Leader: Promote purity of Persian language to preserve national identity

Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, on May 20 hosted poets and literary figures for Iftar on the occasion of the blessed birth anniversary of Imam Hasan Mojtaba (AS), the Second Infallible Leader and the Elder Grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

He called on the nation, especially the IRIB, for promoting the purity of the Persian language in order to preserve national identity of Iran and the Iranians.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution praised Allah Almighty for His Favours, and saluted the Master of the all Divine Messengers, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Next he greeted the Lord of the Age, Imam Mahdi (AS) – may God hasten his reappearance for establishment of the global government of peace, prosperity and justice.

After listening to recitations of poetry by masters of this literal arts, as the well as the poems composed by young budding poets, Ayatollah Khamenei praised the finer points and the themes chosen. He then said: I will tell you that tonight’s poetry recitation was very good. Tonight, this gathering outperformed itself which was thankfully beyond my expectations, especially of the young poets.

“Of course, there are many groups in Tehran and in other places who engage in poetry and the like. I am more or less in contact with them and I read their poems. They compose purely romantic and earthly poems which are devoid of wisdom and fail to touch on national and revolutionary interests. Unfortunately some indulge in ‘negative’ poetry. When I look at your poetry, I see that your themes, your lofty words and your innovation in utilizing contents are really very impressive.

“I would like to state a few points. One is about poetry in general and the other is about Farsi or the Persian language. The phenomenon of poetry is indeed among the miracles of creation, similar to language, which is indeed one of the gifts of God mankind. That you are able to convey your thoughts and your mental images to others in the form of words is very important and great. Because we have gotten used to it, we do not pay attention to its greatness.

This is much more important than the creation of the sun, the moon, stars and many other things by which Allah the Exalted swears. For instance ayahs 1 to 5 of Surah ar-Rahman, inform us: “The All-Beneficent; has taught the Qur’an; He created man; Taught him articulate speech; The sun and the moon are [disposed] calculatedly;”

Ayatollah Khamenei said: “Among the different forms of speech, poetry has the characteristic of beauty, though every speech is not beautiful. Every form of speech is a miracle and it is important, but beauty exists in poetry. That you are able to convey a prominent concept to the audience in the form of the words that you put together is beautiful. The reason why it is categorized as art is that it has an aesthetic aspect.

“Poetry is a medium, one that is very efficient. It is more efficient than other non-poetic means for conveying the concept. Most forms of art are like this. Of course, they are different from one another. Poetry for instance, has special characteristics and advantages which make it unique. The power of influencing (the listeners and readers) that exists in poetry brings about certain responsibilities. Generally speaking, all objects, all individuals and all phenomena that have a higher status, have a higher responsibility. If you - among other groups in society - can exert influence with your words, opinions and votes, then you have more responsibilities than those who cannot exert such influence.

“Poetry has a commitment. It is putting oneself at the service of the Divine Enlightenment Movement. There have been two movements throughout history: the Movement of Clarity and the Movement of Deception. In other words, the Movement of Guidance, and the Movement of Deviation. God says in ayah 25 of Surah Hadeed: “Certainly We sent Our prophets with manifest proofs, and We sent down with them the Book and the Balance, so that mankind may maintain justice;”

“This is one movement throughout history, while another is of deviation and following of the temptations of the Satan, as is evident in ayahs 82 and 83 of Surah “Sa’ad” (where Iblis the outcast on receiving reprieve by God) “He said, ‘By Your might, I will surely pervert them; Except Your exclusive servants among them.”

Ayatollah Khamenei continued in his speech: “The duty of poetry is to be at the service of the first movement. And the reason is clear: this has been granted by God. It belongs to God and it is a divine blessing. We are the servants of God. So, we should utilize all His blessings at the service of the orientation of prophethood and divine guidance. This is the commitment of poetry.

“Of course, there are many notions in this regard. Some people have an erroneous logic on the basis of which they separate the aesthetic and artistic aspect of poetry from its didactic aspect. They divide poetry into two forms: one is poetry which has a mission, responsibility and commitment and poetry which is purely poetic. They say that the former is not poetry and they refer to it as a slogan. This is a completely false argument which originates from either ignorance or lack of knowledge.

