In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
At this very sensitive time in Iran's history, the Shah has resorted to dangerous conspiracies hatched by his experts. With the slightest apathy and indifference on the part of the people of Iran, they must give up hope of gaining independence, freedom and their human rights, and brace themselves for all kinds of suffocation, torture, killing and destruction. In such an event, Islam should consider its enlightening tenets as lost. Changing the linchpin to another one who, from the outset, has entered the arena on the Shah's order with the weapons of trickery and hypocrisy is a plot to deceive the people and break the back of the Islamic movement. It is to cause the blood of the dear youth of Islam to have been spilt in vain these last fifteen years, particularly in the recent months, when the killers in the Shah's service, by carrying out the massacres in the provinces and by wounding, imprisoning and exiling people, have blackened the pages of history. Now that it has been proved that cannons, tanks, intimidation and threats have lost their effect on the awakened nation, he has taken to satanic ruses, and by raising extremely misleading topics intends to continue his atrocities and treacheries.
They have changed the honorable calendar «1» of Islam in the two houses of representatives, while the orders of the Shah, and the minister vis-a-vis the two houses have no legal standing. This vain order is a glaring indication of the Shah's satanic ruse. His worthless order to close down the gambling saloons is another ruse to mislead the clergy. They are closing down the gambling saloons out of respect for Islam, in an environment in which all the centers of prostitution still exist, and contrary to Islamic and the Qur'anic verses, oppression, killing and plunder have become an ordinary matter for the Shah's army of killers.
In an environment which is said to be full of freedom, the best of the children of Islam and Iran are passing their lives in prisons subjected to royal tortures, and also in exile. In a setting in which they constantly mention the Islamic `ulama', these `ulama' have been illegally imprisoned, or sent into exile without any authorization. Some people talk about showing reverence to religious slogans and respect to the clergy and Islamic tenets whereas for fifty years they have been accomplices to the crimes of the state apparatus, and have approved laws that are contrary to the commandments of Islam. The people of Iran loathe this regime and all the pawns who have devotedly served the real criminal and take pride in it. They do not consider them to be competent for any position. In an environment in which such people announce their respect for the clergy of Islam, they have closed many of the mosques throughout Iran, and have forbidden the preachers from speaking.
They have announced the formation of a" government of national reconciliation" «2» in an environment in which the army and the other agents in the provinces are engaged in crushing, by means of tanks and machine guns, a nation which is asking for its basic human rights and the enforcement of Islamic commandments. Reconcile and spill the blood of the dear ones of Islam! Reconcile and bow our heads to the despotic and traitorous Pahlavi regime! With the eclipse of the incontestable tenets of Islam; with the plunder of the country's resources and the merciless massacres carried out by the regime, how can the clergy, for the sake of the regime having said," We respect the clergy", be reconciled with them and so have this great shame recorded for themselves in history?!
We must understand the demand of the nation from the demonstrations of these past few months. In its demonstrations, the general public clamors:" We do not want the Shah nor the Pahlavi dynasty." This is the demand of the nation; not the hollow promise of respecting the clergy, nor the temporary closure of the gambling parlors, nor the worthless order from the legal viewpoint to put the Islamic calendar temporarily into effect in a deceitful manner.
It is a matter of regret and sorrow to me that the nation, the clergy and the statesmen are regarded by the cruel establishment as children who can be satisfied by giving them a ball. The people of Iran should understand that the clergy cannot and will not be reconciled with a despotic government or tyrants who are making a mockery of the Qur'an and Islamic precepts. Reconciliation means giving the Shah's gang of murderers control over the lives and families of the people. It is the worst type of misfortune that no clergyman, whoever he may be, can or will have a hand in. Political factions, the fronts and movements will not reconcile with the regime and neither can they do so, as reconciliation means dragging the nation into captivity and ignoring its interests. The statesmen will not countenance such ignorance.
The Iranian nation should realize that it is on the edge of the precipice; the slightest neglect will cause its fall, undoing all the efforts and suffering of many years. Moreover, it will not see a happy day for ever, and will have to answer to God the Almighty. It is essential that you continue your honorable campaign until the cruel and bullying regime is uprooted, and not pay any heed to the empty promises of the illegitimate government. At this crucial point in time, you must eschew differences arising and thus demonstrate the solidarity among yourselves to the regime. You must also exercise utmost vigilance in neutralizing its satanic plots. Rest assured that triumph and honor is at hand.
" God! I have conveyed the message. Praise be to the devotees and those who strive in the way of God."
Rouhullah al-Mousawi al-Khomeini
Month of Ramadan 23,1398 AH