Speech [Necessity to act upon unity and to call upon the intellectuals to unite with the nation]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

All the people are now crying out on this matter that they want Islam. All of them want this. Sir, if you believe in Islam, say this. If you believe in your nation, say this. If you want your country to remain independent, say this. All gather together under a single banner and appoint your legislators. All nominate Islamic legislators who believe in the teachings; the one who is a believer; the one who believes that if he commits a transgression he will be tried for it; if not here, he will be arrested and tried somewhere else. Today is the day when the word" unity" is of no use to us; it is necessary to act upon unity. I also utter" unity"; but if I decide to oppose others, it is only a word; it is a show and nothing more. Think on this matter; you yourselves should sit down and think. With other friends who hold the belief that they wish to serve the country; who hold the belief that they want to serve this nation; come to a consensus with them; tell them if they want to serve then why are they dividing into groups? All should serve together.

To divide into groups implies that I want to do my own thing; he wants to do his own thing and wants to assert himself. Sir, we cannot assert ourselves vis-a-vis Islam. This is a mistake! Except that it causes disunity and differences and let me say, delays the progress of the movement. Do not be under the impression that it will not progress; God willing, it will progress. But with the presence of differences it will be driven back; and intellectuals, writers, informed individuals and thinkers; one sees that some of them hold their pens and write whatever they wish and cause discord.

These people who shout" unity, unity, unity" when they hold their pens in their hands and write on a subject, we suddenly notice that they attack a subject which the people are attached to and in the process cause differences. Why should it be such? If they are truly speaking the truth that they love their country, that they love the nation, that they want independence then why should they write things that are in contradiction with the matters that they claim to support? At the beginning they say that the country must be united while their final wording is a statement that causes discord! It was this issue of mingling at the seaside and that disgrace. One person whom I do not know wrote in a magazine that segregation of the women and men is" reactionary"!" Civilized behavior" is that girls and boys should go to the sea together! This is civilization!

For fifty years they made us to understand that this is the meaning of" civilization"! For fifty years they injected our brains that civilization is made of things that they did! Go to the cinema whose civilization was composed of shamelessness. Its magazines were in this fashion; its newspapers were such; its radio and television was of that sort- all of them were like this. We suffered losses from these; all of us suffered losses; we saw that they dismantled our lives; they retarded the development of our manpower. We are now short of manpower. What for? Because for fifty years they dragged us to the centers of corruption; they dragged our youth to the centers of corruption; they pulled them to centers that would empty their mental faculties. A person that would go to the cinema that was of that type- I do not know how it is now but way back then the cinemas that were there were all tools of corruption- so that when a youth would go there for five days or ten days, he would form a habit such that he could no longer act seriously; he could no longer focus his attention on the plundering of our oil wealth and all our things; that they were taking away our honor and dignity while we are busy watching films or watching the film stars!

Our magazines were in this manner; our cinemas were in this manner- and all our things had become in this manner. Basically, they destroyed us and replaced us with some other thing; our country was transformed into something else.

Now that in this movement many of the strata have given up their previous habits; they have been transformed; these lawyers, these intellectuals; these so-and-so people; why do not these people come and link up with this population and why do not they work hand in hand with them? Their writings should be such that it creates unity of expression; the same goes for their speeches; their get-together should be such. Why do they go to Majlis- I think it was the representatives- and proclaim that Islam is outdated? Is it except that they want to cause degeneration? Even a single thoughtless word that someone utters and that has no influence on anybody, but this reveals that there is no maturity. Now if that person would have discerned that it was Islam that brought all of you here from abroad and you have now become free; it was Islam that drew you out of isolation. You were all being repressed by the Security Organization; you all could not assert yourselves; now that Islam has arrived and brought you out of darkness and brought you inside from abroad; has brought you on the field of action; now you are taking up arms against that very Islam that has done you such a service? What must one call this? When you mention its name, do they not recognize it? Or is it because they are so inimical to Islam that they are even willing that America and the Soviet Union rule over them but Islam should not govern? How is the situation? People should reform themselves! These strata of intellectuals and these strata that are productive should reform themselves. These strata of common people are quickly reformed, they are untouched. Whatever problems we have is from that strata that claim to be intellectuals and lawyers and claim to be supporters of such and such; whatever harm we are experiencing, it is from them. Why do they not unite and do these jobs? Why do they prevent this flood of humanity that has begun a movement and wants to reform things?

These are the ills that are present and you must cure them and join hands to cure them. Now that you have come, take this action so that we see what the others are going to do. If I see that you have done it

May God's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.