Speech [The need to combat the dealers in narcotics]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Fighting corruption per se, especially this type that is addiction, is absolutely all right. It is something that must be done. The government and the people, who can help, should assist in eliminating this evil. There is nothing wrong in this. Every mind and every sensible person will admit that such kinds of evil that lead our youth to destruction must be fought. The drug addicts should be cured of their addiction in the rehabilitation centers. And more important than this is to prevent by all means the sale, purchase and distribution of such drugs. This must be done even from the religious point of view. At present, I have no information about the circumstances what the situation is. If the gentlemen have a program that is beneficial and will be helpful in preventing addiction and curing the addicts, it will be most proper and necessary. In this country, corruption is, of course, not limited to addiction. They (the former regime) intensified addiction and such evils; they increased them. The essential plan was to corrupt our youth.

Wherever they saw the probability of any power emerging, they clobbered it with all their might lest it arose to confront them. They thought it probable for the clergy to oppose them, and those who remember know how they treated the clergy in the days of Rida Khan. Later on it was not in that manner. It was devilishly worse during the reign of this one. They thought that the university would probably stand up to them some day, and so, through various devices, they did not allow it to be a proper university for this country. They thought it probable for the people to accomplish something if they relied on Islam and the clergy. They would try hard to separate them from the clergy and Islam, and to make them cynical about the clergy; in fact, cynical about the truth of all the monotheist schools and Islam. For this reason, the widespread propaganda- it must be said- of hundreds of years had brought about such a situation that our youth; those who were not able to get to the bottom of the political issues, also came to believe that Islam, or any other monotheist school for that matter, was against the path of the nations and was preventing them from developing and becoming civilized. If you remember, Muhammad Rida had once stated in one of his speeches at the beginning of this movement that these clerics; the clergy wanted the country to go back to its previous state (of backwardness) and that they did not even want anybody to get into an automobile or an airplane, and that they were against such things as well. He had said that the clergy wanted the people to ride on donkeys to go here and there! He was saying this at the same time that some of the religious reference authorities «1» had gone to Mashhad by air. We said while speaking on the pulpit that just as he was saying this, some religious reference authorities were on their way to Mashhad by air. How does he say such a thing? The clergy is opposed to corruption; not to civilization. It was this regime that gave currency to corruption in the name of" civilization". According to what is being said, there are more centers of prostitution in Tehran than bookshops! It is said that there are more liquor shops in Tehran than bookshops; but it is, God willing, not the case now, of course.

They wanted to deprive, if they could, any power and any intellect that they thought would probably stand up to their masters and the foreigners, of the ability to think. How is one deprived of this? By becoming addicted to heroin and similar narcotics that rob a person of his mind and make him dull. There were centers of prostitution and corruption throughout the country. Well, these would also keep the youth occupied in lecherous activities which would completely make them devoid of ideas. This was a plan it was a calculated plan; it was not that these things happened just like that. These things used to be done according to a precise plan. And now another matter is being pursued in accordance with a precise plan. Do not think that a hundred groups have now emerged on their own. A hundred groups have announced their existence. It is said that there are more than a hundred of them! They have all announced their presence. A hundred groups declaring their presence in a country does not happen just like that. It means differences arising among a hundred groups. It means a hundred groups opposed to Islam- most of them. It is not just by chance that groups are formed; no. there is something behind this. They either know that they are traitors- as many of them are- or they do not understand political issues and pay no attention to them.

At a time when all the powers have joined up and brought about the solidarity of the nation, and now that this is the time for a result to be obtained and construction carried out, various groups, various factions and various parties- everybody on every side forming his own party- have now appeared, many of which are against the movement and against Islam. Many of them do not mention it, but such is the reality. These are issues that have been considered by the foreigners; the ones who had studied our ideas, habits and our societies.

They want to prevent this movement from reaching fruition by every possible means, and to take advantage, if they can, of this tumult in the border regions and other places. A group of people have come here and have set fire to our crops; they are burning them. You can suppose that the bunch of people that burning our crops were the ones who, at first, would prevent sowing, and after which they would not let the harvesting be done. And now that the harvest has been stacked up, they are burning it. These are the ones who say that they support the people. They consider that supporting the people is to stop them from farming, and then to stop them from reaping the harvest, and after that to burn the crops in case they have been harvested. This is the support they give! It is like the Shah's" great civilization". Their support is to keep the people weak and poor; to separate and disperse them so that the ones who had sent them for this purpose come and take hold of everything of ours.

In this connection, among the important things is this issue of narcotics that come here according to a plan. It is not the work of a smuggler or smugglers. No; it is all planned. They had determined how not to allow the universities and the theological schools to function. They had planned how to prevent the development of the youth and stop them from being useful to society. One part of it was to let them be addicted to heroin, opium and such things. These are matters that have been planned out. They should not be ascribed to some smugglers. These" big smugglers" and the alien hands are behind all these things. You should not attribute the corruption that is now rampant in Iran to some troublemakers, for example. No, they have had it worked out according to a definite, precise plan to destroy this country which is to become Islamic. And if it does become Islamic, they will lose their hold on it forever and will not be able to gain access to its oil, copper and other resources.

They do not want this movement to end in success. They had all gathered to prevent, in as much as they could, Muhammad Rida from leaving. All the powers had joined up to prevent his ouster. Well, it did not work out. The nation rose and he had to leave. Subsequently, they got together to keep Bakhtiyar (in power) who was his followers and one of his servants. But, he, too, was ousted by the nation. Well, they would make attempts to keep the Shah. And after some people, even the respected ones, had tried to keep him, they tried to keep Bakhtiyar and then this Regency Council with us arranging for the elections. All of these were plans that they kept on dinning into the people. Some uninformed persons used to accept these and offer proposals. But the nation did not accept these and brushed them aside. After having been ignored and disappointed about it, they turned their attention to the elections. They would try to stop them: a group boycotted the elections; others boycotted the referendum and some others set the ballot boxes on fire! They prevented the people from voting by force of arms. Well, they were thwarted even in this and the people did vote, the results of which had no precedent in history. Such a great majority of the people voting had no precedent in the world. They lost out in this respect as well. Following that, they turned their attention to the matter of the constitution regarding which they again tried to create obstacles, demanding a constituents' assembly to be set up, and mentioning the things that would happen in the absence of such an assembly! This was to prevent the progress of the affairs; but they failed in this case also. Now they are trying to prevent even this panel from being formed. All of these things are calculated plots. It is not that the people in the border areas and others in the name of communism and such things are creating disorder. A group of them have come here and are doing all this. It is not that heroin or its used has become prevalent all over the country on its own by chance. No, it is all according to plan.

They are plotting to prevent this movement from succeeding. What should they do about it? Cause destruction everywhere. One of their destructive tactics is to stop our youth from growing up properly so that this youthful force not be used in any movement that might arise.

Therefore, it is a problem that must be tackled from all angles. Of course, all its aspects cannot be handled together. Each group must deal with one aspect. One group should fight the use of drugs, another one must confront the problem of alcoholic beverages and yet another ought to campaign against the other kinds of corruption so that this movement is taken to a successful conclusion, and an Islamic government, as ordained by Islam, is set up; not the kind that materialism wants. If the kind that Islam has defined is, God willing, realized, it will bring prosperity to this nation and will also spread to all the other countries, God willing.

I pray to God for your success in this crusade. Whoever can help you in this will have no doubt helped a good cause. But I have no information about how your present set ups and the conditions actually are. I have just mentioned the generalities.