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The Victory of the Glorious Islamic Revolution in Iran
By: Ayatullah Shaykh Muhammad Mahdi al-Asifi, Najaf, Iraq
After mentioning two days of separation in Islamic history, that is Badr and Ashura, we must not close this discussion without mentioning the third day of separation, an extension of Badr and Ashura. This is the day of the victory of the contemporary Islamic Revolution which happened in 11 February, 1979/ 1399 A.H. It was one of God’s days in history, in which the Pahlavi regime fell and the great Islamic Revolution became victorious under the leadership of Imam Khomeini (may God sanctify his soul).
This day does not only mean the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty in Iranian history but the end of one stage in Islamic history and the beginning of a new epoch. The historical value of the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty and the establishment of the Islamic Republic lies in two things;
1: The end of a period of apathy, weakness and despair; ready acceptance of western or eastern tutelage; backwardness in intellectual, scientific, political, military and economic matters; subservience to arrogant powers of the world and defeatism in the face of surging western civilization.
2: The beginning of a new movement in the direction of Islam and the establishment of God’s religion on earth; removing the shackles and fetters off hands and feet; and breaking the yoke that had been imposed by western and eastern imperialism in the political, economic, military and scientific arenas. This new beginning paved the way for a return to God and to Islam; induced mankind to the service of God; empowered God’s law in human life; and restored Islamic norms, values, morals and limits in the practical life of people. In a nutshell, it began a new epoch in history.
This day is a true extension of the day of Ashura, just as the latter was a real continuation of the day of Badr. The main elements that constituted the civilizational values of the great and comprehensive Islamic government which was actualized on that day are also the values of the glorious Islamic Revolution that succeeded against world imperialism:
1- This revolution is a revolution based on principles in the true meaning of the term. It is a new type of activism and revolutionary work in contemporary history and in the contemporary political milieu that is unfamiliar with this kind of movement. It is the revolution of monotheism against polytheism in the sense we explained in the present chapter: monotheism and polytheism with regard to loyalty.
This uprising aims at severing the Muslim’s relationship with taghut dressed in the garb of eastern and western imperialism and their stooges in this region, and also severing the relationship with other focal points of loyalty (nationalism, patriotism, tribalism, factionalism, etc) that are paraded as substitutes to monotheism. This revolution aims at binding Muslim loyalty to God Almighty, His Messenger (S) and His friends, and also unifying all loyalty for God alone, and boycotting and confronting all other centres of attraction that are working to extract allegiance from the people.
It is not a revolt against backwardness in science and technology, nor a revolt against poverty and economic backwardness, nor a revolt against colonialism and exploitation, nor an uprising to free oil wells from the grip of oil barons, nor a class struggle, nor yet a revolt of the oppressed against the oppressors like the Negro revolt in Islamic history, although the Islamic revolution mirrored all these issues and succeeded in achieving all the results that such revolts aim at.
The Islamic revolution is essentially a different thing. It is a revolution of loyalty to God against all spurious alternative centers of loyalty, a revolt of monotheism in the face of polytheism, a revolt of Islam against ungodliness (jahiliyyah).
When this revolution achieves its aims on this earth it will wipe out scientific, technological and cultural backwardness; remove poverty and economic backwardness; uproot exploitation and colonialism; stop colonial oil companies from exploiting oil wells and the abuse of Muslim wealth and resources; end oppression and arrogance and the domination and oppression by one class of another.
This revolution will achieve these aims and in fact other goals that are more extensive and loftier, under condition that it maintains its real essence and remains a revolt of monotheism against polytheism, without getting derailed towards its secondary objectives.
The first and distinguishing feature of this revolution is its divine nature. It is this quality that links it to Badr, Siffin and Ashura, to the movement of the prophets (as) and to the path of the righteous friends of God. Should this revolution be divested of this feature and become satisfied with secondary aims and mottos it will lose the support God Most High bestows on it.
