Speech [The conditions for serving Islam at the present time]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I ask the Blessed and Exalted God for the prosperity and welfare of the honorable nation of Iran and I hope all of us can be true guards of Islam. You, brothers, should realize that if we are under the protection of Islam and Holy Qur'an and under the banner of monotheism, we can easily defeat the satanic forces. But the point at issue is how we can be under the banner of Islam and what the conditions are for us to be accepted by Islam. What could we do so that we would be accepted by Islam? How could we serve Islam? What should our military forces, gendarmerie, police force, the Islamic guards do now that we are confronted with universal Satanic forces? How could our nation be invulnerable vis-a-vis these stream of foreign conspiracies against us? Any community, if divided, is vulnerable; they would suffer from within. Now there are thirty-five million of us here in this country. If there were different parties among us and if we were divided and if there were no cohesion among us whatsoever, we would easily get hurt. Suppose the number of our military forces and gendarmerie and police forces and the revolutionary guards were more than five million, we could go nowhere if these forces were divided. It is like the individual drops of rains: each drop can do nothing, but the collection of them could bring about an immense force; they could even be devastating at times. The rivers could ruin a whole city. The drops, divided, could do nothing, however.

If there were disunity among the members of a society, the result would be devastating. If there were division and dispersion among our military and disciplinary forces, the corruption and disintegration would start from within. Instead of defending the country, these forces would quarrel with one another. In such cases there would not be any need for a foreign force to interfere. The forces would be demolished from inside. It will decay like a rotten melon. This rule applies to the nation as well. If our 35 million people were divided into the groups of one million each, we would have 35 different groupings. These would be vulnerable. There is no need for the foreign forces to defeat us. We would get ruined from within.

Our population of thirty-five million was united and could break the backbone of a superpower and expelled their agent from this country for-ever. We did not suffer any blow due to the fact that we stayed united. Our adversaries observed that our unity was the secret behind our success. Now they want to upset this unity and integration. They have agents everywhere: in the army, in gendarmerie, in the police forces, in the revolutionary guard garrisons, in the universities and in the bazaar. They plan to make us decay from within: no assault is needed from outside." Let these forces tear each other up from inside", they contend. They have created turmoil everywhere to make this unity vanish.

Our youth have developed some complexes during the last regime. Now, the agitators stimulate these complexes. In this way, they create turmoils. A group of them are active in the army now. How could they do it? It is simple: let the inferiors not obey the superiors. When they did not obey, there would not be any place for order; there would be no cohesion. Then the decay starts. There is no need for foreign intervention. We would decay from inside. They have done the same in the gendarmerie. Suddenly, you would notice that there is disorder and chaos in a force which is supposed to be cohesive. Then the army would disintegrate from within. The same rule applies to the gendarmerie and other forces. These activities are done through plots. In the past, it was not common for a soldier to disobey his officer. Now, it has become prevalent. Now that you have expelled a plunderous force out of your country, bring about an order. Your nation would benefit from this order. But they have started harming one another. The division among our armed forces will lead them to destruction. Your adversaries are smoking their cigars and watching you engage in tug of war with one another. When the inferiors do not obey the superiors, disorder is created.

As they say, there are two-hundred political parties now established in Iran after the revolution. The number two hundred is significant in that it conveys disunity among our population. This division among these groups entails a division in our population of thirty-five million. Your unity brought about your success. But your disunity would bring failure and this fact is known to those agitators who try to destroy us. They agitate the different political parties to be antagonistic towards one another. One accuses the other of something and a third party tries to weaken the others. I assume the establishment of different political parties has been a plot carried out by the foreigners. However, the political parties abroad are different from ours. They would do nothing against their national interests. But these parties, when formed in Iran, are hazardous to the national interest. These political parties do nothing in Iran except for the fact that they hurt one another.

This country would have benefited a lot more if these differing political parties had stayed united. In our country, however, education and training should be based on divine rules. We should obey what we are told religiously. Now they are creating different political parties in defiance of our Islamic teachings. The Holy Qur'an states: The believers are but brethren. «1» There is nothing more than brotherhood among the believers. This is because if we considered nothing except for our brotherhood, then unity naturally would follow. The Holy Qur'an insists that the believers be all brethren. The Muslims all over the world would be invulnerable if they carried out this principle of brotherhood. There are one billion Muslims scattered all over the world who are under the domination of say, two hundred and fifty million non-Muslims. If these Muslims had considered this Qur'anic principle and had stayed united, they would have suffered no calamity. Of course, by brotherhood it is not meant that I carry out a forbidden act and you do the same thing. Imam `Ali (`a), too, was a brother to all. He was a genuine Muslim. `Aqil was Imam `Ali's brother. Could `Aqil have said:" Since we are brothers, I won't obey you?" This was against the principle of brotherhood. Brotherhood is the close cooperation among Muslims to carry out plans of common interest. This principle was originally created to bring about unity and Muslims to advance with their voices in unison.

