Message on the First Anniversary of the Passing of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified)

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Men whom neither trade nor sale can divert from the remembrance of God, the establishment of prayer, and the giving of alms, fear a day when hearts and eyes will be overturned. That God may reward them according to the best of their deeds and increase them from His bounty, and God provides for whom He wills without account.

In the eventful history of the revolution, no day was like the twelfth of Bahman, when a man from the lineage of prophets, in their manner, with a miraculous hand and a heart as deep and vast as the sea, descended among a deserving and expectant people like a verse of mercy, seating them on the wings of the angels of divine power and elevating them to the throne of honor and greatness. And no day was like the fourteenth of Khordad, when the storm of calamity and mourning lashed this people with the whip of grief and sorrow. Iran became of one heart, and that heart burned with a consuming longing, and it became of one eye, and that eye wept in a great calamity. On that day, a sun set that, with its rise, had caused a thousand springs of light to gush forth in the life of the Iranian nation; a spirit ascended that, with its divine breath, had given life to the body of the nation; a voice was silenced whose warm breath had dispelled the coldness and despondency from the Islamic world; lips were sealed that had recited the divine verses of honor and dignity to the Muslims and had nullified the spell of despair and humiliation in their souls.

That day became a day of great mourning for the Islamic world. The pain of that grief was not confined to the Iranian nation. Throughout the world, wherever there was an enlightened heart and an awakened soul, they were afflicted by the calamity. Wherever there was a Muslim aware of the revolution and its issues, they considered themselves in mourning. Thus, there was no place on earth where hearts were not filled with sorrow from this great event, and where people did not sit in mourning for this irreplaceable loss.

As for Iran, it became entirely a house of mourning, where in every city and village, the lament of longing overflowed from every house and filled the alleys, squares, and streets. No one could silently swallow this draught of pain; from the warriors of the battlefields to the mothers and fathers whose grief over the martyrdom of their young ones had not been able to crease their brows with helplessness and sorrow, to the great men of the fields of knowledge, mysticism, and politics, and to each and every individual of this great nation, all wept bitterly in this great calamity, or raised their voices in lamentation, or impatiently beat their chests. The calamity of the loss of the Imam was as great as the Imam himself, and who but God and His saints can know the bounds of this greatness? Where great hearts become restless, where great people lose their composure, where the scene is filled with the restlessness of millions upon millions of people, what human tongue and pen can depict and stage it? I, who was myself a restless drop in the turbulent ocean of that day—and those days—how can I describe it?!

As for the other side of the scene, the celestial realm of the world on that day was visible only to those with insight and knowledge. Perhaps the penetrating eyes that pierce the veil of the earthly realm and let the bird of vision soar to the heavens saw more wonders and more spectacular scenes on that day in that Ashura of Khomeini: the ascent of a tranquil soul to the abode of divine grace and mercy, the ascent of a pure word and a content and pleasing soul towards the Truth, the return of a stream to the sea and the union of a lover with the beloved, the welcoming of a great host of martyrs to that pure soul and the greeting of the pure spirits of the saints to that new guest, the success and salvation of a purified soul that sat on the wings of the angels of mercy and whose countless good deeds perfumed the nostrils of the angels and the treasuries of the blissful paradise of God, a righteous deed that became a robe of light and was draped over the celestial body of that abstract soul, and became a rain of divine forgiveness and grace that poured over the entirety of that righteous servant and became the eternal abode of peace, embracing that seeker of divine pleasure.

Alas, for us earthly beings, from that celestial celebration, no spark of consolation shone, and nothing but the tears of the eyes could be sprinkled on the fire of separation from that beloved of hearts. The fervor of mourning for the kind father, the compassionate teacher, the wise guide, the ever-watchful guardian, the healer of pain and remedy, and the divine messenger of mercy to the nation and the heir of the prophets and saints on earth, melted the people of the earth and poured an inconsolable grief upon them. Time lost its unique one, and the earth took into itself a singular gem. The great standard-bearer of Islam, after a blessed life spent in the path of elevating Islam, bid farewell to the world, and the pole of the realm of possibility and the greatest guardian of God (may our souls be sacrificed for him) mourned the loss of his vicegerent.

Now, a year has passed since those days filled with pain and suffering. A year in which the memory and presence of the Imam have not left our nation for a moment and remain alive, prominent, and shining in the minds and lives of them and other Muslims and the oppressed around the world. What has been of utmost importance to us and all the well-wishers of the Islamic nation after the blessed life of the Imam and in this one year is his great, historical, and unparalleled legacy—the Islamic Republic and its health, strength, momentum, and correct orientation on the path and line of the Imam. This is the very thing that, during the life of that great man, was considered the primary issue for the Iranian nation and its friends around the world, indeed for every Muslim who was attached to the glory and greatness of Islam. And rightly so.

The Islamic Republic, which with its emergence opened a new path in confronting the world's top bullies and gave new hope to the oppressed nations—especially Muslims—and during the more than ten years of the leadership of the great departed Imam, repeatedly humiliated the tyrants of the time and nullified their myth of invincibility, must indeed attract the utmost attention of the Islamic nation and our oppressed nation; just as that righteous leader always devoted his utmost effort to these two issues: safeguarding the Islamic Republic and ensuring its correct and proper orientation. And that great jurist and unparalleled Islamic scholar considered the preservation of the Islamic Republic to be superior and more important than any obligation.

With the passing of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified), the wide spectrum of enemies of Islam, who were at the forefront of opposition to the Islamic Republic, did not hide their hope that the Islamic Republic, in the absence of its creator and nurturer, would lose its defensive and growth capabilities and, like an orphaned child, feel weak and helpless, or be completely defeated, or be forced to seek refuge under the skirts of this or that! In the narrow-minded calculations of the enemies, who are all without exception captive to one hundred percent material calculations and devoid of understanding of spiritual relations and the blessings of faith and piety, it did not fit that the divine miracle at the dawn of the fifteenth century AH—that is, the government of righteousness and religion and the revival of Islamic values—would be such a high peak that the tainted hands of the servants of desire and lust could not reach it, and the diplomacy of gold and force would be unable to ensnare it!

But the divine will was this, and it became as the divine will was. The Islamic system demonstrated its growth and efficiency in this great divine calamity and trial, and the noble nation and the sincere and responsible officials, as a reward for their patience in this great calamity, earned the merit of divine greetings and mercy, and with the help of God and the attentions of the greatest guardian of God (may our souls be sacrificed for him), they were able to emerge with honor from a great test by solving the knots that naturally arose with the passing of the Imam. The Islamic system, which had lost its beating heart, thanks to its faith and reliance and thanks to the eternal lessons that its people had learned from that teacher and guide, not only did not stop moving and living and being active, but by demonstrating experience, wisdom, and speed of action, it doubled its credibility.

The expression of loyalty by the nation in that unparalleled mourning, which was extraordinary on a global and historical scale, the resolution of the leadership issue, the declaration of the passionate and universal presence of the people in defending the path of the Imam and the spiritual legacy of the Imam against lurking thieves, and the amazing and memorable forty-day uprising of Iran, and then the national approval of constitutional amendments and participation in the election of a chosen president and the formation of the government and the flow of all the country's affairs despite the freshness and eternal grief of the Imam's passing and his lasting memory, all and all added more credibility to Iran and Iranians and the revolution and the Islamic system.

