In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The philosophy of the committees' existence
I cannot go into details in these issues; I should mention some generalities. Both we and all of the people know that after the victory of the Islamic Revolution up to here and the repelling of the satanic forces, there are disorders, and revolts; every revolution is such. And all know that when these disorders appeared, there was no sign of the law enforcement forces, but the Revolutionary guards controlled the situation and impeded the corruptions as far as possible. In all cities, the committees and Revolutionary guards performed these useful works. Of course, today the law enforcement forces have been formed to some extent, but the Revolutionary guards and committees should accompany the law enforcement forces until they gain power to disarm all the corrupt people and groups committing sabotage. Disarmament of these groups is a sign of gaining power. After they disarmed the groups that commit corruption among the people, make sinister propaganda against the Islamic Revolution in the factories, do not want agricultural development, and do not want the opening of the governmental schools. They want to establish disorder in order to let the foreigners claim that Iran is unable to safeguard itself, pave the ground for corruption, and God forbid, stage a coup and justify it in the world; these people who commit corruption and make subversive propaganda against the Islamic system are always there and we need committees and Revolutionary guards. This can neither be denied by the government, nor by the nation; no one denies this need. Until the government gains power to disarm these corrupt people and repel them, we will surely need to reinstate the committees and Revolutionary guards. It is not clear whether the government can deny any part of this concept, if we talk to them. They also believe that the country needs Revolutionary guards.
Disorder and obstinacy in some committees
The problematic thing with the committees all over Iran- do not only consider Tehran- throughout the country is that some impious people have been seen in some committees, or some committees have been formed by the impious altogether, all in the name of revolution and in the name of the committee of such and such; these carry out anti-revolutionary acts, carry out works contrary to the Muslim code of the religious law. Thus, they mar our revolutionary image, both locally and abroad, to show that though the Revolutionary guards and committees exist these misdeeds are committed; therefore, Islam is such and wants disorder! When the enemies observe wrongdoings in one or two places they do not pay attention to the fact that right conduct has been carried out in other five hundred places, and a few wrongdoings have been committed elsewhere. They pinpoint the same wrongdoings and slam all: they slam clerics, slam Islam, and slam the revolution. The problem will be changing this way of thinking and finding a way for the reformation of the committees formed by obstinate persons without any permission or the committees which have not been formed by such people but have been penetrated into by enemies because of the ignorance of the pious people, and those enemies have gradually imposed the invalid matters on the others. We should think about how and in what way we can make reformations. We do not mean reforming the committees in Tehran; little complaint is made about the committees here, we have to reform the committees all over the nation. In some cities, there are committees as many as the number of the influential people, cleric, or non-cleric, and each of these committees opposes another, seeks its own advantage, and criticizes the others. There are some works being done contrary to the revolution, contrary to Islam. Despite all our efforts, we could not settle all the disputes among some people. For instance, we could not settle the problem of the necessary number of the committees and Revolutionary guards in each region, and place; and we could not make them settle their disputes, restore discipline and peace, and avoid violating the peace. Unfortunately, this has not been achieved yet. We must remove these faults.
Need for the presence of committees and Revolutionary Guards
The committees and the Revolutionary Guards are necessary. They should be active until the government gains enough power and the sign of the government's full control of the situation is the disarming of all the opponents of Islam, and all the enemies of the revolution. Until that time, we deem it necessary to keep the committees and Revolutionary Guards active. And we are thankful to all[ officials of ]the committees and gentlemen for the time they have spent on such an issue and this of course is for the benefit of themselves and everyone and we thank the Revolutionary Guards for the very hardships they tolerated, and for the many martyrs they gave. This is appreciated by all the people and by Islam. The core of the matter is this that they should be in force, and we need their presence, but the main matter has not been considered. There must be more attention paid to this matter.