Suppose in our gendarmerie a group of lower ranks stood firm against the upper ranks, defying them and telling them they would not listen to their orders. Such an institution would collapse very easily. It cannot work and carry out God's commands. These groups cannot be brothers to each other. They are considered brothers only if they supported one another for a common objective. They support one another if they honored the ranks that the army has given them. In the same way, people should be brothers to one another. They are brothers if they cooperated to save their country. A younger brother then should obey the older one for the same objective. The chief should be their brother in that they should work for the same aim. The orders issued by the elder brother to the younger one are a blessing by itself. In the army, the lower ranks should obey the higher ones under all circumstances.

If the objective of all is the same, such a community is united. In a united, classless community every one is in his position, working for the general good. Those who are in the army should keep up their discipline; every low ranking member should obey the orders of the upper ones. We, too, who are religious scholars, should keep the discipline within ourselves. The officials in our offices should obey the orders issued by the elders. All should work for a common objective. They should work for common goals. By cohesion is not meant that two persons physically stick together. Rather, it means cooperation among individuals. If it is so, then that society is unified. And if the order is not taken seriously, then unity vanishes. If you stop obeying the above and of the higher rank discriminates against you, this cohesion is lost. In a united and unified society each person carries out his or her tasks properly.

Those agitators who enter the army, the gendarmerie, the police department, the societies and the universities and claim that they are satanic forces and are planning to disturb our unity. They want to make us decay from within. We should be alert and our youth should be given the right information.

Your supervisors should teach you the real meaning of a unified community and let you know that by such a community is not meant chaos and disorder. Rather by a unified community is meant a society in which all members work together closely so that the community would not be vulnerable. In such a community, there are certain ranks: some are juniors and some are seniors. If the lower ranks would defy the upper ones, then chaos would prevail. It is lawlessness to ignore ranks. It would be obstinacy. And obstinacy is in contrast with a unified community. Disobedience is inconsistent with unity. If you teach our young soldiers not to obey the superiors, you would never have a unified, classless society. When there is no order and where everybody is obstinate, then there will be no cohesion. Could you force each one of a hundred million unruly mules to do one particular task, i. e. one hundred million different tasks? If no order prevails in the populace, the people will create a mayhem.

In giving orders, Imam `Ali (`a) advised everybody to have discipline. Order is not for gendarmerie, army or the like only. Order should be considered in all phases of our society. If this order is removed, the society is destroyed. Keeping the system in good order is a religious obligation. Those who propagate the wrong notion that order and discipline and hierarchy should be put aside are working against the Holy Qur'an. They are acting against Islam. They are damaging the interests of their country. The agitators are ridiculing of us, saying they have cheated us. They say they are rejoicing because they could make us fight and quarrel among ourselves.

In our newspapers, nowadays, these are eye-catching news items of one person hurling insults at another and vice-versa. Now that there is freedom of speech, should everyone be allowed to say or do what he/she wants and spread words that this country is in chaos and that no system exists in it? Is this freedom? Does this type of freedom prevail in those countries which have always exploited us? If freedom were interpreted in this way, cohesion would have never appeared in those societies. They would never have this civilization. Our adversaries are using the name" freedom" in order to deceive you and deprive you of freedom. They know what they are doing. They tell you that since you have brought about this revolution then you are free to attack one another in your newspapers. They want to inculcate in you the wrong concepts of freedom and take away from you the right one.

The scientist, thinkers, clerics, orators, army chiefs and gendarmerie chiefs should inform people. They should warn our youth that they are being deceived, and that they are treading the path of their enemies. I hope God would awaken us to perform our religious tasks. I give you the tidings of

victory since we are working for God. Anybody who works for God would experience no failure. We are victorious even if we are killed. Imam Husayn was killed, but was he defeated? Now his banner is up and there is no Yazid any more. No" Yazid" can ever exist [in Iran], God willing.