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Date: September 9, 1964 (AD) / Shahrivar 18,1343 (AHS)/
Jumadil 2,1384 (AH)
Place:A’zam Mosque, Qum, Iran
Theme:The danger of
the penetration of Israeli influence in Iran and the plots perpetrated by the
imperialists in The Islamic countries
Occasion:
The beginning of lessons at the theological centre
Those present: Religious students, clerics, merchants of the
bazaar and others resident in Qum
As the race for the US presidency in September 1 964 (Shahrivar 1343 AHS) received wide coverage in the Iranian press, even making the first lead on the front pages (this in itself showed the dependence of the Shahts regime on the policies of the White House), the Shah in Iran was trying to assure the next US President that the Khordad 15 movement had been destroyed and the grounds for implementing the American reform programmer, the so-called Shah-People Revolution, and the revival of the Capitulation Bill had been prepared from all aspects. At the same time, the way had been opened for widespread American air strikes on Vietnam, and in this region, the crisis in Cyprus and the ethnic struggle and grave differences between Turkey and Greece had reached their peak. The Arab-Israeli dispute, the occupation of Palestinian lands, the expulsion of the Palestinians and their enforced homelessness continued . Meanwhile, at the conference of Arab heads of state in September 1 964, Arab leaden spent their time discussing secondary issues, creating internal cliques and speaking of an illusory union.
Against this backdrop of events, the Pahlavi regime not only refused to sympathise with the oppressed Palestinians and the Islamic front against Israel, but by drawing attention to Jamal ‘Abdul Nasser’s claim to Khuzestan (as discussed in the introduction to speech 1 4) and the help he gave to Archbishop Makarios in Cyprus, it used the mass media ( 261) to arouse nationalistic sentiment and create hostile fronts arraying the Iranians against the Arabs and the Turks against the Arabs. At the same time, by changing the text of the pledge of allegiance in the army and other such actions, the regime tried to open the way for the influence and dominance of Israeli agents in the key and sensitive positions of the country. All this was carried out under the cover of the misleading propaganda of the mass media, under the rubric of land reform, the great revolution of the Shah, the establishment of the Iran Novin Party (Modern Iran Party) and
On the first day of the beginning of lectures at the theological centre in Qum on September 9, 1964 (Shahrivar 18,1343 AHS), only a few months after being released from his imprisonment, Imam Khomeini dedicated his discourse to highlighting the distressing conditions of the Islamic community, divulging the regime’s recent plan (to change the pledge of allegiance) and revealing the dependence of the Shah on the Israeli regime.
Changing the pledge of allegiance, that is instead of pledging allegiance to the Holy Qur’an, the soldiers were told to pledge allegiance to “the Holy Book that I believe in,” was one of those dangerous conspiracies that the Shah’s regime carried out on the directions of American advisers. In this way, the Zionist agents in Iran, who were active under the name of “Baha’ism,” could formally enter the army and occupy sensitive military posts in an official and open manner. This great act of treachery was reported to Imam by some of the high-ranking army personnel, disturbing and angering him. He decided to divulge this treason and the measures that were being taken in Iran to facilitate the dominance of foreign agents, and to start opposing them. The Shah’s regime, afraid of the reaction this would provoke among the Muslim people of Iran, tried to prevent Imam from revealing the facts. Thus, in September 1 964 (Shahrivar 1343 AHS), before he delivered his speech, a government representative was sent to Imam Khomeini clainng that these were rumours made by the regime’s opponents for creating differences between the clergy And the government. The following day, after Imam had delivered an ultimatum to the regime, these “rumours” were officially denied in a radio broadcast.
The Shah’s regime had been informed that Imam Khomeini was to r a speech on the matter and that a number of people from Tehran and other cities were to go to Qum to hear his speech. For this reason, and in order to create an atmosphere of fear and apprehension in the theological a few thousand commandos and soldiers were sent to Qum. They tookup positions around the Great Mosque, the Fayziya Madrasa, Astaneh and other sensitive centers of the city, leading people to think that the events of the Khordad 15 were about to be repeated. Imam Khomeini attention to these manoeuvres; he delivered his speech exposing the regime’s treachery to Islam and the growing influence of Israel in Iran, and, in no uncertain terms, called on the army to co-operate with him in throwing out the Israeli agents.
Other sections of Imam Khomeini s moving speech were devoted to emphasising the need to hand over the Ministry of Culture to the control of the religious leaders and to establish a radio station especially for the clergy. This proposal, formally put to the regime, illustrated Imam’s special perspicacity in perceiving a formal role for the clergy in the political, cultural and propaganda of the country In addition to passive struggle with the regime, Imam I intended to embark upon a series of actions which would result in the clergy gaining control over some areas of the country’s affairs with the aim of eventually overturning the regime In another important part of his speech, the leader of the Revolution strongly criticised the heads of the Islamic states and warned them to refrain from digression in their discussions. He asked them to desist from busying themselves with issues which stopped them from dealing with the main concern (the freedom of Palestinian land) and to concentrate on more fundamental matterer.