Refinement and reformation of committees
The question is how to reform these committees. Imagine for instance, some things happen in a city; for example, they break into the house of someone who, they say, was a member of the former intelligence service (SAVAK) and who has escaped. Well, this is neither religious nor logical to break into his house and annoy his family. It is neither religious nor logical to arrest, beat, and torture someone for non-religious causes. These actions should be prevented. Somehow, these committees need refinement, not dissolution. These committees must be refined and not canceled. Certain people or delegations should inspect the performance of each one of these committees, they should ask about what they have done, and find out who is responsible for the actions. They must find the one who has committed the harsh deeds and fire or punish this corrupt man and replace him with a pious one. The painful part of the matter is thinking of a solution for refining the committees and replacing the corrupt members with pious ones. This can also be found in Qum itself. Sometimes violation of the law takes place here. At any rate, what you say as the core of the matter is the problems that exist in the committees; however, there should be reformation, and they should be refined. So, do the refinement. This refinement should be carried out by themselves and by the delegations, and if these reformations are made, there may be no complaint.
Complaints are made because there are ill intentions. Ill intentions about committees are many. There is sinister propaganda, otherwise, these people who staged a demonstration in the case of Mr. Taleqani whom we respect, was it really for him? «2» Do they really like Mr. Taleqani? Does he, who does not believe in God, stage a demonstration for Mr. Taleqani, who is a committed clergyman and a believer of Islam? Or was it to disturb the society's peace?
Opposing the referendum means opposing the nation
Those sympathizing with our nation! Was the referendum really contrary to the policies of the nation? Was the referendum, which all the people agreed with wholeheartedly, contrary to the nation's expedience that they set fire to some of the ballot boxes? Somewhere they used guns to prevent the people from casting their votes. Why did they boycott the referendum? Do they want this nation, and want to develop Iran? Well, this is the nation; the nation that you all witnessed that went to the ballot boxes enthusiastically and as a religious duty, and voted, and these five or six groups, opponents of the Islamic republic, who altogether hardly make up one percent of the nation, were defeated. They wanted to prevent the referendum because they knew that they have no foothold among the people, and their masters would only support their benefits if they try hard, cause tumult, and take peace away from the nation.
Sabotage in agriculture and in the factories
Well! Is agriculture contrary to the nation's expedience? Why do they go to farms and prevent farming? Why do they go to the farms, tempt the farmers to stage demonstrations, and prevent agricultural work? Do they have good intentions for the nation? Do they want to help the oppressed and improve the standards of their living? They want to serve their masters who were cruel to the nation. Do they really want to do something for the nation and support them? Do they really want to improve the state of affairs in the country? Do they want to organize the affairs? If yes, then what is wrong with agriculture that they prevent the agricultural work in the farms? We turn to factories. Is it contrary to the national interests to reactivate the factories? Is it contrary to the nation's expedience? Why do they go to factories, make anti-revolutionary propaganda, and prevent reactivation of them?
Riotous opportunism
All these issues suggest that certain persons are commissioned by the foreigners- and I guess by the United States- not to let Iran be healthy and peaceful. If they can, they accomplish their mission in the factories, if they can, they do it in agriculture, they do it in the universities and these people; though, they are educated or are pursuing an education, are simple-minded and young, and are easily affected and deceived. They offer a few persuasive and tempting words and deceive them; otherwise, they [students and academics] have no bad intentions. These people gather together women, children, and adults from everywhere for an affair they themselves strongly oppose.
They themselves oppose Mr. Taleqani. They will behead him and the likes of him any time they find them. However, they have found the pretext that he had left the capital for objection! They have made this pretext to disturb our schools and our streets and they staged anti-revolutionary propaganda for the committees. These groups are organized and tomorrow they will come up with another conspiracy.