This revolution is fundamentally different from all modern revolutions such as the French revolution, the October revolution and the revolutions that took place in Africa and Asia since the Second World War. All of these revolutions were at best rebellions of one class against another or an uprising for freedom from foreign domination or from despots. No revolution of contemporary times can be regarded as an exception with regard to these principles.
On the other hand, the Islamic revolution is that of monotheism which sprung up from a starting point that is essentially different from those of all other revolutions. It starts in the direction of freeing mankind from human pivots of loyalty of whatever type, except those linked to loyalty to God, inducing man to the service of God, empowering His law in human life and strengthening loyalty to Him in all aspects of man’s life.
2- This revolution is the outcome of the cumulative effect of the great efforts of all those who work for God, past and present, and the vanguard of Islamic activity, those who understood the backwardness of the Muslim nation, accepted responsibility, and faced the difficulties they met along the difficult path. They work for the pleasure of God in different regions of the Islamic world and at various levels of knowledge and culture.
All these people together, whether they are our contemporaries or of earlier periods, share the role of putting up the foundations of this revolution, making this divine movement a reality and stirring this strong human wave that shook the very pillars of tyranny. The theological student who invited his fellow students towards God, His Messenger (S) and the establishment of God’s law; the speaker who addressed the people in the mosques and other gatherings to propagate Islamic guidance and awareness; the scholar; the writer, the poet, and man of letters; teachers, workers, doctors,… both men and women; all those who conveyed the Islamic vision; all those who laid a stone to make the foundation of this revolution, wherever they may be; … all these people played a role in this blessed revolution and have a claim on it and God’s reward for it.
This prodigious revolution which shook the ground from under the feet of the tyrants and threatened their existence and interests is not the outcome of a short span of time or the efforts of a limited number of Islamic workers and activists; it is the fruit of generations of Islamic activity. If this revolution suffers serious damage from whatever cause, the loss the Muslim nation will suffer will be very great indeed; the effect of such damage will not be limited to the Iranian pole or their Islamic leaders.
On a different plane, the revolution carries with it all the pain, deprivation, tyranny, suffering and difficulties endured by the Muslims during the period of weakness, apathy and defeatism in their history. All those who endured oppression for God’s sake, who were beaten in dungeons; all the tears, the blood, the cries of pain; all orphanhood, bereavement and widowhood; and all those who migrated for the sake of God also contributed to this revolution.
This revolution symbolises all that pain and suffering in concrete form. However, if the second factor i.e., pain and suffering had been all that the revolution stood for, it would have seen mob action, destruction and emotion become the overriding feature of the uprising. But the presence of the first factor i.e., the ideology and its power and effectiveness in actualizing this blessed revolution was the main factor that directed the revolution and made sure it maintained its course free from deviations.
The purposeful efforts rendered during that period by God-oriented activists fell within the pure Islamic line, that is, the line of the jurisconsult which was personified by Imam Khomeini, and which later came to be known as the Imam’s line. Certainly there were groups that deviated to the right or to the left but they did not represent the main current of the Islamic movement. This current was moving in the direction of the pure Islamic line. The jurists, the scholars and the well-guided Islamic authorities played an important role in steering this current, organizing and maintaining the course it took.
Unlike what the enemies of Islam try to show or what some simple-minded Muslims get deceived into believing, the Islamic revolution is not a regional affair or just an Iranian Islamic revolution; it is an Islamic revolution for which God Most High decreed that Iran should be its launching pad. Any effort to give it a national colour and remove it from the feelings of all Muslims is surely an act of treason against Islam and the Muslims if it comes from the enemies of this nation who stay in wait for evil to befall it.
When such actions come from Muslims then they must be due to naivety and ignorance led astray by some act of treason. The purpose of this treason is to isolate the revolution from Muslim feelings and Muslim public opinion in order to cordon it off and subsequently destroy it. It is our duty as Muslims to confront these conspiracies with awareness in an atmosphere of Islamic responsibility.