In this speech, Imam draws attention to the former Islamic civilisation and describes the machinations perpetrated by the enemies of Islam after the First World War to create differences between Islamic countries and which led to the disintegration of the Ottoman State. He emphasises the need for the revival of the lost greatness of the Muslims by uniting and returning to the rich Islamic culture. At the end of his long speech, Imam Khomeini attacks the misleading and anti-Islamic propaganda of the Shah’s regime and Stresses the importance of the alliance of different classes of the society with the religious establishment, remarking that were the people not placed under such pressure and coercion, they would all side with the clergy.
This speech, which, like Imam’s other speeches, showed the profound thought and careful consideration he gave to all matters, provoked a widespread reaction in Iran and all the theological schools. His relentlessness put the Shah and his agents in a defensive position. Even though the plan to change the pledge of allegiance was rejected before Imam delivered this speech and because of his previous ultimatum, still, after this speech the Shah’s regime never dared to openly speak out on such matters again. The speech of the Leader of the Revolution proved that had Imam had sufficient time, and the reactionary regime and imperialists had not separated him from his self-sacrificing followers and sent him into exile in Najaf, he would have implemented serious and far-reaching plans for rescuing the Muslim masses across the Islamic world from the clutches of imperialism and despotism and he would have pursued his historic mission to rescue the Islamic countries and nations from foreign domination and unite them under the banner of unity in a more earnest and speedy manner.
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We are from God and to Him is our return
O God, preserve our tongues from vain discourse and lies.
O God, enlighten our hearts with the light of Islam and devotion.
O God, grant a listening ear to the kings of the Muslim governments, to presidents of the Muslim governments, to the members of parliaments of Muslim governments, to the prime ministers and ministers of Muslim governments, to the heads of the universities of Muslim governments, to the employers and employees of Muslim governments.
O God, place them amongst those who listen to all that is said and choose the best of it ( 262) .
In this short time, and because of the chest pains from which I am suffering ( 263) , I cannot convey all that has been on my mind; but I will talk about the important matters. I am deeply distressed about the general situation of the Islamic countries, and especially about the situation in Iran. The Muslim governments, whether led by Muslim kings, Muslim presidents or prime ministers, under the influence of imperialism are ignorant of the aims of the Islamic religion they are not aware of Islamic affairs. They do not want to be aware of the Islamic laws. They cannot, in their present situation, be aware of what Islam has brought for humanity and to what heights humankind will reach if the, tenets of Islam are obeyed.
The imperialist governments, those governments that seek to plunder the wealth of Muslims, deceive the Islamic countries, the heads of Islamic countries, through different means and numerous tricks. Sometimes they create differences in the name of Shi’ a and Sunni. Even in the East, those who are not Muslims have been deceived. It has been said that in India on the Festival of Sacrifices ( 264) a large number of cows, which are sacred for the cow worshippers ( 265) , are brought to the Muslims and sold to them very cheaply. They make them slaughter these cows and then they tell them:
“The Muslims have slaughtered your sacred cows.” Disturbances are created between Hindus and Muslims, between the Indian sects, resulting in disputes, which attract a lot of attention. They use these disputes to devour the East. Acting in the name of Islam and religion, they spread ideas amongst the Muslim sects in the Islamic countries, they sow dissension so that the Muslim sects start fighting each other, so that they discover differences between the Shi’ a and the Sunni. Thus, they find a Way to get their hands on the wealth of the Muslims, and the Muslims cannot do anything about it.
‘The Muslims are those whose greatness once conquered the world. Their civilization excelled all others; their spirituality was of the highest calibre; their officials were the best; the vastness of their lands was greater than all others; the power of their government dominated the world. (The imperialists} saw that with this power, with this unity of the Islamic i, they could not impose whatever they wanted on them; they could not seize their wealth, their black gold and their yellow gold, so they thought of a solution. The solution was to create divisiveness between the Islamic countries. Maybe some of you remember the international war, the First World War, and what’ they did with the Muslims and the great ottoman State ( 266) . The Ottoman State was that state which would sometimes, l in its conflicts with Russia, while other governments could not up to her. The Ottoman State was an Islamic state, whose power almost from East to West. They realized that as long as this Islamic state with such power existed, they could not do anything; they could not rob the region of its wealth. Therefore, after their victory in the First World War, under those circumstances, they divided the Ottoman State .a number of petty states. At the head of each of these states, they placed a king, an amir, a sultan or a president, and each of these was in the grip of the imperialists just as the helpless nation was in their grip. In this way, they destroyed the Ottoman State, which had such greatness; and the Muslim governments did not stir from their slumber, or they pretended to be still asleep.
This Ottoman State acquired such greatness under the patronage of the Islamic leadership {khilafa) and by relying on the Holy Quran. After It was divided, in our time, at the time of the evil ataurk ( 267) they destroyed Islam there and now the Turkish government is not a Muslim government it does not consider Islam, there are no religious ceremonies. The government does not have religious laws, but the noble nation of Turkey is a Muslim nation, and it is they who circumambulate the Ka’ aba in Mecca at the time of the pilgrimage in relatively larger numbers than pilgrims from other nations. Yet, their government is such a government.
