Speech [Spiritual transformation, one of the blessings of the movement]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

One of the blessings of this movement is that we have come to know the gentlemen who are from places far away from the center of learning, and to acquaint one another of the matters that you or we wish to discuss and to air our grievances, if any. In fact, you who are responsible for health and rehabilitation should cure us of them.

One of the blessings of this movement is the" spiritual transformation" that has been wrought in our society. I have repeatedly said that this spiritual transformation that has arisen in Iran and which this movement was able to create by the will of God, the Blessed and Exalted, is more important than this victory that has been our lot, and by which we curtailed the power of the foreigners and the traitors. This spiritual transformation cannot be achieved even by one person, let alone groups and people throughout the length and breadth of a country. You can also notice the several kinds of transformations that have taken place in these people, one of them being that which I have repeatedly mentioned and am repeating again that it is a transformation that changed the people's fear and dread into bravery. You saw and remember that when a police constable came to the bazaars- the bazaars of Tehran and Tabriz- saying that it was the fourth of Aban «1» and that flags should be flown by the shops, the thought that one could argue with and say no even to a policeman would never occur to the people. Everyone would obey out of the fear that disobedience could entail imprisonment, persecution and torture. But within a space of two years toward the end of the Revolution, in a period of less than two years, a transformation took place among these very people that made them stand up to tanks, cannons and machineguns, saying that they did not want the (Shah's) regime at all. The ones who could not muster the courage to say that they would not put up a flag that night (the eve of 4 th Aban) had found the courage to clench their fists and march forward; to swarm into the streets shouting," Death to this monarchy," and such things. It is not easy for such a transformation to take place. Yes, it could be that one, two or ten people undergo such a change. But a whole nation was like that, as it was in Mashhad, Azerbaijan, Tehran, Shiraz, in the villages and hamlets. It was not confined to one region; the change occurred throughout the country. This was nothing else but the special favor done by God, the Blessed and Exalted, to this nation. He did the nation a spiritual favor and transformed it as if the people had become something else. The people, all over the country, became something else. They were something; they became something else. They were transformed from one type of people into another type. Another one of the changes was this sense of assisting one another in that the people that had been keeping apart and had nothing to do with one another began to help, as we saw, when the people started walking (and demonstrating). As they used to write to me, men and women used to come repeatedly from their houses in the streets and avenues with water for the people (demonstrators) to drink. A group of people would be demonstrating while another would be assisting them by giving water and such things.

An account (of these happenings), that, in my opinion, is very interesting is that one of the people told me that during the demonstrations in Tehran, he saw an old woman holding a bowl containing coins. He thought that she was a beggar, but on enquiry, she told him that as it was a holiday that day and there was a telephone booth nearby, she had the money with her for those who needed coins to make a phone call. This was a small matter, but its significance was great. It was one aspect of the transformation that had occurred. Another person related that he used to see that whenever anybody would give a sandwich to one of the people in the crowds, he would take it and dividing it into small pieces, would offer the pieces to others. These matters seem small at first sight, but they are significant. A transformation had taken place. This cooperative feeling among the people was no ordinary matter. It was again a divine happening in that the people, who had no connection or had nothing to do with one another, developed such bonds and became so united as if they were one family. And this family feared nothing.

A person mentioned how, during the struggle (the Revolution), a child, about ten or twelve years old, mounted what was apparently a motorcycle - either a bicycle or a motorcycle- and rode toward an approaching tank to attack it. The child was run over and crushed by the tank. This is how the people had become, the transformation was a divine one; an Invisible Hand had so transformed the people. Without it, victory would not have been attained. The people were empty-handed; they had nothing. They have some guns now, but there was nothing of the sort before. They (the regime) were fully armed. They had tanks, cannons and machineguns. But the people had nothing except their cries of" There is no god but God" and" God is the greatest," and also their clenched fists and a firm faith in their hearts. It was faith that took them to victory and by which all the calculations (of the regime) turned out wrong. They had reckoned that unarmed people would not be able to overpower those equipped with these modern weapons. These calculations proved to be wrong, because they had not taken spirituality into account; they had just considered the material aspect. Spiritualism triumphed over materialism, God triumphed over Satan; it is always so.

