Supreme Leader s Annual Hajj Messages 2002

All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. May blessings and peace be upon Muhammad, the Master of creation, upon the pure ones of his progeny and his dedicated Companions. May peace be upon all righteous servants of Allah. Allah, the Exalted, says:

Here the bonds of attachment, of neglect and spiritual pollution are removed-albeit temporarily-together with the physical attires and adornments, and the white of the dress of ihram overwhelms the bodies and hearts with a sense of purity, elegance and oneness. The doors are opened, to see, listen and perceive that which is source of everlasting salvation. The buds of righteousness, knowledge and Islamic fraternity sprout, and the guiding hand of Allah becomes visible.
Here is the great camp of the Islamic Ummah, a drilling ground meant to produce godliness and fellowship with the people, and to liberate from false and profane identities and restore the real divine identity. Here is the site of the disavowal of the devil and Satan, and the place to join the hosts of the All-beneficent. Here is the place to renew the covenant to avoid the worship of Satan and to respond to the declaration that Allah and His Apostle repudiate the polytheists. Here is the theater for self-expression of the one Islamic Ummah, and a stage for expression of the spiritual dignity and human power of Muslims.
 
These characteristics assume a greater prominence in our era and at this critical and sensitive juncture, which is one of confrontation between truth and falsehood and the forces of good and evil.
Today the call of the Prophet of Mercy resounds with greater power and clarity. The call of Islam, which is the summons to justice, freedom and salvation, echoes with a greater force. The gloomy spells of the night of injustice, arrogance and despotism on the one hand, and ignorance, superstition and deception on the other, make urgent, more than ever before, man's need for the light of salvation and his thirst for justice, peace and brotherhood. Today, the celestial summons of "Come to the word common between you and us, that we worship none except Allah," which is a repudiation of the idols of power and wealth and a clarion call to join the forces of resistance to injustice and oppression, draws the hearts of the victims and gives them hope and reassurance with the words "Indeed Allah is able to grant them victory."
The Muslim nations are the first addressees of this Divine message. The Islamic world, east and west, surges with Islamic awakening and a reawakened sense of identity and dignity. The triumphant banner of Islamic honour and authority flies over Islamic Iran, and the oppressed Palestinian people, by taking resort in Islamic ideals, have darkened the horizons of Zionism covered with billowing clouds of despair and defeat. In Islamic countries, the youth have launched a struggle inspired by Islamic ideals and posed a great threat to the world's aggressive and arrogant powers.
Despite the flood of false allegations and distortions of facts released by centers of Zionist and imperialist propaganda and directed towards Islam and its courageous and self-sacrificing votaries, the visage of genuine Islam taught by Muhammad-may Allah bless him and his progeny-has gradually become visible today for the world's people. Gradually, they are finding out that Islam is a religion of justice, freedom and salvation, a creed of reason, thought and learning. Islam is a faith of life, but it regards a life devoid of honour, freedom and dignity as death. It is a creed of rationality; but it fights those who would masquerade sensuality as rationality, a device of those who would label God's prophets as madmen. It is a religion of solidarity, brotherhood, and world peace; but it regards alliance between the oppressor and the oppressed and shaking hands with the executioner over the corpses of martyrs as treason. It is a religion of realism and objective calculation, but it considers it a sin to justify wrongdoing in the name of realism. It is a religion of unchanging laws, but it does not accept stagnation and slavish literalism. It is a religion of ijtihad and renewal of thought, but it rejects heretical innovation and syncretism. It is a religion of forgiveness and pardon, but it does not permit submission to injustice and humiliation. It is a religion of civilization, science and development; but it rejects as ignorance a science that serves as the means of enslavement of nations and mass destruction and denounces as barbarism a civilization that serves as the tool of abasement of human beings. It is a religion of jihad, but it does not consider a war devoid of logic and waged merely for domination as jihad. It is a religion of honour, power and sovereignty, but it does not make them a basis for justifying ignoble means.
Islam protects the rights of human beings and their inviolability. It provides a guarantee for the fulfillment of moral values and merits. It is a votary of peace and security. The ugliest and the most unmanly of allegations are leveled against it by those who label Islam as a danger to human rights, civilization and security, and who make them a means of justifying their oppressive domination over Muslim nations.
 
Muslim nations! Scholars of religion! Intellectuals! Youths and self-respecting people of the Islamic world!
 
  The Islamic Ummah is today a target of all kinds of threats and allegations. Amuck imperialism led by the US regime, and pandered and incited by the Zionist regime, exploits the division and separation between Muslim nations. The uprising of the Palestinian nation and the proud banner of the Intifada have enraged and frightened the political strategists of imperialism, inciting them to insolent moves and frenzied saber rattling. The events of September 11 in New York have provided an excuse for the mounting highhandedness of the White House and the unprecedented crimes of the Zionist regime in Palestine. After the catastrophic American operations in Afghanistan, the sinister militaristic countenance of the US government threatens the world more than ever before with insecurity, war and bloodshed. The war against terrorism and support for 'peace' in the Middle East have become pretexts for US violence and militancy and a disguise for domination over other nations and encroachment on their vital interests and resources.
It is indeed an ugly joke that the promoter of most acts of terrorism, the divisor of most coup d'etats, the producer of the most lethal of weapons, the patron of the most dangerous terrorists, should claim to be the leader of the rightful international war on terrorism! And it is indeed the most vulgar of ironies that the massacre of Palestinian men, women and children, the destruction of their homes and their expulsion from their ancestral homeland should be styled as the defense of peace!
Islamic Iran is charged by the rulers of the White House of undercutting the Middle East peace process. They are unaware that unjust aggression against the rights of the Palestinian nation and the usurpation of their homeland-actions which are misleadingly called 'peace'-do not need to be undermined by any state to end in failure and defeat. This unjust process is intrinsically condemned to bankruptcy and failure. The present awakening of the Palestinian nation, informed as it is with a spirit of self-respect and sacrifice, is one of its sure signs.
Islamic Iran will not set aside the banner of Islam as a creed of self-respect, clarity of vision, freedom and salvation, by cowing to the bullying threats of the imperialists. Islamic Iran considers terrorism as the enemy of human welfare and it has itself paid a heavy price in its struggle against terrorists reared by the United States and Israel. Islamic Iran will not be daunted by the threats of imperialism or frightened by its scowling visage.
 The Iranian nation and government have a great regard for their bold, independent and wise policies, which are a legacy of the great Imam Khomeini. The impressive march of February 10 (22 Behman) this year staged by the Iranian people was a sagacious response to the nonsense of those who dreamt of creating or publicizing a fissure between the people and the Islamic order, or between the principal constituents of the system.
The Iranian people and government denounce America's threatening postures and its war-mongering, which are evidence of barbarism and bellicosity. They consider the infirm logic and hawkishness of this government as a sign of fundamental and deep-seated infirmities and flaws in the foundations of the oppressive imperialist system. The Iranian people and government invite the brotherly nations to solidarity and extend them a friendly hand. The ulema, intellectuals, statesmen and the Muslim world should rehearse the lessons of solidarity, steadfastness and understanding for their peoples and prepare the sturdy youth of this generation for confronting great events, for carrying the burden of a great trust, of laying the foundations of a united monolithic Ummah of Islam.
The Hajj is the starting point and a perennial source for this momentous and blessed struggle.
I beseech Allah, the Exalted, to enable you all to return to your homelands with rich rewards of spirituality and gnosis, and to bless the Muslim Ummah with the prayers of the Great Wali of Allah.
  Was-Salamu 'alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh