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In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

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والحمدلله ربّ العالمين و الصّلاة و السّلام علي سيّدنا و نبيّنا ابي‌القاسم المصطفي محمّد

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و علي آله الطّيّبين الطّاهرين و صحبه المنتجبين و من تبعهم باحسان الي يوم الدّين

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Dear brethren, dear sisters! You are very welcome, [and] I welcome all of you from the bottom of my heart.

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[Once] you [are] in here, you are at your own home and among your brethren;

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this is how we look upon our Muslim brethren at any point in the world;

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[we are] brethren, [and] consider you as our brother and – through

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the divine assistance and through the divine help – have demonstrated our fraternal feelings in practice as well.

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The subject of this meeting, which is the love of the Prophet’s Household (Peace Be upon Them) is a very important subject.

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The love for the Prophet’s Household is not special to a specific group in Islam;

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all Muslims love the Prophet’s Household;

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[and] all Muslims show veneration for the Prophet’s Household.

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There has been a very limited and small group in history known as Nawasib (those who hate the Prophet’s Household),

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and there is a probability that their motivations were political motivations, not religious motivations in the real sense [of the word].

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However, most Muslims, from the early years [after the advent of Islam] up to the present day, are considered as those who love the Prophet’s Household.

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Well, this single sentence contains a lesson for us; that lesson is that

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it is possible to create consensus among Muslims through the love of the Prophet’s Household [and] this [issue] can be taken as a pivot for unity and solidarity among Muslims.

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Just in the same way that the blessed being of the Prophet of Islam is a means and pivot of unity among Muslims,

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and just in the same way that the Quran and the Honorable Kaaba are pivot of unity among Muslims,

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the love for the Prophet’s Household can be [taken as] a pivot of unity among Muslims and can bring [Muslims’] hearts close together.

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And I tell you dear brethren that today, the Islamic world

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is in dire need of this unity and this empathy.

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At the present time, the body of the Islamic world is wounded;

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ذy causing war and division among Muslims themselves, today the enemies of Islam have been able to weaken Muslims,

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preoccupy them with one another, and keep their enemies in a safe margin .

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[The goal of our enemies is that] in the West Asia region, the usurping Zionist regime should live in security, [but] Muslims must be fighting one another.

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This is a truth and reality that exists at the present time and this step is a step taken by enemies of Islam,

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is a step taken by America, is a step taken by international Zionism, and is a step taken by their proxies and stooges in this region.

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Unfortunately, we must accept that within the Islamic Ummah and among the Islamic states

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there are those who are doing exactly the same thing that America wants and Zionism wants;

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they undertake its costs, prepare [necessary] grounds for it,

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[and] become tools in their hand; what for? [They do this] in order to inflict wounds on the body of the Islamic Ummah.

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Under such conditions, [promoting] unity among the Islamic Ummah is the highest obligation; we must [become united and] come together.

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The love for the Prophet’s Household is rooted in the Quran, [and] is rooted in the hadith; [therefore,] it is not anything new.

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The one hadith, on which all Islamic sects are unanimous, is the Hadith al-Thaqalayn

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(The Two Weighty Things) [which quotes Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) as saying:] “Verily, I am leaving behind two precious things (thaqalayn) among you: the Book of God and my kindred, my Household, for indeed, these two will never separate until they come back to me by the Pond (of al-­Kawthar on the Day of Judgment).”

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Of course, what [this hadith] teaches us is to obey the Prophet’s Household, but obedience

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does not mean anything without love; [therefore, the need to have] love [for the Prophet’s Household] is deduced from this hadith as well. If the Quran says:

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“Allah intends only to remove from you the impurity [of sin], O people of the [Prophet's] Household, and to purify you with [extensive] purification,”

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this removal of impurity and purification, which the Almighty God has intended to exist in the Prophet’s Household,

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is requisite for this love and affection that Muslims have for the Prophet’s Household; therefore, this turns into a means of [promoting] unity among Muslims.

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The interest of the enemies of Islam is to take the war to the Islamic world, and unfortunately, they have done this.

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We have stood against, and will stand against, this enemy’s plot.

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And let me tell you that we believe that through the divine assistance and by relying on the divine will and Providence and through permission of the Almighty God,

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we will emerge victorious in this confrontation with enemies.

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At the present time, the issue of Palestine is the number one issue of the Islamic world.

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Anybody who understands and perceives the issue of Palestine in a correct way

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will admit that the issue of Palestine is the number one issue of the Islamic world.

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The issue of Palestine is the key to overcoming the enemies of Islam.

