Speech [All inclusive nature of Islam; reliance on our identity; struggle to be self-sufficient; trial to gain independence]

I would like to thank you for your coming here. As those gentlemen told us you had been at the service of people free of charge you have, in fact, served Islam. You are well aware of the fact that we are now confronted with s super power. They are making all sorts of propaganda against us both inside and outside the country. They are making propaganda against our Islamic Republic. Those who are making propaganda inside the country are those who are basically ignorant of even the word of Islam. Some who have come from abroad claim that they have not seen any trace of Islam outside. Those who have heard the name do not know what it means. Even some of those who have lived inside the country recognize Islam in part. Our specialists of Islam, too, know it superficially. Some forces never let Islam materialize in Iran. These forces included Bani Umayyad and Bani `Abbas Caliphs and the Iranian kings, especially Rida Khan and his son of the corrupted Pahlavi dynasty. Of course, these two latter tyrants were influenced by foreign forces. They confined Islam inside schools and mosques. Of course, Islam was taught from its prayer point of view. Even if a clergy was asked about Islam, he referred only to this role of Islam. Of course, other dimensions of Islam, such as chapters on the Islamic government, Islamic justice and the Islamic punishment, are written in books. But these books are confined to the libraries only.

Islam has come to educate people. This education should be all sided, however. Man is not his physical aspect only. In this sense both animals and men are the same. Unfortunately, we have been under the influence of two types of interpreters. One type of these interpreters emphasized only the spiritual aspect of Islam, forgetting its material aspect altogether. These interpreters went so far as to interpret the killings mentioned in the Holy Qur'an as" killing one's own self." They interpreted all worldly aspects mentioned in Islam as spiritual events.

We are at times confronted with a second type of interpreters of Islam. Those who were engaged in the interpretation of Islam and narrations went to the other extreme and emphasized on the worldly aspects of Islam. They sacrificed spirituality at the expense of materialistic aspects of Islam. This second group interpret every thin in terms of worldly affairs, forgetting the unknown world altogether.

This deviation is even seen in our actions and beliefs now. In bringing forth this revolution all layers of society took part. This participation included all classes of our society, from Tehran to the remotest sections of the country. Everybody shouted" The Islamic Republic: we do not want the Pahlavi regime, we want Islam." Even an elementary school student shouted this slogan. The elderly man, too, who was bed ridden at the hospital uttered this motto. Those people, who went on the roofs at nights and shouted" Allah is the Greater," too, were shouting for Islam. But there are those who say these shouting were for" democracy," although most of common people had never heard of the word democracy before. Even if they were thought the meaning of the corrupted democracy, they would still insist on Islam.

The opponents of the Islamic Republic would claim that people did not care for the Islamic Republic. Rather, people were looking for better conditions of life.

Is it rational for anybody to shout for filling his stomach but endanger his life? Could he shout for his stomach but cause the death of his child. Those who voluntarily stood against tanks and machineguns and attacked the enemy with their fists asked for better houses? For better furniture? Did they ever think of these worldly affairs in those critical moments? Everybody had risen to revive Islam. They had Islam in mind. They worked hard for it. Even now people ask me to ask God to let them become martyrs. So, we see that house or food or furniture were not what they were after. They adopted martyrdom not for this, but for the other: the same martyrdom that God's men and prophets have always been after. Those of us who got martyred were among these men of God. But now, those who interpret the Holy Qur'an and narrations in terms of materialistic aspects could easily interpret people's shout for Islam in a wrong way.

In Islam you could find topics on knowledge, monotheism, prophethood and the world hereafter, i. e. the world which nobody could become aware of except through revelation. The Holy Qur'an includes everything. Islam includes everything. It is not like regimes; rather, it governs. It is not a regime like that one of Carter's or Muhammad-Rida's. Even in the Holy wars, Islam did not struggle to expand its territory. Islam has always intended to make man. Islam has wanted to liberate the man from the claws of the dictators and the super powers. This has been the objective of all monotheistic schools to liberate man. Islam has come for the liberation of man. By this liberation is not meant the material liberation. Oil is not considered significant for Islam. Islam does not think about houses. Rather, Islam thinks of something more exultant. Islam considers all aspects of life, both the material and spiritual things. Islam also thinks of its role in the government, in the justice system and in the spiritual aspects as well. In Islam the spiritual aspects are given more prominence than the material ones. The divine schools try to make the man improve because he is a small replica of all action. You can find in man the aspects of revelation. The prophets came to help man find this way, to help him reach the light.

