Speech [The importance of the matter of (issuing) judgments and the necessity of maintaining order and discipline therein]

I must congratulate our people on the fact that the authorities of the three branches, which constitute the basis of a country, are, praise be to God, from among the common people, and are not corrupt taghouti individuals. I ask God, the Blessed and Exalted, to help us all in serving Islam and in working harder so as to achieve success for this Revolution and to establish a government of divine justice in place of the taghouti one.

All of you and all our people are aware that prior to the Revolution, it could not be said which one of the three branches was worse than others. The legislative branch, according to the Shah's own admission, had fallen into the hands of individuals who used to be appointed by the embassies (in Tehran). And they were obliged to it make only such people perform the work. Thus, the nature of the legislature (of the period) is clear to our people. America would give a list of names and its servant acted on it. There can be no better Majlis and Senate than the ones we had; I mean the ones they had (before the Revolution) !! They would never take a single step for God during the time they were in charge. If they had been the type that worked for God, neither would America have recommended them, nor would the ex-Shah have appointed them. The Shah's own admission is enough proof for us as to the kind of people the legislature had. As for the executive branch, everybody knows what crimes it committed in this country. The Shah himself- a person, in their own words with no (clear-cut) responsibility- was the head of all the criminals. He and America inspired all the other criminals in the country.

As for the judiciary, Islam is very particular about it. It is ordained that either a prophet or his successor be in charge of it. Anyone other than a prophet or his successor- as recommended by the Noble Messenger- as the head will become a wretched person. The control of our judicial branch had fallen into the hands of people among whom, I think, there was not a single person competent enough to have been the head of the judiciary. Some may say that there were some religious individuals in the judiciary. But merely being religious is not enough for a judge. The judiciary is one of those issues that Islam is very particular about. Perhaps there is nothing that is so important. And the reason for this is clear. All that belongs to the people lies in the domain of the judiciary: the people's lives, possessions and honor. All these lie within the jurisdiction of the judicial branch. This being the case, if a judge is incompetent or dishonest, God forbid, and if it affects the people and makes them disregard the judiciary, it is clear as to what will happen.

For this reason, I congratulate the people on the fact that our legislative branch is now elected from among the people without anybody imposing the members upon them. Nobody has given the authorities a list of names of the people that have been appointed from abroad. And the Majlis, itself, expels the members that are incompetent. Therefore, our legislature is a body that is competent with most of its members being committed individuals, and all of them being from among this nation. They have not come from among the rich. The case of the judicial branch is also evident; there is nobody in it who is of the taghouti type. All the responsible authorities in this institution are Muslim scholars who have led humble, intellectual lives and are aware of the problems of society, for they are part of the common community, and had experienced difficulties themselves. Thus they are in a position to solve the problems of the poor.

The executive branch consists of the President, the Prime Minister and the ministers who will, God willing, be appointed later. All of them are people that the nation itself has appointed; none of them has been imposed upon the nation. The Majlis representatives, who have also been elected by the people, will vote later on the capability of the cabinet ministers in order to confirm them. Any minister-designate who is not committed (to Islam), who acts contrary to Islamic principles and is unaware of the condition of the poor will not be given a vote of confidence by the Majlis.

