Ramadan of revolt against the mullahs’ religious tyranny in Iran

Maryam Rajavi’s remarks at Iftar gathering

On the advent of the Holy Month of Ramadan, a number of Muslim dignitaries from the Arab nations of Jordan, Syria, Algeria, and Yemen and the Muslim community of France took part in an Iftar gathering entitled, “Message of Islam: Peace and Freedom,” at Auvers-sur-Oise on Saturday, May 19, 2018. 

Maryam Rajavi congratulated the people of Iran and Muslims of the world on the holy month and expressed her hope that Ramadan’s message of emancipation, peace and solidarity would be embraced by the peoples of the world. 

The text of her remarks to this gathering follows:

Distinguished guests, dear friends,

It is a pleasure to have you with us here in the home of the Iranian Resistance. Having you all gathered here is especially precious as we break our fast by your side in these early days of the Holy Month of Ramadan.

I wish that the world, especially the Muslim nations, embrace the message of Ramadan, a message of emancipation, peace and solidarity. I pray for understanding, peace and progress for the Muslim community in France. 

I pray to the Almighty to save our sisters and brothers in the Middle East, especially in our brother nation of Syria, from war, slaughter, devastation and the evil reign of the mullahs. I would also like to declare our sympathy with the suffering nation of Palestine for the tragic events of recent days.

Dear friends, 

The first night of Ramadan coincided in my country with the upheaval against the ruling regime by the brave people of Kazerun. The regime’s forces opened fire, killing a number of protesters and wounding and arresting many more. But they put up an admirable resistance. 

Following the bloody clampdown, I called on the United Nations to dispatch an investigative delegation and demanded immediate release of those arrested. These days, the bereaved mothers and bloodied hearts of the people of Kazerun have the unequivocal support and solidarity of all the people of Iran. Hail to the heroic people of Kazerun.

What we have in Iran is a Ramadan of revolt, a month of uprisings for freedom and justice. For my compatriots in Iran, especially the freedom-loving youths who have risen up in protest, I wish you victory in overcoming the mullahs’ religious tyranny. May God’s mercy and compassion lead the Iranian people’s struggle and suffering to final victory: freedom.

‌يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may [learn] self-restraint (Chapter Baqara, or the Cow, verse 183)

All Abrahamic religions share the same essence in inviting mankind to piety. They seek a common goal: deliverance of human beings from their shackles and chains.

Is it possible for human beings to contain the restive forces within and without? Fasting is the positive response to this question. Yes, when human beings sacrifice and pay the price, they can break the chains, overcome whatever harms them, and rein in rebellious forces. This is what piety means. 

This ideal is not limited to Islam or other religions but is the mother of all human virtues.

But how can one achieve piety? It cannot be gained by withdrawing and isolating oneself. As Massoud Rajavi has said, “This is a creative, dynamic, and evolutionary concept essential to any struggle.”

From this perspective, to be truly pious, one needs to rebel against everything that obstructs the emancipation of mankind. According to the Quran, those who are truly pious are the best gifts to humanity. They call for good deeds and warn against wrongdoing. 

The truly pious include the caravan of 120,000 martyrs who rose up and fought the clerical regime for freedom as well as the protesters who have risen up in recent months in Iran. They have called for the best, the most admirable: the struggle for freedom. They have rejected the ugliest and most abominable wrongdoings: religious tyranny.

Honorable friends, 

From the Islamic point of view, fasting is not meant to make people endure hardship. Just the opposite to what the mullahs claim, God’s word is that the aim of fasting is to ease.

يُرِيدُ اللّهُ بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ وَلاَ يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ Allah intends every facility for you; He does not want to put you through difficulties. (Chapter Baqara, or the Cow, verse 185)

The goal is for people to feel ease in their lives, not to carry heavy burdens, and not to live in difficulty and misery in the absence of water, bread, housing and medical care. Indeed, is fasting not closely related to generosity and justice? Wasn’t it the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) who said, “There is no believer in me who sleeps with a full stomach while his neighbor is hungry.” Wasn’t it Imam Ali (S) who gave his little food for Iftar to the poor and needy? 

