Enduring Legacy of a Leader

I know that these demands will cost me dearly, perhaps even my life, but these are not demands that could die out with a person’s death. They are the yearnings of an Ummah, the will of an Ummah, in whose psyche the spirit of Muhamad, Ali and the chosen descendants of Muhammad and his companions, and that will never die.

“I confirm to those at the helm that the oppression directed against the Iraqi people, through the force of iron and fire, which deprived them of the simplest rights and freedoms to observe their religious rites, cannot continue. Nor can it always be handled by force and repression. If force were a permanent and decisive remedy, the pharaohs and tyrants would have survived.”
Address to the Iraqi people, 20 Rajab 1399 HL (1978 CE)

“I know that these demands will cost me dearly, perhaps even my life, but these are not demands that could die out with a person’s death. They are the yearnings of an Ummah, the will of an Ummah, in whose psyche the spirit of Muhammad, Ali and the chosen descendants of Muhammad and his companions, and that will never die.”
Address to the Iraqi people, 20 Rajab 1399 HL (1978 CE)

“The duty of each one of you and of every individual whose good fortune leads him to be part of this pioneering Islamic experience is to spare no effort or means in the service of this experience; nor should he spare any effort while construction for the sake of Islam is underway. No limit should be imposed on efforts while the force of Islam hoists high the banner of the cause. This new constructive project is in need of the efforts of all individuals, no matter how small. It should also be clear that all should embrace, pay allegiance to and protect the interests of Sayyid Khomeini’s religious authority, which has embodied Islam’s hopes in today’s Iran, and should desire to become assimilated into its great existence for the sake of its great goal. The good religious authority is not a person, but a goal and path to it. Any religious authority that attains that goal is a good one, in which case it should be served with all devotion.”
Letter of Shaheed Al-Sadr to his students and followers

“O great Ummah! Today you are experiencing hard times at the hands of assassins and butchers, who are astounded by the wrath of the awakening masses, after they have chained them in irons and instilled fear and terror in their hearts. The bloodletting villains imagine that they have robbed the masses of their esteem and dignity, and stripped them of their great faith, the religion of Muhammad, so as to turn these brave, believing millions of proud Iraqi people into toys and tools to manipulate as they wish, into which they feed forcibly allegiance to Aflaq [the founder and theorist of the Ba’th party] and his like – agents of missionaries and imperialism – in place of allegiance to Muhammad and Ali. Yet the masses are always stronger than tyrants, no matter how harsh their tyranny becomes. Thus, the tyrants were surprised to discover that the Ummah still pulsates with life and retains the ability to speak its mind.”
Address to the Iraqi people, 10 Shaban 1399 HL (1979 CE)

“O my dear people of Iraq! O you great Ummah, in this difficult and turbulent moment and at this juncture of your jihad, I would like to address all groups and sects, Arabs and Kurds alike, Sunni and Shi’a alike, because the calamity that has been inflicted upon us knows no sectarian or ethnic divide; the calamity is universal.”
Address to the Iraqi people in his last appeal

“I have lived my existence for nothing other than Islam, which is the road to salvation and the goal of all. I am with you O my Sunni brother and son, just as much as I am with you, O my Shi’a brother and son! I am with you both in the same measure you are with Islam, and in just as much as you bear this great flame to salvage Iraq and rid it of the nightmare of oppression, subservience and persecution. The despotic regime [taghut] and its followers try to suggest to our noble Sunni sons that it is a matter of Shi’a and Sunni, so as to separate Sunnis from their real struggle against the common enemy.”
Address to the Iraqi people in his last appeal

“To his eminence Grand Ayatollah Al-Imam Al-Mujahid Al-Sayyid Al-Khomeini – long may he live. I have heard your message which showed your fatherly role towards me. However, I have been unable to reply because I am trapped in the corner of my house, nobody is allowed to see me, nor am I allowed to see anybody. All I ask for is that Allah the Almighty increases your life as a light for Islam, the pure religion, under your leading Marja’iyyah (religious authority). I also ask Allah to accept our conviction in His way and to give us the success in protecting the beliefs of this Ummah; for the life of any being is not measured except by how much he can give to his Ummah, by his presence, his life, his thought; and in this, you [Khomeini] have given to the Muslims, with your presence and thought, what will remain in history; a great example to all the Mujahideen.”
Message to Imam Khomeini (ra) in the last recorded conversation of Shaheed Al-Sadr

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