[FULL TEXT] [SERMON 1] Friday Prayer Sermon by Imam Khamenei

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and may blessings and peace be upon our Master and Prophet, Abu al-Qasim, the Chosen One, Muhammad, and upon his untainted, pure, and chosen family, especially the remnant of Allah on earth. O’ Allah, I praise You, I seek Your help, I seek Your forgiveness, and I trust in You. Peace be upon the Imams of Muslims, the protectors of the oppressed, and the guides of the believers.

Allah the Exalted says, “Some of the Mo’mineen and the Mo’minaat, are the Awliya over the other [from among them]. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, and establish prayer and give the Zakat, and obey Allah and His Messenger. They are those whom Allah will have mercy upon. Indeed, Allah is esteemed and wise.” [Quran 09:71]

I invite and advise all the dear brothers and sisters, and myself to observe Taqwallah. In our speech, in our actions, we must be careful to not go beyond the limits set by Allah; this is the meaning of Taqwa.

In this verse that I recited, the important issue of the Mo’mineen’s connection with each other has been raised, where in Quranic terms, this link and connection [between Mo’mineen] is called “Wilayah”. The Wilayah of Mo’mineen upon one another. This matter is mentioned in several verses of the Quran. In this verse, the result of this Wilayah and solidarity is introduced as the mercy of Allah.

“They are those whom Allah will have mercy upon” [Quran 09:71].

That is, if you Muslims have a bond, communication, cooperation, and empathy with each other, Allah’s mercy will encompass you.

Then Allah says, “Surely, Allah is esteemed and wise” [Quran 09:71]. Allah ends the honorable verse by mentioning divine honor and divine wisdom. Maybe because Allah’s mercy in this case is proportional to Allah’s glory and Allah’s wisdom. Because Allah’s mercy includes all kinds of virtues revealed by Allah to His servants. All the blessings, all the favors, and all the events of life are a divine mercy. But in this honorable verse, this mercy is proportional to “dignity” and “wisdom”. Allah’s glory means the domination of Allah’s power upon all the world of existence.

Divine wisdom means the strength and constancy of all the laws of creation. Perhaps, in this verse, Allah wanted to make us pay attention to the notion that if Muslims unite and concord with each other, divine honor and divine wisdom will support them. They can make use of Allah’s infinite power. They can make use of the requirements of Allah’s traditions and Allah’s laws.

So, what does this Wilayah mean? It means the connection and solidarity of Muslims with each other. This is the Quranic policy for Muslims. The policy of the Quran for Muslims is that Muslim nations [and] Muslim groups, have solidarity with each other. It is as if it promises that if you Muslim nations have this solidarity, this results in that the glory of Allah will support you. It means that you will overcome all obstacles, you will be victorious over all enemies; Allah’s wisdom is your support. It means that all the laws of creation will be used for your progress. This is the logic of the Quran and the politics of the Quran.

The opposite point of this policy is the politics of the enemies of Islam, meaning the arrogant [powers] and transgressors of the world. Their policy is “divide and rule”. The basis of their work is division. They have implemented this policy of creating divisions in Islamic countries with all kinds of tricks until today. And they still haven’t given up and cause the hearts of the Islamic nations to have animosity towards each other. But today the [Muslim] nations have woken up. Today is the day that the Islamic Ummah can overcome this trick of the enemies of Islam and the Muslims.

I humbly say that the enemy of the Iranian nation is the same enemy that is the enemy of the Palestinian nation, that is the enemy of the Lebanese nation, that is the enemy of the Iraqi nation, that is the enemy of the Egyptian nation, that is the enemy of the Syrian nation, [and] that is the enemy of the Yemeni nation. The enemy is the same, the methods of the enemy are different in different countries. In some places [their enmity is] via psychological warfare, in some places via economic pressure, in some places via two-ton bombs, in some places via weapons, in some places via a smile; this is the policy our enemies are pursuing.

But the command center is in one place, the enemy receives orders from one place, they receive orders to attack Muslim populations and Muslim nations from one place. If this policy is successful in one country, meaning it leads to the domination over that country, when they get that country out of their way, they go on to another country. [Muslim] nations must not allow this.

Any nation that wants to avoid being afflicted by the enemy’s paralyzing siege, it must open its eyes and be awake right from the beginning. When they see that the enemy is moving on to another nation, they must consider themselves to be part and parcel with that oppressed nation that is subjected to oppression; help them, work with them so that the enemy does not succeed there. If the enemy succeeds there, he will come to the next point.

We Muslims have neglected this reality for many years, we have also seen its results. Today, we must no longer be negligent. We must be alert. We must tighten the belt of defense, the belt of independence, [the belt of] honor, from Afghanistan to Yemen, from Iran to Gaza and Lebanon, to all Islamic countries and Islamic nations. This is the first subject that I wanted to share today.

Today, most of my conversation is with the Lebanese and Palestinian brothers who are in difficulties, which I will tell them about in the next sermon. The second point is that the defensive rules of Islam have determined our duty. Both the defensive rules of Islam, our own constitution, and international laws – the same laws that we didn’t influence in the writing of those laws – but even in those same laws, this matter that I am presenting is among definite things, which is that every nation has the right to defend its land, its home, its country, its interests against the aggressor; this is the meaning of these words.

The meaning of these words is that the Palestinian nation has the right to stand up against an enemy who has taken over its land, occupied its house, destroyed its farms, ruined its life; the Palestinian nation has the right. This is a solid logic that today’s global laws also confirm.

Who does Palestine belong to? Who are the Palestinian people? Where did these [zionist] occupiers come from? The Palestinian nation has the right to stand up against them. [And] no court, no center, no international organization has the right to object against the Palestinian nation saying that why are you standing up against the usurping Zionist regime; they have no right [to object]. [And] those who help the Palestinian nation are carrying out their duty.

There is no international law, that anyone can bring up to object against the Lebanese nation, to object against the Lebanese Hezbollah, saying why have you supported Gaza [and] the uprising of the Palestinian nation,. It is their duty [to support the Palestinians], they had to do it. This is both an Islamic ruling, a rational law, and an international and global logic. The Palestinians are defending their own land; their defense is legitimate, [and] helping them is also legitimate.

Therefore, all of these attacks and the al-Aqsa Storm that occurred last year around this same time, was a correct, logical, [and] internationally legal move, and the right was with the Palestinians. The Lebanese people’s fierce defense of the Palestinian people is subject to the same ruling. It is also legal, reasonable, logical, and legitimate, and no one has the right to criticize them saying why have you entered [the arena] in their defense. The brilliant work of our armed forces in the previous two or three nights was a completely legal and legitimate action.

What our armed forces did was the least punishment for the usurping Zionist regime in comparison to the astonishing crimes of that regime – the bloodsucking regime, the wolf-like regime, and the rabid dog of America in the region. Whatever duty the Islamic Republic has in this field, it will do it with strength, firmness, and determination. We will neither procrastinate, nor will we hurry in carrying out this duty.

We won’t delay, we won’t cut corners, [and] we won’t rush. That which is logical, is reasonable, is right, [and] according to the military and political decision makers, will be done in its own time. Just as it has been done [in the past] and will be done again in the future, if necessary.

In the second sermon, the issues of Lebanon will be addressed, and the audience of that sermon is our Arab brothers in the countries of the region; therefore, I will deliver the sermon in Arabic.

Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei
October 4, 2024