Speech [Safeguarding victory more difficult than (attaining) the victory itself]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I will say a few words about the things that have occurred and what has to be done in the future:

We have a duty regarding past events which, thanks to God, passed off well. What caused this nation to take this path and attain victory? What has to be done for this victory to endure? How often has an army or a people, attained victory over another army or people, and have even given a good account of themselves, but have not been able to safeguard their victory. Many a conqueror fought, advanced and achieved victory but was not able to safeguard it. On reaching a certain point, some factors would arise to rob them of their victory, and so they would suffer defeat. This ought to serve as a lesson to those that have triumphed in the field (of battle) but still have a lot way to go. In the wide-ranging wars that occurred, there were leaders, with large, well-equipped armies at their disposal, who seized territory and advanced like Hitler who took France and, attacking the Soviet Union, was able to seize part of it but because of the emergence of certain factors, he suffered a defeat there itself that ultimately forced him- as it is said- to take his own life. We should not become proud of this victory that we have gained though it was a great one; that is, it was a victory that was unlikely. Our actions were, perhaps, thought to be imprudent. Even toward the end when that little man «1» had gone and Bakhtiyar had taken his place, the ignorant advisors were again advising us to come to terms with them! And that the Regency Council must be confirmed and then the deputies nominated, after which the matter should be brought to an end through them. Perhaps these people did not think the pressure being applied by certain people to be right. You have now achieved a victory, thanks to God. It was a great victory in that you not only defeated a powerful entity, but also curtailed the power of the foreigners. We have to thank the nation for this. The service it rendered, the unity of expression that it engendered, the efforts it made, the sacrifices it made, and the devotion it gave will be rewarded in the Presence of God, the Blessed and Exalted, and is uppermost in the mind of the Master of the Age (`a). We have progressed well so far and have achieved good results as well. But our work is unfinished. We have neither a permanent government- we have an interim government, a good one but transitional nonetheless- nor a constitution which is the basis of a country. And we lack a president and a consultative assembly that are the bedrock of a government. All these (organs) have to be in place. What we have achieved so far was because of the vote and the referendum that eliminated that regime and brought the Islamic Republic in its place. Iran is now known to the world as an Islamic republic. But it is an Islamic republic for which we have merely voted; we have no Majlis, no president and no constitution. We have to carry out these tasks. Therefore, we are halfway, something like a triumphant army that has fought and captured a place but does not know if it can retain it. Following our victory, we do not know what our fate is going to be with all these plots and these dissensions that are there and these activities that are going on. We are worried. What is our duty today? If we want our victory, which has reached this stage, to last to the very end, what do we have to do so that it is preserved and does not self-destruct as happened in the case of Hitler.

We have to understand why we triumphed. Once we understand this, we must then endeavor to safeguard the factor that brought us victory. If not, it would be like a conquering army that failed to safeguard its victory after having achieved it. Many of the conquests that took place could not be maintained; the victors relinquished their hold and departed. Even Nadir Shah, who went and captured India, saw that he was unable to hold on to it; so he made an agreement and returned.

Safeguarding a system, safeguarding a victory, is more difficult than the victory itself. And the reason is this: When some people are in the process of attacking a fortress, all they have in mind is to seize that fortress. They do not think of anything else. Nobody thinks of what he is going to have for dinner when night comes. Nobody thinks of lunch. They do not think about their children being unwell. They have no such thoughts whatsoever. All the faculties of every individual are directed at capturing the fortress, taking hold of it. A number of people gather together; all of the same opinion. All the various forces collect and carry out their attack. They gather with the same aim of capturing the fortress. They reach the fortress and take hold of it.

When they are seated inside the fortress and realize that they have, thanks to God, captured it, the slackness begins to emerge. Weariness, weakness and differences may set in within the fortress itself among these individuals- who had once advanced so strongly- causing them to lose their power. They had so far had the same opinion regarding this conquest and this victory, but now that they see that they have triumphed, they revert to the grievances that have, the condition of their lives and their children, the disputes that some of them have against certain others, and the grudges they bear.

That apathy and these differences following the victory render the victor incapable of safeguarding his victory, and those who have been vanquished begin to forge unity among themselves because of being obsessed with their defeat. Many such cases have occurred. On that side, the defeated ones, because of the complex they have developed, arrange for the small groups to join together and attain unity. On this side, the victors, not being able to comprehend properly the profundity of the problems, begin to relax. They become apathetic and develop deep differences; they drift away from one another. They triumphed when they were together. But now the defeated ones join together while the victors go their separate ways. What will it result in? It will result in that secret of your victory emerging among them, and that factor which was the cause of their defeat, appearing among you. So what do we have to do?

