Speech [Iranian nation's troubles during the Pahlavi regime]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

What I am going to tell you is nothing new; you know them very well. But in hardships every one should repeat the hardship. These repetitions bring about circumstances that may affect the situation.

You are all aware of the fact that the Qur'an is a miracle. Subjects are repeated in a number of occasions in the Qur'an. Obviously, there is something special about that kind of repetition. It has been sent down for man's development and self-discipline. Subjects dealing with man's structure cannot be raised all at once and passed by. They must be repeated. They must be iniculcated into one's mind. To train children, you should read to them several times with different ways to be ingrained in their hearts.

I have pointed out some matters that I would like to reiterate now. Our problem in the course of history, especially in the recent 50- odd years, was that those who thrown us the gauntlet had done it wittingly, not at random. If one studies carefully, one will see that they devised special plans for special objectives. From the outset, Rida Khan ascended the throne through a coup. You may not remember those events. Most of you do not. There may be a few among you to remember. But I recall them very well; I witnessed the events. Primarily, he gradually put on a sanctimonious mask, as did his son, acting hypocritically. To cite an example, in Muharram I remember that, as I was told, he visited all Tehran's religious theaters and participated in the mourning ceremonies there. He also held some ceremonies to mourn the tragedy of Karbala and preached it. When he gradually gained power and solidified his position, he started to show his true color. He banned all religious assemblies and ceremonies around the country. In Qum, Mr. Sadouqi «2» had mourning gathering prior to call to Morning Prayer. Only a few people participated. Probably, this gathering was also banned. He started closing all efforts bearing on religiom one by one, embarking on crack down on the clergy. I used to teach a small group of students at Faydiyyah seminary. One day, there was only one student, who told me that the other students had all fled to the countryside. The students of the seminary, as I was told, also fled to surrounding gardens before dawn and returned late at night. Plans had been concocted to ban wearing the clerical garment altogether. The clerics strongly resisted.

In universities that were in worse conditions in time of Muhammad-Rida, they did not act like this. They adopted a subtle approach. Recently, the theological seminaries were also treated insidiously. In universities they sought to appoint teachers to raise the students in a way that they would lag behind. In moral terms, they wanted the students not to undergo Islamic education; they propagated materials to lead our young people to moral degeneration. Their schemes to pervert our students call for a voluminous book to enumerate.

Their plan was to withhold these two institutions that could be useful for the country with others following them from fulfilling their duties efficiently. As regards the clergies, they took another measure since the regime did not have such a control on the clerical institution and their students. They initiated defrocking the clerics, pressing them to perform military service and the like to subdue the seminaries. As regards the culture-oriented layers over which they exercised control, they sought to preach a culture favored by them or those planning to exploit us. They wanted to destroy these two powers, as the rational faculty of the society, with no one daring to raise any voice to plunderers. In all the works done at that time- the time of father and son with greater force in time of the son- they had one thing in common: educating them other than what they should be trained.

We are not so naive as to assume that a great many liquor shops were opened across the country without a design. So many centers of corruption were set up everywhere, particularly in Tehran, providing whatever the youth wished. They frightfully encouraged centers of corruption. We cannot believe that the magazines and the press that misleads the youth were set up without plan and haphazardly. This is not the case. It was a subtle plan to sap the power of our active and efficient youths, rather installing their own men in universities and high schools. To this end, they worked to open the way for the youth to indulge in pleasures of all sorts. Any time the youth wished to wine and dine, facilities were available. They encouraged this state of affairs and engaged the attention of the young adults to these centers. What would be the result? The result was that the younger generation who should be useful for their country would be indifferent to vital issues. A mind that is addicted to listening music- I do not mean the present day music that is something educative- would grow sick. Such a mind cannot think what is befalling the country. Such a person is not concerned as to what is happening in the country; he or she would be like a heroin addict, things that accustomed one. Let us take the cinemas and theaters they had erected. These were all plans to withhold our youth and us from thinking about important matters. Our youth should not have contemplated on these matters. Everything was provided for them. Well, a youth in the prime of his life will be attracted to centers entertaining them lavishly. All these plans aimed to subjugate or at least restrict the forces that could educate our youth. The youth should have been trained to be concerned only with seeking pleasure. They were not, however, content with this. They struggled to ruin our youths by resorting to other means, opening corruption centers of different sorts. The agents of the regime were unanimous to make us devoid of what we were and drain our brains replacing a serious mind by one devoted to debauchery and western mentality.

