Speech [Dealing Islam a blow, the real aim of the enemies; warning the press; maintaining unity and ties]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I thank you, brothers, and dear warriors for coming here. We are meeting face to face and can discuss our problems. I wish to express my profuse thanks to the army, the security and military forces and the rest of the armed forces; the pasdars, the volunteers and all the people who are making sacrifices for Islam on the warfronts. You are aware that since it is an Islamic army and the armed forces are Islamic, the whole nation of Iran supports them, and also women and men who are engaged in a holy war. Everyone is extending help and cooperation to the extent they can. Islam, the Holy Qur'an and the Muslim nations wherever they be, are backing you as you can see from the massive support for and the expression of solidarity with the victimized Iranian nation and army. These supporters say that they want to proceed to the fronts and fight the ones misled by the infidel Iraqi Ba`athists. Of course, there is no need for them to come. But I thank them. Our own armed forces are sufficient, thank God, to stop the mischief of these malevolent ones; God willing, the victory of Islam over paganhood shall soon become evident and God willing, we shall rescue the oppressed nation of Iraq from the tyranny of these oppressors.

I have no fear, whatsoever, of war, and neither do you. And our nation, too, is not afraid of it. But the fear that exists which I must point out to you who want to become officers and go to the fronts to fight the unbelievers, concerns the calculated plans that are afoot to defeat Islam. Because Islam has dealt them a blow, and the people, with their cries of" Allahu Akbar" drove them out of Iran and curtailed the influence of the plunderers, they look upon Islam as their actual enemy, not the army, the clergy, the Islamic Republic, the Islam, the Islamic government and nor the ones who are devoting themselves to the Islamic cause. These are not their actual enemies; their real enemy is Islam. The thing is that they are proceeding according to a calculated plan.

I do not know if you have heard this parable. The parables which commonly circulate among the masses have a lesson to teach us. I have heard this parable and perhaps many of you might have heard it. It is said that a cleric, a Sayyid, and an ordinary person went together to an orchard to steal. When the orchard owner came, he saw that there were three of them. Realizing that he was not able to confront three persons, he turned to face two of them and said:" Well, this man is a Sayyid, the Prophet's descendant. He has a right. We have to respect him and, therefore; he, for instance is most welcome. Whatever he wants, is his own. Well, this gentleman is a cleric an `alim of great dignity. Islam respects him. We are obliged to respect him. But, this is a common man. What has he to do here?" So, he- the owner- made the two agree with him. They caught that common man, tied him and beat him up. Then, turning to those two he said:" This gentleman is a descendant of the Prophet. As such, he is dear to us. But you are in the guise of a clergyman. A priest here cannot be a thief. So, why have you come here?" So he and the Sayyid got together and beat the bogus cleric up, tied him up and threw him out. Then, he looked at the Sayyid and said." A Sayyid is the Prophet's descendant! Did your ancestor tell you to steal? Why have you entered someone's orchard?" Now being able to take him on, he caught hold of that person( Sayyid )as well and threw him out. This is a parable which is, perhaps, not factual. But it is a parable; and a good one at that.

Iran's condition is like this at present. At one time, they used to say that this( Iran's )army was taghouti, that, belonging to the former regime, it was not fit to be an Islamic army and ought to be disbanded altogether. Well, contrary to this, it was being said in other quarters that it should not be disbanded. These people did not want to disband the army. They wanted to take away a big force, that was equal to the task, and sideline it. Subsequently, they wanted to turn their attention to the clergy, saying that the clergy should have nothing at all to do with politics, and that they should go to the mosque and pray and read prayers and so on. Thus, they also wanted to sideline the clergy. After that, they had planned to deal with the government and the people- the ones whom they had deprived of that power (the army) and that of the clergy, and had separated them from the army and the clergy- and neutralize them. They had it in mind to get rid of the government, the president and- I should say- the other centers of power, because they saw that if these powers joined up together, they would constitute a big force which they would not be able to eliminate well, they saw that when they all joined forces- when the people staged their uprising, the army, the bazaar, the university and all the others joined them- they formed such a powerful entity that could not be confronted; no government was able to stand up to it. And they saw that Muhammad Rida in spite of all the power he had, was driven out of the country. Likewise, this very army, the armed forces, the security and military forces and this nation wiped out the top brass who were subservient to him and were traitors. For this reason, they are trying to implement this plan.

It is not that the groups that demonstrate in Tehran and Qum are against certain people. The ones- not the misled ones- that manage the events are out to destroy Islam as it has been a bad experience for them. Because of this, they raise certain slogans which do not grate upon the people's minds, and to find allies for themselves.

You can, hence, see that these same people who used to say at one time that the army should be disbanded, are now saying that the clergy ought to leave the scene and take to offering guidance in Qum. These persons, misguided by those who are directing affairs, assembled in Qum, the center of the clergy and Islam, and issued a resolution to the effect that the clerics must on no account meddle in these matters; and that there must be absolute freedom." There must be absolute freedom" is what they are saying. It means that the" fada'iyan" guerrillas and such-and-such groups of hypocrites, unbeliever and those that have no faith at all in Islam ought to be free to say and do whatever they like. They should even be free to speak against Islam for instance, or against the Qur'an and the Islamic Republic as well. A group of ignorant people say that there ought to be such things! Their aim is not freedom. What they have in mind is that plan that has been laid out for them and which they are constantly seeking to implement. They wish to be free so as to assail Islamic practices, to write those slogans against the Qur'an in the universities, to oppose all Islamic customs and to say whatever they like against the army, the clergy, the believers and the pious; and later to convene a meeting and then separate, one by one the various segments of the people.

