In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
"There is no might, no power greater than God's."
Rabi` ath-Thani 14,1398 AH
With the arrival of the Arba`in of the oppressed victims of Tabriz, the grief of the zealous people has been renewed. The meek nation of Iran should hoist black flags every now and then and mourn for the dear youths and the dear ones of Islam who were slaughtered by American agents on the orders of the Shah. The eyes are still tearful and hearts laden with grief over a mass killing that took place by America and other foreign powers by means of the Shah that has plunged the nation into another bout of mourning. I do not know if other massacres and atrocities are to follow this Arba`in and the tyrant of the age will repeat his cruelty from the beginning or will be the agent to commit atrocities in another form.
We are very upset over these spate of crimes and brutal killings, but are, at the same time, hopeful; upset because we have lost, and are losing, the strapping youths of the clergy, and the universities, the merchants and the rest of the categories who are the future hope of the country, and yet full of hope for we see that these royal atrocities and the savage slaughter could not and cannot slacken the movement of this vigilant nation that has arisen. As the crimes and killings increase, the iron will of the nation becomes firmer and stronger.
The ruthless killings in Qum stirred Iran and brought the dear Tabrizis to rise bravely together against oppression and injustice. The all-out massacre in Tabriz has so shocked the zealous people of Iran that it is now on the verge of a cataclysm; one that will sever for always the hands of the foreigners by the grace of God the Almighty; one that will take revenge of the oppressed from the Shah, erasing for ever the infamous Pahlavi dynasty, this disgrace, from the pages of Iran's history. We gave sacrifices and underwent suffering, but every drop of the victims' blood has caused the blood in the veins of our zealous youths to boil and has so inflamed them that, by the grace of the Almighty, this fire will never die out until it has burnt the hellish tree of hegemony and its ignoble agents.
You the great nation of Iran should not and do not fear these vain attempts of the tyrannical establishment, nor the killings and injuries inflicted in Qum and Tabriz, for these atrocities in themselves signify the Shah's state of alarm and loss of self-control. It is now essential that you maintain your unity with utmost sincerity, which is there, thank God, and close your ranks under the justice-fostering banner of Islam. It is also necessary that all the factions that seek to advance the cause of the liberating religion of Islam come together, and with the rallying cry of monotheism, which is that of Islam and the Qur'an, attain unity. All of you, from the seminaries and universities, the depths of the bazaars and workshops, from the vast fields of the toiling farmers who tread the deserts, and from the strongholds of the altars of mosques, the scene of the parties' activities, from the circles of the scientists, doctors, engineers, the military and civil authorities should strive manfully in unison to save this ship that, in the clutches of Ahriman «1», external and internal, is in danger of sinking.
Islam, the honored religion, requests you O Muslims, in whatever garb or occupation you may be, to strive for saving it as a matter of duty. You must make amends for the buffeting it has been and is being subjected to by the kings of tyranny, especially during these fifty years of the anti-Islamic and anti-national Pahlavi dynasty." All of you are charged with supervising, and all are responsible." «2»
It is also necessary that you, with utmost force and vigilance, ostracize those people or groups who are inclined to other religions and who, being opportunists by habit, wish to avail of the opportunity at this juncture and infiltrate your ranks only to stab you in the back at the right time. Do not give them the chance to act. The country cannot be saved except by Islam and its rallying cry.
It is also essential for you to put to shame and expose to the utmost extent the organs of propaganda of the Shah and his dishonorable puppets, whether they trumpet the criminal Pahlavi dynasty's pretended service to the nation that they have been doing for fifty years, taking it to a climax these past few days, and which some ungodly people have started eulogizing which is known to them and to the people as being false or whether they show the Shah, whom we all know for what he is, as being enthusiastic about Islam and about fostering justice. Recently, some very dangerous whispers have again started in the Islamic University of the holy city of Mashhad, heedless of the fact that they are not up to the task of crushing Islam in the name of Islam. Just as we had stated before, we will let the public know of anyone who enters this bogus university and will consider them to be worse and more harmful to Islam and the Islamic nation than the officials of the bogus security organization. The Islamic nation will deal with them appropriately for being hostile to Islam, bringing such disgrace upon them in society that they will not be able to speak about the Shah's Islam.
Our woes are not just because of the succession of brutal killings ordered by the Shah; he has recently been planning to purchase once again a massive quantity of weapons and a number of ships. The purchase of these scraps of iron, that are of no use to the nation, will continue until the last drop of our oil or the resources that the foreigners need. Misfortune after misfortune is the order of the day for this oppressed nation as long as the shadow of this menacing nightmare remains over the country. One of the big misfortunes of the Muslims is the matter of the aggressive state of Israel which is now at war with them and is advancing in Lebanon. It is being assisted by the Shah; the Islamic countries often being indifferent in this vital matter, heedless of the fact that if it succeeded in its aggression, it would act in the same manner with the rest of the countries. These misfortunes that are afflicting us are because of America and its camp-followers. The American presidents' support for the Shah has occasioned these merciless killings, plunging the Muslim nation into mourning; American support caused the bloodletting in Tabriz.
The Tabriz uprising is an Islamic one like those all over Iran. It is in defense of Truth and Islamic tenets; ascribing it to the Marxists or the Marxist-Islamists- according to the" regal" propaganda- is nothing but a ruse. The reason for this is that these deviant doctrines have no place in Iran, if not the Shah would not have spoken about them. Now all the various strata of the people should realize that without their being under the protection of Islam and the banner of monotheism and the Qur'an, the path to victory is blocked. As the Shah wants to derail the genuine Islamic movements, and attribute them to the groups that are themselves deviant and have no place among the people, all the political factions and the intelligentsia should, explicitly and unambiguously, make it known that their movement and resurgence is Islamic for implementing the justice-fostering Qur'anic precepts. They should join the ranks of the clergy, the workers and the masses so that by this stand they can neutralize the calculated stratagems of the foreigners that are being carried out on the Shah's orders. If not, by labeling the active, enlightened people as Marxists and, perhaps, Marxist-Islamists, they will separate them from the large Muslim body politic and deprive them of their beneficial qualities as well as weakening the nation, thus forestalling victory or delaying it for a long time.
Though our woes are not just one or two, in this country with its free men and women! according to the Shah's logic its social justice and the move toward the" great civilization", in the words of Carter and the Shah, the nation must always be in mourning. We are mourning on the occasion of the fortieth day of the great tragedy that befell our Tabrizi brothers. The Iranian people should also, by their own public mourning, make it clear to the free nations of the world the conditions in which they live. I pray to the Almighty God for the grandeur of Islam and the Muslims, and hope that the hands of the foreigners be severed.
Rouhullah al-Mousawi al-Khomeini