This transformation is indeed a great blessing. We will have everything by maintaining this blessing that God has given us. We first have to realize that the blessing is a God-given one. We, ourselves, were weak. God strengthened us. He gave you strength by which you overcame all the foreign powers.

The people who come here from abroad; from America and other places say that the Iranians are not aware of what they have done. The people abroad do so. They understand what happened, but not the Iranians. Though they are in the arena, they do not know what has taken place. All the governments had supported Muhammad Rida. Not only America, the Soviet Union and the other superpowers, but also the less powerful countries, and the Muslim governments were his supporters. But they were not able to keep him in power in spite of the support they gave and all the power that he, himself, possessed. The nation defeated Muhammad Rida and also his supporters with its bare hands. This is not an issue that we can explain on the basis of worldly considerations. The reason is that there is the Source above all these underlying points. The reason is that there is God.

We will have everything if we maintain this (unity and solidarity). We will be victorious and these rotten remnants will not be able to do anything if we appreciate this blessing and preserve this solidarity that was forged when the various groups had collected and joined together, and a close affinity had arisen among the people who had once been apart and who, with hearts full of faith, shouted" Islamic Republic". The important point is to maintain the unity we had. Now that we have reached a certain stage of our victory and have ousted the enemy, we should not think the matter to be over and return to such issues as not owning houses or the state of our businesses.

Did you ever think about your business in those days when you, perhaps all of you, used to surge into the roads with cries of" Allahu akbar"? You had suspended you businesses for more than five or six months. God created such a spirit among the people that one who was not prepared to shut his shop for even a single day, kept it shut for six months. Not to say that he was worried about it; he did it wholeheartedly. Do you consider this to be an easy thing? It was a favor, a blessing that God, the Blessed and Exalted, showered upon you. Grasp it with both hands and hold on it. Be as brothers unto one another. Be devoted to one another; be devoted to Islam. If this spirit is maintained, if this courage is preserved- and you Azerbaijanis come from a place which is the center of bravery- and this attention to God and the unity of expression are maintained, then nobody and no power will be able to keep you back. And neither will anybody be able to grab your assets and take them away for themselves, nor commit treachery against you. The government, too, will not be able to do anything wrong. And the army, gendarmerie or anything else will be unable to obtrude on you either. You will be by yourselves with your independence. They (army and gendarmerie), too, are of you and constitute your forces.

The unity of expression and the Islamic character of a country lies in the people- from the president who is at the top by virtue of his legitimacy, to the one who is at the lower end (of society) - being such that neither does the person at the bottom fear the president, nor does the president expect that person to fear him. Such is Islam.

Amir (`a) was the caliph of the Muslims and of a country that was about ten times the size of Iran, stretching from the Hijaz to Egypt, Africa, etc. and a part of Europe. When this divine caliph used to sit among the people, it would be just like us sitting here together. He would have nothing under him except an animal skin. According to the narrations, he kept a skin on which he and Hadrat Fatimah would sleep at night, and he would put fodder on this same skin for his camel in the daytime. The Prophet had the same practice also. This is what Islam is. What we want is this. Nobody, of course, has the power to be like him. But we want to be a bit like him. We want Iran to be Islamic. We want it to be such that when the country's head- suppose the president- or its prime minister come among the people, there should be no such privileges for them by which the people have to step aside, and fuss to be made. During the time of the previous regime, when this person (the Shah) wanted to pass through a certain avenue, the agents of security apparatus and the police would have the whole place under their surveillance from two or three days before his coming until the time he passed. They would make the people leave their houses along the route and would keep a watch on the houses because he was to pass that way. Why? Because he was a traitor, and traitors live in fear. He had been a traitor to the country and a traitor is always afraid. He fears for himself; he is afraid that someone will kill him. But was Malik al-Ashtar like that? They used to move among the people. Hadrat Amir used to be among the people, he was with them. according to the narrations, when the Noble Prophet would be seated in the mosque along with his companions, an Arab coming from outside would not be able to identify him from the others. He would ask which one of them was the Prophet. Things were such that they used to sit together. It was not that one would sit at the head (of the gathering) and another at the other lower end. They would sit together. When somebody would enter, he would not know which one of them was the Prophet. This is what the Islamic government is.