That former greatness was acquired by relying on Islam, and when the imperialists saw that reliance on Islam was a very important element, that with this reliance they could not destroy the Muslim governments, they separated religion from the state in Turkey with the result that now, when some of the Turks are killed in Cyprus, there is not one Muslim who expresses sorrow. It is distressing when a government acts in such a way and other Muslim governments are indifferent when it is defeated by the Christians or some of its people are killed by them ( 268) . You may only find one person who expresses sorrow, someone like an old akhund like me. The governments of Islamic countries do not express sadness because they have lost the greatness of Islam. The leaders of the Islamic countries should hear in mind that the differences that are created in Iraq, Iran and other Islamic countries are differences, which will destroy their existence. They should act wisely and prudently and realize that the imperialists want to destroy Islam in the name of religion and in the name in of Islam. The wicked hands that create differences between the Shi’ as and sunniss in these countries, belong to neither Shi’a nor Sunni. They are the hands of the imperialist agents who want to seize the Islamic countries from them. They want to take their resources and create a black market for these so-called advanced countries. They want to create a market in the East for the things that they have an excess of that they normally throw away, throw into the sea, and the East buys them at a good price, at a satisfactory price. It was in the Ittila ‘at newspaper a few days ago that amount of food the Americans waste in three days, the amount which they throw away, is equivalent to the amount of food the whole of the chinese nation, 650 million people, use in a day! Three days wastage of American food, just the leftovers that they normally throw away, 650 million people can use in one day. So why shouldn’t they bring the East under their own power, why shouldn’t they subjugate them so they can sell their refuse to the East at a suitable price and turn it into gold and take the gold back? Why should not they do this?
Our governments, the Muslim governments, do not pay attention to matters, they do not understand what happens to them, they do not realize that by neglecting the Qur’an and no longer relying on Islamic laws disadvantages come about. The imperialists weaken the Muslim governments with the creation of religious differences SO they can take their ideology and religion. I seek refuge with God. Shouldn’t the heads of the Muslim governments, the presidents, the Muslim kings, the ministers and members of parliament of the Muslim governments, he vigilant?
Really do not they know what is happening, or do they know hut their e for rank and office compels them to follow orders?
Sirs, do you believe that those who are aware of the course of events, or claim to he, have not understood the simple matter that one Sayyid from Khomein has understood? Do you think that this is Possible If they have understood it, God forbid, they either besot them or there is fear involved. Why should they he afraid? They are afraid because they have been divided into groups. The Ottoman state, which covered such a vast area, has been divided into how many states? Each One of them smaller than the next. They have put the poor people, this multimillion nation, under the yoke of a few godless people and then they colonize them and these heads of state abase their own nation. Shouldn’t these Muslim governments wake up? What misfortune have they experienced because of Islam?
The West has used one great deception to influence, tempt or intimidate the governments of Islamic countries. We can see it in our newspapers and magazines, in their propaganda and in their radio broadcasts; that great deceit which debases the Muslim governments and distances them from the Qur’an is this race business. This man is from the race of Turks, he has to do his ritual prayers in Turkish. This one is from the Iranian race; his alphabet should be as such. That one is from the Arab race, Arabism should govern not Islam. The Aryan race should govern not Islam. The Turkish race should govern not Islam. Let us see where this racism, which is being developed amongst these men and is increasing and is encouraged, leads us. This racism is a childish affair and it is as if they are making children play their games. They are making the heads of the governments play their games. You are Iranian, sir. You are Turkish, sir. You, sir, are Indonesian. Sir, what are you, where are you from’! We should do such and such for our own country!
They say all this and ignore that pivotal point which existed in the lives of all Muslims. Alas, alas, that pivotal point has been taken away from the Muslims and they are still distancing them from it, and I do not know where it will lead.
Islam came and drew a red line across racism and allowed no differentiation between black and white, between Turk and Iranian, between Arab and non-Arab. The only distinction it made between men stemmed from piety; fearing God, true devoutness, political piety, material piety and spiritual piety. This difference was established:Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is he who IV inost pious. “ ( 269)
There are no Turks and Iranians, Arabs and non-Arabs. Islam is the pivotal point for all Muslims. The matter of racism is retrogressive; these see us as reactionaries, hut they are retrogressing to two thousand five hundred years ago. Are we the reactionaries’! Why should the Muslim governments he ignorant of these matters’!Why should these kinds of revolutions he created in each of these countries? Why should fronts be created between Muslim governments’! One lot forms a “Triple Alliance” ( 270) against the other and the other creates Another alliance against them, and each of them curses the other. Shouldn’t they wake up’!
The Muslim kings who think of themselves so highly, should not they pay Attention to these matters’!Muslim presidents who have taken complete control of the Islamic countries, should not they wake up’!The things of which I speak untrue? Don t they accept this reality I am telling them with deep sorrow’!One of the realities is that they encourage animosity between the Muslim governments, arraying one group against the other, and how they equip their armies on the borders! Now, as I speak to you, I have been med that the Turks have massed 200,000 troops on one of their borders. With whom do they have a quarrel’!Why are the Muslims fighting one another’! What has made the Muslims fight amongst themselves other than the hands of imperialism?
