Piety

n the modern world, Reagan, Mitterrand, Husni Mubarak, King Husayn, King Hasan, Saddam, Tariq Aziz, Rajawi, Bani Sadr, Bakhtiyar, Thatcher,and all of them are of the same leaven. That is, when one analyzes their doings, he realizes that for them the principle constitutes political interests, banding together, and grouping, who will vote to them, who will follow them and abide by them, and who will blindly adhere to them. They implement it wherever they can and such a regime turns out. Islam is basically against this way of living. As I have already mentioned, Islam regards belief and taqwa as the main criterion. It sets up a pious society. It enables God-fearing pious leaders to rule and precludes trickery and deceptions. This is the distinctive feature of Islam. The following Quranic verse, highlights this very issue:

"And among mankind is he whose speech about the life of this world pleases you ,and he calls Allah to witness as to that which Is in his heart; yet he is the most rigid of adversaries. And when he turns away (from you and comes to power) be endeavours to make mischief in the land and to destroy the tillage and the breeding stock; and Allah does not like mischief (2:204-205

There >are some people who raise slogans. At these slogans, one wonders that they are so nice good people: These conferences, statements, claims, advocacy of the deprived, advocacy of so-and-so, struggle against arrogance, and things which give rise to such slogans. But when they become in charge of affairs, you will realize what type of people they are, and the Qur'an introduces them in this way; and on the other side it introduces another group as follows:

• "And among mankind is be who would sell himself seeking the pleasure of Allah; and Allah is compassionate to (His) slaves. (2:207).

Islam regards as axis, the sacrificing and pious people who observe taqwa (God-fearing, obedience to Allah and piety)

In your country, the best examples of human rights are existing due to the sovereignty of taqwa and revolutionary criteria which are under the attack of the mendacious proclaimers of human rights. But they close their eyes. In your country, the rights of the religious minorities, like the overwhelming majority, are safeguarded. Which place in the world is the case so? Five representatives of religious minorities (who in the proportion of their population have more representatives in the Majlis than we) have, like other representatives, similar seats and vote like others. Their vote may reject or approve a bill. The day before yesterday, in a meeting in one of our Majlis departments in which a Jewish doctor is a member, one of the credentials of a candidate could have been approved or rejected by one vote. We see that one vote could have determined the fate of a Muslim candidate, who was also a university professor, for election as a Majlis representative. We abide by these principles. Of course, one small incident of one of the minorities who had raised its expectations too high, embarked on assassinating our foreign guests. This causes a trouble in the foreign policy of the country. With regard to education, the constitution, which they voted for, says that all the curricula should be in Persian. Only the extra-curricular subjects could be in their own (minorities') languages in the schools. Now the Armenians are making trouble. Their children do not sit for examinations or do the like of these. They say, for instance, that they want to have religious education in their own language. But the Constitution stipulates that no official course could be conducted in their language. If they do so, they will be tried. They themselves have approved this Constitution. Surely, they are free to write all their religious books in their own language. They are also free to teach (in their own language) in non-official times or in the hours they desire. In their churches and synagogues they can act as they want. But in the official class time, such courses must be in Persian. Their expectations have risen beyond the limit in this country; nevertheless, they have not been treated harshly despite all the problems they have created for us. This is our Islam and the Islamic Republic and our Islamic Revolution. Now compare this with the treatment of Washington toward the Muslims' mosque. For months, the Muslims are performing their salat (prayers) in the streets in sunshine, rain, and snow, because they do not conform to Washington's policy. But we do not treat the Armenians here in this way. Yet we are branded as being against human rights and those gentlemen' (Americans) become the standard-bearers of human rights. Those, who presently back the criminal Khmer Rouge's seat in the United Nations, become the proponents of human rights. And those who support the atrocious Saddam, who destroyed out cities in this way, become the advocates of human rights while we become something else.

This is the visage of modern world. You should appreciate your own spiritual worth. Preserve this axis and main base of Islam, as well as the realities and taqwa. This is the path of Allah (S.W.T.). Of course, it has difficulties. They try to create obstacles and impediments in its way. They use all their power to create economic, political, and cultural barriers in its way, because it has put under question all their claimed principles, has condemned their mode of living, has shown and revealed to the world their erroneous course of action, and has explicitly made disclosures about them. Therefore, they cannot tolerate a pure Islamic and popular movement based on taqwa, reality, and equity, because they either have to say that this is false, or admit that they are lying. And they prefer to say that this is false. In any case, I hope that the details I have given would be useful in making known the visage of your enemies, as well as their claims. I hope it would be beneficial to enlighten those who are allured by their words, particularly the youths, so that they would conduct further studies on this issue. Perhaps many books are written in this regard, and they can find these books in the libraries.A