Allah is the guardian of those who believe, he brings them out of the darkness into the light. «1» Allah helps man through His prophets who educate man. They help man by taking him out of the darkness.

In order to plunder us, the superpowers planned to steal our bright young men and convert them into European ones. In this way, they made us believe that whatever we have is theirs. They tried to steal our independent thinking. And they succeeded in doing so. Now, there are thirty five million people living in Iran and several hundred million people living in the East. They and we have become so enchanted by the west that we have forgotten ourselves. We make the best kind of cloth in Isfahan but mark it as a product of England. Why? We have been indoctrinated that we are not able to produce anything. However, we are able to produce things they can never think of.

If you ever go to the Faydiyyah seminary, «2» you will notice a door which enters the sacred shrine of Hadrat Ma`soumah (`a). It used to have an inscription. I have not been there during the last thirty years. When I was at that school, a group of experts came to Iran and watched that inscription. They said it was unique and that nobody ever in the world could produce one like that. The reason they presented was that the ink used in writing on it had been a mixture of different colors, each one of which had been produced under certain degrees of temperature. It had been prepared by our artists with such great expertise that it has not changed during these long years. Those experts said no price could be put on it, because it was unique.

We have been so brain washed that we have put aside our crafts: the crafts of tiling, embossed articles, carpet weaving, making brocaded silk and velvet, these elegant crafts were gradually forgotten due to the wrong propaganda and because of the negligence of this father and his son. This is because they made us fond of the west. We can not sell our cloth unless we mark it as an English product. We have enough number of physicians but they report that Muhammad-Rida brought a physician from abroad to cure the tonsils of one of his relatives. See what kind of treason they have committed against our nation. They have claimed that they do not have a physician to cure even the tonsils. Our surgeons and physicians have been humiliated by these actions.

I used to tell those physicians who came over to visit me that it seems their education has not been right since nowadays people go abroad to cure even their weakest kind of diseases. But those physicians replied that they do not know what was going on. What is the reason for this chaotic condition? This is because our brains have washed and something else has been put for it. Our brains have been colonized. We have to replace it now with an independent brain. We will need latter form of brain in managing this country. Our university professors should change the brains of our students. They should develop the independent brains in these students. Our culture and economy, too, should be independent.

We should be content with what we can produce in our own country. We should not rely on others to help us out. We will only have an improved cloth industry if we use our own products. Let us not be dependent on others.

What a shame it is for a nation to beg the United States for wheat. This is in fact asking your enemy to have mercy on you. We would not be independent unless we could be self sufficient and strengthened our agriculture. We should curtail our cultural and economic reliance on others. Rather, we should depend on our own culture and economy. We shall never be independent unless we could believe that we can stay on our own feet. We should let our youth know that we are real human beings and capable of doing things right. The foreign propaganda has alienated us from ourselves. Our farmers, our workers and our office personnel should identify themselves. They should be proud of their country. They should believe that we have everything, that we are rich. They have made the people to suffer hunger in those places which are rich in oil. Our water and our lands are not used properly. Our lands have been idle. All this has roots in the colonialization. They prefer people be poor in the center of oil filled lands. They were after cheap workers to establish their colonial rules. They have kept people backward for their own purposes.

We could never gain our independence unless we found ourselves, unless we replaced the colonized brain in our youth with an independent one. The independent thinking is the first condition to gain independence. We should get away from being parasites over other cultures. If we did not show perseverance in keeping the foreigners out of our culture, as we have done upto now, then they would return once again because they are patient. They could easily dominate us if we did not watch them closely. They will use this domination through our own hands.

Now you are faced with all sorts of disturbance and turmoil in different corners of this country. These are artificially created to disturb your tranquility and peace. They do not want an Islamic Republic to be established in this country. They fear Islam because Islam has inserted a blow upon them. Several blows they have been exposed to in the past by Islam. One elderly man living in Karbala, named Aqa Mirza Muhammad-Taqi, «3» hurt the English severely. He expelled the English from Iraq. These foreigners have suffered a lot from Islam, from the clergy of Islam, from a Muslim scientist and a Muslim businessman. For this reason, they do not want the Islamic order to get established here. They create turmoil everywhere under different names. At one time they revolt in Kurdistan. At other time they bring forth disturbances in Azarbayjan. They are not going to stop agitation because they have failed politically.

