Speech [Imperialist conspiracies for isolating the clergy; the great responsibility of the clerics; need for unity between the seminaries and the universities]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Although we are short of time, I would like to share a few words with you clerics and the brothers and sons of Islam.

The covert hands of the global usurpers have, with the help of local individuals and groups that have penetrated into the various strata of the Muslim nations, been working on a certain evil plan for many years now. And they have unfortunately succeeded in spreading a general belief that the clerics should be isolated in their chambers and in the mosques and that the activities of their seniors should be confined to visits from their homes to the mosques and back, with no involvement whatsoever in social issues. And that any involvement of the clergy in socio-political affairs should be tabooed since it would be against the dignity of the clergy! Subsequently, the duty of the young clerics was to simply crawl into the damp chambers of their seminaries and to study religious books that had nothing to do with social and political affairs. According to them, it would be most out of place for a cleric to ever don a military uniform. Any kind of political involvement was considered as going against the essence of priesthood. And if any cleric ever got involved in political affairs, he would be considered as an outcast. All these were conspiracies to isolate the clerics and to confine them to a corner in the mosque or to the chambers of their seminaries. This plan succeeded in spreading such baseless beliefs among most clerics and the majority of the masses. The clerics were not supposed to get involved in any affairs related to politics and the socio-political problems of an" Islamic" country. They had inherited this plan from the European world where the clergy had been isolated so that vested interests could do whatever they wished with the nation without being answerable to anyone. They tried to implement this same plan in our country and in the other Muslim countries. If ever a cleric tried to involve himself in a political issue, everyone including the clergy, would stand up in objection. They wanted the clergy to stay away from politics and from the problems faced by Islam and the Muslims, and to leave such affairs in the hands of the monarchs and those connected with them. This plan had been in circulation for long years and had reaped in many benefits for them. It was because of this plan that our country as well as the other Muslim countries- whose clergy should also involve themselves in the affairs of the country and should give priority to the political affairs of their countries in their programs- came to face all these problems. They had realized very well that the clergy could exercise a powerful influence upon the masses and that they would, thus, need to plan in a manner that would instigate the masses to prevent the clerics from involvement in political affairs. The clerics also came to be brainwashed into believing that they should abstain from political involvement. They succeeded in putting the same plan that they had implemented in the Western world with regards to the church- isolating it from the daily affairs of the masses- into action in our country, bringing us to this state of affairs.

A major transformation has taken place in our nation today. God Almighty has blessed this nation with this transformation through His Power. This transformation has also taken place within the clerics. The clerics today work shoulder to shoulder with our freedom-fighters and many even attain martyrdom. They are present at the warfronts along with the rest of the masses and the earlier taboo that had been placed on their involvement in social, political and defense affairs has been eliminated. With the grace of God Almighty, you gentlemen as well as other clerics and seminarians from all over the country, are active in all fields and even go to the warfronts and make sacrifices along with your brothers from the military and the revolutionary guard corps.

Dear brothers and sons of Islam! Stay alert to the fresh conspiracies to isolate you from your current activities. Do not allow certain individuals and groups that do not want the clerics in this country to breathe in peace, to mislead you and send you back to the seclusion of your seminaries. In the same way that you should be striving to gain knowledge and work on self-restraint [taqwa] you should also strive to prepare yourselves for political and social involvement and for the elimination of the problems of the Muslim world as well as defending the Islamic country. As with the clerics, those same elements also had similar plans for our college-going and other youth to prevent them from getting involved in the political and the other affairs of this country, which is in fact in dire need of their active involvement. They had gone to the extent of employing a large number of school and university teachers who were against Islam and this Islamic nation in order to deviate our youth and to prevent them from working for Islam. They had poisoned the minds of our youth against the clergy and vice versa. They created a rift among the clergy and the university and capitalized on it. By the Grace of God Almighty, this rift has now been eliminated and, today, the clergy and the university people work shoulder to shoulder and are active in socio-political affairs and in defending the country. Both, the clerics as well as the university people should abstain from criticizing each other, keeping in mind that such criticism is in the interest of neither group. It will only serve the interests of the superpowers. They are not going to leave the Muslim countries alone so easily. Nor are they going to leave Iran alone. They have become used to pocketing our oil and our other resources. And those who worked in this country earlier, actually worked in the favor of foreign interests. Now that their hands have been severed from this country they are not going to let go of it so easily.

