Speech [Being worried about trivial matters and neglecting the ideals and aims of the Revolution]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I would first like to say a few words with the women who are from the Telecommunications Company. The Telecommunication group of ours showed a lot of favor to us when we were in Paris, and served the movement well. At the time, when there was a strike, they too walked out but kept the telephone at our disposal so that we could communicate with the people. And, this was extremely useful at that time for the advancement of the movement. For this reason, I must thank this department.

Now, I would like to speak to everybody about all the ladies and gentlemen. I am both informed as well as unhappy about the major problems that are present in Iran at this stage, and the chaos that reigns among all strata of the nation. But, we must now reflect upon what is our duty at present to our nation- both the honorable gentlemen and the respected ladies. In what circumstances are we now? And what should we do?

Before we reached this stage of the movement, we all knew what we had to do. Therefore, the whole nation was in chorus; and their objective was that we did not want the Pahlavi dynasty and the monarchial regime and they wanted an Islamic government and an Islamic Republic. We were all in unison and moved forward together until we reached the stage when with this unity of expression and with this unity of objective, all of us together- demanded Islam; and with the approval of the Sublime and Exalted God, you and we broke that huge barrier. At that time, when we were pursuing this objective, you all knew that no individual thought about what he did not have or what he had, what his family problems were, or for example, whether his home had regular electricity supply, or whether his telephone was in order.

There was no attention paid to these issues; these were unimportant issues; what was important among all the people was that the Pahlavi regime should not be there, and that a divine regime should take its place. This was the cause of your victory. If at that time too, let us suppose, the people who had poured into the streets had thought that well" now tonight what do we have for dinner at home; what is the electricity supply situation; how is the telephone connection or for example, how are our children? Or we have a sick person lying at home", and such distractions, our movement would have never made this progress. Each one of you was involved; and all of you were involved together, by the grace of God, in this movement and at the time when the movement was in full cry and there was pressure from all over, you were focused on this objective. Now, if you look back to the situation you were in at that time, you would know that nothing was important at that time; we were all concentrating on one goal, and we were unconcerned about ourselves. Those who would cry out" God is the greatest" from the rooftops and on the streets during the day and took part in the struggle and fought with everything with nothing did not pay any attention to how their houses were, whether they were in possession of homes or not, none of these were important at all.

Those slum dwellers on the outskirts of Tehran, I once saw their plight on the television and saw their morale and circumstances. Well I saw it with my own eyes that a large number of them would go in and out of slums, and then when one of them was asked what he did everyday, he replied that as soon as dawn breaks, they would take their children along with them to take part in demonstrations! The concern that now our home is this slum and this is our life had simply evaporated from the minds of the people. All the thoughts were focused and concentrated on a single direction, which was that the taghouti regime must go, and that we did not want them;" Down with the Shah, we want an Islamic Republic" was the key to your victory. No focusing on self; focus on the objective. We were all facing toward the goal. We were not concerned about ourselves. We all looked in that direction, and were not the least concerned about our own condition. For this reason, we became victorious. But well, where has the victory reached up to? It reached up to the stage where, that foundation, that foundation of tyranny, was smashed and went away; but its branches are there and we have not attained victory yet.

That which worries us a little right now is that the people have returned to being concerned about their own conditions. They have forsaken the objective at the halfway stage, and now are concerned about their own circumstance" We do not have houses." A large number on the premise of being homeless are now demanding homes. A large number are now complaining about their workplace, for example. Another large number are, for example concerned about the situation in the universities. The nation has come out of the revolutionary state that it had, and has come out of the focus that it had on the objective and inattention to its own circumstances and its own troubles. All over the country, everybody has found a concern for something else, and which is, about his or her own problems. Every person now now daily, we receive so many letters; there are so many visits made to other places; there are so many calls on the government to complain about their own condition.

