Speech [The great responsibility of the scholars in guiding the society]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Yazd was among the cities that was a model; in the same way that Qum was among the model cities. I refer to the religious scholars of that place- especially Ayatullah Sadouqi «1» for whom I have a profound liking- who were by the grace of God at the forefront of the movement and whose assistance for this movement is noteworthy. The rest of the religious scholars of Yazd also for all of whom I have great regard, participated in this uprising. In the same way, the respected people of Yazd from various strata provided great assistance to this movement. May God be with all of them; and may God grant happiness to all of them! I thank all of you gentlemen, who were kind enough to come all the way from afar, from Kuwait and from Yazd to meet with me. And, I express my thanks to you and the rest of the residents of Yazd because of your kindness. May God grant good health and happiness to them also.

We must know that we are all charged with a duty. The scholars of Islam have a duty to be at the forefront. Their duty is greater than that of others. Their duty is to guide society. Now, we have a pressing need to guide society; to forestall the discord that they want to create among the society; and at the foremost level, it is the duty of the religious scholars to enlighten the people of the evil of these devils who want to create differences among the groups, and to frustrate the plots being hatched by the remnants of the former regime. They should tell the people that if these groups infiltrate among your ranks and God forbid, sow the seeds of discord among the pious believers and among the people, the problems of before will be likely to recur. And, if the problems of old return; Islam will be in danger; the country will be in danger to the very end. Now, which is one of the most sensitive points of time for Iran, the religious scholars of Iran- and the rest of the sections, the respected youth, universities, university students, theological students, businessmen, farmers, workers and the rest must beware of the fact that the devils are waiting in ambush. And if God forbid, there is negligence and these decayed roots grow again in the society, then the efforts have been wasted. Now they are not anything significant but if you are not alert, and if they be not thwarted, then it will be likely that they will grow.

You gentlemen convey greetings of peace on my behalf to all the scholars of Yazd- may their blessings last; and request them on my behalf to enlighten the sections of the people. Now is not the time to find fault; now is not the time for us to pay attention to the secondary issues; to focus on the minor issues and be negligent of the principles. Today is the time when we must safeguard the principles. To safeguard principles is to pull out these decayed remnants from their roots. And with regard to these rumors that they spread among the people in order to make them discontented, you must guide the people and tell them that they hold grudges against them. Today, more than ever before, we are in need of unity of expression. Today, we need that all of us together, move towards Islam and towards an Islamic Republic.