The position of woman from the viewpoint of imam khomeini chapter2

The position of woman from the viewpoint of imam khomeini

Chapter2

The Role of the Family and Women in Nurturing Human Being

The serious attention accorded all dimensions of family life by Islam

... The laws of the shari‘a embrace a diverse body of laws and regulations, which amounts to a complete social system. In this system of laws, all the needs of man have been met: his dealings with his neighbours, fellow citizens, and clan, as well as

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children and relatives; the concerns of private and marital life; regulations concerning war and peace and intercourse with other nations; penal and commercial law; and regulations pertaining to trade and agriculture.

Islamic law contains provisions relating to the preliminaries of marriage and the form in which it should be contracted, and others relating to the development of the embryo in the womb and even what food the parents should eat at the time of conception. It further stipulates the duties that are incumbent upon them while the infant is being suckled, and specifies how the child should be reared, and how the husband and the wife should relate to each other and to their children. Islam provides laws and instructions for all of these matters, aiming, as it does, to produce integrated and virtuous human beings.

Islamic Government, pp. 43-44.

One of the things that creates different human behavioural patterns is how the rules for marriage, sexual intercourse and the times it can take place, for the gestation period and when the woman is breastfeeding, for selecting a husband and a woman who will be the one to breastfeed the child, and other instructions are observed.

These rules influence fully the physical and spiritual health of the child in the same manner as his learning environment, his teachers, friends, associates and kind of knowledge imparted to him do, along with other things that are too many to be mentioned here. All these things can have strange effects

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on a child’s development, some of which are noticeable.

At-Talab wal-Iradah, p. 148

Islam has laid the foundations of man's life from before his birth. It has established the social foundations of the family and has laid down injunctions for man covering the period he lives with his family, the time that he enters into education, the time he enters society, and the time that he has relations with other countries, with other governments, with other nations. All of these have a programme; the holy laws contain provisions for all of these things. (165)

14 November 1965 (23 Aban 1344 AHS)

Islam has moral teachings and it has rules that govern man’s social relations, his relationship with himself, his wife, his children, his neighbours, his friends, his fellow countrymen, his co- religionists, and people of a different religion. Islam has rules for men, which extend from before his birth until after his death. It contains provisions relating to the preliminaries of marriage and the form in which it should be contracted, and others relating to the development of the embryo in the womb until birth. It specifies how the child should be reared, it has rules for him at puberty, in his youth, in old age, when he dies and is laid in his grave and even after that... (166)

28 September 1977 (6 Mehr 1356 AHS)

... There are rules for other relationships concerning man. There are rules to ensure man's well-being

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even before he is born, to ensure that a sound, healthy, refined individual comes into the world. Islamic law contains provisions relating to the preliminaries of marriage, the choice of spouse, and the form in which a marriage should be contracted, there are laws for when intimate relations take place between a man and his wife, for when a child is conceived and when being suckled. There are rules for the child for the time he is being reared by his mother and when he is being trained by his first teachers. Islam has rules for all of these things, and laws to train man. (167)

9 November 1978 (18 Aban 1357 AHS)

One facet of Islam deals with government and governmental and political affairs, and another deals with man's spiritual development which concerns man himself alone: What should he be in terms of beliefs, ethics and social behaviour? What must a man be? In this regard, Islam encompasses every aspect of human life, whereas other governments and societies are impassive towards the same. That is, no government will ever approach an individual and reprimand him for whatever (immoral) activities he may engage in at home.

Whatever misdeed takes place in an individual's home is of no concern to other governments. Islam, however, is concerned with the individual even if he is alone at home; that is, it tells him what he is supposed to do, how to behave and what ethics

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and intellectual perceptions he should adopt. It tells him how a father should treat his children, how a child should behave towards his father, a mother to her child, a child to his mother, a brother to a brother, how families should behave among themselves or a family towards another. All of these have rules to follow in Islam, which takes everything into consideration. (168)

11 November 1978 (20 Aban 1357 AHS)

Islam is a religion that belongs to all. It was revealed to build up a human being in a way that it proposes; to mould him into an equitable man in such a way that one human being cannot commit one grain or pinhead of injustice against another; that a human being cannot be unjust to his own child or to his wife, or a wife to a husband, or two brothers to one another or these to their friends. Islam wants to mould man into a just being in the fullest sense of the word "human being," one whose intellect is humane, whose essence and appearance are human and one who respects human behaviour and conduct. Islam wants to materialise these goals. (169)

11 November 1978 (20 Aban 1357 AHS)

We want such an ideology, one that when it first starts to train the people directs them towards the development of the excellence of the human being. You look around yourselves in the world; can you find an ideology like Islam, which has laws

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aimed at making man a true human being even before he has been born, before his parents have married?

All of the world's ideologies deal with people who have reached puberty and who are active members of society. Islam, however, aims to perfect man even before he is born, before his parents marry, by stating what kind of spouse a man and a woman should choose. Why does it do this? Because the husband and wife are the origin of an individual or individuals and Islam wants these individuals, who are to be handed over to society, to be righteous individuals.

So before a couple marry, Islam stipulates what kind of a woman the man's prospective wife should be and what kind of a man the woman's prospective husband should be, what kind of personalities they should have, how they should behave and in what kind of family they should have been brought up.

After marriage too, Islam stipulates how the husband and wife should treat each other. Islam has laid down rules that pertain to the period when the woman is with child, and to the delivery of the child. It also specifies how a child should be reared. Islam provides laws and instructions for all of these matters so that this child that is produced from these two people will be a virtuous individual in the society and righteousness will reign throughout the world.

This is Islam. Islam seeks to create

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true human beings and it sets out to do this even before the child is born, before his parents have even married. It begins there and has laid down laws that cover this period and the period after the child has come into the world: it stipulates the duties that are incumbent upon the parents while the child is being suckled; it specifies how the child should be reared by the parents, how he should be treated later in the elementary and high schools and what the teachers there should be like.

Then when the child reaches the age of independence, the age at which he must make his own decisions, Islam tells him what kind of a person he should be, what he should and shouldn't do. Islam does this because it wants the people in society to be righteous, sound individuals. (170)

31 December 1978 (10 Dey 1357 AHS)

If you examine Islam closely, you will see that it has laws and programmes for all the dimensions man possesses. It has regulations for man for even before he is born, before his parents marry. It has procedures to ensure the embryo develops well. Islam stipulates what kind of woman you should choose for a wife, what kind of man you should choose for a husband, what circumstances should prevail at the time of marriage, what rules exist and what the procedure should be.

It has rules governing the time the child is

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conceived and the period of gestation, like a farmer who sows a seed taking care to choose fecund soil in which to plant it, irrigating it with pure water, at the proper times, and tending to it so that it grows properly. In order to train true human beings, Islam begins even before the parents have married; it wants the basis to be strong and good, the spouse to be a healthy, sound person of human qualities.

Islam contains further provisions relating to the child’s birth, to the period the infant is being suckled, it specifies how the parents should rear the child and the kind of instruction he should receive from them and others. No other system of laws covers such things; this is something peculiar only to those laws brought by the prophets. (171)

2 February 1979 (14 Bahman 1357 AHS)

Know that Islam covers everything; it contains laws relating to before marriage takes place between a man and woman to the time of interment. All its laws are progressive instructions necessary for man’s happiness whether in this world or the next. (172)

19 February 1979 (30 Bahman 1357 AHS)

Islam is a system, a political system, however, whereas other systems disregard many things, Islam overlooks nothing. It trains man in all the dimensions he possesses, in both his material and spiritual aspects; it concerns itself with both. Islam has rules aimed at creating a true human being even before he is born, before

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the marriage between his parents takes place, by stipulating, among other things, what kind of spouse a man and woman should choose, what kind of disposition they should have and how pious they should be.

When a farmer wants to plant a seed he must consider the type of soil there is in the area in which he intends to plant it and the things needed for its growth, which are useful and which are not. He must take care of the seed from the time it sprouts to when it bears its fruit. Islam treats humans in the same manner that is in the manner of a farmer who wants to produce a good harvest.

From before the seed is planted Islam has rules stipulating what kind of mother and father the child should have, and prescribes the form in which the marriage should be contracted. This is because Islam is concerned with the child’s future life, for if the father or mother is of corrupt moral nature, [and] their actions that of an inhuman being, their offspring will be affected by these traits, they will inherit them. Therefore, like a very conscientious and compassionate farmer, Islam takes care of mankind.

It has rules for man, which extend from before his birth to the time he marries. It has many rules relating to the time of conception, the gestation period, the time the infant is being suckled; it specifies how the child should

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be cared for in the mother’s lap and later under the protection of the father. It has rules for him when he enters school, then later when he joins society. From before he is born Islam cares for the child, so that he can achieve the high station man can attain. Islam has rules covering all these things.

Other systems in the world, other forms of government in the world, do not concern themselves with such matters, they are only bothered about making sure this society serves their interests and that the peace is kept so they can plunder the people. Even the best and most equitable of them cares only for rectifying its own society a little.

Otherwise, how a child should be reared, what rules exist covering the period the child is in the womb and is being suckled are of no consequence to other systems. Islam, to the contrary, does care about such things, and when the child grows into a man, it stipulates how he should behave towards his brother, towards his mother and father, how the mother and father should treat their son, how they should treat their neighbours, their fellow citizens, their co-religionists and foreigners. Islam concerns itself with all of these.

One facet of Islam deals with government and governmental and political affairs, and another deals with man’s spiritual development. For man is a two-dimensional being, there are two sides to him: one the physical, for every aspect of which Islam has rules; and the other the spiritual, which no other system even broaches. No other system is concerned about giving man spiritual training or moral refinement so that he can reach the stage that none, save God, knows of. Islam even stretches to that stage, it takes man’s hands and leads him to the highest heaven. No other system does this. (173)

19 February 1979 (30 Bahman 1357 AHS)

Religions concern themselves with all the dimensions man possesses. There are rules to ensure man’s well-being even before he is born, instructions relating to how a marriage should be contracted, what conditions should be met, what kind of woman the man should choose for a wife and what kind of man the woman should choose so that the marriage is a good one. For marriage is like cultivated land used for producing human beings. Before the marriage even takes place, precautions are taken to ensure that a sound, spiritually healthy individual comes into the world.

Thus attention is paid to the preliminaries of marriage, the conditions that should be met, and following the marriage there are rules governing the intimate relations between a man and his wife and for when a child is conceived. The mother is advised what food she should eat when she is carrying the child and what she should avoid, what her life should be like and how she should behave. Instructions

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are provided stating what kind of woman should suckle the child after he is born - that is if the parents wish to employ a wet nurse - how the child should be suckled, at what times, under what conditions, how the mother should treat the child when he is in her care, and later, when he has left the lap of his mother, how the father should treat him.

There are rules governing how the child should be reared in the family, what his teachers should be like, and when he enters society, how he should act. This is all to make sure that upright, morally correct individuals enter society. (174)

14 May 1979 (24 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

Islam is concerned with everything. It plans for the child you will bring into the world even before you marry. It stipulates what kind of woman the man’s prospective wife should be, what kind of man the woman’s prospective husband. For a human being is like a plant that must grow and blossom, and just as a farmer must take care when planting his seeds, selecting the right soil in which to plant them, good fertiliser and the right amount of water to nourish them, so too much the same applies in the case of a human being.

Islam stipulates what conditions must prevail from before man is conceived, in what kind of seedbed the seed must be planted, what kind of person the man should

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be who will plant the seed. Then later, after marriage, Islam has rules for when the child is conceived. Islam seeks to put right all aspects of man’s life, aiming, as it does, to produce integrated and virtuous human beings. (175)

21 May 1979 (31 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

Islamic law contains provisions for the period before marriage takes place, because it is through marriage that human beings are created. When you want to get married, no other system of laws in the world is concerned with how you should go about this. As far as other laws are concerned, you need only register your marriage at the registry office, the rest is up to you. Islam, however, pays attention to the period before marriage, for it is from marriage that a child springs, and he must have sound beginnings.

Like an extremely caring and affectionate farmer who, to ensure that his crop turns out well, selects only seeds of the best kind, planting them in fertile soil and nourishing them with only pure water, Islam seeks to produce true human beings, and it sets out to do this even before the child’s parents have married by telling the woman what kind of man she should choose for a husband and the man what kind of woman he should choose for a wife, it gives them the rules for this. It has rules covering the marriage and afterwards when the woman is with child, then

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following that for the period of the child’s upbringing.

For Islam seeks to create a true human being, and it begins at the very beginning when the foundations of a child’s life are first laid. So it pays attention to such affairs, whereas all other laws in the world ignore them.

Other laws pay scant regard to how a man acts in the privacy of his own home, they adopt the attitude that as long as the person remains indoors and does not disturb the peace and order in society, he can do what he likes. Islam is not this way. Islam seeks to create upright human beings so that even at home they do nothing illegal or immoral. Islam wants man to behave at home as he would in the street, as he would in public. It seeks to make man a true human being in all circumstances. (176)

10 June 1979 (20 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

No teachings other than those of the prophets are concerned with who you choose as a wife or who the woman chooses as a husband. They consider it none of their concern. Not one of their laws covers this area or what duties are incumbent on the mother when she is with child, when she is breastfeeding and when raising the child, or what the father must do in rearing his child. Corporeal laws, and systems other than those of the prophets, are not

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concerned with such matters.

They are concerned only with preventing the individual from committing corrupt acts when he enters society, and even then they only make it their business when such acts are likely to cause disorder. Otherwise, they do not consider indulging in corrupt acts of the bacchanalian type as wrong; indeed they encourage such behaviour. They are not concerned with man’s moral refinement or with creating a true human being. In their view, the only difference between humans and animals is that man has progressed more, he can make aeroplanes whereas animals cannot, he can become a physician, an animal cannot. The limits for such laws exist in the physical realm.

Islam, however, is concerned with everything. It concerns itself even with the period before a couple marry so that their offspring will become morally sound, upright human beings. So it has instructions stipulating what kind of person you should choose for your spouse. Why does it do this? Well, we can compare it with a farmer who wants to produce a good crop. First, he must consider the land, making sure it is fertile land, then the seeds he is to plant, they too must be of fine quality, and then what the seeds need to grow. All these things he must take into account to ensure as far as possible that his crop will be a good one and he will profit from it.

Islam

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does the same, only with regard to human beings. So it stipulates what kind of person you should choose for a spouse so that a virtuous human being is produced. It has instructions covering the marriage and what conditions should be fulfilled, there are also instructions pertaining to the time a child is conceived, to the period when the woman is with child and when the infant is being suckled.

This is because the monotheistic schools of thought, of which Islam is the most comprehensive, have come to produce true human beings. They haven’t come to produce a creature with human intelligence but whose limits and aims are those of an animal. No, they have come to produce human beings in the true sense of the word. (177)

4 July 1979 (13 Tir 1358 AHS)

Let them come and see what Islam says, how it is with an individual from the time he/she wishes to marry to ensure that the child this union produces is a good child. How later it has rules for how the infant should be reared by his mother, how he should be treated at school and for all stages of his life until the end. Islam seeks to guide you along a straight path. (178)

6 July 1980 (15 Tir 1359 AHS)

The important role played by mothers in the proper upbringing of children

Be mindful of your actions making sure they are good. Make sure your uprising is for God,

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your actions for God. Those of you who have children, bring them up on divine teachings. (179)

8 February 1979 (19 Bahman 1357 AHS)

In our revolutionary movement, women have likewise earned more credit than men, for it was the women who not only displayed courage themselves, but also reared men of courage. Like the Noble Qur’an itself, women have the function of rearing and training true human beings. (180)

6 March 1979 (15 Isfand 1357 AHS)

Islam wants to train you to become an integrated and virtuous human being, so that in your care suchlike human beings may be raised. (181)

8 March 1979 (17 Isfand 1357 AHS)

Men are raised in your care, you are the educators of men, recognise your own worth, just as Islam does. (182)

8 March 1979 (17 Isfand 1357 AHS)

You have served Islam and, God willing, you will continue to do so. You rear lion-hearted men and women in Iran. It is in your laps that virtuousness, decency, and greatness are fostered. You have a duty to raise your children well, to bring them up with Islamic values, with human values, and raise them to be fighters. It is through your struggles and those of all sections of society that we have been able to bring this movement this far and proclaim an Islamic republic. (183)

6 April 1979 (17 Farvardin 1358 AHS)

It is by you that great men and women are raised; it is in your laps they are

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raised. You are held dear by the nation; you are its support. Strive hard in your studies so that you equip yourselves with moral excellence and are virtuous in word and deed. Rear strong children for the future of our country. Your laps are like schools in which strong youth should be raised. Seek to acquire the highest virtues so that in your care your children will also acquire them. (184)

10 April 1979 (21 Farvardin 1358 AHS)

Islam wants you to care for your children yourselves and raise them to be good, upright individuals, to brighten up your home with the light of these Islamic children. For they are the children of Islam, and the destiny of Islam and your country lies in their hands. (185)

10 May 1979 (20 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

Since in the beginning these children are raised in your care, you are the ones responsible for their actions. If you raise a good child, that child alone may secure the well-being of a nation, just as, God forbid, if you raise a bad child, he may be the cause of corruption in society. Do not think of your child as merely a child, one day, when he enters society, he may become a leader of the society and, if not brought up well, he could lead it into corruption. (186)

13 May 1979 (23 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

Your children must be trained well; they must be given a sound, Islamic

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education while they are in your care. For it is to your apron strings they cling, it is you they follow around, your moves they watch and your words they hear. So let them not hear a lie from you lest in the future they become liars. For surely, if they hear lies from you and then from their fathers, they will become liars, but if they see that both are good, morally sound people, then they will become the same. (187)

13 May 1979 (23 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

Our nation’s long-term programme is for those who educate our children, that is our teachers, the mothers and fathers of our children, their lecturers and those who write and those who speak for them, to acquaint them with spiritual matters and help them to understand spiritual matters. (188)

24 May 1979 (3 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

The ladies’ help is several times more valuable than that of men. May God protect you. May He keep you so that you may carry on your job of training human beings, a job that the prophets were also assigned. May God’s peace be upon you all, and also His mercy. (189)

26 May 1979 (5 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

Respected ladies! You are all responsible; we are all responsible. You are responsible for the upbringing of the children; you have the duty of nurturing virtuous children in your care to hand over to society. We all have this duty, but it

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is in your care that they receive a better upbringing. A mother’s lap is the best school for a child. (190)

26 May 1979 (5 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

As you yourselves now say, you ladies are teachers. You have two noble occupations, two very noble jobs. One is to raise your children well, which is much more important than all other jobs. If you hand over one good individual to society, this is better for you than owning the whole world. I cannot describe how honourable it is for you to bring up your children to be virtuous human beings.

