Speech number Forty-Nine
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
I seek forgiveness from you gentlemen for not being able to maintain much contact with you due to my age and weak constitution. There is no barrier existing between me and you and anyone wishing to see me may do so, I welcome everyone. We are all brothers together and I am very fond of you gentlemen who are performing a service for Islam and your country here abroad. The reason I cannot come out and contact you much must be put down to my heavy workload, which does not give me much time, and also my old age, which saps my strength, otherwise I
would very much like to keep in constant contact with you all so that I might express my appreciation and thank all you young Muslim people abroad who are busy both with your studies and with serving Islam and the Muslims.
Today, I do not have anything new to add to that which I have already said before, my words have always centred around the same thing. From the very beginning of the Islamic movement, which began about fifteen years ago and which has passed through different stages, sometimes progressing quickly, sometimes slowly, up until the present when, praise be to God, it has reached its peak, our aim, one in which we have persevered, has been the same, and that is to secure freedom and independence for the Iranian nation. Both these demands are legitimate rights that all human societies, those that is which have not strayed from the path of humanity, recognise. A nation of thirty or thirty-five million people is being suppressed; for fifty years this thirty-million-strong nation has been stifled and repressed and has suffered difficulties in every respect. Throughout this period, its preachers and orators have not been free to speak out on different matters, it has enjoyed neither a free press nor has its radio been a national radio run by the people. All have been under police pressure and control. But now this thirty-million-strong nation, having been deprived of its legitimate right for fifty years, has risen up and is demanding its right. The people are saying that they want to be free and this is a demand that all human societies recognise, for it is a just demand. The Iranian people are not asking for something which is not their right.
Secondly they demand independence. There have been many periods in our history, and especially during the rule of this father and son, although more so during the rule of the son, when our country was dominated in all aspects by foreigners. Our economy is now disrupted because it is being controlled by foreigners. They are taking our oil and in return they build bases for themselves in Iran, that is, they sell us the weapons for bases to be built for themselves here. They have kept our education in a state of backwardness; they do not allow our young people to receive a proper education lest some of them begin to oppose what they are doing here. They do not permit our Islamic culture to develop, and through their propaganda, they try to distance the people from Islam and the `ulama of Islam, for they know that the two oppose their designs, and they realise that were true Islam put into practice in Iran, or in other countries, the foreigners would have no place there. One of the commands of Islam states that foreigners should not be allowed to interfere in the destiny of Muslims. If the `ulama of Islam acquire power, they will not permit this command to be forgotten, they will put it into practice. So these two forces, the forces of Islam and the `ulama, must be defeated (in the view of the foreigners).
For many years their specialists studied the problem and arrived at the conclusion that those barriers which could possibly stop them from achieving their aims should be destroyed, and they determined how they should be destroyed. After much research into the matter, they decided that one of these barriers is the country's culture and education, such that if Iran were to have one proper university, one non-parasitic and independent university, then righteous people would be found there, independent-minded scholars would be found there who would not let them do whatever they want to do. This itself would be a barrier blocking these opportunists in their aims. So education must be kept in a state of backwardness so that the foreigners can take the advantage.
Another barrier which is greater than all the others is Islam. Islam is an obstacle to their exploitative plans so the Muslims must be made to view it disparagingly, they must be distanced from it. To this end, their propagandists, wherever and in whatever way they can, spread the idea that Islam contains rules which pertain to one thousand four hundred years ago and that it is of no use today. They describe it by using words such as "reactionary" and "retrogressive," amongst other such inappropriate adjectives, while others say it is dictatorial. A person here yesterday said that some people believe - and perhaps he was airing his own views but was too shy to say so - that once we get rid of the Shah's dictatorship we will be faced with the problem of an Islamic dictatorship! I asked him: "Which Islamic government have you seen up until the present that has led you to believe that Islam is dictatorial?" I will relate some of the stories that I have in mind now so that these gentlemen who presume that Islamic government means a dictatorship will realise how uninformed they really are on the subject. One story, which has been fully confirmed, concerns the Prophet, who is the head of Islam, and the other is about Imam `Ali.