And they aggravate this matter, that now there are hands at work that want to stop this movement midway. They have resorted to propaganda. And, that is to ask" What happened? What has happened so far? Well, this is an Islamic republic for you! Once again, nothing has been done for the poor; no thought has been given to the administrative affairs; once again the some old set up is in place; once again and so forth" Constantly finding faults. From all around, the lackeys of those that do not wish to see this movement reach its destination, have infiltrated the various strata of the nation; and in each place in a different guise, in an outwardly beguiling appearance they engage in the same deceptions that the Shah did at that time. The former Shah in the course of his reign, would deceive us with and paint a rosy picture by pronouncement such as" the gateway to a great civilization", or for that matter" free women and free men" and" bringing out half of the nation for service", these same statements that are simply words without any meaning, these same beguiling words that are now written on every plan that they have drafted- and have drafted with precision. In addition, the experts and those individuals who had and have a correct understanding of all the behavioral aspects of the people are now seeing that things have reached to this stage and do not want to let it go further ahead. They have concluded that if the movement that has come up to this stage with such force moves forward, it will cause their hands to be chopped off completely. They want to nip this in the bud at the halfway stage. Therefore, in all the various strata that their lackeys have infiltrated, a widespread propaganda campaign is under way. They infiltrate the ranks of the workers in one form and say that" well, why no thought has been given to the workers. Where is the house that was promised? Where is the life? Where is such and such a thing?" The day when the workers staged a strike, and they were not the least concerned about housing and living, and went along with the strike, now, they come and tell them that," well this is an Islamic Republic for you! So, what has happened now? Where is your home? What about your salary?" The workers too are influenced and become negligent and start thinking, they start thinking," Well, we have again not achieved an Islamic Republic." Now once again, it is all words that have no meaning; we are at the halfway mark and have not reached the destination. It is like for example, the leader of a caravan who tells his friends and members of the caravan that when we reach the destination, all means of comfort is available at that place; then when they are on their way, at a certain place they come to believe that they have indeed reached their real destination. Again, they notice that they have not after all, and it is once again the toil and trouble of traveling with its accompanying difficulties. They constantly nag and find fault saying" well, now we have reached, so where are the promises that you made?" Well, this disappointment is because we have not reached yet. Actually, we have not reached the place where we must reach.

Now, the remnants of the former regime and their lackeys are still present. The way it is said, they are present at the frontiers, and near the borders outside the country, whether toward Turkey, whether toward Afghanistan and whether toward Iraq, there are persons in those places as well as in other places. And, they are now engaging in a plot and want to have a gathering. They are establishing contacts with one another while their lackeys have penetrated the population, infiltrated the various strata of our nation, and are fueling discontent. Today, we must pay attention to the fact that it is a bit early to indulge in finding fault and being solely concerned about our own affairs. Now, we must convince everybody and hold his or her attention to the fact that we are in the middle of our journey at present. The nation gave a vote for an Islamic Republic, and the Islamic Republic attained recognition with the vote of the nation. However, its constituents have not found reality yet. This is not Islam. We are aware that all the groups that exist are of un-Islamic hues. But now, if all of us concentrate on going after concerns that such and such organization is or is not in good shape; so and so head of the organization is an unworthy person; or so and so person is corrupt; or so and so person is not doing a good job; or so and so person is competent in his job; if we turn from those objectives that we are now pursuing and want to realize, whose legislations we want to pass, and whose legislative assembly we want to establish; if we turn back from these main objectives to secondary problems and lose sight of the main objectives, then the danger exists that matters return once again to their former situation.

