In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
In this short time and in this hot and cramped room, I would just like to state a few words to you gentlemen who, God willing, want to join the police, the guard corps, sentries, and so forth.
Characteristic of the police force at the time of the taghouti regime
The police in the taghouti regime like the rest of the disciplinary forces such as the gendarmerie and the army, in the opinion of the nation; a nation that was under the domination of the taghouti regime had a connotation with the people which was that people should run away from the police; and for the police to assault them! Not only the police, also the military forces that we saw in the governments were not for the suppression of the nation vis-a-vis others; they were not trained to confront others. We witnessed that during the reign of Rida Khan, all these disciplinary forces would repress the nation. On the day that the foreign Allied Forces attacked Iran, the leaders of these same disciplinary forces in Tehran, fled Tehran as soon as they attacked the borders! We witnessed that they packed their baggage and ran away from Tehran; they said they were going toward Isfahan. Now, I do not know where they went from there. In the face of the attackers at that time they said that they provided resistance for three hours; and later it was said that when Rida Khan asked one of the ranking officers as to why for three hours, he had replied that they had said three hours for his benefit whereas there was no three hours involved; the moment the attackers came from one direction, the forces had fled from the opposite direction! This was how the military would confront the foreigners while it would suppress its own nation and indulge in every type of excesses that it desired. The chiefs of the military, who would act in that manner with the people, as soon as they came to know that the foreign forces had reached the frontiers, ran away from Tehran and the barracks were in chaos. At that time I was in Tehran and saw with my own eyes confused soldiers roaming the streets. This was because the taghouti regime wanted the disciplinary forces to be in its own service and not in the service of the nation; not in the service of the country. They neither trained the city police in the manner that was appropriate nor the gendarmerie and the military forces; these were all together in the service of the same regime and the person who regarded himself to be the king whereas the nation was basically irrelevant except for exploitation; except to use them in whatever way they could. For this reason, the nation would run away from the disciplinary forces and despised them. The police force also did not regard the nation to be one of it; rather it regarded the nation as slaves that must be exploited. This formed the basis of the taghouti regime that was repressive in this fashion in relation to the nation while in relation to the foreigners, it would take to its heels in that fashion!
Attitude of the puppet regimes toward the people
These people were also such; Rida Khan and his son were also in this fashion. Opposite the nation, they would demonstrate their power in the manner that you saw whereas I personally, in the photograph that they printed in the newspapers- that whenever I think about it, I deeply regret- that when Muhammad Rida had gone on a visit to America, during the presidency of Johnson, «1» in the photograph that they had printed, Johnson was standing in his own place and was holding his spectacles in such a way and looking the other way and was not even looking at him while this one was standing in front of him like a slave! This was his attitude with them whereas the moment they would set their feet on the soil of the homeland, they would behave in this manner with the people. This is the style of approach of all persons who let down the nation. All the governments that deceive the nation are afraid of them. Since they are afraid of the nation, they employ all the disciplinary forces to be in their service for confrontation with the people. Their rearing too was in this manner. This is quite contrary to what is expected of disciplinary forces and is exactly opposite of the attitude that the disciplinary forces of Islam had.
Characteristic of the disciplinary forces of Islam
The disciplinary forces of Islam were not for repression of the nation itself. They were friends, companions and at their service; in facing the foreigners, they were aggressive and potent. The same ill-equipped and disorganized bunch of Islamic forces at the dawn of Islam, when a number of them had a single horse or one camel; when a group consisting of several individuals shared a single sword and their military life was in that fashion, but considering that they were attached to the nation and had trust in God, the same bunch defeated two of the greatest empires of the time which were almost ruling over the whole world. [It was done] with their bare hands, but armed with the power of faith. Although they were ill-trained and ill-equipped, while the Byzantines and Persians had all the powers except the power of faith; they did not possess that. In one of the battles- the Battle of Salasil «2»- they say something like this: they would tie with ropes and chains the soldiers that they wanted to bring to the battlefront from the Persian side so that they would not runaway from the battlefront! They had this sort of morale vis-a-vis the foreigners whereas vis-a-vis their people they would be harsh. Their morale was such that when they were to go to the battlefront, they would tie five-hundred or one-thousand of the soldiers to a single chain so that they would not desert and go to fight. It was obvious that such an army could not fight while being tied to a chain just like our own military at the time of the Allied Forces' invasion. The position of Islam in government, its position in the defensive forces, its position in the disciplinary forces is exactly opposite the position that the taghouti regimes have. The police are friends and comrades of the people; they are the servants of the people and are supportive of them. The army in that era was a friend and companion of the people; it supported the people and the people supported it. Such a morale whereby they were compassionate in relation to themselves and harsh toward foreign forces has been stated thus in the verse of the Qur'an:" And those with him (Prophet Muhammad) are hard against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves." «3» Neither the army, the gendarmerie nor the disciplinary forces are afraid of the people lest they do something, nor are the people afraid of the army; all are friends and close companions and all are in the same manner that you are now witnessing here; neither are we afraid of you lest you attack us nor you have anything to be afraid of us. We are both friends and comrades and are" compassionate toward one another". This is the commandment of the Qur'an. The disciplinary forces are for the security of the country; for protection of the people; for protection of the life and property of people, not for intimidation of the people; not for frightening them and let me say, looting them.
Duty of the disciplinary forces in the Islamic Republic system
You are now living in the Islamic Republic; the taghout has gone; no one else is going to replace him. You are now present in an Islamic republic so that you must be Islamic yourselves; that is, you should also be with the people just as the disciplinary forces in the era of Hadrat Amir (`a) were with the people. In the same way that the disciplinary forces were in the service of the people and the people would welcome them with open arms, were fond of them; you too must act in a manner that the people would welcome you; your actions should no longer be like those of the taghouti regime. Do not imagine that you are powerful and the people weak; you are powerful when the people are behind you. You witnessed in this event; you should take a lesson from it and know that when the nation likes to do something and all of them rally around it then no power can prevent it from happening; all the powers were defeated in the face of the nation. That which is important is the mental tranquility of the human being. That which brings about the happiness of a human being is to have tranquility here, and God willing, in the hereafter.
Restoring mental tranquility in the Islamic country
Now you have peace in respect of not wanting to impose your will on the people so that you have conscience-prick. Those who oppress the people have a troubled conscience except some who have abandoned their human conscience; but usually, they are of this type- especially the youth. But when they are friendly and have close ties with the people, their hearts are at peace; they are happy; happiness is this same peace of mind. You should act such that this inner peace is safeguarded and regard the people as being like your own children, like your own brothers. Put aside those taghouti concerns- you were not present then- totally; study the status of the former regime and its condition and its conclusion. Now the government is an Islamic one, you are Islamic, the city police, the municipality and so forth are all, God willing, Islamic; and all the things that are present in Iran must be transformed into an Islamic country in all its meaning such as having peace of mind, total welfare, cooperation, and brotherhood.
I pray to God, the Blessed and Exalted, for your happiness and health, and I hope you become good policemen for Islam; the policemen of the Imam of the Time (`a).
May God's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.