So one of your jobs is to bring up good children. It is in the laps of mothers that true human beings must be produced, for the first stage of their education is in the laps of their mothers. The affection a child feels for his mother is greater than any other, none can compare with the love that exists between a child and his mother. Children learn better from their mothers; they are influenced more by their mothers than they are by their fathers, teachers or lecturers. (191)

11 June 1979 (21 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

May God grant you ladies, who are in effect centres for the training of small children, success to the end in teaching and training these children properly. Their training begins in your laps, and it is in your care that children are trained well. (192)

4 July 1979

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(13 Tir 1358 AHS)

These teachings our young people, this generation, received during the time of the taghut, these taghuti teachings, must be transformed into human, Islamic teachings. It is hoped that this education will begin in the laps of the mothers and continue to the level of university and beyond. For the well-being of a nation depends on its heads, and those in whose hands its destiny lies, being righteous people, pure in heart. (193)

17 July 1979 (26 Tir 1358 AHS)

A mother’s lap is the best school in which a child is trained. That which he learns from his mother is quite different from what he learns from his teachers. He picks up more from his mother than he does his teachers; he is trained better in the lap of his mother than he is by his father or teachers. It is a human responsibility and a divine duty, a noble deed, to raise a true human being. (194)

17 August 1979 (26 Murdad 1358 AHS)

You sisters who are responsible for children, take care to promote in them human values, and those of you who are responsible for a community, make sure you guide it to God’s straight path. For it is this divine, straight path, which can take man from imperfection to perfection, from darkness to light. (195)

12 October 1979 (20 Mehr 1358 AHS)

God’s infinite mercy upon those mothers and fathers in whose pure care you brave fighters in the theatre

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of battle and struggle against the appetitive soul were raised. (196)

22 March 1982 (2 Farvardin 1361 AHS)

God’s mercy be upon these ladies in whose pure laps these lion-hearted youths were raised. (197)

9 February 1984 (20 Bahman 1362 AHS)

The importance and honour of motherhood

One cannot count the many rights mothers have and they cannot be rightly fulfilled. One night of a mother’s life with her child is worth more than a lifetime of a dedicated father’s. The affection and compassion that shine from a mother’s radiant eyes hold a glimmer of the compassion and kindness of the Lord of the worlds. God, the Blessed and Exalted, has imbued the hearts and souls of mothers with the light of his own divine compassion, such that none can describe and no one, save the mothers, can understand.

And it is this everlasting compassion that has given mothers a heavenly-like tolerance in the face of suffering and hardship from the time of conception, throughout pregnancy, during childbirth and throughout the years of the child’s life from infancy up to the end. She endures hardship and suffering in a way that the father cannot endure even for one night. The tradition which says “Heaven is under the mother’s feet” [1] is absolutely true.

It has been explained in such a subtle fashion because of the significance of the matter and to show children to search for happiness and the gardens of heaven under the blessed feet of

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their mothers, to respect them as they would Almighty God and to seek the approval and satisfaction of God the Most Holy in their approval and satisfaction.

Jilveha-yi Rahmani, p. 47.

Islam came to fashion true human beings. The divine book of Islam, which is the Most Noble Qur’an, is designed to train man in all his dimensions, in spiritual and physical dimensions, political, social, cultural, and military, in all human dimensions.

Islam came to show us the way to do this. We, in turn, must educate our youth along Islamic lines, our women must be trained Islamically, passing this training on to their children in their care so that when their children mature, they become servants for Islam and humanity. (198)

11 April 1979 (22 Farvardin 1358 AHS)

You who are educators, who wish to educate your children or society, must pay attention to this verse from the Holy Qur’an: “Read, in the name of thy Lord,” (Qur’an 96: 1). When you want to teach or learn something remember to read, in the name of thy Lord, do so with God in mind, with divine teachings. If a person receives both a formal education and is instructed in divine teachings, he will be useful for his country.

A country is never harmed by one who has been given both a proper education and proper training. Harm is usually done to a country by thinkers who lack proper training, who have received a formal education but

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one that lacked spiritual training. They have acquired knowledge but have no piety; they have had no training of the inner self. It is for this reason that they become foreign agents that they themselves draw up the plans for the country’s destruction. (199)

13 April 1979 (24 Farvardin 1358 AHS)

May God grant you ladies, who are in effect centres for the training of small children, success to the end in teaching and training these children properly. Yes, their training begins in your laps, and it is in your care that children are trained well. It is possible that a child whom you have trained well will save a nation. Take care to hand over good children to society, and let your teaching be accompanied by training. (200)

13 April 1979 (24 Farvardin 1358 AHS)

You ladies are valuable in the eyes of God, God willing. Raise your children to be good, upright individuals, give them an Islamic upbringing. (201)

10 May 1979 (20 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

If you raise a good child, that child alone may secure the well-being of a nation, just as, God forbid, if you raise a bad child,

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he may be the cause of corruption in society. Do not think of your child as merely a child, one day, when he enters society, he may become a leader of the society and, if not brought up well, he could lead it into corruption. (202)

13 May 1979 (23 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

In your role as mothers you must morally purify your children, in your role as teachers you should train them well and hand over to society sound, upright individuals, and in so doing create a sound society. If, God forbid, the opposite is the case, you too will suffer as a result, just as in the same way you will benefit from any good deed they do, for you are the source of that good deed. There is a reckoning, either a penalty or a reward. If, God forbid, you hand over corrupt individuals to society and they perform corrupt deeds, you will suffer as a result. (203)

13 May 1979 (23 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

You ladies have the honour of being mothers, which puts you ahead of the men. You have the responsibility for training children in your laps. The mother’s lap is the first school a child has. A good mother brings up a good child, but, God forbid, if the mother is misguided, the child brought up in her lap will also be misguided. For children have a particular affection for their mothers, which they have for no

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one else, and when in their laps, all they wish for they find in their mothers, she is their everything.

What she says, how she acts, her nature, all have an effect on a child. When the child is in his mother’s lap, which is his first class, if he is taught virtuousness, morality, goodness, he will grow up with a good nature, with that purity of spirit and goodness of deed that has been nurtured in him. While in her lap, the child will begin to imitate his mother, so that if he sees she is good-natured, her words and actions kind and good, he too will behave likewise. For his mother is the one he patterns himself on, and what she instils into him will prove his most effective training. (204)

13 May 1979 (23 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

A long-term programme for you young people, you ladies, indeed for everyone, is self-reform and moral purification to advance the aims of Islam. If you ladies bring up your children to be morally upright, Islamic individuals, you have protected both your religion and your country. If, God forbid, immoral, un-Islamic children spring from your laps, if under the tutelage of you young people un-Islamic, unprincipled children emerge, and in the schools and universities our children attend they are not taught goodness of character and Islamic virtues, then both Islam and our country will be cast to the wind. (205)

24 May 1979 (3 Khurdad 1358

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AHS)

The mother in whose lap a child is reared bears the gravest of responsibilities and has the noblest of professions: that of bringing up children. The noblest profession in the world is rearing a child and handing over to society a true human being. This is why, throughout history, God the Blessed and Exalted sent prophets. Throughout history, from Adam to the Seal of the Prophets, prophets came to train true human beings. (206)

24 May 1979 (3 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

When a mother wants to save her child from distress, her kindness is more effective than any medication. The child needs spiritual pacification, and this can be provided by the mother and father. (207)

26 May 1979 (5 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

You can train children to uphold the aims of the prophets. You yourselves must be both guardians and the trainers of guardians, for your children are the next custodians. Train them well. Your homes must be places where children are given both religious instruction and formal learning, where they are taught moral edification. The future of these children is the responsibility of the mothers and fathers. (208)

26 May 1979 (5 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

Respected ladies! Purify your characters and those of your children. Bring your children up to be Islamic, for Islam has everything. Put yourself in the shelter of Islam and endow yourselves with Islamic morals, for Islam has everything.

Respected gentlemen! Respected ladies!

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Obey the call of Islam. Islam did not come to provide fodder; it came to secure spirituality. One should not cry out only for material things, for this is not following the path of Islam. If spirituality is realised, then the material will become spiritual and will follow. Islam approves of material progress when it follows spiritual progress, not when it occurs alone. The basis is spiritual; a country with spiritual progress is a true country. (209)

29 May 1979 (8 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

While your children are in your laps give them an Islamic upbringing, teach them to be upright human beings so that when you send them to primary school you send sound, morally upright and well-behaved children. (210)

11 June 1979 (21 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

You must be mindful of giving these children in your care a religious upbringing, a moral upbringing. If you hand over one committed, virtuous child to society you may see that one day he is the one who reforms society, for it is possible for one individual to reform society.

Likewise if, God forbid, this child leaves your laps an unscrupulous individual, if he leaves the care of you who are teachers an immoral person, then it is possible that he will corrupt society, and you will be the ones responsible. If you train your children properly, it will bring with it honour such that likens to that the prophets enjoyed. If, on the other

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hand, you bring your children up to be immoral, God forbid, they could possibly corrupt a whole society. (211)

11 June 1979 (21 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

You ladies who took part in this movement, and may God keep you, must continue to participate from now on and advance this movement. The most important thing for you to do is train your children well. The former regime wanted to separate the children from their mothers. They lured the ladies into offices, not with the aim of improving these offices, rather with the intention, for one thing, of making them corrupt places and for another of taking the children out of their mothers’ care.

Children, who from the beginning are not raised in their mothers’ laps, develop complexes from which much corruption emanates. Look after your children well, train them well for it is these children who can save a country. While in your care give them an Islamic upbringing, raise them to have virtues, to have faith, so that they can be of service in this country. May God grant you all happiness and make you a useful person for your country. (212)

2 July 1979 (11 Tir 1358 AHS)

It is possible that a child whom you have trained well will save a nation. Take care to hand over good children to society, and let your teaching be accompanied by training. (213)

14 July 1979 (23 Tir 1358 AHS)

The prophets came to make true

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human beings. They were given the mission to transform those men who are no different from animals into true human beings, to purify them. This was their profession and it should be the profession of mothers with regard to the children in their care. They too, through their deeds, must purify their children; children are trained better in the laps of their mothers than they are by their teachers.

The love a child has for his mother he feels for no one else, what he hears from his mother becomes engraved on his heart and stays with him till the end. Mothers must be mindful of training their children properly, of bringing them up to be morally upright individuals. Their laps should be both a school of learning and of religious instruction, this is a very important matter and it is

something, which only mothers can achieve. Children hear more from their mothers than they do their fathers. No one can influence a young child or endow the infant with his/her own character and morals the way the child’s mother can. (214)

17 July 1979 (26 Tir 1358 AHS)

It is possible that a child whom a mother has trained well may one day save a nation. It is also possible that a child whom a mother has trained badly may destroy a nation. (215)

17 July 1979 (26 Tir 1358 AHS)

If good training begins in the mother’s lap and continues through

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primary school, high school and university or other institutes of higher education, then there may come a time when you see that all the young people are good, upright individuals and they draw a country towards goodness. (216)

17 July 1979 (26 Tir 1358 AHS)

A good, upright individual may train a world, whereas someone unscrupulous and immoral may lead the world to corruption. Both immorality and godliness originate from your laps, from your teachings and from the schools in which you teach. (217)

17 August 1979 (26 Murdad 1358 AHS)

The correct training of these small children begins at this stage of their lives. If, God forbid, the mother is a wrongdoer, these little ones will receive an unsound training from the start. The responsibility for their upbringing lies in your hands. (218)

6 October 1979 (14 Mehr 1358 AHS)

The role of the women in society is more important than that of the men, for in addition to being active members of society themselves in all fields, the ladies also raise active members. A mother’s service to the community is greater than that of a teacher, indeed of anyone else. And this is what the prophets wanted, they wanted women to be people who train society and bestow upon the community lion-hearted men and women. (219)

16 March 1981 (25 Isfand 1359 AHS)

Be good mothers for your children, good advisers to society and hard workers for the needy, as, praise God, you already are. (220)

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March 1981 (25 Isfand 1359 AHS)

A mother’s service to the community is much greater than that of a teacher, indeed of anyone else. And this is what the prophets wanted... (221)

16 March 1981 (25 Isfand 1359 AHS)

The ladies of Iran have played a greater role in this movement and this revolution than the men, and today as they pursue their activities behind the front lines, their role is greater still. Through their educational pursuits, whether in the form of educating their own children or teaching in classrooms and other places, they still play a great role in this revolution. (222)

23 May 1981 (2 Khurdad 1360 AHS)

The respected ladies of Iran have proved that they did not fall victim to these machinations and will not do so. They have proved that they are firmly entrenched in the bastion of virtuousness and modesty and will present this country with strong, integrated young men and virtuous, committed young women, and never will they go down those roads which the superpowers have laid at their feet with the intention of destroying this country. (223)

23 May 1981 (2 Khurdad 1360 AHS)

What can one say? What can be laid at the noble feet of the exalted mothers who raised such children in their pure laps? (224)

27 August 1984 (5 Shahrivar 1363 AHS)

The Iranian ladies have brought Islam to the stage it is now at by sacrificing their lives, their youth and their time, and

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I hope that from now on it will be advanced even further. You can be sure that as long as you remain active and committed to Islam, as long as you are ready to give your young ones for the cause and are willing to train them properly, then Islam will progress... (225)

12 March 1985 (21 Isfand 1363 AHS)

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[1]: - A saying of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his descendants).

The negative effects of separating children from the care of their mothers

By putting them under pressure and exerting force, they tried to destroy this segment of the population too. They strove to stop them from performing that glorious deed which is theirs to perform, from executing those services that this segment wishes to render the nation, those valuable services which our ladies are entrusted to undertake, and prevent them from performing that most fundamental of services which it is their duty to render, that is training their children in whose hands the destiny of the country lies.

They feared lest in their laps children were brought up to be pious, Islamic and with a love for their homeland, and that even when these children entered the school system, they still would not be able to change them, not even with all the propaganda they disseminated at the schools through the teachers and propagators they had installed there. Thus, their plan was to turn these ladies away from that great, fundamental role they have and pretend that in so doing they had freed half the

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population of Iran. (226)

16 May 1979 (26 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

Of course, there is no objection to women taking up employment, sound employment, but we do not want a repeat of the way it was during the Pahlavi era. Then they did not have employment in mind for women, rather their aim was to degrade both men and women, pulling them down from that position they occupy. They did not want a natural growth for either sex. They did not want our children to receive a sound upbringing so they took steps to prevent this from the very beginning by depriving many of the chance to be raised in their mothers’ laps, which are centres for a child’s training.

Then later at the primary schools, there too they misguided the children and led them astray with their malicious propaganda and misleading books. Even later still, at the universities, their agents there did not let them develop properly, they did not allow training to be given that would produce genuine scholars or individuals committed to the welfare of the country and to Islam. (227)

16 May 1979 (26 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

Unfortunately, the foreigners made us view the profession of being a mother as very demeaning and of little value, consequently some mothers, although by no means all were encouraged to distance themselves from their children. This great profession was made to appear unimportant so that mothers would not rear good children in their laps.

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Fathers too were made to feel they needed not to pay much attention to their children or to their proper upbringing.