Precisely at the time when the world was holding its breath from the event of the Imam's passing and sleep was taken from the eyes of friends and foes on a global scale, Islamic Iran gave a heroic display and, with divine favors, passed its heaviest test with pride, and the ship of the revolution passed through a dangerous whirlpool with calm and confidence. And this itself became another sign of the encompassing divine favors upon a nation that has set foot on the path of God and has risen to His aid. Friends, that is, the Muslim masses and the oppressed in many parts of the world, gained new life and hope, and another blow was dealt to the foundations of the global system of domination—after the initial blow of the revolution's victory. That is, the event they thought would wrap up the revolution gave the revolution a surge and life, and our Imam—who kindled the torch of the revolution—once again ignited the flame of the revolution with his passing. "May God have mercy on him, alive and dead, and peace be upon him the day he was born, the day he led the nation, the day he passed away, and the day he will be resurrected alive."

In all these events, and with a broader view of the eleven-year history of the Islamic system and essentially in the emergence of this system and the struggles that led to it, the main stage director and the true agent is Islam and belief and faith and Islamic education. Both the Iranian nation, which with its courageous uprising against the global system of domination and against the superpowers of the East and West, accomplished a great and unprecedented task; and the great leader of this revolution, who stood like a mountain against all opposing winds and broke the onslaught of storms, but did not move in the slightest; and the new Islamic system, which was able to manage the country without the slightest reliance on foreigners and ended a war that was the meeting point of Eastern and Western forces against it and covered nearly three-quarters of the years after victory, without leaning towards any side and only relying on itself, honorably and with dignity and victory, all and all drew their strength from Islam, and Islam is the essential essence of these astonishing events and the true source of power and strength and dignity that Iran and Iranians and our nation and leader and revolution and system have displayed in contemporary history.

Islam is the religion of monotheism, and monotheism means freeing humanity from servitude and obedience and submission to anything and anyone other than God; it means breaking the chains of domination by human systems; it means breaking the spell of fear from satanic and material powers; it means relying on the infinite powers that God has placed within humans and has demanded their use as an unbreakable duty; it means trusting in God's promise of the victory of the oppressed over the oppressors and the arrogant powers, provided there is uprising and struggle and perseverance; it means clinging to God's mercy and not fearing the possibility of defeat; it means welcoming the hardships and dangers that threaten one on the path to fulfilling God's promise; it means attributing the difficulties of the path to God and keeping oneself hopeful of certain and ultimate victory; it means in struggle, keeping one's eyes on the lofty goal—which is the salvation of society from all forms of oppression and discrimination and ignorance and polytheism—and seeking compensation for personal and interim failures from God; and in short, it means seeing oneself connected and attached to the inexhaustible ocean of divine power and wisdom and rushing towards the highest goal with hope and without anxiety. All the honor and elevation promised to Muslims is in the shadow of such faith and a clear and deep understanding of monotheism. Without a correct understanding and practical and ideological adherence to monotheism, none of God's promises regarding Muslims will be fulfilled.

In the era of the domination of global arrogance, neglect of pure Islamic monotheism and its all-encompassing concept of life was what left the scene open for the idols of colonialism and gave the lords of gold and force the opportunity to rampage. The enemies, with pre-prepared plans, drove religion out of the scene of life in Islamic countries and realized the slogan of separating religion from politics in these countries. The result was that the scientific progress of the West could suddenly turn these countries into a dependency of industrial countries and hand over their political and economic destiny to Western plunderers for long and irreparable periods.

Today, most Islamic countries, after ten years of their resources filling the pockets of Western companies and governments, are still wandering in the valley of backwardness and still dependent on Western industry and science and goods and still in the realm of politics, inevitably parasitic and followers of them. This is the great loss that arose from the very first day due to the lack of attention to the fundamental principle of Islam—that is, Islamic monotheism—and the more time has passed and science has become more complete and equipped governments and countries, the more Islamic countries have become weaker, more dependent, less daring, and more devoid of initiative.

The remedy is for Muslims to return to pure Islam—in which monotheism and the negation of servitude to anything other than God is more prominent and radiant—and to seek their honor and power in Islam. And this is what the designers of anti-Islamic conspiracies have always feared and have placed serious obstacles in the way of its emergence. When the Islamic revolution in Iran was victorious, since it was predicted that the attraction and popularity of the revolution would make Muslim nations and even some non-Muslims enamored with Islam, all colonial hands were set in motion to prevent the spiritual influence of Islam. The extensive and all-encompassing effort of global arrogance against the influence of Islam has no other cause than this: that the spread of Islam and Islamic concepts in any part of the world means the folding up of the spread of arrogance and its agents in that place.

As everyone knows, immediately after the victory of the revolution—which in practice and reality showed the true meaning of monotheism and the negation of servitude to anything other than God and honor in the face of anyone and anything other than God—Muslims in many parts of the world felt a sense of identity and honor, stood against the powerful and tyrants, and a new chapter in the struggles of Muslim nations was created; including the great movement of the Muslim people in Afghanistan and the start of popular struggles in the land of Palestine and the standing of the Muslim and fighting people of Palestine against the compromising parties and the start of many Islamic movements in African and Asian Muslim countries and even in Europe, all of which have arisen based on the attraction of Islam and the desire to realize divine laws and see Islam as their liberator and dignifier.

Before the emergence of the Islamic Republic, the vast masses of Muslims in the world had been made to understand that Islam could not create honor and greatness for them and that in their quest for happiness, they must either follow the Western model and European and American culture or lean towards the imaginary and hollow theories of Marxism; but the victory of the Islamic revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran and the honor and greatness that the realization of Islam bestowed upon the Iranian nation nullified all the long-standing fabrications of Western colonialists and practically demonstrated that Islam can save a nation from weakness and lethargy and oppression and elevate it to the heights of honor and courage and self-confidence and can also provide them with a stable system capable of competing with the material powers of the world and cut off the oppressive and humiliating hand of colonial and arrogant powers from over them. And thus, the Islamic Republic, by the blessing of Islam, gained a powerful popular backing on a global scale, and this in turn has increased the capability and invulnerability of the Islamic Republic—which all the great global powers are at odds with.

The effects of the victory of the Iranian nation in the power struggle with global powers were not confined to the Islamic world; rather, in non-Muslim countries and in systems where the iron cage of party despotism or ethnic oppression had not allowed the Muslims of those countries to even feel their own Muslim identity, the breeze of Islamic identity began to blow, dormant faiths were stirred, and the call of Islam disturbed the sleep of the demons: "And you see the earth barren, but when We send down upon it rain, it stirs and swells and produces of every beautiful kind." Thus, in the great saga of the past ten years, the main hero is Islam. And this is an Islamic resurrection that has awakened dead souls and is preparing the ground for a day when in response to the question "To whom belongs the dominion?" it will be said from all corners of the earth: "To God, the One, the Conqueror."

Today, although the ailing minds of material analysts are still unable to understand and analyze the Islamic events of the last ten years and they cannot properly understand how, after two hundred years of colonial efforts in Islamic countries and after thousands of successful methods to drive Islam out of the scene of life and even from the minds and hearts of people in these countries, and more importantly, after centuries of miseducation by despotic powers and their agents and after countless distortions that have been introduced into religion by the preachers of the sultans and court clerics, which have marred its purity and turned it into an ineffective medicine and a lifeless body, today Islam has once again spread its wings in the heart of the Islamic homeland and extended its shadow of mercy over the entire Islamic world and shone like an illuminating sun in the hearts of all Muslims and given them spirit and vitality and hope? And how has Islam, which was gradually being consigned to oblivion and never aroused any hope in the hearts of searching, suffering, and restless humans, now become the sole bright hope of Muslim nations, especially the youth and the awakened and the suffering? Yes, understanding and correctly analyzing these astonishing events, although impossible for minds and intellects alien to the truth of Islam and unaware of the real history of Islam, for those with insight, the answer is in one word: the miracle of the revolution.

