[In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful]
Should I thank you or you should thank me? None of us expects the other's thanks, but rather it is the religious duty of us all to articulate and urge that the Women Suffrage Bill «2» not be executed; and if this law is enforced, other things will follow. What matters here is the majority's opinion; the majority of the people in this country resent this. I ask you not to go on a public strike for the time being. May God forbid the day when there is a public strike! I pray again that they may peacefully stop doing this. God forbid the day the `ulama' call for a strike! What is Asadullah `Alam «3» going to do in this country? He will be held accountable and questioned for that later. As I hear, they had asked Amini «4» to do that, but he refused and resigned. Arsanjani «5» will also be brought to justice someday. If the whole world unanimously says," It should be done!" I will still say alone that it should not be. It is not just my duty, but it is the Shah's duty and all the people's to say that it is not something advisable to be done ...
[Addressing Hujjat al-Islam Ansari, the renowned preacher of Qum :]
I hear that you have been tongue-tied «6» for two evenings. What is wrong with it if we are handcuffed and jailed? We are not worthier than Husayn ibn `Ali (`a) and Imam as-Sajjad (`a) , are we? This affair is being criticized all over the country now, and the people have expressed their hatred toward this decision through letters to the Shah and the administration.
The law of this country is that of Imam Ja`far as-Sadiq `a
In this country, the nominal law is the law «7» of Imam Ja`far as-Sadiq (`a) and it should be preserved until the advent of the twelfth Imam. Please urge all the `ulama' to demand it. Mr. Behbahani's «8» messenger came to me with the assertion that His Eminence would be standing up against this issue up to the last breath. The administration should indicate and confess in the national newspapers that this principle has been disregarded and announce this publicly. I have heard that the Governor (of Qum) has said that the government has other concerns. What is more important than satisfying a population of 20 million? For, out of the 10 millions of woman population in Iran, there are only some one hundred promiscuous ones who agree with doing this. The public sectors should communicate their opinion to the government and Ansari is the articulated tongue of the people of Qum and he is not alone; the crowd all supports him. You should give a speech on the pulpit this evening, explaining the whole story to the people so that they might be awakened ...