The school system also, up to and including university, suffered the same lack of training. This was because the foreigners did not want true human beings to exist in this country; they knew that if this were to happen, such people would sever their hands from this land. They don’t want genuine, believing Muslims, people with faith in God, people who consider martyrdom a triumph, to exist in this country. (228)

24 May 1979 (3 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

Unfortunately, during the rule of the taghut, they tried to take this profession away from these mothers, so they propagated views that questioned the woman’s role as a mother, they disparaged this noble occupation and made it seem unimportant in the eyes of the mothers. For they wanted to distance the mothers from their children, they wanted the children to be brought up in nurseries and the mothers to go doing the things they wanted them to do.

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is separated from his mother. A child needs his mother’s affection, therefore this profession, which was also the profession of the prophets, for they too came to make true human beings, is your primary one: to give your child his primary training. (229)

11 June 1979 (21 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

Throughout the rule of this monarchy, they strove to distance mothers from their children. They instilled in the mothers the idea that looking after their children was of no value; that they should work outside in the offices instead. In this way they took the innocent children out of their mothers’ laps and put them into nurseries and other places where unsympathetic strangers gave them an unsound training.

When a child is separated from his mother, it doesn’t matter who looks after him instead, he will develop complexes that in turn become the source of much corruption. Many of the murders that occur stem from these complexes, and many of these have developed because of a child being separated from his mother. (230)

17 July 1979 (26 Tir 1358 AHS)

When infants are taken from their mothers’ care and put into nurseries, they develop complexes because they are placed in the care of strangers and are deprived of their mothers’ love and affection. These complexes become the root of most of mankind’s corruption. These wars that occur are a result of complexes, which exist in the hearts of bloodthirsty individuals. This thieving and

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treachery we witness stems mostly from the complexes within man.

If your children are separated from you, they will develop complexes and be drawn into corruption because of the lack of your motherly love. The former regime was actually assigned the task of leading our children into corruption, of not allowing them to be brought up, to be trained, in the loving care of their mothers, so that they would develop complexes. In the school system the story was the same, our children were placed in the hands of teachers appointed by them, attended universities they had set up; corruption from the bottom right up to the top “From light they will lead them forth into the depths of darkness” (Qur’an 2: 257). The regime did not allow a sound education to be imparted, one that would create true human beings. (231)

17 August 1979 (26 Murdad 1358 AHS)

They did not want true human beings to develop so they made the training of children by their mothers appear to be a very trivial matter. Some of the mothers, those who were easily influenced by them, came to believe their propaganda and stopped caring for their dear children themselves, sending them instead to nurseries where they received devilish training. (232)

17 August 1979 (26 Murdad 1358 AHS)

You are responsible and the responsibility is great. A good, upright individual may train a world, whereas someone unscrupulous and immoral may lead the world to corruption. Both immorality

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and godliness originate from your laps, from your teachings and from the schools in which you teach. They wanted to remove the children from their mothers’ care and send them to nurseries. (233)

17 August 1979 (26 Murdad 1358 AHS)

For the ladies there is one matter, which is more important than anything else that is the proper upbringing of their children. Do not think that those who always decry (the profession of) being a mother and bringing up children, who make it appear a very trivial matter and very demeaning, are right. They want to distance children from their mothers’ laps, where they will be given a proper upbringing, and send them from the start to nurseries for strangers to train. They don’t want true human beings to be produced, and it is in your laps that this can happen. They wish to prevent your children from being with you and thus prevent true human beings from being trained. (234)

17 August 1979 (26 Murdad 1358 AHS)

The importance of the family and the duty of the parents to prevent children from straying

The noble soul of the Most Noble Messenger (peace be upon him and his descendants) is restless and afraid lest the tree of prophethood and Imamate shed its leaves and autumn sets in. The Prophet said: Marry and procreate and indeed I will be proud of you above all other nations. [1]

Forty Traditions, p. 147.

Your home must be a school, a

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place where your young ones are taught the principles of Islam, where they are refined morally. You must deliver well-bred, upright youngsters to the schoolteachers and they in turn must edify them further. (235)

10 May 1979 (20 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

This call to marry and the high commendation marriage has been given are to encourage marriage and discourage deviation and corruption. Through their teachings, the prophets aim to prevent the development of an unbridled carnal appetite and the establishment of centres of corruption and fornication, they do not seek to quash passions and carnal desires per se, for these are a natural part of man’s nature and must be allowed to perform their purpose.

However, they are subject to restraints. If the teachings of the prophets were realised, then man would become complete in this world, and this gluttony, these injustices, these aggressions and class differences would not arise; in the next world too, which is the most important one, in that life which is eternal, his welfare would be assured. (236)

7 July 1979 (16 Tir 1358 AHS)

When goodness prevails in a society, the people brought up in it will be good, healthy individuals. A family whose members are all sound individuals will bring up sound children, unless, that is, these children enter a corrupt society, which in turn corrupts them.

This is only natural, for the nature of small children makes them very impressionable, and they can be easily influenced by good

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or bad. If they are brought up in a sound society, they will grow up to be sound individuals, on the other hand if society is corrupt, they will grow up to be corrupt too. (237)

1 July 1980 (10 Tir 1359 AHS)

It was you families who raised these brave youths in your laps, youths who made sacrifices for Islam. (238)

18 December 1980 (27 Azar 1359 AHS)

Our nation must give the situation of these individuals some consideration, the mothers and fathers of these young, misguided boys and girls must give a thought for their children and guide them. We only want what is best for you. (239)

22 June 1981 (1 Tir 1360 AHS)

Time and again I have advised these misguided young people and exhorted their mothers and fathers to counsel their children and prevent them from becoming tools in the hands of criminals. (240)

29 June 1981 (8 Tir 1360 AHS)

Mothers and fathers must give their children careful attention and mind what they do and what goes on with them. They should not allow these helpless girls to fall into their [1] trap, these helpless boys to fall into their trap. They should counsel them, but if they pay no heed, then they should report them. (241)

10 August 1981 (19 Murdad 1360 AHS)

The role the family plays in the upbringing of children, in particular that of the mother for infants and the father for teenagers is a very sensitive one. If children are

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brought up well with salutary teachings in the laps of their mothers and in the care of dedicated fathers, then when they are sent to school, the work of the teachers is made much easier. Fundamentally, a child’s training begins in the pure laps of mothers and in the care of fathers, and when a salutary, Islamic upbringing is imparted, this lays the foundations for commitment to the interests of the country and the country’s independence and freedom. (242)

22 September 1981 (31 Shahrivar 1360 AHS)

The mothers and fathers of these innocent children, these inexperienced youth, [1] must strive to save their beloved offspring from this peril, which threatens to destroy their lives in this world and the next. The crusading and committed nation must be vigilant and persevering and save the youth, who are the country’s assets and valuable resources, from the evil of these American agents [2] who wish to lead them astray. (243)

22 September 1981 (31 Shahrivar 1360 AHS)

Dedicated mothers and fathers should keep a close eye on their children and their comings and goings, so that, God forbid, they don’t fall prey to the American-backed hypocrites and the Russian-backed deviators. They should involve themselves in their studies, for the role of the mothers and fathers in protecting their children during their school years is very important and valuable.

They must bear in mind that their children are at an age when they can be deceived by one misleading slogan, which can, God forbid,

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set them off down a path from which no one can turn them away. The mothers and fathers must remember that they exert more influence than anyone else over their children, and can save them from being sucked into a maelstrom of ignorance and corruption. For this reason, parents should keep in contact with their children’s teachers, helping them in this important affair and getting their help.

I hope these young people will secure our cultural, political, economic and military independence of tomorrow, will save us from the malice of the superpowers and be the founders of a real third world. (244)

23 September 1982 (1 Mehr 1361 AHS)

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[1]: - See Mustadrak al-Wasa‘il, Book on Marriage, Chapter 1, the Preliminaries of Marriage, Narrative 17.

[1]: - Referring to deviatory groups who tried to lead young people astray with their untruthful claims.

[1]: - Referring to those youth deceived by the false claims of deviatory groups.

[2]: - Referring to the deviatory and anti-revolutionary groups.

Good conduct towards family members is recommended

Even though all mothers are exemplary, some exhibit special qualities (which put them above the rest). Throughout the course of my life with your respected mother, in my recollections of the nights she spent up with her children and the days she spent looking after them, I found her to have these qualities. So now I exhort you, my son, [1] along with my other children, to strive in your service to her after my death and in obtaining her approval. Just as I see she is pleased with you now, strive harder in your service to her when I have gone.

Jilveha-yi Rahmani, p. 47

My son, let me say a few words about personal and family matters then bring this verbose disquisition to an end. My foremost exhortation to you is

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to respect the rights of your very faithful mother. One cannot count the many rights mothers have and they cannot be rightly fulfilled. One night of a mother’s life with her child is worth more than a lifetime of a dedicated father’s.

The affection and compassion that shine from a mother’s radiant eyes hold a glimmer of the compassion and kindness of the Lord of the worlds. God the Blessed and Exalted has imbued the hearts and souls of mothers with the light of his own divine compassion such that none can describe and no one save the mothers can understand. And it is this everlasting compassion that has given mothers a heavenly-like tolerance in the face of suffering and hardship from the time of conception, throughout pregnancy, during childbirth and throughout the years of the child’s life from infancy up to the end.

She endures hardship and suffering in a way that the father cannot endure even for one night. The tradition which says “Heaven is under the mother’s feet” [1] is absolutely true. It has been explained in such a subtle fashion because of the significance of the matter and to show children to search for happiness and the gardens of heaven under the blessed feet of their mothers, to respect them as they would Almighty God and to seek the approval and satisfaction of God the Most Holy in their approval and satisfaction.

Jilveha-yi Rahmani, p. 47

And my last words of

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advice to Ahmad are to bring his children up well, to acquaint them with Islam from an early age, to take good care of his respected mother and to help all of his family and dependants. May God’s peace be upon all the virtuous.

I ask all my kinsmen, especially my children, to forgive me for any failings, neglect or unfairness I may have shown them, and to pray that God will show me mercy and forgiveness, and He is the most merciful. I humbly ask God the Beneficent to grant my kinsfolk success in persevering in His way and following the path to happiness, and to bathe them in his extensive mercy.

Jilveha-yi Rahmani, p. 48

And I exhort Ahmad, my son, to treat his kin, especially his sisters and his nephews and nieces, with love and affection, and to be good, generous, pleasant and respectful towards them. I exhort all my children to treat one another with kindness and generosity, to be of one mind and tread one path, the path of God and His deprived servants, for well-being and happiness in this world and the next can be found through this.

And to Husayn, [1] who is the apple of my eye, I advise him not to neglect religious studies nor waste the talent God has given him, to treat his mother and sister with kindness and generosity, to disencumber himself from attachment to this world and to set out on the straight path of

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worship and servitude while still young.

Jilveha-yi Rahmani, p. 48

In addition to greeting all the family members and relatives and asking them to show courtesy and tolerance towards one another, to harbour no fear and resort to no other policy, for that which Almighty God has preordained will come to pass, it is necessary to draw your [1] attention to this point: if you seek Almighty God’s approval and mine, then treat your mother, sisters, brother and relatives with unlimited kindliness, for all are in need of your courtesies. I ask you to treat everyone well.

When I was being taken away I was told that the family could come with me if I so desired, again, here, this was repeated, but even though I would dearly love to see you all, I will not agree to your coming for I know how difficult it would be for you all and your respected mother here in a strange place. [2] God willing, I will be taken care of here. (245)

4 November 1964 (13 Aban 1343 AHS)

Concerning your mother, sisters, Ahmad, [3] and other relatives, it is necessary for me to stress that God’s approval and mine will be found in your good conduct towards them. Your mother is truly in need of your help; you must keep her happy in every respect, both materially and psychologically. Do not let her worry and provide for her comfort. (246)

10 November 1964 (19 Aban 1343 AHS)

I am sure there

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is no need to remind you to treat your mother and your dependants with the utmost kindness and affection, in particular oblige your mother, for that will please Almighty God. (247)

14 November 1964 (23 Aban 1343 AHS)

Complete texts of some of Imam’s speeches about the role of the family and women in the training of the next generation

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[1]: - Imam here is addressing his son, the now deceased Hajj Sayyid Ahmad Khomeini.

[1]: - A saying of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his descendants).

[1]: - Referring to Sayyid Husayn Khomeini, the son of Imam’s late son, Hajj Sayyid Mustafa Khomeini.

[1]: - Imam is addressing his son, Hajj Sayyid Mustafa Khomeini, who was martyred in 1977.

[2]: - The city of Bursa in Turkey, where Imam spent the first months of his period in exile.

[3]: - Referring to the late Hajj Sayyid Ahmad Khomeini.

13 May 1979

Imam’s speech on the sensitive role played by mothers in the upbringing of their children and consequently in the rectification or degeneration of society

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

When the child is in his mother’s lap, which is his first class, if he is taught virtuousness, morality, goodness, he will grow up with a good nature, with that purity of spirit and goodness of deed that has been nurtured in him. While in

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her lap, the child will begin to imitate his mother, so that if he sees she is good-natured, her words and actions kind and good, he too will behave likewise. For his mother is the one he patterns himself on, and what she instils into him will prove the most effective training.

You bear the great responsibility for the training of your children from when they are very young and easily influenced, when they quickly pick up things they are taught, good or bad. Since in the beginning these children are raised in your care, you are the ones responsible for their actions. If you raise a good child, that child alone may secure the well-being of a nation, just as, God forbid, if you raise a bad child, he may be the cause of corruption in society. Do not think of your child as merely a child, one day, when he enters society, he may become a leader of the society and, if not brought up well, he could lead it into corruption.

Take the example of Iran’s experience under the Pahlavis. Their corruption was not merely evident in the fact that they stole our resources, or handed the country over to others with both hands, giving them whatever we had. No, for worse than this, they made others in this country corrupt like themselves, thieves like themselves, so that now when we want to find a healthy, upright individual we have

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to search for one, we have to grab a torch and search for someone who is sound, who is not a thief, who is trustworthy and honest, someone who would not betray his country.

Such individuals are today very scarce, the reason being that for fifty odd years these people led this country and wreaked havoc on it, and because they themselves were corrupt, those in their circle also became corrupt as did others close to them. The blight started at the top and spread down to the lower levels until corruption permeated everywhere, such that today there is a scarcity of sound, morally upright individuals in our country.

There are a few, but only a few, and this is because for over fifty years the Pahlavis impaired our human resources, damaged them in a way that they did not damage our national resources, those they simply stole. It was the human resources that were the important ones. If a person, a shah, or a state leader is a morally refined, sound individual, then those around him will also be good people and their good deeds will, in turn, encourage others to act likewise. At one time you may see that if for twenty years a righteous ruler holds sway, then in that time a whole country can be made righteous and just.

The reason why we insist on having an ‘Islamic’ republic is that Islam seeks to create morally refined individuals. The

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Qur’an is a book designed to create true human beings, the prophets came to ameliorate mankind, [and] they had no other task but this. Throughout their lives, the great prophets and the Immaculate Imams (upon whom be peace) strove to educate the people. God the Blessed and Exalted sent the prophets to purify and reform mankind.

If a person who leads a community, a mullah who leads a community, is a reformed, righteous individual, the community too will become a righteous one, for the people take their example from him. If a government is a sound, righteous one, the people too will become righteous, for they take their cue from them. This process must begin in the laps of you mothers, with your children.

Your children must be trained well; they must be given a sound, Islamic education while they are in your care. For it is to your apron strings they cling, it is you they follow around, your moves they watch and your words they hear. So let them not hear a lie from you lest in the future they become liars. For surely, if they hear lies from you and then from their fathers, they will become liars, but if they see that both are good, morally sound people, then they will become the same.

When you deliver such children to the school system, if there they are taught by sound teachers, then when they leave the system and enter

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society they will make society a sound, morally upright one. God willing you ladies will at some time become teachers, and those of you who are not mothers already will be so in the future, God willing.

In your role as mothers you should bring your children up well, in your role as teachers you should train them well and hand over to society sound, upright individuals and in so doing create a sound society. If, God forbid, the opposite is the case, you too will suffer as a result, just as in the same way you will benefit from any good deed they do, for you are the source of that good deed. There is a reckoning, either a penalty or a reward. If, God forbid, you hand over corrupt individuals to society and they perform corrupt deeds, you will suffer as a result.

I ask God, the Blessed and Exalted, to grant all you ladies and gentlemen success, health and happiness.

Peace be upon you and also the mercy and blessings of God. (248)

13 May 1979 (23 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

26 May 1979

Imam’s address to a gathering of ladies from the families of scholars at the theological school in Qum

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

“O Apostle! Sufficient unto thee is God and those who follow thee among the believers,” (Qur’an 8: 64).

Such pride this verse evokes in the believers, such a responsibility it brings for them. It evokes pride because although God

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the Blessed and Exalted alone is sufficient and one in His omnipotence, everyone else being insignificant compared to Him, He gave the believers, and this includes the women, the honour of mentioning their name alongside His own blessed name and telling the Prophet that He and the believers, those who follow him, both male and female, are enough for him: “Sufficient unto thee is God and those who follow thee among the believers. ”

What an honour this is for us, for the believers, for you devout ladies, to be mentioned in the same line as God, and what a responsibility this brings for us all. In this verse, God the Blessed and Exalted is telling us that we must protect Islam, the Noble Prophet of Islam and all those associated with him, and we must uphold the laws and aims of Islam. We have been commissioned to protect God’s religion, to uphold divine aims.