The freedom prevailing in our country in those days was restricted to some degenerative ones. People were free to drink alcohol and gamble, with men and women intermingling on the beaches. They were free in joining such centers of corruption. That in which people had no freedom was objection. No one was free to raise a voice against them and in favor of the national interests. There was no freedom to write a single word against him. His motto of" free men and free women" was right, but what was the freedom? It was what I describe as" import freedom" and" colonialist freedom." These were all schemes, not something haphazard. The mind of the father and the son did not function as properly as to work out such plans.

Thinkers devised the ideas and those trained in such fields. Then, someone wrote for him «3» a book entitled" Great Civilization" replete with mumbo jumbos to delude us and infuse the idea that people would think in one or two more years in power, they would develop the country to cope with Japan. This is what he claimed. They kept asserting that Iran would join the superpowers. His own mind did not work. Others were behind those plans and dictated their orders to him and spread out propaganda.

This was a precis of the last 50 years. They went through with it and ruined our youths. If the situation persisted, we would be quite disappointed at everything. Nevertheless, it was God's will to come to our relief. It was a supernatural power. No power had the ability to introduce such a transformation in one year or so. It had led this country and nurtured men and women in a different way at least during 50- odd years and indeed, in the course of history. Everywhere you look, people have undergone a change. The very same youths gravitated toward Shemiran, are now gravitated toward reconstruction effort. Those women and youths who had a detached view of the country and were indifferent to everything entered the scene and we saw how well they fulfilled their responsibilities. It was a spiritual transformation by the Almighty God. A group of youths came to me the other day voicing to join the reconstruction efforts. This is a transformation. US based young adult leaving there to take the trouble to go to rural areas for construction purposes! I told them of course, there is no difference between you and them," you cannot work as peasants for you have had different ways of life. Nevertheless, be informed that hopes about country and system has arisen when a peasant or a farmer sees groups of students, engineers and doctors have left the US to harvest in Iran's deserts. It gives them a great power. Working hours will increase from 5 or 6 hours to 10 once they see you. The farmers who used to harvest one acre of the farm, does twice more now. Women's participation and their works alongside the men would be of great value in the eyes of the farmers, women who were not used to such works. Although, the women cannot play important roles in this field, the value of what they do is so great. It will expand and sweep all around the country gradually.

You who are thinking of accomplishing positive cultural activity are exposed to an imposed alien culture. When you have come to believe that you should discard the alien culture and lend credence to our own culture, you have undergone a development brought about by God. Things are done through unusual ways; if the nation could defeat this power, this was not something ordinary. Could we do it? An important thing God did for this nation was that He dissuaded the leaders from taking full-scale action.

Do you think if they wanted to take a full-scale action and raid us by air and land with their forces, we could accomplish this so soon? Even in that case, we would have the situation of Afghanistan whose innocent people are still under pressure. It was something that frightened the chief officials. God helped us. Sometimes God's help comes through terrifying the enemy. Islamic history has it that at times God helped the holy prophet by injecting fear in enemy. Maybe it crossed their minds that the `Arabs would eat them. That was so dreadful for them. Suddenly, a group of them would flee facing a few men in whom they had such beliefs. That was victory through terrifying. They asked them what the people could do. Their masters were scared as well. This fear was a victory God bestowed us. Following this, forces loyal to them, joined us. This was not an ordinary thing. Suddenly, we saw their land and air forces join people and facilitate the situation. As we were informed, when was due to leave, he had ordered to bombard Tehran, but they circumvented. Lately, they were to mount a coup. We were in the dark. When they declared the day of martial law we were unaware. In the morning later, we became aware this was done to empty streets from people, dispatch law enforcers, deploy them with their equipment and besiege the streets. They planned to stage the coup at night and eliminate anyone opposing them. It was God's will that people did not care and, surged into the streets and foiled their plot. Their plan was to evacuate the streets and deploy tanks in dull streets and getting prepared foiled too. This was a divine and invisible act. It was not a work of man. These were all implemented unusually.

I hope thing will improve through your efforts. You hold a noble profession of producing real human beings, the job of prophets. All prophets from Adam to the last held one and the same occupation: producing real human being. They were sent down to mend the way of people and guide them. You are entrusted with this divine task, which is the profession of prophets. You shoulder heavy responsibility, as did prophets. Prophets were responsible to fulfill their duty, which we should follow as much as we can. The gentlemen should struggle to produce real human beings within their domain.

