In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
With the arrival of 15 th Khordad, the sad memory of the historic, epic-creating day is renewed. It was the day when, according to what is well known, nearly 15,000 people of this meek and oppressed nation were killed. It was the day that turned into the vanguard of this valiant and zealous nation's Islamic movement, the movement that took shape more than sixteen years ago following the uprising of the responsible-minded and committed clergy against Muhammad Rida Pahlavi whose opposition to the beloved religion of Islam had become increasingly evident. The clergy had risen in protest and following an unpleasant event on the afternoon of the 10 th of Muharram [`Ashoura], the waves of protests of an Islamic, humanitarian nature intensified and reached a climax. Subsequently, the unclean hands of colonialism showed up from the deposed Shah's sleeves and occasioned the distressing disturbances of 15 th Khordad- the 12 th of Muharram.
What a tumultuous, bloody and epic-creating month Muharram is! It was the month that crushed the Umayyad dynasty and effected the disintegration of the criminal 2, 500- year old monarchial regime. Our nation will neither forget Muharram that was witness to the brutal massacres perpetrated by the tyrants, nor the 15 th of Khordad that marks the commencement of the clergy's Islamic movement.
The movement began from the Qum Theological Center, the seat of knowledge of the true religious jurisprudence and spread with lighting speed to all the other seminaries and universities while engulfing vast segments of the nation in Tehran and the other cities and drawing them to the arena of the struggle. In recent years, episode has followed episode and the great nation pulled the Pahlavi regime out from its roots with Islamic slogans and shouts of" Allahu akbar," and with the light of faith and unity of expression. Our nations hold this day dear, and I, hereby, declare the fifteenth of Khordad as a day of public mourning for always. We will honor our martyrs by mourning for them on this great day in the Faydiyyah Madrasah. «2» We hope that by the will of God Almighty, the rotten remnants of colonialism will be extirpated and the Islamic Republic, based on the glorious tenets of the Holy Qur'an, established in our country.
May God's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.
Rouhullah al-Mousawi al-Khomeini