Addressees: A group of religious people of Tehran
[His Eminence Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, Ayatullah al-`Uzma fi'l-Ardin Aqa Haj Rouhullah Khomeini (may his benign existence for the people endure):
Please express your opinion regarding the" National Ratification" which is announced in the press.
A group of religious people of Tehran]
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Although I do not want to give my comment on this issue, I nevertheless notified His Imperial Majesty through Mr. Behboudi «1» of its advantages and disadvantages, and so fulfilled my duty, but it was not accepted. Now I have to act on my religious obligation. In my opinion, this referendum which in terms of eliminating some defects is called the" National Ratification" could show the poll of the society of Islamic clergymen and the overall majority of the nation, provided that there are no threat and intimidation at work and the nation knows exactly what they are doing. For expediencies, while ignoring for the time being some of the religious aspects of this referendum or" National Ratification", which is basically worthless in the context of Islam, as well as some of its fundamental legal defects, I will henceforth point to just a few of its defects:
1. Referendums are not anticipated in the Iranian laws and are unprecedented except once and that was announced by the" illegal officials". Under the charge of participating therein, a number of people
2. were arrested and deprived of their social rights. «2» I do not understand why it was illegal then, while now it is legal!
3. It is unclear which official does have the right to hold a referendum, «3» and this will have to be prescribed by the law.
4. In the countries where referendums are lawful, the nation must be given enough time to deliberate and discuss all its articles in detail, and the pros and cons are reflected in the media; that is different from holding it unclearly in a few days without having the nation informed.
5. The voters must be informed enough to know what they are voting for. So, the decisive majority here do not have the right to vote for this matter. Only some of the residents in the urban areas who have the needed discernment deserve to vote on the six articles, to which they certainly object.
6. Voting should be done in a free atmosphere, under no pressure, compulsion, threat or inducement; and this is not possible in Iran because most of the people are pressurized and intimidated by the government organs all over the country.
The referendum is essentially brought forth so that things would become obscured and the prosecutable violations of law, which will surely get the officials involved, go unnoticed. His Majesty has been beguiled by those held accountable before the law and the nation, to do this to their benefit. If they really want to work for the people, why did and do they not refer to the program of Islam and the Muslim scholars programs to make a happy and comfortable life for all strata of the people in both worlds?! Why do they establish cooperative funds to steal the earnings of the farmers from them? Founding such a cooperative fund will cause the Iranian market to be destroyed and will make the merchants and farmers wretched; and other strata of people will also be the same. If the nation of Iran submits to the laws of Islam, and asks their government to execute the economic policies of Islam under the supervision of the `ulama' of Islam, the whole nation will live in comfort and prosperity.
Religious authorities feel that the Qur'an and religion are in danger. It seems that this compulsory referendum is a prelude in eliminating the matters related to the religion. The `ulama' of Islam felt that Islam, the Qur'an and the country were in danger because of the Provincial and District Councils Elections affair, and it seems that the enemies of Islam mean to do the same thing through some simple beguiled people. It is the duty of the `ulama' of Islam to notify the people, whenever they feel a danger lurking over Islam and the Holy Qur'an, so that they will not be held accountable anymore before God Almighty. We ask God Almighty to protect the Holy Qur'an and the independence of the country.
Rouhullah al-Mousawi al-Khomeini