Prominent personalities of the society should study the roots of enmities
Enmities should be known. This is our problem. This is the reason why I repeatedly speak about the matter of foresight for outstanding personalities. Sometimes, there is negligence about the enmities towards the fundamentals. However, some people connect these enmities to unimportant issues.
Unfortunately, we had the same problem during the time of the Constitutional movement[1]. During that time, there were a number of great scholars - I do not mention their names, but all of you know them because they are well-known - who did not see the plot that was being hatched. This plot was hatched by westernized individuals and those so-called individuals who were under the influence of the west and who were subdued by western thoughts. These scholars did not pay attention that the statements these westernized individuals made in the national Majlis(parliament) of that time or in their newspapers were a war against Islam. They did not pay attention to this. On the contrary, they tolerated and surrendered to them.
The result was that someone like the late Sheikh Fazlollah Noori[2] who knew about and understood their intentions was hanged in front of their eyes, but these scholars did not show any sensitivity. After that, even those people who did not show any sensitivity were attacked and harassed by [westernized officials] and they received a slap across their face. Some of them lost their lives and some of them lost their dignity and reputation. This was the mistake that was made in those days. We should not make this mistake.
Collective sin would lead to the death of outstanding personalities in history
Collective sin is a type of sin committed by nations. It is no more the case of a single individual committing a sin whose consequences would affect only a limited number of people. Sometimes an entire nation or a significant portion of it is involved in a sin. It is necessary to repent of this kind of sins in a different way. A nation might keep silent in the face of sinful acts or in the face of tyranny and fail to show any reaction to it. This too is a sin, perhaps a sin that is even graver. This is an instance of the ayah: "Surely Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition." [The Holy Quran, 13: 11] This is the kind of sin which obliterates great blessings. This is the kind of sin which causes great calamities for communities and nations.
The people who stood by and watched a great religious scholar like Sheikh Fazlollah Noori being hanged, the people who knew he was among the founders and leaders of the Constitutional Movement yet he was accused of being against the Constitutional Movement simply because he refused to collaborate with the English- and West-oriented trend of the Constitutional Movement - baseless and irrational lies which are still being ruminated and repeated by a number of speakers and writers - received the punishment fifteen years later when in the city of Tehran a constituent assembly was formed, which ratified transfer of power to Reza Shah. They were a group of ordinary people and their sin was one that would affect the entire nation. "And fear an affliction which may not smite those of you in particular who are unjust." [The Holy Quran, 8: 25] Sometimes punishment is not limited to those who have committed a sin, rather everybody is punished. This is because the sinful act is committed by the people even though not all people may be directly involved in it. However, the same Iranian nation took to the streets and faced the military tanks of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi without fearing death. In other words, they compensated for fifty years of sinful silence and they were rewarded by Allah the Exalted. The oppressive government collapsed and a popular government replaced it. Disgraceful political dependence was destroyed and the movement towards independence started. And, God willing, this movement will continue and our nation will reach its goals while relying on God's mercy and its own efforts. This was because our nation took action. Therefore, there is a different way of asking for forgiveness in the case of a sin of the third type.
[1] Constitutional Movement of Iran took place between 1905 and 1911. The movement led to the establishment of a parliament and ratification of the first constitutional law in Iran during the Qajar Dynasty.
[2] Sheikh Fazlollah Noori was a prominent Shia cleric during the late 19th and early 20th century. Despite him being one of the founders of the Constitutional Movement for its opposition to tyranny and rule of law, he soon turned against the path the movement was led into upon realizing that the movement established a Western-style government with a secular law rather than a government with Islamic law. He was accused of treason and executed by Constitutionalists on August 2, 1909.
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