Speech [Importance of the constitution and the characteristics of members of the Council of Experts]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Let me mention in advance a story that perhaps none of you remember. During the Second World War, which Hitler began and in which he occupied France and many other places and attacked the Soviet Union and so forth, the British statesman Winston Churchill went to the British parliament and began talking of their weaknesses; the problems they were facing; in which sectors they had been defeated and lost territory; how they were managing the war; what would be the destiny of the country; what would happen to their lifestyle and that they were being devastated- he complained at length that they were facing destruction. But at the end of his speech he spoke one sentence," However, victory belongs to the one who rides over the waves of oil." He had guessed right; and victory was theirs who took away our oil. I too would like to say that now after the culmination of the Revolution- and in all revolutions there are lots of chaos and confusions- we too are struck with the affliction of chaos. Moreover, if not in the course of 2,500 years of monarchy then at least to the extent that we witnessed in the course of fifty years of reign of the Pahlavi dynasty, efforts were made to push back the progress of our country from every aspect.

From the viewpoint of human resources which is topmost, you must now search in the population of thirty-five million people here and there to find a few individuals to form a government. To find a person to become president, you have to hold a lighted candle and search all over. They did not totally waste away the manpower; they corrupted them. In one instance, manpower is wasted, while in another instance they have created a power that is in conflict with manpower! In other words, an individual who must rely on himself; lean on his people; lean on his own beliefs was transformed into a power that relied on the West; into a power that had no confidence in himself and in his own evaluation was worthless and only regarded the foreigners to be everything. Not that we have lost manpower; only that manpower that is in conflict with the power that we must have has replaced that power. They transformed precisely that individual who must rely on himself and on his own culture and on his own government into a person who was distrustful of his own culture; of the power of his own nation; who was cynical about all these things; who had lost his own bearings so that instead of being an Eastern individual, he has become a Westernized one. The problem here is that it will require long years to cause these Westernized individuals revert to their state of nature- not to the state of progressive individuals- to the state of a worthless individual who wants to start all over again. This is a very long process and requires this nation to be brain-washed meaning that those who were in the helm of these affairs revert to their original state- before becoming Westernized. This is a problem which is perhaps greater than all our problems; and we face many such problems.

But we also utter the words resembling that of Churchill, saying:" We do not depend on crude oil; we lean on the statement that victory belongs to the one with which the nation is in agreement; and the nation is in agreement with Islam, Islamic happiness and the Islamic Republic." Therefore, we have no fear of these remnants who are now engaging in revolts; however, if there is any fear, it is because they create anarchy; they create disturbances; they cause anxiety for the nation; otherwise, they are not something that we can say are a problem that we cannot solve.

What I would like to say is that the basic concept of these issues; the reformation of these issues is, in my opinion, quite easy, which is in us having a parliament. If the Consultative Assembly is national and Islamic in the manner that we want it to be, all these publications will be reformed; all these radio-television broadcasts will be reformed; all these imports will be refined; the whole nation must refine them through the individuals that they send to the assembly. God willing, as opposed to the previous terms- maybe one or two terms after the constitutional crises until now- or from the time of Rida Shah until now- it will not be in the manner that it was that according to Muhammad Rida, a person should send a list from the embassies and we are delegated to implement them! He openly admitted to this matter although he wanted to praise himself that now we are not that way anymore! He denied his father and himself prior to this time: this time too he was lying! God willing, we hope that there are no more lists at work where an individual would hand a list and you would be obliged to implement it.

Yes, hand a list to guide the nation and tell them that these are the right individuals; but compel the nation either to elect them or have nothing to do with the nation and themselves appoint them and places them in the assembly as it would happen on several occasions- these things will not happen again. God willing, when a national-Islamic assembly is formed by the will of the people, these problems related to a minor chaos and misuse of this freedom will be restricted and the assembly will improve this situation. Now, if you wish to harp on these issues; as I am seeing now at the time for drafting the constitution, many proposals are put forth again and again, most of them are revolutionary but many are chaotic and disorderly and are against the formation of the assembly. In these very recent days when the talk is of the constitution, the largest crowd swarm to this place. They mention their problems; I also accept that those problems do exist. They come from the surrounding areas and talk about their problems and I also give all of them the same advice that I am now going to say to you which is that we are faced with a basic problem right now which is that the constitution has been drafted and they have also circulated it and an opinion must be given on it. Now is the time for all of us to use our energies to give suggestions If we have reservations about the constitution, we must air our criticism and then present it to the senate so that later the experts would come and give their opinions.

