In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The Union of Islamic Associations of Students in Europe:
Thank you for your letter. The matter that I had addressed to in all the publications was my particular interest in the unity and harmony among all the Muslims, especially the youth and the dear scholars in Iran and abroad. I thank the Islamic Associations abroad and the youth in Iran and abroad for their loyalty to the ideals of Islam which is the eternal guarantor of mankind's salvation in this world and the hereafter.
The dissension of some of the ruffians and foreign lackeys should not and certainly cannot, weaken the resolve of the gentlemen in the pursuit of their sublime aim. Islam has faced such elements in the course of its history. The hypocrites have been a disgrace from the beginning of Islam to the present time. They have always wanted to prevent the true Muslims from following the path of truth by their ruses and Islamic pretensions.
Now, in our own time, pretensions to Islam, in order to consign its progressive tenets to oblivion are a priority in the designs of the Shah and his avaricious accomplices. These Islam-destroying pretensions are, regretfully, excuses for the complacent profiteers who want to evade their responsibilities, little knowing that their deceit is not hidden from Almighty God and His watchful, committed creatures. With his pretensions to Islam, he is violating Islamic principles one by one. He is obfuscating the glorious history of Islam and replacing it with the shameful history of tyrants and despots. He makes a show of Islam in Iran whereas in his interviews with the foreign media he says that religion has no rule in the country's administration. Religion should have no role with this filthy element at the helm of affairs. If it did play a role, it would have brought the palaces of those plunderers crashing down on their heads. If religion did have a role, it would have uprooted this corrupt regime treacherous to Islam and the nation. It is Islam not having a role in your government that has allowed you to place all the resources of the country at the disposal of Islam's enemies for the sake of a dishonorable life of a few days. It is religion not having a role that has given rise to the towering mansions of a bunch of parasites beside which stand the humble hovels of the needy, poor, believers. It is because of religion not having a role that its respected `ulama' spend their days in prison and torture chambers; that the sons of Islam whether the university fraternity or the students of Islamic sciences are harmed and tortured. If religion had a role it would not have given the opportunity to some like your good-for-nothing relations to deprive the girl students of the universities and schools of their liberty. If Islam had a role it would not have given the likes of you the opportunity to start rumors of changing the Friday holiday of the Muslims to the holiday of the Christians on the excuse of gain.
All our woes are due to the fact that religion and Islam have no role in your government. Stripping the country of its freedom and its appearing in the form of a colony, the widespread suppression in the country, the prisons crammed with freemen, the lack of the basic necessities of life, the plunder of the country's resources, the dominance of the market by Israel and its not giving an opportunity to non-Jewish businessmen; all of these are attributed to religion not being given a role by the Shah and his government.
It is now the duty of the intellectuals, the young and the rest of the people of every kind and occupation to strive so that a religion can find a role. We can give religion a role by means of unity of expression, by eschewing periodic differences and by passive resistance which becomes active when the occasion arises, and thereby giving those who talk nonsense a tight slap in the face. I beseech God to set the affairs of the Muslims right and assist those who serve Islam and the Muslims. May God's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.
Rouhullah al-Mousawi al-Khomeini
Sha`ban al-Mu`azzam 9,1397 AH