Speech [Depth of value and holiness of mourning assemblies; crucial responsibilities of the clerics, US plots in the region]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

In advance, I should thank the gentlemen, the clerics and preachers for coming here from Tehran and, as I have been told, from Qum, to meet me. I hope all are successful in serving Islam and Muslims.

There are lots of issues to talk about, but let me take up a subject regarding the orators and `ulama' and a subject on issues of the day. As for the subject dealing with orators, I would like to say that the depth of your job and value of mourning assemblies have been little appreciated or not appreciated by some individuals. In the narrations handed down to us, a single teardrop for the innocent martyr of Karbala is defined as being so valuable. Even feigning crying in this regard has been deemed to be valuable. «2» This recommendation is not because the Master of Martyrs needed the cry, nor is it only for thr sake reward for you or the audience. Although these concepts bring spiritual reward, why this reward has been attributed to mourning assemblies? Why God Almighty has reserved so much reward for shedding tear, even a teardrop and even pretending to be crying? The question is gradually unfolded from political aspect. God willing, it will be revealed more with the passing of time.

The fact that so many rewards has been considered for mourning, mourning assemblies and singing dirge has an important political reason besides their spiritual and ideological aspects. The day when these narrations were circulated, the Shi'ites were suppressed under Umayyad rulers, and later the Abbasid dynasty. A small population and minority thought out a way to organize their political activities against the then big powers. For this purpose. They quoted the revelation sources emphasizing the great value of these gatherings and tears. The Shi`ites then came together for performing mourning ceremonies. Perhaps many of them did not know what was behind these tears and mourning. The ulterior motive was to organize a minority group against the majority. In the course of history, these mourning assemblies were organized nationwide, in Islamic countries and particularly in Iran, the cradle of Shi`ism, against governments planning to undermine Islam and the clergy. These mourning assemblies and groups were what the governments were scared of.

The first time I was arrested in Qum and taken away in a car, on the way one of the officers told me:" When we came to arrest you, we were afraid that maybe people in these tents understand and foil or attempt." Not only these agents, but also big powers are scared of these tents. The big powers are afraid of the organization created without any single hand bringing them together. People are spontaneously organized across the country during `Ashoura and the two months of Muharram and Safar and in the holy month of Ramadan. It is these assemblies that bring people together. If one wants to render a service to Islam and one wants to have a word with the public, these speakers, preachers and Friday prayer leaders spread their words across the country. These gatherings become well-organized under the divine banner, under the banner of Imam Husayn. If big powers want to organize a meeting in their regions, they have to make great endeavors, take pains and invest great sums of money so that, let us suppose, they can bring together 50 thousand people or 100 thousand people in a city to listen to what the speaker wants to say. However, you see that thanks to these mourning assemblies that line the people as soon as a matter comes about in a city, the mourners of the Doyen of Martyrs and people from all walks of life from across the country come together without much trouble and propaganda and simply with a dirge sung for the Master of Martyrs (peace be upon him). One of the infallible Imams, perhaps Imam Baqir- I can't remember well- wanted his household to ask a monodist to mourn for him in Mina. «3»" The holy Imam did not need this crying nor did the mourning have any personal profit for him. However, study the political aspect of the move. Imagine when people from across the world come to Mina and see that one or more persons are mourning for Imam Baqir and talking about the crimes of his opponents and the way they killed him. It can a wave in the world. They underestimated these mourning assemblies.

Perhaps Westernized people call us the" crying nation". Perhaps insiders cannot grasp how rewarding a teardrop can be. Perhaps they cannot digest how rewarding a mourning assembly can be. They cannot understand the rewards cited for two lines of prayer. It is the political aspect of these devotions and attention to God and people's attention to one point that mobilizes a nation for an Islamic purpose. Mourning assembly is not meant for crying for the Doyen of Martyrs for getting reward and bringing other worldly rewards for the audience- this is true of course. What counts is the political aspect which our immaculate Imams have designed to perpetuate the cause; they wanted the society to act under one flag and unified idea. Nothing can give expression to this idea as effectively as the mourning for the Doyen of Martyrs can.