The victory that you gained was not a small one. We do not still appreciate it adequately. The people who come from abroad; from America, Britain, the West, and the foreign countries, sometimes tell us that the Iranians are not aware of what they have accomplished! They do not know what a victory they have achieved. It was a victory that amazed the whole world as to how a people, without anything in their hands, overcame a power for whose sake all the global powers had gathered together. Do you think that there was only Muhammad Rida together with America? This was not the case! There was Muhammad Rida supported by all the governments; Muslim and non-Muslim. All of them stood behind him. Was it for no reason that they did not allow us into Kuwait? They bore no enmity toward us. The reason was that they (Kuwait) backed him. Was it for no reason that they did something so that we could not remain in Iraq? Was it for no reason that I dropped (the idea of going to) the Muslim countries and went abroad to a country of unbelievers?! All these (occurrences) had reasons to them. I saw what Iraq was doing. And I saw what Kuwait was doing in that I was not allowed to go from one side of the city to the other side in order to board a plane and depart. They created such obstacles. I was told to return to the place from where I had come. This was because all of them were the supporters of that regime. At that time all the big powers, too, stood by him. Some countries, such as America and British, would explicitly say so, while certain others were not explicit about it, but were supporting him all the same. The reason was that they considered their interests to be tied to his remaining in power; and they were sorry when he left. While all the world powers were against 35 million people; the Iranian people, these world powers opposed to us were nevertheless unable to keep him in power. What was the cause of this victory? Were we capable of it? No! It was faith, and the favor of God. When you become tired of the oppression and turn to Islam, God, the Blessed and Exalted, helps you; the angels help you. These angels that used to help the small groups of people in the Islamic wars enabled them to overcome large groups. But the people there were not aware of this. The Prophet knew through revelation. If the Prophet were present now, he would have, perhaps, said that you gained this victory because the angels approved of you. All of you wanted Islam; you wanted the true religion, and disregarded the corrupt regime. This was the cause of your victory.

These two utterances: everybody together in unity of expression and everybody for Islam, were the ones that were the secret of your victory, and also your abidance by the noble verse:" And hold fast, all of you together, to the cable of Allah, and do not separate." «2» This verse has this key in that (it says that) it wants all of you to become connected to God and not be separated from one another. The society must remain together and be heedful of God. And there must be no discord in (running) your affairs. This was the cause of a few people, lacking in the implements of war but possessing fists and faith, overcoming a large number of people and those whose interests were at stake. Their vital interests were in danger, and they were his (Shah's) supporters. Nobody was able to keep him (on the throne). We have come up to here; so we are victors that have covered half the way. What do we have to do from now onward in order to take this victory to the end and safeguard it; to preserve this victory? Let us not become like Hitler whom they drove back; whom they slapped in the face and sent back, compelling him to commit suicide! What we must do is to safeguard this key; these two utterances. One is not to get separated from one another.

Certain hands are now at work to take this key away from us. There are hands that have, unfortunately, misled our friends; not those enemies; they have even misled our friends and are sowing the seeds of discord and separation in this country- this country in which the people everywhere, from the center to the borders, used to utter one word. They would say:" Islamic Republic". As the prelude to this they would say:" not this regime". This was so from the center to the borders. From whichever side you went and whenever you went. You would hear this utterance. The people that wanted to plunder us understood that the secret of our victory was this unity of expression and our aim was to be united in purpose. Nobody pulled us in a certain direction. Everybody said the same thing. All of them said:" Islamic Republic". Now that we have come up to here, the people who perceived this fact that the unity of expression and unity of purpose- all the people together, everybody together clamored for Islam- triumph, want to take away this secret from us now. They want to take away our" togetherness" and also, the" Islam" part of it. The devils are now thinking of depriving you of these two utterances that formed the basis of your victory; the key to your victory. If you do not protect it, and if the devils, God forbid, prevail over you and take your victory secret from you, our country will end up as Hitler said: when he had come half the way, he was beaten, driven back and thrown out! We have to safeguard this key.

