Speech [Independent thinking and an independent culture; the role of Islam in the Liberation Organization]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

This country has a history of twenty five centuries behind it. Within the last fifty years of this long history we have witnessed the calamities that the nation has been exposed to. The treasury has been robbed; the youth have been mischievously received. They have been kept backward. Their educational system has been ineffective. Even those Iranian young students who have been studying in the universities abroad have received education different from what the native students of those countries usually receive. Iran has become a laboratory for the chemists of the so-called civilized countries in that they test the drugs on us prior to using it in their own communities: we have become, in fact, guinea pgs for those laboratories. We erroneously assume that only the west exists: anything else is non-existent. We have been turned into westernized beings. Our thought patterns have become westernized altogether.

Now that our country attempts to gain its independence, it should have citizens who should think independently. Our people should find themselves. They should not be carried away by goods which, for example, are manufactured by England. We night produce better drugs than foreign land. We should not be carried away by foreign-made drugs, either. Our market should stop being stricken by the western standards. We produce good cloth but we write in Latin that it is made in England. We assume that if anything is from abroad it is perfect. Our culture, too, has got the flavor of western civilization. We are westernized even in our culture.

If we desire to be independent, our thinking should be independent, as well. By free thinking (or independent thinking) is meant the ability to think without being inclined towards another system of thinking. It is also true in scientific conceptualization. In the act of scientific thinking, one could not rely parasitically over another system of ideas. We should be aware that we ourselves posses a culture, a rich one. We should decide to disconnect with other cultures. If we are still under the wrong assumption that anything which comes from Europe is the right one, we will not gain our independent thinking. The European ideology is already out of use, but they are welcome here. For instance, one way of their conceptualization was to be equal. But equality was never acted on. The same failure, too, is seen in their principles of economy.

This is severe form of dependence to ignore one's own culture and resort to other cultures. It is also wrong to discard the Islamic economy and rely on other systems of economy. Some people adopted the Marxist economy although it has already been a bankrupt ideology even in other countries. Now we have been liberated from a fifty year long imprisonment. Now we are encountering another problem and that is our severe reliance on other systems of ideologies. This could be solved only through the endeavors of our teachers at schools and universities. Our persistent problems in Iran are due to the fact that our country is not Islamic yet.

The foundation of an Islamic Republic has already been established. Its constitution, too, has already been approved. Both of these have been approved unanimously. But it was not our main objective to have a flag of the Islamic Republic or to issue stamps of this republic. Rather, we have had in mind to have a country entirely based on the Islamic principles. The experts of Islam should introduce the genuine Islam to people. Our offices should be Islamic. An example is this ministry of health. It should always operate under the Islamic codes. The services offered by this ministry are honorable and significant but they should be Islamic in nature. The offices of this ministry should be based on the Islamic principles. It is not acceptable to claim that we are Muslims but in our offices we could not find any trace of Islam. It is a shame to find usury and usurers in our markets but claim that we have voted for an Islamic order. It is deplorable to see bribery dominant in our offices. It is saddening to see in some offices the lack of interest in activity on the part of the personnel. This is in contradiction with Islam. We should put forth energy to make an Islamic country. Only Islam can insecure our salvation.

Our revolution could not have been successful if something else, for example a political party, has been used in its place. Since the conception of the Constitutional Revolution in Iran several political parties have been in operation but none of them has been successful because none of them was supported by Islam. They could not succeed because we are a Muslim nation. The Muslim nation will follow anybody who calls others for Islam.

If we had deleted the word" Islamic" from the" Islamic Republic," we could have never brought people to the streets to protest to the previous government. People do not like to get killed for the cause of" republic;" neither do they sacrifice their lives for their stomachs. People will not sacrifice their lives for freedom. This is nonsense. Only a person who believes in the other world could mobilize people for struggle. This happened at the outset of Islam when only a few warriors could defeat the two most powerful empires of those years, i. e. the Roman and the Iranian empires. These warriors at times did not have anything to eat. For instance, a warrior tasted a date, giving it to the second one to lick. Most of the time they were fasting. Their military equipments consisted of camels and swords, nothing else. They defeated their enemies due to their faith: their swords were nothing compared to the weaponry of those two super powers. They believed they would ultimately enter the paradise whether they killed their enemies or were killed by their enemies. This logic of theirs caused their success.

Now a similar logic has been initiated in Iran. During the past few years a lot of lectures have been presented to the Iranian people to make them aware of the facts. People of Iran have drastically changed now. People now have the same ideology as the people at the beginning of Islam. Even now once in a while some people come to visit me, asking me to ask God for them to get martyred. But I ask God to make them successful.

If this morale is created in a people, they could attack the tanks with their fists. Now, thanks God, this morale exists.

Our enemies have been looking for excuses to involve in sabotage. At one time the election for the city hall did not succeed. The reason might have been the filibuster on the part of the personnel. This issue made the enemies of Islam to rejoice. They concluded that Islam had failed. Then the issue of the American espionage den was brought up. Once again our enemies became happy and came to the wrong conclusion that the revolution had failed. But later on they realized that people were still active. They saw that people were standing firm against the United States. Then the issue of referendum was brought up and they were severely disillusioned to note that people were still on the scene. They were mentally damaged to see that more than ninety percents of the population had voted positively. Now they are after some other conspiracies. We anticipate they would make trouble at the election for the president and for the representatives of the Consultative Assembly.

