Speech [The danger threatening Islam; Islam, the commodity the world admires]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

We are being watched. Just as you dear guards and all the guards of the nation watch over this country in order to forestall those people who want to extinguish or weaken this movement by their satanic plots, you too are being watched by others, whether your enemies, your friends, the angels or God, the Blessed and Exalted. All of you are under surveillance. Just as you watch the offenders, you are also being watched so that you do not do wrong things. Today it is not like yesterday. In the past when our country was taghouti, if somebody did something wrong, it was in a taghouti system; and so the wrong doing was less serious. If ordinary people commit an offence, it is an offence but of less culpability. The offenses and sins committed today are greater in two respects. One is that the country is an Islamic republic on which the eyes of the world are riveted. The enemies are watching; they are observing us and have placed us under their scrutiny to see what this Islamic Republic is. They want to find out what it really is. The reality of every regime and government emerges from the officials of that regime and government, and their actions, and so comes to light. Today, if, as we claim, there is an Islamic republic and the corrupt regime is no more, having been replaced by an Islamic republic on the strength of your votes, any offense done by even the ordinary people is of greater culpability than it was in the past. Yesterday it was committed in the government of the taghout; today it is in that of the Apostle of God. Doing a wrong thing in the government of the Noble Messenger of God differs from what is done in a taghouti government. So the whole nation is being watched in this respect. The enemies are looking intently at this nation and this Islamic Republic, and so are your friends, the angels and more than anyone else, God, Himself. 

The enemies are looking intently in order to find even small faults and contend with us, with you and the people of the nation who voted for Islamic government, the Islamic Republic, to be established. Not that they want to find individual faults in order to say that so-and-so was like this. They want to contend that the Islamic Republic is such. They are heedful of the fact that there are many who are against the Islamic Republic, including many Muslims. Many of the taghouti governments of Muslim countries are also opposed to the Islamic Republic, whereas there are many foreigners who do not believe in Islam but most of them, of course, respect it. That is, many of their governments are opposed to Islam and the Islamic Republic. We have many such people now in Iran as well that are opposed to the Islamic Republic. They are not opposed to Iran being a republic; they are against its being an Islamic one. They are watching us to find some flaw in us and multiply it a thousand times in the things they write in their magazines and newspapers in Iran and abroad and thereby magnify a trivial matter. These enemies of ours want to tarnish and disgrace this movement by means of their venomous pens and show the world that this is what Islam also is, now that the government has become Islamic and its supporters claim that the Islamic government and the Islamic guards observe justice. Any mistakes or any wrong, God forbid, on our part will not be like what is committed by a person. They will not blame anyone. The ones who want to tarnish our school will unjustly attribute the wrongdoing to it. An individual doing something wrong does not concern the school. Their aim, however, is to blame it for somebody's wrongdoing.

Therefore, safeguarding Islam means that we- I, that gentleman (the commanders in general) and all the strata of the people- should so protect it that no excuse be given to those that are seeking excuses to attribute your wrongdoings and ours to the faith. We have to be our own guards. We must realize that we are being watched by friend and foe, by the Saints of God and even by God. The world is God's Presence. We are now in His Presence. God is everywhere; He is present in all places. If we did something wrong, it would be in His Presence. Claiming that the country is now an Islamic Republic and the government is also Islamic, if, God forbid, we do not discharge the duties of an Islamic guard- I am also an Islamic guard, the gentleman is also a guard and you, the entire nation, are the guards of Islam; all of you are responsible and must keep this in mind:" All of you are responsible and you will be questioned for the things that had been entrusted to you" «1»- and if at this time that is the most critical juncture for the country and Islam, any mistake or offense is committed by the Islamic guards, whether the clergymen, who are also Islamic guards, or you gentlemen who are Islamic guards as well- by these two strata of the guards- it will be attributed to Islam by our enemies. Not by our friends; the enemies will blame Islam and castigate the school for our wrongdoings. This is a grave responsibility that everybody bears. It is not that you or I think that we are sinners and that the matter is between us and God, for instance. No, this is not the issue. The issue concerns the school; it concerns Islam. We are now at a stage where the prestige of Islam is in our hands.

Any mistake or wrongdoing on our part in the days of the previous regime would not be ascribed to Islam as the regime was a taghouti one. They would not say that the Islamic government was such, but that the wrongdoing occurred in the taghouti regime. The enemies would not say," This is what the Islamic government and Islam is," and neither would the friends. But, today, we have Islam and an Islamic government. The country's system is an Islamic republic. You and all of us are the guards of Islam. Any offense that is done now will be different from the ones done in the past. The perceptions of our enemies in this Islamic Republic are different from what they were in the taghouti regime. It will be ascribed to Islam. And this is a grave responsibility that rests on us. The responsibility of this gentleman who heads the Islamic guards and of each one of you who supervise a certain number of guards is very great. It is also the responsibility of those individuals that are the Islamic guards. It is our common responsibility. I have a certain kind of responsibility; the gentleman has a certain kind of responsibility and you gentlemen have a certain kind of responsibility. All the strata of the people, the other guards and the other ranks have this responsibility, the reason being that our faults, especially those of the clergy, the police and the Islamic guards, will be attributed to Islam. That is, the enemies will record the wrongs in the name of Islam and will reflect this, explicitly abroad and implicitly in Iran, to show that this is just what the Islamic Republic is.

