The Hajj Message of Ayatullah al-Udhma Khamenei
FAJR
Assalamu alaikum,
Eid Mubarak, the following is the full text of this year’s Hajj Message of
Ayatullah al-Udhma Khamenei’s. The Message can also be read and listend to in
12 other languages including Arabic, Urdu and Persian at:
http://www.irib.com/worldservice/hajj/message.htm
Also the book <Hajj in the Words and Messages of Imam Khomeini (RA)> can be read
on line
in English:
http://www.irib.com/worldservice/imam/hajj_eng/int.htm
in Arabic:
http://www.irib.com/worldservice/hajj/hajj1/index.htm
in Persian:
http://www.irib.com/worldservice/hajj/hajj2/index.htm
"In the public domain"
The Hajj Message of Ayatullah al-Udhma Khamenei (1420/2000)
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
"And (remember) when Ibrahim and Ismail were raising the foundations of
the House, (saying), "Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us. Verily,
You are the All-Hearer, the All-Knower." (Al-Baqarah: 127)
Dear Muslim brothers and sisters,
Hajj Pilgrims of the Muslim Ummah
Salamun Alaykum wa Rahmatullah!
When the great propagators of Tawhid (Monotheism), Ibrahim (A.S.) and
Ismail (A.S) were laying the foundations of the Ka'bah in the remote and
arid valley and foothills, even the most farsighted eyes could not
anticipate that such a place would turn into the center of faith, hope
and focus of hearts and souls. Today the Ka'bah is the spiritual center
of the Muslim World and the House for the greatest annual congregation
of the Muslim Ummah. The Ka'bah is the spring of love and hope, an ocean
of greatness and trust, and at the same time, the meeting point of great
nations and communities. The sincerity of its founders and approval of
the Almighty Allah turned that seed into such a fruitful and great tree.
But is the Muslim Ummah taking advantage of this bountiful source, as it
should? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is appalling and
deplorable. Today, the Muslim World is being deeply afflicted by chronic
illnesses, the most significant of them could be summarized into the
following ten points: political and religious strife: weakening of bonds
of morality and faith; scientific and technological backwardness;
political and economic dependence; indulgence and lavish life-style and
arrogance along with poverty, hunger and degradation; weakening of
self-confidence and hope for future among leaders; isolating religion
and separating it from politics and daily life; lack of creativity for
new understanding based on the infinite source of the Holy Quran;
surrendering before the imposed western cultural onslaught; and Muslim
dignity trampled due to degradation and greed of some political leaders.
These chronic illnesses - some of which are caused by others and all of
them have been created in the course of time through treason, lack of
will, ignorance and dictatorship of internal elements or out of enmity,
cruelty and satanic acts of foreigners - have inflicted the greatest
blows upon the Muslim Ummah. Failures in the Muslim World result from
those problems and the only way to achieve happiness and success is to
overcome these obstacles.
Today, the natural wealth of the Muslim World is being plundered. The
previous intellectual and cultural resources are intentionally covered
under false cultural propaganda attacks, and young talents and minds are
taken out or their energy is wasted in political and military conflicts.
Carelessness and moral degradation are being injected into the life,
education and sport activities of the youth, using the most advanced
means of communication.
The oil of the Muslim World is increasing the wealth of oil companies
and treasuries of alien countries; hence the enemies of Islamic countries,
rather than the countries themselves, are getting wealthier each and every
day. All this is happening while in the heart of the Muslim World and in
various parts of Asia, Africa and Europe, millions of Muslims are facing
the lashes of cruelty of infidels and Palestine and Lebanon are being burnt
in the fire of the Zionists' brutality. And none of this sufferings and
hardships induces statesmen and intellectuals of the Muslim Ummah to work out a
solution.
All this happens while valuable resources are available everywhere to
help us establish a new situation and while the necessary means and
motivation for changing this situation exist in all Islamic countries.
Today, we can hardly find an Islamic country whose youth are not feeling
strong Islamic zeal and motivation, and whose people are not inclined to
keep their faith seriously while at the same time feeling concerned
about their present situation and looking forward for a better Islamic
World.
The most important obstacle for the activation of the existing
potentials is that the political power inside these countries is not
oriented towards these desires and expectations. In some cases, the
weak, dependent, dictatorial or suppressive governments cannot catch up
with the great Islamic aspirations of their people. Also such
governments are blind to the glory of the Muslim World and its great
impacts upon world events; therefore, each Muslim nation finds itself in
front of pressures expected by anti-Islamic arrogant powers and
therefore is unable to confront their political propaganda onslaught and
possible military threats. The practical and objective experience of
Islamic sovereignty in the present era, the Islamic Republic of Iran,
has been blurred by thick clouds of hostile propaganda. Hundreds of
audio-visual and printed mass media and thousands of surrogate minds and
pens are working each and every day to distort realities, magnify
weaknesses or failures and deny any success and progress.
A lot of these obstacles burdening the Muslim nations will be removed if
Muslim understand the great power of Hajj and take advantage of this
important annual meeting and the center of congregation.
The Hajj occasion clearly demonstrate the glory and spiritual strength
of the Muslim World to pilgrims from different countries and can provide
a unique opportunity for the meaningful cooperation among various Muslim
nations. During the Hajj season, Muslims can obtain accurate news from
their brothers and put away the hostile propaganda cover created by
enemies of the Muslim World. They can also make use of the spirituality
of the House of Allah to produce concerted and sincere efforts to return
to Islamic sovereignty and achieve dignity and independence and make
efforts to bring about major developments in their countries.
Establishing Islamic sovereignty in Islamic countries is an auspicious
but difficult task. The next stage is to take care of this newly
established Islamic State and to safeguard and nurture it materially and
spiritually - a task which is difficult and requires a more persistent
effort.