All subsequent revolutions that will take place in Islamic lands taking direction from this will be regarded as different stages of a single all- encompassing revolution. They are not other revolutions in place of this one, and not even extensions of it; they are but different stages of one comprehensive revolution, the first of which has been destined by God to happen in Iran at the hands of this brave and sacrificing Muslim people.
It is like an earthquake which starts from a point and then extends along the fault line to wide areas, as a result of some hidden geological reactions deep down in the earth. This revolution is similar to this. In the depths of the Muslim nation, strong and wide ranging interactions have taken place under the influence of action (the first factor) and reaction (the second factor), away from the eyes of world imperialism.
When the imperialists were taking pride in their great victories over the Muslim world and were power drunk on that account, those interactions were set in motion in the depths of the Muslim nation till they reached their peak. Then came the earthquake that shook the ground beneath the feet of the rulers in the White House, the Kremlin and Elysée palace, and those tyrants did not regain their sobriety until after the tremor. The starting point was Iran but the fault line is a long unbreakable chain starting from Tehran to Baghdad, to Quds to Kabul and Central Asia.
Indeed what happened in Iran was a phenomenon much greater than our limited political imagination; it was an actualization of what God, the Glorious and Sublime promised his oppressed righteous servants in this verse: "And we desired to show favour to those who were oppressed in the land and make them leaders and to make them the heirs, and to establish them in the land…"16
Before anything else we have to understand the true dimensions of this revolution and then spread this awareness among the Muslims in order to foil the plots that are being hatched by the enemies of Islam who aim at making the contemporary Islamic revolution a regional affair. They intend to limit it to Iran and Persian nationalism and subsequently isolate it from Muslim public opinion and sympathy.
When one follows the speeches of Imam Khomeini, the leader of the revolution, (may God sanctify his soul), one will notice a deep understanding of these conspiracies and wise efforts to thwart them. Because of the comprehensive nature of this revolution the idea of exporting it started with its birth and from the words of the leader himself. He who is acquainted with the nature and roots of this revolution knows very well that it does not admit of national or geographical boundaries nor does it stop at the boundaries to seek permission from the gatekeepers so that they may grant it passage.
This revolution is a current that does not seek permission, nor pause, nor recognize boundaries, nor wait, nor hesitate!
Awareness of these realities is necessary to protect and support the revolution instead of limiting its horizon to a national affair. We are presenting these facts to Islamic thinkers and workers so that they may assume their responsibilities before God Most High with respect to this revolution.
3- This revolution is one of the days of separation in Islamic history and it has grouped the people, with regard to their opinion, into two groups: supporters and adversaries.
Since the first days of the emergence of this revolution faithful hearts and conscientious souls began to flock around it and they spent the hours that preceded its birth in great anxiety. History held its breath, as it were, to follow up this great birth which meant the revival of the divine civilization, the return of Islamic leadership on earth and the rule of God in man’s life after going through a barren period in which apathy, weakness and psychological defeat were ripe, when the Muslim world experienced degrading assimilation into the ungodly systems of eastern and western arrogant powers, with the result that global unbelief controlled our nation, land and resources.
As opposed to this, the unjust and arrogant people who had sold their souls to the devil sensed danger. They had detected in it a rebirth as large as history itself. What was going on in Tehran was not like other incidents that happen here and there, it was, in fact, the end of one stage of history and the beginning of another. They felt a hazardous development taking them unawares so they immediately declared their hostility to the revolution and did not hide their fear of it from the very beginning.
This revolution has been received differently by the two groups. One greeted it with sympathy and love, and prayed for God’s support and waited for its victory with self-abandon. The other group received it with malice and apprehension. They could not hide their fear even at the inception of this blessed government after the victory of the revolution. This division on the question of loyalty or support, repudiation or opposition is a feature of the days of separation in history which the revolution will face through its different phases.