Today, their plot is that the clergy should leave the scene and go after their worship and supplications. I would like to say that it is the same plan America has designed and British had already designed in the past. Now, too, it is the same design of all the governments, the big powers that want to loot Iran and the East and that fear Islam and its Islamic manifestations is taking shape in Qum. It will be a disaster if the bazaar merchants in Qum and Tehran approve of it, because it will then take effect. But if they are against it, why have they not said anything? It is the same plan which the Britishers had designed two hundred, or even more, years ago to shut out the clergy from politics, and to separate them from the people who wanted to work enthusiastically for Islam. They wanted them to go to the mosques and pray, while they did whatever they liked, plundered whatever they wanted, and dominated (the country) in whatever way they wanted.

No matter how hard they tried, they were not able to accomplish anything throughout those fifty years that they had sidelined the clergy, despite having alienated the people from the clergy. They destroyed your prestige during that period and had brought Islam to such a pass that they wept when it triumphed in Iran. They gave speeches and vilified it in their poems and did all sorts of lewd things. They plundered all your wealth as there was nobody to question them.

These intellectuals- among whom there are, regrettably, some pious individuals that have been misled and are westernized- who are now saying that the clergy should go and attend to their own affairs, and leave the people and politics to them, have not done anything these past fifty years during which they were involved in politics. Have they been able to do a single positive thing?! Whenever you who were nationalists or supposed to be pious, would say something, they would suppress you. What was it that made this nation overcome all the powers? Which group was it that had a greater role than the others in this movement? You used to oppose all these movements at that time. I know you. I do not want to keep on mentioning your names. Sit in your place! Mend your ways!

In the demonstrations that are to take place on Tasou`a (9 th Muharram) and `Ashoura (10 th Muharram), you must bear in mind two points that I wish to mention: One is that the demonstrations must not stop you from mourning. Mourn, and walk while mourning. All of you must assemble to mourn. When the word" demonstrations" comes up, do not think that it means we do not want to mourn. We can accomplish our work by means of Islam, Islamic practices and the martyrs of Islam. Other than that, neither our tanks and nor cannons are able to confront those of America and the Soviet Union. We need a nation that will join hands for the sake of Islam. Rest assured that when the people of a nation cooperate with one another in an Islamic matter, no power can hold them back as you can see.

They, too, have understood this point. Well, they see that one of the persons, one of the groups, that have played a great role, in this matter are the clergy. From the beginning, of this revolution up to now, a group of intellectuals and writers- those whose articles, speeches and utterances are against Islam, and who, knowingly or unknowingly, are doing all this- have been saying since the beginning that the clergy should go and do something else while they, themselves, attend to political affairs.

These are the same people who most willingly want to offer the Muslim country to their masters or those whom they imagine are useful to us. Gentlemen, from the 15 th of Khordad up to now, this Muslim country have lost more than a hundred thousand people. Besides, we have over a hundred thousand disabled ones. Why have they become disabled? Why were they killed? Was it for the sake of oil? Does a person kill himself for the sake of oil? Was it for the sake of owning a house, or to bring down the prices? Well, we must understand all this by the demonstrations of the people. All were saying that they wanted Islam. Had there not been Islam, neither petroleum nor anything else could have done anything for us. Is it possible that the people sacrifice their youths for the sake of petroleum? Or for houses?

Now, you are at the war fronts. Our army, may God give them victory, is also active. Now who is helping them? Those women who bake bread for you, those men who give money for you, and those- the people- who send you the provision and so many things, are these Muslims. You saw a woman on TV bringing ten eggs and giving them to be sent for you, and a boy who has only 10 tumans giving it to you. Why are they doing so? It is for Islam, and the Islamic country. How is it that you are not doing anything?

What are those who keep on grumbling doing? Have they done anything? Which one among them has gone to the front? This is a plot. You who are now about to enter the army and its higher ranks should be mindful of this plot. You are cadets. You must be careful of these points. They want to separate you from the people, and, likewise, the clergy from the people. And after that, when the people lack the power of the clergy and of weaponry, they will stage a coup d'etat or something and put an end to the matter. This is the point.

These newspapers, either do not understand, or they act knowingly. Why should these newspapers intensify such differences that certain persons contrive? If these persons succeed, they will not spare you the journalist, nor that head of the newspaper; they will get rid of all of you. This is a plot, sir. They are fooling you and the press as well. They are belittling (our efforts at) the fronts. There is a plot to divide you; the people; the people from the government; the president from and the people; the people from him; and they will do so gradually. If they get the opportunity, the first government official to be killed will be this president. Open your eyes! It will then be the army chiefs and the leading clerics. They will next turn their attention to the parties; not those that approve of them and welcome them. They will call to account those who oppose them. The merchant community, too, has lost its weapons; it cannot do anything. There is neither the clergy to muster everybody, nor the army capable of stopping them.

