Speech [The great spiritual transformation of the nation; the people's sense of cooperation and bravery]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I have repeatedly said that this movement has brought along some changes, which include spiritual and humane changes, which to me are more important than this victory over the former Shah and the great powers. Within a short time our nation transformed, according to the kind involved, from one state to an opposite one.

One kind of transformation was one that you all witnessed. You had noticed that at one time our nation was in such a state that if a police man would step in the bazaar, the Bazaar of Tehran, which is the largest bazaar in Iran, and he would say," It is the 4 th of Aban «2» and you must put up a flag." The people would act accordingly; they did not consider it their right to say "No!" A negative response was out of question. They would act indisputably. The same people who dare not to say "No" to a police man, in a matter of a short time, took to the streets and uttered," We do not want the principle of monarchy!" Such a change is an enormous thing. It's not a trivial matter. An individual, a bazaar merchant, who feared a police man, or when an officer with a number of octagonal stars on his shoulders would show up, everyone shied away from him. The same children, elderly, women, and men took to the streets and said that they did not want the principle of monarchy. This means that they flew in the face of him who had powerfully ruled over the people for 2,500 years and they got ahead, too, and acted accordingly, too, and they won, too. This spiritual transformation was a miraculous transformation and there was absolutely no name to give it. It was nothing but a transformation that was accomplished by the hand of God. In other words, no human being holds that kind of (rhetorical) power to change the morale of a whole population, i.e. a population of thirty-five million people, with different opinions, with different spirits, from small kids to the old patients confined at hospitals. No human being is able to do this. This was a task and a transformation that God, the Blessed and Exalted, had willed.

Another change that is more delicate is the human development that came about. Perhaps there was no such a thing in the olden days for the physicians and the educated people and, may I add, those softies, as the saying goes, get the idea of choosing to reap the harvest! The ladies did not even think of it that at one time they would go to the field, help the farmers out and toil and sweat and fall in love with wheat and barley and the land. This was a delicate change that came about in Iran. Even a group of the Iranians residing in Europe came over here; a group also came to me from Europe. They said," We are here for this reconstruction need." I told them," Of course, you are not able to go and work as actively as our farmers, but you should know this: For you to go from Europe to our farming society will multiply the power of our farmers. And now I would like to bring to your attention that they are trained and experienced and you won't have the necessary power to work as hard as they do. But this idea exists that when the farmer noticed that a physician, an educated person, an engineer, and the like, go there; respected women, respected men go there to help them out, those farmers' power increases several fold. This act of yours gives them power and yours is an honorable act. And this change, too, is a delicate one, which could not have happened but by the hand of God; no one else could have created those spiritual changes, those humane changes, and that kind of cooperation that have now come about in Iran. A friend of mine was saying that during the days of demonstrations- at the time of the taghout- and the demonstrations were intense then- he narrated two stories for me. I remember to whom one of them belongs and someone else has narrated the other one. That friend of mine narrated," I was passing through those very streets where the demonstrators were passing and people were demonstrating. I saw an old woman who was holding a dish in her hand and there was some money in that dish and she was holding some in her hand. It occurred to me that she might be a beggar and the people will help her. When I approached that highly respected old woman, I heard what she was saying," Today is a holiday and all the bazaars are closed; and it may be difficult to find coins and some people may need one to use the pay phone. I am holding this so that anyone who needs to make a telephone call may come forth and take what they need of these." This is one of those acts that a layman may think to be only a few coins. However, the very act needs a delicacy of the spirit.

This is a revolution that God acted upon. And these spiritual revolutions and this sense of cooperation that has been found in our nation and the kind of bravery that has been found in our nation and the kind of interest that I feel, even on this very day, every day I face such a thing. Yesterday, a group of ladies, respected ones, were here. One of them insisted," You let us go to Kurdistan." I responded by saying," Why you? No. The problem of Kurdistan will be solved; you do not need to go." One of them came forward and another was following me," Could you please pray that I become martyred?" I said," I will pray that you receive the spiritual reward of becoming martyred and be of service." This is the kind of changes that has come about. In the early period of Islam, what made them advance was this very spirit of yearning for martyrdom. In a matter of half a century, they conquered almost all the populous places of the world, the civilized world of the time. Quantitatively, they were a just number of Hijazis. But they neither knew about the war techniques in its modern sense that Rome and Iran would know, nor did they have the implements of warfare. As far as implements are concerned, they had none; i. e., every few of them had one camel; and every few of them had one sword, which they had tied to a rope made of raffia. But there, the spirit was a great divine one. It was such a spirit that when- in one of the battles- an adversary shoved the lance in one's belly, and the recipient realized that he was about to die, he pushed himself while he had the lance in him and shoved a lance into that adversary's belly and killed him while he himself also died! That was the kind of morale and that was the kind of spirit that prevailed. In another development, when they were approaching the huge fortresses, they would have their men killed. To climb up, they would hold their lances upright underneath a shield and a soldier would sit on the spear and start ascending until he would open the door- even if he was killed- and surely he was. This morale is the kind of morale that is a divine one. Thanks to God, it has found its way in our nation as well. [One among the audience:" By His will, God will grant you a long life of a thousand years."] And may the nation live a blessed life, by the will of God, although one thousand years is not a possibility, but shall we say the blessings of one thousand years. God willing, our nation's lives would be blessed in the same way that it overthrew the 2,500- year monarchy. A thousand-year life was indeed needed to overthrow a 2,500- year monarchy. That was the blessings, the blessings that God, the Blessed and Exalted, granted you faithful Muslim nation- and I just see my delight in these changes.

