Leader’s meeting with members of Islamic Students Associations

Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, recently granted audience in Tehran to thousands of members of the nationwide Islamic Students Associations, ranging from high schools to colleges, and engaged in religious and revolutionary activities.

The gathering which the Leader described as a sweet and memorable one, started with two students, expressing on behalf of the Islamic Students Association, views, proposals and criticism of the body’s activities.

In his speech, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution took note of important points regarding Islamic education and revolutionary activities. He stressed the need of self-building for youths and their active presence in the country. He started his speech with the importance and virtues of Rajab and considered this month an excellent opportunity for strengthening spiritual dimensions. He said: Humans have instincts, desires and needs, which ought to be under proper control, in order to strengthen spirituality, which is a very delicate aspect in every individual, and during youth its transparency is more evident than in other stages of one’s life. He said if we humans can strengthen this dimension in ourselves, the other dimensions of life will be strengthened as well. Ayatollah Khamenei added that the malicious persons which we see everywhere in the world, and who are cruel, mean, lustful, and gluttonous, since their life has become wholly materialistic, are those who have failed to develop moral values and spirituality in themselves, as a result of which they have ruined their life. He called on the students to benefit from the opportunities offered by the month of Rajab, by reciting the holy Qur’an and contemplating on its timeless wisdom, as well as performing on time the daily ritual prayers, and seeking the proximity of God Almighty by reading the special supplications of this month. This will indeed enable us to avoid aimlessness and tendency towards sins, by inculcating in our selves, ethical values. The youth can certainly benefit better from the blessings of the month of Rajab, regarding which the Prophet of Islam has said: Rajab is the month of Divine Mercy, in which God sends showers of mercy on His servants.

Ayatollah Khamenei referred to the heavy responsibility and the main role of youths in the present situation in Iran, the region and the world, noting that today there is serious contention between Iran and the hegemonic powers such as the US and the illegal Zionist entity. He said one of the important arenas of contention is the economic, political and cultural independence of the country, stressing that the goal of Global Arrogance is to transgress against the interests of nations in order to infiltrate countries and dominate them. Thus, when a nation and a country resists against this transgression in order to defend its independence – whether it is cultural, political or economic – a clash will naturally occur.

The Leader said that another arena of conflict with the US is the issue of progress without dependence on the big powers, as the Islamic Republic of Iran achieved in the highly sensitive field of mastering the nuclear fuel cycle for peaceful use, without reliance on the US, Britain, or any other country. This unnerved Global Arrogance which did not want Iran to make a breakthrough in the nuclear field, and for this reason it adopted such a hostile posture. This warrants Iran to be on guard and not allow the US and its accomplices to deceive us, otherwise Global Arrogance will play games and create problems in the future on issues such as biotechnology, nanotechnology and various other scientific fields.

Ayatollah Khamenei added that another area of contention between Iran and the arrogant powers is the powerful presence of the Islamic Republic in the region and the world that is thwarting the US bid in West Asia to set up what it likes to call a New Middle East. A third area of conflicting interests between Iran and Global Arrogance, he said, is the chronic question of the Zionist usurped land of Palestine, and the Islamic Republic’s backing for Resistance Forces which are determined to defeat neo colonialist designs in the region.

Another arena in which Iran differs with Global Arrogance, said the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, is the promotion of decadent western culture and immoral lifestyle in Muslim lands. Iran believes that if the western or American lifestyle is imposed on a country, the people of that country will turn into tame lambs of Global Arrogance. Most surely, the Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to prevent this from happening.

Ayatollah Khamenei considered the youths, whether of high school or university, as torchbearers of the soft war, which is now one of the crucial arenas of the conflict between Iran and Global Arrogance. He said, when the youth possess motivation, self-confidence, the power to properly think, and the courage to act, they become vanguards of the soft war. He, however, warned of the negative consequences, and urged the youth to play the role of determined, intelligent, motivated, hopeful, diligent, thoughtful, wise, courageous and self-sacrificing soldiers of this arena, rather than falling victim to frustration and despondency on the assumption that fighting the soft war is of no use. Such an attitude, he added, would be fatal for both the concerned individual and those who have pinned hope on such youth. Ayatollah Khamenei said the result of the soft war, in both cases, is obvious. While Global Arrogance wants the soft war Iranian youths to be weak, timid, and hopeless, the Islamic Republic wants them to be active and influential elements. Among the primary duties of the Islamic Students Association is to be torchbearers of soft war, with the motivation to influence all those who come in contact with them, since Iran is in need of pious, loyal, enthusiastic, and innovative youth, in order to counter the long-term goals of the avaricious enemies.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution called on the country’s education officials to draw up proper and precise plans to enable young students to have free time for sports, recreational, and revolutionary activities, instead of spending all their physical and mental abilities on the study of text books. He was fully confident of the abilities and activities of Iranian youth, saying that we should be grateful to God that youths in Iran are faithful and revolutionary, despite the intense propaganda of Global Arrogance.

Ayatollah Khamenei was also all praise for the revolutionary and combatant youths of Lebanon and Palestine, and blasted the plot of Global Arrogance and its clients ruling Arab countries to try to tarnish the image of Lebanon’s legendry anti-terrorist movement, the Hezbollah. He said the Hezbollah of Lebanon have certainly proved to the world that they are source of pride for the Islamic ummah. Lebanon’s Hezbollah defeated the well-equipped Zionist army in 33 days – in 2006 – in contrast to the shabby performance of professional armies of three Arab countries that were soundly defeated by Israel in all three wars. The Leader of the Islamic Revolution stressed that this is the characteristic of truth, and it is truth that will eventually become victorious despite the obstacles of the enemies of truth. He was confident that by the Grace of God Almighty, coupled with the resistance of the youthful devotees, the day will soon come when Insha Allah, problems will fade and you youthful hope of the country, will stand on the pinnacle of glory.

FK/AS/SS