Leader's Message on Victory Anniversary of Islamic Revolution
February 13, 1999 - 0:0
TEHRAN The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei sent a message to the Iranian nation on Wednesday on the eve of the victory anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. In his message, the Leader recalled some of the national afflictions before the victory of the Islamic Revolution and the hard path that the nation took for fighting the ruling monarchy in Iran. The following is excerpts from the message of the Leader on the occasion.
Every nation and country passes hard times through its life with fateful and lasting results in his life which can lead that nation to happiness, prosperity and self-sovereignty or to abjection and humiliation. Such developments, although likely to occur over a span of many years, are in comparison with the length of the existence of those nations, but very brief and passing moments...
progressive and successful nations, at all period of history, are those that make honorable and bold decisions at crucial junctures of their history and are those which welcome the hardship of their struggle and forge ahead to a safe goal that is also a destination with a quality and character that imparts national dignity and independence on them... The Pahlavi monarchy was the most infamous of all the corrupt regimes of the region for its unworthiness, for its corruption and for its servile submission to certain foreign governments which situation inflicted the heaviest blows on the nation over several decades of its rule in Iran. It had cruelly pushed the Iranian nation out of the political arena, and sacrificed the interests of the nation for private dealings with foreign powers and predatory foreign companies, and denied our youth the liberty to think about their country and busied them with cheap and worthless concerns and lustful pursuits and suppressed the voice of every person who might want to raise a voice of protest...
What has been accomplished in terms of physical accomplishments in the country during the past 20 years has been unheard of during the cruel Pahlavi Dynasty. The volume of services accomplished by the hands of the children of our country and of the youth of the revolution is a long and proud list ... and of course the most important accomplishment of the revolution has been its revival of self-confidence and belief in our own indigenous resourcefulness which was exactly the thing that had been destroyed during the past few centuries by incapable kings...
Those of the theological as well as lay students, and struggling ulema and especially those who were devoted to religion were always roughly handled... under that condition the Islamic uprising led by Imam Khomeini started between the years 1962 and 1979 and led to its perfection... the Iranian nation who had listened to the call of that holy personality from the very beginning offered acts of self-sacrifice as the result of their religious faith...
What occurred in Iran in the course of the Islamic struggle in Iran was without precedence in our own history... during that time our Imam led the people in their struggle and at the same time pioneered the idea of an Islamic government... Our Imam proposed the political school of Islam and thereby discredited the cultural and political efforts of the enemies of Islam during a century and a half...
The people of Iran instituted an Islamic system of government relying on a single motto and on the bold and wise leadership of a man of a divine personality, and offered for to the view of the world people a political system composed of representatives of the masses and not of the corrupt and dependent lords and aristocrats... As the revolution triumphed and as the Islamic Republic was instituted, two developments began simultaneously throughout the world: The first was praise (for the Islamic Republic) by oppressed nations, and especially among Muslim nations, and the second was plotting and conspiracy by arrogant world governments, and by Zionists and international plunderers and capitalists.
The first development can be summarized by saying that as the Islamic Republic was instituted Muslims worldwide felt a new identity, and they felt to have regained their self-respect and their Islamic character. The efforts over decades by imperialist powers for humiliating Muslims and Islam was thwarted ... in many Muslim countries the youth, the strugglers and the intellectuals opted for the rule of religion in their slogans, and large numbers of youth in those countries copied out the behavior and the deportment and conduct of Iranian Muslims... The second development was the process of enmity and spite and grudges (against the Islamic Republic) which started from the very first day of the victory of the Islamic Revolution... and which gradually developed into various forms and shapes and intensity...
The pioneer and harbinger of that irreconcilable enmity (with the Islamic Republic) was the American government(s), and its Zionist appendix in the Middle East which, as the result of the fall of the Pahlavi regime, had lost their most obedient ally and lackey in the region... Only one of the hostile acts of the United States was its provocation of the Iraqi government against Iran and also their comprehensive support for that regime for launching a devastating war against Iran which lasted for eight years...
this satanic process has continued over the past two decades, and depending on every occasion, has assumed different shapes. But its fixed character has been the fact that it has always been led by the United States and the international Zionism with the idea of returning Iran to a dependence of the type that it had during the Pahlavi regime... But despite all that our great revolution marched on its arduous road with pride and confidence, and the nation, inspired by the guidance of the Imam and relying also on their faith and determination left the difficult passes of the revolution behind...