The Islamic movement in Iran, led by the great savior of the era, Imam Khomeini (may God be pleased with him), following the method of the greatest prophet and the seal of the messengers and the pinnacle of the creation of the world and man, Muhammad Mustafa (peace be upon him and his family), appeared in the form of a full-fledged revolution, and this is the nature of revolution that if it is based on a correct and logical foundation, it creates an earthquake in all the pillars of the environment like a volcano and affects everything and everyone and everywhere with its warmth and ignition.

Islamic reformers and thinkers who, over the past one hundred and fifty years, under the influence of various factors, have risen and carried the banner of Islamic invitation and revival and Islamic thought—such as Sayyid Jamal al-Din and Muhammad Iqbal and others—with all their valuable and precious services, all had this great defect in their work that instead of establishing an Islamic revolution, they sufficed with an Islamic invitation and sought the reform of Muslim societies not with the strength and power of revolution, but with intellectual effort and only with the tools of pen and tongue. This method, of course, has been and is commendable and rewarded; but one should never expect results from it like the results of the actions of the great prophets who were the builders of the main epochs of history. Their work, if it remained correct and free from political and selfish defects, could only prepare the ground for a revolutionary movement and nothing more. Therefore, it is observed that the endless efforts of the sincere of this group have never been able to stop the reverse and declining movement of Muslim nations, or return the honor and greatness that they spoke of and longed for with sighs and tears to the Muslims, or even strengthen Islamic belief and conviction among the masses of Muslim people and employ their power in its service or expand the geographical scope of Islam. And this is completely separate from the method of the great prophet of Islam (peace be upon him and his family) and this is clear to anyone who knows a little about the history of the mission and migration of the great messenger (peace be upon him).

Our Imam, for the revival of Islam, followed exactly the path that the great messenger (peace be upon him and his family) had followed; that is, the path of revolution. In revolution, the principle is movement; a purposeful, measured, continuous, tireless movement full of faith and sincerity. In revolution, it is not enough to speak and write and explain; rather, advancing and moving from position to position and reaching the goal is the principle and axis. Speaking and writing also come into the service of this movement and continue until the goal is reached—that is, giving sovereignty to the religion of God and dismantling the satanic power of the tyrant: "It is He who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to manifest it over all religion, although those who associate others with God dislike it."

In the Islamic revolution of Iran, there were several important characteristics that all conformed to the early Islamic movement:

First, political targeting; that is, the firm will to establish the sovereignty of God's religion and that power be taken from the oppressive and corrupt devils and that the political sovereignty and power of society be shaped based on Islamic values.

Second, that for the realization of this goal, the necessary human resources were drawn from the believing, aware, suffering, and self-sacrificing masses—and not from parties and groups and political organizations—and the wise leader sought victory, after relying on God, from the inexhaustible power of the people and, in the shadow of a fifteen-year struggle, created the hosts of the Merciful from the servants of God and set them in motion in the path of God: "It is He who supported you with His help and with the believers."

Third, that the main lines of the desired society, that is, the establishment of Islamic law which guarantees social justice and political independence and economic self-sufficiency and scientific and moral growth, were placed in view of everyone and the slogan "Neither East, nor West, the Islamic Republic" which means the real and comprehensive transformation of the foundations of ignorant life into Islamic foundations, was proposed.

Fourth, that the wise and jurist leader, who was a righteous servant and a model of a Muslim, himself became the vanguard of this movement in faith and action, and this faith filled his soul so much that he was able to fill the faithless hearts and empty vessels with the overflow of his faith in the field of action and the light of his faith and hope broke through the thick walls of despair and disbelief and filled the space of struggle and action: "The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord."

Fifth, that the sincerity and purity and vigilance of the leader made any deviation and compromise and deal with the enemy and in short anything that would cause deviation from the goal impossible, and the straight path of the revolution towards the goals remained firm and without deviation.

This is what happened in Iran, and the leadership that, with piety and sincerity of action, was able to attract divine approval and guidance, started its movement and in the span of fifteen years of continuous struggle and effort, was able to gradually mobilize the vast masses of people in the service of the goal—which was the Islamic government, the establishment of the Islamic system, and the implementation of Islamic laws—and overthrow the tyrannical and corrupt and dependent government ruling Iran, which was also supported by the arrogant powers and plunderers of our country's wealth, and in the span of eleven years after victory, grappled with a complex and unparalleled set of conspiracy and hostility and treachery and aggression and military attack and propaganda clamor and so on, and emerged victorious and triumphant from this historical confrontation, and now the Islamic Republic system, which is the product of the great effort of the Imam and the nation, at the peak of power derived from resistance and stubbornness against bullies and independence from plunderers, attracts the eyes of friends and foes and captivates the hearts of the oppressed and the afflicted of all regions of the world.

Yes, the great secret in the current elevation of Islam and the general awakening of Muslims was that in the center of this movement—that is, Islamic Iran—the blessed offspring of the revolution once again emerged from the pure tree of Islam and its product—that is, the Islamic Republic—remained steadfast on the right path and direction with the strong foundation it had gained from the Islamic faith of the leader and the nation, and the temptations of the devils and the sword of their anger and hatred did not affect it, and with powerful and proud innocence, it presented its luminous face to the eyes of the world and with its existence and survival and steadfastness and strength, became a propagator of Islam.

The nature of pure Islam is an attractive nature and attracts hearts that are not tainted with malice and enmity, and this is what our revolution and our Imam once again presented to the world and offered to the needy and searching hearts and eyes. In the school of the revolution that our Imam founded, the spread of Sufyanic and Marwanic Islam, the Islam of hollow ceremonies and rituals, the Islam in the service of gold and force, and in short, the Islam as a tool of powers and a scourge of nations was abolished, and Quranic and Muhammadan Islam (peace be upon him and his family), the Islam of belief and jihad, the Islam of the enemy of the oppressor and the helper of the oppressed, the Islam fighting against Pharaohs and Qaruns, and in short, the Islam crushing tyrants and establishing the government of the oppressed, rose up.

In the Islamic revolution, the Islam of the book and tradition replaced the Islam of superstition and innovation; the Islam of jihad and martyrdom replaced the Islam of sitting and captivity and humiliation; the Islam of devotion and reason replaced the Islam of eclecticism and ignorance; the Islam of the world and the hereafter replaced the Islam of worldliness or monasticism; the Islam of knowledge and understanding replaced the Islam of rigidity and neglect; the Islam of religion and politics replaced the Islam of lawlessness and indifference; the Islam of uprising and action replaced the Islam of lethargy and depression; the Islam of the individual and society replaced the Islam of ceremonial and ineffective; the Islam liberating the deprived replaced the Islam as a plaything of powers; and in short, pure Muhammadan Islam (peace be upon him and his family) replaced American Islam. And the presentation of Islam in this form and with this reality and seriousness is what has caused the frantic and mad anger of those who had pinned their hopes on the demise of Islam in Iran and in all Islamic countries or only preferred a name without content and a means for deceiving and misleading people. Therefore, from the first day of the revolution's victory until today, they have not missed any opportunity to attack and strike and conspire and ill-wish against the Islamic Republic and the center of the global Islamic movement—that is, Iran.

