Speech [Treatise, standing and performance of the Consultative Assembly]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I thank the sirs for coming here in this cold weather and snowfall and for the opportunity to meet them from close quarters.

I have no doubt about this issue that this legislature is the best legislative assembly which exists throughout the world; and it is the best legislature that has existed from the beginning of constitutionality until now. I have understood the earlier times more than all of you. I have witnessed it from the time of the Qajar until now; and the manner in which the people have elected and to what extent the people were involved. I have witnessed the type of individuals who have gone to the assembly and this last years, which all the sirs are witnessing and have witnessed. Throughout the era of constitutionality, this assembly has not been in such a manner in all the terms whereby almost all its individuals are pious and convinced that Islam must rule. From my childhood days that I have been following the elections, and later on that, I heard from other places, the elections have never been totally in the hands of the people. For a long time, it was in the hands of the aristocrats of the regions and the feudal property owners and the big landowners and their likes. When their power and their influence were exterminated, it fell totally and wholly in the hands of the contemporary government. If for instance, in Tehran one or two persons would be elected, it was by the people while the rest was not so because Tehran was a place where one could not exert too much pressure. However, in other places, there was no question of the involvement of the people meaning that we never had a national assembly. If at all, there were a few nationalists in them, but the assembly was not an assembly, which could be a national assembly. Today, we have and Islamic and national consultative assembly in its correct perspective.

I have no doubt about this that the officials and legislators all of them with the rarest of exception have goodwill. I also have no doubt about this in the context that the legislative assembly is the leading body and the legislative assembly is the expression of the nation that is manifested in a limited space- this too is without doubt. Thus, up to here, we are in agreement with all the men and also have the conviction that you have. However, no person, no organization, and no individual can claim that we have no flaw. If any person makes such a claim, then this claim is his greatest flaw. No person can claim that he is without flaw. If some persons could be found that well, they do not have many of the flaws, but we have no one in the world that is flawless; we must always pay attention to our own flaws. Possible flaws, I do not say they are flawed, possible flaws. A human being who wants to work for the cause of God and attain the status of humanity must always take note of what flaws he has. He should not look at what virtues he possesses. This is because if he looks at his flaws, a human being shall attempt to remove them while to look at his virtues will result in a covering to appear over his eyes so that he is incapable of seeing his own flaws.

I would like- all of you like- that the legislative assembly that has been established by this same nation and with the vote of this nation; and you all know that the nation were solely motivated by Islam. Even the official religions also want religion; they want God; they want the consent of God. We must keep in mind the realization of this objective, which is earning the consent of God and the ideals of Islam, in a comprehensive manner. Sometimes, the view of a person- and the same goes for the assembly- are different. Both of them and the whole population want Islam but the view of Islam differs; and you know that the majority of our intellectuals are our educated class and they claim to be Islamists but they are uninformed of Islam. It is not such that you are able to comprehend Islam according to its meaning. They study one aspect of Islam and the matters pertaining to that aspect; yet there are other aspects in Islam to which they pay no attention and this causes differences of opinion to emerge. I would like- and you would like- that this legislative assembly should be such that if it ratifies a law, then when it goes to the Guardian Council, they approve it unconditionally. You know that the people want Islam that they want religion, that they want the consent of God. All the people in Iran that fought and are now fighting on the frontlines and behind the frontlines all is being done for Islam and for the cause of God. We must consider this and safeguard the opinion, which they have of the legislature and the Islamic view that they have of it. This is not exclusively for the legislature; the same also goes for the government. All those who hold a job in the government must pay attention to this aspect that the people are devoted to Islam and the people will not accept the slightest deviation in any one of them. We must strive to earn the consent of this people for the sake of God. This means that this people has done away with those" Taghouti" legislative assemblies and created an Islamic assembly. They helped many people in prisons and freed many and brought back many from exiles. All these were things that the people accomplished. We do not claim to have done it; you did it; the society did it except that it did it by the grace of the Blessed and Almighty God. God placed the society in such a way and granted His Favor in such a manner that this society moved ahead with an Islamic view and sacrificed their youth and gave their all so that those that were strengthening that regime went away and an Islamic Republic came into existence. Thus, people are followers of Islam.

