Speech [Factors leading to victory: God's will and nation's unity]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I would like to thank the gentlemen who have shown responsibility during this critical period. Up to this stage of the movement, the secret behind the success in reaching this stage was the all-rounded solidarity of the nation. All strata of people, from Tehran and all the other cities to the remotest hamlet and village converged with one unified voice. When I was in Paris, an acquaintance of mine told me that he had been to Japloq, «1» a Bakhtiyari village and to those limits of Kamareh, «2» and named some of them, and a fortress located near a mountain, the area around which was rustic and undeveloped. He said that he went into the fortress and heard the very same words that were being said in the capital, and the same slogans were being shouted in villages there. In the village, headman would lead the march and the demonstrating villagers would follow. The secret of this victory is this unity of expression, which God had engendered in us. I cannot imagine how one human being can unite a nation of thirty million people or so in word and in heart in such a short period of time that even a two or three-year-old child who has just started talking is saying the same thing; that eighty-year-old man is uttering the very same words; women and men, children, young and old, everyone is moving forward in the same direction. This can only be due to God's will. And because I had felt this from the very beginning, I became hopeful about this movement, that this movement, which had united a nation through God's will, would be victorious. The secret of this victory was this very unity of expression, and we should safeguard it. That is, everyone, in whatever position he is, I, who am a mere theology student, the gentlemen who are among the great `ulama' and you, the intellectuals and thinkers are all duty-bound to work for the future of this country.

So far, we have driven out a number of thieves, those who were criminals and had devastated our country, even more than the warplanes that attack countries. They would come, fly over quickly and soon disappear. In Iran, however, we have been under a 2500- year-old monarchical rule. All kings, almost all of them, with no exception, were bloodthirsty, even those who had a reputation of being just. Historians know what kind of a man and tyrant that so-called" Anoushirawan, the Just" had been.

Then the era of Rida Khan's dictatorship arrived, followed by the rule of someone worse than himself, that is, his own son, so worthy of him! They( Pahlavis )did more harm to us than the Mongols, who did nothing to our culture. They came, indulged in pillaging, left the country, and the people's life resumed normalcy. But those two( Pahlavi )kings ruled the country as despots for fifty years and we lost everything we had because of their fifty years of destructive rule, shouting slogans about the `great civilization! ' Fifty years of" culturelessness" chanting slogans of a progressive culture; fifty years of atrocities with shouts of" social justice"; fifty years of suppression amidst chants of" freedom, free women and free men". They ruined all our dignity and left nothing of it. Our national treasury was emptied of Iranian jewels; Rida Khan took some of them and his son took yet another portion. They took the nation's wealth abroad and built mansions for themselves and deposited the rest in banks, especially in Swiss banks. They hold a great portion of the nation's wealth and we, God willing, will investigate this case soon. God willing, we will demand his extradition to Iran. If they (US) refuse to extradite him, we will still try him in absentia and sequester the property he has in Iran. We shall, God willing, also freeze his assets in foreign banks.

Anyway, what has been achieved so far, has been made possible through our unity. We have driven out the traitors, thieves and saboteurs. They left us a country that has neither an independent culture nor an independent army or agriculture. You know what they have done to the country's agriculture; they had transformed Iran into a market for other countries. Almost everything in this country is a shambles. Henceforth, it will be the time of reconstruction and it is our duty to help rebuild this ruin. It is incumbent on all of us: on me, a mere theology student, the great `ulama' in major cities and grand Religious Reference Authorities across the land; on you, the gentlemen, who are men of knowledge and are among the scholars, the intellectuals and people from all walks of life. No one, not the clergy or the advocates, or the Justice Ministry can perform this task alone. Neither could the corrupt regime be removed by one single group. The whole nation joined hands to eradicate that corruption to some extent and will, God willing, continue doing the task.

The entire nation should take part in rebuilding Iran. All classes of people should cooperate and join hands to reconstruct the ruin that has been left with us: the farmer in farming affairs, the peasant in sowing the fields and the people in industry in industrial affairs. People in the government and non-governmental organizations should also cooperate in a brotherly way with each other and build anew on the ruins that have been left for us.

I pray to God Almighty to grant you and us success (the people). The most important thing is that an uprising should be a divine one. I believe that this verse that says," I exhort unto you one thing only: that ye awake for Allah's sake, by twos and singly," «3» means that an uprising should be for God. This is what God, the Most High, says. I have a word of advice, only one piece of advice. That is, do rise up and launch a movement for God. When it is for God, it will blossom. I believed that this uprising of the Iranian nation was for God. That is why it succeeded. It was void of any conceit. A kind of humanity blossomed among the people and this lies only in the fact that there was some sort of faith, a kind of God worship and following the example set by God.

We must strengthen our faith and rely upon the Blessed and Exalted God. With this reliance upon the Blessed and Exalted God, we should not allow any foreign intervention in this country from now on or let them plunder our resources gratis and gratuitously. As you have seen, our oil was taken away and would have been exhausted had the Shah stayed any longer. He, himself, said that the oil would have been exhausted. Now, what did they (foreigners) give us in exchange? In return, they built military bases for America! That is, not only did they take our oil, but also did them a favor by building a military base. There is much to say about our misfortunes. Later on, those in the know, those individuals who are informed of the truth will write it down in history. We do not have all the information in our hand. We are unable to depict the magnitude of the plundering and treacheries that they had committed because we do not have the information. Those informed will recount it bit by bit. Anyway, from now on, we need to be united for the sake of the Blessed and Exalted God, with steadfastness in faith, the same strong faith our nation had when it toppled the superpowers.

You have seen that in the early days of the movement America was helplessly looking for a way as to what it should do, the same was true with Britain, the USSR, although somehow with moderation, and China. All of these acted in this manner at the beginning. However, when they witnessed for themselves the nation's insistence, they gradually withdrew their support one after another. They withdrew (their support) to such an extent, that Muhammad Rida is now in Rabat! I do not know where he is now. No one would give him entry! One by one, each country he went to, told him it could not provide him security! Nobody would let him in (to their country)! God willing, nobody will. We ourselves will let him in! Let him come and we will make him face a fair trial to retrieve the people's wealth. When he comes, we will not execute him right away; all his wealth must be taken from him, that is, he must return the people's money. Then, if his sentence is the death penalty, we will carry out the punishment, and he will be condemned without doubt! I implore the Blessed and Exalted God to grant you gentlemen health and prosperity. I hope we will be able to rescue this sinking ship together.

May God's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.