Letter [to Muhammad-Taqi Falsafi]

«۱»- Talking about the motive of agents of the Shah's regime in disturbing his preaching sessions, which was the reason why Imam Khomeini sent this letter, Mr. Falsafi states: " The day after the inauguration of the Arg Mosque, which was the first day of the blessed month of Ramadan, and as had been my routine during the previous years to preach on the pulpit after the noon prayer in the Shah Mosque and while being broadcasted live on the radio, I entered the courtyard of the mosque and noticed that there were unusual circumstances. There was a large crowd outside the building entrance; they started to shout slogans when they saw me. I entered the mosque building and as the Qur'an was still being recited I sat down beside the pulpit. The crowd had entered the building too and still continued to shout slogans. There was no chance of preaching under the circumstances, so I went to the mosque library through the studio room. The police was apparently given intruction to protect me against any harm because some of the policemen were keeping guard at the library door and a few others came inside. The crowd's actions and manner, especially in the month of Ramadan showed that, firstly, they were not mosque-goers and the usual audience; secondly, they had been" organized" to do that. The choice of the time and the place for causing disturbance was also" planned". It turned out that the false news against me in Bakhtar-e Emrouz [The West Today] newspaper two weeks before the incident had been the groundwork for causing the incident to appear as an unplanned move thereupon to claim that the 'people' had prevented me from preaching because I had spoken against Musaddiq. Anyway, I waited in the mosque office for a couple of hours. The crowd didn't seem to be going to leave their clamor. They repeatedly chanted," Long live Musaddiq,"" Long live Kashani," and" Death to the movement's enemies," and so on. I should add that on the same day of the incident, Tehran military headquarters issued a statement warning the preachers that they were not allowed at all to speak about the political issues of the country, but only about the religious subjects. The incident ended to the disadvantage of Dr. Musaddiq and his government. While Ramadan days passed on and I didn't attend any preaching and people were deprived of listening to religious speech and preaching, they were more and more provoked by anti-religious actions and propaganda Imam Khomeini was in Hamedan when the Shah Mosque preaching sessions were closed down, and was informed later on."