In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The enemies' propaganda against Islam
We are now confronted by a propaganda campaign which was launched by the foreigners when they first made inroads into Iran and conducted research on the country with a view to taking away Iran's resources. At that time they began to propagate that the people saw Islam and the Islamic clergy as something which was against this life, something against reason, something reactionary, something of no use to their everyday life, and so on. Via this extensive propaganda campaign, they accused the different religions of essentially being an opium to stupefy the people, «1» of being a creation of the capitalists, and they accused the `ulama' of Islam of being the agents of these capitalists, who serve to stupefy the people so that they remain acquiescent, so that there is no chance of a revolution taking place at any time. This kind of propaganda was spread by those missionaries and others, who regarded Islam as something which stood in the way of their interests, and who saw the `ulama' of Islam as another such barrier.
The Qur'an as the scripture of Islam
During my past few days here, I have spoken on different occasions about many of the issues involved in this regard to the gentlemen in the audience, an audience which of course changes from day to day as people come and go. An example of those things of which I have spoken and which need to be repeated, is the question which asks: if one were to study the scripture of Islam, that is the Qur'an, or were to learn its teachings, then would it be as if he had taken opium? Would this person then retire to his home and become torpid? Does the Qur'an invite people to retire to a monastery? Or is the Qur'an a stimulus for society? Does it not support the elimination of oppression and of those acts of cruelty which take place?
The Prophet of Islam (s) at war with those holding power
Whoever is in any way familiar with the logic of the Qur'an, realizes that indeed it was the Qur'an which led the Prophet of Islam to constantly wage war against the capitalists, against those who were capitalists in the Hijaz, in Ta'if, in Mecca and so on, and who possessed power and were cruel. It was the Qur'an which urged the Holy Prophet to wage war against those who did not respect the people's national sentiments and who acted as a barrier to the interests of the social masses, unfairly exploiting the latter. It was the Qur'an which urged the Holy Prophet to do this and to establish some form of justice.
Those battles which were declared by the Prophet during his lifetime, once he had mustered up the troops needed to go to war that is, were always fought against the holders of power. They were fought against people like Abou Sufyan and others like him, people who possessed power and who wanted to appropriate the people's assets, the assets of their own people, for themselves; and they were fought at a time when oppression, injustice and acts of cruelty were rife. And those battles which took place were fought between the oppressed in society, those in society's lower social stratum, the poor, and those with power, those who wanted to take possession of what rightfully belonged to the indigent. That which the Qur'an has to say about war and about waging battle against these polytheists who were the holders of power at the time, is by no means exiguous; those verses contained in the Qur'an in this regard, are by no means few in number. There are numerous verses which relate to war and to struggle against these men of power. If anyone is able to find one verse throughout the entire Qur'an which tells the people to act moderately toward these powerful men, and to go home and sleep leaving the latter free to do as they please, then indeed he is entitled to say that this Qur'an and this religion have come to stupefy the people, that they are the opium of the people; opium in the sense that like a narcotic substance which is consumed and which subsequently induces man to feel drowsy, the Qur'an too has come to make people feel drowsy!