Dear brothers and sisters and all the strata of our nation! Keep in mind that there are conspiracies at work, striving to present a false picture of the clerics in the minds of the people and to create a rift between them and the people and the university so that they can cater to their own interests even if it means bringing into power a deceitful regime in this nation; a regime that would be totally Islamic in appearance and would cry the cause of Islam much louder than all of you but would be hypocritical in nature and would act completely against the interests of the country. The evil conspiracies of the big powers are at work today attempting to create a rift between the clergy and the people, the university, and the youth. This is the same plan through which they wish to isolate the clergy so that they can further their own interests.

Where are all those who criticize the clergy? Those same people all charged in when the Revolution took place and ransacked our weapons and ammunition. And even now that our country is at war, they are sitting armed on the sidelines, waiting for Iraq or some other power to overcome us so that they can join hands with them. Our clergies are actively present at the fronts and many of them have even attained martyrdom while others have returned safely after serving at the fronts. Have those who are sitting and criticizing the clerics ever served at the warfronts or given any martyrs? They simply pillaged our weapons and ammunition and are now lying in wait for Iran to face defeat. They are waiting for those who have served selflessly at the warfronts to be sidetracked so that they can reap all the benefits. These deviated elements are neither with Islam, nor are they with the clergy or the university.

Both the seminaries as well as the universities should keep in mind that they need to strengthen their mutual relationship. You are the two vital bodies that have a powerful influence on the health of a society. Your isolation would mean that all those who can do something for the country will, God forbid, get isolated. And all those powers that have had to forfeit their interests in this country will consequently enter the scene and will bring in a seemingly popular government that will lead our country to its doom.

Dear brothers! Make sure that the arms that you take up are for the welfare of the society. You should be the guardians of the wellbeing of the society and your actions should present the true picture of Islam. You should keep in mind that any un-Islamic actions reflected in the behavior of the clerics who have donned the robes of religion is bound to isolate the clergy. All pens will begin to write against you and will create a rift between you and the nation and will inflict the same disasters on this country that were common during the rules of Rida Khan and his son.

Today Islam, all over the world and especially in Iran in which the popular Islamic Republic has been established, is a great divine trust that has been placed in our hands. Any treachery to this divine trust shall amount to treachery to Islam, treachery to the pure divine laws, and treachery to the weak nations. The clerics all over the country- those who go to the warfronts and make sacrifices, those who are studying or teaching in the seminaries, the Friday and other congregational prayer leaders, those who are serving in the courts of law and the judiciary, as well as those who are members of various commissions and hold other posts- should always keep in mind that Islam is a divine trust, especially placed in your hands. Any kind of deviation among you or even among some of you will only encourage those who are against you and Islam to attack you with their pens and their words and to even blow matters out of proportion. They may never bother to write about all your services but even the slightest deviation on your part is immediately and repeatedly emphasized in public so that all your sincere efforts are eclipsed. I have never heard them make any mention about your struggles since Khordad 15 or the torture and imprisonment that your leaders have endured; some of which atrocities are not even inflicted upon criminals. None of them has ever bothered to write about all these sacrifices but if they find even the smallest evidence against you- whether real or fabricated- their agents get busy spreading all over that this is a" dictatorship of the clerics" that has come into power! This is a term that has been invented by the enemies of Islam who wish to sidetrack Islam so that the clerics are pushed into the corners of the mosques and are forced to focus their efforts only on religious matters with no involvement in social problems and issues so that the others can remain active in the scenes and inflict upon us what Muhammad Rida did.

All of you need to wake up! Our nation needs to wake up! Our entire nation, whether it is the common man or the businessman or the factory worker or the agriculturist, should all wake up to the fact that there is a big conspiracy with hidden motives behind the spread of talks regarding the" dictatorship of the clerics". Let them come out and show us which clerics are dictators! Yes, if their interpretation of the term" dictatorship" is the securing of the rights of the oppressed or the elimination of people like Nasiri, then these are Islamic acts and are based upon the principles of Islam. But if what they are saying implies that the clerics wish to impose things upon the masses or that they want to distress the nation and further their own interests by coming into power then this is a clear lie. Our people should directly ask those who are spreading such stories to exactly point out who they are referring to and precisely what that person has done and what act of" dictatorship" has been committed by him so that they can reach to the roots of this issue.

