Speech [Coordination among the forces of the Revolution; the necessity to safeguard the dignity of the clergy]

And that which is important in my view and is our duty and whose burden lies more on the shoulders of the clergy themselves is that the republic is Islamic and everybody voted for an Islamic republic. In an Islamic republic if, God forbid, an action is taken that is contrary to the teachings such that, God forbid, the face and facade of this republic is manifested differently abroad, especially as the enemies of Islam and the enemies of the clergy are many and are waiting to see something and to magnify and enlarge it so that maybe this Islamism is proffered to people abroad as being no different from the monarchy. As of now, the pens of the foreigners have since quite sometime become activated and are engaged in harping on the same issues; that of the dictatorship of the turban and the robe! And this is worse than that dictatorship.

Of course, we cannot do anything to stop them from writing and speaking about us unless we submit and hand over to them everything that we have. But after we have disarmed them and severed their hands from the resources of the nation, we should no longer expect them not to say anything. Whatever we do they are going to talk; they are going to find faults and say what they want; but what is important is that we should not give them an excuse. We have one problem with the nation itself and one problem with the foreigners. Among the nation also there are many individuals who are unhappy that the clergy have taken over some of the trivial tasks. Most of them say that the clergy should go to the mosque, recite the prayers and mind their own business and the affairs should be in their hands. When I was to be freed from the prison, they came and asked me to go into a room. It was a very big and well-furnished room; I went there and saw that the head of the Security Organization at that time that has now been executed- Hasan Pakravan- was there with Mawlawi. «1» He began to talk and said that politics is a matter that involves telling lies; slandering; deception, and so forth, and finally said that it was rascality! And that we should leave politics to them. I told him that if it was so then it belonged to them! If this is what politics is all about then it was better that it was left to them. They removed the same words out of context and wrote in the newspapers that they had arrived at an understanding with so-and-so person that he should not interfere in politics. When I went to the pulpit I also told them what the matter was in fact. They now wished to say that politics involved such matters and the distinguished `ulama' who are supposed not to engage in slander, should not engage in deception and should not do this and that, should respectfully go to the mosque and wear their robe and recite the prayers and well, speak on a couple of religious topics to the people and return home; and that they are very respectable and deserved to be given their respect; and the country should be handed over to them! They are not made to manage the country and it is best that the country should be run by them. As a matter of fact, this was their logic.

And many of them are afraid of Islam; and if they are afraid of you also it is because you are the manifestations of Islam and want to realize Islam abroad. Before this movement came into being, they were theoretically afraid- all of them both inside and abroad- of those who were attached to Islam who were at the head. For this reason they tried to make all the religions to appear insignificant in the eyes of the people and then took on Islam and regarded it on the same level with other religions. They tried to tarnish the image of Islam in the eyes of the people. They would speak generally about religions and say that religions were the opium of the society. What they meant was that religions were fabricated by the bullies, the capitalists, the kings, and chiefs in order to put the people to sleep like an opium that when given to people benumbs them so that they can plunder the wealth of the people while they are sleeping. This is how they would show religion and the clergy as well; that they are courtiers; that they are British. The British themselves would create this suspicion so that people should say that they were indeed British! That they were courtiers; and that these clerics were so on and so forth.

I have repeatedly narrated this story that some years ago I and Mr. Ha'iri- Mr. Murtada Ha'iri and his brother Haj Aqa Mahdi- were seated in a bus and were traveling toward the south of the city from somewhere. There was a group of people in the bus and one of them made a snide remark saying that he had since long not seen such figures. It was during the reign of Rida Shah or perhaps toward the end of his reign- I do not recall exactly- that he made this remark. His remark was directed at the three of us who were turbaned and he continued to say that we were created by the British and that they had gathered us in Najaf and Qum and that we were their agents! He gave some description of this sort. We also did not say anything and kept silent. This was the situation then and it is now. Now, they are also trying to isolate you so as not to have say on the daily lives of the Muslims and their needs, you pursue some other vocations, and" To tame the vicious kicking mule is ours." «2» This is their objective and it is possible that, God forbid, we give them the opportunity; give them an excuse which they use as a pretext to write and to say things against you. The important thing is that they do not want Islam to become a reality abroad; they are afraid of Islam especially now that they have witnessed it with their own eyes. At one time the issue was academic and the matters that they would mention and engage in propaganda was for academic matters that they would say that if Islam comes to the forefront such-and-such things will happen; that if the clergy come to power such-and-such things will happen.

