Speech [The comprehensiveness of the Islamic school of thought; the traits of the Islamic government]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

May God bless you all, both sisters and brothers. May you succeed. May God keep you under the auspices of Islam and the twelfth Imam (`a). Through your concerted efforts, we hope to spread Islam everywhere the same way that we have up until now, God willing.

Regrettably, the school of Islam has not been fully understood, or if it has been only a little. They (foreign powers) did not let the masses of people understand Islam in depth. Even the principle of the Islamic government, which has been an essential concept of Islam, had not been of import among the Islamic nations. People assumed an Islamic government would be identical with the ordinary world governments. But Islam is everything, because it is the command of the Blessed and Exalted God. It fits every dimension of men. The issues under consideration in Islam can never be found in any world's regimes. The governments of the world emphasize the government as such. Most of them, if not all, are tyrants.

In Islam, a government is only a means to an end because in the final objective is Islam. All instructions that derive for Islam consider man's natural life. This is not its goal, though. It also takes into accounts man's spiritual progress up to the point that he evolves into a divine being, which is the ultimate goal.

Islam's instructions are for the sole improvement from the natural to a metaphysical world. The prophets have come to take people's hands to deliver them for the darkness of this world to the world of light.

In an Islamic government everything is but a means to reach the world of lights, a goal which is not considered in governments and regimes. This was an issue taken into account in the prophetic school of thought in but never acted upon. At the time of the Prophet (s) the Islamic order was only put into to a little extent effect. This order had been publicized, but was not practiced as it should have been. This was the case at the time of Imam `Ali (`a) as well. The succeeding governments, such as the Bani Ummayah and Bani `Abbas Caliphs and the other governments that ruled among Muslims, did not try to make use of the Islamic principles.

The monarchical regime, which has been the worst or one of the worst regimes, has never had any relationship with Islam whatsoever and no Islamic issue have ever been taken into account used in this kind of government. Some monarchs, such as Muhammad-Rida, claimed that social justice or Islamic justice prevailed in Iran. However, he was completely ignorant of the Islamic justice or Islam, for that matter.

From this point of view, we should, therefore, say that Islam has remained misunderstood. In the same way, people do not know strangers in their land, Islam, too, has not been given any chance to be recognized and the principle of the government in Islam has never been brought up.

When it was discussed even among the Muslims, they would say that it was a political issue and that they did not want to get involved. They claimed that the clerics had stay away from politics and that the mosque was where the clerics had to go! Islam has been confined within the mosque.

When the Prophet (s) lived in Medina for thirteen years, not a year passed without any wars. But the wars at the Prophet's time were different from the ones waged by ordinary (secular) governments. The Prophets' holy wars basically took place for man's prosperity. The prophets noticed that people were getting drowned (in worldly affairs) and in the fires (of hell). They observed that darkness had beleaguered people and was dragging men to an abysmal well, which is hell. They came to save us. They used preaching or even force to save us.

It is narrated that the Prophet (s) saw a group of captives being delivered to him. He said" I should take these people to paradise through their chains." The prophets came to guide people. They did not come to conquer counties; they did not come to reign; they did not come to brag of their powers. All of them have pooled their energies together to save man and guide him a divine heavenly being. Unfortunately, now man has deteriorated and has become meaner than animals. The Prophets came to serve man.

Man's origin is discussed by them. The education of man is what they are after. But the ordinary regimes do not care about these topics. They only emphasize the aggressive, cannibalistic and genocidal aspects of the government. The prophets try to save man from these cases of injustice, difficulties, darkness and tyrannies.

The prophets tried to struggle against oppression. Ordinary people should do the same thing and not undergo oppression. In the same way that oppression is forbidden by Islam, the undergoing oppression, too, is forbidden. To be oppressed is different from yielding to oppression. Man, however, should not yield to oppression if he could help it. But sometimes man is forced to undergo oppression. However, he should obviate tyranny as far as he can. Islamic laws take that we may kill a person for self-defense if he attacks us. If any body tried to take away your possessions, you should fight him even if he is killed in the process. An individual should not yield to anybody's harassment. If an Islamic order is established, its first mission would be to uproot tyranny. This is because in such a government the governor should not engage in oppression, neither should the head of the government. This is because he, first and foremost, it is his duty not to engage in oppressive practices, and secondly, he will not be allowed to do so. The Islamic governments are the governments of justice. They have to establish justice; they have not come to show off their power to others. Governments should serve people. If they shunned their responsibilities, they would violate the Islamic rules. The governments at the onset of Islam did not pretend to be superior to their people. They waged wars to serve people and all actions they took were for people deliverance.

If we could cooperate and make this movement come to fruition in such a way that the essence of an Islamic republic crystallizes and Islamic laws are implemented, then there would be tranquility welfare for all groups, tranquility in people's hearts and assurance for all. One of God's greatest graces is for calm and peace to dwell in the hearts of men. There would not be assurance in people's hearts under the rule of foreigners and, worse than this, under the rule of tyrant governments. When a citizen went shopping at the bazaar, he harbored fear of being arrested by the secret police under some pretexts. Or, a policeman might concoct an excuse to throw him into jail. In Islam, such insecurity never exists; one only has to fear oneself. He should not fear the government. This is because Islam is the rule of justice; if a citizen does something wrong that requires an investigation, he has wronged himself. A rule of justice means that oppression has to be obviated. An Islamic ruler does not ever take a step towards oppression and injustice. The laws of Islam stipulate that an Islamic policeman or an army personnel is not allowed to do injustice. Everybody should at the service of the nation. Pray that the hands of these saboteurs creating turmoil in the Islamic republic served.

God willing, all of you will attain prosperity, health and righteousness in traversing this path that you have taken until the next stage( of the struggle )becomes a reality. The entire nation must rest assured that Islam is for everybody's good, God willing.