So, shame on the corrupt and charlatan mullahs who have distressed the people of Iran. Those who falsely pray and fast, but exploit the underprivileged to the maximum extent possible. Iran’s needy have reached the point where they have to sell their kidneys and corneas. Mothers have become so devastated that they sell their unborn fetuses.

Indeed, the mullahs are the worst enemies of God and His people. They inflict the worst oppression and injustice on people under the name God and Islam. The people of Kurdistan mostly work as porters due to extreme poverty. They carry heavy loads (across borders) to earn their living and yet they are shot for carrying a few bags of rice. Farmers have been deprived of water and workers’ salaries are not paid.

Shame on the mullahs, who fake their faith in Islam, and deprive the people of Iran even of bread and water. In a land rich with oil and minerals, our people have to scavenge among garbage for food scraps. 

While the mullahs have stashed legendary wealth for themselves and their relatives, they plunder the people’s savings. They have doomed Iranian teachers and nurses to live below the poverty line, arresting and torturing them for their righteous protests.  

Thousands have been arrested since the uprising and protests in December and January. A number were killed under torture or shot dead by Revolutionary Guards. Quite a few young protesters have also disappeared.

They have plundered or squandered the wealth of the Iranian people. Every year, they spend billions of dollars on war and slaughter of the people of Syria. It was recently revealed that they have sent cartons filled with $100 notes to Iraq to fund their terrorist proxies. 

Indeed, the history of Islam has never seen any ruler more corrupt or criminal than the demagogues ruling today in Iran, where protesters have risen up against their injustice, for freedom and national sovereignty.

Iran’s uprising erupted in late December 2017, but its waves have continued ever since, through the strikes and protests of workers, farmers, teachers, plundered people and other social strata. Iranian society is in a volatile state and protests have continued in various parts of the country.

The essential significance of the revolt is that it has opted for the regime’s overthrow. 

The uprising in December and January heralded the defeat of Islamic fundamentalism. The protesters attacked many of the manifestations of the mullahs’ religious rule. They thus showed that they do not want the mullahs’ compulsory religion or religious compulsions. I would like to stress here that the only way to save Iranian society is to topple the clerical regime, and this will undoubtedly be realized.

Distinguished guests,

The overthrow of the mullahs’ regime will shape the destiny of Iran and the entire Middle East. It is thus a struggle that exacts a heavy price. Undertaking this struggle and remaining steadfast in its goals at the cost of poisonous slurs and allegations, constitute piety of the highest level in our time. 

When a regime surpasses all limits in committing genocide, torture, deception and corruption, utmost selflessness and sacrifice are indispensable to confronting it.

This struggle requires giving up many personal and individual ambitions, interests and possessions which under normal circumstances are completely legitimate. Self-restraint and tolerance must be elevated to a much higher scale compatible with such a struggle. This is piety. And this is why we say it is the mother of all human virtues.

Fighting the mullahs’ religious dictatorship and keeping the banner of regime change aloft, has been possible only at a high cost, such as the price paid by 30,000 political prisoners in the 1988 massacre, or the price paid by the PMOI over 14 years of siege in Ashraf and Liberty amid massacres and missiles, and the price paid by the prisoners resisting in the clerical regime’s dungeons.

This has been the price of remaining steadfast, a price the PMOI has paid since the onset for standing up to the rule of despotism under the guise of religion. 

Massoud Rajavi, who led the largest Muslim revolutionary organization in Iran, stood up decisively against the mullahs’ constitution, did not vote for it.

We have learned, and we believe that Islam abominates all forms of compulsion and does not need to resort to coercion.

From this viewpoint, the followers of all religions enjoy the same rights, freedom of religion is well established, and belief or disbelief in a religion does not entail any privilege or privation. 

