In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master and Prophet, Ab-al-Qassem Al-Mustafa Muhammad, upon his pure and immaculate household, upon his chosen companions and upon those who follow them until the Day of Judgment

I would like to congratulate all you honorable participants, dear guests, the ambassadors of Islamic countries who are present in this meeting, the esteemed guests of Unity Week, all the people of Iran, the entire Islamic Ummah and all liberated individuals in the world on the occasion of the auspicious and blessed birthday anniversary of the Holy Prophet of Islam and also the blissful birthday anniversary of that Hazrat's descendent– Hazrat Ja'far ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq (greetings be upon him and his forefathers).

I hope that this day and these birthday anniversaries will help all of us gain a new understanding about the responsibility and path which are ahead of us and which we should fulfil by the blessing of the Prophet’s birthday.

The auspicious existence of the Holy Prophet was mercy. It was mercy for all the worlds. This mercy is bestowed upon the followers of that great personality and those who accept his path and his guidance. They will benefit from divine mercy. God says, "That mercy I shall ordain for those who do right, and practice regular charity, and those who believe in Our signs. Those who follow the messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own scriptures - in the Torah and the Evangel" [The Holy Quran: 7: 156-157].

Those who obey that great personality, follow his lead and accept his guidance will benefit from divine mercy. This is a divine promise which is irrevocable. The world of Islam and the Islamic Ummah have gone through many peaks and valleys, but they will benefit from worldly and otherworldly mercy only when they follow the Holy Prophet: "So it is those who believe in him, honor him, help him, and follow the light which is sent down with him - it is they who will prosper" [The Holy Quran, 7: 157]. Those who follow the Holy Prophet's path will benefit from divine mercy.

The Holy Prophet brought the masses of people purity. He brought them salvation from shackles. What the Holy Prophet presented to humanity did not include and exclude a specific group of people. It belonged to the entire humanity. Those who follow and obey him benefit from this. The Holy Prophet helps people break the shackles which are tied around their necks, their hands and their feet: the shackles which prevent them from moving forward and from flying, which make them drift away from spirituality and which create a bitter life for humans.

What are these shackles? They are captivity at the hands of superpowers' oppression, arrogance which is shown by the arrogant, the existence of class inequalities, and oppressive and arrogant aristocracy. The shackles are these. The Holy Prophet confronted and fought against these shackles. Nations can continue this path as long as they stand firm and show resistance. They can overcome superpowers. Today, grave plots are being hatched by superpowers in the world against the Islamic Ummah, but it is possible to stand up against these plots and to foil them.

Hazrat Musa [Moses] (greetings be upon our Prophet and upon him) said to Allah the Exalted: "Our Lord! You have indeed bestowed on Pharaoh and his chiefs splendor and wealth in the life of the present, and so, Our Lord, they mislead men from Your Path. Deface, our Lord, the features of their wealth, and send hardness to their hearts, so they will not believe until they see the grievous penalty" [The Holy Quran, 10: 88]. He cursed them. The Pharaoh was a very strong power for Hazrat Musa. Power, wealth, talent, weapons, money and everything else were at his disposal. But Musa was alone. He made this request to Allah in a beseeching manner. Then Allah the Exalted said in response: "Accepted is your prayer." He said that he accepted the prayers of those two – Musa and Harun [Aaron]. However, there is one condition: "So stand straight, and follow not the path of those who know not" [The Holy Quran, 10: 89]. He said that they should stand firm and resist.

Resistance in the arena of military war, in the arena of political war and in the arena of the war of the wills are different from each other. Nonetheless, resistance is necessary in all these arenas. If nations and outstanding personalities do not forget about resistance, victory will definitely be achieved. Of course, today, they have deployed their forces against the Islamic Ummah: America, global arrogance and their cohorts including Zionism – the Zionist regime – reactionaries, global money worshippers, and lustful individuals among Muslims who follow those powers who have deployed their forces against Islam and against the path of the Holy Prophet: "You have indeed bestowed on Pharaoh and his chiefs splendor and wealth in the life of the present." Today, the Pharaohs are these people. Today, the Pharaoh is America. Today, the Pharaoh is the Zionist regime. Today, the Pharaohs are their cohorts in the region who want to gradually pit Muslims against each other and to wage war in the region. Today, this is America’s plan.

Everyone should pay attention to this. Everyone should know this. American politicians themselves have acknowledged in their analyses – whether knowingly or unknowingly – that they should wage war and create discord in West Asia and pit Muslims against each other so that the Zionist regime can have security and live a comfortable life. They are doing this in order to prevent Muslims from making progress. They want the body of the Islamic Ummah to lose so much blood in a way that it becomes weak and unconscious and loses its power of resistance. What should we do in the face of this? "So stand straight, and follow not the path of those who know not." We should not follow the path of the ignorant.

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