The plot to separate the Muslims from the Qur'an
This has all been but propaganda directed against the Qur'an, and its aim has been to separate the Muslims from this holy book and to destroy the logic contained in it in full view of the Muslims so that those Easterners who are Muslim and who possess valuable resources no longer have the power to put up a fight. If there is no Qur'an and no religious ministers of the Qur'an, then these people and popular masses will not put up a fight. It is due to the very fact that we do have the Qur'an and its religious ministers that putting up resistance is indeed a possibility... This kind of research has concluded that that which constitutes an obstacle in the path of Western interests is the Qur'an and those people who have read its teachings. These people may at some time stand in the way of the West's interests. Hence, these two barriers must be destroyed in order for the path to be cleared. They destroyed- to use their own words- the Qur'an, or they intended to do so that is, by using the argument which holds that essentially religion, not only the religion of Islam but religion in general, has always been a kind of opiate from time immemorial. And they used this argument not because they were unaware of the facts, for they were indeed aware; they were fully aware of the facts; but rather they did this because they were involved in a plan which was meant to deceive. It is we who were unaware of the fact that we were being deceived. They were involved in a deceitful plan, and their plan had a purpose, a political purpose from which they hoped to gain; but as for the Muslims, they were duped. We were the ones who were ignorant of the facts. Even now that Islam, the Qur'an, the clergy and so on have such firm foundations among the youth in our society, they are trying to shake and destroy these foundations. Someone who is working for the foreign powers, or if not, then someone who has been fooled by them, might still forward the same argument and insist that the Qur'an, and for example the clergy, are in fact opiates! Even though they are witnessing this movement, a movement which got under way fifteen years ago and which has now caused such upset- not only to the Shah, but to America, Britain and the Soviet Union. They are trying to discover how to find deliverance but cannot, since the bayonet can do nothing when faced with the will of the people- nevertheless, even now some ignoramus from among them may still be found to utter such foolish words.
Foreigners' logic is to separate us from the Qur'an
All of the former prophets, those of whose life histories we are aware that is, were from the lower social strata, they were from among the poor in society, and yet they rose up against the sultan of the day as did Prophet Moses, may God's peace be upon him, for example, against Pharaoh. A simple shepherd with staff in hand rises up and invites the people to lead a virtuous life. He then goes to Pharaoh whom he wishes to guide aright in order for him to become a true human being. It wasn't a case of Moses being appointed by Pharaoh to stupefy the masses! He himself (Moses) came from the masses. That is, God chose him from among the popular masses to confront the might of Pharaoh; and the same goes for the other prophets (`a), those with whose lives we are familiar that is. The Most Noble Prophet (Muhammad) lived nearer to us in time than did the other prophets and we know more about his life than we do about the lives of the other prophets. Hence, we know about all of the battles in which he was involved, we know how many battles he fought and against whom he fought; and all of these battles were in fact fought against people who were oppressive and cruel. Therefore, the logic which argues that Islam or indeed other religions are opiates is an argument forwarded by those foreigners who want to appropriate your wealth; those who want to distance us from the Qur'an so that we would be devoid of support. If a support such as the power of the Qur'an were not behind us and we become ideologically divided, each person holding a different opinion, then their propaganda would be effective in misleading our youth and this would mean that they (those in power) would be free to get on with whatever it is they want to do.
The war of the Prophet, Hadrat Amir and the `ulama' against the taghouts
When we take a look at those who propagated religion, like the Prophet himself, like Hadrat Amir (Imam `Ali), peace be upon him, like the caliphs who succeeded the Prophet- or rather those pseudo-caliphs who succeeded the Prophet while it was still a question of becoming caliph and not sultan «2»- and later, like the `ulama' of Islam, we see on examining history that the wars engaged in, were always between these aforesaid people and the tyrants. The former were never seen to sit back in silence. However, when they fought they did so according to their strength and power which at that time was in fact very little. There were reasons for this of course, reasons which involved certain shortcomings on their part.
The `ulama''s resistance to Rida Khan
Within my own lifetime, during the period that I myself have been witness to events, I have seen this same sector of society fight against Rida Shah. When the latter came and staged a coup, wreaking the havoc he did, and committing those acts of oppression and those injustices against all classes of society, no powerful force stood up to confront him except for that of the clergy. And thus many uprisings ensued, all of which I can call to mind. Yes, there have been many uprisings, uprisings such as those initiated by the `ulama' in Isfahan, when the latter all assembled in Qum along with the `ulama' from other cities; or again, like the uprising which sprang from Khorasan when all of the `ulama' of that province who had risen up were arrested and taken to prison, `ulama' such as the late Aqa Sayyid Younus, «3» the late Aqa Zadeh and others like them. During the uprising which arose in Azerbaijan, the distinguished `ulama' of that province, such as the late Mirza Sadiq Aqa, the late Angaji and others, were arrested and sent into exile. Yes, there have been many uprisings. Again, with the uprising initiated by the late Aqa Qummi when he went to Tehran only to be refused true support from the people, this too resulted in Aqa Qummi's arrest and exile. [`Ulama'] such as these have risen up in revolt on many occasions and history shows that it wasn't a case of them urging the people to remain calm and to say nothing in the face of oppression, to hold their tongues in the face of those tyrants. It has been propaganda which has brought us to the present stage where even now such false accusations are made. That is to say that those who have been misled still say these things even now, and are thus in fact aiding this regime of oppression.