In the course of this movement these people saw manifestly that this was the problem: Islam possesses such a power that it can defeat the big powers with bare hands; and the clergymen are such people behind whom this nation stands and whatever they want, whatever they decree, they perform them. Now, they have openly witnessed this matter; now, their fear has multiplied a hundred times and they are struggling to tarnish your image and make you appear in front of the nation in such a way that the people turn their backs on you and say that until now they had nothing in their hands; now that they have attained something, they too are like those people. What they mean to say is that these clerics had no authority in their possession but now that it has come to them, they too are the same as the others and are doing the same things. If a single crooked step is taken, they shall magnify it a hundred times for the people and shall write about them in their articles or in their newspapers or in their books and publish them mostly abroad and also inside the country

Yesterday, one of the journalists who wanted to write a book; it was quite some time that one of the gentlemen had suggested that she should come here to meet and speak with me and talk about the issues. She wants to write a book- she was a foreigner, a woman «3» - and she wanted to ask me questions and I should answer them. One of the things that she said was this that when she had seen me I had appeared a very calm person and I did not look like such type of a man; but in the foreign countries I was made to appear differently. Of course, I knew that abroad they were saying that I was a Hitler! Just today they brought me a photograph of Hitler with his hands on his hips with my photo superimposed on his head and I have drawn out a sword in order to chop off their heads! I told her that I had heard about them; I had heard that such-and-such a person had ordered the breasts of women be cut off! Now that she was here, she should go and ask the people about the facts of the matter. Then she asked me whether I regretted that they would write such things. I said that from a certain aspect I regretted which was that why a human being who should be humane must be so perverted to write about something that is nonexistent; write such things to secure his interests; of course, from this aspect it is regrettable. Islam has arrived in order to enlighten all the people; to guide them on the straight path. And of course, I regret that people are such, but on the other hand, we must not expect them not to write such things about us because we have thwarted them from plundering our resources. They had fixed their eyes on our resources and on us; the nation of Iran severed their hands; and when their hands were severed, we should no longer expect them to sing our praise. They must say whatever they wish to say; we must continue on our path.

My objective from this prolongation of speech is that in the same way that your position and standing is a great and respectable position, your responsibility is also great. To the same extent that your status is high, your responsibility is also many. If, for example, let us suppose that a committee is under the supervision of some of you gentlemen and an incompetent person there does some mischief, those who want to quarrel with us shall not say that there was an incompetent person in that committee who did this mischief; they shall say that the clergymen have done this mischief! They shall ascribe it to the clergymen; they shall not say that such-and-such committee is in this manner; they shall say that the clergyman is of this type. The prestige of the clergy is now attached to our deeds. It has always been so, but now it is more so. It always existed in the taghouti regime and we were nonentities; you also were nonentities and were under the pressure of oppression and were oppressed. Innocence brings popularity. Now, an Islamic republic has been established and it has become Islamic and the taghouti regime has been destroyed and an Islamic-humane system has come to power and you also have become in charge of an affair in order to assist this movement; and by the grace of God, it is with the help of this stratum that these tasks are being accomplished. Now it is not like this that if you did something at that time and since the people regarded you to be innocent and were popular as a result, the people would not quarrel with you. But today that situation does not exist anymore; today they will quarrel with you. If a person in a committee, which some of the gentlemen are heading commits a wrong, they will generally condemn the committee and because they are at odds with men of learning, they will in particular ascribe that misdeed to the man of learning who is in that committee and say that," Basically, the clergymen are such types! The clerical society is basically of this sort, they are disorderly! Now that they have achieved something, they have started to create trouble; this society is basically like this!" When the propaganda becomes too much, the people also begin to believe it.

During the reign of Rida Khan, I was witness and perhaps none of you remember; I remember those issues- that is, right from the beginning when he came to power with a coup d'etat, until the present, I have been witness to all the issues- the propaganda that they did had an effect on the nation. Although they would see the crimes that these people were committing, but their propaganda was powerful and had an effect on some strata of the nation as well.

I have narrated this story often; and because in my heart there was an issue that was disturbing me, I now say it once again. The late Shaykh `Abbas Tehrani- may Allah bestow His mercy on him- had said that he wanted to come from Arak to Qum and went to get into a car to hire and come when the driver of the car objected saying that they had given an undertaking not to give services to two groups of people; one, the akhounds and the other, the prostitutes! This was our situation in the era of the father; whereas all of you remember how it was and what happened during the reign of the son.

Well, now both the son and the father have left; there is no returning for them but we must take note of the fact that the reputation of the clergy and the reputation of Islam are now tied to our deeds. If our actions are in accordance with the precepts of Islam, both the clergy will be safeguarded and Islam will be safeguarded; and if, God forbid, they see that we have once again started to fight and dispute among ourselves and take issue on what this committee or that committee has done; if they see us doing these things then the clergy shall lose its reputation; and with the loss of reputation of the clergy, Islam shall go on the retreat.

It was this class that brought the clergy here; the people also follow them; now it depends upon our deeds, meaning the responsibility that we have to shoulder now is far greater than the responsibility of the clergy during the era of the taghouti regime and is greater than the responsibility of the clergy in previous eras. In bygone days such issues had not occurred at all; the people were there and there was the clergy and the commandments of God. And the issues revolved around what a feudal lord had done somewhere or what a king was doing somewhere else; but these problems that are now important were not present at all. Now the world has become like a single family; a word that is uttered here is broadcast tomorrow throughout Iran and to whichever place where the radio and television signals can reach; it is broadcast in all the villages and hamlets; throughout the world and the country. If we perform our own Islamic and clerical duties, the reputation of the clergy shall be protected and shall be insured in such a period of time. For later also if we gain spiritual victory in this Revolution, this spiritual victory shall remain and if, God forbid, in this Revolution we gain no victory and lose our reputation, then we must step aside and recite the funeral verse of the clergy, and following that, the funeral verse of Islam for a long time. For this reason, to the extent that it is our duty and it is the duty of the gentlemen, they must strive to mold themselves as well as the committees that are under their control and also the revolutionary guards that are under their supervision in the form of Islam so that whoever comes to visit the committees should feel like he has arrived at a mosque and everything there is Islamic; whoever sees a revolutionary guard should see a devout Muslim man. If we are able to do such a thing such that our committees and our revolutionary guards are cleansed spiritually, we have emerged victorious in this movement and the victory shall, God willing, be permanent and Islam also shall come out triumphant.

Therefore, now, we have a duty; that is, a divine, religious, moral, and judicial duty which we must begin with our own selves first; and after we have begun with ourselves we should communicate it to those things that pertain to us; to those organizations that are under our supervision; and we should bear in mind to train a society that has gone through oppression and evil for 2,500 years- and for fifty odd years in this horrific darkness.

And they had influenced our youth in such a way that they had other thoughts about you; in the same way that you had other thoughts in relation to them and both the thinking were imported and influenced by propaganda.

The way that the university would think about you all as" a bunch of clerics" and so forth; and also the way you would think about the university students as an" a group of hip and so forth". Both of these were propaganda to divide you. The strata of youth who must hold the destinies of the country in their hands sometimes later should be separated from you. Basically, the plan was to separate you from the active strata of the youth; this meant that the class that is informed and enlightened and are to become the administrators of the affairs were to be separated from you and you also from them so that the two powers who are the two intellectual strengths of one nation were to be in confrontation with each other so that all their work is negated; neither the university student would be able to perform his task properly nor would you be able to work properly. Both of you would be made to confront one another so that they could do as they wished and we would be indifferent to their matters; while we would be busy quarrelling among ourselves. This was a plan which they had in mind in addition to a thousand other plans that they had designed, which I cannot now mention. For the present, to the amount that is appropriate for this meeting and that I now mentioned to the gentlemen is that we must safeguard this reputation of the clergy and the reputation of Islam; and you must tell all your friends and colleagues that the responsibility is heavy. Today it is not like before; today it is a sensitive and dangerous time for all of us. I am now optimistic that, God willing, things will work out. The issues that the gentleman said are right. But we should emphasize to him that there was no grudge involved; but he is making a mistake. I told him and he has been told repeatedly that he was mistaken. And it is necessary to emphasize to him so that such mistakes are not repeated and it is quite likely that I shall speak about it today to talk about the position of the clergy and what must be done about it; and what job those who want to deal a blow to the clergy are engaged in. It is possible that, God willing, this evening when there is a gathering in the Faydiyyah Madrasah, I shall make a speech that is in the interest of Islam and the Muslims. May God protect all of you; and may He grant you success and assist all of you.