After making this discourse...

After making this discourse, many newspapers launched a campaign against me, publishing numerous articles accusing me of opposing freedom and democracy and supporting dictatorship and despotic rule. They even said that so-and-so (alluding to me) wants Iran to go back to the period of intransigence prior to the Constitutional Movement!

Nevertheless, fair-minded Muslim writers supported my views, arguing that what is acceptable to our society and should be defended is legitimate freedom within the framework of Islamic laws and decrees. Officials of the system also stipulated this point time and again.

Islamic decree on enemy combatants and agents of corruption on earth We have said that those who talk about freedom as absolute, without limit and boundary, and consider violence as something absolutely wrong, say that one should not resort to violence even against those who rise up against the system and resort to violence. They must be treated with kindness, benevolence and divine mercy. Undoubtedly, their outlook is wrong.

If the criminals and violators are not dealt with seriously and decisively, and in case of necessity, brute force or violence is not used, the path will be open for a repetition of riots and crimes. Islam commands that enemy combatants and agents of corruption on earth must be dealt with decisively. In general, violation of government decrees or resorting to violence is sometimes individual in nature and at times collective in nature.

It has a social or collective dimension when an organized group engages in an armed struggle against the government. This group is described in jurisprudence [ fiqh ] as “seditionists” [ bughah or ahl al-baghy ]. One of the classifications of jihad discussed in Islam is the jihad against this group, i.e. war against seditionists.

Members of organized groups that stage an armed struggle against the Islamic government must be confronted and made to surrender to the Islamic government, and one must not compromise with them. There is also a time when resorting to violence against the government or revolt against the Islamic ordinances is not done by an organized group.

It is rather an individual movement with one or two persons disrupting order in society, violating public property and honor, or striking fear and terror by the use of hard or soft power. This kind of individual is known as “enemy combatant” [ muharib ]. In dealing with the muharib , there is no need for a military expedition.