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And the most important issue of the Islamic world at the present time is the issue of Palestine; why? Because Palestine is an Islamic country,

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[but] they have come [from all parts of the world] and usurped this [country], [and] have taken it from its people. The issue is not usurpation of a village or a city;

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the enemy has usurped a whole country and has made it a base

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in order to disrupt security in the regional countries؛

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[this is why] this cancerous tumor must be fought against. Now, you see [how it is possible for] somebody who is a religious scholar to issue a fatwa

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[saying] that struggling against Zionism is forbidden

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and helping that given group, which is fighting against Zionism, is not authorized? This is really a catastrophe

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that some people in the Islamic world would act like this against the interests of Islam,

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[and] have friendly relations with enemies. Just on the opposite of the clear text of the Quran, which introduces the faithful as being

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“forceful against the disbelievers, [and] merciful among themselves,”

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these people are “forceful against Muslims,” and “merciful toward disbelievers; they are good with those [disbelievers], but see how they treat Muslims!

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This sowing of discord [and] creation of this evil tree of Daesh and the likes of Daesh in Iraq, in Syria, [and] in other places [is a good example to the point].

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Of course, this tree was uprooted in Iraq and Syria, but one cannot be sure,

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and they may do similar things in other places. [Know that] America will never stop its hostility against Islam. [Therefore,] we must be awake,

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must be vigilant, must maintain our preparedness, [and] must not be taken by surprise.

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[The first Shia Imam, Hadhrat] Amir-al-Mo’menin (PBUH) says in Nahj-ul-Balagha:

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“[I swear] by God, I am not like that hyena that is put to sleep by the sound of stakes pounding around it;”

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we must be like this; we cannot fall asleep; we cannot become negligent;

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[and] we cannot ignore the enemy’s deception. We must be awake.

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This awakening has its own requisites. One of its requisites is this very [feeling of] fraternity and compassion, which we must have [for one another].

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This compassion requires struggle and confrontation with all those factors

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that are clearly showing hostility toward the Islamic world or are helping those enemies [of the Islamic world];

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you [must] be messengers of this spirit in various countries; [and] must maintain the preparedness among Muslims

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to face and counter [their enemies]. The goal is not [to wage] military war [against enemies] in all cases, [but] you must make the minds

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of your audiences – [and] the people who listen to you – familiar with those facts that currently exist in the Islamic world.

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We will certainly not stop fulfilling this duty; [and] we will not let go of this duty

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and I am sure that the Almighty God will help us to go ahead with this job.

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Those people, who [act] against the Quranic verse, which says:

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“O you who have believed, do not take My enemies and your enemies as allies, extending to them affection,”

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[and] befriend those who are enemies of Muslims and enemies of Islam and enemies of God,

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and establish friendly ties with them, these are real enemies of Islam within the Islamic society.

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Praise be to God, the Islamic world has awaken today.

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We, Muslims in various countries, are a huge reality;

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we are a reality imposed on the [global] arrogance and on disbelievers.

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At the present time, the Islamic world can stand in the face of disbelief and arrogance and have its say.

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Praise be to God, a government under the name of Islam exists in the geographical expanse of Iran, which takes pride in being an Islamic government.

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Of course, not all our wishes for the realization of the governance of Islam has come true in this country; we are still half-way through,

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[and] we are half-way [to achieving our goal], but our goal is the realization of all Islamic objectives and full establishment of the Islamic Sharia. This is our goal

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and we will follow up on this goal through the divine assistance and with permission of the Almighty God,

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and this will become a means of gaining victory over the enemies of Islam; today, this reality exists here.

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Dear brethren, dear sisters! About forty years have passed since the establishment of the Islamic Republic [in Iran].

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Since day one up to the present time, America has been hostile toward  us, [and] the [common] front of disbelief and arrogance and Zionism

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has been hostile towards us, [and] they have plotted [against us] and have done against us anything that they could:

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they imposed sanctions, launched military attack [on us], [and] did various things.

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Despite all they have done, during about [the past] forty years, we have continuously progressed.

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At the present time, through God’s assistance, the advances of the Islamic Republic cannot be compared with [what existed] 30 years ago and 35 years ago.

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They have [always] wanted to annihilate us,

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[but] in spite of them, the Almighty God has made us stronger, has given us strength

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[and] has made us more powerful than what ourselves expected [to become]. At the present time, praise be to God, the Islamic Republic

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is at the highest point of power and strength, and stands [fast in the face of its enemies]. And we speak frankly and stand by what we say

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and wherever our presence is needed, wherever there is need for our help

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to counter and confront [the common front of] disbelief and arrogance, we will send our help there. We say this outspokenly,

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[and] we exercise no caution in saying this in [our] faceoff and encounter with the world of disbelief and arrogance. We stand on ceremony with nobody

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and say our word and express what is in our heart quite frankly. Today, such a reality exists in the Islamic world and we hope that,

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through the divine assistance, the day will come when Palestine is returned to [control of] the Palestinian people

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and the people of Palestine will own their land and Palestinian refugees will return to Palestine.

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That day will be the day of celebration and jubilation for the Islamic world

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and on that day, the real blow that crushes the [global] arrogance will be dealt to it

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and we endeavor and work toward it and, God willing, that day will come.

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Once again, I welcome all of you, dear brethren and sisters,

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and entrust all of you to God’s protection and I hope that, God willing, this conference of yours would be a blessed conference.

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Peace be unto you and so may the mercy of Allah and His blessings