Contrivance of SAVAK
I had said previously in the time of the taghouti regime that at times we would see some disturbances. Those specific times are sometimes before the month of Ramadan and some other times before the month of Muharram. The month of Ramadan was dangerous for the former government lest the clerics- in the mosques where the people gather for supplications- stage subversive propaganda against the government. They used to stage a tumult before the holy month of Ramadan. For example, the issue of the book Shahid-e Javid «3» caused another tumult. For a month, we were heedless of our mistakes. In a blessed month, we challenged one another on a trivial matter. The pulpit people divided into two groups: one group took that side, and another group took the other side. Our clerics and so called seminary students fell into two groups: one group here, another group there. We wasted a holy month to punish the government, to say something. They made the disturbance and kept us busy with the issue of Shahid-e Javid, for a month, for two months, or for three months! When the tumult was about to lose its fervor and Muharram was approaching, they planned for another one, the issue of the late [Sayyid `Abou'l-Hasan] Shamsabadi. It is probable that Shamsabadi himself helped in the formation of the disturbance; or maybe he was not directly involved and there were certain groups who divided the people into two groups. At a time when our forces and our power had to be mobilized in the cause of Islam, they wasted energy for this matter until it lost its fervor. Then it was time for another issue with the approaching of, for instance, the month of Ramadan ..., and that was the issue of Dr. Shari`ati. «4» On the one hand, they chanted slogans against him and at the other hand chanted slogans for him. All the energy used to be spent on this. They are at work even now. Still certain people want to prevent the establishment of Muslim provisions. There are still such problems. When this issue fades away, there comes another one. You will see that when this disturbance subsides- and actually, it has subsided, as Mr. Taleqani himself was annoyed about the slogans and the disturbance when he visited me in Qum- there will come another. Now, they may send someone to kidnap someone, for instance kidnap my son «5» to cause another disturbance. Although, if they kidnap Ahmad and kill him, I will never object. Or they may kidnap the son of an influential cleric and maltreat him, then another disturbance arises again. Then they sympathize with the family before the family itself expresses its sorrow. The families do not say anything but these people mourn for the kidnapped.
Paving the ground for the return of imperialism
What is this? This is because they do not want to see our country under our control. They have been commissioned to return the former government- not the monarchy because it is impossible, but another form- then there will be the same plundering, cruelty and stampeding on public rights. They will seek their share in the course of this transfer of power, however menial it may be! We must mobilize all our power to neutralize their conspiracies. Of course, they staged these disturbances themselves and they arrested someone to generate it, then make ballyhoo before the one to whom the matter is concerned can make an objection!
At any rate, useless noise about the committees is not something new. This is what they are seeking, i.e. their thesis is slamming everything, and any region where there is something happening in favor of this nation. As I said, preventing the referendum was a major proof of their ill wills. Can they claim that the referendum was not national? Can they say there are destructive elements at work here? They cannot say this. No one can utter these words. However, they did their best to prevent the referendum. They set fire to ballot boxes, wherever they could. They bothered some people and prevented their voting. They boycotted the referendum. These are clear evidences for the fact that they do not want the establishment of this revolution in Iran and a special form of government. They know this, and foreigners have grasped this meaning.
Subversive propaganda against clerics
Formerly, there were some scientific matters that when the people unite, when a nation gathers, it is impossible to control them. Due to their very knowledge and for their political notions, they prevented proximity of different strata of the people and kept us away from university students. They opened such a wide gap between them and us [clerics] that we used to blame them; they used to call us fools. They used to say this group are court clerics, cleric means courtier, cleric means English mercenary! One day, in the time of Rida Shah, I was accompanying Mr. Ha'iri [founder of Qum Theological School] and that Ha'iri over there «6» in an automobile, large automobile it was, along with a number of people; we were going to Tehran. One of those people started speaking. He said," it was for long years he had not seen such" big figures". The British brought them to Iran, or apparently, he said in Najaf, they made clerics to prevent our development in Iran. These are British agents"! He spoke for the entire time that we were in the car. They were such. They made sinister propaganda that any turban-wearing man and all clerics are courtiers.
Messengers, flag-bearers of the masses in their fight with the powerful
The core of the religion, they said, he who has brought religion, was for narcosis! These powerful nations have created the religions! In addition, the religion they, the powerful governments, have created was to spell the people into drowsiness to establish their power and to prevent the uprising of the nations. Such people promise paradise and the like to keep the people calm. They lull the people! They make the people unconscious! These powerful governments plunder public possessions. If any fair and just man refers to the history of the prophets, he will see that the prophets were the only ones who tried to awaken the people, and to mobilize them against governments. Well, it was Moses (`a), «7» a shepherd with a stick, who enlightened the people to rise against Pharaoh. Pharaoh did not make Moses to lull them. Moses mobilized the people to oppose the powerful government. According to the history of Islam, which is available, and you read it; you know that the Quraysh's «8» influential figures did not make the Prophet of Islam to lull the general public. The Messenger of Islam awakened the masses, awakened the beggars, awakened the poor, awakened the needy, and rose against these things, against the powerful. The Prophet's wars were all against the powerful; on one side, a number of unarmed people, the masses, the poor, the weak, and the oppressed, and on the other side, the oppressors with such and such. Their propaganda was so vast that perhaps among us and perhaps among our youth, there are some who are convinced that nay, the authenticity of religion is for such a thing. The truth was otherwise, however. In the foreign countries, they know that the truth was otherwise. The struggles of the prophets have always begun with the masses lined set against the oppressors, and against the powerful.