The first is about the time that the Most Noble Messenger was the ruler. It is related how one day, towards the end of his life when he was ill, this leader of Islam, who, according to the logic of the gentleman who was here yesterday, was a dictator, went to the mosque and ascended the pulpit where he told the congregation that if any one of them was nursing a grievance against him to speak out so that he might put it right. An Arab gentleman stood up saying that he had a grievance against him. When the Prophet asked him what it was, he said: "You struck me on the shoulder," upon which the Prophet told him to come forward and return like for like. The man said: "When you struck my shoulder it was bare." So, as the story has it, the Prophet bared his own shoulder so that the man could strike it. However, the gentleman came forward and kissed the Prophet's shoulder instead. Tell me, is this how a dictator acts?! The head of a nation declared that if anyone had a morally just or legal claim against him that person was to speak out so that he might put it right, even had the Prophet taken ten pennies off someone, that person had the right to say "you have wronged me, you have taken my wealth." But no one said anything, only this one man who said that the Prophet had struck him, and then it became clear that this was merely an excuse on his part to kiss the naked shoulder of the Prophet. Now if amongst all the world's governments, all those governments which you consider to be democratic, you can find one leader who will stand before the nation, before peasants, and tell them to speak out if they have a morally just or legal claim against him, if you can find one government in the world which acts in this way, then you can say that the Islamic system of government is dictatorial.
Another story which I would like to relate for you concerns Imam `Ali, upon whom be peace. A Jew went to a judge, whom Imam `Ali himself had appointed, complaining that Imam `Ali had a coat of mail belonging to him. The judge sent for Imam `Ali, who came and sat before him with the Jew, even insisting that he be shown no preferential treatment while the Jew's case was heard. At the end of the hearing, the judge found in favour of the Jew and commanded Imam `Ali to give him back his coat of mail! Imam `Ali was the leader at that time, he was the caliph, the sultan, yet the judge, who had been appointed by him, summoned him to court and Imam `Ali complied and sat before him along with the complainant, who was a Jew, while the case against him was heard, and at the end of the hearing it was Imam `Ali who was found to be in the wrong! If you can find just one government from amongst all these democratic governments which acts like this, then you can say that Islamic government is dictatorial.
Yes, did you think that an Islamic government is that which is in power in the Hijaz at present?! The government there has nothing to do with Islam; they (the rulers there) too are dictators who only pay lip service to Islam. Or did you suppose it was like the government of that military ruler in Pakistan? He knows nothing about Islam.
An Islamic government is like that which was in effect at the time of the Prophet and Imam `Ali, its leaders act as they did and in the eyes of the law they are on a par with the lowliest in the land. Do not think that were an Islamic government set up it would torment the people or ignore education and take everything back to such and such a time! This is just idle talk which is spoken to deceive the people, to frighten them away from Islam and belittle the Islamic `ulama in their eyes. At the time of Riza Shah, the Islamic `ulama were disparaged to such a great extent that when a clergyman wished to ride in a taxi, the wretch of a driver would not allow him into his car saying: "You and certain others are people we will not allow into our cars!" This is what it was like at the time of Riza Shah. Indeed their propaganda has been so effective that they have led our people, our youth, to believe that the mullahs work for the court! Well, if this were correct, then why did they clench their fists and rise up against the court? These people who have now clenched their fists are following the example of the `ulama, this movement began with them. Are they then courtiers? Of course there are those who wear turbans on their heads and have joined the service of the court, but they number only three or four and the people know who they are. They are not true members of the `ulama, they are people whom SAVAK has issued with a turban and describe as mullahs! When have the `ulama ever been affiliated to the court?! This idea has been created by imperialist propaganda to distance you from the `ulama, for when the power of the `ulama has been separated from the power of the people, then the `ulama can do nothing. This is all part of the imperialists' plans to distance the youth, through different forms of propaganda, from Islam and the `ulama of Islam, for once this has been achieved they will be able to do whatever they want (in the country).
However, be that as it may, this uprising, this movement which is taking place in Iran now is becoming more extensive day by day. As we sit here a revolution is unfurling in many Iranian cities, the people have raised their voices in protest, there are clashes and killings. Iran is now gripped by a revolution which like a flood is sweeping away the Shah and destroying the interests of those who have benefited from his rule. Please God it will succeed. We ourselves want to administer this country, which is ours and which has been passed on to us from our ancestors. We don't want the American President to send people to administer it! We don't want him to send someone to control our army, we don't want our universities to be under his control or our Members of Parliament to be appointed from the list which the foreigners give. We want our nation to appoint its own parliamentary representatives. For fifty years now the people have not enjoyed true parliamentary representation. From the time that the Constitution came into being up until the present it has not been observed as it should have been. Before the establishment of the Constitution our country was always subjected to the rule of despots, but its situation since then has been even worse. When at the time of the despots were there so many killings? When at the time of the despots did the country suffer from so much suppression? Our clergymen have not been free to speak out, nor have our politicians, our academics or our students. No one has been allowed to utter a word. Two years ago this was still the case, however today, praise be to God, things are slightly better and the people are speaking out a little more freely than before.
