Speech [Making sacrifices for the sake of God was the practice of the prophets (`a)]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Today they announced that they have released a number of political prisoners, and that a further number is to be released later. However, the question is, does this freeing of prisoners compensate for everything? They deprive a human being, in every way, for something like five or ten years, stripping him of any kind of freedom, and persecuting and torturing him in prison, then they tell him that he is free to go! But does it then mean that these five years of a Muslim's life which have been wasted, of a human being's life, these five, ten years of persecuting a human being, a Muslim, are to be disregarded?! Now that he is free to go, does that mean that the matter is closed?! Is the release of a number of `ulama' and other members of society supposed to make us content? Is the nation now supposed to calm down?! Have they (the regime) made it up to the nation? Or is it that the present situation is such that they are no longer able to continue to behave as they have in the past; is it that they are struggling to come through the present situation alive, a situation in which the entire population has turned against them? Are they truly now able to save themselves? Can they actually be saved? This Shah who has reigned over us for about thirty years, who has reigned over the Muslim people in the manner of Genghis Khan; this Shah who has killed so many of the Muslim people, who has caused so many Muslims to flee their homeland, who has deprived and stripped so many human beings of their civil rights, this Shah now says: We have released them (the political prisoners), so now what more can you possibly expect from us! But the people expect you to provide ten years of life! You wasted ten years of a human being's life in prison, in a room two meters square. You took away the life of a human being, of someone who could have served the people, who could have served the people by being active and writing in a free environment. You wasted ten years of a nation's life, and now, having allowed it to go free, you ask what more do we want? We want compensation for these ten years. The people want these ten years in which you persecuted their children in prison to be compensated for. Yet there is no way that such compensation could be given in this world. One of the clear proofs for there having to be another place where God Almighty will punish these oppressors, is that supposing, you came together and tore Muhammad Rida Khan limb from limb, you then would only have killed one person. He is only one person; one vile person; and thus you would have taken a life for a life. Let us imagine that the person you are to kill is a good person, like the person for whose life you wish to obtain retribution, he is an honorable person; nevertheless, were you to kill him you would have only taken one honorable life in return for another honorable life! But what about all of those honorable people whom he has deprived of existence, all of those youngsters of ours that he has killed and whose lives he has curtailed? If someone were to have killed someone else, then his punishment would be for him also to be killed in return for the life he had taken. However, if that someone were to have brought about the death of, and to have killed, a multitude of people, then is there any way that retribution could be exacted for this here in this world? Of course, the person in question would have to be punished most severely here in this world, but even then would retribution have been fully exacted? Retribution would have been exacted for one family. If we were to cut someone's life short in return for his having cut short the life of a family, then this would be retribution for one family, but what about the other families? Are we now to content ourselves with the fact that this man has granted a pardon? We are talking about men for whom your pardon means nothing. Indeed, it is not a question of granting a pardon, it is in fact a question of doing that which is required of you, and right now you are obliged to release these people. Many of these prisoners were people whose unlawful sentences had already been served anyway. Yes, their sentences were unlawful from the start, but even having served the assigned term of imprisonment, they continued to be detained without reason. But now that these SAVAK agents, these perpetrators of so many crimes, have come and opened the prison gates, releasing certain prisoners, is that the end of the matter?! No indeed, now the matter is only just beginning! He( the Shah )and all of his agents are to stand trial. But even then, supposing they are all executed, retribution will still not have been exacted, for a hundred lives will have been taken in return for hundreds, for thousands of lives. In Tehran, during one bout of killings alone, four to five thousand people are said to have been killed. They say that these latest killings in Hamedan have left up to a hundred people dead. I am not sure whether it was yesterday or the day before. Moreover, even now Hamedan is once again in a turbulent state. In Qum too, both yesterday and today, there have been disturbances and the sound of gunfire has rung out. As to how many people have been killed however, I just do not know. The same has also been happening in Zanjan; «1» and you have all heard about Kerman. The situation is the same everywhere. Crimes have been committed in every place you could possibly mention. Yet now he (the Shah) has granted a pardon! To hell with this pardon of his! If it were not for the pressure exerted by the people and this widespread public opinion, then he would not have granted a pardon at all. This is not a case of granting a pardon, it is a case of doing that which one is compelled to do. The crimes he has perpetrated cannot be recompensed by taking such measures. It is beyond us to exact retribution, for how can we compensate for the killing of four to five thousand people when there is only one person to be punished and no more, and even then, when he is the kind of person that he is. This is why there has to be a world in which constant torment prevails until retribution is exacted; a world in which unremitting anguish awaits these tyrants.

We are really at a loss as to what we should do about the current situation in Iran. Of course, that is not to say that the situation is not promising, for it is. It is not that we are now concerned as to why such a situation prevails; but nonetheless, you can see for yourselves just what they are doing, just what madness they have called into being. Having said that however, it is worth it in order to rescue a nation. We must not be concerned by the fact that we are making sacrifices; for this was the practice of the prophets; these were the things that the prophets themselves did. The prophets and the friends of God [awliya'] rose up against those who were cruel, those who oppressed the people, and in so doing they killed and were killed, they sacrificed their young and they sacrificed their close friends and followers. So there is now no call for us to be concerned that blood might be spilled! Indeed, blood has to be spilled! A nation will not succeed in rescuing itself from the suffering, which stems from all these crimes and losses without having to pay a price. A certain mother has been seen to have stood up in Behesht-e Zahra cemetery and to have said that the tree of freedom needs to be watered and that her son's blood is something which serves this purpose. These are the kind of lion-hearted women we have among us.

