In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Conspiracies of the previous regime against women
Greetings upon you great ladies who are striving to guide us to the right path with your advice! Greetings upon all the women of this country who motivated and are still motivating our men in this noble movement! The agents of the foreign powers tried their best to swerve this noble stratum of our society in whose able hands depends the responsibility of nation-building and grooming and to convert them into" dumb dolls" in the hands of corruption but by the grace of God, failed miserably. Their plot was to force this influential stratum of the society, upon whose laps capable men and women are nurtured and groomed, to forsake their natural responsibility of child-rearing and to instead hand them over to day-care centers and in this way deprive you of expressing your motherly love on them and to deprive them of a mother's care such that they ultimately end up being useless for their country as well as dear Islam. The conspiracy during the reign of the cruel and ignorant Rida Khan was to make this noble stratum of society a cause of corruption. This plot was not only directed toward you women but it was in fact aimed at dragging the youth and the men toward the centers of corruption and to encourage them to either remain indifferent or to support all those who wished to take over their country.
Even if the only outcome of this movement and the Islamic Revolution was the transformation of our ladies and our youth it has been worth everything. Those who are grousing around that this Revolution has done nothing for the country are only unhappy with the transformation that has arisen among you since it is not in their interests and the interests of the imperialistic powers and are, thus, trying to make you believe that nothing has been accomplished. What greater transformation than seeing you noble ladies engaged in social services for the war destitute and the deprived peoples! In the previous regime, we never got to see such sincere gatherings for such noble causes. This significant half of our population is indeed influencing the other half so positively!
Importance of the significant role of women in society
Women play a more significant role in society than men because besides being active in all areas themselves, they also groom the other active strata of society. The service that a mother offers to society is more valuable than the services of a teacher or anyone else. This is what all the divine prophets (`a) had called for. They wished for this section to take over the grooming of society and to hand over great and courageous men and women to the world. Today, all those who wish to deprive this country of Islamic and ethical blessings and to instead drag our women into corruption are finding that you are engaged in serving the society and that all their plots are thwarted and are, thus, raising a hue and cry about nothing having been achieved and are claiming that nothing is different from the times of Rida Khan and his son. All this is negative propaganda and evidently has nothing to do with the real situation. The most important change that has taken place among the men and women of this country is that during the previous regime, dignity and status depended upon all those obnoxious clothes and make-up that they wore and their flashy life-styles while today it is human and ethical values that are honored. At one point of time, our Muslim women even felt ashamed to socially appear in Islamic clothing. Our weaker strata of society were too shy to mix with the rich and corrupt strata. But today it is the other way around. Those same people who were drowned in all that corrupt behavior with their garish make-up and other forms of ostentation feel ashamed among you. This is the greatest transformation that has taken place within our society. The ladies of our society from the days of Muhammad Rida and Rida Khan have reverted back to their true role-models like Zaynab and Fatimah (`a). In those days they blindly followed European fashion in make-up and dressing while today they follow Islam and honor Islamic values. This is the greatest transformation. Hold on to it! Take care not to allow the corrupt hands and their pens and words to deceive you and make you regress to your earlier plight. Move ahead on this path; our great masses, too, should and shall move ahead on this path! Do not pay undue heed to everything that is being said, written, and spoken but rather think independently. And do not become blind followers to anyone. Strive to benefit your country and guide the men and advise the statesmen. Be good mothers to your children, advise people in the society, and serve the deprived strata as you are already doing by the grace of God. Your services to society in all the areas that our country needs- like taking care of orphans, serving the deprived strata and the war-destitute and consoling them- are important services that are valuable in the eyes of God Almighty. May God guide all of you men and women on this Straight Path that you have all chosen to traverse upon! And may all the peoples of Iran walk upon that same Right Path that you have all chosen without any ulterior motives or selfish interest.
You and the entire nation should keep in mind that the mistakes that are sometimes committed by our statesmen are not so grave as to injure our Islamic Republic. I pray to God Almighty to eliminate all the differences that exist among the officials as well as the different strata of the people. May everyone concentrate efforts on guiding this country on the Straight Path to progress and in spreading Islamic ethics and morals all throughout the nation!
Abstaining from intensifying differences
My advice to all the strata of our society- the ladies, the youth, and the men- is not to get unduly involved and worried about certain ongoing differences. The differences that possibly exist among our top officials will soon get sorted out by God's grace. Try to stay out of differences so that they do not get intensified because if you too end up adding fuel to the fire, the existing differences may not find any solution. The people must remain united and they should not get unduly involved in matters that need to be handled by our top officials. They should keep in mind that they can lead this society to prosperity only with unity of purpose. Differences among you could, God forbid, lead to the withdrawal of His special blessings upon you and your country may once again face the same sorry plight that it had been facing for long years. In case the existing individual differences, God forbid, end up in prolonging the war or lead to our defeat, the sin will lie upon all those who create turmoil and intensify differences.
The Muslims and the believers in God Almighty should not permit the leftovers of the previous regime and the corrupt elements to use the situation to their own advantage because if you follow them they will only end up subjugating you either to the East or to the West. Stay alert and sort out your differences. Advise others also to give up indulging in differences.
I pray to God Almighty for success for all the Islamic nations, for you ladies, for all the Muslim women, and for all the strata of the nation! I also pray to Him for the victory of the army and the armed forces of Islam over the forces of kufr. May Allah grant you success in serving your fellow-beings!
May God's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.