The army of Islam has never been the type that causes the people to run away from it in fright and turn their backs on it. The armies of the taghouti regimes are meant to initially repress the people. The Iranian army had never existed for the purpose of crushing the enemies. These armies existed to crush you. Perhaps many of you remember that, when in Rida Khan's time, the moment the Allies appeared at the border and attacked, the Iranian army fled. I witnessed this myself. We were not there in the border area, but when they launched their attack there, Tehran became empty. All the high-ranking officials went away to Isfahan. They packed up their suitcases and fled. Rida Khan was repeated to have remarked how such an army with all its accoutrements folded up in the space of three hours. They told him that it did not take three hours that" They (Allies) came and we left." They had said three hours in order to show that they were powerful enough (to withstand the attackers for three hours). But it had not taken three hours. The situation was such. This is what happened at the border. I was in Tehran when this event occurred at the border. In Tehran, the soldiers had left their barracks and fled. They were running in the streets, trying to get away. Everything was in a mess. The Allies appeared at the border and Tehran was in a state of confusion. The senior authorities, the field-marshals and, I suppose, the generals all picked up their suitcases and getting into their cars drove away toward Isfahan so that they could find refuge, for instance, in some place.

The army was not for the purpose of confronting a foreign power. It existed in order to repress us so that others could come and plunder us without our being able to say anything. It was for this purpose. Such an army cannot offer resistance to a foreign power; in fact, it was not able to hold out against you. They, of course, joined us. Those who had some humanity left in them joined the nation as they saw that the nation's cause was just. They had even plundered the army. They themselves had even plundered them. Perhaps the (Imperial) Court used to take something from their salaries. It is said that they used to take money as well from the policemen's salaries. But I am not aware of this.

If, God willing, Islam becomes a reality in practice even in a small way, it would be different from what these people think. They think that they understand Islam, but it is different. Islam is such that the very day the people pledged their allegiance to Hadrat Amir (`a), that same day, as history tells us, they pledged allegiance to the head of a realm of the extent that I had mentioned, he took his pickaxe and shovel after receiving their allegiance and went to a well which he had been digging. He started working on it- he used to work like a laborer- and at the last stroke of the pickaxe, water gushed out of the well. Somebody there remarked that it was good and that he should give some of it to his heirs. But he bequeathed it to the people. Islam has had such leaders. He had such an army that used to fight while hungry according to history. There was no question of military equipment at their disposal. Every few of them had a sword and a camel. It should not be imagined that they possessed the implements of war in abundance. Every few of them would share single date that they would find. One of them would put the date in his mouth and as soon as he had tasted its sweetness, he would remove it from his mouth and give it to his companion to similarly taste it. And so they would pass the date on to one another to put it into their mouths to taste until the last person had tasted it. They preserved Islam in this manner. And now we have to preserve it.

Islam is dear to our hearts. Many people sacrificed themselves for its sake. The Prophet of Islam took a lot of trouble over it. He took great pains over it throughout his life. When he was in Mecca, his efforts were of a certain kind notwithstanding all the suffering and hardship he endured by being shut up for a long time. He was free but was not able to appear in public. And also at the time he came to Medina when many wars occurred against the polytheists, the bullies and the wealthy in order to make them submit to Islam. They had taken some people as prisoners and brought them bound in his presence. He said," Look! We have to take them bound in chains, to heaven." His wars were fought to turn the people into proper human beings, and not to conquer countries. It is not the practice of Islam to take countries. His subjugation of countries was for the purpose of winning the hearts of the people, and not for taking over an extra country so that the tax revenues be augmented. It was for making good human beings; for making the people decent. Islam is held clear; it has offered many sacrifices. Islam gave a sacrifice like Imam Husayn; it has to be preserved. It is our turn now; Islam has fallen into our hands. The Islamic Republic has been established. There is no more of the taghout. We have to think about safeguarding Islam and preserving it. We have to make efforts to get rid of these differences that have been consistently arising of late and which the enemies, who do not want to see Islam realized, are aggravating. They are fanning the flames of discord. We must strive to safeguard this unity of expression which is God's great blessing to us so that we will be able to take this movement safely and successfully to its destination.

May God assist all of you. May you be successful, God willing. May God bestow prosperity upon you. May the country be your very own and you work for it and for yourselves, not that you toil and others reap the benefit by plundering you.

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