If God forbid, in the Consultative assembly- not because of ill will, because there is less identification- a group get the impression that capitalism is better than Communism while for instance, one group thinks on the contrary. The group that thinks it knows better goes to find where in Islam these issues have been mentioned and without taking note of the surrounding aspects of the issue to see what has been said beside where it is mentioned. One group goes after that thing which has crossed their mind and goes after finding it. When I was in Najaf, I noticed that on the walls of the city of Najaf and Karbala, the Ba`athists that are basically opposed to religion and do not accept it, had written certain things from the Nahj al-Balaghah. For example, in the Nahj al-Balaghah where it is critical of capitalism and mentions that if capitalism grows big, it creates an oppressed person alongside it. They would write such slogans except that it was out of ill intentions. They were not persons that would obey the Nahj al-Balaghah and act according to it. However, the same persons that are sincere and want to serve this country and serve Islam sometimes because of inattention to all sides of the issue pursue a path, which they presume to be the path of Islam but have not taken note of the other aspects of it. For this reason, that which I aspire for is that we, you that are in the law-making center and your job is the most important of all and those others that shall come after this event do not come under the influence of any doctrine. I do not wish to say that you have come under influence; but it is possible that a group come under the influence of propaganda of the other side or by the propaganda of the other side. We must follow the straight path of Islam and indulge in Islamic studies or learn from those that have Islamic knowledge that whether to what extent Islam accepts capitalism and what does Islam say about it and does Islam in principle accepts or rejects Communism. If we come under the influence of a deviant doctrine, we have disregarded Islam. We have the goodwill; we very much like the nation to be such and such; it is expedient how it should become today; the expedience for the strengthening of Islam is that how it should become today. Not all aspects of the issue are studied to conclude that the final interest- that which Islam has stated- is a matter that is from God. It is not that God has not considered what is in the interest of a nation or what is in the interest of a populace and what must be in its interest now; then it should be that. In places where there have been changes in the interest, God has stated them. Secondary commandments are for this purpose that sometimes an issue in societies occurs for which there must be the involvement of a secondary commandment; that also is a Divine commandment but a Divine secondary commandment. We must take care that if we give a vote to a proposal, we are not under the influence of a doctrine of the doctrines of the world. We should be under the influence of the Qur'an; under the influence of the narratives of the Prophet of Islam- may God's peace be upon him and his household. If it is such then tasks are accomplished sooner and are performed better and the people shall hold the same opinion of you that they hold now. If it happens ten times that a group that are for example, in the majority say one thing while a group that is in the minority says another thing and it goes to the Guardian Council and it is rejected; the opinion of the majority is rejected, is flouted; if this happens several times, the people shall become disgusted. It means that it is possible the understanding that the people have of you, God forbid, changes and this is the biggest of dangers that threatens the Islamic legislature and Islam.

The big danger is that today, the possibility of the existence of that threat for us is that the nation turns its back on the government. Others cannot cause the nation to turn its back. The more America levels abuses on our government, on our legislature, on our individuals, they shall become more credible with the people. The tragedy was when they would sing your praise.

