Islam is a school that has been sent down to
civilize, to develop, mankind.
With such a progressive school as Islam, there is no reason why the Iranian nation should imitate Western or communistic models.
If everything becomes Islamic, an incorruptible society will ensue.
Islam is for the reform of society.
Islam has placed the greatest emphasis on thinking and contemplation and calls on man to renounce all superstitions and the bondage of reactionary, and anti-human, powers.
The things that Islam has countermanded are those that draw our youth to corruption.
Islam has come for our development, and Islam's view (is positive) in respect of human development.
We believe the only ideology that can guide and advance society is Islam and, if the world wants to be rescued from the thousands of difficulties in which it is bogged down today and live humanely, it has to fall in step with Islam.
The comprehensiveness and all-inclusiveness of Islam is such that anyone who understands it admits it is beyond the limits of the human mind and cannot be the product of the power of human science and intellect.
In Islam the question of race is irrelevant -
Arabs, non-Arabs and other groups are not discussed at all. Islam has come
to develop and educate humans. The issue in Islam is mankind - and the
upbringing and development of mankind.
Muharram is the month in which the great Movement of that Master of Martyrs [ Imam Hosein (a.s.) ] and the Leader of God's Saints was begun. By his uprising against the Taghout, he taught mankind how to fight and to build. He saw that the way to destroy despots and break tyrants consists in sacrificing lives - and this is Islam's leading instruction for all nations to the end of time.
With the month of Muharram, the season for epic action,
bravery and self-sacrifice begins..... It is the month that taught future
generations how to triumph over bayonet points; a month that recorded the
defeat of the superpowers vis-a-vis the word of justice and truth; the
month in which the Imam of the Muslims taught us the way to fight history's
tyrants.
The Islamic Revolution in Iran is but a ray of light reflected from the Ashura and its great divine Revolution.
Karbala washed away the palace of the oppressors with blood and our karbala destroyed the devilish palace of the monarchy.
Keep Karbala and the holy name of the Master of Martyrs
alive, for their survival insures the survival of Islam.
Let (Ashura) mourning gatherings in commemoration of
the Master of noblemen and the oppressed [Imam Hosein (a.s.)] be held with
increasing attendance and splendour for these ceremonies mark the triumph
of reason over ignorance, justice over tyranny, loyalty against treason
and Islamic rule over that of the Taghout. Let the blood-smeared flags
of Ashura be hoisted higher and higher as token of the arrival of the day
for the oppressed to take their revenge.
Martyrdom is eternal honour.
Martyrdom is the secret of victory.
It is an honour for all of us to be martyred in the path of Islam.
A nation whose women and men are ready to give their lives and who seek martyrdom, cannot be challenged by any power.
The blood of our martyrs is a continuation of the pure blood of the martyrs of Karbala.
We are from God, the whole world is from God, is God's
manifestation, and all shall return to Him. Therefore, it is best that
the return be optional and man choose martyrdom in the Path of God
- therefore let men opt to die for God and be martyred for Islam.
We cannot reform our country unless we first reform
ourselves.
Each one must begin with himself and adapt his conduct, views and deeds to Islamic decrees and, having thus corrected himself, only then proceed to reform others.
If you want your country to be independent, so that others cannot interfere in it, begin with yourself.
When you correct yourself, your country, too, becomes corrected.
It is knowledge and ego-purification that lead man to the status of humanism.
Forgetting oneself is a prelude to perfection.
Behave in such a way that when you depart for God's Threshold you may be able to hold your head up.
You must develop yourselves so that you may be able to
rise up - and developing oneself means obeying the commands of God.
Spiritual development precedes all other development. The crusade for development (Jihad Sazandegi) begins with the individual.
We must undergo an inner revolution: our souls, too, must be revolutionized.
Islamic-human values cannot be preserved by luxury-consumer living.
Patience is the key to the gates of happiness and source
of refuge from plights and predicaments.
We shall behave with respect toward all governments provided they do not interfere in our internal affairs and treat us with mutual respect.
We are on the side of the oppressed. We support the oppressed regardless of where they are.
It is an Islamic duty incumbent on all Muslims to help anyone who is oppressed.
We have a duty to support the oppressed and be the enemy of the oppressor.
We are opposed to any deal that damages the interests of the Muslims.
We are not opposed to nations, we oppose oppressive governments whether they oppress us or our Muslim brothers.
Nationalism is used by plotters to create discord among Muslims and it is being propagated by agents of colonialization.