Communist games and propaganda
Those who whisper about these issues are either themselves allied to, and serve, the regime, or they have been deceived by the regime's agents. The same applies to those who chant these so-called communist or Marxist slogans, for they are a group of youngsters who have been fooled by these very slogans. These youngsters have not made any enquiries as to what those who have called on them to support communism or to support Marxism are actually like. They haven't looked into the lives of these people to see what kind of people they actually were. Stalin for example, whose life we all witnessed in the recent past and who was a contemporary of mine and of some of you, just what kind of a person was he? What kind of a person was he that made these youngsters want to follow him?
Stalin with his special cow!
When World War II broke out soldiers from the Russian army came to Iran. They were to be found in that part of Iran which stretches from more or less the other side of Tehran to Khorasan and that area, and they had captured the areas which were formerly occupied by Britain as well as those which were formerly occupied by America, each of these countries having had a presence in Iran and each having claimed a part of the country for itself. And we all saw this for ourselves; I personally witnessed this. During that momentous period a certain event occurred which itself came to be equally famous. This event involved the Allies' visit to Iran, that is, when the leaders of the Allied countries, Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill, came to Iran. When Stalin came to Iran- Stalin, the person whom these gentlemen insist was a Communist, was in favor of the popular masses, behaved fairly with the people and so on, the person whom they used to call" qardash," the person who was a comrade and so on- they even had to bring along a milk cow for him, so that this gentleman wouldn't have to drink the milk of an Iranian cow! When this man, he who sat in the Kremlin and whose comrades comprised those members of the armed forces as well as the popular masses, when he came to Iran during the period of global warfare to hold negotiations, it was a well-known fact that he took a special kind of cow along with him for its milk, for, God forbid, that he should have no milk of his own and should therefore have to drink milk from an Iranian cow! This was the kind of aristocratic life he led.
Beggary of the Soviet occupying forces during the World War II
And on another occasion I personally remember coming across some Russian soldiers as we were traveling from Tehran to Mashhad by bus, and how these soldiers believed that we and Stalin were each other's brothers and that we all had things in common! These soldiers used to come up to us and beg for cigarettes or some other thing! Once they had been given a cigarette, they became so pleased that they would whistle as they walked away! Yet when he (Stalin) came to Iran, he came by airplane traveling in such grand style and surrounded by such a great entourage and so on; a milch cow also being brought along so that this gentleman could drink its milk!
Examples of the methods of communist leaders
Yes, indeed, they are leading the people on. Lenin, whose praises they sing so loudly, initially made a name for himself because of a love affair gone bad and opposing those who held a religious faith. He opposed the religious scholars of that time, the religious scholars in his own country. Some kind of love affair was involved which the latter had declared to be forbidden leading Lenin to become outraged. It is said that at that time Lenin had proposed the need to make a calculated assessment to ascertain both the income and expenditure of those in the country. He is said to have argued that we are of course to hold on to those individuals whose annual income and expenditure are found to balance or whose income is found to exceed their expenditure since they earn enough to meet their own living costs and we too stand to benefit in some way! But as for he whose expenditure is not less than his income, he who earns less than he spends, this person must be cast into the sea! This is the kind of person that this philanthropist was! He whose praises they now sing so loudly, is someone who argues that the poor who are unable to work, that person who has now reached old age, who has become infirm, who, because of some impairment, is unable to earn enough to cover his own living costs, is someone who is no longer of any use; he is to be tossed into the sea. And even then, note that he is to be tossed into the sea to preclude the need for a ground burial and so on! Yes, they are deceiving our youth, and their words are mere propaganda, words which bear no truth. This is what their form of government and their leaders are like. But we too have a form of government which we shall make known to all- that form of government which we now seek.