If America levels praise four times- I have said this earlier that they do not know how to bring down individuals- on a person; praise him for something; the people will know that there is something wrong with him that they are praising him; but God has willed that they should not understand this fact. If the people see that many times in the legislative assembly, those that they had sent to the assembly whom they identified with piety gave opinions, which the jurisprudents of the Guardian Council rejected because of their being contrary to Islam, well; it will create doubt in their minds. You should work in a manner that reveals you are not influenced by any person; you should distance yourselves from all the doctrines of the world and your aspiration should be Islam, the Qur'an and the Islamic narratives; whether the primary commandments or whether sometimes, the secondary commandments. If it becomes so, the Guardian Council shall no longer reject them. I have the fear that after a period that you propose and they reject, there will be a doubt created in the people such that this fear exists for the government. If the government follows the same path of the people; if the government behaves with this people who have been in the arena- whether of the businessmen class or other people and whether of the smaller traders, except the rare few who were never in the arena- in a manner that causes all of them to become discontented, such as by increasing taxes without reason, by increasing the penalty for delay in payment of taxes without reason; by leveling fines for certain issues without reason; likewise, the judges that are around, if God forbid, their way of going about their job causes people to gradually have doubts about them, that is the day when tragedy shall befall us. That is the day when we can neither become victorious in the war nor can the legislative assembly be successful and nor the government; that is the day on which we must recite the funeral prayer. You officials must pay attention to this aspect that you propose the issues in such a manner; vote on the issues in such a manner that it is not rejected by the Guardian Council; or if at all it is rejected, it is limited to one or two proposals every year. Otherwise, on the one hand you toil for a month and discuss and debate an issue and then they say after a few days that it is against the religious canon; it is incompatible with Islam or it is opposed to the Constitution, which is also based on Islam. It creates a weakness for the legislative assembly and creates a fear in us that lest the people think that these have no religion. They do not take note of the fact that no, these have religion but their opinion is not what it should be. It is not that these have no religion; in fact, they are sincere, they seek the good, they are religious but it is not that all of them must hold the same opinion and be uniform on all matters. It must be such that if you have differences, it should be like the differences between two sources of emulation; differences that two sources of emulation have with one another. That difference if it exists is acceptable to the people; it is also acceptable to the Guardian Council. However, if it is to be a matter, which the Guardian Council says it is against Islam; the Guardian Council does not say that it is against my religious verdict" fatwa" or contrary to the" fatwa" of so and so; it shall say that it is against Islam. If it happens in this way and it is repeated, it poses a danger for you and for all. If the government also operates in this manner which it sometimes does, and continues this line of thinking and pressurizes the people, pressurizes the bazaar traders, it should know that the funeral prayer of that government will be recited. It is necessary to attract the opinion of the people. The Prophet of Islam would attract the opinion of the people. He consistently attempted to attract the people, to draw the attention of the people to the truth. You, too, must pursue the same aim; the government must pursue the same goal; the military must pursue this same objective; the Guards Corps must do likewise. If, God forbid, some of the Guards Corps out of youthful zeal commit an offense and God forbid, repeat it, the opinion of the people, the view of the people about them shall revert and there shall be a question mark on them and this is a tragedy. You should not think that military strength has sustained you; it is the power of faith that has sustained you and the backing of the nations. You must safeguard this backing. If God forbid, this backing is removed from us, all of us shall be destroyed and Islam shall once again fall victim to other issues.

Today, we are answerable to Islam; we are answerable to the glorious Qur'an; we are answerable to all the Prophets. We must act in accordance with their opinions.

I must mention yet another point, which is that sometimes for example, I say something, utter some words that seem good to you also, then you notice that in some places they comprehend it differently and engage in sinful acts. They have informed me- I do not go out but some individuals informed me- that some shameful cassette tapes are available in certain places on the pretext that such and such person has said that no one has the right to intrude on the privacy. Would I say such a thing that one has no right to forbid evil? If I come to know that this is true, I shall grant permission to the person who wants to collect them from the streets; the shops that do these things shall be shut down. They themselves must take note that these issues are issues that jeopardize the reputation of Islam. For such a thing to happen openly on the streets in an Islamic republic cannot be tolerated; the people cannot tolerate. You ascribe it to me; you ascribe lies. I cannot do such a thing that is against the religion and say that you must do it. We say that things that are against religion must not be undertaken; and not to engage in those things that are contrary.