You believing women, who are from the families of religious scholars, who are from the household of prophecy, you more than anyone else have a fundamental role to play in upholding the aims of Islam. God has favoured us by saying that along with Him, we should protect the religion of Islam. “Sufficient unto thee is God and those who follow thee among the believers. ”

Respected ladies! You are all responsible; we are all responsible. You are responsible for the upbringing of the children; you have the duty of nurturing virtuous children

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in your care to hand over to society. We all have this duty, but it is in your care that they receive a better upbringing. A mother’s lap is the best school for a child. You have a responsibility towards your children, towards your country; you can train your children so that one day they make the country flourish. You can train children to uphold the aims of the prophets.

You yourselves must be both guardians and the trainers of guardians, for your children are the next custodians. Train them well. Your homes must be places where children are given both religious instruction and formal learning, where they are taught moral edification. The future of these children is the responsibility of the mothers and fathers, but that of the mothers is greater. They are honoured more than the fathers, the mother’s influence on the child’s psychology is greater than the father’s.

You are responsible; we are all responsible; God, the Blessed and Exalted, has made us all responsible and has said in this noble verse: “Sufficient unto thee is God and those who follow thee among the believers. ” Those among the believers who follow Islam, who follow the Messenger of Islam, these are the people who are sufficient for the Messenger.

This is a great responsibility which all the people, all the followers, all those who follow the Messenger must undertake. This mark “Sufficient unto thee is God and

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those who follow thee among the believers,” must be on their foreheads. They must protect God’s religion, Islam and the Most Noble Qur’an.

They must not tremble in the face of these impotent insurrections that these inhuman elements create in Iran, nor fear these feeble insurrectionists who assassinate people thinking they can terrorise the nation. Our nation will never be intimidated by such tactics and our movement will never be assassinated.

By assassinating individuals they will not be able to assassinate the movement. Our movement is rooted even without such personalities as the late Mutahhari, [1] Mr. Hashemi [2] and others. God the Blessed and Exalted and those who follow the Prophet from among the believers are sufficient, the nation is sufficient. Our nation has found its way, there is no fear, we will never allow these assassinations to intimidate us, nor will we return to the past or permit the East or West to ever again interfere in the affairs of our country.

May God keep you believing women who participated greatly in the Islamic movement and who are now helping the needy. Your help is very valuable. The ladies’ help is several times more valuable than that of men.

May God protect you, may He keep you so that you may carry on your job of training human beings, a job that the prophets were also assigned.

May God’s peace be upon you all, and also His mercy. (249)

26 May 1979 (5

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Khurdad 1358 AHS)

11 June 1979

Imam’s address to a group of ladies from Dezful

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Children learn better from their mothers; they are influenced more by their mothers than they are by their fathers, teachers or lecturers. While your children are in your laps give them an Islamic upbringing, teach them to be upright human beings so that when you send them to primary school you send sound, morally upright and well-behaved children.

So one of your jobs is to educate your children. Unfortunately, during the rule of the taghut, they tried to take this profession away from these mothers, so they

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propagated views that questioned the woman’s role as a mother, they disparaged this noble occupation and made it seem unimportant in the eyes of the mothers. For they wanted to distance the mothers from their children, they wanted the children to be brought up in nurseries and the mothers to go doing the things they wanted them to do.

A child brought up in a nursery is not the same as one raised in his mother’s lap. When a child is brought up in a nursery by strangers without his mother’s care and affection, he will develop a complex. Much of the corruption from which society suffers stems from these children who have grown up with a complex. Major complexes are created when a child is separated from his mother. A child needs his mother’s affection, therefore this profession, which was also the profession of the prophets, for they too came to make true human beings, is your primary one: to give your child his primary training.

Another honourable profession has also been assigned to you, for you are also teachers and the responsibility this job brings with it is as great as the honour. As teachers, your job is to develop man, the same task that the prophets were assigned. The prophets, from the first to the last, came to train and develop mankind; indeed this is the whole point of their coming.

The Most Noble Messenger was a teacher

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of man, as was Hazrat Amir (Imam `Ali, upon whom be peace) after him. Their teachings are meant for the whole of mankind whereas you teach only a portion, your profession is the same as theirs, only on a smaller scale, their teachings are far more extensive.

So this profession of yours is also a very honourable one, and the responsibility it carries with it is very great, in the same way as the responsibility of the prophets was very great in their task to develop man, a task which they accomplished. Your profession is the profession of the prophets, it is a very honourable one and your responsibilities the same.

May God protect

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you and grant you happiness. May you be good teachers for your children and for the girls who come to you for training, God willing.

Peace be upon you and also the mercy and blessings of God. (250)

11 June 1979 (21 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

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[1]: - Referring to the martyr Murtaza Mutahhari who was martyred on 2 May 1979 (11 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS) by the terrorist group Furqan.

[2]: - Hujjat al-Islam wal Muslimin `Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on whose life an attempt was made in 1979 (1358 AHS) by the terrorist group Furqan.

16 March 1981

Imam’s address to a group of ladies

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Greetings to you great women who through your counsel wish to lead us to the right path. Greetings to the ladies throughout the country who acted as teachers to the men during this noble movement, and who remain so today. Foreign hands tried to turn these esteemed members of society, in whose capable hands the sound structure of countries rest, to turn you ladies, who have the job of building Iran and building the men, into dolls and playthings in the hands of corrupt individuals.

However, praise be to God, they did not succeed. The plan was this: to induce these influential members of society, from whose laps spring influential men and women, to stop caring for their children themselves and to place them instead in nurseries and other such places, thus depriving these mothers of their right to exercise their motherly duties and love to the full, and keeping these children from their mothers’ supervision. In this way they could prevent children from being trained in their mothers’ laps and from becoming individuals who would act for their country and for beloved Islam.

Through the

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ignominious scheme for the unveiling of women devised during the reign of that dim-witted thug Riza Khan, they conspired to change this beloved segment of the population whose role it is to develop society, into one that would corrupt society. And their plan was not aimed only at you ladies. It also sought to corrupt the young men too by luring them into centres of corruption, and by training them in such a way that were their country to fall into the hands of others they would remain indifferent or even assist in its capitulation.

If this movement, this Islamic revolution, had achieved nothing other than the transformation that has taken place in our women and our youth, this alone would have been enough for our country. There are individuals around who like to tell people that this revolution has achieved nothing. They are people who sneer at this transformation, which has taken place in you because it is detrimental to them and to the plundering powers.

Through their malicious propaganda they try to make you believe that nothing has changed. But what better demonstrates that change than a gathering such as this where you ladies are present, than the moral agenda you have set yourselves or the unqualified trouble you go to for the needy and homeless? If this were the time of the former regime, then such gatherings would not take place, nor would the all-encompassing activities of the ladies who form one

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half of Iran’s population and who educate the other half.

The role of the women in society is much more important than that of the men, for in addition to being active members of society in all fields, the ladies also raise active members. A mother’s service to the community is much greater than that of a teacher, indeed of anyone else. And this is what the prophets wanted, they wanted women to be people who train society and bestow upon the community lion-hearted men and women.

Those who sought to deprive this country of all its gifts, of Islam, morals and good deeds, and drag the people into centres of corruption, now see as you enter society and serve society that their plans for you and the men have come to naught. For this reason, they are raising their voices, insisting that nothing has happened, that the situation is just as it was under the former regime and nothing has changed from the time of Riza Khan and his son.

This is mere propaganda, which contradicts what is evident to all the men and women throughout the country, that a change has occurred in the people and in the value systems prevalent in Islamic countries, particularly Iran. For whereas under the former regime one’s consequence and standing were measured by obnoxious make-up, by what one wore and in what kind of house one lived, the values found today in Islamic countries, particularly in Iran, are human,

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moral values.

These values have come about because of the change that has taken place in the ladies. Those who once liked to show off amongst the female community with their costly clothes and pernicious make-up are now condemned and stand shamefaced. In those days, our Muslim ladies were embarrassed wearing Islamic dress, and the deprived classes who observed the Islamic dress code felt ashamed of the way they dressed before the affluent, but corrupt, classes. Today the opposite is true, and now one of those people who once put on such corrupt displays of make-up and dress would be ashamed in your midst.

This transformation is the greatest to take place in our society. Those of our women who were typical of the Muhammad Riza and Riza Khan era have now returned to being Zaynab-like women and followers of Fatima. In those days, they were followers of European fashion waiting for the latest designs to arrive; today they are followers of a school of thought and accept that which Islam approves of.

This is the greatest transformation to take place in our society, make sure it lasts. Be alert so that corrupt hands, corrupt pens and corrupt words cannot deceive you and return you to your former state. Pursue this path, all of you, you millions of men and women, pursue this path as you are doing and do not pay any attention to what they say or write.

Think for

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yourselves; don’t simply bow to the ideas of others. Try to be useful for your country, guide the men and counsel the statesmen. Be good mothers for your children, good advisers to society and hard workers for the needy, as, praise God, you already are. You are already active throughout the country doing things that need doing. You are taking care of children who have no refuge, helping the needy and homeless, comforting them and showing them kindness. This is a great service, which carries much merit before God, the Blessed and Exalted.

May God guide all the ladies and men to this straight path, which you ladies are now following. May the other segments of Iran’s population also follow that same right path which you are now treading sincerely and without a thought to self-indulgence. The nation must realise that this kind of talk and the mistakes government officials sometimes make are not significant enough to harm our Islamic Republic.

I ask God, the Blessed and Exalted, to quickly bring an end to these disagreements which exist among people in the different echelons of society, from the country’s officials down to the ordinary people, so that everyone together can work towards leading this country to the straight path, to making it flourish and to promoting Islamic and human morals in all segments of the population.

My advice to all sections of society, whether the ladies, the youth or the men, is that they

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must not think they have to differ with one another over the issues which arise in Iran. The differences that arise among those in the upper echelons will be solved, God willing, but if you start fanning the flames of this dissension, you may actually be preventing a solution from being found.

You, the masses, must remain united and not pay any attention to these problems, which arise among the officials. Always be mindful of the fact that it is your ideological unity which can bring happiness and well-being to this society, and that disunity can perhaps, God forbid, lead to the special favour God has bestowed upon you being taken away and your country becoming once again that which it was and which for so many long years you had to suffer.

If disagreements arise among the people which lead, God forbid, to us being defeated in the war or to it being prolonged, the blame will lie with those who fan the flames of these disagreements and who create unrest in the streets and the bazaar. Muslims, believers and those committed to God the Blessed and Exalted should pay no heed to these elements in society who are the remnants of the former regime, or to corrupt individuals among the people, for they simply want to push you into the arms of the West or East. Be vigilant and take pains to solve the differences yourselves. Urge the quarrelling parties to settle their

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disputes.

I ask God, the Blessed and Exalted, for the happiness and well being of the Islamic nations, for you ladies, for all the Muslim women and all segments of the population. I beseech God the Blessed and Exalted to grant victory to the armies of Islam over the forces of unbelief. May God grant you all happiness and success in helping your fellow man.

Peace be upon you and also the mercy and blessings of God. (251)

16 March 1981 (25 Isfand 1359 AHS)

The role of women in the victory of the Islamic revolution

The transformation undergone by women during the Islamic revolution

A spiritual transformation took place, a change in attitude. With tenacious resolve, all segments of the population, from small children to older men, from small girls to older women, rose up together obeying the call to “rise up for God, it may be in pairs or it may be singly” (Qur’an 34: 46) , and stood fast. (252)

11 May 1979 (21 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

In a short period of time, a people whose wont it was to haggle with one another in all transactions underwent a transformation and began to act benevolently towards each other. One of the gentlemen said that during the demonstrations he saw a woman holding a bowl of coins in her hand. At first he presumed she was a poor beggar, but as he got closer to her he heard her saying that she had brought the coins along because the demonstrators may need to make telephone calls and

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as everywhere was closed that day they may have difficulty finding change. This was a small, but great act; it showed that a transformation had taken place the magnitude of which was great indeed. (253)

31 May 1979 (10 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

This was a transformation that a human being could not bring about, this was a divine transformation; He who changes hearts did this. He removed the fear of this regime, which all the people harboured, from their hearts and put in its place determination and bravery, such that women and children as well as men all rose up to fight.

Has there ever been such a time when women rushed into the fray like this, standing fast before tanks and cannons? This was a spiritual transformation that God the Blessed and Exalted brought about in this nation and so long as we preserve this and the nature of the movement, we will be victorious. (254)

16 June 1979 (26 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

This transformation that Iran underwent was sweeping. It was a spiritual transformation, a change in attitude which God, the Blessed and Exalted, wrought in you people. This change has come about because of this Islamic movement, and as a consequence we see that today the subjects broached by the speaker of you ladies from the coast are current affairs, current political and social affairs, and the same is true of other ladies in other parts of the country.

I hope that you ladies

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and brothers, all our brothers and sisters, endeavour to preserve this transformation making it a permanent one, and that you involve yourselves in the political and social issues which concern you. (255)

3 July 1979 (12 Tir 1358 AHS)

Such an effect it has on the morale of the farmers when they see the women leaving their homes in Europe and Iran, when they see young men and women leaving their colleges, universities and centres of learning, as shown on television last night, to pour into the countryside and help them on the farms.

How grand it makes them feel to see those helping them comprise doctors and engineers. This is a very valuable service. And now you too say you are ready to help. Previously your hearts were not so inclined, you were not concerned with such affairs. Who has brought about this change of heart? [It is] God who is the changer of hearts. (256)

21 July 1979 (30 Tir 1358 AHS)

Our sisters, who were previously occupied with other matters, today shoulder-to-shoulder with the brothers, indeed leading the brothers, concern themselves with the destiny of their people and their country. They make plans, form views and criticise. This is a change that God the Blessed and Exalted, who is the changer of hearts, has brought about. (257)

21 July 1979 (30 Tir 1358 AHS)

Ladies whose previous situation was quite different, whom the monarchical regime distracted and preoccupied with other problems, underwent

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a transformation and became women who stood up to the regime and who shoulder-to-shoulder with the brothers, or rather at the forefront of the brothers, participated in this movement. These changes are nothing short of a miracle.

Another change has also occurred. Today, a group of young people, young men and women who had come from Europe, came to see me and said they had returned to Iran to go into the rural areas and help people there. Young people whose minds were previously occupied with other things have today turned their attention to such matters, and so they return from Europe, from abroad, so that they can go to the countryside and help the villagers there.

The same is true of the young people within the country. Physicians, engineers, men and women alike, are leaving the universities and going into the villages to help out there. This newfound spirit of co-operation signifies a miraculous change, one which God the Blessed and Exalted has wrought in the people. (258)

21 July 1979 (30 Tir 1358 AHS)

This is a change that came about in everyone and led to our respected brothers and sisters feeling a sense of responsibility. This in turn brought you all out into the streets and with your cries you drove your enemy out. This was your direct involvement in politics. (259)

16 September 1979 (25 Shahrivar 1358 AHS)

I am delighted that such a change has occurred in all segments

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of the population in Iran. Nowadays one sees educated people from all over helping in this Crusade for Reconstruction (Jihad-i Sazandegi) , and this applies particularly to the ladies. Only today I listened to some of them being interviewed and they said they are out working from dawn until dusk. This denotes that a change has taken place. They are eagerly working for the people because they feel that this is the right thing to do, and most certainly you feel the same way. (260)

16 September 1979 (25 Shahrivar 1358 AHS)

They (the farmers) had never seen anything like it before: a group of ladies from the provincial cities joining them to reap the crops; they had never even imagined such a thing. When they witness such humaneness - which has developed under the auspices of Islam, indeed worldly powers could not have brought this about, this is a transformation wrought by Islam in the human spirit - it so gladdens their hearts that they find renewed strength and work even harder. A human and spiritual transformation has taken place that is reassuring. (261)

16 September 1979 (25 Shahrivar 1358 AHS)

The young people, who at that time were drawn to Shemiran [1] and the goings-on there, are now drawn to the areas where the Crusade for Reconstruction is active. These young people, those women who at that time were indifferent to the welfare of their country, who were indifferent towards everything, entered the arena

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and we saw how well they too could carry out their duties. (262)

18 September 1979 (27 Shahrivar 1358 AHS)

I can see that an amazing transformation has taken place in the female community, one that is much more pronounced than that which has taken place in the men, and the extent to which this respected community has served Islam during this period exceeds the service the men have rendered. (263)

31 December 1979 (10 Dey 1358 AHS)

Through the blessings of Islam, the Islamic movement has brought about such a change in the spirit of the men and women of our society that they have travelled a road in one night that would have normally taken a hundred years to travel. You noble people witnessed for yourselves how the respected, committed women of Iran entered the arena ahead of the men to free the country from the trammels of imperial rule. We are all indebted to them for their uprising and their efforts. (264)

5 May 1980 (15 Urdibihisht 1359 AHS)

Recall how it was when that transformation occurred, when all devilish inclinations and desires were lost on practically all of those who entered the arena, on women, men, women with babes in arms, on the young and old alike. Remember how you were when you went onto the rooftops and shouted Allahu Akbar (God is the Greater) while the devils around you trained their sights on you.

