Imam Khamenei receives war veterans and their families

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

I am very happy that I thankfully have another opportunity to meet with a group of you dear ones- even though this has not been enough. Some of the dear disabled war veterans said to me that they have been waiting for this meeting for 20, 30 years and I said to them in response that we are very sorry that they have been waiting for 20 years for a matter of such little significance. Anyway, part of it was because of our inability and part of it was our fault and other such issues. This is the case. Unfortunately we could not hold more meetings and if we could, we like to be with you a lot more than this.

First, Allah the Exalted has recorded your efforts and He will reward you for that. By Allah’s favor, you will receive more rewards on a daily basis. This is because unlike martyrs, your duty is still ongoing and you are subject to pain and to tests through a gradual process. Martyrs were hit by one mortar shell and one bullet and then they departed for paradise, they flew to paradise, and thus their mission was fulfilled. But this is not the case for you. Every day and every hour that passes, you have certain pains and difficulties and you are enduring them.

Allah the Exalted is aware of your hearts and He knows that you are enduring, and every minute, hour and day during which you endure these problems, increases your rewards. Therefore, it is precisely true that the rewards of disabled war veterans will increase on a daily basis. The more hours you are alive, the more your rewards will increase.

We have narrations that sometimes when we give away something – one dirham or a small amount of money – in the way of God, Allah the Exalted will return it to us on Judgment Day the size of Mount Uhud. What you did is like this. You offered one part of your body and you endured one deprivation, which is of course very important and for which you will receive many rewards, but these rewards are constantly increasing and expanding in number. Therefore, you should be thankful to God for this increase in your rewards.

Second, even in the present time, you war veterans are fighting. Even in the present time, you are in fact doing jihad with your disability. How? I do not only mean cultural jihad. I do not mean that you deliver a speech and make certain statements somewhere, do something special, donate money and teach something. Of course, these acts are important in themselves and they are jihadi acts, but the fact that you are sitting in a wheelchair, lying on your bed and walking in the streets and markets with a loss of your vision, your hands and your feet is fighting in itself. Why is that? It is because it shows the calamities and pains of our people during a difficult time. In fact, you are portraying the war and the Sacred Defense Era, like an image and picture, to all those people who are watching you. You are an image of the difficult times that the people of Iran went through and the great test that they passed.

The very essence of your presence and your existence is a battle, expression and promotion. Looking at you shows the crimes of those powers that supported and defended the regime of Saddam. Taking a look at you tells of the greatness and magnanimity of the Imam and the Revolution that managed to build you in this way and to send you to the arenas of war. Taking a look at you tells a part of the history and life of the people of Iran. Therefore, with their existence and presence among the people, disabled war veterans announce certain realities although they do not speak a single word and although they do not participate in any ceremony as promoters and as people who display something. The very essence of your existence tells of certain realities – historical, ideological, political and international realities. This is the case. This is rewardable in itself before Allah the Exalted. This was another point.

The third point is about the ladies who take care of you and your pains as your wives. As the gentleman said in his beautiful poem, these ladies are fighters in the real sense of the word. This is fighting and it is a great fighting. Their service is of great value. Nursing is not less painful – if not more – than suffering a disease. If one nurses, takes care of and listens to a disabled war veteran with his problems and his physical shortcomings and if one does not lose patience with him because of the natural impatience that he might show, this has great rewards before Allah the Exalted. I can tell you ladies – the wives of you disabled war veterans – that Allah the Exalted is giving you glad tidings because of the greatness of the work that you are doing. This is really a jihad and an epic. This is another point.

The last point is that you dear disabled war veterans and ladies, and your children, your relatives and all those people who play a part in taking care of you should try to preserve this great spiritual wealth. You should know that sometimes with our negligence, those great sources of wealth that are at our disposal will be taken away from us. If we show negligence, if we do not pay attention and if we do not act on the basis of this spiritual and divine position, what is available to us as spiritual wealth will be gone.

Therefore, we should be careful. I hope that God will give all of us the capability to preserve these divine blessings – some of which are worldly and some of which are otherworldly – and to thank Him for them.

Once more, I would like to welcome you dear brothers and sisters on the occasion of today’s meeting and your coming to this Hussainiyah and I thank you for that. I ask Allah the Exalted to gladden your hearts, to help you improve your work and to satisfy your needs and your requests. I hope that Allah the Exalted preserves your children, that He sweetens your lives and that He bestows on you a long life with complete health.

Greetings be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings

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