Flag-bearers of liberating movements
On the one hand," these clerics are patrons of governments, they are courtiers, and are the supporters of the governments"! You do not remember the past; however, I remember the time of Rida Shah until the present. I was aware of this and I knew all about it. You may not recall from the beginning- perhaps a few can remember this- that it was the clerics who opposed the satanic power from the beginning of these fifty odd years. All political parties were inactive. They said something abroad and out of the country, but the scholars of Tabriz were the first ones to rise against the monarchy of Rida Shah inside the country. Another time the clerics of Khorasan rose, then there were the clerics of Isfahan who gathered in Qum; and we were always with them «9». He who voiced opposition in the Majlis was Mudarris, «10» not the" National Front". «11» It was not the" Freedom Movement", «12» it was Mudarris, who resisted and opposed there. They were not influential at that time, and paid no attention to these things. When it was finished, well, there they were. We have nothing to do with them. However, the fact is this that subversive propaganda against clerics was extensive and this propaganda was to create a gap between the people and the clerics in order to prevent the union of the two, and to prevent the abolition of their own interests. This was their thesis, political tendencies and scientific views.
Masses vote for `Islamic Republic'
Today, they grasped these realities; meaning that in foreign countries, they literally saw that the nation united and neutralized whatever they had done in Iran. This nation, when its clerics, its academics, businessmen, its farmers, gathered together, chanted" Death to this monarchy" and unanimously said they wanted an Islamic Revolution, no power could prevent their movement. Unity of expression was a danger they grasped well, not any of the world's powerful nations could stand in the way of the movement of this nation, and this nation defeated them bare-handedly. It was only in the cause of Islam and because people sought martyrdom, it was only because people were with one another, from the small child to the 80- year-old man, and all said the same thing. They grasped the meaning. In the referendum, they understood what the reality was. They understood it when they saw someone- I cannot recall whether I heard it on the radio or read it in the newspaper- was crying when he had cast a vote mistakenly believing that it was an unforgivable sin, and saying that he would be sent to hell. He thought of his mistake as the cause. Alternatively, another sick man was carried on the people's shoulders to vote for the Islamic Revolution in the city of Khomein. He voted and then passed away. They brought an 80- year-old man in a wheelchair to vote or handicapped people on wheelchairs. Where else in the world can you find such a thing? Where in the world can you see 20 million people of a 30-35 million-population cast votes, positive votes? In contrast to four hundred or so ... 140,000 people or so? Where in the world can you find such a thing? You cannot find it anywhere.
Contrivance against forces and organizations
This is a danger of conscience for the foreigners. They cannot forget our oil in such a short time, they cannot forget our uranium, and they cannot forget our copper. They cannot leave them so easily. They understand that if this power is united, and if this movement is kept on the move, they will not be able to change anything. The Iranian people have undergone a basic transformation, and God has done this. They have been revolutionized spiritually. The spiritual transformation means that, in the past- a few years ago- a police would go to the bazaar and ask the people to either hang a flag in front of the shops or close them down. No one dared- or reserved this right for himself- to say no. Who said no? None of the strata of the people considered any rights for themselves. A humane and spiritual metamorphosis was made by God, the Blessed and Exalted, in these unarmed people, who feared a police officer, and enabled them not to fear artillery or tanks and instead they rushed[ to the government ]and chanted" Death to" foreigners fear the unity of expression and this mighty change. They intend to break it. How? By slamming committees when they establish discipline, by slamming clerics when they can guide people, by going to factories and making disturbance, and by creating disorder in the agricultural sector. They want to make our country disordered and confused. They are ignorant. These big guys are ignorant in that they do not want discipline, they do not want peace, they do not want a right way of life for the nation. You must know that if a proper way of life is established in the society, they will make more black propaganda. Not that they see the examples for the time being, then they should do something for the employees, for the factory owners, for the needy, and for the homeless too. These people now see that this work heralds the future peace in the country, people have been revolutionized, and they do not want others to remain in the previous state, and all are, for example, followers of the clerics, but they want to destroy this concept.
