Speech

[ In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful ]
Divine assistance in the nation's uprising
It was the Islamic school and the power of faith that made even our little children face tank and cannon. When I heard in Paris that in all the towns and villages, all the ranks of the people- men and women, adults and children, students of the primary and secondary schools and the universities, the high-ranking clergymen and all the other classes- were, together, saying the same thing, I understood there that an Invisible Had was at work.
The range of a human being's actions, whoever he is, has its limits. It is possible for a person to change the condition of a house, a neighborhood, a city, a province or a group of people. But no human being can make the whole population of 43 million people, with diverse opinions and professions, and hailing from different places far away from one another, raise the same slogans; and the primary school children, the infirm, the old people in hospitals, all pursue the same goal. This is not possible without divine assistance. It was the Divine Hand and divine favor by which a nation that had nothing was able to overcome the powers that had everything. It was the same power that existed in the early period of Islam by which some Arabs who had nothing- every few people among them possessed one sword and one camel- were able to conquer almost all the inhabited places of the world of that time and to overcome the big empires of Persia and Rome. It could not have happened unless there was divine power and assistance. You must consider this as the result of divine and invisible assistance. It was not because of any individual or one like me, a humble servant of yours.
Independence and freedom, the divine gifts
I should say that this success that has been achieved is because of the favor of God, the Blessed and Exalted, bestowed upon this nation. Safeguard this gift given by God, the Blessed and Exalted. It was a divine gift that He gave us. This freedom that He has now given us and has cut off the hands of the oppressors; this independence that God, the Blessed and Exalted, has granted us and has curtailed the power of the foreigners, is because of the power of faith, the unity of expression and the attention devoted to Him. It was because of this that the Hand of God, the Exalted, cast its favorable shadow over the nation by which victory was achieved. Safeguarding it lies in your preserving, from now on, your unity in the same way that you have been together and united in heart up to now. When your hearts are pure with respect to one another, when they are united and your hands are one, then the Hand of God will also be with you." The Hand of God is with people." Appreciate and safeguard this auspicious, divine Hand and the gift of God, the Exalted, which have cast their shadow over your heads. If you are able to do so, you will be triumphant in all the stages, just as the time when the Revolution was consummated and everybody headed toward victory with singleness of purpose which was the removal of the corrupt regime and the realization of the rule of God. At that time, attention was not given to anything else such as one's difficulties, and what one would have for supper on going home, or whether one had such and such a problem, for instance. Such things were not taken into consideration at all. Neither did the cultivator think about cultivation, nor the trader about his trade. Thus you saw them leave their businesses, close the bazaar and stop all works. All were intent on one thing: God and the divine school. Because of that general devotion to the divine faith, God, the Blessed and Exalted, also gave His attention to us resulting in this miracle.
A revolution beyond material and normal calculations
The thing that upset all the calculations of the materialists and rendered them wrong and what the government of America and experts also affirmed, was that the developments were beyond their comprehension and that their calculations were incorrect. They were justified in this as their calculations were based on material and natural considerations. They had not perceived the supernatural; they had seen natural things. Based on normal criteria, it was like what they would say that a nation that had nothing should not triumph over a power that was supported by all the world powers. Not only almost all the world powers- I should say- not only the superpowers; all the Muslim countries supported him. Their not allowing us to transit through Kuwait- they did not even let us pass from side of it to the other- was because of the support they gave him. Iraq applied pressure on us not to engage in political activities as it had its commitments. We insisted on carrying out such activities, while we were staying there, as it was our religious duty. Finally, the Iraqis threatened us saying that even if they did not do anything to me, they would take action against our companions and friends. And so I saw that nothing could be done about it. All this was because of the undertaking that they had given to the government of Iran. I understood that it was like this with all the Islamic- the so-called" Islamic" governments: not to let us enter( their countries )and to expel us if we did go to any such place. And so it happened that we proceeded to a foreign country where they had no influence. They, however, came to rue this development.
The continuation of the Revolution until Islamic laws are implemented
Do not let go of this divine power. Safeguard this divine trust, just as you did at that time when you did not think about your own difficulties and thought of only one thing; Islam which was the secret of your victory. You have not yet triumphed, because what you want and we want is that Islam should be put into effect in all respects in Iran, and God willing, in all the other countries. It was not our purpose only to get rid of the tyrant; to remove the obstacle. It was one of our aims, but only the prelude. Islam was the real aim. The purpose for which people gave their lives was Islam. It was for Islam and for the conviction that Islam should be realized that the people sacrificed their youth, and following which they would even express their gratitude. We have not yet gained this objective. Traces of the former regime are still there. We have not, and they have not, been able to wipe out those traces and vestiges. We are half way through; we are still on the way! »1«
The innumerable treacheries of the Pahlavis
we have to engage in reconstruction, whether material or spiritual. They destroyed the spirituality of the country. They attempted to stop the clergy from pursuing its holy profession in the way it wanted. They tried to stop the university from fulfilling its duties in the way a university ought to. It was the same with all the other classes of the people. They deprived us of our spirituality and our human resources as well. They also ruined the country's economy and all its other material aspects. They were treacherous in that they ignored our material and spiritual needs. Their spiritual treachery was greater than the material. Most of you are not aware of the miseries that were inflicted upon the seminaries in the time of Rida Khan. Some of these distinguished people seated here will remember. But the young people do not know what they did to the seminaries and the nation in those days. You have seen what they did in these recent times that you remember. They totally
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( 1 )The tape recorder got disconnected for a few minutes.

ruined our national, human and Islamic prestige. In those days, they closed down our mosques, and ruined our seminaries. They removed the turbans from the heads of our `ulama' and brought dishonor upon our sisters. The period of this person's »1« rule became worse than that of the other. At that time there was deception and a number of ruses. There was pressure as well, but the ruses were also many. They wanted to wipe out Islamic principles in the name of Islam, in the name of social and Islamic justice, in the name of Islam. They wanted to ruin the prestige of Islam in the name of Islam- and they did it.
The Shah's innumerable crimes
Thanks to God that they have gone. They will be punished for their crimes in the place where punishment is to be meted out. Considering the crimes that Muhammad Rida committed, we cannot- and humanity, with all its power, cannot-( adequately )punish him who has committed all these crimes, because punishing him ultimately means that one person has been killed. But in what way can a person be punished when he has killed thousands; when he, himself, seated in his helicopter, ordered the slaughter of so many from up above- as it used to be said- on the fifteenth of Khordad, turning our avenues into places of massacre and destroying a nation; a whole nation? In what way can we make him answer for his crimes? For this purpose, there is another world where retribution will come for all these crimes- a world that is everlasting; a hell that is endless and is always there; torment that is eternal and unimaginable. The reason for this is that there must be another world in which these criminals can be punished. We cannot give them their punishment in this world.
May God, the Exalted, help you and us. May He give the clergy and the nation the power to implement Islam in the way it is and turn it into reality.
Secondly, I wish to thank the honorable Grand Ayatullahs, the learned and distinguished `ulama' and all the gentlemen. I am like a servant unto you and hope that all of us can be of service to Islam; and that we surmount all these difficulties and reach our real destination, God willing.
May God's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.
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( 1 )It refers to Muhammad Rida Shah.