“Islam wishes to bring all humanity under the umbrella of justice… It does not take the sword to export this ideology,” Imam Khomeini said many years ago.

Hope. People need and deserve hope. Oppressed people need to believe that somehow, things will get better; if not for themselves then certainly for their children.
Islam is a religion of hope. It is not a religion of hate, violence, or terrorism, but rather is a religion that emphasizes social justice. It is a religion that gives oppressed people hope of being freed from tyrants and tyranny.
The Islamic Revolution of Iran galvanized oppressed Muslims and non-Muslims alike with renewed hope, not only in the Middle East but also around the world. It demonstrated that oppressed people acting under the guiding principles of Islam could overthrow a ruthless dictator, even one who was supported by the United States.
Mohammad Reza Shah, installed by a CIA-engineered coup in 1953, ruled with an iron fist, brutally suppressing any opposition with his SAVAK secret police. In the Tabriz uprising of February 18, 1978, at least 500 people were slaughtered when the shah used tanks and helicopter gunships to regain control of the city. On September 8, 1978, Black Friday, hundreds of Iranians were gunned down by the shah’s commandos in Jaleh Square in Tehran. It is estimated that over 50,000 Iranians were martyred in the tumultuous year prior to the triumph of the Islamic Revolution and Ayatollah Khomeini’s return.
The joy from the victory of the Islamic Revolution on February 11, 1979 was so great that in Najaf, Iraq, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir as-Sadr declared a three-day holiday at the seminary and sent his personal disciple to Tehran, while students demonstrated carrying pictures of the revolution’s victorious leader, Ayatollah Khomeini.
Islam challenged the established order of tyranny and oppression from its very inception in the time of the Prophet Mohammad (S) as Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir as-Sadr writes, “Islam was not a superficial, reformatory process in society, but was rather a radical and revolutionary process aimed at the building of a new society.”
For Muslims, fighting against aggression, aggressors, and oppressive governments falls within the scope of the much-maligned and misunderstood word jihad, as the Holy Quran commands: “Fight against aggressors until oppression is stopped.” (2:193)
And among Muslims, the Shia have always been on the forefront of fighting for social justice. For the Shia Muslims, social justice is not merely a theoretical issue for debate in seminaries but rather a practical principle to be implemented on a social level.
Shia scholars (mujtahids) have been in the forefront of political activism in Iran from the beginning of the Qajar dynasty around 1800, during the Constitutional Movement of 1905 to 1911, and through the years of the hated British-installed Pahlavi dynasty. This trend intensified in 1963 with Ayatollah Khomeini’s first public declarations against the dictator Mohammad Reza Shah and culminated in the Imam’s victorious return to Iran on February 1, 1979 to a cheering crowd of three million citizens at Tehran’s airport.
The Western powers responded to the Islamic Revolution by launching a multi-frontal attack. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, fearing the spread of the revolution to Muslims under Soviet rule. Israel invaded Lebanon to suppress any possible Islamic uprising in the south. The French strengthened their support of the Maronite government in Lebanon and openly sold arms to Saddam Hussein. The United States rushed military aid to the ruthless Iraqi dictator, enabling him to crush a massive Shia uprising.
Ever fearful of the hope inspired by the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the United States again allowed Saddam to crush a popular revolt known as the Shaban Intifada that followed the Persian Gulf War of 1991. U.S. President George H. W. Bush, in typical doublespeak, first incited Iraqis to revolt against Saddam and then refused to come to their aid. Why? The Americans panicked, fearing Iranian influence, when they mistook pictures of Ayatollah as-Sayyid Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei on posters carried by the resistance fighters to be pictures of Ayatollah Khomeini.
Hezbollah and Hamas are popular in Lebanon and Gaza respectively because these Islamic movements give hope to the oppressed people in those regions. Both provide needed social services and have built schools and hospitals while fighting against U.S.-supported Zionist aggressors who seem intent on destroying them.
There are those in the West who would call followers of Ayatollah Khomeini, Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah, and Sheikh Ahmad Yassin of Hamas terrorists. They refer to Hezbollah as a terrorist group, Hamas resistance fighters as terrorists, and Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism.
All of these leaders and organizations have fought and continue to fight against tyrants and tyranny. All of these organizations have been inspired by the hope created by the Islamic Revolution of Iran and Imam Khomeini.
The Islamic Revolution… 30 years of inspiring hope and counting.