I must say that pronouncing judgments is a matter that is very important in Islam. It is also a perilous one. The importance lies in the judges administering justice to the people, eradicating injustice, setting disputes, differentiating between the oppressor and the oppressed and implementing justice. The danger lies in the fact that if a verdict is against God's commandment, God forbid, and against the limits set by Him, even to an infinitesimal extent «1», the judge in question will have to face severe consequences «2». Though the responsibility (of the office) is extremely heavy, it, nevertheless, is a necessary one that has to be undertaken. Those who fulfill all the requirements and are" mujtahids"[Islamic jurist] must take the office and if there are not enough of them, those appointed by the mujtahids must fill the ranks. Important duties must be shirked. Matters that are important from the aspect of religious law cannot be overlooked; it is essential that they be attended to. Shirking them entails admonishment. They ought to be taken care of. Even in some of the previous governments (like the `Abbasids and the Bani-Umayyads), some very righteous individuals apparently accepted such offices in order to prevent at least some of the inequities. It is not that one who knows that he is capable of eliminating the inequities done to the people, and steering the right course, can shirk his responsibilities, even though the ruling system be oppressive. But now that we have, thank God, an Islamic country with Islamic institutions, we cannot say that we will not undertake any responsibilities in the government or serve it. This was the attitude in the days of the taghout. There was a government even in the days of the Apostle of God, and the Commander of the Faithful. Could we have refused to serve in those governments? The government is an institution that must exist in a country. It is one of the necessary things in society that must essentially exist so as to maintain order. Working for a government that is not a bona fide one is not permissible unless it is for the purpose of administering justice in some case. Such problems existed even in the early period of Islam. But one cannot refuse to work in a government that is a true, bona fide one. People should not say that they will not work in the government that is right and genuine, because its name is" government".

All the Muslim governments were Islamic and were the administrators of the people's affairs. The important thing is what kind of government it is. If it is like the present one in which all the institutions are Islamic and all the people working for it want to serve Islam, nobody should keep himself out of it saying that he does not want to enter it and be employed in it. One must work for it. Even in the days of the Commander of the Faithful, there were people who were policemen, governors and government officials. There were pious people who were employers in certain places. Generally speaking, one would say in the days of the taghout that one did want to work for the government as it was taghouti. But now as it is a divine government, not working for it, is not right. If the judiciary has a shortage of judges, for example, and it asks somebody to work for it because it lacks people, the person asked is obliged to officiate as a judge. Nobody should say that now that he has to work as a judge, he will not work for the government. Working for the government is tantamount to working for God. The government now is a government of God and it is serving God. It is not serving taghout. Therefore, there is no excuse for one to say that he will not enter government service. It is the same as working for Islam as the government itself is Islamic. It does not work independently of Islam. It is serving Islam; all of us are serving Islam.

All the affairs should, of course, be systematic and orderly. When all the affairs are based on an orderly system- maintaining order is one of the divine obligations- such order must also exist in the judiciary, meaning that, for example, it should not be that a judge decides to report for work one day and not on anther. When you accept the office, you have accepted to work for God. You should, therefore, think of it as a divine duty to act according to the rules and to work as described during the office days and hours, even if you do not wish to accept the word" employment" as such or to take charge. But you must maintain discipline if you think it your religious duty to do so. If one joins work and then cannot work in an orderly manner- for example, he does not come to work for a week as he feels that he is not obliged to do so- he should not take office in the first place. If one can work in accordance with the rules and regulations laid down by the judicial council, he must do so and abide by them till the end. But if he finds himself, day after day, unequal to the task, he ought to submit his resignation to the judicial council. Holding a position and not working properly is not right. All the affairs of the country must be run on a systematic basis, just as it is in the police department where the policemen cannot say that they do not want to report for work on some day; that they wish to remain at home, in which case neither can they call themselves policemen, nor is the department a police department. And this also applies to all the government offices: nobody can work according to his own whims. Anybody who undertakes to do something must abide by the pertinent rules.

The gentlemen (of the judiciary) whose work is more important than that of the others, ought to safeguard the system. The other institutions everywhere must also maintain order as, without it, nothing proper will materialize and disorganization will be the result. The gentlemen should carry out whatever they have accepted to do in a systematic, orderly manner.

One of the important things that I wish to say concerns the care that must be exercised in passing judgments. You must not be negligent when people's lives, their honor and possessions depend on you. It should, God forbid, not be so that an innocent person is condemned as a criminal while a guilty person, who must receive punishments ordained by God, is acquitted. One should be very careful and precise in passing judgments and in their execution, so that, God forbid, no injustice is done. You should be very careful not to judge a guilty person as being innocent or convict an innocent one. It is oppression in either case. You must act with the greatest of care, caution and diligence; lest the death sentence, God forbid, be passed on someone who does not deserve it; or one is sent to long-term imprisonment when his offense does not warrant it. On the other hand, a murderer must not be allowed to escape the retaliatory punishment out of pity on the part of the judge.