“Notice who the giants of Persian poetry are: Sa’adi, Hafez, Moulavi [Rumi] and Ferdowsi. They are the peaks of Persian poetry. Notice in which direction the poetry of these individuals, who are the artistic and poetic peaks of our entire history, has moved. One of the works of Sa’adi is the “Bustan” which is his best work – “Gulistan” is the next. If you take a look at the “Bustan”, you see that this extraordinarily outstanding artistic work has always been at the service of morality, instruction and commitment. The “Bustan” is like this from start to finish. In other words, the art of poetry is at the service of morality in that work, as is evident by the following couplet: “O Sa’adi, if you want to be in love and enjoy your youth; “Know that the love of Mohammad and his household will be sufficient”.

Another of the couplets of Sa’adi emphasizing the Majesty of Allah, reads:  “I am happy in this world because of Him who is the cause of such happiness in the whole world; I love the entire world because of Him who possesses the entire world”.

“The same is true of the poetry of Hafez. Although there are some earthly poems in his collection, mystic poetry is undoubtedly the outstanding aspect of his works. Great personalities like the Late exegete of the holy Qur’an Allamah Seyyed Mohammad Hussain Tabatabai used to interpret the poetry of Hafez for their pupils, and they have written and collected them. The poetry of Hafez – who was also a memorizer of the holy Qur’an – is replete with such mysticism. “Your love will come to your aid if like Hafez; “You read the Qur’an by heart in fourteen different narrations”.

“Hafez could recite by heart the holy Qur’an in 14 different narrations. There were seven well-known reciters of the Holy Qur’an, each of whom had two narrations. So, it makes 14 narrations. This is the peak of poetry.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution further said: “The same is true of Abu’l-Qasim Ferdowsi, who is known as Hakeem for his wisdom, which was God-given, and is evident in the depth of his poems. There is wisdom in all or almost all of his stories.

“As for Moulavi, his poetry is completely imbued with mysticism, spirituality, the truth, original Islam and purely monotheistic teachings.

“If we think that the artistic and aesthetic aspect of poetry is separate from its spiritual, didactic and instructive aspect, we should eliminate all these poets from the circle of poetry, saying that their works are not poetry, whereas their works are among the best Farsi poems.

“The same is true of Arabic poetry. Sayyid Hemyari, Farazdaq, De’bal Khaza’i, and the like - who are the outstanding figures of Imami poetry and devoted to the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt. They are the peaks of [Arabic] poetry. Therefore, we should say that those who separate original and pure poetry from its artistic aspect do not have literary and poetic knowledge. When we put our poetry at the service of lofty moral concepts, monotheism, the virtues of Ahl al-Bayt, moral values and the constituents of national and revolutionary interests, it is not that we have merely rendered services to those teachings. By doing so, we have also rendered services to our own poetry. Poetry is improved this way.

“Of course, I believe that poets can include their own personal worries, and pains in their poems and there is nothing wrong with that. I am not saying poets do not have the right to compose a ghazal about their own feelings of sadness, their desires and their agitation. They can compose such poems, but this is only one chapter among the different chapters of poetry. The main chapter of poetry is the one on commitment.

“Fortunately, we have many committed poets in Iran, although there are some persons who are totally out of this circle. The main poetic orientation is thankfully committed orientation, including religious poetry, moral poetry, political and revolutionary poetry, poetry on moral and monotheistic values, and philosophical poetry.

“This group of poets have fortunately made good progress today. Those who do not consider this as poetry, who say that this is a slogan and ideology, use deviant matters and deviant ideologies in their poems! They are not opposed to utilization of ideology in poetry, rather they are opposed to the ideology that you use in your poems no matter what form and what language you use! Their approach is the same if you use such ideology in the form of poetry, in the form of films and in the form of storytelling. Therefore, you should pursue this direction.”

The Leader said: “The poetic orientation and the kind of poetry that you compose has thankfully made great progress. And it does not matter which poetry you compose: be that poetry on Islamic teachings, on the merits of the Ahl al-Bayt, on revolutionary teachings, on the current issues of the country, on the important developments of the world - such as the poems that the friends recited on Yemen and various other matters of the world of Islam - or on praising the beauties of the nation.

“Notice that our people have beautiful dispositions. The way our people responded on the issue of the floods in the north and south was very beautiful. Those who are aware of the developments – including in Golestan, in Khuzestan, in Khorramabad and in Ilam: these were the main areas which suffered from the recent floods - are aware of the presence and sacrifices of the people, and the services they rendered.

“Well you can describe this in your poetry. When you include such concepts in your poetry, it becomes in fact the flag of national identity. It becomes the flag of the identity of your nation no matter if you compose poems on Islamic, national, and revolutionary issues, or on moral values and about such events. And my dear ones, identity is very important to every nation. A nation that loses its identity is easily squeezed and crushed in the fists of foreigners.