The Iranian nation has well understood that its point of strength and stability is exactly what the enemy expends all its energy in opposing; that is, reliance on God and adherence to the fundamental principles of the revolution, all of which stem from the foundations of Islam and have been emphasized in the words of the great leader of the revolution (may God be pleased with him). The angry and spiteful rage that is felt in the use of the term "fundamentalism" in the hostile statements of the enemy's media, from the beginning of the revolution until today, is due to their helplessness and panic in the face of the adherence of our leader and nation and system to the fundamental principles of the revolution.

How naive and superficial are those who think that the enmity of America and the front of global arrogance and the wide circle of Zionism, which controls most of the news agencies and media outlets in the world, is due to the fact that the Islamic Republic did not make the necessary efforts to gain friends in time or has been extreme in global issues. This assumption indicates a lack of depth in understanding internal and global events and a lack of insight in enemy recognition.

The superpowers, who are sworn enemies of the Islamic revolution, have never explicitly stated the reason for their enmity with the Islamic Republic and will not do so. If America admits that its motive for enmity with Iran is enmity with Islam, it will place one billion Muslims in the world against itself, and if it admits that its motive for this enmity is that Islamic Iran wants to live independently and freely and away from American interference, it will place all the free and freedom-loving people of the world against itself, and if it admits that the reason for its malicious hostility with Iran and blocking Iran's assets and its constant conspiracy against the Islamic Republic is that the Iranian revolution has cut off its hand from the rich resources of this country and has stopped the continuation of the economic plunder of the nation, which was generously handed over to the Americans by the treacherous Pahlavi regime, it will place all the oppressed nations of the world and the victims of colonial plunder alongside the Iranian nation and join them in the struggle against America.

Therefore, it is very natural and obvious that America and other governments of the front of arrogance and all their news and propaganda and media agents are forced to devote all their efforts to distorting the facts about Iran and diverting global public opinion, and sometimes in the name of human rights and sometimes with the accusation of violating freedom and sometimes with the insult of reaction and backwardness and the like, accuse the brave and aware and free Iranian nation and the progressive and revolutionary system of the Islamic Republic and its competent and worthy officials and retaliate for the public hatred of the Iranian nation towards the arrogant and malicious dominators, especially the great Satan.

Although the eleven-year experience of the Islamic Republic has proven that arrogance and reaction and their agents have not succeeded in this trick either and have not been able to tarnish the good name and bright face of our noble nation in the world and especially among the oppressed masses of the world with such efforts, and their huge investment in hiring mercenary pens and tongues and employing hundreds of audio and visual and print media to isolate or neutralize or defame the Islamic revolution has suffered a loss, and now, despite their will, in many parts of the world, nations, by modeling the liberating movement of the Iranian nation, have turned to popular struggles against satanic dominations and have robbed the sleep of the oppressors and the awakened Muslim strata everywhere have well recognized that the reason for the enmity of the head of arrogance—that is, America—and its agents with the Iranian nation is their enmity with Islam: "And they resented them not except because they believed in God, the Exalted in Might, the Praiseworthy."

But the Iranian nation must know that preserving the revolution and maintaining the flag of honor and dignity and continuing the glorious path that the struggles of this noble nation opened before the nations of the world, especially Muslims, and was recognized as the only way to overcome the pressure and oppression of bullies, and the only nullifier of the enemies' conspiracies against the revolution and the Islamic Republic, is indeed the protection of the foundational principles of the revolution and the safeguarding of the values of the revolution. This is the bright point that has made the slogan of opposition to the global domination of arrogance worldwide and has shaken the foundations of the global system of domination, and this is what will also make the Iranian nation victorious over all the enemies' conspiracies from now on. And this is the eternal testament that the great departed Imam (may God elevate his word) has recommended to all of us in his statements and recently in his will.

Now, one year after the passing of that compassionate father and wise guide and teacher, I find it necessary to once again remind my brothers and sisters of the most fundamental teachings of the revolution, all of which are among the clear teachings of the school of the revolution and arise from the principles and laws of Islam, and invite all our revolutionary and courageous nation to increasing attention and effort towards them:

1) Above all, keeping alive the memory and path and eternal lesson of Imam Khomeini (may God elevate his word), who is the torch of the path and the delineator of the basic line of movement and the determiner of the main and vital indicators of this blessed road and its bright end. The life and personality of the great Khomeini were the embodiment of pure Muhammadan Islam (peace be upon him and his family) and the manifestation of the Islamic revolution, and he himself and his words and his pointing finger were the guide of this divine movement and the illuminator of ambiguous points and the remover of all doubts and will continue to be so. The Iranian nation and, above all, the country's officials must never forget this great lesson.

2) This popular movement and unparalleled revolution that emerged at the end of its fifteen-year struggle and the great epic that appeared in the eleven-year life of this system and the martyrdom of pure souls and the endurance of all those hardships and tortures and calamities by our believing and fighting nation, all and all were for the sake of Islam. This great nation and its great Imam saw happiness in true adherence to Islam and saw the sovereignty of Islam as a means of salvation from the domination of devils and tyrants and sought God's pleasure in pursuing the sovereignty of Islam. Muslim nations and sincere well-wishers throughout the Islamic world have also considered and continue to consider this revolution and this system as belonging to themselves for the sake of Islam and have supported and defended it. Therefore, the greatest duty of the Islamic Republic is to realize Islam in the lives of the people and to transform society into an exemplary Islamic society.

To achieve this goal—which the fundamental and major steps towards it have been taken from the beginning of victory by all those involved and under the supervision and intense attention of the Imam (may God be pleased with him)—the three branches of the country must act in coordination and pursuit, and the seminaries and Islamic cultural and research centers must engage in extensive efforts and employ the inexhaustible source of conscious and insightful jurisprudence and ijtihad in the service of deepening and expanding Islamic knowledge, and the intellectual and practical apparatus of the Islamic Republic system must, together and alongside each other, advance society in the path of increasing Islamization and towards Islamic goals.

All members of the Muslim nation have a great duty in preserving and safeguarding its luminous laws and striving to expand and deepen them in society. Enjoining good and forbidding evil, which is one of the fundamental pillars of Islam and the guarantor of upholding all Islamic obligations, must be revived in our society, and every individual must feel responsible for spreading goodness and righteousness and eliminating ugliness and misguidance and corruption.

We are still far from a completely Islamic society that fully ensures the well-being of the world and the hereafter for the people and eradicates corruption and deviation and oppression and decline. This distance must be traversed with the effort of the people and the endeavor of the officials, and traversing it will be made easier by the generalization of enjoining good and forbidding evil. Mosques, as bases of spirituality and purification and guidance, should become warmer and more prosperous day by day, and the signs of faith and action and Islamic ethics should encourage everyone to follow the luminous teachings of the Quran in every corner of society, including in government centers and offices and universities. The Book of God should find a real presence among the people, and learning and pondering and delving into it should become a common and ongoing matter for everyone, especially the youth and adolescents. In this regard, the responsibility of scholars and the knowledgeable and writers and speakers and public media is very important and critical.