4- It is quite natural for the birth of this power to be a declaration of long-lasting contest between Islam and anti-Islam (jahiliyah) because this revolution will seek to overthrow the forts of jahiliyah and arrogance throughout the world to free the hands of the oppressed from their shackles and throw off their yokes; and break the awe of the great powers from the minds of Muslims. Therefore it is impossible for world arrogance to keep silent in the face of this divine wave without stirring trouble and difficulty for this revolutionary call, without seeking to isolate it and obstruct its way.
He who comprehends God’s norms in history will be able to understand clearly the inevitability of conflict between these two forces: the growing Islamic force and the force of global unbelief. This conflict will prove to be the hardest, the longest and the most permanent because, as we have said, it is a struggle for existence and such a struggle is always long drawn, severe and permanent. It is not a contest for a piece of land or for mineral resources such as oil, iron or copper that can admit mutual understanding.
This revolution started in a region which was completely under the influence of the great powers and it is now working to break the blockade from the whole Muslim world. It is only natural for the forces of imperialism to confront this revolution in its infant state through all forms of pressure and conspiracy, both internally and externally, in order to muzzle and isolate it till it wears out.
The Iran-Iraq war was part of this awful imperialist plot and a part of the conflict we talked about. The Iraqi regime was not the antagonist in this war; it was only a channel for the will of the great powers. The real antagonists in the conflict were the imperialists who divide the oppressed peoples of the world among themselves and control them.
The Islamic revolution must face this long and severe confrontation as this is part of God’s norms that cannot be altered. The revolution cannot carry out great achievements or prepare its people to perform great feats and face difficult challenges if they do not exercise enduring confrontation.
5- The outcome of this struggle will be in favour of the God-fearing and this is the last thing we may doubt. A believing nation does not defend itself rather it defends God’s religion, His law and the limits He has set. It does not face its own enemies but God’s, and it does not fight with its own power and strength but with the power and strength of God.
When a nation fulfils these conditions, puts its trust in God, presents itself to Him, lessens its attachment to the world, fortifies itself against inordinate desires and then rises up for the sake of God individually or in groups; surely God Most High will grant it victory, sooner or later. This is God’s promise and He does not break his word. Let us listen to some verses from the book of God: "Certainly Our decree has gone before in favour of Our servants, the apostles, that they will indeed receive [God’s] help, and indeed Our hosts will be the victors. "17
"… and it was a must for us to help the faithful. "18
"Indeed we shall help Our apostles and those who have faith in the life of the world…"19
“The confederates of God are indeed the victorious”20
“… and God suffices as guardian, and God suffices as helper.”21
“… and your Lord suffices as helper and guide.”22
“O, you who have faith! If you help God, He will help you and make your feet firm”23
When war becomes protracted and severe God will not leave us at the mercy of our enemies, He does not go back on His word and abandon His faithful servants. Blessed is He and greatly exalted above that!
“This is what God and his apostle had promised us.”24
If the struggle is prolonged it is so that God may put his servants’ hearts to test in order to separate the steadfast among them from the weak-hearted; so that he may give the believers a firm footing on the battlefield; so that the believers may find it easy to detach themselves from the love of this world in order to face the struggle; so that they may gain more certainty with God in the middle of the struggle, for one is bestowed with certainty at the time of tribulation more than at times of peace and comfort; so that believers might learn through experience how to confront mighty challenges and difficulties on God’s path and thereby increase their fortitude, strength and bravery; so that loyalty and repudiation may be firmer in the hearts of believers, for loyalty is through sacrifice and service, and repudiation [of the adversary] is more vigorous during confrontation and war.
This struggle and its attending difficulties are not exclusive to this revolution or this religion, they are a divine norm which God applies in the lives of His righteous servants whom he selects for His mercy, those whom God Most High will allow to live in paradise together with His truthful servants.