No; a judge ought to be very particular about the verdicts he gives. I say very bluntly that a judge should be hard-hearted. Nothing should influence him. He should not allow himself to be affected by the tears of a criminal or his wailing and begging (for mercy). Otherwise, he cannot be a real judge; and nor can he be a judge if he harbors feelings of revenge, for instance. A judge is one who is impartial in issuing verdict: he should behave in the same way whether the criminal is his brother or enemy. I mean that this should not influence him in judging the case. In issuing his verdicts, he must not differentiate between brother and enemy. I am speaking from the aspect of judgment; not the personal aspect. That is, just as he ought to pass the sentence that his own brother may deserve, so also should it be in the case of his enemy. He should treat everybody equally.

You have heard about Hadrat Amir appearing with that person, who was apparently a Jew, in the presence of the judge. Hadrat Amir was the head of the government. Upon being summoned, he went to the judge who addressed him as Abu'l-Hasan. Hadrat Amir objected; he told the judge to address him in the same way that he addressed the other person. «3» This is an order to those of us who occupy the position of a judge to treat everybody impartially. A judge's sole aim must be to deliver justice. It should make no difference to a judge whether the accused is his friend or foe; he should be neither lenient in one case nor sever in the other.

In short, this important matter rests in the hands of you gentlemen. Whenever you are, you must judge every case brought up before you in a just and correct manner, without paying regard to who either party is. You must judge a person, accused of even the most serious offense, on the basis of rightfulness, regardless of his past record. You ought to examine the case in a just and right manner. Your verdict ought to be just so that when you are standing in the Presence of the Almighty Truth, you will feel proud that you have not been guilty of any wrongdoing.

I hope that the Blessed and Exalted God will give you success in the religious law affairs which I have mentioned- the other things also concern religious law, but God's command concerning justice is a very grave matter- and may you also succeed, God willing, in matters related to order that ought to be based on certain criteria. If the Judicial authorities set certain rules, you cannot act otherwise saying that you are independent. This is not maintaining order; it is disorder. It is not permissible for anybody to occupy this position (of a judge) when he finds himself unable to abide by the rules that have been laid down for maintaining discipline; he should leave. It is not necessary for one who abides by the principles and acts according to the rules to accept whatever judicial council says. May such a person be rewarded by the Blessed and Exalted Lord. You who belong to the judicial branch and pass judgments, should consider this as an act of worship. To administer justice is to worship the Deity.

May you be successful and triumphant. May we all succeed in serving our country. There is a pressing need to serve the country and to maintain discipline. A revolution gives rise to certain problems, no doubt. After all the matters have been settled in this post-revolutionary period, we should all cooperate with one another to take this movement to a successful conclusion, God willing. Let it not be said abroad that Iran is ridden with chaos and that it is no place to live anymore, and so on and so forth. Let us, at least, not give them the excuse to say such things.

Everybody should do his job properly. Do not worry about what a judge has done in Balkh, for example, or in any other place. You must confine yourself to performing your own job properly. If everybody in the country is determined to carry out the work entrusted to him in the best manner, this country will become a divine, sublime one. But interfering in one another's affairs- the judicial branch interfering in executive affairs, and the executive branch interfering in the affairs of the judiciary- will lead to chaos. These three basic branches are separate and independent of one another. Each one of them must attend to its own work. A judge interfering in executive matters has overstepped his bounds, thus, marring his own work and leading the country to corruption. If everyone does his own work well, he will be successful, God willing, in helping the system to be maintained properly. May you be rewarded by the Blessed and Exalted Lord, and your deeds registered as those of judges who have given rulings as commanded by God.

May God's peace and mercy be upon you.