However, we rely on Allah and we work for Allah and we are resolute to establish an Islamic government in Iran: not only in Iran but everywhere. Our hope is like that of the prophets who wanted all human beings to be Muslims and believe in monotheism and find their ways toward the heaven.

Islam has never dreamed of expanding its geographical regions or to defeat countries in the way that Mr. Carter has been doing. Islam is not after territorial expansion. Islam wants make men. It sees other countries are destroying man as such. Islam wants to put human being on the right track.

It has been the objective of any prophet, including the Islam's prophets (s) to save men against the aggressors. Moses (`a) was shepherd who belonged to the oppressed layer of the society. But he instigated the other oppressed people against Pharaoh «1» and defeated him. Our Prophet (s), too, belonged to the class of the poor who were considered insignificant. He educated the oppressed people to uprise against the aggressors. Then they started from the `Arabia, cleansing the earth from the oppressors. Then, they fought against Rome and Iran, defeating them severely. They did not want to defeat Iran to add it to their territories. Rather, they wanted to save Iran against the devils. Most of the time it worried the Prophet (s) that people will not easily turn into Muslims. In the Holy Qur'an there is a verse which says the Prophet (s) seems to lose his life because people do not turn into Muslims. The prophet worried for people. «2» He cared for people. He loved humanity. He wanted to save mankind. He did not want men to go astray and to ruin others.

Our nation now has uprisen to save itself; it will, god willing, save other nations against the aggressors as well. These oppressors will never believe that there are some people on the earth who firmly believe in God, and who strongly reject material schools of thought. Mr. Carter does not have the belief that there might be somebody on the earth who cares for humanity. He claims that lie is keeping Muhammad-Rida out of his humanistic sentiments. Look at these philanthropic feelings which force one to keep a criminal and then try to impose economic sanctions against Iran! He is keeping a criminal who has murdered so many innocent youth. By his economic sanction Carter assumed that we will die of hunger! This stems out of his philanthropic sentiments, indeed! Then he proposes that he will interfere militarily to annihilate us. This shows his humanistic care for humanity, indeed! He and his likes have repeatedly shown this philanthropic feeling in Vietnam and elsewhere. They lack the conviction that each person should love humanity. They only care for their own interests. Now Carter is trying hard to win the next presidential election. If hundreds of people are killed it is of no concern to him. He is after his own victory; then he has forgotten humanity altogether.

But we let him «3» know that the word has drastically changed. The oppressed people have uprisen everywhere. Nobody can stay on the way of these floody surges of human beings.

All nations have uprisen now, not our nation alone. They are beginning to move. Previously nobody dared to oppose the president of the United States. But now, you see that people use the slogans such as" Down with Carter" and, God willing," Death with Carter."

We hope that all phases of our life would change for the better. Under the banner of Islam we could achieve everything. All kinds of liberties and freedoms exist in Islam. In Islam you could gain thought independence, cultural independence and economic independence. I hope, as well; that all layers of our community could achieve these. But we have to serve our country. It is a task for us to serve these people. We did not previously have this country: now we have it. We should act in a way that nobody might think we are incapable of managing our country. But, thanks God, we are able to do so, at present.

Our revolution has been the best in the word, compared with other revolutions. The other day they gave me a report of the cases of murder in these revolutions. The numbers varied from some hundred thousands to some millions. But in our country, not one person got killed after the revolution. After this revolution all airports were open and in operation. Everybody was free. And a group of people who had committed crimes were tried and some were executed.

Mr. Carter's philanthropic sentiments were shown in his protest against the execution of Nasiri or Hoveyda. But when these corrupted individuals had harassed people for more than twenty years, nobody protested. Not a single word was uttered in protest by the human rights organization or by the United Nations or by the Security Council when these crimes were being done in Iran. See how much commotion they created for Hoveyda's death and how much support they show towards the Shah!

Now that we are keeping some American spies here, they say it is against the international laws. But the international laws stipulate for the personnel of an embassy to remain ordinary employees carrying out their usual services and not to involve in espionage. Our students, through the pictures they have obtained have shown that these detainees have been engaged in activities which could not have been ordinary; rather, they had been engaged in spying. They are, therefore, criminals. They should be tried here in this country; and God willing, we will try them. Later, we will try Carter, Nixon, Johnson and Roosevelt, «4» for their crimes which they have committed against us.

We are a weak nation but we have a strong logic. We use our logic when we talk. They want to kill us, but we will defend to the last moment. They want to use economic sanctions against us; then we will tolerate. Besides, other countries will not listen to Carter. The people of the United States will not listen to Carter, either. This is because the American people have already shown their dissatisfaction towards these sanctions. Other countries, too, are not Carter's servants, either. Carter unknowingly assumes that other countries would follow him if he used economic sanctions against us. No sir, you are making a big mistake! He should review his plans for Iran.

I ask God for your success. May God protect you. May you be successful.