Speech [The crimes of the Pahlavi regime]

I seek refuge in God from the accursed Satan

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I am at a loss as to whom I should offer my condolences on this tragedy, this great tragedy. «2» Should I offer them to the Most Noble Messenger, peace be upon him and his family, to the Ma`soumin, peace be upon them, to Hadrat Hujjat (the Twelfth Imam) peace be upon him, or to the Islamic ummah, to the Muslims, to the oppressed in all countries of the world, or should I offer them to the oppressed nation of Iran or the respected people of Qum. Should I condole with the bereaved, with the fathers and mothers who have borne so much suffering, or with the theological schools and the `ulama'? To whom should I offer my condolences and whom should I thank for these events that have come about for Islam. The awakened nation of Iran is plundered and dishonored, it suffers many tragedies and yet it stands firm in the face of these and it sacrifices lives. They have opened up fire on the people with machine-guns without right or reason, and so far, according to the information that we have received, they have killed seventy people.

However, we have been given varying reports and some news agencies report that a hundred people have been killed; the most oft-repeated figure is one hundred or two hundred and fifty dead, but some telegrams that have arrived here from European countries or America speak of three hundred dead, so it is still not clear how many have actually been killed. The number of injured is also not yet known. The correct figure will probably come to light later, if that is possible, if the regime has not thrown the bodies of the people into the Hawd-e Sultan Lake, as they did on Khordad 15 [June 5,1964]. «3» I wonder if the true figure will ever be discovered. We have received confirmed reports that some people went to the hospitals to donate their blood, but they were arrested and hence some of those in need of blood died. The regime's agents didn't give the bodies of those killed to their relatives, and if the latter persisted, they made them pay five hundred tumans before they handed the bodies over to them.«4» Whom should we thank for this and with whom should we condole?

We should be thankful to the Iranian nation. It is an awakened nation; it is a vigilant, renitent nation in the face of oppression. The Iranian people witness so much injustice, they sacrifice so many lives yet still they resist, still they persevere, and this perseverance will bear fruit. There is no doubt that when a nation awakes, when even its women rise up against the government and against these oppressors, it will be victorious, God willing.

I have heard that at the time of Rida Khan, the father of this Khan, the late Mudarris told him that he believed Shaykh ar-Ra'is «5» had once said that he feared a bull with horns for it had a weapon but no intellect or wisdom [`aql]. Even if this does not prove to be a saying of Shaykh ar-Ra'is, it is still a wise adage, for what heinous acts are perpetrated when weapons fall into the hands of the impious and the unworthy. From the very beginning, man has suffered because weapons have been in the hands of impious, unsuitable people. From the very time that man became civilized, as he believed, weapons have been in the hands of the impious and all the problems which mankind has had to suffer stem from this. So long as these unworthy weapon-bearers remain armed, mankind will not find its ultimate destiny. One of the missions of the prophets was to disarm the unworthy, injudicious weapon-bearers, but they could not, for these people held power and authority. Worthy people too in every age tried to wrest the arms from the hands of the unworthy, but they were also unsuccessful. So it has been the unworthy, injudicious and ungodly people who have always been armed and this is the cause of all the problems that you witness (in the world). From the very beginning, when man first came to this earth and the door of struggle between the just and the unjust was opened, and throughout all ages, arms have been in the hands of the unjust- very rarely has it been otherwise. We don't need to delve far back into history to see what crimes have been committed because of this; we only need to look at the wars which have occurred over the past hundred years. The First World War, «6» the Second World War, «7» the Vietnamese War «8» of recent history and the killings that accompanied them, these all came about because the arms were in the hands of the unworthy, they were the ones who had the weapons.

I myself can remember and have witnessed the bloodshed that has occurred over the past fifty years in Iran because of the unlawful rule of these criminals. Such sorrow and bitterness it has caused us. Perhaps some of you too share this sorrow or perhaps you are too young to know of everything that has happened, but I am old, I have witnessed the people's misfortunes and the crimes and killings perpetrated by these unjust weapon-bearers from the time that the first coup d'etat was carried out. «9» I was in Arak then, «10» and the English criminals, the unjust British who possessed arms, armed an unworthy, ignoble Rida Khan and imposed him on the people. After World War Two began, and the British had kicked him out of Iran for disobeying them, they admitted in a broadcast over Radio Delhi that they had engineered the rise to power of this blackguard. «11» At the time, the people suspected this to be the case, but they didn't know all the facts because the evil propaganda of the time did not allow it. I have witnessed the indescribable crimes that he committed during his stay in power.