Don't think that if these mourning assemblies, these chest-beating groups and marching bands were not practiced, the 15 Khordad event would happen. No power could bring about 15 Khordad except the force of the blood of Doyen of Martyrs. No power can thwart the plots brewed against this nation who are subjected to an all-out attack by the big powers except these mourning assemblies. In these mourning sessions and monodies the elegies in memory of the innocence of the Doyen of Martyrs who sacrificed his life for God's gratification and whose friends and family followed suit elevate the youths to a state seeking martyrdom in warfronts and taking honor at this martyrdom. If they do not achieve martyrdom, they will lament. The elegies in memory of Imam Husayn promotes mothers to a station that when they lose their youths in the battlefields, they offer to send their other sons. It is these sessions of mourning over the Doyen of Martyrs, the Kumail Litany and other devotions that elevate the people to so high a spiritual station. Islam has laid the foundation for this spiritual development provided we proceed in accordance with this idea and program. If they understand the purpose behind these mourning sessions and cryings and realize how God gives spiritual reward for these devotions, they will not call us the" crying nation", but instead the" heroic nation". If they understand that the impact and mobilizing power of the supplications bequeathed to us by Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him) who lost his everything in Karbala and who lived under a government that exercised control over everything, they would not question the whole basis of the supplications. If our intellectuals understand the political and social purpose underlying these mourning sessions, supplications and zikrs, they would not object to their practice. If all the intellectuals, all the Westernized people and all powers come together, they cannot create something like 15 Khordad. That which commands this power and brings all together under the flag of the Doyen of Martyrs is mourning for the Imam.

We cry that we want Islam and the Islamic Republic because in the Islamic Republic the entire nation assembles in the name of Islam and God. We observed what power the Islamic Republic was given by the nation and in the light of rising up for God and the Islamic Republic.

Our nation should appreciate these religious sessions that keep the nations alive. During `Ashoura as well as similar auspicious days the nation becomes revitalized. If they come to realize the political dimension of these ceremonies, those Westernized individuals would also set up similar mourning assemblies if they want the nation and their country. I hope that these sessions are held ever more efficiently. Everyone from those noted preachers to the monodists can contribute to such sessions. Even the one who stands at the lectern and recites a few poems and the one who preaches the gatherings are also of effect. They naturally produce an impact wittingly or unwittingly.

We have almost reached this elevated state, as our nation all of a sudden launched a revolution unparalleled anywhere else. They abruptly experienced an inner explosion. A nation which the former regime had divested of everything, even human dignity, and was totally dependant generated a sudden explosion of faith thanks to these very sessions that pervaded the entire country and that assembled all strata of people around a single axis. The preachers and Friday and congregational prayers leaders should elaborate on these points so that people would not presume that we are a" crying nation". Enlighten them more efficiently than I know on the fact that we are a nation which overthrew a 2500- year-long regime with these very cries.

As admonition is useful for gentlemen and believers, I give you some advice as reminder. All the gentlemen hearing my voice in any part of the country, whether `ulama', Friday and congregational prayers and preachers, or the clerics in different cities engaged in such activities, should note that today the prestige of Islamic Republic lies in their hands. If God forbid, they make undue interventions or commit acts unbecoming of the clergy, the Islamic Republic will be tarnished. The government should be kept in power. Today, the government is an Islamic government and we are all religiously obliged to support this Islamic government. The government officials everywhere in the country are officers of the Islamic government. If God forbid, they make a statement in contrast to your taste or to Islamic doctrine by mistake or because of unawareness, you should not confront or weaken them; you should rather advise them. If they do not listen to the advice, refer to responsible government departments. Friday prayer leaders in cities should not dismiss or appoint commissioners.

If Islamic associations which are active in the army or other organizations, should not interfere in affairs other than what they are charged with. Admonish the government and the commissioners. If they do not listen to the admonition, refer the case to the responsible bodies and it will be settled.

To preserve the prestige of Islam and the Islamic Republic, which you are safeguarding, you should not directly interfere in affairs which are not related to you and do not interfere in executive issues which others are responsible to do. Give admonitory view. If a governor or governor general does a wrong thing, don't expose it on the pulpit. Don't let him down! God will not be pleased. Talk to him in private and reach understanding. Ask him to change his approach. If he does not, report it to the relevant department. If you directly interfere, the prestige of the Islamic Republic will be blotted. You are in charge of safeguarding this prestige and it is an obligation for all to preserve the prestige of the Islamic Republic. You see that today all pen and tongues of the superpowers or their affiliated governments have been mobilized against the Islamic Republic. All of them are acting in accordance with a special approach; we should no longer give excuse to them.

I would like to remind you of a point, which I might have already mentioned. From the first days I was involved in this movement and the time the signs of victory was about to surface, I said in my speeches and interviews with foreign reporters here or in Najaf and Paris that the clergy commanded a position higher than executive matters. If Islam emerges victorious, the clerics would go back to their own business. However, when we took over, we found that if we tell all the clerics to go to their mosques, this country would be swallowed by the US or the Soviet Union. We tested and observed that the non-cleric individuals taking the rein of affairs were not up to the mark for our path. Although many of them were pious people, our path did not go with their taste. We wanted to be independent, put up with our own bread and salt and not to knuckle under to the demands of big powers. Therefore, since we could not find individuals from among them to comply completely with the purpose for which our people sacrificed their youths and properties, we accepted our president to be from among the `ulama'. Our prime minister might be from among the `ulama'. As regards the other positions, we have said that we do not plan them to be occupied by the clergy. The day when we are ensured that non-cleric persons can direct this country in accordance with the instructions of God Almighty, Mr. Khamenei will return to his great clerical business and supervise the affairs. So will other clerics. If we said a word, but later realized that this word was mistaken and ran counter to the interests of Islam, we would not insist on our mistake. Any time we realize that the words we said earlier were wrong and that we should have acted differently, we will announce that we have made a mistake and that we had better go another way. We seek the interests of Islam, not the furtherance of our own words.