In the area of spiritual and ideological restructuring of the nation, the fruits of the 20 years of the post-revolution era has been the growth of religion and intellectual idealism, of national independence and national pride, and of freedoms and political enlightening of the various sectors of the society... Today, like every other time in the past, our enemies are making plots against us, but then our future is bright.
The new generation is ready to challenge the known enemies of the nation. Today, our youth, looking back to the history of the past fateful 20 years is knowledgeable about the United States and Zionism and will not be beguiled by their tricks, nor by their smiles nor by their frowns... Now I would like to offer a few humble advice to our lofty nation and to the administrators of the affairs of the state: 1.
To our administrators of the state and our officials with the three branches of the government and the Armed Forces I say that they should appreciate the value of serving this great nation. Your sincere service is service to Islam and to the humanity... 2. Addressing myself to our great religious ulema, and to the intellectuals and scholars and free thinkers I tell them that the young and able generation and the contributing environment in the country has offered you the biggest opportunity for educating the young generation.
Avail yourself of this rare opportunity which has been attained as a blessing of the Islamic Revolution... 3. Addressing myself to the youth of the country, I tell them to seize upon your youthful opportunities as an occasion for the self-education of the mind and the body. Know your country and the lofty status that it has attained as a blessing of the Islamic Revolution... 4.
Addressing my dear nation at large, I tell them that every success you attained during your struggle and also since the culmination of the Islamic Revolution is indebted to your awareness, and to your revolutionary patience and to your uninterrupted presence on the scene. It was due to your acts of self sacrifice which made it possible for the great Leader of the Islamic Revolution to do such great thing as he did...
5. Addressing myself to all political and other groupings, I tell them: Set your goals and your efforts on the proposition of helping people with their intellectual and political development not on the idea of seizing power and might. A healthy political struggle, if pursued without unnecessary conflicts and without a smear campaign and without defaming opponents and if pursued with a good intention is an act of worship, and will impress the people and will appeal to them...
engagement in partisan business should not adversely affect our national unity and solidarity...
Every nation and country passes hard times through its life with fateful and lasting results in his life which can lead that nation to happiness, prosperity and self-sovereignty or to abjection and humiliation. Such developments, although likely to occur over a span of many years, are in comparison with the length of the existence of those nations, but very brief and passing moments...
progressive and successful nations, at all period of history, are those that make honorable and bold decisions at crucial junctures of their history and are those which welcome the hardship of their struggle and forge ahead to a safe goal that is also a destination with a quality and character that imparts national dignity and independence on them... The Pahlavi monarchy was the most infamous of all the corrupt regimes of the region for its unworthiness, for its corruption and for its servile submission to certain foreign governments which situation inflicted the heaviest blows on the nation over several decades of its rule in Iran. It had cruelly pushed the Iranian nation out of the political arena, and sacrificed the interests of the nation for private dealings with foreign powers and predatory foreign companies, and denied our youth the liberty to think about their country and busied them with cheap and worthless concerns and lustful pursuits and suppressed the voice of every person who might want to raise a voice of protest...
What has been accomplished in terms of physical accomplishments in the country during the past 20 years has been unheard of during the cruel Pahlavi Dynasty. The volume of services accomplished by the hands of the children of our country and of the youth of the revolution is a long and proud list ... and of course the most important accomplishment of the revolution has been its revival of self-confidence and belief in our own indigenous resourcefulness which was exactly the thing that had been destroyed during the past few centuries by incapable kings...
Those of the theological as well as lay students, and struggling ulema and especially those who were devoted to religion were always roughly handled... under that condition the Islamic uprising led by Imam Khomeini started between the years 1962 and 1979 and led to its perfection... the Iranian nation who had listened to the call of that holy personality from the very beginning offered acts of self-sacrifice as the result of their religious faith...
