Speech [Secret behind the victory of Muslims at the dawn of Islam and the current problems of the Muslims]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

At the beginning I would like to thank the gentlemen who have come here; and I also thank their parties.

Next we must see how was it that Islam, at the very beginning with a small population and bare hands- they had no weapons and armaments- managed to conquer those territories within half a century; and how is it that later on with very large populations, armaments and being rich from the point of view of wealth, have lost everything. What happened that they are in that situation and we in this situation? The reason is that at the dawn of Islam, those individuals that swore allegiance to the Noble Messenger (s) although they were few in number, they were devoted in their faith and believed in Islam. It was not important for them to live anyhow and with any sort of suffering and toil; they regarded martyrdom to be salvation for themselves; and this spirit that was present in them enabled them to defeat Byzantium and Persia- two very great empires- which were stronger than the present two superpowers. Later on the Muslims gradually lost that power of faith and succumbed to the realm of the material world and attachment to the same materialism. Those who used to sit and discuss- and now that we have gathered here and are speaking- these are numerical discussions; they are not discussions that are constructive. In these Muslim countries that are very large and are also powerful, when one sees them one notices that matters of poetic verse, speeches and philosophy, and in cases that are more advanced, mysticism and the likes are of importance, while that thing which was the secret of their victory at the dawn of Islam was totally put aside. If one-tenth of that thing which was present among the companions of the Messenger of God (s) and the soldiers of Islam was present in these Muslim countries, they would have been a power which would be stronger than all the superpowers; but they totally lost that spirit of faith so that the person who was very pious would at the most go to the mosque and return home from there and recite supplications at home. Those aspects that were important at the dawn of Islam were not at all important among the Muslim countries. Now, too, they are not important.

Now, too, when meetings are arranged to see what must be done, it is not evident whether they go beyond speeches- and who gives a better speech! It is not like they really examine why we are backward and find the solutions as to what are the things that can rescue us from this backwardness and follow them up and take action. Not that every year or every few years we hold a meeting where people from every place come, give a few speeches, recite verses of poetry and a little about Islamic issues and the needs of the Muslims and after departing from the meeting everything basically remains the same and neglected as before. We must admit that the enemies of Islam and the countries that came to dominate Islam and the Muslims were men of action and not words while the Muslims after the dawn of Islam were men of words and not action. They would recite poetry very well; they would deliver good speeches; and when they would put forward the problems, they would also propose them very well; but they would not go beyond words; they would not reach to action. If they would go beyond words, then one would not have to believe that more than one-hundred million Arabs could be so helpless in relation to Israel. One cannot believe that despite having everything and the dependence of the West in many instances on Muslim countries, they are under the latter's domination although they have huge populations and resources. It is not other than the fact that we have lost that spirit that was present at the dawn of Islam and which was the source of our victory. A case in point where such morale can triumph over the difficulties is the instance of Iran. If in Iran also like in bygone days, all the problems would discussed at length and no action would be taken; they would mention the afflictions and then go home and sleep, if it was such then we would still have been under the subjugation of that same regime and facing the same problems. But God willed that this nation should go beyond words and reach the stage of action; and the spirit that was present among the Muslims at the dawn of Islam surfaced to some extent in this nation. Thus, the same secret of victory of a bunch of people short of everything over a great satanic power; that same spirit that was present at the dawn of Islam when Muslims would pursue martyrdom and go to battle, came into being to some extent in Iran such that the zealous youth who were and are in the prime of their youth, whether at the time when I was in Najaf «1» and whether now that I am in Iran, and whether before the Revolution or after, they ask me to pray for their martyrdom; and they seriously seek my prayers while some of them deeply regret not being martyred.

Unless this spirit is not created in the Muslims, they will remain as they are. Meetings are ineffective; gatherings are ineffective; conferences organized by various governments and their gatherings are ineffective- they are words. Being happy with these things have resulted and shall result in our transformation. Muslims should find a way to bring about this transformation; transformation from fear to bravery; transformation from focusing on material world to belief in God. The source of all victories is this single word. We should be transformed to Islamic creatures- a human being with a faith that God, the Blessed and Exalted, has wanted from us; otherwise you will come here and speak with us and we will speak with you; we shall mention the pains while the remedy is also mentioned at times; but when you leave, and we are here, nobody thinks anymore of taking a single action.

In addition to all these problems is the issue of the Muslim governments. Many of the afflictions of the Muslims spring from their governments. Muslim governments that must speak with one voice, think alike. They are of a single religion; they have one Book yet everybody sees that others are exploiting the differences that exist among them. However, nobody goes after the remedy; rather every day their differences become greater and their division also becomes greater. The superpowers also say the same thing that we should be alienated from each other and even be the enemies of one another and be preoccupied with each other so that they benefit from it.

Muslims must think seriously for themselves and so must the Muslim governments. They should not think that since they are in power for a short while they should live in comfort and dominate their own country. They should remedy this disease of discord themselves otherwise there is no other cure involved; and they shall have no parliament and no conference and no gathering. I pray to God, the Blessed and Exalted, to awaken the Muslims in general and the Muslim governments in particular; and to enable them to overcome their problems and thus Islam is realized in the Muslim countries in the manner that it exists- in the manner that it existed at the dawn of Islam.

Yes, one of the problems that once again plague the Muslims is the problem of the government and the people; and the governments- to the extent of our knowledge and your knowledge- are governments that have no understanding with their nation. The governments' dealing with the nations is that of an enemy toward another. The people turn their back on the government while the government wants to impose its will on the people. For this reason, the nations do not support the governments; rather they enter into a contract with the enemy- and these results in the weakness of the governments. We saw that the father and son who ruled over Iran- a despotic rule- during the rule of the father the nation turned its back on him that when the Allied Forces came and our country was in danger, when Rida Shah left, the country rejoiced and celebrated his defeat in the war because they regarded him as an enemy, too. When Muhammad Rida was overthrown with the power of the people, the people celebrated his departure like they were celebrating a feast and they rejoiced; and this is an issue that is present in the majority- if not all- of the Muslim governments, which is that the Muslim regimes have no understanding with their nations; it is a dealing of an enemy toward another; the nations run away from them. They want to impose their will upon the people. This is a problem that also exists in our country. Perhaps there is no quick solution to it. At present we have a government that is compatible with the people; now the demonstrations in the streets are in favor of it; at the same time that it is not able to do anything substantial for the country so far, yet the people support it; they approve of their government; they back it. In other words, it is a national government; meaning a government behind which is a nation. But if you take into account the other countries, in most cases- if not all of them- it is not so. People do not support them willingly; they, too, do not work for the interest of the people and pursue their own interests. So long as this problem exists, we shall continue to remain in this condition. Once again, I pray to God, the Blessed and Exalted, to resolve this difficulty.

Governments should take note of what happened- that this satanic power was destroyed and our people emerged victorious. This happened because when his (the Shah's) military saw the nation united in its struggle, it turned its back on him; his own forces turned their backs on him because they saw the people were all going in one direction. They turned their backs on him; his very armed forces turned their backs on him because they saw the nation follow a single path that was opposed to their path. For this reason, they triumphed. Should the governments have understanding with the people and be at the service of the people, then the people shall support them, and there is no defeat for them. But unfortunately, neither the foreign hands nor their own lack of development allow them so.