In other words, when I was in Paris, and was hearing about some of these issues- of course, I heard about all of them there, or should I say most of them- some of these issues that I was hearing about in Paris included one about someone who had traveled to and visited our villages, Kamareh villages, Khomein villages and Japalaq villages. He told me," When I traveled through those villages, one morning in the thick of the demonstration and similar activities" He continued," When morning arrived, the akhound of the village in every village would move ahead of the demonstrators who followed him." He added," In such-and-such a place, in the Qal`eh-ye Hasan Falak «3» - I had been in Qal`eh-ye Hasan Falak, I know where it is; it is situated next to a mountain that is called Alvand Mountain This is said to be another Alvand, not the Alvand of Hamedan; it is the Alvand in Khomein. There is a fortress whose size is several times that of these buildings; there may live ten to twenty households- yes, even there, I noticed that the issues that the people raised were the same things that were talked about in Tehran! Right there, it occurred to me that those issues could not simply be human issues; the issues are divine ones and this will move forward." When an issue is drawing attention from the metaphysics and the invisible, this is a sign that this nation has Invisible Supporter and it was due to this Invisible Supporter that you triumphed. Otherwise, there were no tools available to you in order to make you win. Forget some four rifles that our policemen now possess; those are war spoils, something they did not own before. What did our nation have was" Allahu akbar" and their faith. It was the cry of" Allahu akbar" and faith that made them move forward.

O brethren! Preserve this faith. O sisters! Preserve this faith. Until the time this divine stronghold, this divine solid fortress exists, you are victorious. Neither the Democrats nor the communists could attack you. All of them will be buried, provided that you preserve this God-given spirit and this unity of expression that has been given to you by the Unseen and the thing that has been left in your trust. At present, this is something that we have been trusted with and we have to preserve it, and attentions should be directed (to the fact) that we do this for the sake of God and this happened repeatedly in Paris when sympathetic people, people who were among our supporters, would repeatedly tell me that it would not work. Now that it does not work, something should be done about it for it to move forward gradually and for us, so to speak, advance step by step. There were some people who would send messages to me to advance step by step. Let's go ahead with the election first and after the election, let's have an appropriate Majlis, and after an appropriate Majlis, etc. little by little. I told some of them that this movement that has now come about and people from young to old are now shouting in the streets, if this movement is extinguished, do you think you will be able to bring about such a movement again? No! Then you agree that it is not possible. You can give a promise and also come to believe that this Mr." Aryamehr" will act upon his promise; and when he comes he would say," O nation, distinguished `ulama', grand maraji`! I made a mistake!" Do not you presume that this person who addressed the" distinguished `ulama'," is turned to that same kind of bully and break your pens? They failed to provide a response. I then said that now that we have brought together this movement and we suspect very well that should they regain their power, they will do away with all of us, so it is time for us to act.

The principal issue is that we have a duty; we are duty-bound, God has set a duty for us to challenge these enemies of Islam and the enemies of the nation of Islam. Either we win or we do not. If we won, then thanks to God, we have both acted upon our duties and have won. And should we die, or get killed; we have acted upon our duties. Why should we fear? We do not believe in defeat; there is no defeat for us, for one of these ways is open to us. Either we win and become victorious, too, or we do not advance in which case we have saved face near God. The God's saints were facing defeats, too. Hadrat Amir was defeated in his battle with Mu`awiyah; there is nothing to hide; he was defeated, simple and clear. Imam Husayn (`a), too, was defeated in his battle with Yazid and was killed. But in reality, they were victorious. Theirs was an outwardly defeat but a true victory. If we intend to work for God, even if we are defeated, we have acted upon our duty, and in fact victory would also be ours.