Therefore, the Guards Corps that are the most adored of individuals in this country of safeguarding their reputation and their popularity. If they do not safeguard it, they shall decay, it shall be destroyed, and this depends on following the Islamic line of thought. The courts of law should follow the Islamic line of thought; they follow but they should be very careful. If they see that somewhere somebody has made a mistake, they should point out the mistake to the person. If they notice he has done it deliberately, they should inform so that he is dealt with in an Islamic way. Finally, all of us, all of this government and all those that are in government jobs or in jobs related to the Islamic Republic, they must safeguard their reputation with the people. This reputation shall be safeguarded if you act according to the principles of Islam including the primary commandments and if it is judged that the interest now lies in the secondary commandments, then according to the secondary commandments. However, this too must be based on correct reasoning. Well, some person sits down and says that now the circumstance is extraordinary and that such and such thing must be done while a group opines that it is not extraordinary, it is not possible that because now a group says that it is extraordinary, we will follow it assuming that it has a few people in the majority. You must work in such a way that it accepts it as being extraordinary; the Guardian Council accepts it; that at least two-thirds of the legislature gives its vote in favor of it being extraordinary, they should consult with knowledgeable persons. We must act on the principles of Islam. Sirs, you must act on the principles of Islam; it is both a religious obligation and also logical that we must protect the people. If the people pour onto the streets and chant slogans against us and chant slogans against some persons, well that is a tragedy. The slogans that they chant for us abroad and the slogans that the hypocrite" munafiqin" and their likes chant are enough for us. When we have the people on our side, when we have Islam on our side and the consent of God on our side, we have everything and none of that negative propaganda will have any effect. However, God forbid, if the people change and they see that you are God forbid, doing something wrong and they think that it is deliberate, well they do not know these issues and the masses cannot analyze the issues so that they would know whether it was deliberate or not; who so and so man was and so forth. This will become a tragedy for you. I hope that God willing, you are very serious on this issue and God willing, the proposals that you put forward are done with lots of consultations. Rather at times, you should consult with some of the members of the Guardian Council and after you have consulted and the matter is discussed in that manner, then neither the Guardian Council shall reject it and nor the people shall be discontented. When the people see that a ruling is the verdict of God, the legislative assembly has said it is so and the Guardian Council is careful to reject a verdict that is against Islam so that now that they accepted it is Islamic, the people have no quarrel with Islam and shall accept it. The people accept whatever Islam says. A person that sacrifices his youth for the sake of Islam is no longer looking for material comforts and whether he has such and such thing or not. We must safeguard this beloved Islam. Our Islamic Consultative Assembly must safeguard Islam and all the government bodies must safeguard Islam; must serve Islam. When it becomes the servant of Islam then all shall approve of it either in Iran or abroad, all approve of it and that group that are opposed; that are opposed to Islam, their words shall be ineffective.

I hope that God willing, this war ends soon and ends to your advantage; ends to the advantage of Islam. If the need arises for the individuals to go to the frontline, they should again go to the frontlines. It is mandatory for them to go that if there is need otherwise in case of no need, it is not necessary. Sometimes it is said that they must not go. They should God willing, help the government, concerning building of highways and such issues; they must endeavor to help. Now you know that the war is at the top of the list of issues. If this is resolved, the other issues are insignificant, and shall God willing, be resolved. God willing, we put aside the souls of carnality and that which is quoted from the narrative of the Prophet of Islam:" That which I fear more than all things for you are two things." «1» One is the carnal desires and the other is span of life. These must be destroyed. We are not here to live forever; eventually we shall all be gone. Every person has a turn of a few days of life and then he is transferred to a world that is eternal; that is permanent. Therefore, we must earn the consent of God and strive to attain His consent. Now let that intellectual who thinks differently, utter whatever he wants to say. Let that other government also say and moan whatever he wishes to say. Let that hypocrites (munafiqin) say whatever they want to say. When we have earned the consent of God, the rest is easy.

May God's peace and mercy be upon you.