Speech [The danger of the pseudo-intellectuals and the communities, which are alien to Islam]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Just like when governments adopt plans over the short or long term, our nation must now devise long and short-term plans as well. The short-term plan translates into safeguarding this movement and this Revolution. If this Revolution is left unprotected and our movement fails to be protected with the help of its unity of expression, the very problems that you just mentioned might in all probability become known. It is more than obvious that there are many who are conspiring to ensure that this movement does not succeed. Those remaining depraved individuals from the past regime will eventually find each other again and get together to start concerted actions against this Revolution. We may, God forbid, become too over-confident and begin to neglect the dangers because of being possessed with our personal pre-occupations, such as unemployment, owing money to this person and that, not having a house of our own and so on, which common people are usually troubled with. If we decide to engross ourselves in these personal problems at this highly critical juncture in our national history, which is more sensitive than any other time, and we should fail to remain faithful to what we have done so far- this is of course an assumption and nothing else- the conniving enemies who have lost their lucrative interests, and those leftover traitors might strike an alliance and cause great troubles to stop this movement from making any headway and leave us deprived of any development.

The most immediately urgent short term plan that we have to adopt, in view of the fact that our victory was effected through the unity of expression and unanimity of all the people in rejecting the dirty reign of the monarchist regime and demanding a divinely affected rule, a divine republic in the country, and the enforcement of divine rules, is to make sure such dreams find realization. We all demanded the establishment of an Islamic Republic. Therefore, we must adhere to our demands. Meanwhile, special considerations must be paid to these new fledgling groups about to be established, or the already established ones that are trying to expand their activities. We must look into the fact as to whether these groups are acting in the interests of the nation or differently. In order to find out whether they are adhering to the national interest or not, we must pay attention to what they say in their meetings and what their writings are trying to impart to our people. It is all right for all our people to get together anywhere if they wish to do so, and write about things they see fit. Our people are all shouting in chorus for an Islamic Republic. So, these fledgling groups or established ones, which are fast expanding and calling for our people to follow them, are also expected to demand an Islamic Republic. If it is so, then there is no problem for these groups to organize themselves and have some followers. Our people are with them, and they are with the nation. However, if you find out that there is no mention of God or Islam, or little tribute is paid to an Islamic Republic state, which is what our people demanded in unanimity and voted for, or yet, when these groups speak about a republic, their version of republic is termed" Republic" or" Democratic Republic", or yet termed as" Democratic Islamic Republic", you should be aware that all these noises are all in the interests of our enemies. Our enemies are not afraid of a republic. A republican country has not hurt them. They have been badly hurt by Islam. What has hurt them was not a Republican Government, and neither a Democratic Republic nor a Democratic Islamic Republic has hurt them. It has been the Islamic Republic, which has inflicted the most terrible blow on them. The sign for you to identify the direction such a group has in mind, even if the foreheads of their members have been marked by their long practice of keeping them on the ground in prayer, just like the Kharijites, «1» but they kill the righteous ones, or they may even come from among the most dyed-in-the-wool nationalists, as they would like to think of themselves or you may view them, even if there are those people who keep talking about the merits of freedom and independence, however, in their writing there is no mention of Almighty God, nor of Islam, and nor of the Islamic Republic state, these are the very same ones who, just like Satan dread the name of the Almighty God, they are scared to death of Islam. This is how you can identify them, and you can absolutely be sure that they are not following the right path, the path for which this nation has shed its blood, has lost its young men and women, has made our women pour into the streets to demonstrate and destroy the big enemy just to usher in the Islamic ways. We should find out if these so-called democratic ones are truly democratic? Whether their tastes and practices are democratically made up, whether the kind of republic they are after is like the one in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or like the kind of republics in the countries of our enemies. The United States is also a republic; the Zionists also have a republic. When the people of our country shed their blood and cried out," God is the greatest", when these people cried at the top of their voices and demanded an Islamic Republic state, this very Islam had encouraged and persuaded them to do so. These people only speak of a republic, but they fail to mention its attributes, which is" the Islamic" Republic of Iran. These two very words were and are the very words I demanded from the very beginning, The Islamic Republic. If you hear more words added to it, then you know their ways are different from yours. If they have added the word Islamic to whatever name they are demanding, then you know they are only trying to deceive you. If there is one word missing and only the word republic remains, you can be sure their ways are not your ways.

These people would like to instill the kind of things in your minds that are against Islam, even though what they say may be in condemnation of the previous regime, and there are many of such types and groups around. All the same, what we were looking for was not only the elimination of the monarchist regime alone. Genuine Muslims do not wish for so and so to be destroyed or eliminated. We were against the former regime because they did not want Islamic tenets to be realized and they stopped people from acting according to the instructions stipulated in the Holy Qur'an. That was our reason for opposing the former regime. If they had acted in conformity with the Islamic tenets and had said the same things we were saying, there would not have been any disputes between us. All this blood has not been shed just because we wanted to eliminate the monarchy. We have been trying to establish what Islam has taught us. Our purposes for elimination of the former regime and our reasons for throwing off the yoke of the friends and allies of the enemies were to turn Iran into an Islamic state with an Islamic government. We wish the plans for the development of the country to be based on Islam. If the purpose had been for one corrupt non-Islamic regime to leave the scene and a similar one to fill the vacuum, then all the selfless sacrifices made by our children and young people would have been in waste. We have gone through many excruciating pains to bring down these obstacles, but there came those who realized the previous mattes and the very same non-Islamic slogans.

Our national short-term plan was to identify the enemies and force them out of the scene. Our people must again find out who their enemies are and drive them away. Our enemy was not Muhammad-Rida Khan alone. Anybody whose ways are against the ways of Islam is our enemy. Anyone who wants" Republic" alone is our enemy. Our enemies would like to give absurd titles such as," Democratic" and" Democratic Republic" to this movement because they hate Islam. On the other hand, we are devoted to Islam and that is why we gave so many sacrifices. Our young people got involved in all these struggles, took pains, suffered, and shed their blood. All this selflessness was because they wanted to push ahead the Islamic movement. Those who achieved this great feat were the ones who considered martyrdom a blessing. I wonder if those who speak of Democratic or those in the service of the right wing or the left wing also consider martyrdom a blissful blessing. Who may think our children shed their blood for the kind of republic existing in the USSR, which communists crave for, or its westernized versions? We shed our blood for Islam; our young people sacrificed their lives for Islam. You young people have taken the trouble to come from a long way. Have you taken all this trouble to meet a so-called democrat, a person favoring the Soviets, or the Americans, the British, or a German lover for that matter? No, you have not come all this long way for those matters. You have come to see a person in sympathy with you. We all want Islam, the same thing you wanted and still want. You should make sure you recognize the kinds of people I have already described to you.

Read the newspapers, which are all making a big noise that there should be democracy in the country, that there should be democrats in power. These people's ways are different from that of ours. They never mention anything about Islam, and do their best to avoid the word. They never want to say," In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful," no matter how long they live. If you read their papers, you find out there is no mention of the Islamic Republic. They never talk about the clergy who took the very first steps for the realization of this Revolution on such an occasion as June 5,1963. This day is definitely a holy day and must be considered a holy day for the clergy and the movement of the clergy. All the same, they avoid referring to this day. They would like to call it something else. The name can be anything but not Islam. They are doing their best to hide their real intentions, which are absolutely contrary to that of ours. They abuse the name of a nationalist. «2» Our ways have nothing to do with oil. We are not concerned with oil. This is a big mistake on their part. We would like to establish the Islamic ways and when Islam is established our oil will definitely become our own too. Our goal is Islam and not oil. Therefore, we cannot set aside Islam and our sacred ideals for the sake of the one who nationalized the oil industry. You should make sure you find out what anybody under any name, any delegation under any title, any association under any name, and anybody who is making a lot of noise about being an expert in law says or puts down in his or their writings. Look at what they do when they get together, pay attention to the way they oppose Islam «3». Make sure to find out what types of people make up these groups. They first try to insinuate themselves into our circles, but then they have nothing to say about Islam. Find out what types of groups are trying to leave the clergy out, as they killed the very clergies who had led the movement to victory at the beginning of the Constitutional Revolution (Late 19 th century revolution in Iran, which took place to do away with autocratic monarchy). This is the very same conspiracy. In those days they assassinated Sayyid `Abdullah Behbahani and the late Nouri, «4» and then they changed the course of the people's movement. It is that very same plot for which they killed Mutahhari today, and they may kill me tomorrow and kill somebody else the day after that.

Their path is not our path. Our path leads to Islam because we want Islam. We do not want the sort of freedom devoid of Islam. We do not want independence in the absence of Islam. The type of freedom we are after can be found under the shelter of Islam. What need do we have for a sort of freedom and independence in which Islam can find no room? When there is no talk of Islam and the Holy Prophet of Islam, when there is no mention of the Holy Qur'an, but instead there are countless freedoms, what good would they do us? There are many countries with all sorts of freedom. We do not want their types of freedom.