3) The most immediate goal of establishing the Islamic system is the establishment of social justice and Islamic equity. The uprising of the prophets of God and the revelation of the Book and the divine balance were for this very purpose, that people be saved from the pressure of oppression and discrimination and imposition and live under the shadow of equity and justice and attain human perfections in the light of that just system. The call to the Islamic system, without a firm belief and persistent action in the path of social justice, is an incomplete, indeed false and deceitful call, and any system, no matter how adorned with Islamic appearance, if it does not have the provision of equity and justice and the salvation of the weak and the deprived at the forefront of its programs, is un-Islamic and hypocritical. And from this, the claim of kings and rulers who, despite the claim of being Muslim and the slogan of following the Quran, have followed the path of other tyrants and increased the gap between rich and poor and placed themselves among the wealthy and remained oblivious to the pain of the poor and the barefoot, both in history and in the present time, has always been rejected by the wise familiar with the teachings of the Quran and Islam.

In the Islamic system, all individuals in society must be equal before the law and in the use of the God-given resources of the Islamic homeland and balanced in benefiting from the blessings of life. No power holder should be able to bully, and no one should be able to impose their will on others contrary to the law. The deprived and barefoot classes of society should receive special attention from the government, and the removal of deprivation and defense of them against the powerful should be considered a major duty of the government and the judicial system. No one should find the power to interfere and influence in the political affairs of the country and in the management of society due to financial capability, and no measure or movement in society should lead to an increase in the gap between the poor and the rich. The barefoot should feel the Islamic government as their supporter and protector and find its programs in the direction of their welfare and removal of deprivation.

Our great Imam considered this one of the most fundamental issues of the Islamic Republic and has made the strongest statements in this regard, and this is an inseparable characteristic of the Islamic Republic. No barrier should be able to distract the officials of the system and the managers of its various sectors from this fundamental goal. The barefoot and the shack-dwellers and the majority of our people, who, due to the treacherous and ruinous policies of the oppressive Pahlavi regime, live in poverty and deprivation, have always been the most sincere and devoted supporters of this revolution and this system and are, and the Islamic system must place the removal of deprivation from them at the top of its constructive programs.

4) Unity of word has been the secret of the victory of the Iranian nation in various stages and is today also the most important means for our nation to confront provocations and conspiracies. Considering the history of the ten-year period and reflecting on its events, which indicate the invulnerability of the Islamic Republic against various conspiracies of internal and external enemies, the importance of unity and cohesion of the nation and officials becomes more apparent.

The Iranian nation and the managers and operators of the country must gather around the fundamental principles of the Islamic Republic system and concentrate all their strength and energy on realizing and safeguarding them, and no individual or group or ethnic or sectarian desire or slogan should be able to divert an individual or group from striving for those principles and achieving the goals of the Islamic Republic system.

All the noble Iranian nation, especially those whose words and actions are subject to the judgment and attention of others, must unite and strengthen their ranks and, with unity and cooperation and with firm steps, move powerfully towards the lofty goals of Islam and disappoint the lurking enemies who are waiting for an opportunity.

Foreign news media, which are the manifestation of the hostile tendencies and policies and malicious intentions of the leaders of global policies, show extreme sensitivity to every word and every hint from which the scent of discord and division can be smelled or can be made to appear so, and by magnifying small points and presenting false interpretations of statements and writings in Iran, they are constantly trying to present a distorted and conflict-ridden image of Islamic Iran—which, thanks be to God, enjoys an unparalleled unity and cohesion—to the people of Iran and the world and create the ground for division and discord with these insinuations. All these are signs that today the enemy has failed in all ways to weaken the Islamic Republic and is maliciously waiting for internal divisions and the breaking of public unity.

The noble Iranian nation and the officials and those in charge of the country's affairs and the honorable representatives of the parliament, speakers and writers, must, as always, give an appropriate response to this vain hope of the enemy and safeguard with all their being the unity that is the divine creation and the encompassing mercy of God upon the Iranian nation.

5) Preserving the revolutionary honor and dignity of the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation in international relations is another of the main points. The victory of the Islamic revolution in Iran brought about a profound transformation in international relations from two perspectives:

First, it dealt a severe blow to the hegemony of the two superpowers of that day in their relationship with the weak governments of the world and severely weakened the awe they had gradually gained in the eyes of nations and governments.

Second, it gave nations encouragement and courage and injected boldness and audacity in confronting puppet governments. Although these deep effects gradually appeared in the world and today, after eleven years, have changed the political face of the world, all sharp-eyed observers recognized from the very beginning that with the victory of this great revolution, a new era in world relations had emerged. This era should be called "the era of Imam Khomeini," and its characteristic is the awakening and courage and self-confidence of nations in the face of the bullying of superpowers and the breaking of the idols of oppressive power and the flourishing of the real power of humans and the emergence of spiritual and divine values.

Today, with the burial of Marxism and the disintegration of the Eastern bloc and popular uprisings against the despotic communist governments, the predictions of the great Imam have come true, and one of the two superpowers has been removed from the world political scene and has been reduced to a second-rate power, and the other superpower, on the one hand, with the rise of popular resistances in many parts of the world, from the south and north of Africa and occupied Palestine to the farthest reaches of East Asia, and on the other hand, with the increasing spread of corruption and disbelief and lawlessness, the void of spirituality and ideological thought in American society and the breaking of the "fight against communism" thread that the leaders of America always wanted to fill the void of a unifying belief among their people with, and also on the other hand, the disruption of the calculations that governed the relations between Europe and America, which allowed the American government to even influence European countries, is feeling a severe threat and sees its position in the world as unstable.

To maintain this trend of increasing ignition and to strengthen the spirit of the original and oppressed nations, the Islamic Republic is obliged not to make the slightest change in its firm and honorable stance in international relations; to speak and act with the bullies from a position of power and with the weak governments from a position of support and with the rising nations from a position of care and guidance; to consider the American government as the head of sedition and arrogance and the symbol of treachery and devilry and, because of its oppression of weak countries and its support of the usurping Zionism and its enmity with the awakening and freedom of nations and its deep and criminal hostility with the Iranian nation, condemned and detested and rejected, and not to miss any opportunity to expose its deceitful face and disgrace those claimants of freedom and the like and to state these truths.

The issue of Palestine is the first international issue of Islam. Today, when the struggles of the Palestinian nation under the banner of Islam have robbed the sleep of the usurping Zionist state and its supporters, the greatest duty of our nation and government and all Muslim nations and governments is to support these struggles. The cancerous tumor of Israel can only be uprooted through these struggles and the Islamic world saved from its deadly dangers. The silence and treacherous compromise of many Arab governments and even the pretense of some of them to indifference and lack of sensitivity to the fate of Palestine have brought the situation to the point where the usurping Zionist state, after years of concealment and even denial, now once again openly speaks of the claim of Greater Israel and shamelessly and brazenly repeats its vile intention to seize new territories of the Islamic homeland.

Some Arab kings and leaders, to win the favor of their idol America, even forget the Arab motivations and ethnic pride that they constantly speak of in the face of Israel and instead warm the field of competition with Israel in receiving aid from America even more. Who will erase this stain of disgrace from the forehead of the Arab nation? And will the awakened Muslim youth in Arab countries forgive this betrayal of the self-sold?

In the eyes of these treacherous rulers, Arab unity and solidarity should only be used when America wants to exploit it against Islamic Iran and pure Muhammadan Islam (peace be upon him and his family). Woe to the sleeping consciences and impure hearts that sought the favor and grace of America at the cost of losing everything, both the God-given natural wealth and human dignity and Islamic faith and reputation and prestige and the identity of their nation, and with the ingratitude of God's blessings, subjected themselves and their nations to the slope of decline and the affliction of divine wrath. "Have you not seen those who exchanged the favor of God for disbelief and settled their people in the home of ruin, Hell, which they will enter, and wretched is the settlement."