I have one more word to say to the gentlemen. The gentlemen might object as to why I said so then. You are right. In those days we imagined that among these educated, religious and thoughtful social strata there might be individuals who could direct this country the way desired by God. When we realized that we were wrong and that some of them really took us in by their disguise, we had to retract our words in interviews. We don't have the power of clairvoyance. Some of them were really good, but their opinion ran counter to ours. Now, the day when non-clerics can direct the country, the clergy will return to their position and resume their role as preachers. They will then hand over the executive organizations to those who work for Islam. However, as long as the present situation prevails and we are uncertain, it is likely that the clerics remain in their executive posts. If we find that with presence of a certain individual prestige of Islam is at stake- even if this threat is the least likely- we are obliged to prevent him as much as we can. Let them say whatever they want. Let them say it is a country of the mullas (clergymen), the rule of akhounds (clergymen), akhoundism (clericalism) and similar titles. This approach is of course aimed at disappointing us to leave the battlefield. But we will not give in. Well! These words that I said to the gentlemen are enough for now. I hope that in the holy month of Ramdan, this great month, you will pray for the Islamic Republic and preach to the people not to lose hope and remain in the scene.

People should not imagine that victory has been achieved and they no longer have a role to play. There is always need for them. The government cannot manage everything on its own. The nation should accompany the government. Our war is not over. We are now at war and as long as we are at war, your youths should contribute to warfronts. In the same way that our youths rushed to the warfronts and many of them achieved martyrdom, they should likewise be present in the scene. We need them as plots are mounting. And regarding the issue of the day I should say that after the big power, and particularly, the US, failed in their conspiracies an see that this imposed war is also coming to an end, they have organized a bigger conspiracy, on which we are somehow unaware. They were aware of what is important to us and what we are sensitive to. So, they launched that Israeli attack on Lebanon to divert our attention from the war raging in our country. The US knew that we are sensitive to Lebanon and Lebanese people and that we are allergic to Israel, thus making this snare, sending his puppet to attack Lebanon to cause so much damage and to commit so many crimes. We know that if something is in the interests of the US, it will do anything to achieve it. We know about this attitude of the superpowers. They don't think what happens to women and children in this poor country. They struggle to keep Saddam in power. They also want Iran, that in their view is much important than Lebanon and elsewhere, to remain safe for them. The US sees that Iran has hundreds of kilometers common borders with the Soviet Union. What intimidates the US is the Soviet Union. The US fears if Saddam is destroyed, the Soviet Union would do a nasty thing there. Furthermore, they see that if the war goes on like this and Iran defeats Iraq, the two countries will united, and the oppressed people of Iraq will be freed from the clutches of this oppressive party, and join Iran, establishing a government as they like- Islamic. If Iran and Iraq join each other, the other small countries in the region will also join and the US will be deprived of this rich region for which it is ready to destroy thousands of its forces and thousands of people in the region. Their plan is to push Begin to attack Lebanon, thus whetting Iran's sensitivity to this country and prompting Iran to concentrate its forces to attack Israel. If Iran neglects war with Iraq, Iraq will carry out its plan, while Iran cannot do anything in Lebanon. This is their plan.

Our entire nation and government officials should note that while we do not consider Lebanon to be separate from Iran in terms of interests and all other respects, we should not act in a way that we can rescue neither Lebanon nor Iran. Avoid involvement in this matter. If today all eyes are fixed on Lebanon and all speakers and writers focus on Lebanon, this is a success for the US in prompting us to forget our war with Iraq, in which case we lose both Iraq and Lebanon. Iran can then do nothing in both Iraq and Lebanon. Our way to Lebanon is through defeat of Iraq.

Notice that recently all mass media apparatus; that is- those I have observed- have kept silent on Iraq-Iran war. They might devote a few words, but all have turned to Lebanon. All the radios that spoke about Iraq-Iran war prior to the attack of this cowardly man against Lebanon, now have stopped covering Iraq-Iran war. When the US planned to cause Iran to abandon war with Iraq and entangle Iran in Lebanon to which Iran is sensitive, these radios have since kept mum regarding Iraq-Iran war. Beware that there is an ulterior motive behind Iraqi parliament's declaration some days ago to the effect that they want to leave Iran. They want to dispirit and dissuade our youths and the volunteers enrolling in tens of thousands, one hundred thousand, and discourage from going to warfronts. When they were dissuaded, Iraq might, God forbid, emerge victorious. If Iraq achieves victory, rest assured that you could do nothing in Lebanon, as well.