According to the newspapers, you can see that nearly one hundred groups have emerged in Tehran. They have announced their formation, groups and groups of them. Even though they are nothing- they are nothing compared to the nation- they have set the alarm bells ringing in that they want to deprive us of this key to victory which was our unity. At that time, we had brought all the groups together; the nation had cemented all the groups. In contrast, now that you have reached this stage, the bonds are coming apart and group after group is appearing. Who are they? What party; who are they? What party; who are they? What front? Many of them bear the name" Islam". But apart from it not being right to break up at this time, splitting into groups and groups, and district by district is not the proper thing to do now. Our present situation is such that we still have to pass these stages so that we are able to claim victory. And then we have to maintain it. We have to safeguard it constantly. But at present, it is a partial victory; not a complete one. We have moved ahead to some extent; but a further distance remains. If they now overpower us at this halfway stage and we fall apart while they gradually begin to unite from the lower levels, it would be like the case of that conqueror who captured the fortress and then saw his army beginning to slacken and separate, and vanquished inhabitants of the fortress begin to unite and combine become one. The result would be that after some time, this victorious army will be defeated and driven out of the fortress. If we do not safeguard this secret- by" we" I mean the whole of Iran: the clergy, academicians, Islamic guards, businessmen, employees, laborers, farmers; all of us have this duty- and do not preserve this victory, if this magnificent conquest of yours is not safeguarded while we are still on the way; and while they are joining together, we are breaking up into groups,(we will then lose out). At present, there are many underground, deviated groups that are linking up and getting together. Added to them are the foreign hands. Those hands and helpers from abroad are assisting them and aggravating this matter. Moreover, people are entering from the borders and weapons are being brought into the country! Such things are happening. Inside the country itself, these kinds of connections are being established; the groups are gathering together. They are joining up; we are dispersing! Seeing yourselves victorious, we tended to becoming slack, and are now moving apart from one another. They saw themselves defeated, and developed a complex. But they have started to link up and are dispersing us. They are taking our secret from us and are acting upon it. The key to victory; that is, one of the keys which is that unity of expression and that togetherness. They are depriving us of our unity; they are breaking up the united people into groups and groups. Sir, it is not for nothing that a hundred groups have suddenly- in about a month or a little more- appeared in Tehran! It is not an ordinary matter that a group of people would want to do such things (forming parties). They want them (parties)! This is a plot; there is something behind the scene, some hand that is behind all this. Those people that are decent and well intentioned are neglectful; they must wake up. Those that are satans are acting according to a plan. If the groups of people that have love for Islam, for their country and nation, end their discord, there will be nothing much left for those people; they will not have hundred groups anymore. The people from that side are coming together, and those from this side are moving apart. The result will be that in the event of our becoming lax and negligent, God forbid, and the satans uniting, we will one day open our eyes when a coup d'etat has taken place and has upset everything! All the pains you took and sacrifices you made up to now will go to waste and your efforts will come to naught.

What is to be done? At this time, we should not trumpet our achievements. We should loudly say that we have to accomplish this task. A conquering army should not sit down and talk about its conquest. This eulogizing the victory causes them (conquerors) to become assured that the matter is, thanks to God, over, and this gives rise to apathy. On the other hand, we ought to say that we have to go forward. You must safeguard this great victory that you achieved with your cries of" Allahu akbar", and succeeded with your divine power.

The month of Ramadan is now approaching; a very noble month. It is now the month of Sha`ban. The Muslims must fill these mosques with people. They must fill these Islamic strongholds with people and tell them about current matters and also make their voices heard there. We, at present, need" Allahu akbar" (a rallying cry); we need it more than the time when that little man was here. We are in greater need of gatherings at this time. The weapon is in your hands. You will have everything if you are able to keep it; if you are able to hold on to it. You have faith; so you should keep it. You were a nation that had seen a lot of suffering. Since the time you opened your eyes and became conscious of things,(the name)" Security Organization"(SAVAK) had been falling frequently being heard. You had been in constant fear lest it do something; lest a policeman do something. You emerged victorious because of this hatred that you had developed for this regime, and that regard that you had developed for Islam.

Safeguard this unity of expression, and this faith; this faith that makes our dear youth- our very dear youth- come with a request to pray for them to attain martyrdom. These young men aged 30,20,25 and younger- 18- come and ask us to pray for them to get martyred. This feeling, this transformation, that took place in our society was the secret of our success; retain it. Preserve this spirit, this great spirit, this divine, heavenly spirit, and abstain from this discord and divisions. I am telling everybody. I am addressing every place where my voice can be heard. In a country that has achieved a partial victory, it is meaningless to let various groups be established at the present time, and for them to do whatever they want afterward. Let us become firmly established, our economy be set right and our agriculture set straight. Let us at least not extend our hand to others to give us wheat, barley, etc., and take everything we need from others. Let these matters be set right a little. For God's sake if you are aware of Him, for the nation's sake if you love the nation and for the country's sake if you want your country, do not be deceived by these few people that are doing things to destroy whatever we have. They tried as much as they could to prevent cultivation. And then they would not allow the harvest to be reaped. Now that the harvest has been gathered, they are setting fire to it! Do they pity the people? They are destroying the basic foodstuffs of a nation in this manner, yet they say that they are" nationalists", and that they are friends of the nation. It is not so. Our dear youth should not be deceived by those people whose aim is to serve but do not know the way of doing so. They should stop getting dispersed, and stop setting up various groups.