In Islamic Iran, this newly established Islamic States has faced various
overt and covert hostilities; nevertheless, praise to Allah, it has
reached the stage of independence, stability and growth. Of course,
hurricanes of hostility, launched by the malicious centers of arrogance
and anti-Islamic powers, are still surrounding it from all sides. The
long-awaited phenomenon faced hostile and hastened enmity from all world
powers because it was the first example in the contemporary world and
could turn into an ideal model for other countries, thus jeopardizing
the interests of the United States, the Zionists and other world
devouring powers. Instigating ethnic and communal conflicts inside the
country was the first step which was followed by activating mercenaries
of the ex-regime, preparing military coups, and finally persuading a
neighboring country to launch a devastating massive attack along the
1300-km-long border. Each of these acts was sufficient to overthrow a
national government; yet, the Islamic Republic of Iran was not merely a
national government but in fact a foundation laid upon the basis of the
peoples' faith and deep beliefs. The war imposed by the treacherous
neighbor lasted 8 years and even though America's efforts succeeded in
creating distrust and suspicion against us among some of our neighboring
countries, who provided assistance to the enemy, at last the aggressor
retreated while it was exhausted, poor and defeated.
During the 21-year-long existence of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the
mass media empire of arrogant world powers waged a continuous propaganda
against us, with a view to mobilize the world public opinion against
the Islamic government. Using vast resources of Zionist capitalists, the
foreign policy apparatus of the United States and its security system
did their utmost in imposing economic sanctions and confronting the
foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in each and every field.
All over the world, scores of terrorist grouplets and clusters of
political mercenaries, composed of traitors and aided by large amounts
of funds and promises of enemies, tried to overthrow the Islamic system.
Hundreds of our noble people, who fell victim of mean criminal acts of
the mercenaries and became martyrs, have marked the history of our
revolution, which has endured all the hardships and is moving towards
glory and perfection.
In a summary, it is more than 20 years that our enemies, led by the U.S.
and Zionism, have not left a single stone unturned to confront this
newly established Islamic Republic; in spite of that, all along this
period the Islamic republic has fully utilized every chance and
opportunity to grow and move towards stability and perfection. Today,
stronger than ever, the Islamic Republic of Iran is proclaiming Islam,
Islamic unity and dignity, making our enemies completely disappointed,
divided and confused.
Today, eleven years after the demise of the great architect and founder of
this lofty institution, Imam Khomeini (R.A), the Islamic Republic of
Iran is still following the goals and objectives laid down and cherished
by its great founder. The honor of this stability belongs, first and
foremost, to Islam and its life-inspiring guidelines and secondly to the
Iranian nation who stepped forward in the path of Islam with firm
beliefs, offered great sacrifices with sincerity, and defended its
achievements with forbearance.
It is obvious that if we, the responsible officials of the Islamic
Republic, had not shown weaknesses and if we had not committed justified
or unjustified omissions, today the Islamic Republic would have been
closer in attaining its goals and objectives under the guidance of
lofty, divine Islamic principles and teachings.
As always, today the main propaganda tricks of the arrogant world power
are to show that the Iranian nation and the Islamic government have
given up their desired goals. This is a malicious lie to disappoint all
those who cherish Islamic sovereignty all over the world, as well as to
weaken the determination of our young generation in Iran. It is in this
background that they are celebrating the outcome of the 21st general
elections of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Parliament). While
admitting democracy in Iran, they are not yet ready to acknowledge the
popular participation of Iranian masses throughout the existence of the
Islamic Republic in Iran. They are having reservations in admitting that
the same kind of popular elections were held four years ago to elect the
members of parliament as well as the last presidential elections held
three years ago.
They are hoping, in vain, that opponents of the Islamic sovereignty and
supporters of restoring domination of Iran to arrogant powers would take
control of powers. This is the same misinterpretation and wishful
thinking that led the U.S. and its mercenaries to fail many times in
their challenges with the great power of Islam and the strong will of
Iranian people. Relying and trusting in the Almighty Allah, with deep
and unbreakable faith in the divine, life-inspiring guidelines of Islam,
with complete recognition of the great nation to whom I belong and have
spent all my life and spending the last years of my life, I hereby
assure all friends and enemies that our great nation is determined to
follow the path of Islam until achieves its goal, and this nation is
committed to demonstrate to the world that dignity, growth, material and
spiritual progress, and lofty ideals will be obtained only through
practicing Islam and the Holy Quran in all aspects of life.
The United State of America should better stop thinking that Iran would
return to its fold of domination, that desire of Muslim people for lofty
causes and sovereignty of Islam could be subdued in Islamic countries,
that Palestine would be left to the racist and blood shedding Zionists,
who could easily get away with it, and that they could decrease the wave
of hatred spreading against them fast throughout the Islamic World. If
this point could be recognized by all the Islamic states, then the
dignity of Islam would become manifested throughout the Islamic World,
and the Hajj congregation will become a genuine, permanent source of
power for Islam, and natural resources of the Muslim World would serve
the Muslim nations and the rich, life-inspiring Islamic culture would
have the opportunity to bless the mankind.
I implore the Almighty Allah to bring that day closer to us; I call on
all respectable Hajj pilgrims to pray for the salvation of Muslims in
this world and for the divine help to the combatant nation of Iran; I
also ask all dear Iranian Hajj pilgrims to make endeavors for attaining
spiritual bounties, to show self-restraint and unity, to participate in
congregations, and to strive for spiritual and moral achievements.
Wassalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullah
Seyyed Ali Khamenei
Dhul Hajjah 3, 1420