Speech [The brotherhood of all Islamic schools of thought; the goals of the Democrat Party of Kurdistan]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I have repeatedly emphasized two points in my speeches and in my writings: One is that in Islam race, groups, factions, language, and things of that nature are of no relevance. Islam is for all and in the interest of all. And as decreed by the Qur'an and Islam, we are your brethren; we are not separated from Kurds, from Turks, from Balouchs; we are all brethren and should live together.

Now, here is a country that is delivered from the yoke of the foreigners, and the local criminals have either run away or are hiding in every nook and cranny. Of course, those foreigners- the ones who were plundering our resources, cannot stop doing it, but we will not give them the chance, God willing. One of the things that I did emphasize was this very point; our Sunni brethren should not be under the assumption that there is this question raised in Islam to imply any difference between you and us. Just as there are four schools of thought «1» among the Sunnis in the same way that one school is different from the other yet they are all brethren and not enemies, this is another fifth school where there exists no enmity among them and they are all brethren, all Muslims, and all are the people of the Book- the Holy Qur'an, and all are followers of the Noble Messenger. Thus, should anyone impart such meanings in those places, they should be the relics of the mainspring of corruption of the old regime, some of whom have survived and are the supporters of foreigners and want to foment riots. And you brethren have to pay attention to these points since they are some sorts of plots in order not to let Islam rule in Iran. They are opposing Islam. They are neither opposing the Kurds nor the Fars; they are opposing the very foundation; they are opposing Islam. And all Muslims are duty-bound to stop them and suppress them.

In my recent speeches I talked about this issue that the whole Kurdistan, all the social strata there, except the high class- the high class all of whom are conspirators and mischief-makers- they are all immune; no soul will oppress them and no court will summon them. We want to stop the mischief-makers, i.e. the ones who trouble you. Presently, there are massacres in your region; there is none in our region. We are settled in here and so are you in there. Now, that which has made us direct all the forces to that place is your welfare. That is because those corrupt cliques who want to suppress everyone under a variety of disguised names enchain all of you and your families. Their provocation is aimed at this very idea of not letting Islam materialize. Otherwise, the Democrat Party does not care for Islam so as to claim their being Sunnis. They claim to be Sunnis, but they do not obey the ou li'l-amr obedience to whom, according to all Sunni fuqaha [jurists], is incumbent. In other words, they are in violation and their behavior is in violation (of their own tenet). So, one can conclude that they are not Sunnis as they claim to be. In fact, they fancy playing tricks on you by saying," We are Sunnis, and we do not have anything to care about the Shi`ah." If the Shi`ah were really the enemies of the Sunnis, why did not then the Shi`ah enter into a fight with you Sunnis prior to your act of wickedness? Well, there is no reason for us to fight with you. We are your brethren; we do not have any enmity toward you. In view of Islam and according to the Islamic laws, both you and we are equals. So, there is nothing to fear about, and we will publicly declare this later, too. As for the difficulties that you had in the past, this is not peculiar to you alone. Take this very Qum, it had lots of problems during the reigns of the former Shah and his father who both were supporters of the foreigners and indeed acted as their lackeys. This very Qum and this very seminary in Qum suffered a lot of calamities at their hands: they were imprisoned, exiled, had their loved ones murdered, and were plundered. The foreigners set the Qur'an on fire in this very Faydiyyah Madrasah. As it was narrated to us, they set scientific books on fire; they burnt books of traditions in fire. Well, we were entrapped and so were you. Our other brethren were also in shackles in other places; this was true of everyone. Thanks to God, these difficulties were alleviated and we hope it will not be repeated anymore.

As for the need of reform in all corners, we know that they (the old regime) kept all the regions underdeveloped and deprived the Iranians of all the things they could have enjoyed. They did not let this to happen. There is no potable water, no electricity, no asphalt, and no other things, and this is not peculiar to you alone. You go to Tehran, to the southern part, those numerous slums, shack dwellers; at least you have a house of your own, but you must go to Tehran and see that there are nearly thirty slums, not in the outskirts, but in the very vicinities of Tehran where people live in pits! They neither have a shelter, nor any potable water, or electricity; these people's poor wives- as has been narrated to me- have to climb the stairs of some fifty or sixty steps in order to reach a water faucet to fill up a jug of water and take it for their kids. The story is not such that you can assume that the former Shah or his father have set the things right. No. They kept everywhere backward.

Right now, the very first thing that is on the agenda is to take care of your region. A few days from now- we are busy planning it now- a few days from now, some missions will be on their way to that place for the purpose of attending to your problems and I hope that they will resolve all the difficulties. You should prevent your youth from being deceived. Do not let them be deluded by them (the Democrats); they are not your well-wishers. The only well-wisher of all is Islam. They want to dissociate you from Islam. He who wants to dissociate someone from Islam is not a well-wisher. They want to continue their plundering like they and their masters did in the past; they want the same plundering to go on. These are plunderers. Those plunderers who murder, and let me add, set the harvests on fire and do all those things- they are not sympathizers of the nation.

The one that has compassion for the nation is Islam. It is Islam that is compassionate, and those who are the followers of Islam, work for you. The mentor of all is the Qur'an, and that which belongs to all is Qur'an, and under whose protection we all seek refuge is the Qur'an. You can be sure of this fact that their propaganda is all-false. And you yourselves are witnessed that it was they who started a brawl, fight and massacre, and our army was there to stop all that. It was there because they were setting that place on fire.

The army went there to prevent things from happening. But then they (our adversaries) spread the news, proclaiming," Yes, they want to come and occupy our territories."But, what did our army have to do with their territories? Those territories are Islamic lands and belong to Iran, and we are all Iranians, and we are all Muslims and we are all followers of the Qur'an. God willing, all of you will be successful and assisted.