Speech [Destructive role of Pahlavi regime media- Necessity of public attempt to solve the problems]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Confusion follows any revolution. I am not unaware. What you pointed out is not something of which I am unaware. I know about it. Not only in there, but also other places are the same. That is to say, so far we struggled to remove a great barrier, the regime. However, a great deal of time is required to reconstruct a country, which they have ruined during 2500 years or at least the years we have seen. They spoilt the culture, mass media apparatuses such as newspapers, radio, TV and whatever you can imagine. They destroyed things meant to improve the country and to be instructive and educative for the country, such as cinema. Cinema can be a didactic means for the youth if controlled and managed by the right person. Radio and TV could also be instructive. So are the magazines and newspapers. Nevertheless, corruption was on the rise during the 50- odd years. Things that could be informative acted adversely, generating corruption. The magazines, newspapers and TV abounded with obscene pictures and advertisements and articles worse than pictures. The then leaders had procured excessive corruption centers. They exerted all means at their command to destroy this country and they did it.

The institutions left by the former regime were all perverted. Changing from a corrupt institution to a conventional and a highly-significant one takes more than five or six months or even a year. This is not impossible. I do not say not to make efforts. We should make effort. If we do not, never will the situation improve. However, you should know that in spite of all the efforts, something grown up with corruption could not be corrected overnight. Do not expect to be confronted with the lofty heaven as soon as this wall is pulled down. When you remove the wall you will see that all is corruption behind wall. That imperial regime disseminated corruption throughout the country under the guise of" Great Civilization", reforms, industrialization and the mumbo-jumbos that they repeated, bringing destruction to us. When the wall was demolished, we found nothing but corruption. Whatever we have inherited is corrupt. You saw one aspect; wherever you go, the same situation prevails. Corruption prevails everywhere, but this cannot be taken as an excuse. We should all cooperate and work in a body to put right such a country. You should not look forward to the government and government to the clergy and both waiting for others to rectify the matters. This is a responsibility everyone should shoulder." You are like shepherds and you are all responsible and answerable." «1»

The exercise of influence and all other factors have now brought about worrying knotty troubles. We are not negligent; we are striving, but this is not something to be done overnight. Things should be corrected step by step. This requires step-by-step effort. Every institution you drop by you sees a number of corrupt people at the helm. The remnants of the regime and opportunists have interloped and a group of deviants attempt to mislead the country. Another group pretending to be Islamic are moving against the course of Islam.

There are different groups with different forms and single persuasion opposing both Islam and the clergy. This is a common feature among all of them. All these corrupt groups are afraid of two things. One is Islam; if Islam is practiced in a country, there is no longer any room for them. However, they need some room to accomplish their ends. If they tilt towards Islam, they would be provided with room to act. But they prompt the misgiving that if they come under the canopy of Islam, they will suffer. Of course, some of the things they want, Islam cannot grant them. They demand unbridled freedom. They want to be free to drink and indulge in gambling, which are prohibited in Islam. Therefore, they are scared of Islam. Second, they are afraid of the clergy. They are afraid and have suffered a blow from them. Rida Khan and his son were also scared of the clerics. They always planned to corrupt them from within and thus inflict their blow at the clerics.

Now, what are we to do? First, I start with my part. Gentlemen! Everyone has fixed his eyes to find a fault with you and the clergy and make capital of it. They are going to knock you down. Those who are looting our country and interested in corruption received a deathblow from the nation through the clergy. They want to compensate for it. They try to present an ugly image of the clergy among the nation and throughout the world.

First of all, we should edify ourselves. When we call ourselves clergy, we should be heavenly and spiritual. We should introduce ourselves as the clergy and teacher in society. What happens if, God forbid, a teacher does something wrong? God forbid, if it grows more, the clergy will fail. Defeat of clergy is defeat of Islam. It is the clergy who have preserved Islam up to this level and who have saved, collected and promulgated all Islamic laws. If, God forbid, we make a trivial mistake and it grows more till people take a dim view of us and imagine that we are taking steps against Islam, they would turn their back to us. And the day this happens, God forbid- May God never deem it- Islam would be out of our hands. Then certainly every one of us should shoulder a divine duty. Not only me, but also every one including all the clergy have this divine duty as a fixed obligation to refrain from taking a misstep and to maintain thosewith whom we work. According to his role, every one should do this. For instance, a prayer leader should act according to his role as a person who officiates the people of the city. One who is student of theology at a school should act according to his role and deal with those with whom he has connection? We are all responsible when we lay claim to substitute a spiritual, human and Islamic regime instead of that regime. Following this, we must introduce Islam. If, God forbid, the nation finds something wrong with us, something that should not have been done, at this juncture when we want to bring Islam to power, the clergy will fail. Defeat of the clergy will lead to defeat of Islam. This is the responsibility vested in us. Every one of us should refine oneself and those within one's radius.

I am informed of the current confusions. This is not something new to be highlighted by you. It is something I have heard for months. I am hearing it every day. I take action every day, but under these circumstances, it cannot be figured out immediately. I hope we all cooperate and work together to improve the situation. As we have done so far, I hope we will do from now on. May God confirm you all!