All of you, from all sections of the clergy, are duty-bound to act according to the laws of Islam and to take care not to deviate in any way and to prevent the enemies from finding an excuse to blow matters out of proportion. It is your duty not to deviate from the laws of Islam and I am sure that you are careful about the same. It is the duty of the nation to honor the word of the clerics and to ignore all the lies that is being spread against them. Our people should pursue the matter and should ask for evidence regarding such claims. Is it the speaker of our Majlis who is a dictator and is oppressing people or is it some other official who is dictating terms? Or then is it that the tongues of these uncommitted people are the real dictators that intend to weaken the clergy and the Islamic Republic? Elements that attack the clergy without any legal evidence and work against the interests of Islam or attack the Islamic Republic without any real proof! It is these people that are the real dictators who wish to sidetrack the clergy in order to bring in a government that has the approval of Mr. Reagan or the Soviet Union!

I warn the clerics all over the country of an impending danger. I warn the entire nation of an impending danger. I warn the clerics that if, God forbid, there are people among you who act against the Islamic laws, they should be curbed and if they still persist, expel them from your circle. And if you fail to do this, they will tarnish the reputation of the clergy; and if this ever happens, Islam itself will be sidetracked. Islam without the clergy is like a country without a physician. Your scholars and your orators should judiciously and astutely ensure that the seminaries and the other areas in which the clerics are active are left hazard-free so that you do not give an excuse to your enemies who are waiting to eliminate you from the scenes, failing which, their pens will get into action and all your services will get eclipsed. If even one or two of you waver their actions will get reflected upon the entire clergy. You should strive toward self-purification. Everyone involved with the seminaries and especially the teachers should ensure that the seminaries are left free from corruption.

I also warn the nation that there is a conspiracy at hand to eliminate the clergy from the scenes and to create a rift between you and the clerics so that your enemies can inflict upon this nation, the same tragedies that you faced during the years of Rida Shah, but in a new form.

Wake up O people! Wake up O clergy! Wake up O academicians! Wake up O factory workers; O' government employees! O' the senior citizens and the junior citizens of this nation! Wake up men; wake up women! Wake up and thwart this conspiracy! And do not allow the nation and the country to deviate from the path that you have chosen- the path of Islam and the path of God and the path of the Noble Messenger of Islam (s).

I have repeatedly warned all of you, including those who are in charge of the affairs of this nation- right from the President downwards, including the military personnel, the gendarmes, the revolutionary guards, the police force, the ethnics, and the other strata of society that are actively serving the nation- to keep in mind that your enemies are trying to create dissension among you. Their tactic is to carry tales from one stratum of the society to the other and back. They stealthily approach our youth who are making sacrifices at the warfronts with the intention of creating rifts between them and the revolutionary guards and the army. They even try to create rifts within the army. Do not forget that those who approach the President posing as well-wishers and bad-mouth others are devils in the form of man. Those who sneak up to the Prime Minister and the other ministers, carrying stories about the President are also devils in the guise of men. Their only aim is to create dissension and animosity among you. They want to hand over this nation to the foreigners. They want to get rid of all of you and to form a government with the help of America or the Soviet Union.

At this point of time, in order to ensure the peace and harmony of this nation, political wisdom calls for unity among all of you since all of you share a common goal- which is Islam- even if your approaches may be different, so that we can, God willing, succeed in actualizing our true goals for the Islamic Republic. I advise all of you to sort out your differences. Refrain from speaking and writing against each other in public. I am hopeful that all of you will keep your faith firm in Islam and will remain committed to the Islamic Republic. In that case, you shall all share a common goal even if your approaches may differ. However, this is not the right time to focus upon your differences of approach. I sincerely advice all officials- whether they are active in the Majlis or elsewhere- to treat this matter as a divine and religious duty, the deviation from which would amount to a deviation from the path of Islam.

All of us support our army and its commanders. If anyone claims that the nation does not support the army it is an obvious lie. You can see for yourself that the entire nation is serving the army while the army is engaged in defending the country. All those who claim that there is an opposition between the army and the clergy are liars because you can clearly see that our dear clerics from all over the country, some of whom are from the two great cities and centers of learning, Qum and Mashhad, are here in armed presence and have sacrificed their beloveds and their limbs at the warfronts. They have come here today and shall consequently proceed to the warfronts to, God willing, gain victory for the nation. The entire nation should support the army so that they can guard our warfronts. The revolutionary guards, the gendarmes, and the other members of the armed forces as well as the paramilitary forces should all remain united; and the nation, too, should support them strongly so that this imposed war, God willing, comes to an end with your victory. I forewarn you and all the future generations to come and advise you to keep in mind that the nation, the clergy, and the university

should never be disunited because any disunity among them will result in disaster for the entire nation, for Islam, and for the country.

May God's peace be upon you.