“Do you suppose that you will be let off while God has not yet ascertained those of you who wage jihad and those who do not take, besides God and His Apostle and the faithful, anyone as [their] confidant? God is well aware of what you do.”25
“Do you suppose that you shall enter paradise though there has not yet come to you the like of [what befell] those who went before you? Stress and distress befell them…”26
We like to pick the fruits of victory by the shortest route with the least means, without our religion expecting anything from us. We want to simply extend our hands and attain victory, leadership and vicegerency [imamah and khilafah] over the world.
However, the wise God knows that victory that comes without difficulties cannot qualify man to be the leader and vicegerent of God on earth. Therefore, God wants us to face confrontation by treading the difficult path and gain strength and actualize the dominion of God’s religion in our lives.
“… and you were eager that it should be the one that was unarmed [lit. ‘one that was free of thorns’]. But God desires to confirm the truth with His words and to root out the faithless, so that he may confirm the truth and bring falsehood to naught, though the guilty should be averse.”27
Let us pay attention to the following clear verses of God’s Book in Surah Al Imran, which explain, in eloquent style, the norms of God with regard to struggle, distress, trial, help and conquest.
“Do not weaken or grieve: you shall have the upper hand, should you be faithful. If a wound afflicts you, a like wound has already afflicted those people; and We make such vicissitudes rotate among mankind to ascertain those who have faith that We may take witnesses from among you, and God does not like the wrongdoers. Also, He wishes to purge those who have faith and wipe out the faithless. Do you suppose that you can enter paradise while God has not yet ascertained those of you who have waged jihad and not ascertained the steadfast?”28
In these blessed verses from the chapter Al Imran there are clear answers to all the questions that may arise in the believers’ minds about this terrible confrontation between Islam and unbelief. The Muslims thought that after God had granted them victory at Badr success would always be on the side of the faithful group; as long as they believed in God and His apostle and struggled along His path they would never fail to achieve victory, whatever the circumstances.
When God made them test the bitterness of defeat at Uhud, where they suffered a reverse when the archers disobeyed the command of God’s Messenger (S) and left their positions to gather the spoils, the believers’ hearts quivered and their confidence in victory was shaken. They began to have misgivings as to whether the outcome of the affair would be in their favour.
Weakness overwhelmed them and they were seized by grief for the leading personalities who were martyred in the battle, and for the select group of believers who fulfilled their promise to God and were sincere to Him in deeds and jihad.
Then God Most High returned to their hearts the confidence for victory and reassured them that the outcome would be in favour of the believers however much the injuries, pains, drawbacks and difficulties along the tough road might be. God removed from their minds all feebleness and grief, and convinced their hearts of victory. "Do not weaken or grieve: you shall have the upper hand, should you be faithful.”
Then God Most High reminded the people that the wounds they sustained during the war were also sustained by their enemies; they were not exclusive to them. The wounds, the hardships, the troubles and the losses are demands of war to be extracted from both parties, and no battle takes place without pain and wounds.
The divine norm is such that vicissitudes rotate among mankind, one day in favour of the believers and bitter for the infidels, and another in favour of the infidels and bitter for the faithful. Thus will victory be rotated among them but the ultimate outcome will always be in favour of the faithful. This alternation does not change God's decree that the outcome is to be in favour of the God-wary. Vicissitudes are rotated in this way and the faithful are made to test hardship and ease; victory at one time and the bitterness of defeat at another, in order to sort out the believers from the hypocrites.
Had the mission always been associated with victory and spoils, and coupled with ease and comfort, hypocritical elements would have flocked around it, people who are only good at sitting on the fence and being absent during battle, only to return when the spoils are distributed and press for choice portions of it. "So when there is panic, you see them observing you, their eyes rolling, like someone fainting at death.”29
If the course of this mission were to be free of adversities and drawbacks hypocrites and the weak-hearted would flock around and taken up sensitive positions. If this were to happen, the mission's leadership role in men's life would be suspended and it would lose its power of bringing about change.