I cannot describe for you the sorrows of those days. I'm sure his heinous deeds have been recorded in the annals of history and God willing, after the overthrow of this evil monarchy, the historical facts will be disclosed and the records will be made available for you or for future generations to read. Then you may be able to understand a little better, that is if these accounts can describe what bloodshed he caused, how many of the `ulama' he incarcerated, how much pressure he brought to bear on this poor nation in order to impose uniform dress, how he hit the oppressed, how he humiliated the `ulama' and how many turbans he removed from the heads of the religious scholars. It is said that when this ungodly man went to Turkey and saw what misdeeds Ataturk had done there, he sent a telegram to his agents in Iran telling them to make the people wear uniform dress. At the time, he used the excuse that the farmers who worked out in the sun should wear a peaked cap so that they wouldn't be troubled by the sun- however, it was obvious that this was not the real reason for imposing this law. When he returned from his trip, then the pressures began in earnest.«12»

A series of intense pressures and outrageous atrocities followed the issuance of this Uniform Dress Law. The `ulama' were tormented greatly because of this law, many of them were sent into exile and some of them were killed because of their objections to it. «13» The second excuse used to bring pressure on the people came when he called for the unveiling of women, which again he did in imitation of the ungodly Ataturk, the unjust, armed Ataturk. What a shameful act this was. God only knows how this nation of Iran suffered when he forced the women to remove their veils. «14» The veil of humanity was rent asunder. God knows which women he dishonored in this way, which people he humiliated. He forced the `ulama' at bayonet-point to attend celebratory parties with their wives, which they did with heavy hearts and which ended with the people crying. Other people as well, different groups in turn, were invited and obliged to attend parties with their wives. This was the freedom for women which Rida Shah enforced. He used bayonets and the police to compel the respected people, the merchants and the `ulama', to attend these parties on the excuse that he himself had organized them. At some of these celebrations- as the regime called them- the people cried so much that those agents with a sense of shame regretted having forced them to attend. This was just one way he used to put pressure on the people, and God only knows what repercussions this measure had.

Another way was he stopped the clergymen from going to the pulpits and delivering sermons of any kind. «15» He also prevented them from holding rawdahs- indeed at one time in Iran no rawdahs assemblies were held at all during `Ashoura. Some fearless people did however dare to hold assemblies, but these had to be held late at night or in the early hours of the morning and they had to end before the call to morning prayer was sounded. In this way, he kept everybody in Iran from this divine bounty, from commemorating the sufferings of Imam Husayn and reciting narrations (of the martyrdom of the Imams).

This came about because the weapons were in the hands of the injudicious. Arms should be borne by those who are worthy of bearing them. When weapons are in the hands of the unjust, then iniquities ensue. The crimes that have occurred! The mass murder that took place in the Gauhar Shad Mosque and the subsequent arrest of the `ulama' of Khorasan and their incarceration in Tehran, the trial, imprisonment and murder of some of the great `ulama'; these events came about because the weapons were in the hands of the injudicious. The `ulama' of Isfahan and the `ulama' of Azerbaijan were arrested and banished merely for uttering a word or standing up to Rida Shah. Apparently the `ulama' of Azerbaijan were forced to stay in Sunqour «16» and the late Aqa Mirza Sadiq, may God grant him mercy, never returned to Tabriz. «17» This was another way through which that evil man repressed the people. The atrocities that he committed cannot be spoken of in one or two meetings.

And now, during your own lifetime, you too are afflicted with misfortunes inflicted upon you by another injudicious horned beast. «18» For do not be mistaken in thinking that even one bullet is fired without the Shah's permission. Do not suppose that the head of Qum's police or the head of Qum's SAVAK, or any of Qum's policemen have the nerve to open fire on the people and kill them without his permission. No wise person should suppose that this could be so. All these incidents are reported to him and clearly this evil man has to give the orders to shoot. It is said that on Khordad 15, he circled above the demonstrators in a helicopter and gave the command to open fire, as if he were giving the command to open fire on foreign armies! «19» On armies that were attacking Iran! «20» This useless lot is so humble and meek before the kings and presidents of other countries, especially the American President, they flatter them and align themselves with them, but in their dealings with their own people, because of the authority they exercise over them, they harass them and cause them suffering. When they go abroad they spend their time groveling and eulogizing, but when they return to their own country, they begin their wickedness. Previously, when it was said that the Shah had granted some freedom in Iran, I told the gentlemen here that if this man reaches an agreement with this evil Carter «21» and strengthens his servile position, he will hit the people harder than ever before. But I didn't think he would do it as soon as this. Almost immediately after he had finished his talks with Carter and had confirmed his servitude, he created a pretext for showing some muscle.