Warning the misconceived friends
In addition, there is no other way but to refine the existing affairs, and purify the people and expel some of them from the country or punish them. If the government can do it, it is all right, and then does it. We all want this. On that day people are not that much unoccupied to amuse themselves with committees, are they? For sure these gentlemen had something to do; these gentlemen have left their education, their studies. They have left everything to come here. Are these Revolutionary Guards unoccupied to stand here day and night and expose themselves to the risk of death, and of assassination? If peace is established and when they see that all the corrupt people are destroyed, they will also look after their own affairs. They are busy; they are occupied. He was a shopkeeper, who has come here to do the job, and he is doing this for no money or anything else. These people must be reinstated, and it is an instance of ignorance to understate their role. Enemies do this. If the unaware friends do this, they will be also among those misconceived ones and are making a mistake. They are fools to attack Revolutionary Guards and these committees.
The need to reform and refine the committees
The responsible officials must of course do the reform. We must pay attention to both sides of the matter. That useful part- free from fault- we all believe must exist and no one is allowed to interfere with it. The committees must be formed; some groups must be formed in order to refine the useless part, and refine what is corrupted. If one day you became unable to refine, then the question will come that whether these people should be in that place or not? Then it is the time for these talks. You must search for pious people. Investigate the committees one by one. If you see someone suspicious in the view of the people and they consider him a SAVAK member or if you have made sure that he wants to violate the law, you must fire him. Put him aside and replace him with a pious one. Not just in Tehran, this should be done everywhere. This should be practiced everywhere.
Disarmament of small groups
The committees must be refined; they should keep on working. They should be kept active until the government has gained enough power. In addition, the sign of government's powerfulness is disarmament of the opponents of Islam. They should be at work until that time. If the enemies were disarmed and the committees still kept on working, then you would have the right to complain. «13» As long as our enemies are armed, as long as they have the control of one district in Tehran, have formed an independent authority there, have got their own nightly newsletters, and do not allow commuting in the streets, «14» is it wise to dissolve the Revolutionary Guards? It is unwise. It is either foolishness or treachery; it is either ignorance or treachery. We do not tolerate this. We empower the Revolutionary Guards; we empower the committees until the day- as I have said previously- the government gains power to control the affairs. In addition, a sign of the government's powerfulness to us is disarming the enemies. When there are no communists in any part of Iran or Mujahidin-e Fada'i-ye Khalq members, or political wings harmful to Islam, harmful to our revolution, all the people will look after their own affairs. Gentlemen, here no one is working to gain any advantage, there is no distribution of posts here; no posts are available here for the gentlemen. It is a demotion for these gentlemen that he who must be somebody in his own locality, has turned into a servant here. This is the nature of Islam, which has made them to do so. The Islamic nature has made the Revolutionary Guards to do this; otherwise, the material world cannot motivate them to give their lives for nothing. Islam has motivated them. Those who want to mar the image of Islam, those who oppose the clerics, oppose Islam, are anti-revolutionaries, whatever they may be called.