What happened to the enthusiasm and excitement that was expressed against the usurping Israel? And what happened to the commitment that the Arab leaders made with their nations regarding the struggle against Israel? May God's curse and the curse of His righteous servants be upon the hand that signed the first treaty of compromise with Israel and made its worldly dark life and its hereafter fate akin to Pharaoh. And the curse of the righteous servants and the angels and the prophets and the saints be upon those who have continued and continue that path, especially those who gave false hope to the oppressed Palestinian nation and then, at the cost of their misery, provided themselves with a fleeting pleasure.

The Palestinian nation should not and cannot seek its freedom and rightful rights in the conferences and gatherings of Arab leaders. These meetings, if not ominous and ill-fated for the oppressed Palestinians, are at least useless and ineffective. The leaders who gathered in these days in the name of Palestine, if they were sincerely thinking about the salvation of Palestine, should have taken a firm and decisive stance against the deceitful proposal of the American president and made urgent and real decisions for financial and military and political support to the fighters inside occupied Palestine and not sufficed with empty slogans, and if this does not happen—which it has not and with the current state of the Arab world and its rulers, it will not happen either—the fighters inside must rely on God and the people's and Islamic power and know: "How many a small company has overcome a large company by permission of God. And God is with the patient."

6) Relying on the people and the sovereignty of their will and desire and discernment is another important pillar that must be strengthened and reinforced day by day. Our free people, with their firm will that arises from their deep faith in Islam, continued the struggles until victory and established the Islamic Republic and with unparalleled sacrifice and selflessness, have safeguarded it and from now on, in all circumstances, the Islamic system will be reliant on the people and belong to the people and be at the disposal of the people. The Islamic Consultative Assembly, which is unparalleled in the world in its freedom and independence of opinion, is the manifestation of the people's will, and the president is the people's representative and chosen one, and the country's managers are individuals from the people, and the people have the right to vote and express and decide in all political, economic, and social matters. And this is one of the great blessings of Islam and a unique plan that the systems of the East and West have been unable to offer and cannot be found in any of the world's governmental systems.

In addition to the bankrupt and disintegrated communist systems, where the sole communist party decided in place of the people, and in addition to the despotic reactionary systems where hereditary monarchies and military coup-based presidencies, with their lavish lives and pharaonic dictatorships, are considered a burden on the lives of the people, in countries that are nominally democratic systems and governments apparently come to power with the vote and choice of the people, the reality is something else, and the reins of all affairs are in the hands of exploitative companies and capitalists, and it is the power of money and capital that, by controlling the media and the power of propaganda, even confuses the people themselves.

Everywhere in the world, the gap between the lives of the country's leaders and the people of the streets and markets is the gap between king and beggar, and even governments that claimed to be popular could not give up the extravagant lives of kings for themselves. The pride of the Islamic system is that its great Imam lived in the garb of a cleric until the end of his life, and the country's officials, without exception, kept their skirts clean from the lifestyle of officials in other countries and lived like the middle classes of their own people. The people did not observe that deep gap between themselves and the officials that exists everywhere in the world between the people and the officials; they spoke their minds without hesitation and if they had criticism, they easily expressed it, and the press, even radio and television, have always reflected various opinions on the country's issues and exposed the people to different thoughts and tastes, and this is a clear and evident matter. Even the politically bankrupt and groups that have been rejected and disgraced by the people in various tests since the beginning of the revolution and have been expelled by them, when they write venomous and spiteful articles against the Islamic system and the country's officials at the instigation of foreigners, they publish these writings without any obstacle or hindrance, to be distributed wherever they find a reader, and despite their own will, they practically prove the existence of freedom.

Some of these writers and speakers, who have spent their vain lives immersed in moral and political corruption and various debaucheries, are opposed to the Islamic government that has closed the way to these corruptions and debaucheries and has driven out their foreign masters, and then they attribute this opposition and enmity, which is opposition to Islam and national independence and moral purity, to criticism and objection to political and economic conditions, and while they have freely said whatever they wanted, they shamelessly and brazenly demand freedom! Their true desire is the reopening of America's foot and selling the country to the enemies, and their enemy is the noble and aware nation. Our nation will leave them longing for a return to the era of American servitude and will safeguard with all its being its great achievement—that is, the Islamic system and the sovereignty of the will and faith of humans.

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

The Islamic system has never sought to learn freedom, which Islam and the Quran champion, from the false claimants of freedom in Western systems. We explicitly and decisively reject the freedom of corruption, lawlessness, debauchery, deceit, hypocrisy, oppression, exploitation, and violation of nations' rights, which the West has championed and committed. We consider the freedom that allows the vile apostate Salman Rushdie to insult the sanctities of a billion people, yet denies British Muslims even the right to complain about him; that grants the U.S. government the right to incite and lead thugs against a popular government, yet denies that government the right to confront those thugs; that gives plundering capitalists the right to illegitimately enter weak countries and loot their resources, yet denies those nations the right to fight against them, as rejected and abhorred, and we consider it a disgrace to humanity.

Freedom in our logic is the freedom that Islam grants to nations, transforming them into a steadfast mountain against oppressive and usurping dominators, as happened with the Iranian nation, and this miracle occurred. This freedom exists and will always exist in our country, and all members of the nation must preserve it. The country's officials must, as always, appreciate the people's presence and its decisive impact on the country's independence and increasingly encourage the people to participate and be active in political, economic, cultural, defensive, and security arenas.

The cooperation between the government and the nation and the emotional and ideological bond of the people with the country's officials is one of the fundamental manifestations of a popular government and has so far resolved many important issues and must always remain strong and firm. Our great Imam (may his soul be sanctified) always advised the people to cooperate and assist the governments throughout the ten-year period, and today, as the government of the Islamic Republic, under the management of one of the prominent figures of the revolution and one of the long-time students and companions of the Imam of the Ummah, faces a series of major tasks for the country's progress, national growth and development, and the defense of revolutionary values on a global scale, this bond and sincerity must be stronger than ever, and thanks be to God, it is so.

When the main managers of the country are trusted by the people and the people see signs of competence and honesty in their work, all tasks are carried out more easily and smoothly, and temptations do not lead to obstruction and lack of cooperation. It is possible that ill-wishers, to prevent the progress of tasks, may resort to rumor-mongering and question the government or the judiciary. The dear nation must know that such efforts do not stem from good intentions, and unjust criticism of hardworking and sincere officials and ingratitude for their exhausting efforts have never helped and will never help the progress of the country's affairs.

The government and the judiciary must consider themselves as servants of the people in every sense, with no goal other than gaining God's satisfaction through serving the nation, especially the deprived and hardworking classes, securing their rights, removing oppression from them, and cutting off the hands of those who violate public rights and exploiters and godless hoarders. Our loyal nation has spared no sacrifice on the path of Islam and the revolution, and it is appropriate for everyone in any responsibility to devote all their efforts to solving the problems imposed by the enemies of the country.