Islam needs us to make sacrifices for its sake. Just consider what pure and virtuous lives have been sacrificed from the advent of Islam down to the present time. A case in point is Hadrat Amir (Imam `Ali) who fought against Mu`awiyah for eighteen months in the Battle of Siffin, and who killed so many adversaries and lost the lives of so many fellow combatants, over ten thousand people in all, well over this figure. Mu`awiyah was someone who made claim to being Muslim and to being the Prophet's rightful successor. He prayed at congregational prayer gatherings, was the Friday prayer leader, and so on. He practiced all of the outwardly visible religious practices. Unlike Yazid, «2» whose exterior was as aberrant as his interior, Mu`awiyah was good at keeping up appearances. He kept up appearances and also advocated Islam, so what actually happened to cause Hadrat Amir to engage in battle against him? The reason Imam `Ali fought against Mu`awiyah was because he was a tyrant who had unfairly exploited the people. He had seized Sham from Islamic rule and was forcing the people to behave ruthlessly and to commit injustices. He plundered the people's wealth, the public treasury. Hadrat Amir was obliged by duty to fight against him irrespective of whether he was to be the vanquished or the vanquisher. The fact that he may be defeated if he were to engage in battle at this time, did not concern Hadrat Amir. Once he saw that he was able to confront Mu`awiyah in battle, he rounded up his troops and battle commenced, although it is true to say that on this particular occasion he was eventually defeated. When the Doyen of the Martyrs (Imam Husayn), «3» may God's peace be upon him, sees that an oppressive ruler, a tyrant, is governing over the people, he makes it clear that should one witness an oppressive ruler governing over the people and tyrannizing them, then he is to stand in confrontation against the tyrant and is to do all he can to put a stop to his tyranny. And this is exactly what Imam Husayn did with only several people supporting him, people who were so few in number that they were nothing compared to the soldiers and the outfit they were to confront. Nevertheless, the Imam considered it his duty to rise up and sacrifice his blood in order for him to reform the people and to haul down the banner of Yazid. And indeed this he did, and an end was put to the affair. He sacrificed his own blood and that of his sons, as well as his children and everything he possessed in God's path, for the sake of Islam. Now, is our blood more precious than the blood of the Lord of the Martyrs?

Why should we be afraid of sacrificing our blood or of sacrificing our lives? That tyrannical sultan (Yazid) said that he was Muslim, but Yazid was the kind of Muslim that the Shah is- he may in fact have been somewhat better than the Shah, but he was certainly no worse than he is. However, because he treated the people so badly, because he was a tyrannous, cruel man who wanted to mislead the people by forcing them to obey him, the Doyen of the Martyrs deemed it necessary to confront this cruel sultan even if it meant losing his life. This is the line of action that was taken by the prophets. If a cruel, unjust sultan wishes to rule over the people one must stand up against him and do whatever is necessary. Now, we too must confront him (the Shah) with whatever it takes. We must forbid him to do evil and enjoin him to do good, and we are to pull him down from this redundant throne. Hence, we are not concerned about sacrificing our lives; let us sacrifice them. This is clearly something which we must do.

We want to free a people; we want to free a nation; we want to make a nation independent; we want to break loose from the fetters of America, Britain and the Soviet Union, and naturally this will mean that self-sacrifices have to be made. It will mean that our youth are to lose their lives, that we will be imprisoned for something like ten years. These things will have to happen. All kinds of sacrifices will have to be made. But we are in no way upset by the fact that we are to go to prison, or that our youngsters are to sacrifice their lives, since these things are to happen for the sake of truth, for the sake of God. When something is to be done for the sake of God and for the sake of fighting oppression, then what is there for us to worry about? The fact that we are working for the sake of God and that our youngsters are making self-sacrifices for His sake is no cause at all for worry or grief. Be sure not to allow this fear to enter your hearts in any way. Be sure not to pay attention to those evil whisperings which ask: What on earth can we possibly do about the situation? What will the eventual outcome be? And so on. Or to those words uttered by certain of the devil's accomplices to us clergymen and to you the people. Be sure to stand firm and not to allow any kind of fear to enter your hearts for, God willing, you shall be the victors. Whether we are killed or whether we kill others, Truth is on our side. Even if we are killed, we will have been killed in the fight for Truth, and this constitutes victory. And again, if we kill others, this too will have been in the fight for Truth, and therefore also constitutes victory.

We in no way fear these things. They can attack to their hearts' content, but they will eventually bite the dust and be destroyed. And let these powerful nations declare their support for him (the Shah) as much as they like; let anyone who so desires go ahead and do this, for an entire nation is now standing up in confrontation, and is saying `no'. No cannons or tanks can be effective before the `no' of a nation; as we have seen since martial law has been implemented. Martial law is in force right now in Qum, but yesterday saw the holding of many demonstrations there yet again, and it is said that further demonstrations have been held there today also. People no longer pay any attention to this martial law of theirs. Truth can no longer be put to silence at bayonet point. This is just not possible any more.

God willing, He will protect you all and enable us all to serve this nation and to serve Islam. God willing, may He grant us success in carrying out our bounden duty (the audience recites a s alawah).