Wake up! Why are you in such a deep sleep? O leaders, why are you so torpid? Why do you not open your eyes? Wherever one speaks, it is against somebody else. Wherever one writes, it is against someone else. We ought to be alert. God forbid, if they separate the clergy from the nation and the army from the nation, and so isolate them from one another and do as they want- the army dismantled, and the clergy isolated and sidelined by means of propaganda, then neither the bazaari nor the academic will be able to do anything. Therefore, as long as you remain together and united, you can do something.

I would like to mention another parable that is popular among the people. There was one who was on his deathbed. He was the father of a few sons seven or eight of them. He called them. He had a few sticks which he gave them, one to each one of them and told them to break the sticks. They did so easily. Then he added one more to it and asked them to break them. They broke them. Then the sticks that were according to the number of sons, seven, or eight, he placed them together and gave it to them to break. This time they could not do so. They exerted their strength, but the sticks could not be broken. The father spoke" You number the same as these sticks. If you stay each one by himself, you will be defeated. If two of you be at one side and the four of you on the other, you will be defeated. If you, all of you, be together like these sticks, no one can defeat you.

If a clergyman be alone, they will destroy him. If an army man be alone, they will destroy him. If the people be alone, they will overpower them. One is invulnerable when all of their forces are together. They talk about unity, but their actions are otherwise. Each one of them talks about unity, but in practice, they are not united. What has gone wrong with you? Have you gone victorious? It is you whom the army of infidels has attacked. It is you who are in that situation in Sousangerd at present, and also in Abadan and Ahwaz. Senses, so that they do not write such things in the newspapers? Do the newspapers want me to voice my dissatisfaction? One newspaper takes that side, another that lot. You are Muslims after all. Muslims should be together. You have faith in God. You have belief in Islam and in the doomsday. Why don't you check the newspapers? I have told them frequently- why don't they stop them? Should I do it? Why don't they make them shut their mouths? Why don't they check their pens? While we are involved in a difficulty such as this, should you assail one another?

I am hopeful that you the youths- the youths of Iran- and all the classes of the nation, except a group about whom we are not hopeful anymore, will unite like almost all the people, rather ninety percent, who are now devoted to the Islamic Republic and to Islam itself. I am hopeful that these (other) persons will stop doing these very inconsistent and despicable things, and that they will get busy in serving Islam. If all of us are united; if the leaders become united and stop finding fault with one another- this one censuring that one and that one censuring this one- In such circumstances and situation that we are in, everything will turn out right.

I hope that God may guide us all, and you our nation, as a whole. May you be victorious, God willing, and strive in the way of God. Be together all of you. And, be a support, a refuge to each other. The nation is good. It is a good and enlightened nation. All of you be together. The government and the masses, the pillars of the government, its president, its prime minister, its parliament, all of them must be close and together. In this critical situation, in which you are entangled, if they become victorious, neither will the prime minister, the president, the parliament, the clergy, nor the bazaar merchant will remain. Therefore, be united in order to succeed.

If the people go their own separate ways; if they want to gather at some place to hold demonstrations and say irrelevant things, then the first person they will kill is the one in whose name the demonstration is to be held. Those who stage demonstrations at a time when a war is going on in Iran, and while the honor and prestige of the Muslims is at stake, and gather and create disturbances and utter irrelevant things in their speeches, will square accounts with you first if they prevail.

God willing, on the day of `Ashoura, the people will come out. The mourning ceremonies for Husayn (`a) should be observed as before. In the processions, there must be only the mourning for Imam Husayn (`a). If anybody raises improper slogans, crush them with all your might and do not let them do so. The people, themselves, should see to this. It is their Islamic duty to catch hold of anybody who raises slogans against, for or in favor of anybody else or for the purpose of sowing discord, and hand him over to the concerned authorities.

I ask the Blessed and Exalted God to awaken us. May He wake those people up who accuse others and behave wrongfully and those who are trying to undermine the Islamic leaders. May God wake those people up who are creating divisions in the ranks of the Muslims. May He give you victory, God willing, May God bestow victory on you. Dear brothers who have now graduated from the academy and are to report to your places of duty. You are dear to the nation. You are the guards of the nation and the nation is with you. Do not fear anything now. In the past, you and the nation were apart from each other. Now, you and the nation are together. I thank God, with all belonging to the same front.

When I see the television showing the ones- women, men, children and the old- that are taking trouble for this army, these Islamic guards and all those who are at the fronts, I consider it as a good omen of their togetherness. You will be victorious, God willing. Islam will triumph, God willing.

May God protect all of you. May you, in all safety and full health, join this war that is going on between Islam and heresy. I hope that those at the fronts will face the enemy with power, strength and the power of Islam. I also hope that the Iraqi army that has been tricked into fighting for the non- Muslims against the Muslims, will also wake up. And desist from this action that is against the Qur'an and Islam, against the interests of Islam and the Prophet of Islam. May God make all of you victorious and successful.

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