We defend genuine Islam, which is based on freedom, popular sovereignty, rejection of economic exploitation, and equality of women and men. This is an emancipating creed that believes in the dynamism of the Quran and rejects all forms of dogmatism and regression. 

We have always fought against compulsion in religion and against religious coercion. We believe in the Quranic principle of “There is no compulsion in religion.” 

From the onset, Islam came to break the chains that shackled and hobbled people. Our religion is a school of freedom. It is a religion of freedom of expression, listening, reasoning and consultation.

It is a religion of fraternity among all religions, where conflicts and discord among Sunnis and Shiites have no place. In contrast to the principle of Velayat-e Faqih, we defend democratic Islam, whereby the right to popular sovereignty is recognized as the highest right for everyone.

These beliefs, however, are not limited to our vision and convictions, but are marked with a relentless struggle for the overthrow of the regime and consistent readiness to sacrifice and pay the price.

 As Massoud Rajavi has asserted, “What we and our people are tackling today … is – in content and meaning – the continuation of the historic class struggle between the exploited and the exploiters, the oppressed and the oppressors, between a nation that seeks its own sovereignty, minimum rights and freedoms on the one hand, and the Velayat-e Faqih religious tyranny which has aggravated the oppression of kings and feudal lords to astronomical scales under the banner of Islam, religion and the Quran.”

Honorable friends,

The mullahs’ religious fascism in Iran is fleeting, devoid of any future. The people of Iran are seeking the overthrow of the entire Velayat-e Faqih regime. I, therefore, reiterate that elimination of the Iranian regime’s terrorism and nuclear threat is only possible by getting rid of the entire regime. Peace, democracy, security and stability in the Middle East necessarily depend on ending the rule of religious dictatorship and fascism in Iran.

Today, our brother nation of Syria continues to suffer under war, destruction and carnage perpetrated by the Tehran mullahs. The first step in solving the Syrian problem is evicting the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from that country. This is the only solution to end the conflict and crisis in the region and prevent the outbreak of a larger war. 

Recognition of the National Council of Resistance of Iran as the democratic alternative to the clerical regime is another necessary step. It is imperative to compensate for the damages caused by the policy of appeasement prolonging the mullahs’ rule over the past few decades.

To confront the Iranian regime’s warmongering and export of terrorism, one must support the Iranian people’s uprising. Turning a blind eye on the suppression and slaughter of the people of Iran emboldens the mullahs’ religious tyranny in warmongering, export of fundamentalism and terrorism.

This is why the United Nations Security Council must refer the dossiers of the Iranian regime’s leaders to an international court for their involvement in terrorism and violation of human rights, especially the massacre of political prisoners.  
Dear friends,

I would like to conclude by extending my warmest wishes to those who are truly pious. 

I hail Iran’s protesters and the centers of rebellion in Iranian cities, who have understood the real meaning of Ramadan and fasting;

I hail the prisoners who are resisting in Khamenei’s jails;

I hail the people of Iran who are fed up with the status quo and stage more and more protests and demonstrations everyday all across the country;

And I hail the resistant nation of Syria and other peoples of the Middle East who have been resisting against the mullahs’ religious dictatorship. 

With the resolve of the people of Iran and all Middle East nations, freedom, democracy, peace and brotherhood will undoubtedly surmount the criminals. 

My deepest gratitude to the Arab-Islamic Committee in Solidarity with the Iranian Resistance, and the French Muslims’ Committee to Defend Human Rights. The Arab-Islamic Committee was founded last year around this time and is presided over by our brother, Prime Minister Sid Ahmad Ghozali

رَبَّنَا أَفْرِغْ عَلَيْنَا صَبْراً وَ ثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَنَا وَ انْصُرْنَا عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْکَافِرِينَ‌  Our Lord! Pour out constancy on us and make our steps firm: Help us against those that reject faith. (Chapter Baqara, or the Cow, verse 250)