Now is not the time that we should be concerned as to why the government is not functioning properly. The government itself also is aware that it cannot function diligently; but the government is not insincere. I know them very well. They are not insincere. There is a lot of work; there are many problems; there is a lot of chaos. And, added to the magnitude of the chaos and work the fact that there is a lot of trouble-making and sabotage. They go and prevent the oil workers, the white-collar workers and blue-collar workers from doing their job. They demand that we must eliminate right now all the managers and so forth. However, now is not the time for such talk, and those that are saying these things are using this opportunity to halt the progress of this movement. They go to the farmlands and prevent the farmers from planting crops; and after the planting has been done, they now prevent them from harvesting. You saw that in the referendum which was a reflection of the aspirations of a nation, a national issue, and a referendum that history had not experienced before, such an enthusiasm that everyone had when men and women, old and young, the sick and the handicapped and all came to cast their votes in the ballot boxes, yet there was a group that boycotted the referendum; a group came out of no where and prevented people from voting at the point of the gun while another group came out of no where and set the ballot boxes on fire. Were these people sympathetic towards the nation that they indulged in these acts? Was not the referendum a national issue? Was it an imposed affair? Was there any coercion involved? Was there any force used? Or was it totally free and willful? Not that they only wanted to cast their votes. Small children, who were not eligible to vote and were asked by some not to vote, were so aggrieved and were protesting. A group of those children came here and I counseled them and consoled them. Such an important affair that the whole nation wanted, all the strata wanted; men and women went to cast their votes and voted almost unanimously while the saboteurs gathered all their forces that numbered perhaps half a percent or let us suppose a little more, what happened that they boycotted it? Why did they wish to sabotage it? They wanted that there should not become an Islamic Republic. Were they afraid of its republic status? No! There is nothing to fear from a republic. The Soviet Union was also a republic. They were afraid of it being Islamic! They are afraid of this word `Islam'. They are afraid of an Islamic Republic. They are afraid of an Islamic government. Now, there is a plot at work not to allow this movement to go forward. We only cast our votes; we did not do anything else.

We all know that so far we have not been able to deliver so much. Because the work is not few, there is a lot of work. And now, these criticisms that are leveled are harmful to our movement whether they are justified criticisms- and I too am aware that most of them are justified, as this gentlemen who read them out now, I confirm that most of them are right- or whether they are things that are not justified, both of these are harmful to our movement that is under way. We must all co-operate with one another. All of us, all the strata, all the university students, all the traders and businessman; and all men and women, in the same way that we have joined hands together till now and reached to this stage causing astonishment among all the intellectuals, from now onward too, which is more important, we must join hands together in order to negotiate this stage successfully.

Later on also, we must not sit idle and wait for a particular group to do the work. It is a country that belongs to every one of you. It is also in chaos. It has many poor people. It has many unemployed. But, we must ask them whether this poverty and unemployment is of the Revolution? Have the number of poor people increased because the Shah has left? Has unemployment increased because the regime is in a mess? Or no, the real matter is that we have inherited the devastations. The government has inherited them. In other words, they caused the destruction and went away. They finished their looting and went away. They left behind the debts to the banks and went away. They borrowed some hundred million dollars from each bank and decamped! Now is the time for us to be united. Then we must not say why so and so person has not done the job. We must say that we too must do the job. We must all work. All must work and exhort others to work. Now, criticism and the weakening of our movement is not in the interest of any of the sections of the people.

Today, the university students as well as the theological students and also you the gentlemen and the ladies and the whole nation must move forward together and also later build everything together. Do not expect us to do the building. Well, who are we? You are there, we are there, and others are there. I should not be such that I sit and ask the women to do the work; it should not be such that the women sit down and ask so and so to do the job. They in their own capacity; we in our own capacity; you in your own capacity; the government according to its own capacity; the army according to its own capacity; the administration in its own capacity; should all work. It is not something that the government can handle alone. The mess is not a mess that a government can clear or one stratum of the people can clear. Imagine all of us say that we will not do any work; let the university students do the work; but, the university students cannot do the job, and the university students say that we will not do any work and shift the responsibility to the clergy who also cannot. And, all of us sit and ask the traders and businessmen to do the job, whereas they are incapable. Should all the nation not be together, and not join hands, and if every person does not work to the extent he is capable of, then this country cannot rid itself of this anarchy. We must all work together. If we all get busy together, we will triumph; we will progress. In the same way that you saw how when we all united we smashed such a great barrier that nobody thought that it could be broken. You smashed it with divine Hands. The" congregation" broke this. For construction too as well as for progress from now onward also this matter is essential.

