerging in the world, the Islamic
Ummah must make up for the past negligence. Fortunately, some of the
phenomena of the contemporary era point to the beginning of this
compensating move. |
| There should be no doubt that the world of arrogance
considers the awakening of the Muslims, Islamic unity, and progress of our
nations in the fields of science, politics and innovation the greatest
obstacle in the way of its international domination and hegemony and will
confront them by all means. Our Muslim nations have the experience of
colonialism and neocolonialism in front of them. Now, during the period of
postmodern colonialism we should take lessons from those experiences and
should not once again allow the enemy to dominate our destiny for a long
time. |
| During those bitter, black periods, the dominant Western
powers employed all cultural, economic, political and military means to
weaken the Muslim nations and countries and imposed disunity, poverty and
ignorance on them. The negligence, laziness and indolence of many of our
political figures and the irresponsibility of many cultural elites helped
them and the result was the plunder of our wealth, humiliation and even
denial of our identity and obliteration of our independence. We, the
Muslim nations, grew weaker day by day while the expansionist, hegemonic
plunderers became stronger and stronger day by day. |
| Thanks to the devotion of courageous strugglers and
sincerity of the leaders in some parts of the Islamic world the waves of
Islamic awakening are now spreading and the youth, elite and masses of
many Islamic countries have been brought to the scene, exposing the
bullying face of the domineering powers for many Muslim politicians and
rulers. Hence once again the imperialist leaders are after new ploys to
perpetuate and consolidate their domination over the Islamic world. |
| The slogan of advocacy of human rights and democracy is one
of those ploys. |
| Today, the Great Satan - the embodiment of evil and cruelty
against mankind - has hoisted the banner of advocacy of human rights and
invites the Middle Eastern nations to democracy. The democracy the US
advocates for these countries means the installation of some timid,
obedient lackeys through plot, bribery, and deceptive propaganda in an
apparently popular, but inherently, American election, who will be the US
agents in the realization of the nasty imperialistic objectives. |
| Top on the agenda of these objectives is the suppression of
Islamist wave and isolation of Islamic values. All the propaganda and
political means of the United States and other hegemonic powers are at
work today to postpone and if possible suppress the Islamic awakening
movement. |
| The Muslim nations must be completely wakeful and vigilant
today. The ulema, religious leaders, intellectuals, academics, writers,
poets, artists, the youth and the elite all through wakeful and timely
action must not allow the world-devouring US to begin a new period of
colonial domination over the Islamic World. |
| The slogan of democratization is not accepted from the
hegemonic powers that for many years have been the supporters of
dictatorial regimes in Asia, Africa and the Americas. The claim of
campaign against terrorism and violence is abominating when made by the
promoters of Zionist terrorism and perpetrators of harshest kinds of
violence in Iraq and Afghanistan. The claim of advocacy of civil rights by
the devils, who have always praised and encouraged the crimes of a
bloodsucking terrorist like Sharon against the oppressed Palestinians, is
merely a blameworthy deception. The perpetrators of crimes in Guantanoma,
Abu Ghuraib and clandestine prisons in Europe, the humiliators of the
Iraqi and Palestinian nations and the promoters of the groups that in the
name of Islam consider it permissible to shed the blood of Muslims in Iraq
and Afghanistan do not have any right to speak of human rights. The
American and British governments that permit the torture and even shedding
of the blood of the accused on the streets and the eavesdropping of the
telephone calls of the citizens without a judicial verdict do not have any
right to introduce themselves as advocates of civil rights. The
governments that have tarnished their contemporary history by production
and employment of nuclear and chemical weapons do not have any right to
consider themselves the custodians of nuclear non-proliferation. |
| Dear Muslim brothers and sisters: |
| Today, the world, particularly the Islamic World, is going
through a crucial juncture. On the one hand, the waves of awakening have
permeated the entire Islamic World, and on the other, the bullying face of
the United States and other arrogant powers has been unveiled. At the same
time the move towards restoration of identity and sovereignty has begun in
some parts of the Islamic World and in a country as magnificent as Iran
the saplings of indigenous knowledge and technology have yielded fruit and
the self-confidence that had transformed the social and political
atmosphere in Iran has now spilled over to the environment of science and
reconstruction. On the other hand the cracks of weakness and decline have
appeared in the edifice of political and military permutation of the
enemies. Today, Iraq on the one hand and Palestine and Lebanon on the
other are an exhibition of weakness and helplessness of the US and Zionist
false power. The US Middle Eastern policy has faced great obstacles in its
primary steps and the failure of this policy has been turned into a tool
against its planners. |
| Today is the day the Muslim governments and nations take
the initiative and a great measure. Assisting the oppressed Palestinian
nation, supporting the wakeful nation of Iraq and safeguarding the
stability and independence of Lebanon, Syria and other countries of the
region is a general duty, while the responsibility of the political,
religious, and cultural elites as well as that of the national figures,
the youth and the academics is heavier than others. Unity and sympathy
among the followers of the Islamic schools of thought and avoidance of
sectarian and ethnic differences should be the boldest slogan of these
elites. Scientific endeavor, political liveliness, cultural effort and
mobilization of all forces in these main arenas should be top on the anvil
of their call. |
| The Islamic World does not need the flawed and frequently
violated prescription of the West for democracy and human rights;
democracy is inherent in the Islamic teachings and human rights is among
the most outstanding themes of Islam. Knowledge should be learnt from
anywhere and anybody, but the Islamic World should try not to remain a
disciple for ever, rather must rely on its own talents and efforts for
innovation and production of knowledge. The Western values that have led
to the collapse of ethics and spread of revelry, violence, legalization of
homosexuality and other such fiascos in their countries, can not be
followed. Islam with its sublime values is the highest source of salvation
for human beings. The elites of the nations shoulder the responsibility of
rereading and promotion of these values. |
| The blind, savage terrorism, which is a pretext for the
occupiers of Iraq to attack Islam and the Muslims and an excuse for the
perpetuation of the military occupation of this Islamic country is
rejected and condemned according to the Islamic teachings. The prime
accused of these criminal events are the US army and its intelligence
services and Israel whose immediate nasty objective is to influence the
trend of formation of government in Iraq. Dear Muslim brothers and
sisters: |
| Trust in God, belief in the definite promise of the Quran
and consolidation of Islamic unity guarantee the accomplishment of all
great objectives of the Islamic Ummah and the Hajj, with its rich,
effective essence of celebration of the praise of Allah, and the great
congregation of the Muslims during the Hajj rituals can be the starting
point and the launching pad to march towards this comprehensive movement.
And deliverance from the polytheist and arrogant leaders in saying and
action during this worship should become a model for action and the first
step in this line. |
| I beseech the Almighty God that He may grant success to the
pilgrims and may the Imam of Time pray for all the Muslims. |
| Wassalam-u-Alykum Wa Rahmatullah |
| Seyed Ali Khamenei |
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