Speech [Role of the theologians and intellectuals in the salvation and corruption of the society]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I would like to thank you gentlemen for having come from far away to sympathize with me and to express your condolence for this great event of the martyrdom of Professor Murtada Mutahhari. I pray to God for the health and happiness of all the gentlemen.

With regard to the status of students and then the status of teachers; the students are the wealth of this nation; the destiny of our country in the future is in the hands of the students of today. In other words, in every field that they are in, in the field of law for example, and in the other fields of study in one way the destinies and the various affairs of the country lie in the hands of the students. They have to manage the future affairs of the country. In the same way the teachers are the ones who educate the individuals who are going to run the affairs of the country; in other words, the key to the prosperity of a country lies in the hands of the teacher and the student. Foremost, the teacher must educate the young and next the youth must run the country. Therefore, every country in the world, the existence of every country in the world is tied to the hands of the students and the teacher. The key to prosperity lies in the hands of the teacher; and to the same extent that the status of the teacher is great; so is his responsibility. To the same extent that the learned is great, so also is the responsibility of the learned big, and it makes no difference whether that learned person is of the modern universities or of the religious sciences.

The higher the status of a human being; the higher his responsibility is; and because the teacher has a great position, his responsibility is great, because he educates the youth and because the youthful force is trained by the teacher.

The responsibility is great, because if these youth and this youthful force are trained properly by the teachers, the future of the country is secured and bright, and if the teachers be deviant and import deviant training, the country will be corrupted. Therefore, your vocation is great because you are learning and are students, and will, God willing, become teachers later on; to the same extent that you are great and your occupation is noble and great, so is your responsibility a great one.

From the universities and the schools begin the prosperity of nations. It is the universities and the schools wherein lie all the destinies of a country. The prosperity of a nation lies in the hands of the learned of that nation. If the intellectuals of a nation be not deviant, have perseverance, and be on the right path, the nation too will be drawn on the path of righteousness, and the nation will also attain happiness. Whereas, if God forbid, there be deviations in the universities, in the colleges, in the traditional religious schools and in the modern institutions of learning, it is from there that the deviation of the nation will come into being.

Nations have focused their attention on the learned. Should the learned become corrupt, then the world will be corrupted; because the world has focused its attention on the learned. The eyes of the masses are focused on the intellectuals of a country; on the learned scholars of a country. If God forbid, they become corrupt, then the whole country will be dragged down to the path of corruption; and if they be righteous, then the whole country will be brought on the path of righteousness and morality. Therefore, you the student community who want to, God willing, become learned- and God willing you will become- are great and honorable and are also responsible, and should take care that this responsibility that has been placed on your shoulders be performed well- and whether you like it or not it is on your shoulders and is placed on the shoulders of everyone. And the Blessed and Almighty God expects you to educate the society, and this is a great service which if performed well, has so much value that we cannot describe it in normal terms. And if God forbid, it is performed badly, its power of corruption will be such that it can engulf the whole world. If a man of learning becomes corrupt it is not like the corruption of an ordinary person who if he becomes corrupt is restricted to himself; this is like an infectious disease, it spreads; the corruption of a man of learning spreads to all strata. Previously, when I used to go to visit some towns and cities, I would come across some towns whose people were pious and righteous. When I would enquire as to the reasons why all the people there were morally upright and good, I was told that the religious scholar of that town was a very good person, and the people there had followed in the footsteps of that learned man.

Wherever the men of learning are, the people take notice of them. If they are righteous, they will inevitably draw the people towards morality; whereas, if they are corrupt, they will again inevitably draw the people towards corruption.

Moreover, you are part of the strata of men of knowledge of the nation, and you too have the same responsibility. When you go to an office, you will notice that every person and perhaps the whole office pay attention to the head of that office. If the head of the office is a righteous man and a trustworthy man, inevitably because he is the focus of attention of the rest of the individuals, he has influence on them, too; and even if they want to do something wrong, they will do it in a discreet manner and without anyone else knowing about it, and gradually they also will be reformed. Nevertheless, if God forbid, the boss of this office be a thief, then it will automatically spread to all other places, and everyone will become a thief. If the head of a state to whom the people look upon becomes a thief, it will infect all the people.

The immoral behavior of the Pahlavi regime corrupted large number of individuals of our country. Those who had close connections and were witness to their actions were all corrupted. It was not such that all who went there were corrupt; perhaps most of them in the beginning were upright and correct human beings, but when they entered the oppressive system; the unscrupulous system, they saw that the person to whom everyone paid attention, took notice, and before whom everyone bowed, was the ringleader of the thieves. Inevitably, this stealing and this treachery infects the individuals who are close to them and all around them; therefore, one of the biggest treasons that these people committed against us, that perhaps is at the head of the list of treasons, was that they corrupted our manpower resources.