From now onward, we must traverse this path. We are midway. We have not reached the destination. In other words, we are in the initial stages of the journey. We have overcome only one obstacle but have not eliminated all its roots. Of course, the most important part has been destroyed. And this too which has been destroyed nobody deemed it possible- no intellectual thought so. The CIA of America admitted that it had made a mistake and that it had miscalculated! Because they calculated on the material aspects, whereas this event was a divine event. We are now in the middle of our journey. In other words, we have not traversed even half the way. We have smashed the barriers, and passed them and now want to go ahead. We gave a vote; but a vote is no security for us. A vote does not put an end to these things; we need action. We cast the ballot; we must now act. We must act following it. Just as it is now under consideration, we must appoint the representatives for framing the constitution; we must appoint the representatives in order to set up the Majlis. The Majlis should be of people and not an ordered assembly. It should not be a Majlis that in the words of Muhammad Rida Khan, others would prepare a list and ask that only those be appointed! He himself confessed that the foreigners would write up a list. However, by this confession he wanted to bring praise to himself by doing damage to his father! He wanted to bring praise upon himself for his present he damaged his predecessor by saying that they would send the lists from the embassies; and we were forced to nominate the legislators according to the list. This is something that he himself confessed to! However, he wanted to say that during his reign it was not like that anymore whereas it was worse!

Now, it is a country that has traversed half the way, or rather less than half the way. And of course, these great powers that were hindrances are mainly gone, and only their remnants have remained which must also be destroyed with your hands. You the people must kill these conspiracies. Both the men and women are obliged to smash them. After these remnants have been destroyed and the obstacle has been removed; then it will be the time for engaging in construction. In other words, this interim state should do its job to the extent it must and next the Majlis. Nevertheless, the Majlis too comprises of a few hundred persons and is incapable of doing much. All sections must regard it as a duty upon themselves and say that" we have a duty to perform". In the same manner that every person regards himself to be responsible to care for his own child, his own infant and takes care of the needs of his child; this sentiment must take root in us that this laud is our home and family; this house must be rebuilt by the owners. The owners are not one or two persons; all are the owners. It is not that we have a particular person as the property owner. It is the whole nation and the whole country. The whole country belongs to the whole nation. They must sit down together and build it, and we all must join hands together. Now, is not the proper time for us to criticize this side and that side. I too have the faults that you mention; they themselves also have them; but now is not the time for putting them forward and in the process add to the chaos.

Today is the time when we should all together smash this barrier. This means that praise be to Allah, we smashed this barrier and must eradicate these roots from under the soil and throw them out. These corrupters who now roam the universities and organize demonstrations; who pour on to the streets and cause all sorts of trouble; who on one pretext or the other cause gatherings based upon? Do they believe in Islam or not? Do they want an Islamic Republic or a democratic republic? This means a republic minus Islam. We must bear these in mind that these groups who go inside factories and farmlands and universities and- I do not know- here and there, must be identified. And we should reveal them to the nation so that the nation avoids them and holds them by their tails and throws them out. And after these stages have been passed, and when these groups are eliminated, then construction can be undertaken by all the people. All of us together broke this barrier, and all of us together must engage in this construction. Now is the time to do this.

I too accept that there is chaos; but the remedy for chaos is that we all work together; that we all be diligent in our affairs. No person should think that he is incapable of doing any work; every human being is capable of doing a job. A single drop of rain is not of much use; but it is still a single drop. A single drop does the job of a single drop; it is these very drops of rain that create a flood; and it is the flood, which breaks the barrier. It was these very drops- one by one- each one of us like a drop of rain, that when we all converged and chanted slogans on the street, could break the barrier. If on that day too each of us had said," Well I am a single human being and cannot say a word in front of guns", the same apparatus would be in place, and that same Aryamehr would be in power and the same Nasiri and Hoveyda and that machinery would be present. But, these drops that appear to be insignificant, but actually are not so, when they collected close together were able to destroy them. Now too, it is the same. These drops should not disperse. These corrupters want to make these drops come out from their collective state to disperse them so that they become single drops. The single drops can also later be easily obliterated. A single policeman can do the job of destroying them. Now is the time when all of us should join hands; all of us together should affirm each other. I should affirm you; you should affirm me; we should all together affirm the university students; the university students should affirm the businessmen; the businessmen should affirm others so that this task is carried forward; so that this mess is gradually cleared; so that these obstacles are removed; and then we should pursue the task of construction.

May God protect all of you. I know that you are all sincere; I am aware that you feel sorry for this country. But at the same time that this turmoil is

present; these impediments are there, you must help. We must not add another weight to the already heavy load. We must lessen the load. May God, protect all of you; may you be prosperous; May God protect the women; May God protect the men and may all be successful.

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