Message [Explaining the duties of the Islamic guards vis-a-vis Islam and the Revolution]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Sha`ban al-Mu`azzam 2,1399 AH

I wish to thank all my countrymen, especially, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, on this auspicious day, the third of Sha`ban al-Mu`azzam, the day of the emergence of the Islamic guards and the protection of the progressive school of Islam. We should rightly name this day as" Pasdar Day" [Islamic Guards Day]. It is the great and blessed birthday of the guardian of the Holy Qur'an and dear Islam, one who sacrificed everything he had for the sake of his aim, thus saving Islam from the precipice of deviation of the taghouti Bani Umayyad regime. The degenerate Bani Umayyad regime was trying to portray Islam as a taghouti regime, and the founder of Islam as something contrary to what he was. In the name of the caliphs of God's Messenger, Mu`awiyah and his tyrannical son Yazid did to Islam what Genghis (Khan) did to Iran, «2» and changed the essence of the revealed school to a satanic regime. Had it not been for the sacrifice made by the magnificent guardian of Islam and the brave martyrdom of his great fellow guardians and devoted companions, Islam, under the suppression of the Bani Umayyads and their tyrannical rule, would have been portrayed in an inverted manner, and all the trouble taken by the Noble Messenger (s) and his dedicated companions would have been wasted.

O guardian of the present time and the Islamic Revolution! Follow the Imam of the ummah, «3» and the guardians of the Holy Qur'an and of dear Islam, thereby discharging properly your right of guarding the Islamic Revolution, and protecting properly this high station which is that of the great prophets and the saints of God the Almighty. Do not do anything that would, God forbid, tarnish the status of keeping guard. And do not do anything in your guard uniform that would disgrace Islam, because of which it would, God forbid, be said that the Islamic guards are just like the agents of the Organization. «4»

I, most emphatically, request you dear youth to ostracize the impious elements as it is possible for a person's wrong act to defame a whole group. We are facing groups today that are waiting to show Islam and the glorious Islamic Revolution in a way that is contrary to reality, and to find fault with the various Islamic groups. They also want to attribute to the movement and to Islam whatever is done by the individuals who have no responsibility. Therefore, it is necessary that the distinguished `ulama', who are the society's guides, the committees, the courts, and Islamic guards try to stop these people from inverting the pure Islamic movement, and from tarnishing the holy school of Islam and the Islamic Revolution, by their mischief and plots, or out of ignorance and unawareness of Islamic tenets. I request all the aforesaid groups to assist the interim Islamic government, and not to interfere directly in governmental affairs and in dismissing and appointing officials. Interference that weakens the Islamic government displeases God and ought to be avoided.

Rouhullah al-Mousawi al-Khomeini