I am saying this only to have told you that difficulties are abundant. Not for you; not for your class; but for all classes. You inherit a country that has been subjected to injustice for 2,500 years. That is something that you yourselves witnessed. You perhaps remember ten or fifteen years of it. I remember from the beginning of Rida Khan's coming to power up to the present time. None of you remember that. From the time he arrived in Tehran and staged the coup d'etat up to this very moment that I am sitting here, I remember everything. In other words, I was a witness to them. And surely you remember Muhammad Rida's era and the destructions that he did more than those by his father and anyone else. These father and son both were treacherous; however, the latter's treasons surpassed the former. The latter did more destructions than the former. We inherited such a ruined country, from every point of view: Its economy was ruined in a way. Confusion is one of the consequences of any revolution; there is no objection to that. When a regime undergoes changes, let alone a regime like that and let alone at the hands of the people and not by a military man that has an order for his doing; it is not a coup d'etat. No, that was not a coup d'etat. They wanted to stage a coup d'etat. Of course, you know very well that in those last nights, when we had arrived in Tehran, the plan was for staging a coup d'etat and a mass murder. But, God did not will it. Even those who wanted to stage the coup d'etat changed course! God made them change course. You should not underestimate this. Look at Afghanistan right now. The people in Afghanistan have been entangled for several months now- may Almighty God save them, God willing- that is because, their adversary is a notorious being, and is pounding them from the air, and by the use of cannons and tanks. One of the dispensations that God, the Blessed and Exalted, granted to you and to us, is that He created fear in their hearts that made them not resort to those weapons; God made them change their minds. It did not get to the point for them to deploy the fighter-bombers over Tehran and do whatever they were supposed to do. Some of them that were ordered to do so did not obey their orders. Had they use their disciplinary forces, and had clamped down on Tehran, you would not have existed in order to be in this gathering right now; nor was there any trace of us. This was one of Almighty God's miracles to change their minds from acting, no matter if it occurred to one of them but he did not act. Or, if there was an order but the party to the action was scared to take action. Or, the party to the action did not act for the sake of God. This, too, was one of the things that happened in this movement and it was a question of metaphysics; it did not become another Afghanistan.

In any case, I just wanted to bring to your attention and ask you to be brave. Be steadfast in confronting the difficulties that arise. Never get disappointed if the government is not able to do its job (at the desired pace) - although I testify that the government is working. Indeed, they have accomplished a lot; I have expressed this to the cabinet: I have told this to Mr. Bazargan and others that they are doing their job but they do not exhibit what they do. However, others do not accomplish anything but they brag that they do. Others do not work, but they cry out loud that they do! The members of this government have accomplished a lot, but they do not exhibit what they do. For several times now I have told them," Sir, do exhibit this good job you are doing, like the purge work; exhibit that house building that you have done; do exhibit to the people this relief work that is being carried out and you are carrying out everywhere; talk about all the things that have been done so far." During all this time, as a count by Mr. Hashimi, «4» may God, the Exalted, keep him in good health- gave a count at the Faydiyyah Madrasah, about fifty or thirty- he counted one by one a number of cases of things that have been accomplished so far. Well, this should appear in the newspapers; they should talk about it and let it be known so that the people won't come and inquire from us that what happened to all this funds that people deposited in" 100"; «5» did you embezzle the fund or did you put it to use? Do not allow the public to say," Well, the funds people deposited in the" 100", have been spent all, and there is need for more funds." But they do not exhibit that. They have accomplished a lot, but there are so many difficulties that could not be corrected in a short period of time. A chaotic country cannot be reformed in a short period of time. This needs perseverance; no disappointment should be present. In the issue of Kurdistan, some of the respected gentlemen and some of the heads contacted me in dismay- even in these last days- stating that if we did not enter negotiations with them (people of the old regime), this-and-that will happen; it will be out of hand. I told that party," You are wrong; let the thing be done." My point is that you should never let disappointment enter your hearts. Disappointment is among the army of Satan, whereas hope is among the army of God. Always be hopeful. God and Islam back you. What has he who has Islam as his backer to fear of? A mere hint and everything will be done with. Rely on God, the Blessed and Exalted; rely on the Qur'an and Islam and move forward. For instance, if someone is lukewarm in dealing with you or does not cooperate with you, it is not an important thing. God is with you, even if he treats you coldly. Or, he would not cooperate with you a bit or he would not console you.

When you take action on a thing for the sake of God, you should not fear anything. Hadrat `Ali ibn al-Husayn (`a), in the midst of what was happening and what was going on, considering the fact that all are predestined to be killed, it has been narrated by the people of the pulpit that someone asked the Imam (`a):" Are we not the people of truth?!" The Imam answered," Yes." Then he asked:" Then why should we fear death: `Then, at this time we do not fear death'? «6»" When we are the truth, we are the truth. There is nothing wrong with us being the truth; we are the people of the truth; we are opposing falsehood.

Falsehood is the oppressive monarchial regime. And you committed Muslims in contrast to such a regime and in contrast to his supporting groups, which were the superpowers and other powers, you are the truth. When you are the truth, why should you fear such-and-such a person who does not agree with you? Well, when I am the truth, I act according to my duty; whether you agree with me or oppose me. And regardless of you putting a spoke in my wheel, I will act according to what I am supposed to. When I accomplished my duty, there are two things that I win: One is the heavenly reward and the other, fulfilling the objective. Even if I do not fulfill the objective, the heavenly reward remains in its place; there is no defeat. There is no such a thing as defeat; you people will not be defeated, God willing; and you will move ahead. And, God willing, all the difficulties will end.

Of course, as for what that gentleman and others had said, I will talk to those gentlemen when they are here this afternoon.

I hope you will all be successful and victorious, and all be counted among the army of the Imam of the Time (`a) and your names are listed in his scroll.