Remember how you were when you poured into the streets, confronting

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those who had no fear of God and who sought to crush you under their tanks. Remember that spirit you had, this is found when God is your helper, when everything you do is for God, when your actions are for God, when you are the Hand of God. And at that time this is what you were, these people, these groups of people who acted in unison, they were the Hand of God: “the Hand of God is with the group. ” [1] Remember that spirit and preserve it. (265)

29 May 1980 (8 Khurdad 1359 AHS)

If this movement, this Islamic revolution, had achieved nothing other than the transformation that has taken place in our women and our youth, this alone would have been enough for our country. (266)

16 March 1981 (25 Isfand 1359 AHS)

I am proud of these honourable women of Iran and the change they have wrought in themselves, a change that has brought to naught the devilish plans which the foreign strategists and their dishonourable stooges, from the profligate poets to the venal writers and propaganda organisations, have spent more than fifty years trying to bring to maturity.

They have proved that the worthy Muslim women (of Iran) will not be misled and will not be hurt by the malicious machinations of the West and of those infatuated with the West. Even with all the propaganda which was trumpeted over those propaganda loudspeakers throughout the usurper reign of the Pahlavis, apart

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from a handful of affluent taghuti women, agents of SAVAK and people affiliated to them, millions of committed women from other segments of the population did not fall into the trap of those who had surrendered themselves to the West, and throughout the benighted fifty years, standing proud before God and mankind, they bravely resisted the onslaught. Consequently, through this recent, divinely inspired change which has taken place, the hopes of the undiscerning, who regard the West as their qibla, have been dashed forever. (267)

24 April 1981 (4 Urdibihisht 1360 AHS)

That which was more significant than anything else in Iran was the change, which took place in the Iranian women. (268)

23 May 1981 (2 Khurdad 1360 AHS)

They led our women, a number of them that is, to the wrong path and as things were going it seemed that number would increase. However, God the Blessed and Exalted showed us His favour and saved us from the fate the arrogant powers and their lackeys had in mind for us. He saved our women and today they are immersed in God’s limitless grace, even though perhaps they themselves are unaware of these great divine blessings He has bestowed upon them. (269)

21 March 1983 (1 Farvardin 1362 AHS)

A transformation occurred in our youth which took them from the cabarets to the field of battle against the unbelievers, from the centres of corruption to the centres of righteousness, prayer and blessings, and in our women who have suffered

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so much oppression but who are today busy throughout the country teaching, learning and striving in the way of God. (270)

17 August 1983 (26 Murdad 1362 AHS)

We cannot begin to describe how valuable the service is that this Islam, which has been revived in Iran, has done for the ladies and will continue to do for them. Had this revolution not occurred, had this change, this transformation, not come about in Iran, then in a few years’ time there would be no trace of Islamic morals in Iran. (271)

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[1]: - An area in the north of Tehran.

[1]: - A saying attributed to the Prophet. Sahih Tirmidhi, Vol. 9, p. 10.

8 April 1984 (19 Farvardin 1363 AHS)

Compare our women now with how they were then. Our women have become religious. (272)

27 August 1984 (5 Shahrivar 1363 AHS)

Have the women in Iran stepped aside completely, or are they working shoulder-to-shoulder with the men on development projects? Do you [1] want the women here too to be unrestrained, to be able to act in whatever way they like? This is contrary to the transformation, which has occurred in the women, it contradicts the change that has taken place in our country and our people. (273)

10 February 1986 (21 Bahman 1364 AHS)

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[1]: - Addressing those infatuated with the West who advocate a Western style of freedom for women.

Women at the forefront of the movement encouraging the men

You courageous women were and continue to be in the vanguard of our triumph. (274)

6 March 1979 (15 Isfand 1357 AHS)

You ladies have proved that you are in the vanguard of the movement, you have proved that you lead the men, men get their inspiration from

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you, the men of Iran have learnt lessons from the honourable ladies of Iran and the men of Qum have learnt lessons from you dear ladies. You are in the vanguard of the movement. (275)

8 March 1979 (17 Isfand 1357 AHS)

They are in the front line because the men are made brave by them, are emboldened by their struggles. (276)

6 April 1979 (17 Farvardin 1358 AHS)

You ladies here have proved that your are at the forefront of this movement. You have a great share in our Islamic movement. The future of our country depends on your support. (277)

10 April 1979 (21 Farvardin 1358 AHS)

May God keep you all. This victory has come to us first and foremost because of the women rather than the men. Our respected women were in the front line. (278)

12 April 1979 (23 Farvardin 1358 AHS)

The men found strength and courage because of our dear women. We are indebted to you ladies for your pains, and you are all, as indeed all the people are, in my prayers. (279)

12 April 1979 (23 Farvardin 1358 AHS)

I thank you respected ladies who took part in this movement shoulder-to-shoulder with your brothers, or, more accurately who led them. I hope you will once again be in the front line and will take this movement to its culmination so that, God willing, an Islamic government will be established and all segments of the population, all the deprived,

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will attain the rights that are legitimately theirs. May God protect you and keep you for Islam and the Muslims. (280)

24 April 1979 (4 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

The great name of the Iranian nation has been established internationally for its political development. The great name of Qum has gone down in the history of the Iranian nation for its political development, its activism and its self-sacrifice. The great name of Chahar Mardan [1] has gone down in the history of the world for its devotion and self-sacrifice.

The great name of the Iranian ladies, the great name of the ladies of Qum and the great name of the ladies of Chahar Mardan have gone down (in history). The ladies of Qum and Chahar Mardan spearheaded this Islamic movement. They proved their political maturity; they led the movement. You, the ladies, are the leaders of our movement; we follow you. I accept your leadership and am at your service. (281)

25 April 1979 (5 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

Our movement is indebted to them. The men poured into the streets after the women; the women encouraged the men; they formed the vanguard. Women are creatures who can destroy a power that seems everlasting, a demonic power. (282)

16 May 1979 (26 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

Stand together all of you, all of you must stick together. You play an important part in this movement, one can even go so far as to say that it

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was the ladies who took this movement forward because they poured into the streets even though they were not expected to do so. This dispelled any fears the men may have had, it emboldened them to see the women doing something, it gave them courage. It was you who gave Islam this victory; you participated in this triumph. Keep on participating. (283)

1 June 1979 (11 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

I thank you respected ladies who have travelled far to come and see me. May God grant you all happiness and well being. I thank you for being at the forefront of this movement. The ladies of Iran were in the vanguard of this movement, like the ladies in the early days of Islam, and it was taken forward because of them. I hope you will continue to advance this movement even further. (284)

18 June 1979 (28 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

The ladies who have come here have a great part to play in this movement, they are partners or rather one should say they are the leaders. (285)

2 July 1979 (11 Tir 1358 AHS)

We are indebted to the ladies much more than we are their brave men folks. The ladies in Iran played a great role, for when they came out into the streets the men were spurred on, their morale strengthened two-fold, nay several-fold, even though they had nothing save the power of faith. (286)

25 August 1979 (3 Shahrivar 1358 AHS)

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hope that you ladies who always spearheaded this movement, guiding the other ladies and making others stronger in the process, will be successful, happy and healthy, God willing. I hope that just as you have reached this stage through unity of purpose and the power of faith, so too, hereafter, you all, all the nation, will promote Islam step by step, so that eventually all our affairs are handled in conformance with the decrees of Islam. Peace be upon you all. (287)

13 September 1979 (22 Shahrivar 1358 AHS)

When you ladies came into the streets and entered the battle arenas, it gave the men renewed strength and boosted their morale. You have a great part to play in this movement and we are still only half way there. (288)

13 September 1979 (22 Shahrivar 1358 AHS)

We must thank the ladies who were steadfast in this movement and who helped the nation greatly. It was these women who spurred on the men and renewed their strength several-fold when they spilled out into the streets and alleys crying out. Thus, in addition to making themselves stronger, they made others stronger too. (289)

10 October 1979 (18 Mehr 1358 AHS)

Women are sometimes observed taking part in the Crusade for Reconstruction. Of course, they are not able to work like a farmer or like people who are accustomed to such tasks, but the very fact that they have joined the farmers and are helping to the best of

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their ability is enough to spur the farmers on and give them several times the strength.

When they see these female students and these respected ladies are willing to come from the towns and cities to help their brothers in the villages, it has an encouraging effect on them. The action of these ladies is a very valuable one, even though it may not produce much in terms of volume, its psychological value is very great. (290)

10 October 1979 (18 Mehr 1358 AHS)

You sisters played a worthy role in this movement. You helped in everything, leading the men and making them strong. I thank you for this. (291)

12 October 1979 (20 Mehr 1358 AHS)

You went through a great deal of hardship, may God keep you all. All these men and women of this country, in particular the ladies, who were in the front line of this movement and suffered much hardship so that Islam could be brought into effect, they all wanted an Islamic republic to be established, divine justice to be implemented. (292)

16 December 1979 (25 Azar 1358 AHS)

The service the men performed also owes much to the service rendered by the women. Men have a certain sensitivity where women are concerned, so if they see women leaving their homes to fulfil a certain aim, they are encouraged and made stronger by this. This is what happened in our country. The women left their homes and shoulder-to-shoulder with

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the men, or rather ahead of them, struggled and suffered for this Islamic cause, giving their young ones, their husbands and their brothers and yet continuing to struggle, to act and to support Islam. And the men, many of them following in their footsteps, did the same. (293)

31 December 1979 (10 Dey 1358 AHS)

You noble people saw for yourselves how the esteemed and committed women of Iran entered the arena ahead of the men and destroyed the great imperial barrier. We are all indebted to them for rising up and taking action. (294)

5 May 1980 (15 Urdibihisht 1359 AHS)

This movement rose from the soul of the masses, the soul of the ordinary men and women, and just as the men entered the arena, so too did the esteemed ladies. Indeed one must say that they played a greater part in this movement than the men; they made more effort. For when the ladies take action, it spurs the men on, it doubles their strength or even bolsters it ten-fold, because men cannot simply stand by and watch as the women take action. (295)

12 July 1980 (21 Tir 1359 AHS)

The ladies do not come out (into the streets) and risk their lives and those of their children for some personal benefit or position. It is Islam and the Qur’an, which brings them out and into the political scene alongside, or rather ahead of, the men. (296)

12 July 1980 (21 Tir 1359 AHS)

These

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commentators should realise the profundity of what has taken place in Iran. When during these past fifty years, or these past ten or twenty years which are easier for you to remember, can you recall a time when women entered the battlefield along with the men and began leading the men? (297)

12 July 1980 (21 Tir 1359 AHS)

A nation whose women stand in the front line for advancing the aims of Islam will not be harmed. (298)

18 August 1980 (27 Murdad 1359 AHS)

I thank you esteemed ladies who have travelled great distances from the border regions to be here today. I hope that just as hitherto you have been determined in your efforts to bring to fruition the plans of the Islamic Republic, so too from here on you will maintain that resolve and with serried ranks in front of the men you will be active in advancing the aims of Islam. (299)

19 August 1980 (28 Murdad 1359 AHS)

If the role of the women was not greater than that of the men, it was certainly no less. Their presence on the various fields of battle made the faint-hearted strong and doubled the strength of the strong. And you yourselves can vouch for the fact that the role of you ladies throughout this Islamic movement, this Islamic revolution, has been greater. For you were both active yourselves and inspired the men to be active too. You have been a source of pride

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and it is much appreciated. (300)

8 April 1984 (19 Farvardin 1363 AHS)

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[1]: - Chahar Mardan: a district in the city of Qum the people of which played a very significant role in the struggle against the Shah’s regime.

If a number of women enter an arena, let us say a war arena, then in addition to the fighting they do, they also act as inspiration for the men, emboldening them. For where women are concerned men are very sensitive. It is not the case that if they embark on a defence (of their country) , they do so alone, no, they defend, but they also inspire others to take part in that defence. Men are sensitive where women are concerned.

If a man sees a hundred men being killed, he may not be moved, but if he sees one woman, even a woman who is a stranger to him, being treated disrespectfully, his sensitivity will force him to react. Thus your spearheading role in all affairs, including matters of defence, jihad and assisting in the war effort, will encourage the men to do more, it will embolden them. (301)

2 March 1985 (11 Isfand 1363 AHS)

... Hitherto we have been successful in our aims, and we attribute much of that success to the service rendered by you ladies, and for that we are deeply indebted to you. You are the ones who, in addition to the activities you yourselves carry out, redouble the activities of the men. You are the ones who suffered psychological torture during the taghut era.

Praise be to God, with your strength and

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your commitment you expunged this devilish force from the pages of history and stopped the plans they were brewing up from being realised. God knows that if it were not for this movement and the efforts of the Iranian people, women and men, young and old alike, this nation would have lost everything. (302)

12 March 1985 (21 Isfand 1363 AHS)

The women’s brave presence in the demonstrations and their participation in the movement

I humbly express my devotion to all classes of the nation, particularly to the women who continue to play a very worthy role in this movement. I see the ladies as being in the vanguard of this movement and I have said repeatedly that they have done more than anyone for Islam, especially the ladies from the southern areas of Tehran who are the motivators of the Islamic uprising and the leaders of the other classes.

From unpublished documents at the Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works (may God grant him peace) , No. 246

There is no doubt that when a nation awakes, when even its women rise up against the government and against the oppressors, it will be victorious, if God so wills. (303)

9 January 1978 (19 Dey 1356 AHS)

Triumphant is the nation whose esteemed ladies even demonstrate, clad in hijab, to declare their hatred of the Shah’s regime. (304)

22 January 1978 (2 Bahman 1356 AHS)

You men and women of history must prove to the world and the future generations the validity

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of perseverance in the way of crushing tyrants and defending truth. (305)

6 October 1978 (14 Mehr 1357 AHS)

Today our lion-hearted women snatch up their infants and go to confront the machine guns and tanks of the regime. Where in history has such valiant and self-sacrificing behaviour by women been recorded? (306)

12 October 1978 (20 Mehr 1357 AHS)

Question: What does the active participation of women in the revolution actually mean?

Reply: The Shah’s jails are full of lion-hearted women. In the street demonstrations, our women held their young ones close to their chests and fearing neither tanks, cannons nor machine guns, entered the fray. The political meetings, which women hold in the various cities of Iran, are not few in number. They have played a very valuable role in our struggle. The memory of the sacrifices made by heroic women throughout history and their valour has been brought alive by these brave mothers of the children of Islam. Where in history can you find their like? In which country? (307)

11 November 1978 (20 Aban 1357 AHS)

You trained your bayonets on the people, but still they came out making shields of their chests. Children came out; women came out; women clutching their small children in their arms came out joining the ranks of the people. (308)

9 December 1978 (18 Azar 1357 AHS)

Now is not the time for silence, now is the time for action. No one

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must keep silent, no matter what position or post they may hold. You can see for yourselves how the women cry out; how the men cry out, these cries of the people, they are your support. May God reward these people for their efforts, if it weren’t for them, we would not have taken action. They force us to act. (309)

2 February 1979 (13 Bahman 1357 AHS)

We are all indebted to the courage of you lion-hearted women. (310)

6 March 1979 (15 Isfand 1357 AHS)

We all have a part in this movement and you ladies have a greater part. (311)

13 April 1979 (24 Farvardin 1358 AHS)

I would like to thank everyone particularly these esteemed ladies who always made sacrifices to bring our movement to fruition and who continue to advance its aims. May God adorn all of you with dignity and may He exalt Islam. (312)

25 April 1979 (5 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

... It is a miracle that the ladies confronted tanks, cannons and machine guns, fearing nothing. This is the light of the Qur’an and Islam that has appeared in your hearts and the hearts of the entire Iranian nation. It is the light of faith that stops you ladies from fearing martyrdom. (313)

6 May 1979 (16 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

I thank the dear sisters who have gathered here and who support the movement with their demonstrations. May God protect you and keep you for Islam.

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You have played a great role in this movement and continue to do so. It is you who must bring it to fruition, and this you will do. (314)

6 May 1979 (16 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

I thank you for not being remiss in our movement, for rising up shoulder-to-shoulder with the men and for helping the poor. (315)

10 May 1979 (20 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

You ladies, ladies everywhere in Iran, particularly the ladies of Qum, play a role in this movement and shoulder-to-shoulder with the men helped in our struggle against despotism and imperialism. May God keep you all. (316)

10 May 1979 (20 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

We saw that it was you who were active members of our society, who did this movement a great service. It was you who dressed the way you are here now, [1] poured into the streets and helped our movement. (317)

16 May 1979 (26 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

We all saw what role the women played in this movement. History has witnessed great women in the world and what it means to be a woman, but history is remote. We ourselves have witnessed the kind of woman Islam has nurtured. In this recent period, the women who rose up were the veiled women from the south of the city, from Qum and other places where Islam enjoys a strong foothold.