If you remove the hands of imperialism from the Muslim governments then you will see what kind of government takes control, what kind of government comes into being. Protect your borders all of you. If it is supposed to be an Islamic government, if Islam is supposed to govern, then all the borders will be protected. There won’t be one government attacking another. They will all be Muslim, they will all be united under the banner of Islam. The reason why you see this government attacking the other, this one sending arms for that one’s army and that one sending arms for the other one’s army is because they are not united under the banner of Islam.
It is misfortunate for the Muslim governments, for the Muslim countries and nations, that the imperialists began laying their plans many years ago. For a long time, the imperialist governments were busy trying to belittle the prophet of Islam. Then they endeavoured to propagate the idea that Islamic laws belong to a thousand years ago, and now such and such has happened and the country has progressed and etc.and now Islam cannot satisfy the needs of the nations. Sirs ( 271) , what have you seen of Islam? All you are media, all your television programmerrs, all your radio broadcasts, and all your discourses, all your speeches in the Parliament are aimed at smashing the laws of Islam. If you do not do this purposely and have no evil intentions, then you have been made to do it, they have threatened, enticed or deceived you. God willing, you have been deceived, and treason is not involved. You do not allow us to introduce Islam to the world.
Only three or four days ago, I received a letter from one of the students in America. I am not acquainted with him personally, hut apparently he is a religious person who is distressed at the existing situation. He wrote that unfortunately the students, the university students there {in America} say that all our misfortunes stem from Islam. 0 you misfortunate students! The Islam that is introduced to you from the radio is not Islam. The Islam that you get from the newspapers is not Islam.
That islam‑ which has been introduced to you is defective, it is something that none of the Muslims accept. I do not accept it, and the other clergymen do not accept it. This is not Islam. They do not let us introduce (true) Islam.
in this country, the television is independent and is controlled by an Israeli ( 272) He says whatever he wants. The radio too, they produce its programmerrs and its advertisements, and what good use they put it to! Not just in this country, in all Islamic Countries; I am talking about all Islamic countries but I keep coming back to our own country. One of the ruses of the imperialists is to introduce Islam as an old defective truth in the Islamic countries. The heads of these countries say Islam is “worshipping the old,” it’s “retrogressive”; this is how they introduce Islam to the people. Give us one radio transmitter so our preachers can introduce Islam to the world. Our voice does not reach the world. Our words do not leave this mosque. All this that I am saying and which is reasoned and rational, is illegal, it is smuggled out of this mosque. No one knows which of these men will be arrested when he ere and which one will be left alone. No one knows where these recorders (which the people bring with them to record the speech) be seized.
We are not speaking out against somebody here; we are speaking the welfare of Islam and Muslims. This is not a tirade levelled at person, it is a sermon meant to offer advice and it is directed at everyone. Its aim is to do well. God knows we want your well-being. So then, give us a radio transmitter as well. Let the Muslims organise a transmitter themselves and I guarantee that it will not be entirely to your detriment. Yes, this idea conflicts with the interests of the big bosses and they do not and will not allow this to happen. Here, somebody than a Jew ( 273) should control the television and propagate whatever he wishes; yet we are not free to propagate our ideas! “Oh no, these reactionaries should not speak,” is what they say, but where is the reaction? All we are saying is that you should be united; all Muslims should be united; we do not have relations with that one ( 274) , with you’ ( 275) nor with anybody else, and yet we have relations with everybody. We see you all as being the same. All Muslims, in our view, if they act upon Islamic laws, are dear to us. We hold dear the nation of Islam, whether it be Turkish, Arab, Iranian, or from any other country, Africa, America or wherever. We are saying join hands together; do not make a triple front and join Israel against another alliance ( 276) , and the other Muslim countries too should not make an alliance against you. You should all form one alliance, you are all Muslims, and you should rely on the Qur’an. However, you do not know what the Qur’an is. All you do is put the Qur’an into your pocket! I do not have a Qur’an in my pocket, yet all the officials have a Qur’an in their pockets! They seem to show a greater interest in the Qur’an than we do! Do you really believe in the Qur’an? You just want to deceive us. Whenever you stand, up to speak you, take the Qur’an out and hold it up high for all to see. You put the Qur’ an in your pocket and you want to destroy it.
Now, are we being reactionary when we say that all of you should form one alliance, that you should stop them from plundering your resources? More important than the underground resources are those, which lie above the ground: our youth. They are taking our youth; God knows they are taking the youth from the Islamic Countries. One group is in America, one somewhere else and another I do not know where! Now our youth are going to Israel. I have in my house at present a journal; the journal of the Iranian Students Organization in Israel. It exists now. These youth are our resources. Our youth are being deceived they are being injected with the idea that whatever misfortune befalls their people comes from Islam.
What have you seen of Islam that you say Islam brings misfortune’! You have seen the Muslims here who are a poor, unfortunate, beggared people - and the government proclaims loudly that, praise be to God, nobody goes to sleep hungry - praise be to God, I hope that this is so! However, do those words change the reality? Does that which was reported about southern ports of the country a short while ago in Ittila ‘at ( 277) -. In addition, is the government’s official mouthpiece - change the reality? This not changes anything. Poor students of ours, they have seen that the Muslims are hungry, helpless and misfortunate, their mosques are dilapidated their places of worship are such and such. Then when they go to America and visit a church or a synagogue, they see that it is all neat and tidy, everything well-kept, everything just right, and they think that it laws of the Bible or the Torah that have brought these people to this while the laws of Islam have kept the Muslims back. No, it is the governments of the Islamic countries, which have made us like this. These deceived governments have brought us to this. They say that Islam is like this. There was a time when Islam held sovereignty over half of the world, and was progressing farther and farther. Gustav Lebon ( 278) , in his The Civilization of Islam, looks at the Islamic civilization from a materialistic point of view; he does not know what Islam is. He believes neither in Jesus nor in Islam. He understands civilization to consist of the pillars of ancient buildings, just as our children do.
So when our youth go abroad, they see all the ceremonies, all the magnificence, they see the Vatican ( 279) in all its splendour, while all our masques are dilapidated and impoverished, and they think this is because of Islam. This has not come about because of Islam; the heads of the Islamic states have brought this about. The heads of the Islamic states that are under the domination of the imperialists have done this to us. They have given our resources to others and we have become unfortunate impoverished and hungry.
It is said that there (in the West), the great heads of state attend religious ceremonies on Sundays. Do you ever see any of our Muslim leaders in the mosque? Can you find them there at all? Yes, sometimes you can when his father dies or his brother dies or something else happens and he struts through the mosque on a fleeting visit. However, this is not what going to the mosque is all about. Do they ever come to attend the daily prayer services? Over there, their presidents and kings attend the prayer services, and these are the services of a religion which today is nothing compared to what it was. They think that the Christian religion is that which exists today. Of course, at its own time it was right. Look at that which exists today of the Christian religion and Christian laws, you students study Christianity, study what that is and what the Qur’an is. Study what the Christian laws are and what the Islamic laws are. The Islamic laws run into the millions; there are millions of Islamic laws, which cover everything. There is not a single topic in human life for which Islam has not provided instruction and established a norm. In Islam, a law exists for it even before it happens. Whatever happens Islam has a law for it, even today. Is this a religion, which is “worshipping the old”, and “defective”? Does Islam create all our misfortunes?
The Muslim leaders create our afflictions. The helpless heads of state who pay no attention to the welfare of their own nations, or who simply do not ‘want to pay attention. They are the cause of our wretchedness. They have created dark days for our people. Still they do not leave us alone; they continue to make problems for us.
The things of which I speak refer to matters, which are the concern of the governments of the Islamic countries, and this is as much as I, as a member of the clergy and a theologian, can offer by way of advice to the Muslim governments. I hope this advice reaches them.
These are important matters; it is imperative that the Muslim governments pay heed to them. I hope that they come to understand this and that they create a real Islamic union. They should set some of their Desires aside and extend the hand of brotherhood to one another. One should not be superior to the other; they should be brothers, united against The West. They shouldn’t be xenomaniacs, smitten by the West ( 280) . The governments of the East should stand up to the West; even the Buddhists ( 281) should stand up to the West. They should push the West back and then sate a stable government and a peaceful society amongst themselves. All the countries should retain their statehood, but none should act aggressively against the other. All should be as brothers. If others attack them, they should all form a united front and go forward together. If all the Muslims unite, no government can defeat them. It is wrong to think that the West has this and that. No, this is not the case. You do not have the courage to stand up to the West, you have been deceived.
‘ When it comes to our own country, however, we cannot talk about the, problems which afflict it in one or two days. The governments come and .go, and each government create a party. One makes a “People’s party” {Hizb-i Mardom} ( 282) , one such and such a party; one makes the Modern Iran Party” {Hizb-i Iran Novin} ( 283) , and the other such and such a
Party. They are just creating parties all the time. Political parties have no meaning in Iran. A one party state has no meaning anywhere in the world except in those countries, which are like Iran. A party, which is forced upon us, has no meaning. They take the identity cards off the people of the villages. Go to these villages and see for yourselves, they take their identity cards off them and register them in the party. The poor person who has been registered does not even know what “Modern Iran” means let alone understand its charter. This poor person does not even know what a charter
Is. All that these irreligious people want from these poor souls is to gather them in a place and make them shout, “hurray’ and “long live.” This is all they want from these poor people ( 284) .
In those countries, which espouse a multi-party system, the governments are created from the parties. The government does not come before the party is formed and then the latter finds itself dependent on the former! However, here, well you can see for yourselves, first, the government is formed, and there is no relationship between the government and the Parliament, or the government and you and I. First the government is formed and then they say - and these are their words, not mine - “we came upon orders and we’ll go upon orders, and nobody can do a damn thing about it!” No member of the Parliament can do a damn thing about it; not one of them dares to either. First, the government is formed, and when it has gained control, then the party is formed. Then that party becomes the one from which the government was formed! Thus, our government is
A party government! The government of these men represents a party system!Sir, who are you trying I as an akhund know what is really going on, do not you think that the world governments also know!
They actually want you to be like this; they want you to be award. Cast off this backwardness. Protect your country’s greatness. If you want to form a party, form it before your government is formed, and then let your party propose representatives for the Parliament the way that they should be proposed, according to the Constitution and other Laws. The ministers and Prime Minister should be selected from the representatives that have been proposed by the party and elected by the people. Then you have a party system, a system that depends on the choice of the people. However, you form the government first. First you appoint your Prime Minister then you form the party; and this is supposed the party system! The newspapers cannot write about these things, they might want to, but you do not let them. We, however, are theologians; we do not have the same concerns as the newspapers. If the government wants to bother us then we are ready once more.
They put on such a show, a show of parties, just what we are witnessing now. Everyday they set off somewhere at the expense of this misfortunate nation. This hungry nation God knows that sometimes lien I think about our future, when I think about what next winter will bring, it saddens me, it saddens us all. Will the people have bread this or won’t they? This year our food situation is not good. There is not even enough fodder for the animals. What will happen in this black winter k, this misfortunate, and poor nation? I do not know what will happen. Is the government going to do something about it?
Now that they have ruined the agriculture ( 285) they should at least get agricultural goods from the black market which has come into being and fill the stomachs of these poor souls. Alternatively, should they still sleep with an empty stomach, and should it still be said that there is not another person who goes to sleep hungry!
Everyday a number of these people come to me, to me who am in no position to do anything about this problem. This is the state of the Party system in Iran; this is the state of the Iranian Parliament, which we all know about; this is the state of their relations with Israel. When one of the country’s top-ranking officials met me, he told me that the Israeli problem was finished with, it was finished, and it didn’t exist any more. How powerful they are in lying! They are so powerful that they even deceive me who am careful and vigilant. He told me that the Israeli problem is solved and now that Israel is finished with in Iran, now as I am sitting here speaking to you, many of the good farms of Iran are in the hands of Israel! People have written to me from Ilam and told me that the good farms of this place have been given to Israel for farming sugar beets, and at the side of the road, these people who say we have nothing to do with Israel have placed a sign which reads: the Iran-Israel Joint Farming Project ( 286) . In an Israeli newspaper, which was given to me recently, it was written about the Israeli ambassador in Tehran! In addition, they say that we have nothing to do with Israel! A couple of days ago on September 7 (Shahrivar 16 AHS) in the Darvaz-i Doulat district of Tehran, the Jews Created such a hullabaloo. Four or five hundred thieving Jews gathered together, and all that their speeches boiled down to was a eulogy to one and a tirade against another, and then they proclaimed that greatness belongs to the Jews, the Jews are chosen by God, we are a people who should govern, we are against dictatorship, we are against Hitlerism, and so on and so forth. This was the content of their speeches. These people come with the full knowledge of our government and openly say these things. Well, if dictatorship is prohibited and they are against it well, why do not you stop them? Do not let them say these things? They say all these things just for the sake of praising one person and abusing somebody else.
It is wrong for a country to rely on the Jews. Is this that we say now very bad? Of course, it’s a bitter pill to swallow, it’s bitter for you. Nevertheless, it is disastrous for an Islamic country, for Muslims, to rely on, to have relations or make agreements with a government, which is now the enemy of Islam, which opposes Islam and has usurped Palestine.
I ask the Muslim governments, why do you fight over rivers ( 287) ? The land of Palestine has been usurped. O you hopeless ones, you should be throwing the Jews out of Palestine, instead you are fighting each other! Palestine has been usurped and you are squabbling over a river! While you dispute over a river, the Israelis have established a government in Palestine. They have driven those misfortunate Arabs out, and now a million or more of them are sleeping in deserts, hungry and bereft. They have become homeless and wretched.
Shouldn’t the Muslim governments raise any objections’!Shouldn’t they say something? Should you enter into an alliance with a government, which has thrown one million Muslims out of their homeland and made them homeless’!
If you have not formed an alliance with them, well announce that you have not in your newspapers, allow that which I am saying now to be published. If you refuse to do so, then obviously you have aligned yourselves with them, you have aligned yourselves with the Jews, with Israel!
You see what the agents of Israel do in this country. Recently, I heard that now, because the regime has asked me not to say anything, I won’t say anything. The government officials have said that they’ve corrected it ( 288) . Well, last night on the radio they spoke about this matter and announced that it won’t be changed. However, I do not believe much of what they say. It takes me a while to believe them. When they found out that I intended to preach today, they said that this matter (the pledge of allegiance) has been corrected and shouldn’t be spoken about. This is what they said on the radio last night as well ( 289) . However, I do not believe them; and if they do not prove it to me, I’ll return another day to speak about this matter again.
These people, these Israeli agents in Iran, wherever you look in the country they are there. They occupy all the key posts, the sensitive posts in the country, and this, by God, could prove to be dangerous for the throne of this man ( 290) . They do not realize this. It was these people who plotted in Shemiran (a district in northern Tehran) to kill Nasir al-Din shah and take control of the country. Look at history, it relates how they plotted, how a few people tried to assassinate Nasir al-Din Shah in Niavaran, and how a group of people in Tehran tried to seize power ( 291) . These people think that they should govern. They have written in their books, in their articles, that governance belongs to them, that they should create a new monarchy, a new government, a just government ( 292) . The people who have such malicious ideas and evil intentions are found throughout the country from the court down. Sir, you should be afraid of these people, they are such animals. Some of them can be found in the ministries. I pointed one of them out to one of the ministers and he told me I was mistaken. Then I sent him documented evidence to prove my claim, but the man, I shall not mention his dirty name, is still there. They are in the ministries and they are in the army.
O you respected army personnel, you are Muslim, hit these people in the mouth!
Many of the army leaders are good people and they sometimes contact me, they send messages to me. Most of them are good people, and so they should intervene and stop the people who are against their religion, who are against their throne and crown, their country, their independence, their economy. You have to stop them. Go and ask that they be thrown out of the army, ask your superiors to throw them out.
I swear to God I want your well-being. I am worried that one day you will open your eyes and see that they have destroyed your wealth, your being. I’m worried about this. If you will not stop them, then let us destroy them. I shall destroy them one day. I do not want to create disturbances. If you do not want to have trouble you should destroy them yourself; if you do not, you’ll see that one day something else happens in some other way and at that time neither I can stop them nor you. This is the situation that we are faced with; you see it and we see it. I do not know what we should do about it or how we should put it right.
The way to ameliorate the country is to correct its culture. The correction must start with the culture. The hands of imperialism are very active in our culture. They do not let our youth grow up to be independent; they do not let our youth at the universities develop correctly. They do something to them from childhood so that when they up, Islam means nothing to them and they (the West) mean everything. If the culture is put right, the country is put right. For it is culture which creates the ministers for the ministries; it is the culture which creates the representatives for the Parliament; it is the culture which the office workers. Either create an independent culture or give it to us to create. You are afraid of America; you are afraid of others. Give us to correct. Give us control of the culture.
Now the government wants to create an Endowment Ministry ( 293) ! It inks it can copy the practices of other countries and bring the clergy under the authority of this ministry. You will take this dream to the grave with you, (God willing). Do you think that you can make the Muslim clergy become like the Christian clergy?
It’s impossible. The Shi’i clergy are independent; they do not depend on any country. Let them come forward and tell (the world) whom they depend on. This is an independent clergy. We do not have to worry as to whether these respected religious students, who live with only thirty or forty tumans each month and work very hard, are supporters of another government or country. They are independent in their own ideas. It is amongst these people that human beings are found, that the Mudarrises ( 294)
Brought under this and that minister. To hell with what that minister says the government is mistaken, it is mistaken once again.There should he a Ministry of Culture, hut a ministry of correct culture, a culture, which should he in our hands.
Shouldn’t we have a ministry in this country’!
All the ministers are from America, well, one should be from us. Put the culture in our hands. We’ll appoint somebody as the Minister of Culture and we’ll administer it ourselves. If we do not administer it better than you after ten or fifteen years, sack us. Give it to us to handle for a time. Appoint a Minister of Culture from amongst us and give us some time so we can do the job right. Then you will see whether we tell you not to study, not to study well, and not to travel to the skies. By God, you are not able to do these things, and because you cannot do them, you say it is the clergy who do not let you. You tell me who is stopping you. Build your foundry. Which clergyman told you not to? Whoever he is, tell us, so we know him. Start building your aeroplanes and your cars. Sir, you are not able to do these things. You poor people. You are a hopeless administration.
: Why? It is not because you are intrinsically hopeless; it is because the hands of imperialism have made you like this. You are xenomaniacs.
Is that which we say so outdated and timeworn that nobody will buy it any more?I promise you that even Germany will buy it. You do not buy it. Give us a ministry. Give us a few hours on the radio; this radio which is driving our youth towards moral corruption with music and other things. Give us few hours but leave us free to do it our way. Do not write the programmer yourself and then tell us to speak in such and such a way. We will prepare the programmer and I promise you that it will not oppose your kingdom, your ministry or your leadership. It won’t oppose any of them.
If only the Ministry of Culture and the radio transmitters were in our hands for a short while we would introduce the people and the world to Islamic laws and Islam. We would make the culture an independent culture an Islamic culture a culture that when one of its Arabs stands in front of the emperor he takes out his sword and pushes aside the fine silk
Says: “The Prophet has said that we should not wear silk clothes nor on silk ( 295) We nurture such men Then you’ll see when one such man is nurtured by our school of thought and by our culture whether or not he will fall under the influence of imperialism. However, the imperialists will not allow us to do this. The malicious hands of imperialism won’t let them give us the Ministry of Culture. Otherwise, it is our right, we should see to the culture.