The construction of the country and the development of this blessed and fertile land and the compensation for the regrettable backwardness imposed on this talented nation during the reign of the tyrants is one of the main goals of the Islamic Republic. Our nation, at the best historical opportunities, during the time when the world had just embarked on the path of knowledge and industry, and Iran could have played its part in the scientific and industrial advancement of humanity with appropriate awakening and movement and benefited from its results, was left behind in the captivity of oppressive, ignorant, and dependent rulers. The Pahlavi and Qajar kings, instead of building the country and reviving its God-given human and natural talents, sold Iran to foreign profiteers and plunderers, handed over resources to foreign looters, or left them stagnant and wasted human talents, and instead of the nation's interests, made the interests of foreign governments and companies their goal; so much so that when the railway entered our country with a hundred-year delay, in determining its route, instead of considering the nation's interests and commercial needs, the military interests of the enemies were taken into account.

The dependent policy, mismanagement, weakness, and despotism in the Pahlavi and Qajar regimes, over two hundred years, turned Iran, which was once the flag-bearer of world knowledge thanks to Islam, into a ruin dependent on foreigners and under their domination. Villages became deserted, cities consumer-driven, fields barren, industry assembly-based, and minds idle.

After the victory of Islam and the establishment of the revolutionary and popular system of the Islamic Republic, foreign enemies clearly realized that this revolutionary system, with its strong popular support and firm belief in its national and popular power, would be able to put the country on the path of material growth and progress, compensate for backwardness through planning, and permanently cut off the hands of profiteering and ill-intentioned foreigners. Therefore, they used every means to prevent the country's construction, one of which was the devastating war they imposed on our people, causing the efforts of the people and officials to be diverted from construction and scientific and practical progress to defending the country's integrity and independence.

Today, as the fire of war has subsided and the construction program has been organized by the government and parliament, and sincere forces have rolled up their sleeves, it is incumbent upon everyone to take the country's construction very seriously and remove obstacles from its path. Today, the honor of Islam is contingent upon transforming Islamic Iran into a developed country, making work and innovation widespread, organizing people's lives, eradicating poverty and deprivation, balancing domestic production with people's needs, achieving self-sufficiency in industry and agriculture, preventing the enemy from exerting pressure through people's life necessities, and ultimately, ensuring that religion, alongside spirituality, also organizes the material life of the people.

Some biased foreign media insist on suggesting that adherence to the principles of the revolution means distancing from public welfare and not addressing the problems of the weak and needy classes. This statement comes from those who have driven their societies into misery under the heavy shadow of communist thought for decades. While the leaders of those countries, like capitalist countries, were immersed in aristocratic living, the lower classes of society lived in various material and spiritual hardships. In the Islamic system, eradicating poverty and deprivation is among the top goals, and adherence to the principles of the revolution without striving to save the oppressed and deprived is meaningless and a hollow claim.

The government and the nation must consider the country's construction a revolutionary duty; with cooperation and mobilizing all forces, talents, minds, and arms, they must build Iran so developed and advanced that it revives hope in the hearts of oppressed nations and presents them with the path to material comfort and spiritual elevation.

The expansion of knowledge and research, scientific growth, and the flourishing of human talents, along with the spread of public awareness and understanding, is another fundamental point of the revolution. The ideal Islamic society is one where the treasures of human thought and mind—which are the most valuable national wealth of any society—are extracted and utilized; illiteracy is eradicated; schools encompass all children and youth; universities and religious seminaries are thriving; research centers are active and leading; books are widespread and accessible to everyone; the press is substantial and enlightening; scientists and professors are lively and motivated; inventors, innovators, writers, and artists are encouraged and productive.

The current gap between us and the situation desired and accepted by Islam is significant but traversable. Islamic Iran must prove that even today, it is a nurturing ground for unique talents and scientific genius, and two centuries of despotism and colonialism have not been able to destroy the inherent essence of this nation. If in the past two centuries, the dominance of colonialism and despotism hindered the flourishing of talents, today, in the era of freedom and the awakening of the nation, and thanks to the Islamic revolution, backwardness must be compensated.

Universities must pursue their scientific and research efforts with a revolutionary spirit and Islamic enthusiasm; otherwise, their fate will be no better than the universities of the tyrannical era, where scientific inferiority to foreigners and the belittlement of indigenous values blocked the flow of talents and encouraged talented minds to flee their homeland. Esteemed and caring professors must consider the revolutionary atmosphere an opportunity to nurture talented forces, and students, while respecting and honoring their professors—which is an Islamic duty—must not allow anyone, with ill intentions, to use science and expertise as a means to pave the way for colonial culture in universities and, like during the era of foreign domination, turn the university into a breeding ground for alienated and foreign-worshipping minds. Sincere and honest intellectuals should know that today is a great test, and history will have a precise and revealing judgment about them and their current behavior.

If some of those affiliated with the intellectual class of the country, during the era of foreign domination and the rule of sellouts, did not succeed in aligning themselves with the people and taking their rightful place in the front lines of the struggle against America and its puppet regime, today, which is the day of people's governance and the rule of Islamic and human values, and the day of struggle against hostile and deceitful foreigners, they must make amends for the past and contribute to the ranks of the Iranian nation's struggle against America, global arrogance, and the vile empire of global wealth and power, to the extent of their strength and ability, and place their language, pen, and art in the service of this great Islamic jihad of the nation.

Living in a system founded on knowledge, culture, and divine values is an honor for everyone; a system headed by Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified); that great figure whom even his enemies consider extraordinary and harbor resentment for his greatness. No one denies his spiritual elevation, asceticism, piety, knowledge, and the purity of his great soul. No one perceives the slightest hint of weakness or submission to the enemies of the nation in him, and no one imagines a peak higher than him in spiritual greatness.

How small, insignificant, and worthless are those who consider themselves attached to a system headed by corrupt, sinful, and treacherous individuals, like the kings of the past hundred years, and whose operators are the likes of Reza Khan, Mohammad Reza, Alam, Eghbal, Hoveyda, Zahedi, Mansour, and their infamous and criminal affiliates, with America and Britain as the masters of all this and the rulers of the land and nation.

Do those who pose as intellectuals, who have found the opportunity and possibility under the shadow of Islamic freedom to fill and publish pages with words pleasing to rejected foreigners, have the courage to openly admit that their grief and sorrow are not for science or freedom, but because of the removal of the disgraceful table of sin and corruption and the cutting off of the hands of the promoters of the destructive Western culture? And their enmity with the system is not due to any flaw or deficiency in it, but motivated by a desire to return to the same shameful world that foreigners created for them and used them to help establish?! From those who are culturally colonized by the West, no expectation exists; hope and expectation are from sincere and caring intellectuals who seek the spiritual and material elevation, dignity, and progress of their nation and country and reject foreign domination in all its forms. It is fitting for them to appreciate the Islamic system—which is the source of Iran's dignity and the nation's rebirth—and recognize their responsibility within it.

The clergy, as the main element in the fifteen-year struggle leading to the victory of the revolution and then in the establishment of the sacred Islamic system and the raising of the flag of Islam in the world, and in the passionate resistance of the Iranian nation against various enemy invasions, and before all these and throughout the centuries, have been the main factor in preserving Islamic teachings and the deep and sincere faith of the Iranian nation in the life-giving school of Islam and the growth of religious thoughts everywhere. The presence of committed and fighting clerics at the center of the struggle against the U.S.-backed regime was what brought various segments of the people to the scene of struggle and gave the struggle a general and popular form. In all the major events in which the Iranian nation participated as one—such as the Constitutional Movement and the Tobacco Protest—the presence of religious scholars at the forefront of the ranks was the sole factor for this general presence. The British colonialists, understanding this truth, considered the destruction of the clerical community a necessary prelude to continuing their colonial presence in Iran and, through their puppet agent Reza Khan, began the plan to eliminate the clergy from 1934 onwards, committing atrocities against high-ranking scholars and religious seminaries during those years that had never been seen before in Iranian history. Unfortunately, the details of these atrocities and the story of the scholars' and students' oppressed resistance in the last years of Reza Khan's tyrannical rule have not been fully compiled and made available to the public, and it is necessary for the testimonies of eyewitnesses—of whom, thanks be to God, there are still many—to be collected with manly determination by responsible individuals and institutions.