The plan of the great powers and their affiliates in the Muslim countries is to separate and divide the various strata of Muslims, whom God has declared brothers, under the guise of, for example, Kurd, Arab, Turk, Fars nations and even make them regard themselves as enemies of one another. This is against the path of Islam and the Quran.
We are not prepared to let a government use economic exchanges as levers for political influence and the imposition of its colonialization aims.
We oppose any country, whether Eastern or Western, that wants to oppress others.
Today the only non-aligned country is Iran. You cannot find another country that is non-aligned in the real sense.
Today, all superpowers collectively oppose this nation
in all its Islamic aspects. We must wake up and realize that their propaganda
is more
harmful to us than wars.
America is the number-one-enemy of the oppressed and deprived peoples of the world.
As America, this natural criminal that has set the world on fire, and its colleague, world Zionism, reach out toward their objectives they commit crimes that pens and tongues are ashamed to describe.
It is much better for us all to perish rather than live
in misery under American or Israeli hands.
Jerusalem is the first Kiblah of Muslims and it belongs to them.
All must know that the superpowers aim in creating Israel does not end in the occupation of Palestine. They plan, Heaven forbid, to extend the fate of Palestine to all Arab countries.
We must all rise, destroy Israel and replace it with the heroic Palestinian nation.
The Quds Day which is coincidental with the Night of Destiny [Lailatul Qadr] must be revived among the Muslims and be the starting point of their awakening and awareness.
The Quds Day is a universal day. It is not an exclusive
day for Quds itself. It is a day for the oppressed to rise and stand up
against the
arrogant.
Israel must be eradicated from the page of history.
It is incumbent on every Muslim to arm himself against Israel.
I announce to all Islamic States and Muslims of the
world, wherever they are, that this dear Shiite nation hates Israel and
its agents and is disgusted with and hates the States that compromise with
Israel.
As long as man wants to continue life under cover of tanks and machineguns, he cannot be human, nor attain human goals. When pens triumph over machineguns and man's knowledge reachs a stage to put aside the machineguns, so that knowledge and pens occupy the arenas, then will people attain Islamic and human aims and reach the greatest knowledge.
No other creature on earth makes as much trouble and mischief as man, this biped being. And no other being needs training and education as much as this biped beast does!
Man is a strange being among all categories of beings and creatures of God, there is none like it. Man is a wondrous being from which develops a divine celestial being as well as a hellish, devilish being.
Man is a marvellous being which is infinite in both extremes, infinite in bliss and infinite in wretchedness.
The source of all dangers to man is man himself and the
source of reform must also begin from man himself.
Source:
The above are taken from a selection made from Imam Khomeini's statements,
messages and writings published by the International Affairs Division of
the Imam Khomeini Cultural Institute, Islamic Republic of Iran.
Footnotes:
Taghout
The term Taghout applies to any
idol, object or individual that prevents men from doing good and leads
them astray. The term Taghout has been used eight times in the Quran. Prior
to Islam, 'Taghout" had been the name of one of the idols of the Ouraish
Tribe. This name is used, also, to mean Satan. Moreover, the term is used
to indicate one who rebels against noble values.
Muharram
The first month of the Islamic Calender. It was on the 10th of
Muharram that Imam Hosein (alayhi salaam) was martyred at Karbala.
Martyrs of Karbala
Imam Hosein (a.s.) - son of Ali (a.s.) and Fatima, daughter of the Prophet (Alahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ali Muhammad) - is the third Shiite Imam. He was born in Medina in 625 CE. He received his early upbringing from the Prophet (Alahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ali Muhammad) himself. [Note: Hosein is often spelt Hussain or Hussein. ]
In 682 CE Imam Hosein (a.s.) rose against the tyrannical rule of Yazid, son of Moaviah. With his few warriors, the Imam engaged the 10,000 plus armed men of Yazid at a place called Karbala (in Iraq). In this bloody epic event Imam Hosein (a.s.) and his children and aides numbering 72 were all martyred and their families were taken captives by the army of Yazid.
This great event in the history of Islam was - on the one hand - the
result of the deviation of the system of Caliphate from the path of Islam,
and the paganism of the Caliph of the time, and - on the other hand
- due to the Chastity, bravery and determination of the Imam in fighting
tyranny, vice and perversion. All the fallen heroes of this great event
are collectively referred to as the "Ma of Karbala".
Lailatul Qadar
A night in the month of Ramadan in which the Quran is said to
have been revealed to the Prophet (Alahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ali
Muhammad).
Quds
Jerusalem