Make sure you know your enemies yourselves; the types I am trying to identify to you now. The tape that is being made of this speech must be broadcast on the radio without any censor either tonight or tomorrow night or any other time. If anybody working for the radio station or a newspaper decides to change any of the words in what I have said, that newspaper shall be taken to task as it is against the national interests. It is not freedom. It is a greatly ominous conspiracy. We shall unravel all their plots. Make sure you have learned enough about them. I am, at this point, telling the nation the ultimate words so they won't have any excuses later on. I see all the miseries this nation has been plagued with, which have all been inflicted by these very people who are crying out for freedom in the first place. The misery for our nation comes along when the nation is separated from the teachings of Qur'an and that of the Divine, and when the nation is separated from the Imam of the Time. We look for freedom in the shelter of Islam, as Islam is the principle objective.

I have already given you the characteristics of the kinds of people who do not want to have anything to do with Islam, nor with the clergies. They want to turn this country into a western like country for you. Those who are well intentioned and there is no malice in them, do not wish the former regime to come back and as a matter of fact they feel very bitter towards the former monarch and the monarchists.

However, they want to create a western type country for you here with all the freedom the westerners have plus independence, but there shouldn't be a sign of God nor of the Holy Prophet, nor of the Imam of the Time, nor of Qur'an, nor of Divine rules, nor of any prayers, and nor of anything else of these practices and beliefs. You consider martyrdom a blissful blessing for yourselves, but do you like the country to become a country like Switzerland? You want Qur'an because you rose for Islam and you took so much pain for your objectives. Therefore, whenever you hear the single word republic, then you can be sure that there is a conspiracy on the way. If you do not hear them talking about Islam, and the repeating the words Democratic Republic, you can be sure there is conspiracy to leave Islam out. That is freedom minus Islam, independence minus Islam.

I wonder why the people who write in different papers make so much noise saying Iran has got rid of a monarchist dictatorship, and now has fallen victim to the dictatorship of the turban wearers (meaning the clerics). These people are against Islam. They know well that clerics were not dictators. Clerics want the people to be free and independent. Clerics are against conspiracies and not freedom. These people would like to push the clerics out of the political scene and want the country to be run by what they call well-intentioned ones: Good intention means being against the former regime and the foreign domination alone. This is what they think is called good intention but, in the same manner, they are against Islam and clerics. Nevertheless, clerics mean Islam and whatever is related to Islam. The fact is that clerics are part and parcel of Islam. Whoever is against the clergy as a whole, and not just against an individual clergy such as myself, no matter what he may say against me, is against Islam as a whole and is your enemy. He may bring you some sort of freedom and independence but it is the sort of freedom and independence that is devoid of the Imam of the Time, devoid of Qur'an, and devoid of the Holy Prophet of Islam, and it is not what our people want and have shed their blood for. Our people are after the other type of freedom and independence and they shed their blood for the sort of freedom and independence that are imbued with the Islamic values. Our nation followed the path of the Doyen of the Martyrs. Did he (the 3 rd Imam) want to rule, to have independence, or to have freedom? He shed his blood for Almighty God and Islam. He wanted to make sure Islam would not be forgotten and he wanted Islam to be realized in the outside world. The clergy, too, is after Islam. The Islamic clergy wants to be sheltered by Islam and wants freedom in the shelter of Islam.

What I said before translates into the short-term plan for you to be able to identify those devoted to the ways of God and to the Imam of the Time. This is how you differentiate the groups from one another. If they are for the Islamic Republic, you should know they are heading in the same direction as you are as they avoid other terms, if you see they agree with your clergy, you can be sure they also agree with the Qur'an and Islam. However, if you hear them asking for Islam minus the clergy, then you should know that they do not want Islam and they are using the word to deceive you. They want to break through this impenetrable fort of Islam, that is to say, when they achieve their ends, then that will be the end of Islam. It is a fact that when there is nobody to talk about Islam, then the whole idea would be hallowed and in the wake of that, there will not be any mention of Qur'an either. Those who want to get rid of the clergy would not balk at doing away with the holy Qur'an either. When the clergy leaves the scene, then all our religious and sacred scriptures would be thrown away, or even burned. So, now our people know what their short-term plan is, and it had to be mentioned as I did. Therefore, I have performed my duty to Almighty God. Your short term strategy is to combat all the people that I described. Your campaign against them is even in bigger proportions than what you did against the Shah.

The kind of malice some of these people have in them for Islam, is no less than what he (the former deposed monarch) harbored. While still in power, he used to mention God and would at times go to pay homage to sacred places even when everybody knew he was only trying to hoodwink the public opinion. But the so-called intellectuals would not even condescend to follow the Shah's hypocritical example. They run away from Islam, Islamic tenets and Qur'an in such a manner that they are not even ready to tell white lies while they feel quite the contrary inside their hearts, not even uttering a word. Some of these writers in our country abhor any mention of Islam even used as a trick to promote their works or to try to deceive others. We have to counter these people the same way we countered Muhammad Rida, just because we know for sure, there is some kind of conspiracy brewing, and there is not any tender feeling for freedom. We say yes to freedom but no to conspiracies. Bringing together people of different sorts and starting some suspicious demonstration, be it for any reason at all, just for the sake of opposing Islam can never be tolerated.

