Speech [Review of the constitution; election of the experts; elections of the Majlis and the president]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

In these last few days I heard and read that the university students of Isfahan had a get together with the `ulama' of Isfahan for which I thank all of you very much and hope that this unity continues. The differences that existed, unfortunately, between the university and the clergy in the former regime was not something accidental; it was a calculated matter of which both the clergy and the students were unaware of.

Agents of the regime, who were commissioned to go to the universities and sow discord between these two groups, would say things about the clergy, which unfortunately, the youth would believe. When they would go to the clergy, they would talk about the university which they too would believe; and both the parties were generally unaware that they were being used. Both the parties were unaware of the fact that they were not intending to build a good university or a good clergyman. They were after creating a rift between these two segments who were the intellectual powers of the nation and who could awaken the nations. Not only did they intend to separate, but to cause them to prepare them for confrontation against each other. They would speak about an issue to this one and then to that one and thus keep them busy and to neglect the primary issues that the nation and the country was going through. It is such that even now, I must repeat, and I have said this before that I see no harm in repetition because should a patient suffer from a headache, then even if he goes to a hundred physicians, he will say he has a headache. Just because he has to repeat his statement, it does not mean that once he complain of a headache, another time he would complain of a leg pain and at another time that of a stomach ache.

We are now like a patient who must talk about and expose his disease. Each group that comes, we must talk of that same disease that we are suffering from. I must say this to you and to others whatever it is and whatever is the fact. I must speak of the pain that we are suffering from at present.

The pain that we are now suffering from is in the present state of the constitution that has been drafted and needs to be ratified until its final draft. In this circumstance I see various strata of people coming here and talking about other issues and sometimes about issues that may cause conflicts. In the newspapers and magazines also they write about certain topics that are provocative. It appears to me that this is based on a calculated plan. It is a plot either to draw our attention to an issue other than the primary issue or to divert our attention in such a way that we are diverted to the end or it is to sow discord and cause conflict among us; cause us to quarrel which itself is also a means to detract us such that we do not move ahead to the subsequent stages that we have, one of which is the review of the draft of the constitution; the other is election of the experts followed by elections to the National Consultative Assembly and then alongside it or parallel to it the presidential elections which are all the fundamentals of a state that must be set. Then, after that the other problems are to be resolved.

What we are confronted with right now is this fundamental issue; what we are literally confronted with right now also is the review of the constitution. Well, you are university students and can give opinions; you should study the constitution and write down whatever opinion you have about it and send it to the Senate in Tehran, thus after the experts have been elected they could review them, and following it when it is announced to elect the experts, you should see who must be elected- persons knowledgeable about Islam. We want Islam. We do not want to have a European theme such that we should go after European experts. We do not want to make a European or Western legal framework such that we have to go after a European legal expert. We wish to have an Islamic theme. The entire nation cried out that it wants an Islamic republic established. This was the cry of the nation. Those who were opposed to this at that time, did not dare to breathe; they had gone away either abroad or were nonentities in this country or were inside the country sitting in the corner and watching the proceedings and maybe they would even be making fun of our martyrs. They are not the ones who would be knowledgeable about Islam such that when they review the laws they would know whether it is related to Islam or not.

You must nominate those persons that have affection for Islam. It should not be such that for instance, where it concerns Islam, they should strike it out with their pen and put it aside. They must be interested in realizing Islam in this country, in this state. They should also not have gone here and there to secure the interests of the West or the East. They should be independent of opinion; independent in spirit and intellect, trustworthy and recognizable faces. You should not nominate a person whom you do not know even though they tell you that he is a very good person unless you know him yourself. Individuals whom you know to be Muslims, are knowledgeable about Islam, whose line of thought is Islamic, are informed of the condition of their country are persons that must be nominated so that they, God willing, could study the constitution and do what is in the interest of our nation.

This you should know- all must know- that what is for the good of our nation and that which shall liberate this Iran from the domination of foreigners and the ideas of the foreigners and the actions of the foreigners and establish a state based on justice that is free in all respects, not freedom in the Western context, and whose economy is sound, whose everything is sound- that system which can accomplish these is Islam. It is Islam whose laws have been revealed by God Who knows best what is needed by mankind till eternity. One should not be under the illusion that Islam could be implemented in bygone eras and it can no longer be implemented in the modern era. These are either deviations or negligence; this is ignorance. You must nominate those individuals who believe one-hundred percent that Islam is not outdated and is alive from now till eternity. This movement of yours has proven that Islam is even today a motivator and winner. Even now a human being exterminates oppression and the system of oppression. If you were not bound with Islam and were individuals each of whom would speak for his own objective then you would still be reeling under those same burdens and Muhammad Rida would as yet be ruling here and shouting" great civilization" and dragging us to hell!

This unity of yours and your total attention to Islam; the focus of the youth on Islam and that even now they come to me and ask me to pray that they be martyred; and in reply I tell that I shall pray that you attain the reward of a martyr and that God wiling, we no longer have to find the grounds for martyrdom. We are now meting out punishment to the thieves and the cheaters. In any case, such a transformation in morale from fear to this courage; from that escapism to this coming together- such morale enabled you to triumph. This morale is a morale that was given to us by Islam; in other words, people have been transformed to those same personalities of the dawn of Islam when thirty thousand of them defeated and, I should say, conquered the Byzantium and Persia. That too was because they regarded Islam to be the path of happiness; whether they were alive or dead. They regarded martyrdom as attainment of an eternal life for themselves. I am seeing the revival of this spirit in our youth; and they come and earnestly ask me to pray for them to be martyred. This was the cause of our victory.

Now that our present duty is to put aside all the issues that must be resolved later and all the problems that must be attended to later, and to focus all our attention on what is this constitutional draft that is to be ratified; what are its shortcomings? Explain its shortcomings. As to who should review them, who are the persons that must review them- the very persons that you have to nominate.

May God protect all of you, God willing. All the problems shall be resolved after the realization of a non-interim government; an established and permanent government followed by a constitution and a consultative assembly that is nationally elected and not by appointment. God willing, all of these problems shall be solved and all of these tasks shall be performed at the hands of the nation itself. May God protect all of you and grant you success.