The universal and international aspect of the revolution is the message of spirituality for the whole of the world. The world has drowned in materialism. The hands of those in charge of the octopus-like materialistic networks, since one or two centuries ago, have pushed the world towards materialism and drowned the nations in the swamp of materialism. Today, in its orientation and on the route world powers and governments have dictated on it, the world not only lacks any spiritual aspect, but it also heads towards materialism, depriving humans of spirituality. The reason you see that in many countries, the youth are exasperated, suicide rates skyrocket, families shatter and the youth lose everything is this lack of spirituality. Spirituality is a nutrition and the food for human souls. Is it even possible for a human to maintain a comfortable life for long without spirituality? Wherever materialistic science and civilization is stronger, such turbulences are more widespread. This is the aftermath of the sin of global powers removing spirituality from the lives of the people around the world. The message of the Islamic Revolution is a message of spirituality, attending to spirituality, and inserting the element of spirituality in individuals’ life, and observing morality and paying attention to God. Wherever the name of Imam (Khomeini) and his message penetrated the society, it carried spirituality with itself. Even if you observe Christian or non-Muslim societies which treated the Islamic Revolution favorably, learned and benefited from it, you find spirituality there. Our great Islamic Revolution has spirituality in its tracks, and this spirituality is the first message of the revolution and its spiritual leader—Imam Khomeini: a person who was a great spiritual man, a mystic, an Islamic jurist, a religious scholar, and a pious man spending his nights in prayers. Imam (Khomeini) was a man who would privately spend the nights praying to God and asking Him for forgiveness[...]
I narrate an anecdote of a person affiliated with the regime of Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, so you can see how humiliating dependence [on foreign powers] can be! On the first days after the downfall of Reza Khan, while a successor had not yet been determined, a man visited the British ambassador in Tehran on behalf of Muhammad-Reza to learn about the decisions to be made on who would inherit the kingdom. The British ambassador to Iran had told him, “Because, according to our information, Muhammad-Reza listens to Radio Berlin and follows up on Germany’s progressions on the map; so we cannot trust him”. The mediator conveyed the ambassador’s message to Muhammad-Reza. Following the meeting, Muhammad-Reza quit the habit of listening to Radio Berlin. Then, the British decided it was okay now and he could be appointed as the king.