Speech [Faith and unity among the various strata of society as the key to victory]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I must remind the Iranian nation of a reality, one of which I had, perhaps, already pointed out. But its importance compels me to remind the Iranian nation once again.

Great efforts were made for nearly twenty years until the various groups of the nation joined together. Efforts continued until the propaganda of the foreigners- those who wanted to plunder us and keep us in a backward state- were neutralized. And they continued until the various groups of the nation became united. The efforts united the youth of the university with the young clergymen. They united the government employees with the bazaar merchants and the clergy with the academicians. All these various classes consisting of laborers, peasants, farmers, traders, clergymen, academicians, and all the other groups joined together and became one. A lot of trouble was taken and much effort expended until these miscellaneous groups got together, until these drops formed a sea and until these drops, which were apart from one another, turned into a devastating flood that swept away the edifice of tyranny and oppression and extirpated the influence of the foreigners. And you the great nation of Iran from the provinces, villages and hamlets, the honorable ladies and the dear brothers, disregarding your own problems, univocally and jointly demolished this great human barrier.

I am afraid that at this halfway point in our task, the efforts that we have so far made will be wasted and the blood of our youth shed in vain because of the ignorance of certain people and the spitefulness of certain others. You have seen almost a hundred groups announcing their formation within the two or three months that have elapsed since your victory which you saw was achieved under the shelter of the unity of expression and the power of Islam. Faith and the unity of expression were the keys to your victory. Because of the solidarity and unity that had emerged among the people, the foreigners felt that with the nation's unity of expression and power of faith, no power would be able to confront this power. So they started thinking of weakening this power: the Islamic power as well as the unity of expression. The enemies began to think of undoing all the trouble that had been taken for many years for the solidarity of the various groups and their unity of expression. These efforts are close to being undone by their dirty hands and the heedlessness of many people who make claims about everything. We gathered all the groups and broke this barrier, but now various groups- about a hundred of them- have announced their existence! And the formation of these groups will result in our extinction.

O the various parties! O the various groups! If your heart aches for your country and your nation, you should realize that this forming of various groups is a deadly poison to the nation that will take your country back to its previous state, God forbid. This formation of factions and the splitting up of the nation into groups and groups by these persons, who are making much claim about their nationalism and their friendly feelings for the people and the deprived, will cause your nation to return to the former state. You are causing the secret of the nation's victory to be lost. You who possess good intentions are under the influence of the demons that have evil intentions. God, the Blessed and Exalted, says:" And hold fast, all of you together, to the cable of Allah, and do not separate." «1» It commands the people to come together and forbids them from separating. You are disrupting the unity of the Muslims; you are creating discord. Cast your self-centeredness aside! Be in step with the nation. This nation sacrificed its youth. This university took great pains. These madrasahs made great efforts. This Faydiyyah Madrasah offered sacrifices. They (the Shah's agents) showed disrespect to the copies of the Qur'an in the Faydiyyah Madrasah. In fact, it was said that they set fire on them! We took a lot of trouble and reconciled the clergy with the university, and also neutralized the propaganda of the foreigners. And at this time when our need for unity of expression is greater, you are causing unity. Is this serving the people? Is this serving the country? Are you serving the deprived? Reflect a bit. Reconsider your actions. You are breaking up into groups with each one of them opposed to the other. If everybody's course was the same, it would not have mattered as all the groups had a single direction. But the wicked hands of the foreigners are at work to split you into groups without your being aware of it, and with all of them against one another. The people who want to plunder us, to take away our resources and subjugate us have seen with their own eyes that the two things have brought us victory, and so they have attacked these two things: one, faith in Islam, and the other, the unity of expression. By their actions, they attacked this secret of victory, which has two aspects, in both respects. They became engaged in sowing discord on a wide scale in Iran; discord on every side of Iran. Different parties, different groups, different fronts; and all of them, unfortunately, against one another. They are taking away this unity of expression from us. It was the power of faith that brought you this victory. They saw for themselves that faith was the source of their defeat; and so they are blotting it out. If those who are opposed to Islam had any sense, they would not oppose it as Islam gave them victory. As for those who are the lackeys of the foreigners, everybody knows them for what they are. I am worried that the efforts of many years of the people who sought to bring about harmony among the different classes and neutralize the propaganda of the foreigners- which, thanks to God, they did and gained victory- will be wasted and the unity will collapse, with discord setting in.