The topics are many but I am not able to continue any longer; I leave it to you. Today, Islam has been placed on our shoulders for us to safeguard. The responsibility for it rests with us; it rests with the nation; safeguard it. You the Islamic guards can be of service to this movement, and you can also do something for us to lose Islam, God forbid. You, the Islamic guards, if you really guard Islam and wish to protect the Islamic nation, be careful that you, yourselves, do not take a wrong step. You are now the guards of Islam. If they see any wrongdoing on your part, they will say that Islam is like this. If they see any wrongdoing on the part of the clergy, they will say that such is Islam. You must discharge your duties of guarding Islam, the Islamic Republic and the Islamic country. You who are now serving in this very noble profession and have on this very auspicious uniform; must appreciate it. You will not be blamed if you commit an offense at this time; they will blame Islam. They will say that the Islamic Republic, too, is just this. At that time the Security Organization was troubling the people, and now the Islamic guards are doing the same thing! They will bury our school, this great school of ours. If it suffers a defeat in this campaign, it will be buried and nobody will be able to disinter it. Do something so that you do not suffer a defeat. Do something so that our school is not defeated.

You act according to your humanitarian and Islamic duties and we, too, will do the same, God willing, and all the groups as well, so that we can retain this victory which we will take to the very end. And so we will be able to offer Islam to the world, and show the world that we have such a commodity; that Islam is such a thing. Now that our nation has been blessed with this victory, if, God forbid, the committees are to commit act of aggression, if, God forbid, the Islamic guards are to carry out aggressive acts, if the clergy, God forbid, are to act against clerical principles, the government acts in a way contrary to an Islamic government, the army acts in a way contrary to an Islamic army, and, similarly, the other organs; if such a situation is to arise, it will be reflected throughout the world. The people who intend to discredit this campaign- Islam has enemies- will make it known in Iran and abroad that the pawns have changed but the practices are the same! The pawns have changed- at that time it was Nasiri «3» and now it is Basiri. «4» Of what use is an act if we cannot adapt our practices to the demands of the Islamic Republic. If we the pasdars of (Islamic) principles and you the- pasdars of Islam- I hope that all of us, praise be to God, be pasdars- do not adapt our actions to those duties of a pasdar they will accuse us- they will not accuse us as such; they are not bothered about individuals any more but they will accuse the school- and say that this is the same monarchial regime with different people and a different name. They will say that at that time it was called a shahanshahi (imperial) regime and now it is called" Islamic Republic"; at that time they used to say Shahanshah[ King of the Kings ]and now they say somebody else; but the essence is the same, the content is the same, the difficulties are the same and the acts of aggression are the same. If you do something, they will magnify it. If somebody commits aggression, they will not say that he has done it; they will say that the guards of Islam are like that. They will attribute his action, not to him but to Islam, and say that this is what Islam is! They will say that this is the Islam for which they (the masses) used to shout:" We want Islam; we do not want the monarchy; we want an Islamic government." They will say that this is their Islam. They will talk like this about us.

Islam needs you today; the Holy Qur'an needs you. Reform yourselves! You, too, reform yourselves. This class (of the people) should also reform itself. A person anywhere ruins (the name of) Islam if he appears- let us suppose- in clerical guise and with a few of these riflemen around him, acts contrary to the duties of a clergyman. They will not say today that so-and-so has committed this act; they will say that this is what the Islamic Republic is. They will make it known that the Islamic Republic is like this. Your duty is vital, your responsibility is heavy; and all of you will be held responsible if one of you does something and the others remain silent. And he is also responsible. If someone commits an offense, the others should question him.

There is no need to come to blows; rebuke him. If a person commits an offense and twenty of you tell him not to do so, and that it is not a proper thing to do, it will have an effect on him. If a clergyman; one who is outwardly a clergyman, does something wrong and the other clergymen crowd around him and ask him why he is doing such a thing, he will not do it again. If I commit an offense and all of you crowd around me and question me as to why I am doing it, I will desist from doing so. All of you are responsible; all of us are responsible. Our responsibility today is great. We are at the halfway stage, and I am afraid of our fate turning out like that of Hitler.

May God keep you safe. May He acquaint us with our duties and protect our country from all evil. May He turn those of us who are naive into wise ones. May He guide those who are treacherous to the country.

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