They ruled this country for more than fifty years, and in these fifty odd years, they sought destroy our elites, except a few of them. The leaders of the Majlis, the leaders of the legislators of the Majlis all turned out to be corrupt because the very corruption that was rampant in the ruling class had spread to them.

The one of whom the masses take notice, the greater the scope of the attention, the greater his corruption spreads, much in the same way his righteousness will spread more. A just ruler draws a country to justice.

If for example, a person like the Commander of the Faithful Hadrat `Ali (`a) governs a country, when the nationals of that country take notice of his characteristic traits and see how he himself is living; how he subsists; how he behaves with his own kith and kin; how his children are; how the life of his offspring are; how his followers are; how his relatives, close friends and acquaintances are; when the masses see that the condition of the food and clothing of the head of their country is worse than that of their own; when he comes to lead the Friday prayers, on the basis of historical accounts, he is wearing a wet shirt that he has recently washed because he has only one shirt; when he goes to the pulpit to sermonize, he keeps on moving his shirt so that it dries; when he buys one pair of shirts he gives the more expensive one to Qanbar, his servant, as recounted in history, and wears the inferior one himself; when his shirt's sleeves are long, he cuts them short and does not pay attention to the look of their brims. When the people see such a human being governs over a large number of countries; rules over Iran; rules over Egypt; rules over Hijaz; rules over Iraq; over Yemen and so many other countries, but when they see his lifestyle they cannot help taking notice and remarking on its simplicity. A human being whose rule extends over so many lands, as recounted in history, when he goes to a judge, whom he himself had appointed, for a dispute between himself and a Jewish individual, does not take his position as a caliph for granted; he does not say," I am a ruler and you are my subject and appointed judge on my behalf" He arrives, sits down opposite the judge, and when the judge pronounces him as" O Abou'l- Hasan." He promptly reminds him of not calling him by his name and not showing any favor to him and discriminating. Moreover, when the judge gives the verdict against him, he promptly accepts.

When such a person is at the head of a country, it is reformed. Islam wants that kind of person. When we cry out for an Islamic government and an Islamic republic- of course we cannot find such a human being as Hadrat `Ali, as he himself stated that we do not have such power, but we can take lessons in piety from him; we can take lessons in righteousness and abstinence from him- it has to be followed with good deeds.

When the people see that the head of a country has this sort of lifestyle, foremost the poor feel good. The reason that the masses rebel is because they see that so and so man has a lavish lifestyle such as for example, he buys a mansion. When I was in Paris I was told that one of the sisters of the " king had bought a villa abroad in Paris for a sum which I cannot recall; but I remember this because it was amazing that five million dollars was spent only on the landscaping of this mansion meaning 35 million tumans was spent on the landscaping of this villa. When the nation sees that this is how the ruling class lives, they revolt; they rebel. Whereas, if there is a government whose lifestyle is similar to that of these people there will be an end to the revolts- I do not say that their lifestyle should be like that of Hadrat `Ali (`a). Such a thing is impossible, as he was an exceptional specimen, an exceptional human being- but if the government and the governmental organizations live a lifestyle that the people see it as being close to theirs with a minor difference, the people would be satisfied; they would be content and the revolt would end.

All the corruptions that you are observing, and have been spread among the masses are from the upper class. In other words, when these upper classes are right up there and even own a limousine costing more than fifty-thousand dollars even for their dogs; it is natural that this weaker class will not tolerate it any more. For this reason, if the upper class wishes to make the nation content, they must come down a little from the top. People also do not mind if they are a little above but they are not satisfied if it is like this, it simply cannot be in this manner.

You gentlemen who will also God willing, hold good positions later on must pay attention to these matters. If you hold a job in an organization; if you become the head of an organization; if you become the director-general of an organization, you should know that you are liable; not only liable for your own actions; but also liable for the actions of others. If it were such, that you yourselves were corrupt, and it was restricted to you alone, the liability for this would still be lesser; but if the responsibility of the society rests on your shoulders, the higher you go, the greater would be your responsibility.

You must right from now that your souls are near to God; are souls that have not got involved yet in the ways of the world; and are less contaminated with corruption, think of reforming yourself, and you should refine yourselves for the future of the country. If you be purified; if the university genre, if the men of knowledge be purified, the country will be purified. If the country is purified it will not submit to oppression; it will not submit to colonialism. All these immoralities are because some sections are corrupt and submit to the will of others because of for example, the promises made by them or because of the power that they have. If these sections are purified, then neither the promises of others, nor their threats will have any effect on them.

I pray to the Blessed and Almighty God for the health, honor, and glory of all Muslims as well as the happiness of you the talented youth, on whose shoulders, God willing, in the future shall be placed the responsibility of a country.