We should thwart the plan the US has worked out against us. All our speakers throughout the country and all our Friday prayer leaders across the country should preach that our way into Lebanon is through Iraq. We should not let Iraq muster up its forces and the help of others to reinforce its borders and then launch a surprise attack, thus returning to the previous situation. Our negligence in this matter is synonymous with suicide. All speakers, Friday and congregational prayer leaders, preachers and writers are obliged to foil these plots and enlighten the people on the fact that people should not be neglectful of our own war fronts. We want to liberate Quds but without delivering Iraq from this sinister party, we cannot do it. We consider Lebanon to be part and parcel of us, yet liberation of Iraq is prelude to liberation of Lebanon. We should not abandon the preliminary steps and trace the main question, devoting everything to it, while Iraq finds the respite to strengthen its foothold.

I don't know if you followed the long communique released by Saddam last night or not. If not, find it. It seems that those who have drawn the plan have written it and gave it to Saddam to read out. As far as I know of Saddam's mood, he is not in a condition as to be able to think or write something. He has lost his ability to think. You don't know how much delirium is there in the speech. If one knew as much as a first grade school boy, he would not read what has been written for him. You don't know how much he has boasted of his victories and the bravery of his army in all fronts! Read the statement and laugh! He says," Our retreat is a great victory for the Iraqi people. We saved the people from this country. They attacked our country, initiated the war but we stopped them and pushed them back as far as Abadan and Ahwaz." If one was as wise as a teenager, he would not do what he has said and done. He begins his speech with so many effronteries, portraying himself as a commander of such and such territories and charting illusive plans. He had been beguiled that day and today he has been given a sheet like a sheet of paper one gives to a child to read what has written, without knowing the contents. Others know what is in the sheet.

I wish you would find it. One who sees the nerving communique, which took one hour or more of my time to study, one will be astounded at what this man says and what he said at the beginning of the war and what he is saying today. He says:" To demonstrate that we seek peace, we order all our army to leave Iranian territory in ten days." If he is right, this is one of our terms, which will be fulfilled. There are however some other conditions which should be met. As long as these conditions are not fulfilled, we are at war. One is that they should indemnify the enormous damages they have inflicted on us. He has admitted that the damages sustained by Iran are innumerable. He further claims to have taken thousands of captives. He does not understand that tomorrow he should answer and deliver them. If we say we have taken thousands of captives, we have shown them to the foreign reporters. We also showed them on TV. When we say we have so and so many captives, we will deliver them at any time. However, this man who is heedless of political issues says the damages inflicted on Iran are incalculable. Tomorrow all the damages must be compensated for.

We reiterate that we have never initiated the war. We have not attacked an Islamic country, because we consider all Islamic countries to be our brothers in faith. We did not plan to interfere in an Islamic country and so far have not done so. Our army and Sepah-e Pasdaran have not attacked Iraq. However, you initiated the offensive and all the world knows this. To whom are you addressing this? Do you make such statements for your own consolation? Why did you not review the statement written for you? You could ask somebody to read it for you and make you understand what has been written in it. Who in the world does believe that Iranian army has attacked and occupied some of your cities? Who believes that you have pushed the Iranians back in self-defense to Khouzestan and that you are now leaving these cities victoriously? All right! Leave our cities and then call your self victorious! We demand the Iraqi government to compensate us for the damages they say are inestimable, in a rational manner. If you refuse to pay, we will be at war and will get it by force.

Then, by the call of conscience and Divine instructions the one who has committed so many crimes against his country and ours should be identified. Some individuals accepted by both sides should come and investigate which side is the aggressor and evaluate the damages they brought about in Iran and in Iraqi cities. It is possible that a place would be shelled mistakenly; they might have targeted a spot but mistakenly hit a different place. However, now that they claim to have declared unilateral cease-fire, they are shelling Abadan every day, killing and wounding 20 or 30 and martyring a number of others. Their cease-fire is like that of Begin who declares cease-fire and subsequently perpetrates those crimes.

The world is suffering from such individuals, these arrogant feather-brained persons who sacrifice everything for one day of their hegemony. When should the world be relieved of these troubles? The answer is: The day when the US and Soviet Union are no more.

I hope that God almighty favors you, our nation, and we, as He has had from the beginning. We had nothing; He gave us everything. I hope this favor perpetuates. I hope that in this holy month of Ramadan all the gentlemen pray for the Islamic Republic, Lebanon, Palestine and the world's oppressed and deprived people.

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