Methods of the Islamic rulers
The form of government which we seek is epitomized by that of the Holy Prophet who himself was someone who once governed. I now want to take a look at such leaders, to consider what former leaders (in Islam) were like, to consider the way in which they behaved. One of these leaders was Hadrat Amir (Imam `Ali), and another, `Umar. «4» Let us ask ourselves whether today's leaders are even like `Umar was. And then let us ask the same about Hadrat Amir. Whoever has written about how the Holy Prophet himself actually lived, has told of how he in fact led a life more simple than that led by the ordinary people in Medina at the time. The Prophet lived in a home built from mud; he lived in a mud-built room within the mosque. He used to ride a donkey and would seat a passenger behind himself. He would discuss religious issues with his passenger during their journey and would give him instruction and guidance. Now just name one governor, one chief of police, one village headman who is like this, who behaves toward the people as did the Prophet. It is related that when the latter used to go to the mosque- which is where governmental administrative affairs were conducted- and he used to sit and talk with the people there, anyone who did not know the Prophet and entered the building would not be able to distinguish who was the ruler and who were the ruled, who was the Prophet and who was not. He did not lead anything like an aristocratic life. Yet in spite of the simple life he led personally, at the same time he took care of the indigent and the weak so much that it defies description.
Some aspects of `Ali's (`a) life
And then there was Hadrat Amir, someone who was sultan- indeed it is impertinent of me to refer to him as `sultan'- someone who was the caliph of many countries, just one of these countries being Iran, another one being the Hijaz, another Jordan and another Egypt. Yes, this is how vast his dominion was at that time. Let us now take a look at his life to see whether it was he with such a great dominion who caringly looked after the people, or these other leaders that they (the communists) speak of. Just look back in history and make a comparison of the lives that they lived. According to written accounts «5» Hadrat Amir owned a pelisse made from sheepskin on which he and his wife would sleep at night. During the day he would use this sheepskin on which to scatter grass for his camels to eat. This is the kind of life which was led by Hadrat Amir! He probably never once ate a wholesome piece of bread in his life. So you can tell what kind of diet he had. According to written accounts, the Hadrat's diet was such that he would seal the lid of the container «6» in which barley bread was kept in order to ensure that no one would open it up and add something to the bread inside- some kind of fat or whatever which his children, example Zaynab, «7» may want to add as a kindness to their father. Yes, the Hadrat would seal the lid so that the bread could not be tampered with. This was the kind of food eaten by Hadrat Amir, May God's peace be upon him.
On the eve of Hadrat Amir's death, the night on which he was struck a blow, he is said to have been a guest in the home of Umm Kulthoum (Hadrat's daughter), «8» and on being brought salt and milk by his daughter with which to break his fast, to have asked the latter when she had ever before seen him eating two kinds of food on the same occasion. When the Hadrat then told his daughter to take one of the two foods away and the latter was about to remove the salt, the Hadrat is said to have implored her to take away the milk instead. He then took two morsels of bread and salt and ate them. This is the kind of government we are looking for from the rulers of our government; this is what Islamic government is like; this is what a true Islamic ruler is like; and what was said previously is what the communist and Marxist rulers are like.
The enemies' propaganda is for plundering us
One must consider carefully to discover how one has been cheated. One must ask oneself: what was all this deception for? What was all that propaganda for? You must question the real reason for their wanting to turn you away from Islam and wanting to alienate you from Islamic government. The real reason for this is that one gentleman wants our country's gas, and another our country's oil. But the fact of the matter is that certain people already own this oil and gas and they may well begin to shout out in protest and cause an outcry. Islam says that no power has the right to impose its will upon the Muslims; yet these (powers) want to impose everything upon them. They want to bring someone by the name of Muhammad Rida, and to install him here to fulfill a mission, a" Mission for my Country"! They want to commission this person to give whatever is of worth in this country to them. But since there is a possibility of the akhound voicing protest against this, they silence him. They say that akhounds are parasites! That all the akhounds are parasites! Yet the life led in the madrasah chambers by this akhound who is now supposedly living a parasitic existence, consists of nothing but a few books, a short-napped and coarse carpet, and other such things. Those who say that these akhounds are parasites are in fact the ones who own this and that. They say that these akhounds are lazy! But is it the akhounds who are lazy- those who have never relaxed their efforts in the struggle over the past seventy years, those who see a job through to the end in order to protect their own nation and their own faith- or those people who generally just do not give a damn? The latter say that they (the akhounds) are lazy! The aim of all this propaganda is to discredit the akhound before the nation, to strip the nation of this potent force. It aims to wrest the power of Islam, a power which exceeds all others, and to tear away the power held by the promoters of Islam. Once these two powerful forces (i.e. Islam and the clergy) have been removed then Muhammad Rida will be free to do whatever he pleases, in his own good time, with no one there to question his actions.
Mudarris' resistance to Rida Khan and the imperialists
By the same token, when Rida Shah came and committed all of those outrageous acts, again it was an akhound by the name of Mudarris, may God rest his soul, that stood before him in the Majlis and voiced protest. No one else did this other than Mudarris and a few of his supporters. Nowhere else in the entire country did any other opposition force stand up to confront Rida Shah. Mudarris was a man who wore a turban, he was a mullah, a virtuous man, and dressed in a particular kind of shirt, a particular kind of `aba and canvas trousers- trousers which were humorously called" canvas trousers" in the poetry which used to be recited as a tribute to him at that time- he stood up before Rida Shah and said" No!"
When Russia issued an ultimatum to Iran- an ultimatum which concerned some affair or other the details of which have now escaped my memory- having mobilized its troops until they had reached a certain area in Iran, the ultimatum in question was then taken to the Majlis for the deliberation of the deputies there. Indeed, it was a case of the Russian army having entered Iran, of it intending to advance even further, and of an ultimatum having been issued by the Russians which threatened that if such and such an action wasn't taken then Iran would pay the price! Hence, to quote accounts given by the Russians themselves, all of the Majlis deputies were seated in silence believing that they were unable to do anything about the situation- indeed, what could they have done- when a sayyid, a man wearing a turban, a certain mullah, is said to have ascended the speaker's rostrum, his hands trembling (from age and infirmity), and to have said:" It
may be the will of God that our liberty and sovereignty shall be taken away from us by force, but let us not sign them away with our own hands! No, we reject these demands." And so the ultimatum was rejected and the Russians didn't do a damn thing about it. According to the Russians themselves, other deputies found courage «9» and also cast a negative vote, thus refusing to succumb to Russian threats. As for the Russians, they did absolutely nothing about it. They merely want to scare us.
America and Britain's support of the Shah
And even though you are still under the impression that (it is not this way) nevertheless, it was only the other day that they sent yet another telegram to mark October 26 (the Shah's birthday). Only a few days ago did these parasitical, oil-devouring state leaders send telegrams to congratulate the Shah on the occasion of his birthday, telegrams in which they expressed their firm support for him! And this especially applies to Carter who in expressing his support pulled out all the stops saying:" We are firmly behind you" and so on. While only a few days earlier, the British Foreign Minister had also accurately described the situation! e had said something to the effect that the Shah was the protector of their interests, that they had certain interests in our country, and so they had to give him (the Shah) their support!
