Speech [Worth of a deed in the way of God - Poverty of people at the time of Pahlavi, mischief of the groups against the revolution]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I am aware of your hard labor. Likewise, I know the toil undertaken by the sisters sitting above over there. The thing I can do is to pray, to supplicate. I do this for all of you, brothers and sisters. I hope that all of us appear happy and successful before God. You have rendered great services at the cost of many great activities to please God and meet His acknowledgment and the acceptance of the present Imam of time, Mahdi. The troubles become easy and pleasant if they are rendered in the way of God and consolation of mankind. In the past tyrant regimes, if one rendered a service, it was for the tyrant. If it were for the sake of welfare, the welfare was worthless too. The responsibility got widened if the welfare was much. Those who served long years as tyrants and did harm to our nation, which you all know, lived a well and comfortable life. But they got the name of a tyrant in this world and shall meet their due punishment in this world like Nasiri «1» and his kind. They destroyed thousands of houses and thousands of fathers and mothers lost their sons and youths. Finally one can kill him, since he has killed several men and if he is killed it will be against the murder of one man. It will not equal the murder of a thousand people. Here is not the place for punishment. In the next world they will be punished and they will have to pay for it. The deeds are the fetters in the legs of the doer. Whatever one does here; its image will be preserved in the next world. If it be a good deed it will have a good image. If it be a bad deed, it will have a bad image in that world. When we depart from this world, we receive the consequence of our doings in that world. It is not like here to pay the penalty or a fine. Our doings are personified there. Our deeds are either a hell there or a paradise. Those who take pain and undergo labor in the work for the sake of God will see their reward there. They will see a good result. They go with a bright and smiling face before God. They will not be ashamed of themselves. Secondly, they will go after their deeds they did here. We cannot even imagine what they will receive and see for the result of their acts. The bounties of that world cannot be described in this world. Whatever be said of those bounties, it is still only a word, which cannot confine that truth and reality and the extent of the bounty. It can only be conceived when it is tasted and received tangibly. I hope the youth, who are taking so much trouble, receive their reward like the reward of the youths of the early stages of Islam. They were never after any thanks from the people. Sometimes the army of Islam was subsisting on a date in the battle field. They were so poor. It is recorded in history. Sometimes it was even worse. They had to subsist on only one date. One keeps it in his mouth and then passes it on to others and so forth. But they labored for Islam. They were those who gave glory and to Islam. They spread Islam. Now it is our turn. It has reached us. Our guards here cannot be rewarded or compensated. But you should not be disappointed. The deeds that are for God cannot be compensated. It is only God who can compensate it. A work or a deed which is for God has no compensation in this world. Try to do your actions just for God. So, when you get to that world, your hands should be full. You, brothers and sisters, you are performing a great service and you do encounter pain and agony. I hope that all this be recorded in your account-sheet, i. e. your ledger, every week and presented to the Imam of Time, Mahdi and you be the object of his prayers. God willing, we all will be such. We are such in the presence of all saints of God. I hope that you will appear with bright faces in the presence of God. Try to keep this Islamic uprising glitter upon the annals of time.

Now this country is yours. There is no mask over your heads, which might have come from abroad. There is no one to rule over you. During these fifty years all of us have been so. During these fifty years, all of us were in captivity. Everybody has seen that there had always been a secret police in these years. I remember everything ever since this cursed regime came to power. You don't know what this noble nation has suffered during the regime. How our ladies, suffered the pain and ignominy. In the name of civilization and under the pretext of free women and free men they brought havoc upon them. The police of those days were short of good manners and deprived of humanity. They resembled a beast of jungle, even worst than a forest animal. A forest animal is rather mild. As for the respected ladies of Iran, men and youths, clergies, traders, merchants, academic people, all could not escape from their cruelty. During the second regime (Muhammad-Rida), most of you remember the things he did. The country was not ours. They had made him a servant. They have now made a servant in Iraq «2». Another servant is in Egypt «3». So, they put a servant who was cruel. Every thing was ready for him. He did whatever he desired. He filled the pockets of his masters and dragged the nation to poverty and destitution. In Tehran itself there were localities for wealthy people and localities for the poor- such as Halabiabad «4», and I don't know some others. Perhaps you know the way of their life. All the wealth of this nation went into the pockets of Americans and English. In the time of Rida Khan, mostly the money went into the pockets of the English. Americans, Russians and others were benefited. The rest went into their own pockets and those of their cronies. Some have told me about their palaces as to how they were. But our unfortunate nation was deprived of the bare essentials of life. For example,- in some parts of Tehran, there was no water. Water cannot be supplied there yet. During my stay in Najaf, one of the merchants of Kuwait, or Iranian origin, came to see me. He used to come every year. He was telling that some villages, probably in Fars Province, had no water. They had built something where the rains were stored. The women of the village had to go to two or three kilometers away with their pots to fetch water for their children. He further asked my permission to rebuild that storage of water, which was in ruined condition. I gave him permission to utilize the money that is in Imam's store (Shariyeh Imam). This was the condition. The villagers had to go that much distance to get water. The roads were not asphalt. I don't know if they had any doctor too. Perhaps you might have heard that in some places, due to the lack of a doctor and water, when the eyelids of their children got stuck, impeding the opening of the eye, they used to open the eye by means of urine. This was our civilized nation. It was supposed to reach the level of Japan or become like America. This was the country they used to say" Great Civilization" or the" Door of Civilization". They had cheated the poor people. They had given everything of this country to the foreigners. The people were deprived of their necessities such as a physician, a hospital etc. In Tehran, too, they used to live in tin shelters. I was told that they had to ascend and climb fifty or sixty steps to avail a water tap. Such conditions prevailed in those days. They ate and carried away; but left the troubles for the country. Those troubles cannot be mended for years long. If all the people cooperate, it will still take several years to compensate.

In the initial stage of the Revolution, a change took place for all the people, which awakened them. I hope that the change will remain alive and so the vigilance. They will advance forward with the same spirit. In this case, the country will be reformed with a stable and strong economy. Our need to the foreign countries may vanish. We may live a free and independent life.

Among the things I should point out to you is this: Many people have crept into bazaar, colleges, workers' class and other classes of the masses. They are endeavoring to dishearten the people of this uprising. They whisper into the ears of the people's" What has this Islamic Republic done?"" They have done something for us." They want to disappoint the people. If any trouble occurs, the people should remain aloof. On the other hand you have done something that the whole world believes it to be a miracle. Had you done anything that would have been above all the things? What if you had expelled all these thieves, bloodthirsty ones, murderers, man killers and so forth? If it is not so then the Revolution has done no work. Now the fundamental jobs are being done everywhere. There is construction of houses going on. The offices and departments are being purged. You have a great responsibility. You are doing your work. All the classes of the people should be careful that there are adversaries to Islam who whisper in your ears that nothing is done. They themselves know what has happened. They are afraid of the things, which are done. So they fear that still worst might happen to them. Better not to hear them. We have the obligation. We have to work what God has commanded us to do. If it yields a good result, thank God, we have received this world and shall receive the next world too. If we cannot attain the result then we have the next world in any case, Thanks God.