The mission would leave the tough path that confronts taghut and take the comfortable course awash with pleasures and worldly wares. It would then lose its capacity for change and action similar to what happened at the time of the Umayyads and Abbasids.
Therefore this journey needs, from time to time, a strong uprising that can push aside the hypocrites and the weak-hearted and sort out the people with strong faith who keep their word with God and are sincere to Him in their works. The course taken by this mission is unlike what the people are accustomed to with respect to other systems and governments which seek a life of comfort and ease that is free from all shortcomings.
Nothing harms this mission like a calm, comfortable and pompous life. In such a situation, this call will have lost its most important feature, since God Most High has made the period of distress and adversity a means of making the mission's environment clear of such feeble minded people who usually opt for a calm, comfortable life. When the journey suffers adversities, hardships and reverses the field is left solely for the believers. The journey then belongs to the sincere group only and the faithful are distinguished from others "so that God may ascertain those who have faith.”
This is not the only benefit of vicissitudes and the rotation of victory and defeat, hardship and ease on the believers. Another benefit is that God may take witnesses, exemplars and leaders on earth. It is through these hardships, drawbacks, war-inflicted wounds and the pains of confrontation that witnesses are produced in this nation, "Thus we have made you a middle nation that you may be witnesses to the people…”30, as well as leaders and models of perseverance, patience and faith.
Unique models in faith that adorn human history are not made in a calm and cozy life; they are made in the thick of difficulties, in the midst of action, amidst blood and tears. This journey also needs these singular models of faith and perseverance selected by God during trying and difficult circumstances, "…that He may take witnesses from among you."31
Thirdly, these vicissitudes help in the making of this nation and the appraisal of its personalities. These wounds, pain and difficulties purge the believers, cleanse them and purify their hearts from doubt and selfish desires, and free them of their weaknesses. Many a believer’s internal points of weakness remain hidden from him, but during tribulation they appear so that he can correct them, for many a weakness of the mind cannot be corrected during peace time; only hardship and difficulties can put them right.
Just as hardships and difficulties sort out believers from hypocrites, they also clear the believer’s soul from weaknesses and doubts; they purge the faithful. As for the infidels, tribulations and hardship efface and ruin them completely; therefore, they cannot struggle against difficulties and adversities. "So that God may purge those who have faith and that He may wipe out the faithless.”
As such it is not correct to think that whoever proclaims the two testimonies [i.e. to the oneness of God and the prophethood of Muhammad (S)], becomes a Muslim and will enter paradise, for among the people are hypocrites whose testimonies do not descend from their lips into their hearts. Believers are at different levels of faith; they do not occupy the same position in terms of belief and good works. There are believers who prefer wellbeing to striving and fighting in the way of God.
Then there are striving (mujahidun) believers. Then there are striving believers who are patient. It will be a mistake to think that everyone will have the same rank in paradise, for each will have his own rank and position as seen by God. These ranks and position are determined only during trying circumstances, when the believer is distinguished from the hypocrite, the striving believer from the ordinary one and the patient, striving believer from the impatient one.
Notes:
16. Qur’an Ch: 28, Vs: 5-6.
17. Qur’an, Ch: 34 Vs: 171-173.
18. Qur’an, Ch: 30, Vs: 47.
19. Qur’an, Ch: 40, Vs: 51.
20. Qur’an, Ch: 5, Vs: 56.
21. Qur’an, Ch: 4, Vs: 45.
22. Quran, Ch: 25, Vs: 31
23. Qur’an Ch: 45, Vs: 7.
24. Qur’an, Ch: 33, Vs: 22.
25. Qur’an, Ch: 9, Vs: 16.
26. Qur’an, Ch: 2, Vs: 214.
27. Qur’an, Ch: 8, Vs: 7-8.
28. Qur’an Ch:3 vs:139-142
29. Qur'an Ch: 33, Vs: 19.
30. Qur'an, Ch: 2, Vs: 143.
31. Qur'an, Ch: 3, Vs: 140.
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