Speech [Aims of the big powers in creating dissension and disunity among the Muslims]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I welcome our dear brothers, `ulama' and scholars who are here from Pakistan to see this simple cleric. I pray to God Almighty for everyone's success in serving Islam.

As you all know, the focus of the big powers for long years has been on extending their domination over the rich Muslim countries. The plan was make this happen at all costs, including the establishment of governments that would serve their interests. In Iran, for more than fifty years, the rule was at the service of such powers and especially America. They had made our universities imperialistic so as to serve their own interests. And this was not limited to Iran; this has been their plan everywhere.

They are very wary of two strata. One is the clergy, because they deal with the pious people and the Muslims of every country while the other is the university. Only if they succeed in creating a rift between the university and the clergy and manage to gain control over the university, can they think of eliminating Islam. However, since the clergy has not been very involved in the active trend of affairs and has only been involved in the dissemination of religion to the people, they intend to create a rift between them and the university and the masses. They greatly fear a strong interaction between the clergy and the masses. And especially now, as they have actually seen how the masses revolted at the call of the clergy. One of their tactics is to create a rift between the clergy and the masses. The other is to create a rift between the university and the religious seminaries with the help of their internal agents and by creating a negative trend against the clergy and by making allegations against them.

Our experience in Iran showed that there was not only a rift between the university and the clergy but there was actually an animosity between them. In other words, they had managed to portray the clergy as a corrupt, reactionary, and opiating group; in fact they considered religion as the" opium of the masses". On the other hand, they had instilled into the clergy, a false notion that the university only houses a group of irreligious people. This was their plot to create disunity among the masses. Thus, it was not possible to pray openly in a university. The university students were trained in such a manner by most of their teachers that they would end up inclined toward the big foreign powers. Therefore, the university graduates had no inclination toward Islam; not that they had absolutely no inclination toward Islam but their interest was simply too diluted. Although not impossible, it was very rare to find a" Muslim" teacher. But such were the inclinations and these two groups had been completely segregated from each other. And they were also trying to cause segregation between the people and the clergy. This was not only confined to Iran and you are probably aware that they had done the same in Pakistan, too, where they tried to create a rift between the clergy, the people, and the university. Their plan was to segregate the religious people and the clergy on one side and the university and the academicians on the other, so that there would be no interaction between them. For this reason, we have concluded- with God's grace- that the university should be Islamic. And our university youth, too, have felt the need for the same and now( the university and the clergy )have come closer to each other and we hope that this trend will gain further momentum.

This is their conspiracy and you should all strive toward thwarting this plan. You should also strive to bring about reconciliation between the university and the clergy just like we managed to do in Iran. Disunity among them only serves the interests of the imperialists and the foreigners.

Yet another of their plans has been to create rifts between the Muslims and especially to create a wide rift between the Shi`ah and the Sunnis. Their motive has never been to strengthen the Shi`ah or to weaken the Sunnis; their motive was to weaken them both. The motive was to create a rift between the Sunnis and Shi`ah in Pakistan, Iran, and elsewhere so that they would become oblivious to all other matters and so that everyone would be engrossed in internal differences. This has been an old tactic of these devils. And they have always been misusing the religious sentiments of the masses. It is not as if they are trying to strengthen the Shi`ah faith in Pakistan and Iran and to eliminate the Sunni faith; they do not want either of them to survive. Their aim is to eliminate Islam because they have great fear of (the power of) Islam. If one billion Muslims were to unite together- without having to forego their own unique cultures and their own particular sectarian beliefs- they would become most powerful beyond which nothing else would be possible. But they are preventing this from happening. They are trying to make the governments sow the seeds of dissension between them. They speak to each group differently. If we wish to live independently, like the Muslims of the early days of Islam, and without dependence upon anyone we should always bear these two points in mind. Firstly we should create unity between the academicians and the university graduates, on the one hand, and the clergy and the religious schools on the other. Secondly, we must bring the Sunni and Shi`ah brothers together. In the same way that the Sunnis have four different sects co-existing together without getting at each other's throats, we, too, are the fifth sect of Islam. We all could abide by our own sectarian religious obligations and yet unite together against the enemies of Islam. Most of our basic religious principles are common. All of us commonly believe in the Qur'an, Islam, and the Prophet (s). Let us unite over these common principles while as for our own unique customs and rituals, there is no need to fight over them. All our differences are only caused by them.

And as you all know, they do not even limit themselves to this. They had, for instance, also fanned differences between the Akhbaris and the Usoulis «1» of the Shi`ah faith. Furthermore, they have gone to the extent of even creating various political parties. Secret hands were behind the formation of these parties and the differences between them. So they even created various political parties among the Shi`ah and the Sunnis. In Tehran, all these different political parties harbored mutual ill-will and animosity. Same was the case elsewhere. One of their tactics was to create different political parties so that they would remain involved in internal political battles. All these resulted in negligence toward the real problems that had been caused by the big powers. What could be better for them than to have all of us awake each morning, only to remain engrossed in party games and in internal conflicts. Conflicts between the university and the clergy, conflicts between this sect and that sect, and this political party and that, etcetera.

The need of the hour for the Muslims is to unite against the kuffar as well as those who are against the principles of Islam and the Qur'an and who consider the Qur'an as a threat to their interests. We have all heard how a particular British Prime Minister «2» had picked up the Qur'an and had disrespected it, declaring that" as long as this (Book) is among the Muslims we shall never succeed in gaining domination over them"! So they had plans to eliminate the Qur'an from the very beginning. I am hopeful that the Noble Qur'an will show its true power everywhere. And now with this movement that has emerged from Iran it has made people believe that it is possible to stand up against the big powers. If a nation is determined, it can stand up against all the powers, in the same way that Iran is standing up- and shall God willing also gain victory- against all the powers that have united against it today.

I am hopeful that all of you will, God willing, gain victory. There is no difference between our country, your country, or anywhere else. We are all under the banner of Islam. The issue of" nationalism", too, had only been created by them.(Harping upon issues like) Arab nationalism, Iranian nationalism, Pakistani nationalism, Indonesian nationalism, etcetera is also part of their conspiracies. They are trying to establish exactly what Islam has denounced, declaring that there is no discrimination between the Muslim nations. We can all see what Saddam is doing to Iran under the pretext of" nationalism"; although we doubt if he is even a nationalist. All these things have been created by them, to cause conflict among us. While we are fighting to establish Islam, they send Saddam charging on to us with the claim that we are not Muslims! While our masses are crying out for Islam, his claim is that we are Zoroastrians! In any case, the situation is alarming and we need to wake up. I am hopeful that you youth will, God willing, wake up. Keep in mind that we are already facing these problems and we have the capacity to eliminate them. You should believe in yourselves. They had robbed us of our confidence. You should have faith in yourselves. Keep reminding yourselves that you do have the power to stand up against them and you are bound to gain success. May you gain success and victory! Let us all unite under the banner of" There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger."