Ruhollah Khomeini

“ I was in Qum at the time when he gave recognition to this government of infidels - and Jewish infidels at that - thereby affronting Islam, the Qur'an, the Muslim governments and the entire Muslim people. The name of Israel was not openly mentioned at first, but later it was.
Indeed, this person was a slave from the very beginning as he himself later made clear. This man (the Shah) who openly raises the question of human rights is in fact quite right to ask what it is all about. What does human rights mean? It means the logic of bandits! It is nothing to do with human rights. ”

“ Even though the government has sent a circular to all the bazaars in Iran forbidding anyone to close his shop and threatening severe punishment for disobedience, nevertheless, not a single bazaar in the country has paid any attention to this threat, not even the bazaar in Tehran which lies within close range of the regime. People no longer pay any attention to these empty noises. ”

“ The imperialists advocate man's freedom in order to deceive the masses; but people can no longer be deceived. All of these issues to which they give official sanction, of which the Declaration of Human Rights is but an example, are mere acts of deception and hold no authenticity. ”

“ Don't repeatedly put the blame on the officials of the regime. The Shah himself is the culprit. He is the one who gives the orders and tells them to kill. If he didn't give the command to kill, there would be no killings. Do you imagine it is a trivial affair to open fire on a whole nation with rifles and machine guns, or to make an armed attack on the theological centre in Qum which is so loved and highly respected by the people? Do you imagine that the command for such action could be given by the head of SAVAK in Tehran, the head of SAVAK in Qum or even the Prime Minister? ”

“ You may hear of what this nation experienced at the time of Riza Shah, but you cannot actually conceive what the people themselves in fact felt and experienced, or what they suffered at the hands of these people. You are only able to appreciate and sense what this man is doing now, at the present time, and then only insofar as you are now physically present. ”

“ Gone are the days when they could intimidate people and frighten them into heeding their warnings . . . today people are being killed, yet they refuse to heed any threats.
It is now forty days since the massacre in which many of the `ulama and the young and devout people of Qum were killed. May God preserve the Iranian people and the theological centre of Qum, both of which in proving how fully alive they are have ensured the recording of their names in the annals of history. Even now as we calmly sit here, these people are in a state of intense activity. ”

“ Don't look at the part of Tehran where, on the face of it at least, things have been put in order, take a look at the other part of the city. Go look at those pits, those holes in the ground in which people live, dwellings you reach by descending about a hundred steps into the ground. What a terrible place to live! Homes that people have made from rush matting or clay so their poor children can have somewhere to live. Yes, I am talking about Tehran and not some remote village or town; this is how things are in Tehran. ”

“ It is the government of Iran which granted absolute immunity to the American advisers, for which it got a few dollars in exchange; and one can see how many American officials there are in Iran now and what huge salaries they receive! That is our problem - everything in our treasury has to be emptied into the pockets of America, and if there is any meagre amount to spare, it has to go into the pockets of the Shah and his gang. They buy themselves villas and goodness knows what else abroad and stuff their bank accounts with the people's money whilst the nation lives in poverty. ”

“ In comparison to Qum, we here in Najaf are dead and buried; it is Qum that has brought Islam back to life. It is the centre in Qum and the preaching of its maraji` and `ulama that have awakened the universities, those same places where we religious scholars used to be accused of being the opium of the people and the agents of the British and other imperialists. No, all that was the propaganda of Britain, Germany, the Soviet Union and others, designed to misrepresent us and make the `ulama and their institutions appear to be the opium of the people. ”

“ A Muslim is the person who works to benefit Islam and his fellow Muslims; fellow Muslims such as those killed by the Shah. They kill our young men and yet we shouldn't care? They kill our `ulama and yet we shouldn't care? Are we supposed to agree to all this, or to behave as if we are in agreement? If this is so then we must become different human beings!
In Iran our young men were imprisoned and banished and now they are subject to the same measures again. ”

“ After these events, the general strike and shutdown, you will see in tomorrow's newspapers that they're back to their old bombastic claims: "We hold the support of all the nation; all the people are with us except for a few misguided individuals; those clergymen who are truly enlightened support us, as for the rest they are all reactionaries including the `ulama and the great maraji` of Qum who announced a general shutdown, the "true" religious scholars - that's what they call them - are all in agreement with us." ”

“ Is the Qur'an a story-book? The Qur'an is a book designed to produce true human beings; it is a book intended to create active human beings. It is a book that deals with everything in this world, from beginning to end, and covers all the stages in man's development. It is a book that regulates man's spiritual life and orders its government. ”

“ But to pose such a question is in fact to abandon Islam, to bury it in our chambers in the madrasa and in our books of religious learning.
The imperial powers dearly wish that religion could be separated from politics and politics from religion. From the very beginning this is the idea that our politicians have promoted, until it has reached the stage where even we, the clergy, have come to believe that politics is none of our concern, and must be left to the politicians; and that we must concern ourselves with matters of religion only and turn the other cheek if they slap us in the face. ”

“ The only problem is that these "true" religious scholars are only to be found in the newspapers. To which "true" religious scholars do they refer? How can any Muslim ever agree with you or consent to the killing of these people? Yes, the case may be that sometimes a Muslim or a scholar is afraid and says nothing, whereas at other times he is not afraid and speaks out; at times a student of the religious sciences is afraid and does not leave his home, whereas at other times he is not afraid and cries out in protest! ”

“ What we have said is true not only of America but also of Britain, another country that signed and ratified the Declaration of Human Rights; a country whose civilisation and democracy are so highly praised by those who Britain itself has convinced of its praise worthiness via effective propaganda and cunning. ”

“ And there is no power and no strength save in God, the Most High, the Great And surely we are God's and to Him we shall surely return As we are gathered here, according to the information reaching us, all the major cities of Iran such as Tehran, Tabriz, Mashhad and Qum are closed down. Some cities, such as Qum, are completely closed down while in others, the bazaar and other centres of activity are closed. We hear that the bazaar in Tehran is completely closed except for a few merchants who may have some connection with the regime. ”

“ But we have all seen what crimes and atrocities Britain has committed in India, Pakistan and its other colonies. The imperialist states like America and Britain brought Israel into existence, and we have seen what misery they have inflicted and continue to inflict on the Muslims there, and in particular on the Shi`i Muslims. Meanwhile, they have installed an agent in Egypt named Sadat, whose every act is devoted to serving imperialism and who, only a short time ago, visited Israel where he gave it official recognition and approved of every word the Israelis had to say. ”

“ There are people among us who tell us we must swallow whatever poison the "holders of authority" wish to force down our throats, simply because they are the "authorities". We mustn't say a word against these tyrannical "authorities". ”

“ Your shadow does not move by itself, it moves only when you move. Islam recognises that person as the "shadow of God" who abandons all individual volition in the sense that he acts only in accordance with the ordinances of Islam, his motion therefore being dependent and not independent. ”

“ When you enter the city you see all the cars and that deceptive exterior, but you haven't seen the state the other side of town is in. The people who live there have no current drinking water in their homes. ”

“ Now however, by God's grace, this barrier of fear has collapsed and people have succeeded in the main task of identifying the true criminal and realising who is responsible for the misery of our nation. ”

“ Those "holders of authority" who are mentioned immediately after God and His Messenger in the Qur'an must also be close to God and His Messenger in their practice. They must be the shadow of God and his Messenger. Yes, the Islamic ruler is the shadow of God, but that which is meant by shadow is something which of itself has no motion. ”

“ You are thus aware of the present situation in Iran. You can appreciate what this man has done to this nation during the past few days. Even now it would not surprise me if at this very moment some confrontation or conflict is taking place between the people and the Shah's agents, although we have not yet in fact received any reports to this effect. What we do know however, is that agents of the regime have attacked the forecourt of the Shah Mosque in Tehran and have forced a few shops there to open up for business, but the Tehran bazaar as a whole has not surrendered. ”

“ Nevertheless, should he detect the least relaxation in our vigilance then he too would cry: "I am your Lord the Most High". There have always been those who have made such absurd claims in the past, and there always will be. ”

“ The students of the religious sciences, despite living in a place which is subject to attack by those bandits, yesterday organised an impressive mourning ceremony which was attended by a large number of people, and at which several vigilant and active youngsters fearlessly gave a truthful account of the state of affairs. ”

“ Indeed, Iran is a rich country. But those so-called "friends of mankind" have appointed their agent to rule this country in order to prevent the poor from benefiting from its riches. Everything must go into his masters' pockets and be spent on their enjoyment. ”

“ In spite of such plans however, they will never achieve ultimate success. Just as they tampered with the Islamic calendar which meant so much to the people, so too they attacked the centres of learning. ”

“ We want to build a water- storage tank at such-and-such a place, because the people have no water there and women have to travel about six kilometres to fetch water. Now if people don't even have water, how about electricity or decent roads, do they have these? ”

“ Even if they could find a hundred such traditions, it would not further their argument for such traditions are in discord with the Qur'an and the custom of the prophets. There is a tradition that says: "Whoever wishes long life for a king will be resurrected along with him." ”

“ The logic of bandits cannot be other than banditry, expressed with machine guns and rifles, by gunning down the religious scholars, by the destruction of the Fayziya Madrasa, and the subsequent closing and sequestration of this centre of Ja`fari Shi`ism. ”

“ They have to take their pitchers and climb up those hundred steps until they come to a water tap, then fill their pitchers and climb down again. Picture some poor woman in the middle of the biting winter climbing up and down those steps to fetch water for her children. ”