Those who had the type of upbringing that the Aryamehr [2] decreed did not participate in this uprising at

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all. They were given a training that was depraving and corrupt and were deprived of Islamic teachings, whereas those who were given an Islamic education shed blood, sacrificed lives, poured into the streets and brought the movement to victory. (318)

16 May 1979 (26 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

This is what women should be like, [1] and, praise be to God, this is how the women of our day are. They stood against the tyrant with clenched fists carrying their infants in their arms and helped the movement. (319)

16 May 1979 (26 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

The women too came out with their babies in their arms. The secret of their success was that everyone was united and their call the same: ‘We do not want this corrupt regime, we want an Islamic republic. ’ (320)

21 May 1979 (31 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

It was these dear, esteemed men and women from the classes of the deprived under that regime who poured out into the streets with faith in their hearts, fists clenched and cries of Allahu Akbar (God is the Greater) paying no heed to the satanic powers. It was they who managed to destroy this diabolical power and smash this barrier. It is they who continue to have duties to carry out, indeed, as do we all. (321)

24 May 1979 (3 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

You underwent much hardship, men and women both underwent much hardship, they poured into the streets, they suffered and shed their blood to revive

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Islam. They shed their blood for Islam, they volunteered for martyrdom. An Islamic republic was what our nation wanted, what it voted for. Islam was what the nation wanted. (322)

25 May 1979 (4 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

You esteemed ladies are also a party to this, for despite the dangers all around, you too went out into the streets. No one forced you to do this, to pour into the streets and onto the rooftops to shout Allahu Akbar (God is the Greater) and lay yourselves open to the bullets fired in response. It was the power of faith that did this, and the value of the action lies in this. (323)

18 June 1979 (28 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

Oh young people who confronted cannons and tanks! Oh sisters who lost your young ones, who joined in the people’s demonstrations shouting Allahu Akbar (God is the Greater)! Guard yourselves, guard your movement, do not sit back in anticipation of others doing something for you, they will do nothing, just as the foreigners will do nothing for you. (324)

30 October 1979 (8 Aban 1358 AHS)

Let us see what it was our nation, from the esteemed ladies to the respected youths, wanted on the day they poured into the streets, and whether they have obtained that or not. That which they wanted, that which they cried out for all over the country, in the streets, alleys, schools, everywhere, was independence, freedom and an Islamic republic.

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These three words were on everyone’s lips. (325)

7 November 1979 (16 Aban 1358 AHS)

May the mercy of God be upon you, lion-hearted women, whose noble efforts have delivered Islam from the fetters of enslavement to foreigners. The peace of God the Blessed and Exalted be upon the nation of Iran, upon the ladies and the men. Courageous sisters, you fought shoulder-to-shoulder with the men and ensured the victory of Islam.

I thank you, women of Iran and women of Qum. May God and the Imam of the Age be pleased with you. Carrying your infants in your arms, you came into the streets and supported Islam with your ardent demonstrations. I have heard what happened in Qum and other cities; I have heard what happened in Chahar Mardan. [1] I take pride in all the courageous deeds accomplished by the women of Iran... (326)

1 February 1980 (12 Bahman 1358 AHS)

It was out of love for Islam that our nation came out everywhere empty-handed using their chests as shields. Men and women together, taking their young ones with them, entered the arena, fought and won. (327)

19 May 1980 (29 Urdibihisht 1359 AHS)

Snatching up one child in one arm and leading the other by the hand, the women too joined the demonstrations and confronted the cannons, tanks and whatever else they brought out against them. When can you recall a time in Iran when the different groups of people

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were united like this and when everyone participated in the affairs of the country, in political affairs as they are now doing?

Previously, if an incident took place in the country, perhaps whole districts of Tehran were unaware of it, the men too were perhaps unaware, and those who knew about it, men and women alike, were indifferent. This present participation of all segments of the population has never happened before. Today the entire nation are involving themselves in political and social affairs, indeed they consider it their moral obligation to do so.

---------------

[1]: - Referring to the women dressed in hijab who had come to see Imam.

[2]: - Refer to footnote 42.

[1]: - Referring to women such as Hazrat Zaynab who stood up to tyrants such as Yazid and defended their rights.

[1]: - Refer to footnote 95.

They are no longer indifferent if something takes place, which contradicts the rules, the men turning a blind eye and the women busying themselves with other things. No, this is not the case. Today you women and you revolutionary guards are all involved in the affairs of the country, and may God assist you all. (328)

12 July 1980 (21 Tir 1359 AHS)

You esteemed ladies rose up for God and it is for God that you stand firm in this uprising, therefore you will suffer no harm. Bring your ranks even closer still, protect the revolution and take it forward. (329)

18 August 1980 (27 Murdad 1359 AHS)

Are our ladies today the same as those during His Imperial Majesty’s period? Have we merely changed a name? [1] Is the Islamic Republic simply a name without real meaning? Are the men the same men, the women the same women and

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is everything just the same? Are these women today the same as those who appeared on the television and wandered the streets during the taghut period?

Or did they go to hell and our women come out like brave men, like lions, and along with their brothers establish the Islamic Republic? Are these ladies in the streets today the same dolls who were there before? Have we merely changed a name, or has there been a fundamental change? (330)

16 February 1981 (27 Bahman 1359 AHS)

... [F]or what is more deserving of pride than that which our great women did in standing against the former tyrannical regime, and, upon its destruction, against the superpowers and their retainers, in the forefront of the struggle, demonstrating such perseverance, resistance and bravery the likes of which have not been recorded of men in any age. (331)

14 April 1982 (25 Farvardin 1361 AHS)

It goes without saying that the majority of religious women resisted this assault especially society’s deprived. But among the perfidious imperialists in the affluent and hedonistic echelons of society, their plans found success and it was these people who created a favourable market for their masters.

Even now that through the providence of God Almighty and the actions of the exalted nation, particularly its lion-hearted ladies, the hands of the oppressors have been severed, still an insignificant minority persist in their foolish ways. It is hoped that, God willing, they too will

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see the tricks of the devils, both great and small, and will escape their cunning traps. (332)

14 April 1982 (25 Farvardin 1361 AHS)

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[1]: - There were those at this time who held the mistaken notion that apart from a few superficial changes the nature of the Islamic Republic was no different from the Shah’s regime.

The women’s financial aid to the deprived

Iranian women have undertaken both great human and financial endeavours. This respected class of women from the south of Tehran, from Qum and other cities, these veiled ladies, these symbols of virtuousness, took the lead in the movement and in financial sacrifice, donating their jewels and gold to the oppressed. And the most important issue here is that one’s intentions are pure.

For the few loaves of bread that Hazrat Amir (Imam `Ali) , upon whom be peace, and his family gave in charity, God revealed several (Qur’anic) verses. These verses were revealed not because of the loaves of bread, but because the intention was pure, it was an act done for God. The value of an action lies in its spiritual motives.

The actions of those sisters who took part in the movement were more valuable than those of the men; they came out (into the streets) in their veils of modesty and shouting in unison with the men brought about victory. Now, with the purest of intentions, what they had accumulated during their lives they donated to the needy. This is worth much, were the affluent to donate millions it would not match this in value. (333)

17 May 1979 (27 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

The women gave their money and their gold jewellery.

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Women from different strata of society, large numbers of them, have donated things they have been keeping for the greater part of their lives so that houses can be built for the deprived. (334)

21 May 1979 (31 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

May God protect you. (335)

26 May 1979 (5 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

It is the women of Qum, of south Tehran and the poor quarters of other cities, those same people you [1] regard as being ‘the lower classes’, who understand what human rights are all about and act in accordance with their convictions. They donate their gold jewellery, which they have kept for twenty, thirty or even fifty years, to help the poor. What have you done? What have you all done? (336)

5 June 1979 (15 Khurdad 1358 AHS)

Complete texts of some of Imam’s speeches on the role of women in the victory of the Islamic revolution

6 May 1979

Address to a group of ladies from the south of Tehran

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

This is a miracle, a great miracle, that you sisters and brothers came together and with one voice and clenched fists confronted satanic powers. It is a miracle of Islam, this is the power of Islam that has manifested itself in you; it

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is the power of faith that made you victorious in this struggle. It is a miracle that with the martyrdom of a dear one a wave is started throughout the world.

It is a miracle that the ladies confronted tanks, cannons and machine guns, fearing nothing. This is the light of the Qur’an and Islam that has appeared in your hearts and the hearts of the entire Iranian nation. It is the light of faith that stops you ladies from fearing martyrdom.

The enemies should not suppose that by martyring our leading personalities this movement would subside. This movement is aflame and will remain so until all the roots of corruption are deracinated, until the ultimate victory. And whenever signs of a possible dampening occur, Almighty God will rekindle it by some means.

Our enemies are mistaken if they think that by killing us, the former sinister regime can be reinstated or one like it installed. The clock cannot be put back; the Iranian nation will no longer accept the situation as it was then. America has made a mistake, the plotters of Britain, America and other places have erred; their machinations have had no effect. We have destroyed the great dam and these drops that are left are nothing.

I thank the dear sisters who have gathered here and who support the movement with their demonstrations. May God protect you and keep you for Islam. You have played a great role

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in this movement and continue to do so. It is you who must bring it to fruition, and this you will do.

My greetings to you dear sisters, to all the sisters and brothers of this nation and to all the Muslims.

Peace be upon you and also the mercy and blessings of God. (337)

6 May 1979 (16 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

10 May 1979

Address to a group of ladies from Qum

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Greetings to the people of Qum; greetings to the precious ladies of Qum. You ladies struggled for both the movement and our triumph and in the financial arena. You are on a par with the soldiers of Islam and the ladies of the early days of Islam. Just as those ladies assisted Islam and helped in the Islamic movements and wars of that time, so too you ladies today, ladies everywhere in Iran, particularly the ladies of Qum, play a role in this movement and shoulder-to-shoulder with the men helped in our struggle against despotism and imperialism. May God keep you all in his care.

You ladies are valuable in the eyes of God, God willing. Raise your children to be good, upright individuals, give them an Islamic upbringing. Islam wants you to care for your children yourselves and raise them to be good, upright individuals, to brighten up your home with the light of these Islamic children. For they are the children of Islam, and the destiny of

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Islam and your country lies in their hands.

I thank you for not being remiss in our movement, for rising up shoulder-to-shoulder with the men and for helping the poor. May God grant you peace and happiness both in this world and the next. (338)

10 May 1979 (20 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

3 July 1979

Address to a gathering of ladies from the southern coastal regions

In the Name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful

It is one of the blessings of the movement that you ladies from the coastal regions, and indeed the other respected ladies of Iran, are now involved with the issues of the day and political issues. The criminal hands, which were manifested in the form of the hands of Muhammad Riza and his father, had excluded all segments of the population from involvement in social and political affairs.

Political problems were never presented for the consideration of the ladies, or for that matter the brothers either. And if a political issue was put forward for the people to decide on, it was still based on their (the West’s) plundering policy. If some classes of the population, the so-called political classes, became involved in the political problems of the day, they were simply involving themselves in policies dictated by the West and aimed at plundering the East.

This transformation that Iran underwent was sweeping. It was a spiritual transformation, a change in attitude which God the Blessed and Exalted wrought in you people. This change has come

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about because of this Islamic movement, and as a consequence we see that today the subjects broached by the speaker of you ladies from the coast are current affairs, current political and social affairs, and the same is true of other ladies in other parts of the country.

I hope that you ladies and brothers, all our brothers and sisters, endeavour to preserve this transformation making it a permanent one, and that you involve yourselves in the political and social issues which concern you.

The previous regime, on the plea of involving half the population in the country’s current political and social affairs, actually excluded the whole of the population from them. It is today that all segments of society have a say in their own affairs, in the affairs of the country and the political affairs of state. It is today that all people of the nation, whether the esteemed ladies or the brothers, have a say in determining their own destiny. The former regime claimed to have freed half the population, but under that pretext they in fact deprived the whole of the population of freedom.

Today you are free, all the brothers and sisters are today free, free to criticise the government, free to criticise anything that goes against the path of the nation and Islam, free to make fundamental demands of the government. This movement has made you free, has liberated you from the bonds that bound the nation. You have accepted the heavy responsibility,

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which in this period of history rests on the shoulders of each person in the country.

I must stress that just as you have brought the movement this far, you have a duty to take it to its culmination and when selecting experts for the Constituent Assembly [1] - which will study the Constitution and determine the destiny of the nation - be careful to elect devout, well-informed and committed individuals who believe in the movement, individuals who lean neither to the East nor West but who tread the straight path of humanity and Islam. Place your destiny in the hands of trustworthy individuals.

Peace be upon you and also the mercy and blessings of God. (339)

3 July 1979 (12 Tir 1358 AHS)

18 August 1980

Imam’s address to a gathering of ladies from Ardabil

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I welcome you ladies who have travelled far to be here today. May God grant you happiness. A nation whose women stand in the front line for advancing the aims of Islam will not be harmed. A nation whose women enter the arenas to battle with the superpowers and confront satanic powers ahead of the men will be victorious. A nation whose martyrs in the way of Islam are from the class of women as well as men and whose women actually seek martyrdom along with its men will not suffer harm. We have confidence in this thunderous torrent of people led by the esteemed ladies,

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who form the most precious class of the nation and who struggle to advance the aims of Islam.

I congratulate the Iranian nation. We fear no power for none can confront a nation whose men and women are ready to make sacrifices and who seek martyrdom. Your power is a divine power. You esteemed ladies rose up for God and it is for God that you stand firm in this uprising, therefore you will suffer no harm. Bring your ranks even closer still, protect the revolution and take it forward.

Do not listen to what the malicious elements have to say, for they are trying to disunite you and make you lose hope in the revolution. They are the mouthpiece of the Devil and God the Blessed and Exalted will crush them, if He so wills.

I would like to express my appreciation to you, esteemed ladies, and thank you for coming here from such a distance. May God grant you glory, greatness and well-being, if He so wills, and keep you for the Muslims and for Islam.

Peace be upon you and also the mercy and blessings of God. (340)

18 August 1980 (27 Murdad 1359 AHS)

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[1]: - Here Imam is addressing the anti-revolutionaries and those elements infatuated with the West.

[1]: - Refer to footnote 64.

23 May 1981

Imam’s address to a group of ladies from the University Crusade association of Isfahan

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

What was more significant than anything else in Iran was the change, which took place in the Iranian women. The ladies of Iran have played a greater role in

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this movement and this revolution than the men, and today as they pursue their activities behind the front lines, their role is greater still.

Through their educational pursuits, whether in the form of educating their own children or teaching in classrooms or other places, they still play a great role in this revolution.

Women have a special kind of compassion and benevolence in their natures which men lack and which pushes them to strive harder than the men behind the front lines. It is this compassion that has led them to make very useful and valuable contributions to the war effort and to continue to do so.

But more important than this is the fact that since the revolution, they have participated tirelessly alongside the men, or rather one should say ahead of them, in the affairs of the country while maintaining their modesty and observing Islamic precepts. Praise God the former regime failed in the plans it had for our women - devised for it by the world plunderers - and did not succeed in creating even more catastrophes.

Today we see that the respected ladies of Iran throughout the country are useful members (of our society) and form a committed and devout community serving their country. They are the mainstay of this country. I hope that, mindful of Islamic precepts and armed with the weapon of faith and devotion to Islam, they will carry this victory forward and will be the mainstay of this

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revolution too.

They have trained their youths and sent them to the warfronts. There are mothers who are happy, who take pride in the fact that their young ones have been martyred at the fronts in the way of Islam and who offer their other children for Islam. This transformation has taken place because the revolution is Islamic in nature.

The former regime wanted our women to conform to their idea of what a woman should be like, and thus drag this great section of the nation into corruption and ruination, condemning the future generations and consequently the whole of the country to the same fate in the process. However, God the Blessed and Exalted bestowed His favour on this nation and granted our country this victory.

I am hopeful that through the dedication and commitment of the ladies, support for this nation and Islam will become stronger in the future, and through the efforts of you esteemed women, young people will emerge who will help bring victory at the warfront and will work behind the lines to develop and improve the country. The former regime did not know you well enough; it presumed that all the ladies of Iran were like those few they had been able to lead astray and that they could lead you astray too.

However the respected ladies of Iran have proved that they did not fall victim to these machinations and will not do so. They

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have proved that they are firmly entrenched in the bastion of virtuousness and modesty and will present this country with strong, integrated young men and virtuous, committed young women, and never will they go down those roads which the superpowers have laid at their feet with the intention of destroying this country.

I pray to God the Blessed and Exalted for the well being of the entire nation and hope that through your efforts and dedication this country will be outstandingly successful in attaining the ultimate victory.

Peace and blessings be upon you ladies and the entire nation. (341)

23 May 1981 (2 Khurdad 1360 AHS)

8 April 1984

Imam’s address to a group of ladies from the Islamic school in Qum and the Friday mosque of Narmak

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I would like to thank the sisters, the esteemed ladies, for coming to this gathering and giving me the opportunity to talk about some of the things that happened to our sisters during the previous period, and about the role of women over the past hundred years or so of Iran’s history.