Another worry of ours is that our friends, who are not well informed and disregard the problems, will be the cause of Islam being shown in a different way. We now have an Islamic Republic. All the classes of the people claim that we (the country) are an Islamic Republic and that the government is an Islamic Republic: our courts are Islamic; our committees are Islamic; our pasdars are Islamic; our army, gendarmerie, police and disciplinary forces are all Islamic; our government and our offices are Islamic. This is what we claim. I am afraid that because of those people who are not malicious but are uninformed, certain things will be done that will tarnish our school and present it in a bad way and that we will be defeated, in so far as our school is concerned, and Islam buried. If our committees- whether or not they have some clergy- act against Islamic principles, they will cause the downfall of our school. The responsibility of this happening is great for the clergy.

If the provinces and places where the clergy are present, there are any differences of opinion that result in open differences, our school will suffer and the clergy will be held responsible. If our courts act against Islamic principles and the norms of justice our school will be dented. If our Islamic guards who are the pasdars of the Islamic Republic and the Islamic Revolution do something contrary to the basic principles of their pasdar duties, the school will suffer. The responsibility of this is very great. It would not have grieved or worried us had we been defeated and killed during the time of the previous regime, but our school had remained safe. Supposing we had done certain wrong things in the previous regime, it would not have concerned our school.

Our school will suffer a setback if we commit offenses nowadays. The misfortune lies in the school suffering a setback. The Doyen of the Martyrs (`a) was martyred together with all his companions and clan, but the school advanced. His martyrdom advanced the cause of the school. It would have advanced had we and you been also martyred by that regime. But it will become shaky if offenses take place at this time by means of our actions, or deeds, our words, our pens, and our moves. The tragic part of it is that it will be the undoing of our school; the one for which the prophets and the Imam were killed.

O people of Iran, respected ladies and brothers, come to Islam's assistance! Islam, today, is a trust in your hands. Do not betray it. Clergyman, academician, businessman, peasant, laborer, city dweller, villager, and tribesman: Islam is in danger today; we are not. It would not have mattered had we been in danger.

Help Islam. Our wrong actions show Islam in a bad light, they will so efface Islam that nobody will care about it until the very end. Malicious pens and evil eyes plan to find fault with you and to project a bad image of your school, and say that such is the Islamic Republic, as they are doing in the factories, and as the treacherous pens are writing.

Today, we fear friends! Yesterday we used to fear the enemies. That fear was not much; it did not matter. Today we fear our friends; we are afraid that these friends, without any thought for the gravity of the problems and the situation in which we are at present, will do something by which our school will be presented to the world as a corrupt and backward one. This is what pains us and has caused us anxiety. Today it is the duty of all of us, the whole nation, the ladies, the brothers; the `ulama', the academicians, the lawyers, the ministers, and all the strata of the nation to eschew differences and abstain from acts that go against the Islamic movement and the Islamic Republic. Put an end to your differences; do not be at odds over trivial matters. This is not the time to have differences. Desist from being self-centered! Do not, God forbid, commit offenses for the sake of heading the committees, the Islamic guards and such things. This is not the time to be selfish. It is the day when your fate, the fate of Islam and the fate of the Qur'an must be determined. Be brothers unto one another. The academicians are our brothers; we are at their service.

Our university brothers; be careful that they do not separate you from the clergy. Our brothers of the clergy; be careful that they do not separate you from the academicians. They (enemies) have been scheming these last few days in Isfahan, Mashhad and Tehran to lay the grounds for discord in order to drive the university and the clergy apart. Some uninformed preachers and academicians intend distancing these two groups from one another. They have made their plans at this time when the Constitution is to be proposed; at a time when results are to be obtained; at a time close to the month of Ramadan when your gatherings pose a threat to the people who wish to destroy Iran and Islam. The auspicious month of Ramadan is the month when people gather; it is the month of unity; the month of God. At this time, just before this month, and the time when the results of all these sacrifices, these troubles, and these pains are materialized, a plan has been made to create bitter discord between the clergy and the academicians. Somebody hands out pamphlets cursing someone else; another hands out pamphlets praising someone! Both of them are offenses; both of them are wrong at this time. Desist from being ignorant! Do not let these people who are the enemies of Islam incite you. Do not be treacherous to Islam! This discord today constitutes treachery to Islam, no matter under what name it is. Having differences today over the succession of the Commander of the Faithful is treachery to Islam. Do not raise these matters now. All of you should see to it that Iran's destiny, which is to be actualized, turns out to be good. Iran should not be forgotten because of your actions. It should not be buried because of your actions. Desist from discord in case your heart burns for Islam. Desist from discord in case your heart burns for the nation. And if your heart burns for your country, you desist from these differences.

Neutralize this satanic plot that has come to light in Isfahan, and also in Mashhad and Tehran. Do not knock one another's heads over a person being an unbeliever or a Muslim! Give the problems your consideration. They want you to fall upon one another so that they can profit by it.

May God awaken us from our negligence. May He preserve our unity. May the Lord guide the ones who sow discord. And may He make Islam victorious.

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