Leader: Fighting Zionist entity incumbent upon all Muslims

Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, on last Monday following the Eid al-Fitr Prayer, hosted the Heads of the country’s three branches of government – the Executive, the Legislature, the Judiciary – senior civilian and military officials, Muslim ambassadors and representatives of world countries and international organisations in Tehran, and people from various walks of life.

He drew the attention of the audience to “division and dispute” as the most pressing issue of the Ummah and a major scar on its body and cautioned against the plot of the enemies of Islam in igniting the flames of divisions, saying: “Unity and avoiding division benefits all Muslim countries, and through harmony, especially over the issue of Palestine as the foremost problem of the Muslim world, solidarity should be strengthened since fighting the illegal Zionist entity is incumbent upon all Muslims.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution felicitating the gathering and the Muslims World on the auspicious occasion of Eid al-Fitr, following the spiritual banquet of the fasting month of Ramadhan, pointed to the attempts of the enemies of Islam to exploit ethnic, lingual, jurisprudential and territorial differences to create divisions amongst Muslims, saying: “Support by a US senator for the Sunni community against the Shia community, while [such officials] are against Islam in principle and Muslim countries, is nothing but conspiracy and malignancy and this issue deserves serious attention and concern, but regrettably, the officials of Muslim states neglect these hostilities.”   

Pointing to the bloody clashes in various parts of the Muslim World such as in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and North Africa, he said: “Division and dispute are harmful to Islam and the Ummah; conversely, if Muslim countries close ranks and refrain from pitting [their military] forces against each other, this will conforms to divine wisdom and benefits all Islamic countries.”  

Ayatollah Khamenei described the massive Qods Day rallies in Tehran, throughout Iran and various parts of the world on the Last Friday of Ramadhan in solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian as an example of Islamic unity to be proud of. He said: “This is the very meaning of Islamic unity, in which fasting Shia people pour into the streets with such glory and greatness to voice their solidarity and sympathy for the Palestinians, who are Sunnis.”  

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution described as a big danger the trivializing and ignoring of the chronic issue of the Zionist-usurped land and said: “Palestine is the foremost issue of the Muslim world, but some Muslim countries act in such a way that is meant to make the issue of Palestine ignored and forgotten.”

He pointed to the usurpation of the Islamic country of Palestine and the expulsion of the majority of its people from their homes and hearths, saying: “According to Islamic jurisprudence, once faced with the domination of the enemy over Islamic territory, all Muslims are duty-bound to campaign and carry out jihad in whatever possible form and, therefore, fighting against the Zionist entity is incumbent upon and mandatory for the entire Islamic world.”

Criticizing the regimes in some Muslim countries for turning down this campaign, Ayatollah Khamenei praised the Iranian people as vigilant and conscious in carrying out their duty. He said: “The Muslim world needs unity and harmony, and since Muslims throughout the world are overwhelmingly in sympathy with each other, it is their governments that must fulfill their responsibilities.” 

The Leader said: If Muslims are united, Palestine will not be in the situation that it is in now. Today, Palestine is in a difficult situation. Gaza and the West Bank are in a difficult situation, both in different ways. Today, the people of Palestine are under serious pressures on a daily basis. They want to erase the issue of Palestine from the minds of people and consign it to oblivion. They want to, as they say, busy the West Asian region, including our own countries – this is an extraordinarily sensitive and strategic region, it is a sensitive region in terms of geography, natural resources and sea passageways - with themselves.

He further said: Today, the outlook of arrogance and imperialism towards the world of Islam is that they are trying to make the world of Islam drift away from its unity as much as possible. This is a threat to them. The existence of a billion and a half Muslims and the existence of all these Islamic countries with all these resources and with such extraordinary manpower is a threat to them! If they are united and if they move towards their Islamic goals with unity, then global powers will not be able to beat the drum of their power anymore. If this happens, the US will not be able to impose its will on countries, governments and nations, and the malignant and malevolent Zionist network will no longer be able to take different governments and powers in the claws of its own power and to use them in the direction of its own path and goals. If Muslims are united, this will be the case.

Ayatollah Khamenei noted that the enemies want Muslims to stand up against Muslims and Arabs against Arabs. He added: “They want them to target and destroy one another so that the armies of Muslim countries – particularly those armies that are neighboring the Zionists – weaken on a daily basis. This is their goal.”

In conclusion, Ayatollah Khamenei said: Today, two powers are opposing one another in the region: one is the power of unity and another is the power of discord. He said: “The willpower of unity belongs to believers. The cry of the unity and unanimity of Muslim is being let out by sincere voices. These voices are inviting Muslims to pay attention to their common points. If this happens and if this unity is achieved, the condition that Muslims are in today will change and they will achieve dignity.

Prior to the remarks by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, President Hassan Rouhani pointed to the fact that the period of political and election rivalries has come to an end, saying, “Now, the rivalry should be only over serving the people, implementing laws and achieving lofty national goals, and we should struggle for prosperity in production and tackling the problem of unemployment through unity and putting into practice the recommendations of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.”  

He referred to the recent terrorist incidents in Tehran at the parliament and the mausoleum of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini, by the US and Saudi-backed Takfiris, which was followed by the decisive response of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in targeting with ballistic missiles the terrorist centres in Deir az-Zor, Syria. He said: “I offer my gratitude to the entire Iranian nation, who openly and bravely stood up against the terrorists and maintained national unity as well as those who build strategic weapons for the country and those who use these weapons against the enemies.”

Stating that the Islamic Republic revealed only a small segment of the country’s defensive might in responding to the terrorists, Rouhani added, “Armed Forces, the government and the people, all standing behind the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, display to the world their national unity and power.”

Commending the huge presence of the Iranian people in the World Qods Day rallies, he said: These public rallies on Qods Day instils hope into the hearts of Muslims and the Palestinian people, and proves that right will be ultimately triumphant over wrong.”

AS/SS