Heavy duty of the clerics
At any rate, this is the generality of the reality that one side, which is free from fault, is necessary; while, the other part needs to be refined free from any fault, and we must think about its refinement. I cannot say what we should do for the time being about the dispositions you recited now «15» and the programs you have at hand, lest I study the matter and tell you what to do. However, the first step before the refinement will be attending to the point that, no matter how good you yourself are, no matter if the fourteen-section committees are good in nature, if there are just four committees or ten self-autonomous committees at work in Tehran, who have made corruption in the general public, who are unaware of the realities, and have broken into their houses, have plundered their possessions, have drunk wine and have done all corrupt things, then the people will attribute all these misdeeds to all the committees. In the past, if a grocer was a short-charger, they would say that grocer was a short-charger, but if a certain cleric did something wrong, they would say that all the clerics are wrongdoers. I do not know where it originated from that they attributed the wrongdoing of a single cleric to all the clerics. In the case of other careers, they attributed the mistake or the wrongdoing only to an individual. Therefore, it is hard for the learned people to understand. It is a heavy duty. They must not allow a cleric to, God forbid, do something wrong in the committees, because they would say there are many of them. I do not know whether it is right or wrong; however, do not allow a corrupt cleric, a SAVAK member in cleric's clad, who has been dressed in the organization with turban to enter the committees then they will say that all the committees are corrupted. Committees! They do not say that the committees protected the country, these committees made this nation; these Revolutionary guards protected this country. They do not think of this. Moreover, everybody comes to us and says they cannot correct them. All the armed forces that seek official recognition must be recognized officially, the government must recognize them officially, but we do not need their approval. I myself approve of these forces. We approve of them; they must be active; however, they must be refined. It is impossible to continue without the refinement. This allows those who want to harm the clerics and who want to make subversive propaganda, to work easily. They must be reformed. This is what I can say for the time, and the rest I will continue at another time, God willing.
Fulfilling the religious duties and the accompanying hardships
However, there are some problems that we disapprove of; there are some affairs which are hard for us to listen to. There is no doubt that there are such problems, but it is a religious duty. One problem concerns a number of people, for instance, who do this for material gain; when they face hardships of life, and see that there is no comfort in it, will they still work day and night? Well, is this the case with us, too? No, it is not; because if it was for material gain you would never devote yourselves to challenges and contacts that were not useful for you. This is for God's sake. Therefore, we have a religious duty and we will fulfill it. If we could not fulfill this religious duty, at least we would have done our best. Imam `Ali «16» could not defeat Mu`awiyah «17» either, but carried out his duty. We will carry out our duty if we could not finish the work, well, we are not superior to the Prophet in fulfilling our duties; we are not superior to the Commander of the Faithful Imam `Ali; we are not superior to Imam Husayn, the Doyen of the Martyrs, who fulfilled his responsibility and was killed. We will fulfill our duties as well. Therefore, we must not[ tend to laziness ]when we face disapproving things, especially when there are confusing matters that, for example, in such and such tribe they do not believe in God but in support of their Ayatullah they make so much noise! This is obvious and all know that it is a conspiracy and I hope that they will not be able to do anything.
I expect you to rely on God, pay attention to God, because attention to God will remove the problems and it has already removed many of them. Safeguard your unity and do not get disappointed, and carry out your duties and of course you must do the refinements. These people themselves should start the refinements. After the refinements, there will be no one who will not accept it. You also believe that when peace appears in a country, we will have nothing to do with them. We want to bring peace and tranquility, and when peace is established it will be the end of our service and we will go after our own affairs; I as a seminary student will continue my studies, and these gentlemen will go and continue their own affairs. This is what I mean for the time being. Then I must read this [report.]
[Mr. Mahdawi Kani: There comes a question here that some revolutionary elements accept Your Excellency's leadership, but in practice, they do not accept the by-laws and regulations of either the Revolutionary Courts or the Central Committee.]
Oppositions out of caprice or overthrowing
Well, sometimes these are among those people who have carnal desires; and are not among those who want to overthrow the revolution. Sometimes the carnal desire makes them yearn for something for themselves. Sometimes it is such. They must be made to understand that now is not a good time for such things. It is not a proper time for a man to go after his carnal desires. There is enough time ahead. However, sometimes, they are crafty and cunning and want to make disorder in the country. He may be one of the SAVAK members, or one of the Mujahidin-e Fada'i-ye Khalq members, who wants to confuse the condition of the country. In addition, they must be taken as anti-revolutionary and be given the due treatment.
[Mr. Mahdawi Kani: There are some Revolutionary Guards in the state-run departments that if not to say violate discipline of departments, at least do something that associates the repetition of the past conditions, and the employees cannot tolerate this. They warned that there are disturbances in this regard. I want to know if it is not worrisome.]
Yes. These are the specifications of the matter but it is late and I am tired.