He created a pretext for attacking the people in Qum. Pay no attention to what is written in the regime's press, those who were there say that the people were marching peacefully to give their requests to the `ulama' when one of the regime's own men threw a stone smashing something, the regime's agents then attacked and began shooting at the people. This is what happened on Khordad 15 too. Of course the people had themselves risen up to call for the injustices to be redressed, but the demonstrations were peaceful «22» until a group of the regime's own agents in Tehran set a library on fire and looted a shop. This created the pretext for the regime to open fire on the people with machine-guns.

They created the pretext then just as they did for this most recent outrage, «23» otherwise the people did not want to do battle with the regime. Someone who is unarmed cannot fight an armed bull. The people had no intention of doing battle with the regime. But he had to make us see that he is no longer the man he was before he met Carter, that now that he has met with Carter and smoothed out any differences, now that he has consolidated his servile position, «24» the people should no longer suppose that he has lost his support, no, he still has it, and thus he will carry on killing! These vociferations and these threats are made in order to show the people that he has not lost his might. But he has made a mistake; he doesn't realize what ignominy he has brought upon himself with these killings. The people have now risen up against him, against the man who once said that the whole nation was in agreement with him, «25» that everyone voted in support of his bloody White Revolution. The uprising began in Qum then spread to Tehran, to Khorasan, Azerbaijan, Kerman, Ahwaz, Abadan until now the whole of Iran is in revolt. The whole of the nation has risen up against this man who claims that everyone is in agreement with him, that the nation wants him, that the people support him. But if one day the bayonets of America were to be removed, then the courtiers themselves would skin this man alive. Carter should put this to test one day, were he to leave this weak nation alone, leave these people alone, then he would soon see what would happen. These organizations that we hear about are nothing more than a ploy to deceive the people. They are not bothered about security, so why do they send a representative of the Security Council here? It is just a show to beguile the people. «26»

They want to deceive the people, just as the Communists do communism is the opiate of the people, it cannot solve their problems. Is it possible that someone who himself is not a human being would want to serve mankind? Would an unjust armed person ever work for the sake of the oppressed? I know that this is not possible. During World War Two, when the heads of the Allied governments were to meet in Tehran, «27» the American and British leaders arrived in a conventional manner and went to their embassies, but it was said, and God knows that this is true, that Stalin, «28» who at the time was the Russian leader- the same Stalin whose pictures we still see here and there although in recent years his reputation has been sullied somewhat- who was supposed to be equal with everyone else and whom everyone called brother, brought his own milch cow along on the plane so he would not have to drink the milk from Iranian cows! They were both injudicious, armed creatures, but God knows he was worse than his cow! I myself witnessed the state of his troops in Iran. While he entered Iran with his cow, his troops, who controlled the Khorasan region- for at that time Iran was divided into a few regions of control and that particular region was in the hands of the Russians- were begging along the roadside. I myself saw this, we were traveling by bus to Mashhad to make a pilgrimage and on the road to Mashhad just outside Shahroud, Russian soldiers were begging in front of cars; it made them so happy if someone gave them just one cigarette that they went away whistling! Communism is a means of beguiling the people, nothing else. Is it possible for someone who does not believe in the unseen to think about the people and about remedying their affairs? No, it is a deceit. On certain occasions, these armed people deliver blows, and on others, they deliver both the blows and the propaganda. The propaganda machinery is in their hands. Now you see that in addition to beating up the people and killing them, in addition to all these crimes, they propagate that all the blame for these acts lies on the shoulders of the people, that only six people died in this incident and a few of them, including a thirteen-year-old child, were trampled to death by the people, and that the regime itself had committed no crime! On the one hand they create such propaganda and on the other they commit mass murder. All these heinous acts stem from the unjust being armed; it is the just who should be armed.

The God of Islam is just, the Prophet of Islam was just and free from sin, the Imams of Islam were just and free from sin. The judges of Islam should be just, its fuqaha should be just, the person who witnesses a divorce should be just, Islam's prayer leaders should be just, its Friday prayer leaders should be just, its leaders should be just, its provincial governors, those who were sent to this place and that in the early days of Islam and who also acted as the prayer leaders, had to be just. They are only valid when they are just. If there is no justice and if those who exercise authority are not righteous, then such malicious acts as those we are now witnessing are perpetrated. The arms are in the hands of the unworthy, the unjust.