What occurred in Iran in the course of the Islamic struggle in Iran was without precedence in our own history... during that time our Imam led the people in their struggle and at the same time pioneered the idea of an Islamic government... Our Imam proposed the political school of Islam and thereby discredited the cultural and political efforts of the enemies of Islam during a century and a half...
The people of Iran instituted an Islamic system of government relying on a single motto and on the bold and wise leadership of a man of a divine personality, and offered for to the view of the world people a political system composed of representatives of the masses and not of the corrupt and dependent lords and aristocrats... As the revolution triumphed and as the Islamic Republic was instituted, two developments began simultaneously throughout the world: The first was praise (for the Islamic Republic) by oppressed nations, and especially among Muslim nations, and the second was plotting and conspiracy by arrogant world governments, and by Zionists and international plunderers and capitalists.
The first development can be summarized by saying that as the Islamic Republic was instituted Muslims worldwide felt a new identity, and they felt to have regained their self-respect and their Islamic character. The efforts over decades by imperialist powers for humiliating Muslims and Islam was thwarted ... in many Muslim countries the youth, the strugglers and the intellectuals opted for the rule of religion in their slogans, and large numbers of youth in those countries copied out the behavior and the deportment and conduct of Iranian Muslims... The second development was the process of enmity and spite and grudges (against the Islamic Republic) which started from the very first day of the victory of the Islamic Revolution... and which gradually developed into various forms and shapes and intensity...
The pioneer and harbinger of that irreconcilable enmity (with the Islamic Republic) was the American government(s), and its Zionist appendix in the Middle East which, as the result of the fall of the Pahlavi regime, had lost their most obedient ally and lackey in the region... Only one of the hostile acts of the United States was its provocation of the Iraqi government against Iran and also their comprehensive support for that regime for launching a devastating war against Iran which lasted for eight years...
this satanic process has continued over the past two decades, and depending on every occasion, has assumed different shapes. But its fixed character has been the fact that it has always been led by the United States and the international Zionism with the idea of returning Iran to a dependence of the type that it had during the Pahlavi regime... But despite all that our great revolution marched on its arduous road with pride and confidence, and the nation, inspired by the guidance of the Imam and relying also on their faith and determination left the difficult passes of the revolution behind...
In the area of spiritual and ideological restructuring of the nation, the fruits of the 20 years of the post-revolution era has been the growth of religion and intellectual idealism, of national independence and national pride, and of freedoms and political enlightening of the various sectors of the society... Today, like every other time in the past, our enemies are making plots against us, but then our future is bright.
The new generation is ready to challenge the known enemies of the nation. Today, our youth, looking back to the history of the past fateful 20 years is knowledgeable about the United States and Zionism and will not be beguiled by their tricks, nor by their smiles nor by their frowns... Now I would like to offer a few humble advice to our lofty nation and to the administrators of the affairs of the state: 1.
To our administrators of the state and our officials with the three branches of the government and the Armed Forces I say that they should appreciate the value of serving this great nation. Your sincere service is service to Islam and to the humanity... 2. Addressing myself to our great religious ulema, and to the intellectuals and scholars and free thinkers I tell them that the young and able generation and the contributing environment in the country has offered you the biggest opportunity for educating the young generation.
Avail yourself of this rare opportunity which has been attained as a blessing of the Islamic Revolution... 3. Addressing myself to the youth of the country, I tell them to seize upon your youthful opportunities as an occasion for the self-education of the mind and the body. Know your country and the lofty status that it has attained as a blessing of the Islamic Revolution... 4.
Addressing my dear nation at large, I tell them that every success you attained during your struggle and also since the culmination of the Islamic Revolution is indebted to your awareness, and to your revolutionary patience and to your uninterrupted presence on the scene. It was due to your acts of self sacrifice which made it possible for the great Leader of the Islamic Revolution to do such great thing as he did...
5. Addressing myself to all political and other groupings, I tell them: Set your goals and your efforts on the proposition of helping people with their intellectual and political development not on the idea of seizing power and might. A healthy political struggle, if pursued without unnecessary conflicts and without a smear campaign and without defaming opponents and if pursued with a good intention is an act of worship, and will impress the people and will appeal to them...
engagement in partisan business should not adversely affect our national unity and solidarity...