International threats
No, we will not allow you to give your support. The nation is no longer fooled by these words. Even now, despite the things they (the foreign powers) say, do not be under the impression that if the people were to stand up in revolt, if they were to make firm their ranks and dismiss all of the threats made against them, then they (the foreigners) would bring in their troops from abroad. This is not the case; it is all talk, all lame verse. Indeed, today's world would not allow anyone to take such action against a nation which is making sense, a nation which is speaking the truth, which is saying:" We do not want you to take away our assets, we do not want you to take away our resources, we want to enjoy national independence, we want to be free. You yourselves have spoken of this in the Declaration of Human Rights; hence, we want to act in accordance with this Declaration. We want to be free; we want national independence; we want freedom." Our children are also shouting this message; our old men too, they are saying the same thing. You cannot fight such a nation with the bayonet. A martial law government can no longer stand in the way of this nation, nor can a non-military government. It is just not possible. Neither can Carter stand in its way, nor can those in the Kremlin. It simply cannot be done. They go on saying these things because by saying them they hope to frighten the living daylights out of you, but the fact remains that they never follow their words up by coming and creating an onslaught. Each of these foreign powers has certain interests, certain international interests and so on which means that country daren't make a move for fear of the other and vice versa. «10» These countries are each afraid of the other. But this being the case, they nevertheless now say these things so as to frighten us.
At that time an akhound «11» stood up and said" no," but the people were not behind him; they were not yet ready. Propaganda «12» against the clergy has been such that at one time no one would even give an akhound a lift in their car, I swear it. The late Haj Shaykh `Abbas Tehrani, «13» may God rest his soul, once said that while in Arak «14» he had wanted to take a taxicab and that the taxi driver had said:" There are two kinds of people that we do not allow on board: one is the akhound, and the other, the prostitute." This is how things were for the akhound at one time, that is to say, this is what the situation brought about by the regime was like. They (the regime) alienated the people from the akhounds, and Rida Khan went ahead and did as he pleased. As for the gentlemen (clergymen) in question, they rose up in revolt, some of them that is. They weren't able to succeed however because the people had been duped and did not therefore give them their support and the akhounds had no army of their own with which to fight. Likewise, today there is a constant bombardment of propaganda; propaganda is unrelentingly churned out." So-and-so lives in a country mansion" they say!" That is where he lives and the young people go to visit him there" they say! (Imam laughs). This is our country mansion in which we do not even have a room for the gentlemen to sit in. Instead they have to remain standing like this! (Imam laughs). It is nothing but propaganda. And this is how they hope to alienate the people from religion. But today Iran no longer heeds their words; the words they speak are now redundant. The people have seen the light; they are now aware of these tricks. They no longer listen to what they say. This person (the Shah) must go; there are no two ways about it. If you would like Iran to be put right then know that this is not possible while Muhammad Rida and this evil Pahlavi dynasty remain. He must leave in order for Iran to be put right. And following this, if the country is to be straightened out, the hands of America, Britain and Russia, these three superpowers, must be severed from Iran and Iran must enjoy national independence. God willing, this is in effect what we hope to achieve.
We all have a duty
Now let us ask: What is the duty of those of you who are sitting here? I an tired and can no longer continue. What is the duty of us all? Our brothers in Iran are presently fulfilling their duty. What I mean to say is that even now as we sit here, have no doubt that some kind of disturbance or other is taking place in Qum or elsewhere. Wherever one goes in Iran, be it Tehran, Zanjan or elsewhere, something or other is happening; some movement or other is under way; screams are being heard; beatings are taking place; murder and plunder are being committed. Those in Iran are now caught up in these affairs, whereas here, you and I are unfortunately not confronted by the same events. Each one of you however is able to propagate the cause, here, abroad. Whoever has some connection with the schools and universities go and talk to ten of the foreigners there. Tell them: the situation in Iran is like this; this is what they (the regime) are doing there; this is how these state leaders are oppressing us; this is the way in which the Shah is committing acts of tyranny; this is how they are killing the people; the people's rights are these; this is what they are demanding; the people are not barbaric or uncivilized.