Change the mentality of the youth who have realized that whatever we have comes from abroad. In fact, those sent to our country are ruinous. They never give us things that are useful for us. They send things that are not useful if not harmful. Divert your attention to find your real self in cultural affairs. We have lost ourselves. We ignored all causes of eastern glory and sought western glories. If what they send us were what they used, it would be right and that at natural grades. But what they deliver us is different from what they use. The advisor coming here to mend our culture, for instance, wants to supplant western culture to serve the west. The same goes true for their military advisor who does not want to establish a system serving Islam, Muslims and the nation. Their advisors work to set a system that would confirm or disregard if the west pillages our country. Whatever comes from the west or east as souvenirs is but destructive to us.

We are not against progress. One of the propaganda ploys employed by Muhammad-Rida when observing a rebellion and revolution in Qum was to portray the clerics as being opposed to all aspects of civilization. They preached that clerics want to ride a donkey rather than a car. In one of his speeches making such a statement, I replied:" While you were making this statement, some of our religious authorities visited Mashhad in a plane. «4» How do you say we want riding on donkey-back?" Propaganda was spread to cripple the activity of this class and those to be displayed by the youth, teachers and students. Thank God, they are gone. God willing, they are finished. At this juncture in history, your time has come to take over the issue of culture. Keep it in your mind that you should deny their proposed culture, not their civilization. What they want to deliver us is not civilization. What they give us is only degeneration. That is, what the Shah's" civilization gate" granted us! What did he bring save destruction?

What can this poor government do now? This dam has been broken, but what is behind it is destruction, which the government alone cannot remove. To correct things calls for cooperation of all strata in society. Every one should work to the best of one's ability. I do not mean you must engage in mending a financial department. No! This way, things cannot be corrected. You must do your best in the area of culture. You should be watchful lest you should not be cheated by the west. We have been victim of western deception.

A journalist came to me the other day and asked," Why do you say Islamic Republic and eliminate democratic?" I said to him," Firstly, democracy and democratic have different interpretations. Aristotle, former westerners, laic westerners and Soviet Union interpret it in different ways. We need to draft a clear and transparent law. We cannot apply a common term that everyone defines differently. Secondly, the saying 'once bitten and twice shy' applies to us. The West treated us badly; they ruined us. Now can we again employ the term the west wishes to impose on us? We are afraid of this. We have our own terms. What is the use of seeking the west? Thirdly, I said to him that we get annoyed at one who thinks Islam is devoid of the so-called democracy. Islam is a comprehensive religion that can meet all of your and the nation's demands. Adding proviso to this issue implies that Islam is an empty religion. We feel uneasy if you think we have nothing and should import from abroad. What are imported are those that are harmful to us. Those who pick up their pens and write in favor of the west have grown sick in as much as this idea has been injected in them.

They went abroad since their childhood and brought up in an environment designed for them. Even outside of Iran, things are not the same for us. Even the diplomas they give us are different from theirs. The courses provided for us are different from theirs. They teach us colonialist subjects and grant us colonialist diplomas. The situation provided for us differs from theirs. These helpless people lived in that colonialist environment and had such education. Many of them who failed to complete their education only went swimming in Seine River. «5» We were told the Euphrates! «6» Now, they have come here, sitting in their rooms and writing articles for newspapers to build up a reputation for themselves. They write what they were dictated. They do not leave this nation alone to find its identity and find out that they are integral to this world. This part of the world, the east, was once among progressive countries. However, the west brought about this desperate situation. Avicenna's books are perhaps being taught in their universities now. We brushed aside whatever we had and could not find what we lost. We turned to a" yet mouse," «7» something that is neither eastern, nor western nor Islamic and nor European.

Yes, we are eastern in the sense of" colonized Eastern." We are also westernized in the sense of" colonized by the Western." We should get out of this. As long as this disease infects us, no recovery is conceivable; we should be relieved of this disease. Everyone must strive to cure this disease. Proper training and programming are required. We subscribe to all sciences and developments except those brought here to ruin us under the mask of progress, freedom and development.

May God protect you all! I hope you are successful. Now that the country is in your hands and, God willing, would remain so to the end, you should educate these children and young adults kindly as you do your own children.