Leader: Islamic Revolution offered opportunity to serve people

On Monday, April 10, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, granted audience to a group of senior officials of various government sectors and stressed the necessity of appreciating the opportunity to serve the people, to guide the society, especially the youth towards prosperity by increasing production and employment opportunities, through precise supervision of any progress.

He added, "The import of goods that lead to domestic factories shutting down should be stopped."

Now we have more details on the issue.

Ayatollah Khamenei congratulated the nation as well as the officials and their families on the blessed birth anniversary of the Leader of the Pious, the Epitome of Justice, and the Commander of the Faithful Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) stating, "A wise and farsighted man grasps every moment and every hour as an opportunity to serve the people and perform good deeds."

He referred to the opportunity the Islamic government has provided to serve the people and said, "Such an opportunity was not available before the revolution. Today, however, the success and failure of the country is in our hands, the authorities: and it is we who can take proper actions or make good decisions, thus paving the way for the people to achieve prosperity and end up in heaven."

The Leader advised everyone to regularly recite the holy Qur’an, with clear insight, in order to benefit from the blessed month of Rajab, and also to recite the recommended supplications of this month in order to gain the proximity of God Almighty. He added: “The officials can gain the proximity of God by serving the people through performing their political, economic, and cultural duties.

The Leader of the Revolution focused his attention on the precious sacrifices that have been made to establish and protect the Islamic Republic, asserting that today the vicious enemies are trying confront the Islamic establishment and seeking to undermine the Islamic Republic; hence, any measure to tackle and defeat the enemies’ plots, is in fact a step to get closer to the Divine Almighty.

He said the sacrifices of the people, in various fields of the Islamic Revolution, were inspired by religion. He added: “Had it not been based on Islamic inspirations, such vast numbers of young individuals would have never given up their comfortable lives with their families by volunteering to take part in the holy defence – in the 1980s when the US imposed the 8-year war through Saddam of the repressive Ba’th minority regime of Baghdad.

Ayatollah Khamenei said: Today, too, many young individuals follow the same sacred motives, by taking part in the fight against the Takfiri terrorists in order to defend the sanctity of the holy shrines of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt in the region. He added: “This is one sign the people are ahead of the officials in making sacrifices.”

He described the common goal of all Prophets of God as making sincere efforts to establish pious systems and stand for justice. He said “In the Islamic establishment, the Islamic lifestyle and Islamic laws should be carried out: the society’s culture should be one based on teachings of the holy Qur’an from all aspects.”

Ayatollah Khamenei commented on terming the New Year, 1396 solar hijri, as the Year of the Economy of Resistance, Production and Employment: "They said we should focus on production and employment, this cannot be achieved merely by the order of the senior officials. This requires a serious supervision and follow up." He criticized certain misinterpretations of his remarks on the new calendar year about preventing import of goods, and added: “To prevent import does not mean to prevent import of goods that are not domestically produced at a sufficient quantity or goods that would be a model for domestic production; it is meant for preventing import of goods that would lead to the shutdown of domestic production and internal factories.”

The Leader of the Revolution described his outlook on the import of goods as being derived from a positive outlook on domestic production. He added, "Everyone needs to know that if domestic factories and productions do not promote, employment opportunities won’t be created and the outcome would be unemployment, social predicaments such as addiction, corruption, family problems and dissatisfaction towards the government."

AS/ME