Now that we have done nothing and the clergymen have not behaved like dictators, they are, nevertheless, calling us dictators! The clergymen should bear in mind that some people want to pick a quarrel with them. If a clergyman does something wrong, God forbid, or speaks unreasonably to somebody, they will call all the clergymen dictators. They will say that from that time until now there was Muhammad Rida's dictatorship, and that it is now the dictatorship of the clergy! They are after such a thing. We have to be vigilant. This vigilance is more important than that exercised in the matter of thieves and traitors. This vigilance is essential as Islam is in danger; the school is in danger.

Suppose that all the plots were, God forbid, to be combined. That is, all the plots that are said to exist were to be added up- even if you do not believe that there is some truth to it despite the rumors to this effect- and they were to come and kill you Islamic guards, these gentlemen, me and all of us, we would still not be defeated if our school remained safe. We would have discharged our duty. We would not have been able to achieve our aim as we were not powerful enough to do so. Hadrat Amir (`a) was not able to overcome Mu`awiyah; he was defeated. That is, the very people who were with him, opposed and defeated him. Nonetheless his school (Islam) remained safe.

The school of the Doyen of the Martyrs remained safe even though he, himself, was martyred. Sometimes, martyrdom leads the school to success; perhaps it is so most of the time. God forbid the school being martyred at any time and Islam being tarnished because of which they will say that the Islamic Republic is also like the former regime. In order to know the people when we look around, we notice that these ones are also doing the same things. They, too, force their way into people's homes. They should not do it even if they are justified. They should not do something that appears wrong even if there is any justification about it. Though the matter be right, the act is not.

We are being watched, and so are you because the enemy wants to show the world that we are like this. You saw what a hue and cry there was everywhere when the Islamic courts sentenced a few criminals- who like a cancerous tumor, would have corrupted the society had they remained- to death and had them executed. They likened us to Hitler! They called us dictators. They are aware of the facts, but they want to find some excuse and magnify it a thousand times. We have to be watchful. The enemies are watching us. The Saints of God, your friends, are watching. You are their friends as well, God willing. And the Holy Being, God the Almighty is watching all of us. Everybody is being watched. The spiritual sentinels, the angels, are watching from above to see what we are doing; what we are doing while keeping guard; what we are doing with the freedom that has been attained and what you are doing with the power that has now fallen into your hands. You have become powerful now. They were more powerful; and what things they did! You now have the power in your hands. You have taken the spoils of war and their guns; these are now in your possession. And thanks to God that you are also discharging your guard duties. It is hoped that you will proceed to the very end, God willing.

You should notice that you are being watched now. According to a narration, the record of our deeds is sent twice a week to the Imam of the Time (`a). Claiming to be the followers and devotees of this great person, I feel that he will, God forbid, become embarrassed if he sees- and will do so as he is under God's care- the record of our misdeeds. You feel ashamed if your son commits an offense. It embarrassed you if your servant does something wrong. A person feels ashamed in society because his son, servant or follower has done such a thing. I am afraid that we may do something that would make the Imam of the Time (`a) ashamed before God,(Who will say that) these are your partisans who are doing this! Do not do such things. Let it not so happen that we do some wrong, God forbid, and the matter reported by the angels that are observing us; that are our observers «2»- everybody has an observer and is being watched. Even the smallest things in your heart are being observed. Our eyes, ears, tongues, and hearts are all being observed- and are watching all these things. Let no wrong, God forbid, be done by me and you, by all our friends and those of the Imam of the Time (`a) that would make him disappointed. Watch yourselves; guard yourselves. If you want your act of guarding (Islam) to be included in the book of record in which the names of the guards of early Islam are entered, you too have to guard yourselves in the same manner so that your names are entered there.

May God, the Blessed and Exalted, place you among the guards of Islam, the Qur'an and the commandments of God. May He place the whole nation as the guards of Islam. May God, the Blessed and Exalted, grant you prosperity and make you your own guards. Just as you have made this country move ahead up to now and severed the hands of the traitors, may God, the Blessed and Exalted, give all of you dignity, health, greatness, and the strength to take it further from now on to be able to present an Islamic country to the world which was what we had demanded. If you are able to offer your commodity the way it is, everybody will accept it from you. Everybody accepts a good commodity. Our commodity is good unless we, ourselves, spoil it. Our commodity is the Qur'an; it is Islam. If there is no offense or violation on our part, and if we offer this great commodity- the Islamic Republic that we had demanded- to the world in the way it really is, and also present these ministries of ours that Islam desires, our army, gendarmerie, police and these offices, organs and our Islamic guards in the way God wants, it (Islam) would be an excellent thing to offer and everybody would demand for it. And God willing, you will see the Muslim countries, one another, following your example. There will be a time when Islam regains that power it had in its early period by which it prevailed over the two greatest empires of the world. A small number of people overcome two of the world's greatest empires. «3» And I hope that you be likewise also. May God assist you and also assist this dear brother of mine (a commander of the guards present in the audience).