“This was about poetry. As for the language, the truth is that I am worried. In the area of poetry, the poems that you compose are fortunately good poems and they enjoy a solid language, however generally speaking, language is wearing down. One can witness this. Tonight, one of the brothers from the radio was present here and he spoke with me about a very good development. I have, however, a complaint about the IRIB because instead of promoting proper, standard, refined and correct language, it is promoting a kind of language that is devoid of any identity, that is, sometimes wrong, that uses wrong terminology and worse than all, uses a language stuffed with foreign and western terminology.

“When a writer or translator uses a foreign word - while translating an English or French article - and when your presenter uses the same words once, twice on TV or on the radio, this will be used by others. We are polluting our language with detrimental elements without any good reason and without any supervision and control.

“Sometimes, a language does not have a specific term and therefore, it borrows from another language. Of course here too, we should exercise supervision. Once, in a meeting with literary experts working on Persian which was held some years ago, I said that when Arabs borrow a word from westerners, they make it Arabic. This is very good, but we do not do so!”

Ayatollah Khamenei said in continuation: “Unfortunately, we are even committed to pronouncing them with their foreign accent! In the beginning of the Revolution, when we had meetings with revolutionary and other officials, they sometimes used the word “commission” and “committee”. There were some individuals who had graduated from France who would pronounce them with a French accent like “commité”, and they were not satisfied, they wanted the exact French pronunciation [audience laughs]! What is the necessity of doing this?

“I said in those meetings that we could have used the word “televisan” – which sounds Persian - instead of “television”. In Persian, we do not have any word similar to “radio.” Would it have been problematic if we had referred to “radio” as “radian” so that it would have sounded Persian? There would be nothing wrong with that.

“Intrusive words keep entering Persian language and they are being used repeatedly. They use them in the press, they repeat them on the radio and on TV and they use them in books. Nowadays, there is cyberspace too. They use them in cyberspace as well. I am worried. One of the tasks that should really be carried out is this.

“The organizations in charge of artistic affairs can work on this area. Those officials who can be addressed in our meeting are Seyyed Abbas Salehi - the honorable Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance - and Mohsen Mo’meni, the head of the Art Division. You should really think on this matter. You should not let Persian language become subject to erosion and destruction. We should preserve it as much as we can. In the early years of the Revolution we were very good in this respect. Later on, we gradually became self-indulgent.

“In the world of poetry too, this state of self-indulgence and decadence has appeared, especially in composing songs. Some of the songs are really at a very low level. In terms of the content, they are obviously flawed, but even in the area of linguistic structure, some of these songs have very bad forms. That is while these songs with the same poor structure are broadcast on radio and TV. They are repeated in the opening sequence of films and thus they are promoted in society.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said: “In my opinion, you should think about these matters. Songs composed during the early revolutionary era, such as the one recited by the gentleman in the meeting: “This cry of freedom, rising from the east”- is very beautiful! May God have mercy on [the late] Hamid Sabzevari. He composed many such poems. Therefore, we should preserve the value of the language.

My dear ones, notice that this language has been continuously preserved by poets - and by writers - for many centuries. An example is the language that Sa’adi has used. If you want to use the same concepts in the poem that I just recited - “I am happy in this world because of Him who is the cause of such happiness in the whole world; I love the entire world because of Him who possesses the entire world”.

Can you find words better and more eloquent than this? Another example is: “Where are you, O Godly martyrs? You adventurers of the plain of Karbala”

Would you have guessed that this is a poem by Moulavi? This is a poem by Moulavi composed 800 years ago, but it looks as it were composed for the present time. Its language has been transferred to us in such a healthy way. Despite the fact that the Indian style of (Persian) poetry is complex and abstruse, its language is a refined and strong one. In particular, the outstanding poets composing in the Indian style - such as Sa’eb, Kaleem, Hazeen and Bedel – have used language which is really perfect. Sa’eb says of God: “There isn’t anywhere Your song isn’t; The world is full of Your presence, while Your place is empty; Although all creatures come begging at Your door; No creature knows where You reside.”

“If you were supposed to use the same concept, today after the passage of 400 years from the life of Sa’eb, can you find words clearer and more eloquent than his? They have preserved the language like this and they have passed it to us. Now, should we give it to such and such untalented song composers so that they would ruin and spoil the words? And after that, should we publish their work with funds of public treasury, broadcast it on IRIB and promote it in other governmental and non-governmental organizations?

I hope that Allah the Exalted will give us the blessing to carry out these tasks correctly, Insha Allah (God Willing).

AS/ME