The independence of the clergy and religious scholars and the lack of influence of internal and global powers over them have meant that tyrants and self-serving rulers have never been able to remove this divine group from the path of their corruptions and betrayals. If a group of subservient clerics and court mullahs, out of greed for the fleeting spoils of the world, sat at the table of oppressors and supported them verbally and practically, the majority of scholars, clerics, and young students remained within the fortress of dignity, piety, and chastity, preserving the will and ability for sincere and powerful struggle and making the firm belief in Shiite clergy indelible in the hearts of the people.

For this reason, the clerical community has always been the target of the poisonous arrows of hostility and malice from various enemies, colonialists, foreigners, and foreign-worshippers, and has been regarded as their number one enemy. The hostile and planned propaganda of the Pahlavi government and influential policies in Iran over fifty years against the clerical class, which had a completely colonial nature, was a severe test for religious scholars during the Reza Khan era and the first half of Mohammad Reza's era, and thanks be to God, the clerical community emerged from this test with honor.

During the fifteen-year struggle, the religious seminaries of Qom and other seminaries and prominent clerical figures were the main centers of struggle and naturally the main targets of the enemy's savage attacks; however, these extreme measures, by divine will, did not cause the clergy to retreat from their glorious path—which was their unbreakable Islamic duty; rather, during this period, Islamic thought became more flourishing, polished, and the jurisprudence of the Quran more fruitful, and the character of fighting clerics more tempered, paving the way for the establishment of an Islamic government.

Since the revolution, the clergy, especially its prominent elements—who have directly served the Islamic Republic system—have been continuously targeted by the enemy's poisonous attacks, both in the field of propaganda and in the field of treacherous terrorism and as tools of the enemy. They have offered precious martyrs both on the front lines of the imposed war and in the fields of their jihadist activities, coloring the Friday prayer pulpits and the arenas of science, politics, and religious propagation with their pure blood.

Our dear nation knows that the enemy's motivation for these comprehensive attacks on religious scholars is nothing but the clear knowledge that the clergy have had and continue to have a decisive and unparalleled role, and they attack the clergy with the aim of weakening and erasing the revolution.

Today, mercenary pens and hands sold to the enemy are working to weaken this spiritual backbone of the revolution in the eyes of the people. The enemy of the revolution tolerates the clerical community only if the clerics withdraw from political affairs and revolutionary scenes and, like some uninformed and fossilized clerics of the past and present, confine themselves to the corners of schools and mosques, leaving the country and people's lives to them. Among the meaningful phenomena is that throughout the struggle and even in the years after victory, fossilized and uninformed clerics, unaware of the country's events and distant from political currents, have never been subjected to enemy attacks; rather, they have sometimes even been praised and commended, and physical and propaganda attacks, and even accusations of reactionism and backwardness by foreign-influenced pseudo-intellectuals, have only targeted those scholars and clerics who have shone in terms of political thought and innovations in the field of science and practice and have been recognized as a progressive and aware class.

The positions of the enemies clearly reveal to the aware people and the committed and revolutionary clerical community the truth that our wise and insightful Imam has repeatedly stated. Firstly, that appreciation of the noble clerics and following them is a religious, national, and revolutionary duty that must not be neglected. Secondly, that fossilization and backwardness among the clerics, or God forbid, attention to personal interests, worldliness, and turning to material adornments and misuse of social status, is no less dangerous for the clergy than enemy attacks; rather, it is far more so. Thirdly, the situation of the revolutionary era and the increasing attention to Islam beyond the borders of the Islamic country necessitate that religious scholars, with a completely new vision and using the endless reservoir of religious knowledge and with the method of traditional jurisprudence and dynamic and lively ijtihad, pave the way for the Islamic society and that the seminaries, with a fundamental transformation, adapt themselves to the needs of today's world and make innovation the direction and focus of their programs, and of course, by exercising the necessary precision and highlighting the principles and foundations of jurisprudence, close the path to eclecticism and deviation. Fourthly, isolation and withdrawal from political activity—which is the desire of the enemies and contrary to Islamic duty—should in no way be allowed in their lives and the seminaries, and they should always, especially in times of danger, be at the forefront of the people's ranks, engaged in sincere and tireless efforts, combining knowledge with action, jurisprudence with jihad, and knowledge with verbal and practical propagation, filling all three strongholds: school, mosque, and front.

In this discourse, it is necessary to mention the honoring of loyal and devoted individuals as one of the major points of the revolution's teachings. By loyal revolutionaries, we mean those who, by sacrificing their lives, their loved ones, or their health, have strengthened the foundations of the revolution and cut off the hands of the enemies from the country and the Islamic system: the honorable families of martyrs, the brave disabled veterans, prisoners, and missing persons and their noble families, the combatants of the armed forces, and the selfless elements of the Basij who have spent their lives on the front lines, the jihadists who have expended their energy on both the war and construction fronts... and all those who have grappled with the great hardships and trials of this divine test must always be honored and appreciated by the nation.

In conclusion, the ten-year blessed life of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) is a model and example of the life of our revolutionary society, and the main lines of the revolution are those outlined by the Imam. The naive and blind enemies who thought that with the absence of Imam Khomeini, a new era with characteristics distinct from the era of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) had begun, are gravely mistaken. Imam Khomeini is an ever-living truth. His name is the flag of this revolution, his path is the path of this revolution, and his goals are the goals of this revolution. The Imam's nation and his students, who have been nourished by the abundant source of that celestial being and have found their Islamic and human dignity and honor in it, now witness that other nations, even non-Muslim nations, consider the revolutionary teachings of that great leader as their salvation and have found their freedom and dignity in it. Today, thanks to the movement of that unique figure of the era, Muslims everywhere have awakened, and the palaces of oppressive imperial domination are heading towards ruin. Nations have realized the value of national uprising and are experiencing the triumph of blood over the sword, and everywhere, all eyes are on the resilient and steadfast Iranian nation.

It is evident that for America and other leaders of global arrogance, nothing is more important than for the Iranian nation to turn away from its ten-year path or to doubt it; because in that case, the bright point of hope for nations will be extinguished, and the triumph of blood over the sword will be questioned. We explicitly announce to all the nations of the world that the idea of "the end of the era of Imam Khomeini," which the enemy tries to instill with a hundred tongues, is nothing but an arrogant deception, and despite America and its collaborators, Imam Khomeini is present among his nation and society, and the era of Imam Khomeini continues and will continue. His path is our path, his goal is our goal, and his guidance is our shining torch.

All the nation, especially the dear youth and adolescents, should consider themselves soldiers of their beloved Imam and, relying on God and seeking help from His Eminence, the Master of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for him), move with strength and power towards the lofty goals of their Imam and know that the final victory is ours. "God has decreed: I and My messengers shall certainly prevail."

June 1, 1990, corresponding to the 6th of Dhu al-Qi'dah, 1410

Ali al-Husseini al-Khamenei