Recalling the arrival of Imam Khomeini from exile

Greetings dear readers on the advent of a historic day which changed the destiny of Iran by ushering in light and dispelling darkness.

It is the day that spelled the end of the British-installed and American-supported Pahlavi regime, as millions of Iranians converged on Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport to welcome home from years of exile their beloved leader with the now famous verses in Persian:

“Rahbar-e Mahboob-e khalq az safar ayad

“Div chun biroon ravad Farishteh dar ayad.”

Translated into English it reads: From exile has returned the Beloved Leader;

At the approach of the Angel the devil has fled

Now we have a special feature on the historic 12^th of Bahman corresponding to February 1.

The above couplet is indeed sweet music to our ears. It is part of a poem that is being aired since last night on all Iranian radio and TV channels. It reminds us of the memorable arrival in Iran of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, exactly 39 years ago this day from France, where Imam Khomeini (God bless him) had stayed on a visit visa for some three months towards the end of his 15-year long exile – spent in holy Najaf beside the sanctified shrine of the Commander of the Faithful, the Epitome of Social Justice, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS).

We all remember how millions of Iranians had converged on the streets leading to Mehrabad Airport this day in 1979 to catch a glimpse of their Beloved Leader, spreading roses on the streets, while many accompanied him straightaway to Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery, from where he preferred to address the nation.

Imam Khomeini was the cynosure of all eyes throughout the world. As the international media focused upon his charismatic personality, waiting for some sort of sensation in Iran, especially when the Pahlavi regime, or more properly the administrative apparatus of the Shah’s prime minister, Shapour Bakhtiar, was apparently intact and thundering threats, the unguarded Imam and his millions of unarmed followers, neither dug trenches nor went for weapons arsenals.

Straightaway, he drove from the airport to the Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery which was blooming with more and more new graves every day, as the regime continued its killing spree in Tehran and other cities, on the orders of the its masters in the US and the illegal Zionist entity.

The Imam chose the resting place of the apparently dead to address the world of the seemingly alive, all over the world where consciences had long frozen –nay become lifeless.

Every word, he spoke has been diligently recorded and is punctually aired and screened every year, and does not need to be repeated here, including his emphasis on the establishing the Islamic Republic, his calling of the US the ‘Great Satan’, and his promise of support to the oppressed people of Palestine.

It is worth recalling that many of the self-acclaimed analysts and politicians chuckled at the words of the black turbaned and white-bearded man in his late 70s. They didn’t give him much chance of survival, let alone success. They thought he was day-dreaming. Most in the West were convinced that he would soon be taken care of by the American-trained Iranian military, or pushed into sidelines by a new brood of western-educated and supposedly democratic-minded self-styled revolutionaries who were now pouring into Tehran from Paris, London, Bonn, New York, etc. to try to take over the country as one of the those puppet republics.

How wrong they were? We mean the analysts, the politicians, the experts, the Iran-watchers who saw developments in the world only through the stained glasses of either the capitalists in Washington or the Communists in Moscow.

The words of the Sage of the Age from the abode of the seemingly dead to the ears of the apparently alive continue to reverberate till this day, transcending the time zone.

His arrival had ushered in the Ten-Day Dawn that culminated in the triumph of the grassroots Islamic movement of the Iranian people on February 11, by throwing into the dustbin of history the remnants of the repressive Pahlavi potentate, who like the devil had fled Iran over a fortnight ago on news of the imminent return to Iran of the angelic Ayatollah.

Imam Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, as a loyal servant of Prophet Muhammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny) and the Infallible Ahl al-Bayt, not only ended domestic despotism but delivered Iran from foreign hegemony.

It was his firm resolve to return to Iran in spite of the threats to his life by premier Shahpour Bakhtiar and the top brass of the anti-people armed forces that broke the back of the Shah’s regime and helped Iran and the Iranians to discover their Islamic and revolutionary roots – much to the chagrin of the enemies of Iran and Islam.

He spoke with conviction and succeeded in establishing the uniquely popular religious system of government in Iran that over the past four decades has confidently weathered the plots, conspiracies, assassination of senior officials, terrorism, sanctions, oil embargo, an 8-year devastating war imposed by the US through its agent, Saddam of Baghdad’s repressive Ba’th minority regime, and now the threats and theatrics of the Don Quixote in the White House, Donald Trump.

In other words, Iran and the Iranians are, and will, always remain indebted to Imam Khomeini for the steady progress of the country which today has achieved self-sufficiency in all spheres including heavy industries, medicine, stem cells, space exploration, nuclear energy, nano technology, missile development etc.

In retrospect, whether today’s politicians, analysts, and experts of the West like it not, it is crystal clear that the Islamic Republic of Iran is the epitome of practical reality, while the Islamic Revolution which continues its inspirational awakening of the masses in the region and beyond, an undeniable fact.

The astounding progress of Islamic Iran in all fields, including its profound influence or cultural, social, intellectual, and political developments outside the borders of Iran is proof of the farsighted vision of Imam Khomeini.

In other words, the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran is the mainstay in the region and beyond, and has exposed hypocrites and terrorists as Godless cowards, is due to the foresight of the person who lived and breathed Islam and left no stone unturned in fostering Shi’ite-Sunni solidarity through the Islamic Unity Week on the Prophet’s birthday and mobilizing the Ummah worldwide for the cherished goal of liberating Palestine and Islam’s former qibla from the yoke of the despicable Zionists by designating the Last Friday of Blessed Ramadhan as International Qods Day.

He predicted the end of communism, and it is no more. He foretold the eventual collapse of capitalism, and it is on its last legs in the West. He prophesied the weeding out of the cancerous tumour called the Zionist entity, and its death throes are evident for all.

The West, the Zionists and the tottering Arab reactionary states got together to create the Frankenstein monster called Takfiri terrorism in a hopeless bid to try to undermine the wave of awakening unleashed by the Islamic Revolution. The legacy of Imam Khomeini, ably shouldered by the present Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, inspired Iranians and the regional people to defeat these devilish hordes in Syria and Iraq.

In a desperate attempt that speaks of sheer frustration and intellectual bankruptcy of the US, especially its new president, Donald Trump, a group of thugs, traitors and terrorists, were made to infiltrate the peaceful protests of a few dozen people, and cause acts of vandalism, which, thanks to the awareness of the Iranian Muslim masses, was thoroughly defeated.

Today as we mark the 39^th Ten-Day-Dawn, we are confident that sooner than expected the cannibalistic elements who tear out the organs of their victims to eat raw, who kill innocent toddlers by bashing their heads on rocks, who rape and sell woman, who trigger bomb blasts in mosques, and who destroy the sanctified tombs of prophets and the companions of the Seal of Prophets, will be completely weeded out from all neighbouring countries by the awakened Muslims of the region, inspired by the system of government envisaged by Imam Khomeini for paving the path for the advent of the Promised Saviour of mankind, Imam Mahdi (may God hasten his reappearance for establishment of the global government of peace, prosperity and justice).

AS/ME