The imperialists are trying to divide you through this propaganda that they disseminate. They want to distance you from Islam and other Muslims through different means and by employing different names so that they can execute their plans. To this end, they create deviations and promote much propaganda about how the clergymen are "retrogressive" and "reactionary!" Who are the reactionaries? Which manifestations of civilisation are the clergy opposed to? We accept all aspects of civilisation, what we don't accept are these deviations. We say that a country in which the centres of corruption outnumber the libraries or whose inhabitants stand in line to sell their blood cannot be a country for us! According to what we are told, the poor people are having to queue up to sell their blood in order to get a few tumans to subsist on! We are saying that this situation has to change, the centres of fornication must go, this plundering must end. We are saying that one group of people should not have to live in hovels or go into holes in the ground to sleep while another owns multimillion dollar villas at home and abroad. This is what the `ulama of Islam are saying. They are calling for the establishment of Islam, of justice, of Islamic justice; they want the nation's wealth to be distributed more evenly and Islamic laws to be implemented. An Islamic government is a just system of government, far better than the present one; it is a government minus the thieving, the plundering, the wrongdoings and the bullying. There should be no bullying or oppression, plundering should not be allowed, the wealth of the nation should not be stolen and devoured. All the people should live comfortably, the poor should be helped, the poverty-stricken hovel-dwellers who have nothing should be taken care of. The wealth of the nation should not lie only in the hands of the elite and the aristocrats. The government should not see solely to the needs of the aristocrats. No, the government belongs to all sections of the community, it should work for everyone, it should work more for the weak and the poor in order to help them attain a suitable standard of living. Gentlemen, do not listen to their propaganda.
Another thing I must remind you of is the importance of performing those deeds which Islam has made known to you, for they are for your own good. The rules that Islam has brought you are to train your spirit so that in the next life you will enjoy a happy, good life there also. All the deeds which you are told to perform are to ensure your own happiness. So just as you engage in struggle and pursue your studies, so too you must perform those deeds which God has enjoined you to do. Do not neglect these. Do not view namaz as being of no account, it is necessary for you to pray. Fasting and the other deeds which you are told to perform are to train you and guide you so that you reach higher degrees of perfection and attain (true) happiness. Thus, I ask you all most sincerely, I advise you all not to desist from performing those deeds which belong to the branches (furu') of religion. I say this now because on different occasions I have been told that some of our young people have begun to neglect those aspects of the religion. Do not neglect these things gentlemen, they are for your own good, they will benefit you. If you strengthen your relationship with God, He will help you all, He will remove all the evils that afflict you and He will make you independent and free.
I pray to God the Almighty and Blessed for your health and for the greatness of Islam and the Muslims. May God grant you all success and assist you.
2- Riza Khan and Muhammad Riza Pahlavi. 3- Ibn Babuya quotes from Ibn `Abbas an event which occurred just before the Prophet's demise. He relates how the Prophet went to the mosque and ascended the pulpit from where he spoke to the people. During his speech the Prophet said: "The Most High God has sworn that He will not overlook any unjust or oppressive acts so in God's name I beseech whoever has suffered an injustice at the hands of Muhammad to rise up and take their revenge, for retribution in this world is more desirable to me than retribution in that world in the presence of God's angels and the prophets." Sawada ibn Qays then stood up saying: "May my mother and father be sacrificed for you oh Messenger of God, when you were coming from Ta'if I came to greet you, you were riding upon your she-camel with your staff in hand and when you raised it to strike your camel you struck me on the abdomen. I do not know whether you did it intentionally or whether it was an accident." The Prophet replied: "God forbid that I should do such a thing intentionally," and then he ordered for his staff to be brought to him and asked Sawada to return like for like. Sawada rose up and approached the Prophet, but when he reached him he began to kiss his body. The Prophet asked him: "Are you taking your revenge or granting your pardon?" Whereupon Sawada said: "I am granting my pardon." Muntahi al-Amal, Volume 1, pp. 101-103. 4- The government of Khalid `Abdul `Aziz in Saudi Arabia. 5- General Zia ul-Haq, military ruler in Pakistan at the time. 6- Prostitutes. 7- Refer to footnote 15 of Speech 40.