More important than that is to use all of our energies in electing the right individuals; individuals that are not inclined toward the West such that later on they pull us toward the West; they should not be inclined toward the East either such that they pull us in that direction; they should follow the straight path of Islam and be Muslims and pious and be aware of the contemporary situation of the world in relation to Islam; and I also say that they should be reliable in their jobs. This is how it should be. Such individuals must be appointed by the will of all strata of the people so that this constitution is studied and analyzed and I should say that if it has any defect it should be corrected; if something must be added to it, it be added; if something must be eliminated, it be eliminated. Later it should be placed within the reach of the people and the nation should review it and give its vote- either yes or no. Only then shall one of the foundations of our country been laid; that foundation is the constitution. Two more pillars remain; which is that the Consultative Assembly must be appointed by the people themselves. The legislators also must, as I mentioned, be pro-nation; legislators whom the people of the region from which they hail know them as being virtuous individuals; as being Islamic individuals; as not having any inclination toward the East nor the West; as not being inclined toward decadent doctrines- they should appoint these individuals. We should have a consultative assembly and then the president shall also, God willing, be appointed so that our country will have a formally installed government with a constitution that incorporates those aspects that are fundamental issues. Next, we should solve the issue related to the media that we know are not right. The radio-television network has flaws; let me say that the administrative machinery is flawed; there are flaws in the ministries; there are many flaws in the bazaar. But now if we want to pursue those secondary problems; it is possible that they are designed to divert our attention toward them while we ourselves are not aware that our minds are being directed toward another issue such that we who want to get results stand to lose while they obtain the result that they want- meaning that they give the draft proposal for the constitution. I have told various individuals who are prominent men of learning in the country who have come here that they should not sit back and allow the enemy to present the draft proposals; they should themselves prepare the draft; they should themselves speak up; they should not come to me and ask me to write a draft for them to hand over to where they must be reviewed; and then it is you, the people themselves who must elect the individuals. However, an introduction on behalf of persons that are knowledgeable of the situation and informed about the individuals will also be made; but the people themselves must give their opinion.

We are now apprehensive that at this time when it is the time to obtain results from this movement and we must be serious to set right the basis, they want to divert our minds from this issue to certain problems which are all justified- all of them are problems- to divert our minds from them while they themselves take over those main issues. For this reason, it appears to me that we must in the same way that at least all of you from the time that you opened your eyes and found awareness, you faced difficulties and were oppressed. I should say that deviations have existed; you must bear for another one or two months, another two or three months and focus your attention on this main issue so that it is moved forward step by step. A person must pay attention to that issue for which there is time. These issues are secondary issues and these secondary issues shall, God willing, be resolved; and God willing, the matter of the publications shall be resolved; but I would like to mention this point time and again because it is a pain that must be said and one must not be afraid to say it again and again. Should a person who has a headache at once say that his stomach is also aching in order that he does not have to repeat it?! Well, since he has a headache, should he be afraid to repeat it! To the physician who comes to treat him he must say that he has a headache. If another physician comes to treat him he should tell him that he has a stomach ache simply because he does not want to repeat himself this time and thus say he has a headache! No, now we have a headache; whomsoever we see we must lament about our condition and tell him that we have a headache. Whoever we see we must tell them," Sir! Now is the time to give our opinion about this step that is ahead of us and on the draft proposal that is present and about the legislators that we want to appoint and the individuals that we want to appoint and who are the experts on the issue." We should open our eyes so that undeserving individuals do not enter and create problems; they are not able to do anything improper; they are not able to create problems, controversies and institutions for us.

God willing, I am optimistic that all the problems- through faith in God, preserving unity, safeguarding this revolution that has occurred in the spirit, for it has converted a spirit into a right Islamic one- will be resolved with your own strength, and God willing, shall be solved.