In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The Freedom Movement of Iran abroad, Europe-America:
I wish to express my profuse thanks for the message that I received from you, the children of Islam, may God always assist you, mentioning your loyalty to Islam, and pointing out your exhausting exertions of several years for the cause of its sublime goals that guarantee the independence and liberty of nations. I beseech God the Almighty to assist and give success to the people or groups that make sacrifices for dear Islam and the oppressed Muslims, and devote their lives to the cause of Truth and the attainment of the goals of Islam and humanity. I also wish to declare my affection for all their groups.
Now that the oppressed people throughout Iran have woken up and, by their magnificent movement, are giving the Shah and his lackeys a difficult time, it is not opportune for us now to spend our lives in petty disputes and to listen to the pernicious propaganda of some of the deviationists.
Nowadays the Shah, by burning and destroying, is trying to depict unfavorably our nation's campaign for its rights. It is up to you and us to expose his satanic plot to the world without wasting time, and thus prevent him from sullying the campaign for Islam and humanity by means of his propaganda machinery.
These days that we are nearing our goal by following the path of God, we must invite everybody to unity, equality and brotherhood, and point out the crucial issues to them for the sake of which the people are facing the Shah's bullets. The respected members of the Freedom Movement of Iran, in Iran and abroad, and all the Islamic groups, may God always assist them, should not lose this opportunity. They should now offer their hands to one another in struggling jointly for this vital matter: the uprooting of the Pahlavi regime. Without wrangling, they should lead the nation to the final goal: the installation of an Islamic government. Today, slackness, apathy and preoccupation with trivial matters is suicidal; shameful suicide. The danger of the Shah coming to power because of the differences and apathy of the groups is not something whose dimensions can be anticipated; the danger is of the collapse of a big nation and the dear religion of Islam.
I have tried, and am still trying, with all my might to unify all the strata of the Muslim nation, and pray to God the Almighty for this very important end with which the existence of the nation is tied. Studying the independence of the enslaved nations, and the killings and tortures, as well as the exhausting exertions on their part serves as a warning to the esteemed nation of Iran that the result of their religious and national campaign is not immediately, nor quickly, obtained. Iran's campaign will continue until victory that certainly belongs to the valiant nation. It is your duty to inform the public of this as soon as possible.
It had been mentioned that there is an ambiguity in paragraph I of the proclamation of Sha`ban 21,1398 AH, «1» which has become a tool in the hands of malicious people. You must consider that the section followed a topic which showed Iran's campaign to be non-Islamic, and, wittingly or unwittingly, would have distanced the nation from it, thereby nullifying, to the benefit of the Shah, all the painstaking efforts made. It was my duty in this crucial matter to remind them of their mistake, and point out to them the basic principles of Iran's campaign. Therefore, I categorically state that this section concerns those who depict the genuine movement of Iran as being political and non-Islamic, their aim being to safeguard the Shah. It does no concern those who condemn the Shah in their writings and interviews and place Iran at the crossroads of" freedom" or" Shah". And neither those who in the course of their struggles, writings and speeches have declared their adherence to and consonance with Islam, and also their repugnance and disgust for the vile Pahlavi regime as so explicitly expressed in their writings.
I pray to the Exalted Lord for the victory of Islam and the Muslims, and for the success of all.
Rouhullah al-Mousawi al-Khomeini