On the one hand they massacre the people, and on the other they shout about `social justice'. «29» On the one hand they force the women to remove their veils and on the other they shout about the `freedom of women'! It's ridiculous. This kind of freedom is ludicrous, it can't be called freedom. On the one hand they carry out `land reforms', and on the other they create a market for America! This has been the result of the land reforms. At one time just one of our country's provinces met the needs of the whole of the country, and what remained was exported. But now whatever you want has to come from abroad! And the regime is proud of this and boasts:" We import our wheat from abroad; we import our barley, our oranges, and our eggs from abroad"! This should be lamented. The regime has no shame. This is what its land reforms entailed- all this destruction.

Yet the Shah and his regime claim that all the `ulama' agree with the reforms and the White Revolution. If you can find just one `alim anywhere in Iran who is in agreement with your bloody revolution, then you have the right to say all the `ulama' are in agreement with you. Try to find one congregational prayer leader from among the prayer leaders of Tehran who is in agreement with you and will say that he concurs with you, aside from those whose turbans you yourselves have placed on their heads, whom you yourselves have created, and who dance to whatever tune you play, for they are not true religious scholars, but of course one or two of them can be found everywhere in the country. Try to find one from among the provincial prayer leaders who will say he is in agreement with you. Try to find a mulla in Qum who will say he is in agreement with you. The Shah and his regime have no shame. They carry out all kinds of heinous acts, all kinds of wrongdoings and then in order to deceive the people they say:" All the `ulama' are in agreement with us; only one who is not from this country disagrees with us". «30»

The arms are in the hands of the unjust and the ignoble. Consider all weapons, the pen itself is a kind of weapon, which must be in the hands of the just and worthy people, for when it is in the hands of the depraved, corruption and scandalous deeds will increase. At the present time, and in some societies and certain aspects, the pen is in the hands of the depraved who gloss over whatever the head of these profligates does and who palliate his crimes by means of their literary eloquence. This is a crime which is perpetrated against this nation by dint of the pen. These unworthy writers sit at home with this weapon in hand and with their eloquent style they whitewash the corruption, the crimes and the massacres and present everything to the contrary, they turn everything round. So the pen too should be in the hands of the just people.

Culture is the source of a nation's happiness or misfortune. If the culture is not sound then the youth who are trained in this unsound culture will, in the future, create corruption. The imperialist culture produces imperialist youth for the country. A culture which is created by the designs of others- and it is the foreigners who lay their plans for us then hand them over to our society in the form of culture- is an imperialist and parasitic culture. Such a culture is a weapon more lethal than anything else; it is even worse than the arms of these ruffians, for their weapons eventually fall to pieces, as they have done now. But when the culture is corrupt, our youth, who form the foundations of our society, are lost to us; they are trained to become parasites, to become infatuated with the West.

They are trained in this way from the very first day that they enter school and this continues into higher education. If the culture is a correct culture, then our youths will be trained correctly. If the culture is a culture of truth, a divine culture, a culture which is of use to the nation, which is advantageous for the Muslims, then it does not produce such people as those who now exercise authority over us. But our culture is an imperialist culture, our culture does not lie in the hands of suitable people, the just do not administer it.

If our universities were correct, independent universities and those who taught there were just and were free to do as they saw fit and what was right to do, then our country would not have got into the state it is in today nor would it reach a potentially worse stage tomorrow, God forbid. Some people have seized control of our universities who are themselves parasites, who are themselves supporters of the imperialists and possess a servile attitude. All this is because of one person, for if a lecturer or a professor at the university wishes to speak out, he is not able to, because the security organization, acting on the orders of `His Imperial Majesty' does not allow him to do so. If our universities were proper universities then when the students there try to speak a word of truth, the police would not suppress them so. The things they do to them! They beat the girls, they beat the boys, and they beat our youth and imprison them. This is because our universities are not independent. We don't have universities. Universities which are controlled by one person cannot be called universities. The learning environment should be a free environment.