If you want to create an Endowment Ministry ( 296) , then we should organize it, not you. We should appoint people for it; we do not accept your appointees. You are not eligible to appoint people for it , we have to do it. Let us select the head of cultural affairs. Let us select the Endowment Minister, then you will see what will happen: everything will be, as it should he, it will not he as it is now with all these misappropriations. Then you will see how we eliminate this poverty with these very same endowments. Submit to a few Islamic laws, give us permission to take Islamic taxes off the people, just as Islam took it off them by the sword, then you’ll see if there remains one poor person (in this country). We will build roads for you; we will buy ships for you, just let us handle the religious endowments. However, you won’t allow it.
I know that this that I say now falls on deaf ears. Nothing will happen. You people will leave here and I will leave too and nothing will happen. They won’t do anything about this matter. This is a pain, which we all have to suffer. What should we do?
We should control the country’s propaganda mechanisms. Sir, we are the preachers, we are the ones with a message, not you. We should be given a programmer on the radio to convey our ideas, to our message. Whatever you propagate is not Islamic propaganda, it is anti-Islamic. You have introduced Islam in such a way an {Iranian} student in America writes to me saying that the other students over there believe that all misfortunes stem from Islam. O misfortunate students. The heads of Islamic des, the Muslim governments, causes all our miseries. As God is my witness, Islam has not been put into practice in our country, even for one day.
So, what can I do now that the government has neither the time nor the energy to discuss such things? As soon as it is known that I want to say a few words, suddenly we see that a few thousand people are sent with the National Bus Company to Qum ( 297) .
Do you have a quarrel with us, sir?
Do you want to force a quarrel between the National Bus
Company and us?
Take away this knife, which you hold at its throat and see
how it comes out support of us.
DO you want to administer a country through force?
By God, you cannot do it through force.
Reform yourself a little. Put your house in order just a little. Now when we call for reform, the men say they have already reformed! One of their great reforms was making Friday a public holiday ( 298) . Take heed of what I say, you are duty bound to let everybody in Iran know that Friday has been made a holiday by force without the poor hungry shopkeeper wanting it. If they do not close on that day, they are fined a penalty of eighty tumans or so, and yet the centers of corruption stay open. The cinemas have to stay open, the theatres also, they say the other centers of corruption have to remain open too - I will not mention their names but the newspapers have written about them. These places have to stay open from morning until night, while all kinds of shops, including the bazaar, have to close. Tomorrow the government will apply the law to Qum as well, and will say that Qum requested this also, just as Tehran did. Qum also wanted this misfortune. These people who “requested” this will wake up in the morning and ask “when did we request this’?” The government quickly writes about this supposed request, the newspapers also write about it. Some of these newspapers betray the country.
These centers of corruption remain open, Friday is made a holiday and they provide all kinds of bacchanalian pursuits for the young people at the threshold of their lives. God curse the traitors (the audience replies with amen). Ten years from now there will not be one virtuous youth left for this country, all of them will have been dragged into these centers of corruption.
I advise you men to make the country realize what is happening, make all those living in this country realize what is happening, in order to confront what they are doing with your youth and in order to stop them from taking your youth off you in droves you should hold religious meetings. On those Fridays that they want to entice the people into the centers of corruption, you should. Hold meetings in which you propagate religion, invite people to religion, and invite them to do well and dissuade them from that which is evil. It is our duty to do this. You have to do this, if you do not, they will take your youth away from you.
Organize some centers for these young people so they can receive guidance there, so they can be told about the state of affairs, so they can be told, as much as that organization (SAVAK) allows them to be told, about the corruption which is being established in this country. This holiday on ay, observation of which is obligatory, is not to give the working class a day of rest ( 299) , it has been made into a holiday for the reasons I gave above.
Perhaps, God willing, this is not their aim, but the outcome will still be the same. When the centers of corruption are open and everywhere else is closed, then naturally our youth will be enticed there. In these few weeks since they made Friday a holiday, the poor people, who need to go and earn some money for bread on this day and are not allowed to do so, have been made more impoverished, the youth, the fruit of the people, have been blighted. Go and see how the cinema has changed from one month ago. Perhaps there is some kind of collusion between those who propagate these things and the cinemas and centers of corruption. Perhaps are getting something from these places to do this, otherwise, why was not some healthy form of entertainment first provided for the people? A legitimate, healthy form of entertainment should have been arranged for
These poor people before the shop doors were closed, to attract them towards that. However, you have not done this, you have left the corruption centers open and you have closed the shop doors. You may not have had any bad intentions, but now I’ve told you what the outcome of your actions will be, and if after these words of mine reach the administrative centers in charge of this matter the situation remains the same, then it will be clear that there is malice involved, that yet another “order” has been given.
O God, awaken these people (Shouts of Amen {so he it} from
the audience).
O God, humble the enemies of Islam (Amen).
O God, make the heads of Muslim countries aware of their
duties (Amen).
O God, sever the hands of the imperialists (Amen).
O God, sever the hands of those who want to appropriate the
wealth of This country through imperialism (Amen).
Peace be upon you, and also the mercy and blessings of God.