The oppression suffered by the esteemed ladies of Iran under the taghuti Pahlavi regime was not suffered by the men. Those ladies who felt obliged to act in accordance with Islamic principles, who accepted the precepts Islam laid down for them and dressed accordingly, suffered in different ways under both Riza Shah and Muhammad Riza.

I can remember what happened to the ladies during the time of Riza Shah,

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and it’s a good thing that you cannot, for what occurred was so horrendous it defies description. One cannot begin to put into words the oppression suffered by this class of the nation during the period of that corrupt shah, nor determine the extent of the pressures they were subjected to and the tragedies they were made to endure.

Under Muhammad Riza the situation changed and the depth of the crime deepened. While under Riza Shah the women were bullied, pressurised, beaten, arrested, had their chadors ripped off them and their hair pulled, Muhammad Riza took a radical stand against women’s modesty, indeed against everything in Iran, the women being just one aspect.

Each one adopted his own special method, devised his own particular plot to drag the women into corruption and rob our society of its modesty and decency. Praise God though, the Iranian women resisted, and apart from a group of the monarch’s relatives or women infatuated with the West or connected to the regime, the rest of the sisters resisted this onslaught.

Consequently, Islam survived in Iran, and we cannot begin to describe how valuable the service is that this Islam, which has been revived in Iran, has done for the ladies and will continue to do for them. Had this revolution not occurred, had this change, this transformation, not come about in Iran, then in a few years’ time there would be no trace of Islamic morals in Iran.

Praise God this problem has

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been solved. Now the situation is such that the women, shoulder-to-shoulder with the brothers, are studying mysticism, philosophy, all branches of science, and, God willing, of industry too. At that time they used to say that the half of Iran’s population in veils could not do anything, not that they wanted them to be able to do anything for they prevented the men too from being productive.

No, they simply wanted to get them to enter society adopting the style that they, their friends and adherents had adopted and thus drag society into corruption. God, however, did not want them to succeed. Today, you ladies are a source of pride, for along with your brothers in the theological seminaries you are busy studying, teaching and pursuing other Islamic activities; and I hope you will prove to be even more active than they are. Still you must be careful and act contrary to what was expected under the former regime.

They wanted to destroy Islamic values and put European values in their place. Act contrary to this so that some of those who were deceived, and are still to be found in Iran, may be influenced by you and adopt your style instead.

As to the role of women in society, as far as I can remember and as much as history has related to us, in the few movements which have taken place in Iran, in the Tobacco, Constitutional and 15th Khurdad movements, if

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the role of the women was not greater than that of the men, it was certainly no less.

Their presence on the various fields of battle made the faint-hearted strong and doubled the strength of the strong. And you yourselves can vouch for the fact that the role of you ladies throughout this Islamic movement, this Islamic revolution, has been greater. For you were both active yourselves and inspired the men to be active too. You have been a source of pride and it is much appreciated.

You must involve yourselves in all aspects of the country’s life to the extent that Islam has allowed, such as taking part in elections. The elections are one of the most talked about issues in Iran at the moment, and participation in them today is something that must be done. The ladies must be active in the elections just as the men are, for when it comes to their destiny, there is no difference between them and others.

The destiny of Iran is the destiny of all. Islam has served you ladies more than it has the men. Islam protected you, so now you reciprocate by protecting Islam. This means taking part in these elections, for they will determine the formation of the second parliamentary assembly. Elections play a very important role in your destiny and ours, a primary role. It is elections that must lay down the path the country

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follows in all its affairs, whether domestic or foreign.

Therefore, you ladies must play a very active role so that the parliament does not become one that is, God forbid, infiltrated by some unscrupulous elements and is gradually drawn towards the East or the West, becoming the kind of parliament that existed in the previous era and imposing on us policies which parliaments of that time imposed on the people.

I hope that this new parliament will be better than ones in the past; God willing it will be because all segments of the population are active. Those who have studied the situation say that the people are actively participating; they have their views and are expressing them. All of you should have views on this matter, you should all have views on political matters, for politics is not the preserve of any one class in the same way as learning is not the preserve of one particular class.

Just as men should concern themselves with political matters and safeguard their society, so too should women. Women should take part in social and political activities shoulder-to-shoulder with men, while, of course, at the same time complying with Islamic principles. God be praised, this is happening today.

I hope that this parliament will be a very good one and one in whose selection the entire nation has freely participated without showing concern for what is going to be said about us afterwards. For our enemies are very active

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both at home and abroad in their attempts to tarnish this parliament. You must neutralise these attempts by becoming involved, by going to the polling stations and casting your vote.

God willing, the parliament will be a good one. We are confident that with the involvement of religious scholars, jurists, lawyers and the Council of Guardians, measures which are against Islam and against the interests of the country will not be adopted, God willing, and if a mistake is made, then the esteemed Council of Guardians will act just as effectively and independently as it did during this period, and take this nation, this government and this country forward.

I also hope that the war will end in Iran’s favour and the attempts currently being made throughout the world to save Saddam will fail and they will not be able to keep this criminal in his position.

I hope that all of you, all of us together, will work to take the material and spiritual aspects of this country forward, and, God willing, make it an Islamic one in such a way that it becomes a shining example for all Islamic countries.

As you are aware, the group that came to look into the great crime perpetrated by Saddam - who threatens the whole of mankind - has submitted its report, but it has not condemned Saddam, as it should have. It would have been better had they not sent this group in the first place, for then their

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true intentions would not have been revealed as they have.

Those who claim to be independent and to be supporters of human rights have shown their true colours. Because of the regard they have for the East and West, they could not condemn Iraq by name for this crime, and instead issued a general statement condemning any country that used chemical weapons. They couldn’t even say who was using such weapons and condemn him for it. It would be better if these people didn’t get involved.

God willing, we ourselves, without having to resort to such criminal tactics, will deliver Saddam a severe blow and knock him and the Ba’ath party aside and free the people of Iraq from the shackles in which this nefarious man has bound them.

I ask God, the Blessed and Exalted, to grant you ladies and sisters success both in your educational endeavours and in your ability to take action and to purify yourselves morally. For just as knowledge alone is to no avail, so too is blind purification. It is knowledge and purification together that will take man to the stage of the true human being.

I ask God the Blessed and Exalted to grant you ladies, indeed all the sisters throughout the country and the brothers, success in advancing these two aspects, which are learning and action, together with Islamic morals, so that Islam can be put into practice in Iran in a way that pleases

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God the Blessed and Exalted.

Peace be upon you and also the mercy and blessings of God. (342)

8 April 1984 (19 Farvardin 1363 AHS)

Women and the Sacred Defence, Jihad

Defence of Islam and the Islamic country, incumbent on women

Question: What is the duty of Muslim women in the battle of truth against falsehood?

Reply: Jihad is not incumbent on women, but defence is incumbent on everyone in line with their ability and means.

Istifta’at Vol. 1, p. 503

Dear sisters and brothers, in whatever country you may live, defend your Islamic and national honour! Defend fearlessly and unhesitatingly the peoples and countries of Islam against their enemies: America, international Zionism, and all the superpowers of East and West. Loudly proclaim the crimes of the enemies of Islam. (343)

29 September 1979 (7 Mehr 1358 AHS)

If, God forbid, an attack is made on an Islamic country, then all the people, women as well as men, must take action. Defence is not a duty confined to men or something that pertains exclusively to one group, everyone must defend their country. (344)

27 December 1979 (6 Dey 1358 AHS)

I ask the brothers and sisters of Kurdistan to stand together in a fraternal manner with the rest of their Muslim brothers and defend their country. (345)

1 April 1980 (12 Farvardin 1359 AHS)

Now that we are confronting the world’s major powers and are on the defensive, defending the things that our movement, our uprising has brought for us, defending Islamic objectives, our

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Islamic country and everything to do with Islam and the country, the mobilisation must be a general one. Jihad is one matter and defence another. Jihad has particular conditions attached to it, only certain people or groups can take part, whereas defence is for everyone, men, women, young and old alike.

Just as reason dictates that if someone forces their way into another person’s home, the people of that house will defend themselves, or if a city is attacked the inhabitants of that city will defend themselves in order to protect their lives and property, so too there are no conditions attached to the defence of one’s country.

If our country, our Islamic country, is attacked and invaded, then it is the duty of everyone living there, women and men, young and old, to help defend it. So defence is different from jihad, it has no conditions attached, everyone must take part; even the old man who is not able to do much must defend his country to the extent that he is able. (346)

15 April 1980 (26 Farvardin 1359 AHS)

My brothers! My sisters! We are in a situation that we must handle wisely. We are faced with one superpower in the West and one in the East, both of whom want to swallow us up. But by the will of God the Blessed and Exalted, and through the determination of the devout brothers and sisters of Iran, we are

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standing against them both with the utmost resolve.

Indeed, we will not allow any power to threaten us and try to take control of our destiny. Do not fear big powers, for you are under God’s protection and all powers are transient before that of God the Blessed and Exalted. (347)

17 May 1980 (27 Urdibihisht 1359 AHS)

The men and women of this country are all guards of Islam. It is a matter of faith, not of material gain; they are not seeking to gain something so that when they fail to do so they give up trying. No, this is a matter of faith, it is a matter of defending Islam, and this must be carried out until the last person left standing. In other words, if necessary a population of 35 million must perish and then there will be no country left for a coup d’état to take place. Of course, a coup d’état is something that will never happen, those who think it possible are mistaken, they don’t understand. (348)

12 July 1980 (21 Tir 1359 AHS)

Oh brave tribes of the Tigris and the Euphrates! Oh fighters and warriors! Rise up and defend Islam, protect the Qur’an and its decrees, for defending Islam and the Most Noble Qur’an is a duty incumbent on all Muslims, women and men alike. (349)

4 October 1980 (12 Mehr 1359 AHS)

We have a duty to safeguard this Islam, which has been handed down to

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us, until, God forbid, the last person left standing. Everyone, women, men, young and old, has a duty to protect Islam, to defend the nation and defend their Islamic country to the last. Defence is a matter that concerns all, it is incumbent on all, whoever is able to defend his or her Islamic country must do so to the best of his or her ability. (350)

18 August 1981 (27 Murdad 1360 AHS)

When an Islamic country is threatened by enemies of Islam, it is incumbent on us all to strive to the best of our ability to defend that country and the honour of the Muslims. When we found ourselves in such a situation, you all, all the men and women of our country, praise God, proved yourselves ready to handle it, so you should not be intimidated by talk of a group coming from Paris or somewhere else to do whatever. They made one attempt by setting Saddam loose to attack Iran, and what a slap in the face he was dealt! (351)

18 August 1981 (27 Murdad 1360 AHS)

And I hope you will accept and perform those duties you are obliged to carry out, which are to strive both in the area of education, which is an important matter, and in the defence of Islam. These are among the important tasks the performance of which is incumbent on every man and woman, on the young and old alike.

Defending Islam, defending the Islamic

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country, is an indisputable duty of the clerics, of those whose lives are Islam and who are Muslim. That which is disputable is women’s role in the lesser jihad. [1] It is not incumbent on women to take part in this jihad. However, defending oneself, one’s country, one’s life, one’s property and defending Islam is the duty of us all. (352)

2 March 1985 (11 Isfand 1364)

You ladies must bear in mind that just as it is necessary for the men at the fronts to push forward and spearhead the battle, so too it is necessary for you to help on the home front and to prepare yourselves so that if, God forbid, there comes a time when national defence is obligatory for everyone, for every able-bodied person without exception, you are ready to fulfil this obligation. Education is, of course, also a bastion, a bastion of the Islamic culture.

You know that throughout these past centuries, from the period after the demise of the Prophet, upon whom be peace and blessings, to the present, the Islamic culture has been trampled underfoot, the laws of Islam falling into abeyance. This culture must be brought alive again. You ladies must be active on the educational and cultural fronts just as the men are.

I hope that God will grant you all success and you will make advances on these fronts too. Pray that those who are at the war front defending their country

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and Islam will also be successful, God willing. May you all be healthy and successful. (353)

2 March 1985 (11 Isfand 1364 AHS)

What is at stake here is not simply a government or one aspect of life; it is Islam. Islam is the concern. So it is incumbent on the men and women of this country to defend it to the best of their ability. And this defence must be continued until we attain the victories that God the Blessed and Exalted wants for us, if He so wills. (354)

19 July 1986 (28 Tir 1365 AHS)

Military training for women

Question: I am a girl who would like to serve the revolution by entering the Revolutionary Guards Corps, but my father does not approve. Please could you tell me what my position is according to the shari’a law?

Reply: The sisters may become revolutionary guards so long as Islamic precepts are observed. You had better seek your father’s consent.

Istifta’at Vol. 1, p. 503.

As I said earlier, women can join the army. That which Islam opposes and which it forbids as something sinful (haram) is corruption, whether on the part of the woman or the man, it makes no difference. (355)

28 December 1978 (7 Dey 1357 AHS)

Bearing in mind all that has been achieved so far through the efforts of the noble and crusading men and women, I hope that, with the support of Almighty God, they will be successful in their

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multidimensional mobilisation for military, ideological, moral and educational training, and that they will complete their practical military training in a manner befitting an Islamic nation that has risen. (356)

20 February 1979 (1 Isfand 1358 AHS)

Praise Almighty God, our dear nation has young combatants among the sisters and brothers who, through their military instruction throughout the country, have perplexed the enemies of Iran and Islam. With confidence in God’s power and a willingness to make sacrifices for the cause of Islam, they will surmount all difficulties and triumph over all satanic powers. (357)

8 September 1980 (17 Shahrivar 1359 AHS)

Consequently, if defence is a duty incumbent on us all, then the preparations for this defence must be carried out, and these include military planning and military training for those who are able. For it is not the case that it is our bounden duty to defend ourselves and we have no idea how to do so. We have to know how to defend ourselves. It goes without saying, however, that the environment in which you receive military training must be a sound one, an Islamic one, all aspects of decency and modesty, all Islamic aspects being upheld. (358)

2 March 1985 (11 Isfand 1364 AHS)

It makes me proud to see the ladies, young and old alike, playing a role in the educational, economic and military arenas and shoulder-to-shoulder with the men, ahead of them even, actively involving themselves in the cause of exalting Islam and advancing

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the aims of the Most Noble Qur’an. Those who are able to fight are partaking in military training - for this is one of the important duties that must be carried out in order to defend Islam and the Islamic homeland.

They have bravely and resolutely freed themselves from the restrictions that have been imposed on them, as indeed on Islam and the Muslims in general, by the enemies’ plots and the friends’ unfamiliarity with the laws of Islam and the Qur’an. They have thrown off the shackles of superstition in which the self-seeking enemies, using people suffering from ignorance and some akhunds [1] oblivious to the interests of the Muslims, had bound them. (359)

5 June 1989 (15 Khurdad 1368 AHS)

Women’s presence on the fields of battle

Question: What are the rules governing female relief and medical workers going to the war fronts, where their presence would be useful, without the consent of their parents?

Reply: If it is going to cause the parents distress, their consent must first be obtained.

Istifta’at Vol. 1, p. 499

They are trying to frighten you away from an Islamic government. They say that if an Islamic government were set up, women would be locked up in rooms for all time. This is not so, in the early

history of Islam, women went to battle! They stayed with the armies throughout the years of battle and tended to the soldiers’ wounds. (360)

8 November 1978 (17 Aban 1357 AHS)

They

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say they are afraid that Islam will take power and keep the women behind closed doors, that it will lock the doors of their homes so they can’t come out. Such talk and such myths come from abroad, God forbid that some of our own youth should be taken in by these. In the earliest age of Islam, women participated in the wars. They were there on the battlefields tending to the wounds of the injured, and many were killed there! Who has told you that women will be locked up?! They are free like men. (361)

9 November 1978 (18 Aban 1357 AHS)

This regime has disseminated propaganda to the effect that were Islam to come to power, women, for example, would have to remain at home with the doors locked to prevent them from getting out! Such falsehoods they spread about Islam. In the earliest age of Islam, women formed part of the army and entered the field of battle together with the men. (362)

11 December 1978 (20 Azar 1357 AHS)

In the earliest age of Islam, the women participated in wars together with the men. We saw how in this movement the women, the honourable ladies, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the men, in front of them even, in the line of battle. They lost their infants and youth, but still they bravely resisted the enemy. (363)

6 March 1979 (15 Isfand 1357 AHS)

You are on a par with the soldiers

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of Islam and the ladies of the early days of Islam. Just as those ladies assisted Islam and helped in the Islamic movements and wars of that time, so too you ladies today, ladies everywhere in Iran, particularly the ladies of Qum, play a role in this movement and shoulder-to-shoulder with the men helped in our struggle against despotism and imperialism. (364)

10 May 1979 (20 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

In the earliest age of Islam, the women participated in wars together with the men. The position of women is a high one. Women in Islam enjoy a high rank. We saw how in this movement the women, the honourable ladies, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the men, in front of them even, in the line of battle. They lost their infants and youth, but still they bravely resisted the enemy. (365)

1 February 1980 (12 Bahman 1358 AHS)

A nation whose women enter the arenas to battle with the superpowers and confront satanic powers ahead of the men will be victorious. (366)

18 August 1980 (27 Murdad 1359 AHS)

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[1]: - Refer to footnote 53.

