In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Events of the Faydiyyah Madrasah
The Faydiyyah Madrasah has seen many ups and downs. The Faydiyyah Madrasah has been witness to such incidents that if it had a tongue and could speak, we all would be moved. I have been a witness to the incidents that occurred in the Faydiyyah Madrasah during the reign of that father and this son. «1» In the era of the father, they were so harsh and brought so much pressure on this Faydiyyah Madrasah, all the seminaries, all the mosques, all the people, and all the clergy such that the face of history was blackened. The students of the Faydiyyah Madrasah must before the break of dawn, come out of their chambers and seek refuge in the gardens of the city because when they were at the seminary, the agents would come and take them away, change their attire and take them either for conscription or forced military service! They would return to the seminary at night. The `ulama' of Islam were to such an extent under pressure during the reign of the father. They imprisoned the topmost `ulama' of Khorasan province en masse and they exiled the first rated `ulama' of Azerbaijan. When the `ulama' came from Isfahan and the surrounding regions and they gathered in Qum, they forced them to break-up. They wanted to empty our seminaries from all appearance of Islam.
In the era of the son, which you witnessed, they attacked the Faydiyyah Madrasah. The Faydiyyah Madrasah was witness to the burning of religious books including our Sacred Book; it was witness to the burning of the turbans of the men of religion and was witness to the throwing to the ground of some of the seminary students from the rooftop. By the grace of God, it is now witness to the gathering of the `ulama' of the homeland from Kashan and from Rafsanjan and that you are freely expressing your problems. I hope that this freedom and this independence are safeguarded to the very end.
The clergy: protectors of the honor of Islam and its canons
You gentlemen must be the protectors of the honor of Islam. Today, what is required from you; your duty is and the duty of all the clergy throughout the country and all over the Muslim countries is to safeguard the canons of Islam. Today, if one of us issues a subject that is contrary to the rules of Islam and contrary to the teachings of Islam, then Islam will slide to oblivion. Today, the country is an Islamic country and its contents must be Islamic. It is a sensitive moment; the clergymen are passing through a sensitive period. Beware lest these committees engage in unlawful activities in the name of the clergy. The courts which are Islamic must beware lest they go against the canons of Islam. Today, Islam is in need of all the strata to safeguard it.
The saints of Islam have fixed their sight on you, the clergymen, and the rest of the strata of the nation to protect the canons of Islam and not to misuse freedom. Freedom is within the bounds of Islam and is within the canons; the canons should not be violated under the impression that it is freedom. Above all is the responsibility of the clergy.
The need of the clergy to abstain from violating the law
The enemies have fixed their sight to see something negative from the clergy and attribute it to Islam. If today something wrong is committed by you, by the `ulama', God forbid, by the `ulama' of Islam and by the men of learning, your enemies shall exaggerate it a thousand times; and with uproar and commotion, attribute it to Islam and shall say that the Islamic Republic is also like the other regimes. This responsibility is a great one. May God grant all of you and all of us the favor to serve Islam and protect its honor.