Now Carter is facing an infamous political failure. As you have seen in newspapers he is busy sending his secretary of state to different countries to ask them to use sanctions against us. What a philanthropist Carter is! Carter is keeping a criminal, named Muhammad-Rida, for his later conspiracies against Iran. Now he is busy mobilizing other nations to take part in a general sanction against us. But unfortunately for Carter, nobody took him seriously. They have rejected his demands. Even in his own country he has met with complete failure. Some of the ministers of his own cabinet do not agree with him on this sanction. This philanthropist now is decided to expel fifty thousand Iranian youth from the United States and he has ordered his police to harass our youth with dogs. But an immigration judge has turned down the plan for the deportation of the Iranian youth living in the United States. This is both an ethical and political failure. Now everybody knows their ethical standards. They fakely pretend to be philanthropists. They claim to consider human standards to cure a wretched person «4» in the States.

Now Mr. Carter has betrayed himself: he does not want to salvage these fifty spies caught and kept here. Human beings are not taken into consideration by him. What he is after, however, is his reelection for the presidency. He frantically attempts to become the president. These extremely serious philanthropists test their drugs over us and use us as guinea pigs prior to permitting their use on their own people. This is similar to the experiments being done on animals by researchers.

Unfortunately, some of our elites have high opinion on Americans or Europeans. They are right in denying themselves. Their minds have been exposed to the western way of thinking. Whatever blows are being exerted on Iran is not realized by these elites who are enchanted by the western civilization. Some of these agitators who have been expelled from Iran and who have taken shelter in England are still trying to disturb our country. However, these people have connection with both England and the United States. Somebody they will probably return to this country to create more problems for us.

They have determined to renew the old conditions once again. They consider themselves national and intellectual. They pretend to have sympathy for our people/

We should stay alert and vigilant and control the activities of these elites. If we do not pay attention, the old tragedy would repeat itself. Bu this could be stopped by trying to establish Islam here with your assistance. We would have independence and other things which Islam has in provision for us, as well.

Do not rely only on" If God wishes so,"" In the Name of Allah," or invocations. We should act out our plans at the universities and at the offices. Stop using Europeans style in the offices. Use Eastern patterns. Use human patterns. Use the title" Islamic" everywhere ad do not be afraid.

One problem we are facing is our fear of identifying ourselves. We are fearful of considering ourselves as human beings.

Another problem we are facing is the use of European words in our speech. Listen to the lectures offered by people. Whoever used more foreign words is more learned! They consider someone a scientist if he employs foreign words in his speech. This is due to the fact that speeches and lectures are colonized, too. The speaker is colonized, as well.

You go to the United States. See if anybody uses one singe Persian word in his speech, or in his writings, but we prefer to use foreign names. We would like to use Latin transcript. This is because by using foreign words a businessman can find more customers and he can pass himself off as a learned man. If he used several isms, then his position is secured in society as an intellectual. He, in fact, compensates for what he is lacking.

We would not get our independence unless we used our Persian words- do not say we should not use Arabic; no, Arabic belongs to Islam and Islam belongs to everybody; what does not belong to us, however, is a collection of isms prevalent in the speech of the elites. We would not gain our independence unless we changed the named of the streets, unless we used Persian words over the products we manufacture ourselves, and unless we found out ourselves and changed our brains. We would not gain our independence unless our writers stopped using foreign words.

We should trust our human characteristics. We should employ our Persian vocabulary and use our own knowledge. I do not claim that you should not adopt the foreign knowledge and technology, but be aware that they have kept us backward. So, naturally, we will need them. You should adopt proper phases of their knowledge. The foreigners teach us bad things. Our youth are being taught the colonized type of knowledge. Their medicine is colonizing. They would not let us improve. We should find our own ways. There are many countries which have adopted knowledge from abroad. But later on they improved themselves. Japan was one such country. India was another example. Thus, we should help ourselves out. The first thing for us to do is to have confidence in ourselves, the conviction that we are able to act, that we are somebody. I hope we could establish Islam in this country as it is pre-determined by Allah and could help this oppressed nation who has been kept backward for the last twenty five hundreds years, especially in the last fifty years. We hope to reserve out interest for ourselves.

May God's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.