If this Parliament were a proper, just Parliament, and were a tool in the hands of the just, would the members have allowed such laws as have passed already through Parliament to have been ratified? Would they have allowed the Capitulation Bill granting immunity to the American military advisers, a bill which caused great humiliation for Iran, to have been ratified «31»? We don't have a Parliament. The members of Parliament are appointed; they are just a group of agents, functionaries of the security organization who call themselves a `Parliament'. All of them are agents. If they were independent and if they had been selected by the people, if the Parliament were a national Parliament, then they would never let the regime buy all these arms as it does «32», they would never give away our oil and buy weaponry in return - weaponry which we ourselves don't know how to operate. This weaponry baffles us so they have to bring in American advisers and experts to show us what to do with it. But these experts won't show us how to operate it. They are such animals; they will not be satisfied with this. They come here and are paid such exorbitant wages. We do not know how much they are paid every month, and cannot even begin to imagine, we only know that there are very many of them in the country. Their number, including their relatives, probably runs into the hundreds or thousands. It used to be said that there were sixty thousand of them in Iran getting huge salaries from this nation. The regime takes the money from the pockets of this poor, wretched nation and pours it into the pockets of these wealthy people. And even then they don't train our military properly! They want our armed forces to remain in their present state, so that they can do whatever they want with them. «33»

If we had an independent army instead of a parasitic one, it would not allow these advisers to come into the country and give the orders; the army officers would not simply be puppets in their hands. But our army is not a true army. All the armed forces are controlled by one man, one corrupt man who has corrupted everything. As it is said, one bad apple can spoil the whole barrel. The corruption in Iran stems from him, but no one can say this because of the suppression which exists. Instead they keep saying the agents, the agents! Who gives these agents the order to kill the people? Who gives them the order to attack the Hujjatiyyah Madrasah and kill the religious sciences students there? Who gives them the orders to position their machine-guns at the crossroads and open fire on the people? «34» Can anybody, other than this vile man, order such things? All the corruption stems from him. Does the Parliament have the right to say a word without the permission of this vile man? Does the army have the right to say anything without his permission? Do our judges have freedom? Do we have an independent judicial system? Our judges have the weapon of judgment in their hands, but they do not have the justice. They say they cannot dispense justice, so we have to ask them then why did you become a judge? You made a mistake in becoming a judge so leave this profession. Now everywhere in our country the weapons are in the hands of the unjust and all this corruption goes back to the court and to that man. He should be removed.

I don't know why this army is asleep. Why do they allow themselves to be humiliated so? Only a few days after that abominable Carter left, the regime carried out such actions. And this is only the beginning, if the people let him, the Shah will carry on, unless he is made aware of the consequences of his actions. The people are creating a clamor which is being heard across the world, the radios everywhere are speaking about it. The regime's own radio can say whatever it likes; the people will no longer be deceived by their words. The nation has awakened. Sir, the people have awakened, if they had not then the bazaars would not have closed down as they have done. It has been said and officially confirmed by the regime, that Tehran bazaar closed down on Thursday in a show of protest. The closure of Tehran's bazaar is not a common practice, it is a very uncommon event, no one can just close down the bazaar. «35» It has been achieved because of the feelings and vigilance of the people. This gentleman who used to say" all concur with me" should look around him, the bazaars in Tehran, Ahwaz, Isfahan and Shiraz are actively protesting against him, and this has become our way of life now.

I hope that all classes, whether the `ulama' and mujtahids, the religious students or the merchants of the bazaar, the traders, army personnel or civil servants, who are sorely grieved by this wicked man will unite together and that our political groups will not work alone but they will cooperate with others just as in this most recent incident when this expression of antipathy was supported not only by some political groups, «36» but the `ulama', the merchants of the bazaar, students ... all classes came together. Telegrams were even sent by foreigners, from America and Europe, expressing their antipathy towards the regime and telling us that three hundred people were killed in this recent event.

I hope that all the fronts will join hands together. If the nation unites in all aspects then these unjust people will be disarmed and the horns of this bull will be broken. They should not disagree with one another or purposely seek reasons for dissent. They should not start fighting one another over insignificant and childish matters. Differences are created by those who want to keep the people busy, and it is they who benefit from disunion among the people. The people should wake up to these things and, God willing, they have already done so. They should unite together, all of them. They should join hands together and, God willing, by the power and strength of God and through your unity, the root of all this corruption will soon be eradicated.

I ask for everyone's well-being from God the Most High. I express my thanks to all classes of people for standing by the `ulama' of Islam. I thank all fronts, especially the great `ulama' and the noble merchants of the bazaar. I thank them all and call upon them to pray for Islam, to strengthen and unify their fronts, and to come together for one aim which should be the severance of the hands of the oppressors and foreigners so that this country may prosper. The hands of the foreigners should be foreshortened, the resources which exist in our country should be used for the weak and for the good of the country, and all the country's affairs should be rectified and put in order. This will not happen unless this regime is disarmed, and I hope, God willing, that it will be.

May God's peace and mercy be upon you.