The following is an excerpt of the message delivered on July 29, 2020, by Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, on the occasion of the arrival of Hajj 2020:

1. Hajj is a unique obligation. Among Islamic obligations, it is the flower with a hundred petals. With it, all important individual, social, worldly, heavenly, historic and global aspects of religion are studied and reviewed.

2. Deliberation on the phenomenon of Hajj can help hajj pilgrims firmly believe that many ideals and aspirations of religion for humanity will not yield fruits without the cooperation, solidarity and camaraderie of the pious. Should this solidarity and cooperation come into being, then the subterfuges and tricks of the hostile enemies will not create big problems for the continuation of this path.

3. Hajj is a maneuver to show off one’s power in the face of the arrogant people who are the center of corruption, oppression, the destruction of the weak, and plunder. Today, the body and soul of the Islamic Ummah is covered with blood due to their oppression and their malevolence.

4. Hajj is a manifestation of the hard and soft powers of the Islamic Ummah. This runs in the nature of Hajj. It is the soul of Hajj and it incorporates some of the most important goals of Hajj. This definition is one that our late Imam – the great Khomeini – described as “Ibrahimi Hajj”. If those in charge of Hajj – who refer to themselves as the servants of the two Holy Places – commit themselves to this manifestation of Hajj and if they choose divine satisfaction over pleasing the US government, this can solve great problems for the world of Islam. 

5. Today, as has been the case always and all the time, the Islamic Ummah’s interests clearly lie in unity: such a unity that forges a unanimous hand in the face of threats and enemies. Such a unity that can let out a thunderous cry at the embodiment of Satan – transgressing America – and at its mad dog, the Zionist regime. Such a unity that can resist bullying and thuggish behavior in a courageous manner.

6. Today, the ground for bringing about this fundamental transformation is available, more than ever, to the Islamic Ummah, to sympathetic intellectuals and to those who have well intentions for the Ummah.

7. Today, Islamic Awakening – in other words, the attention of Muslim intellectuals and youth to their ideological and spiritual assets – is an undeniable truth.

8. Today, liberalism and communism, which were considered 50, 100 years ago as the most prominent achievements of western civilization – have completely lost their glamor and their fatal flaws have become visible.

9. Today, there are many intellectuals in the world of Islam who challenge all ideological and civilizational claims of the west with total honor, glory and dignity and who explicitly display Islamic alternatives.

10. oday, even those western thinkers who would introduce liberalism, in the past, as the end of history have no option other than taking back their claims and acknowledging their sense of bewilderedness in theory and in practice.

11. A perfunctory look at the streets of the US, at the behavior of US politicians towards their people, at the deep valley of class inequalities in that country, at the embarrassment and stupidity of those who have been chosen to run that country, at the dreadful racism there, at the cruelty of an officer who tortures an innocent individual to death on the street and does so in cold blood and in front of others, reveals the depth of the moral and social crisis in the western civilization and also the deviation and falsehood of its political and economic philosophy.

12. The behavior of the US towards weak nations is an extension of the behavior of the police officer who puts his knees on the neck of a defenseless person of color, pressing so long until he dies.

13. Ibrahimi hajj is a glorious Islamic phenomenon against this modern form of jahilliyah [ignorance]. Hajj is an invitation to Islam and it is a symbolic display of life in the Islamic community. This is a community in which the symbiosis of believers around the pivot of monotheism is the best sign.

14. Refraining from tension and conflict, from discrimination and aristocratic privileges, from corruption and impurity, is the necessary precondition. Throwing stones at Satan, expressing one’s hatred of polytheists, establishing a close bond with the poor, helping the needy and displaying the signs of faith are among the main responsibilities of Muslims. And gaining access to public interests and benefits accompanied by the remembrance of God, expression of one’s gratitude to Him and being His humble servant are the mid-term and ultimate goals.

15. With the guidance and leadership of the great Imam Khomeini, we people of Iran stepped onto this path and achieved success while we had such an enthusiasm. We do not claim that we have managed to achieve everything that we pursue and we like, but we claim that we have moved forward to a large extent on this path and that we have succeeded in overcoming many obstacles.

16. In the shade of trust in Quranic promises, we have remained firm and strong. The greatest devil, bandit and traitor of our time – the US regime – has not managed to frighten us, to intimidate us with its deceptions and tricks and to prevent us from making worldly and otherworldly progress.

17. We consider all Muslim nations to be our brothers and we will behave in a kind and just manner towards the non-Muslims who have not participated in the camp of confrontation and hostility. We consider the grief and sorrow of Muslim societies as our own sorrow and grief and we will do our utmost to find a cure for it.

18. Our eternal concerns are helping innocent Palestine and showing sympathy to the injured body of Yemen and to the consternations of Muslims subject to oppression in any part of the world.

19. We also consider it our duty to offer words of advice to the heads of some Muslim countries who have resorted to the bosom of the enemy instead of relying on their Muslim brothers. They tolerate humiliation and bullying at the hands of the enemy just for the sake of temporary profits and they put the dignity and independence of their nations on auction.

20. These are people who condone the survival of the usurping and oppressive Zionist regime and who extend their hand of friendship to them privately and openly. It is they to whom I am offering these words of advice and I warn them about the bitter consequences of this behavior.

21. We regard the presence of the US in West Asia as detrimental to regional nations and as a cause of insecurity, destruction and backwardness for countries.

22. As for the current events in the US – the anti-discriminatory and anti-racial movement – our definite position is to support the people and to condemn the despicable behavior of the racist government in that country.