In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Ramadan al-Mubarak 17,1395 AH
The Islamic Association of Students in America and Canada, may God assist them:
I have received your esteemed letter. I beseech God the Almighty to give guidance and success to you the zealous youth and all the other discerning students who strive for the attainment of Islam's lofty goals, the foremost being social justice and the eradication of oppression and ignorance.
We have heard and also learnt from history about the cruel and bloodthirsty sultans and tyrannical governments. In addition to these, we have been witnessing these last ten years- the period in which powerless nations have been throwing off the yoke of imperialism- the worst and most terrible atrocities perpetrated by the degenerate regime of Iran which stoops to commit any crime or act of treason in order to safeguard foreign interests. We have been witnessing the squandering of money from the treasury of the Muslims, and spending the hungry nation's reserves on meeting the demands of foreign powers. We have been witnessing the massive purchases of armaments worth billions of dollars for the protection of the foreigners' bases. We have been witnessing loans being given and taken contrary to law and logic, and also the killing, imprisonment and torture akin to those of medieval times. What gives hope and comfort is the dawn of awakening and political maturity of the various strata of society. It is because of the political maturity of the nation that the evil designs of the foreign powers, implemented by the Shah, face nationwide opposition. It is the nation's political maturity that humiliated the Shah's bogus party in spite of all the thunderous fanfare, utterly disconcerting and stunning him, and stopped the people- apart from his relations and a handful of those in his pay- from voting in the scandalous elections. It is the political maturity of the old and new students that has made them immune to the several hundred years of the foreigners' propaganda and the divide-and-rule policy of imperialism, bringing them into the united fold vis-a-vis the regime, to stand up gallantly in defense of the rights of the oppressed nation fearless of torture, imprisonment, and deprivation. It is the political maturity of the traditional and modern students that made them demonstrate throughout the country on the anniversary of Khordad 15, the day of the nation's resurgence, which greatly staggered the Shah causing him to order the barbaric assault on the Faydiyyah Madrasah and Dar ash-Shafa'- the cradle of Islamic education and training, the focal point of the explosive uprising against tyranny and despotism- driving the students of the Qur'an and Islamic jurisprudence, after beating and injuring them, into jails and military barracks on the pretext of being communists.
Notwithstanding all these anti-Islamic deeds and the barbaric behavior towards the Islamic savants, the regime does not abstain from its hypocritical acts. In this blessed month of Ramadan, the organs propagating obscenity, and the radio broadcasts, which constantly air Subjects against the religion throughout the year, have started broadcasting the call to prayers and invocations in order to deceive the simpletons. But a nation which is aware of the heart-rending cries arising from torture chambers and the wailing of mothers who have lost their young sons should not be misled by such hypocrisy on the part of the regime. The supplication which is the means to beseech the Just God has now become the means of spreading oppression and deceiving the uninformed so as to plunder the resources of the nation to a greater extent.
The striking point about this that gives me hope in the dusk of my life is the awareness and awakening of the young generation and the movement of the intellectuals which is growing rapidly. With God's help it will culminate in a decisive result: cutting off the hands of foreign powers, on the one hand, and the propagation of Islamic justice, on the other. You, pure-hearted youth, are duty-bound to raise the level of people's awareness to the greatest extent and in every possible manner. You must unmask the various artifices of the regime and introduce Islam, the dispenser of justice to the world. I pray to the Exalted Lord to give all of you success in this task. May God's peace and mercy be upon you.
Rouhullah al-Mousawi al-Khomeini