[1]: - Akhund: a word of uncertain etymology that originally denoted a scholar of unusual attainment, but was later applied to lesser-ranking scholars, and then acquired a pejorative connotation, particularly in secularist usage.

The sacrifices made by women during the sacred defence

Greetings to the disabled brothers and sisters who bravely rose up in the way of truth and victory, who made sacrifices and gave the nation cause to hold its head high in the world. (367)

30 December 1979 (9 Dey 1358 AHS)

Greetings to you all, sisters and brothers, who are bravely living your lives in the war-stricken areas, and who are not afraid

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of dying for God at the hands of His enemies. You are defending your beloved homeland tooth and nail to please God, and you have inspired the fighters of Islam.

You have given everything you had with the purest of intentions, and through your repeated sacrifices, episodes of bravery and gallantry have been recorded in the annals of your unremitting struggles, and will continue to be so. Through your lessons of self-sacrifice and valour, you teach the meek of the earth the truth of God’s pledge that they shall inherit the earth. I salute you who through your struggles have brought shame upon the superpowers, and I stand humble before your forbearance and steadfastness. (368)

31 March 1980 (11 Farvardin 1359 AHS)

May the Islamic movement of the great women of Iran be victorious and glorious. Glory be to this exalted segment of the population who with their valuable and brave contribution to the defence of the Islamic homeland and the venerable Qur’an brought victory to the revolution, and who today are actively involved in the war effort, either at the front or in other areas, and are prepared to make sacrifices. (369)

24 April 1981 (4 Urdibihisht 1360 AHS)

You can see how the people are making sacrifices in this war, how these young people, these mothers and these fathers are making sacrifices. (370)

13 April 1982 (24 Farvardin 1361 AHS)

The resistance demonstrated by these great women in the imposed war and the sacrifices they are

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making are so astonishing that pens and tongues cannot adequately describe them, indeed they put them to shame.

Throughout this war, I have seen the mothers, sisters and wives who have lost their dear ones do things that I don’t think could be witnessed anywhere else other than here in this revolution. One event in particular stands out in my mind from all the rest, and that is the marriage of a young girl to a dear revolutionary guard who had lost both his hands in the war and had received injuries to both his eyes.

That brave young girl whose magnanimous spirit overflowed with sincerity and genuineness said: `Since I cannot go to the war front, let me pay my debt to the revolution and my religion through this marriage. ’

No writer, poet, speaker, painter, artist, mystic, philosopher or jurisprudent, indeed anyone you care to name, can adequately convey the spiritual magnificence of this event or the human worth and the divine tones contained therein. No one can evaluate this great girl’s self-sacrifice, her otherworldliness and devotion to God using current criteria.

This blessed day is the day of women such as her, may God keep them for Islam and Iran. (371)

14 April 1982 (25 Farvardin 1361 AHS)

Martyrdom and the martyrdom-seeking spirit of women

This is the light of the Qur’an and Islam that has appeared in your hearts and the hearts of the entire Iranian nation. It is the light of faith

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that stops you ladies from fearing martyrdom. (372)

6 May 1979 (16 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

Our young people are ready for martyrdom; our men and our women both are ready for martyrdom. (373)

9 May 1979 (19 Urdibihisht 1358 AHS)

A group of honourable ladies were here. One of them insisted that I allow them to go to Kurdistan. I told her it was not necessary for the women to go there, that their going would not solve Kurdistan’s problems. Another lady came after me asking me to pray that she be martyred. I told her to serve her country and I would pray that she would receive the reward from God that the martyrs receive. This is a transformation that has taken place. In the early days of Islam, they advanced with just such a spirit, they sought martyrdom, and in only half a century they had conquered the civilised world of that time. (374)

3 September 1979 (12 Shahrivar 1358 AHS)

Some ladies would come here asking me to allow them to go to Kurdistan to fight, and to pray that they would be martyred there. I would tell them that I did not think it advisable for them to go, that the people and the army would deal with the situation there. (375)

2 October 1979 (10 Mehr 1358 AHS)

Some of the ladies come here asking me to pray that they attain martyrdom; some of the brothers do the same. This spiritual

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transformation that came about in all classes of the nation, this change in attitude whereby all sought the same thing, that is an Islamic republic, this is what led to victory. For it is right, and rightness will prevail. This transformation must be safeguarded. (376)

3 October 1979 (11 Mehr 1358 AHS)

When I see the esteemed ladies treading the path towards their goal with a firm resolve and prepared for all kinds of suffering, prepared even for martyrdom, I am confident that this path will lead to victory. (377)

31 December 1979 (10 Dey 1358 AHS)

A young couple once came here to be married by me. Before she left, the young lady handed me a note, in it she asked me to pray for our young people, and at the end she wrote ‘I long for martyrdom’. There are many like her. This is a transformation wrought in you by God, it is God’s gift to you; cherish it. (378)

2 January 1980 (12 Dey 1358 AHS)

You know that our young people seek martyrdom, sometimes when they meet with me, some of them, some of the women, ask me to promise them that I will pray that they may become martyrs. But I tell them I will pray that they receive the same reward from God a martyr receives, and that they will be victorious. (379)

15 April 1980 (26 Farvardin 1359 AHS)

Since this movement’s inception, women and men have frequently come to see

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me insisting I pray that they become martyrs. I tell them I will pray that they are successful and that they receive the reward from God a martyr receives. Serve Islam. This spirit you possess will bring progress; strive to preserve it. (380)

15 May 1980 (25 Urdibihisht 1359 AHS)

From the very beginning of the movement almost - when I was in Najaf - up to the present, young men and women have come to me imploring me to pray that they are martyred. I pray they will receive the reward from God a martyr receives. Here in Tehran not long ago we had a marriage ceremony. When the ceremony was over, the lady handed me a note, in it she asked me to pray that she would become a martyr. A lady who had just got married asked me to pray that she may attain martyrdom. A people who seek martyrdom, who ask for prayers to be said for their martyrdom, are they afraid of military intervention? (381)

4 June 1980 (14 Khurdad 1359 AHS)

A nation whose martyrs in the way of Islam are from the class of women as well as men and whose women actually seek martyrdom along with its men will not suffer harm. We have confidence in this thunderous torrent of people led by the esteemed ladies, who form the most precious class of the nation and who struggle to advance the aims of Islam.

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I congratulate the Iranian nation, we fear no power for none can confront a nation whose men and women are ready to make sacrifices and who seek martyrdom. Your power is a divine power. (382)

18 August 1980 (27 Murdad 1359 AHS)

What can intimidate a nation whose young newly-weds volunteer for martyrdom and who tread God’s path prepared for any event? Triumphant is the nation for whom martyrdom is good fortune. Triumphant is the nation that will give itself and everything it has for Islam. We are victorious whether we get killed or kill. (383)

8 September 1980 (17 Shahrivar 1359 AHS)

Today our people, our men and women, young and old alike, are determined to stand against aggression as they have already demonstrated by curbing that perpetrated against them up until now, and sacrifice their lives for freedom and independence and for freeing themselves from the yoke of oppression. We have this expectation, as human beings, of all nations and governments. (384)

11 February 1981 (22 Bahman 1359 AHS)

May God’s blessings be upon the women who in this revolution and in the defence of the homeland attained the high rank of martyrdom. (385)

24 April 1981 (4 Urdibihisht 1360 AHS)

A nation, the hearts of whose women and men, young and old alike, beat for martyrdom, whose people vie with one another for attaining it, who flee from carnal desires and who believe in the invisible world and in the Supreme Companion, will not give

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up and leave the scene because of these losses, no matter how great they may be. (386)

11 February 1982 (22 Bahman 1360 AHS)

These exemplary women, men and children who under air bombardment and from hospital beds sing the song of martyrdom, who with limbs amputated wish to return to the fronts where true human beings are fashioned, are beyond the bounds of human conception, they transcend that about which a philosopher or gnostic could write, are beyond that which an artist or painter could portray.

That which the latter found through a scientific, gnostic or rational approach, the former found through a belief in that which is transcendent. That which the one found in books and papers, the other found in arenas of blood and martyrdom and in the path of Truth. (387)

28 August 1983 (6 Shahrivar 1362 AHS)

A nation that aspires after martyrdom, a nation whose women and men long for martyrdom, who cry out for it, such a nation does not care whether something is in short supply or in abundance. It doesn’t let the state of the economy bother it, this is for those who are tied to the economy, who have given their hearts to the economy. Those who have given their hearts to God don’t care whether something can be found easily on the market or not, whether something is cheap or expensive. (388)

18 February 1985 (29 Bahman 1363 AHS)

You came and attacked the Friday Prayer gathering thinking

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that by so doing our nation would back down! But you saw how the people at the Friday Prayers reacted. What happened there will go down in history. It had to be seen to be believed.

Women with their infants in their arms, men with their small children at their sides remained where they were despite the distressing circumstances. On one side there was the explosion set off by those inhuman cowards, and on the other the shooting [1] , yet no one moved, everyone kept their composure and remained where they were sitting. This nation is such a nation. (389)

15 March 1985 (24 Isfand 1363 AHS)

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[1]: - This refers to the bomb that went off during the Friday Prayer ceremony in Tehran on 18 February 1985 (29 Bahman 1363 AHS).

Women’s role behind the front lines and their support for the fighters

Where throughout history have you heard of young women, who are supposed to be enjoying their youth, old women and old men striving the way ours are doing here today to support their army? Where in the world have you seen women struggling shoulder-to-shoulder with their men folks, with their revolutionary guards, police, army and all the armed forces? If you know of such a place tell us so that we may know too. (390)

28 October 1980 (6 Aban 1359 AHS)

You yourselves can see that the entire country is now at war. Even girls in their homes have joined the war by contributing to the war effort. (391)

3 November 1980 (12 Aban 1359 AHS)

Can you find a single village in Iraq that would

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help them [1] in their war effort as our people are helping in ours? Of course they get the things they need, but by forcing the people to contribute, by plundering their people. You can’t find one village in the whole of the country of Iraq whose women would bake bread, pack it and send it for the soldiers as ours are doing. Such a nation fears no one, it has no reason to fear. (392)

3 November 1980 (12 Aban 1359 AHS)

Who are supporting our armed forces, may God assist them, now that they are at the war fronts and are in the thick of the fighting? [They are] those ladies who bake bread for them and those people who send money, provisions and so many other things for them. [They are] these Muslim people. You can see on your televisions a lady who donates ten eggs, a young child who gives his ten tumans. Why are they doing this? They are doing it for Islam, for their Islamic country. (393)

16 November 1980 (25 Aban 1359 AHS)

If a war had broken out during the time of Muhammad Riza in Ahwaz, for example, would the women of Khorasan province [2] have baked bread for his soldiers? They would have prayed for their defeat! Now, however, things have changed. Where in the world can you find a similar situation where the people support their government, support their army as they are

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doing here today? This has no equal; you cannot find its likes in history.

From the small child who donates his ten tumans to the aged 80-year-old who gives her few eggs to help the armed forces, these are very valuable acts. Such values must be preserved, our country’s victory stems from such values; the victory over hearts is much greater than the victory over a country. (394)

6 December 1980 (15 Azar 1359 AHS)

The entire nation, not only the young people and those at the war fronts, but even the aged men and women and the very young girls, all are active in the struggles and the war effort, all consider themselves to be at the battle front. (395)

19 March 1981 (28 Isfand 1359 AHS)

When I see on the television those esteemed ladies who are busy helping and supporting the armed forces, my heart is filled with admiration for them such that no one else can inspire. The things they do, they do without expecting anything in return, they are not seeking a post or something from the people in return. They are the unknown soldiers who are busy performing their jihad on the different fronts.

If we have gained nothing else from this Islamic Republic, this active involvement of all segments of the population in the country’s affairs, their supervision of these affairs, is in itself a miracle that I don’t believe has occurred anywhere else. And this is a

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gift from God, the hands of man are not involved here, God, the Blessed and Exalted, has bestowed this upon us. We must cherish this gift.

Let us imitate these ladies and children who are working behind the lines, and those who have remained in these ruined and half-ruined cities. We must learn Islamic ethics, faith and turning to God from them. (396)

19 March 1981 (28 Isfand 1359 AHS)

Perhaps throughout the whole of history you cannot find anything quite like it. Small children, young adults, old women, young brides and bridegrooms, all take part in the war effort together. The battlefield here is one on which the entire nation is present. (397)

5 April 1981 (16 Farvardin 1360 AHS)

What was more significant than anything else in Iran was the change, which took place in the Iranian women. The ladies of Iran have played a greater role in this movement and this revolution than the men, and today as they pursue their activities behind the front lines, their role is greater still. Through their educational pursuits, whether in the form of educating their own children or teaching in classrooms or other places, they still play a great role in this revolution.

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valuable contributions to the war effort and to continue to do so. (398)

23 May 1981 (2 Khurdad 1360 AHS)

However, God the Blessed and Exalted bestowed His favour on this nation and granted our country this victory. I am hopeful that through the dedication and commitment of the ladies, support for this nation and Islam will become stronger in the future, and through the efforts of you esteemed women, young people will emerge who will help bring victory at the warfront and will work behind the lines to develop and improve the country. (399)

23 May 1981 (2 Khurdad 1360 AHS)

All the Muslim people of Iran support the army. As you fight at the fronts, they help behind the lines. No one forces them to do so; they do so willingly. Small children come forward and give their savings for you; a 70-year-old lady comes and gives the gold she has had for years to help you. (400)

14 June 1981 (24 Khurdad 1360 AHS)

Today the people’s co-operation and help is unprecedented. Every day we see women giving their life savings, their pieces of gold, for God and the war effort. (401)

25 May 1982 (4 Khurdad 1361 AHS)

Greetings to you lion-hearted men and women who through your mobilisation, financial help and co-operation in other areas, whether at the front line or behind the lines, encourage our brave fighters and reinforce these warriors, and who are instrumental in uncovering and neutralising the plots of our

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enemies. (402)

4 June 1982 (14 Khurdad 1361 AHS)

We are indeed indebted to the kindness of these generous masses who give all they have and expect nothing in return. From those old ladies who give for Islam what it has taken them a lifetime to collect, to those who break open their moneyboxes and donate the contents. I can find no words to adequately describe this nation; I cannot praise them enough. I leave it to God the Blessed and Exalted to bestow His special favour upon them. May God protect you all and keep you steadfast in these bastions. (403)

17 October 1982 (25 Mehr 1361 AHS)

I must thank the people of Qum, the great ladies of Qum, who, at a time when we are forced to confront the superpowers and other corrupt powers who are attacking Iran on all sides, are active behind the lines just as the warriors are in the front lines. You are active on two fronts, on one you are fashioning yourselves and your young ones, and on the other you are supporting those at the war fronts. What you are doing is worthy of thanks; it is very valuable and carries much weight before God the Blessed and Exalted. (404)

13 March 1983 (22 Isfand 1361 AHS)

These people in the streets and bazaars, these people in the provincial towns, cities and villages, they are the nation; they are the ones helping the war effort, helping behind the

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lines. It is their women, their children, all of them together who are busy rendering a service. They are not tired. What is there to be tired of? Should they turn away from Islam?! (405)

17 August 1983 (26 Murdad 1362 AHS)

If it were not for your efforts, along with those of your noble brothers and sisters at the war fronts and behind the front lines who through their particular form of sincere devotion attracted Almighty God’s special favour, which power and which weapon of war could save the Islamic Republic and your beloved country from this raging tidal wave which the East and West, hand in glove with its satellites, created in the hope of submerging it? (406)

7 February 1985 (18 Bahman 1363 AHS)

While acknowledging my own weaknesses and failures, I should like to express my gratitude and appreciation to the dear warriors who through their valour and martyrdom-seeking spirit defended their Islamic homeland, and with their pure blood have lit up the path to freedom for all the captive nations. Also to the honourable mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and spouses on the home front who have risen up in support of the dear combatants, sparing no effort in the sacred defence of Islam and their Islamic country. Indeed, I thank the entire nation of great and committed people who form an active presence on all scenes. (407)

1 September 1985 (10 Shahrivar 1364 AHS)

You ladies should bear in mind that just

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as it is necessary for the men at the fronts to push forward and spearhead the battle, so too it is necessary for you to help on the home front. (408)

2 March 1986 (11 Isfand 1364 AHS)

A very significant sum of money donated by the esteemed Iraqi ladies has been received. May God assist them further in their service to Islam and to the dear combatants who are sacrificing their lives to eliminate the wickedness of the powers and their vile dependants. I ask Almighty God to grant health and happiness to all. (409)

19 December 1987 (28 Azar 1366 AHS)

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[1]: - The Ba’athist regime in Iraq.

[2]: - In the northeast of Iran.

17/11/15

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