This man (the Shah) is saying:" The people in our country do not yet deserve the freedom we have given to them!" He says that they do not deserve freedom! While Carter says so much freedom has been given to the people that the latter have begun to shout out in objection! All of this killing and plunder then is due to an excess of freedom according to Carter's logic, a logic which he expresses so unequivocally. Really, this kind of mentality is beyond me! I do not understand the kind of person he is! One of the newspapers- either Ittila`at or Kayhan- quoted him as having said that the Shah has granted a fast freedom to the people and that this is what has caused all of these conflicts! This" fast freedom" has caused the people to cry out: "O freedom! O freedom!" And in so doing, they supposedly mean to say:" We do not want freedom! We do not want freedom!" Or so Carter maintains! This is the light in which they are interpreting things. This scoundrel (the Shah) - even the other scoundrel (Carter) is better than this one- says that these people of ours do not deserve freedom, that freedom ought not be granted to them! He says that they should not be given freedom since if they become free they won't want him! This is what he's saying (laughter of the audience), he's saying that as soon as the people were told" you are free", they began to say" death to the Shah." As for the other scoundrel (Carte), he says that they (the regime) gave the people so much freedom that they are shouting out in protest! So, one says one thing while the other says quite the opposite. This is what we have to contend with. We who are seated here and who are in contact with each other, and those of you who are in touch with those European or American friends of yours, are to speak out about these things. You are to tell people about the pain and suffering of Iran and its people. Tell them about how they are killing these small children, about how they are killing these seven- or eight-year-old children.
[A member of the audience: Are we to solve this matter or is it the job of others?]
Imam: Please pay attention. No, we shall solve the matter ourselves, we just need some help. We want to mend the image portrayed of us abroad which presents us as barbarian people. Something was written quoting a journalist- who was European, maybe British- as saying that:" I was just leaving the `Id al-Fitr «15» gathering toward which people were advancing in a most orderly fashion and where slogans were being chanted, a gathering which was nonetheless peaceful, no skirmishes taking place at all, when an American, on seeing that I was foreign, stopped his car. I got in the car and he said:" Just look at those barbarians." To which I retorted:" You say they are barbarians? Where in the world do you know of that a crowd of half a million, that one million people have set out and walked with such poise and order? These people are merely demanding their legitimate rights; does that make them barbarians?" Yes, those abroad have portrayed the people in Iran as barbarians; and a barbarian is not to be set free; a barbarian belongs in a zoo, and his cage door is to be securely locked!
All of Iran is saying one thing
This is the picture they are painting of you and in order to erase this image from the minds of the foreigners you must tell them our side of the story. You must tell them how the Iranian people see things; tell them that this is how we see it, so that the minds of the foreigners may be cleared of this image. Once this image has been erased then a wave of support will appear here also and these foreign governments may, to a certain extent, take note of the public opinion in their countries. This is why we must take this step (to tell those abroad the truth of the situation), and not because we want these foreigners to come and solve our problems for us. We must solve our own problems. But you must nevertheless erase this image that they are creating of the Iranian people- an image which shows them to be barbarian and incapable of handling freedom, or which presents them as a nation which is crying out in protest at being given too much freedom- and you must explain the situation with which the Iranian people are faced, explain why they are crying out in protest and exactly what it is that they are seeking. The nation's eight-year-olds are crying out:" Freedom, independence, Islamic government." Its old men are also now demanding this as are its mullahs, its preachers, its intellectuals, those in the bazaar, those in the high schools- they all want to be free. They were in a wretched state; for fifty years they were repressed; they now want to be independent. For many years, for more than fifty years, they were in fetters; they now want to break free from these fetters. We must propagate the Iranian cause here abroad. That is, we must tell the people of this country, «16» we must tell whichever of them we associate with about the problems facing Iran. We must tell them these things in order to destroy the image they have of the Iranian people which depicts them as a bunch of savages setting fire to the bank! And if at some time arson is committed we must explain that this has probably been the work of the regime's agents. We must erase this image which tells people: these are nothing but a bunch of savages! If they set these people free there's no telling what they'll do! Thus, we must tell them: no, this is not the case. These poor souls are crying out for freedom; and they are sacrificing the lives of their children so as to prevent the possibility of a return to the fetters and yokes laid upon them by the foreigners.
May God protect you all. May you be successful and may you cause Islam to grow stronger. We pray that this nation which is now in such difficulties will achieve victory, and God willing, so it shall.