The long-term plan for you young people and you ladies, for every Iranian citizen is that, if you are a religious person, you should promote Islamic ideals. If the ladies bring up enlightened children, both our religion and our world will be safeguarded. Should, God forbid, children be brought up differently, either by their mother or you, should there be no religious enlightenment and teachings in elementary schools, in high schools and in universities, then a very dismally gloomy future shall be awaiting us. That is to say, both Islam and the country will be lost. The long-term plan is for you to first start enlightening yourselves and then your children. Since, you have devoted yourselves to the rules of Islam then get on with your responsibilities from this very moment. If your children fail to become religiously enlightened and not obedient to the Islamic culture, then you should not expect them to be useful to Islam in future. Those who do not believe in God and in the resurrection day would never prove useful to their own country either. There are always exceptions to the rule of course, but the latter's numbers are infinitesimally small, we are considering the masses of our citizens as a whole.

The kinds of people who can protect their own country and save their national identity are the ones who are imbued with spirituality. If there is no spirituality in people and material worldliness is the ultimate objective for the people of a country, then they would stick their heads in any feedbag even when that feedbag has been fashioned for them by the Americans for that matter. For those individuals who betrayed our people and plundered all our national wealth, it made no difference whether the Americans gave them recreational parks or whatever you may call it, or they were obtained through a proper way. Proper methods and illegal ways made no difference to them. They wanted cars and it did not matter whether this car was given to them by the Holy Prophet or the devil. They had their eyes on the car and not the one who gave it to them. Those people who betrayed our country and brought ruin to our land were the ones who did not have any faith in the Devine. If there were a single person among them who believed in God, he would never do such things. Those who plundered our wealth and squandered everything felt nothing towards Islam, and their motto was that the whole essence of life translates into what you have in this world alone, so the more you have and the more comforts you enjoy the better it would be, and it does not matter how you get your hands on these good things.

Our nation's long-term plan is to give our children who are under the care of teachers, mothers, fathers, and writers the kind of upbringing such that these children would be filled with spirituality and make sure that these children understand spirituality well enough. Mothers have the most important role, as it is they who give the initial upbringing to their children. The most honorable job in the world is imparting the best upbringing to children and presenting a decent person to the society. It was for this very reason that the Almighty God sent different prophets ever since the creation of Adam and Eve to the time of His last Prophet. These prophets were all assigned to give humanity to the people. Unfortunately, the foreigners tarnished the picture of the duty of a mother in our eyes and separated mothers from their children, actually, not all mothers, but some of them. They blemished the sacred duties of motherhood so that morally decent children would be hard find in our society. When these children come out from under the influence of their fathers, even at that time their fathers had somehow been forced to be engrossed in other things, and they hardly had any time to spend with their children, and when they went to elementary schools and then high school and so on they got the kind of education foreigners had in mind. What these enemies (the colonial powers) are after is to make sure there is no morally decent person in different countries because morally decent people would get rid of them. They hate to see good and pious Muslims, who believe in the Almighty God, the type of Muslims who consider martyrdom a blissful blessing in Islamic countries. Those people who threw off the yoke of foreign domination in this country were the ones who in their shouts were demanding Islam. The foreigners are afraid to death of Islam.

I have already given you the short and long-term plans for every citizen. What I have presented to you, you should tell to every one of your brothers and sisters concerning what the essential requirements for the Republic of Islam are.

Later on, with the help of the Almighty God, you will choose your own representatives, any type of representative for your areas, those who are faithful to the Islamic Republic, to voice your needs. However, if the representative you have in mind has callused marks on his forehead (sign of extreme piety by keeping the forehead on the ground for long periods during prayers) but is not interested in the Islamic Republic, to be sure, he will not be of any good to you, so make sure you don't vote for such a person to represent you. Even ones who dislike the previous regime and are enemies to the US and the Soviet Union, but are not in favor of Islam, should not be appointed. Your real representatives are those who believe in the Islamic Republic and not the ones only interested in acting as representatives for a while, and only making believe in his adherence to the Islamic Republic. So, do not vote for those who say that if you want people to vote for you, then make believe you are piously saying prayers regularly. I was told that there was one person who at the time of elections started saying prayers. You must make sure of your representatives' genuine faith in the system. He should come from among you and should adhere to the same ideals as you cherish. If your representative is a philosopher, a person who is a master of all scientific knowledge but dislikes the Islamic Republic, he should not be the one to represent you.

[Someone from the audience shouts," We will prove our allegiance to you by our own blood," and the rest of the people in the audience shout their approval].

I pray to the Almighty God to safeguard you, and bring you success so we may all continue on this sacred way.