Discipline and Order

Discipline and Order

The National Foundations’ Integration

Competition is one of the promoters that keep foundations performance at stake and thus keep them as active as possible, and this is recommended unless it turns out to be causing negative relations full of bad intentions or based on rumors that would lead conversely to frustrations and in conclusion Allah’s wrath.

Allah says in Surah Al Hadid, verse 21:
{Take the lead towards forgiveness from your Lord and a paradise
as vast as the heavens and the earth,
prepared for those who have faith in Allah and His apostles.}

Sayyed Ali al-Khamenei considers the following:
“Negative competition among the members of the Revolutionary Guard or the other departments or opening the doors for rumors or letting bad intentions be spread is a dangerous disease that must be prevented from prevailing or polluting the nice atmosphere of this foundation, which has been originally established to seek to fulfill the Divine aims.”

It is integration that must dominate the relations among the various foundations whether they are military or of other nature. These foundations must keep the Islamic atmosphere dominating in order to prevent competition from becoming a destructive means.

The Significance of Discipline and Order

In any military sphere, both discipline and order are the key factors that control the continuity of the foundation and set its central identity. The Revolutionary Guard is the first that has to keep these values; otherwise, it would become just a powerless mass.

“The wholesome power of the Revolutionary Guard lies in the well-organized system. Had the Revolutionary Guard been with fragile systems, it would have become no more than a collective mass with no actual combative power. Discipline and brotherhood ties are also other basic factors in a military foundation. And the hierarchical arrangement is not discrimination at all. All of these factors are greatly important.”

Sayyed al-Khamenei has pointed out in various and separate speeches the elements of the order and discipline required. The elements are:

1. Arrangement and Discipline

“The different aspects of a military man should be kept well arranged and disciplined- even the buttons of the shirt must stay properly fixed; otherwise, the man who is defending the survival of the people would not arouse tranquility in the battle! I am truly emphasizing this because we have experienced such cases during the eight year long war.”

Defending the survival of the people is the most critical task that lies upon the shoulders of the military man; thus any degree of carelessness would cause casualties- and surely Allah does not accept such neglect.

“You have to exactly implement all of the military systems and laws set; don’t ever neglect any of them no matter how detailed it could be. Implementing the disciplinary and military task is an obligation. We have received lots of hits and attacks due to the carelessness of order and discipline.”

2. Order

“Don’t imagine that the position military members take and the way they get orderly rowed behind each other are something with little value or embarrassing; on the contrary, these positions increase the level of preparation. And according to the military systems, this arrangement is a basic prerequisite. During my visit to a base of the military troops, I felt overjoyed when I saw all of the members standing in compact ranks; this scene let me cry!”

All of the traits mentioned are basic to the military foundation. They all indicate the level of readiness the Revolutionary Guard enjoys as they are facing the different challenges.

Without these traits, it couldn’t be said that the troops are all set- not at all!

“I would like to make it clear that without order, discipline, planning and setting things all organized the troops would not be able to be practically all set! These systems along with the obedience to the leaders- the issues that Imam Ruhu Allah Al Mousawi Al Khomeini has always highlighted- must be considered as they are being performed for the sake of Allah and under his observation. They must be considered too as being the values of the military defense.”

• The Continuity of Order

The order in any foundation must always refresh and reset so that its order goes in harmony with the changing and the developing needs.

“There must be a committee that keeps studying the order system of the Revolutionary Guard. Whenever a new convenient order is found, it could be inserted. I am not asking you to keep changing things- but I don’t tend to favor firmness, either.”

3. The Hierarchy

“I’ve been so concerned about the military hierarchical ranking of the Revolutionary Guard’s members because this categorization usually sets more order. But at the same time, I am not saying that the ranking reflects the real and deep value of the brother Moujahid who is actually sacrificing everything for the sake of Almighty Allah; nonetheless, ranking is not a routine tradition but rather a necessity that should be a part of this foundation.”

But is the ranking accepted by Islam?

Sayyed al-Khamenei believes that ranking is highly important in military foundations as it sets things organized and ordered as well as it determines the responsibilities and the descriptions of the tasks.

“The ranking system encompasses accurate order. It identifies the responsibility each one is in charge of, as well as the relation among the members. Military ranks are the boundaries whether among the members within the same foundation or among the various foundations. Imam Ruhu Allah Al Mousawi AL Khomeini has repeatedly asked the Revolutionary Guard reserve the ranking hierarchy of members among them. But besides that everyone has to have the leadership spirit.”

In addition, Sayyed al-Khamenei emphasizes that respecting the rankings among the members is religiously a must and an obligation (wajib).

“Military discipline must originate from both ideology and faith so that all of the relations and evaluations would be governed by the spiritual, faithful and brotherhood sense. Respecting the orders is a must and an obligation. Such orders don’t reflect oppression at all; conversely, showing obedience echoes a high value.”

• Rankings Nourish Brotherhood Spirit

Sayyed al-Khamenei illustrates the difference that lies between the rankings that are based upon faith or the others that are based upon tyranny.
“Don’t say that order and discipline are acts of tyranny. Tyranny exists when a leader sits inside his office and does not care about his employees’ comments or does not greet them back.”

The senses of discipline and brotherhood are the two factors that should be dominating the atmosphere within the Islamic army. Hence, brotherhood spirit does not cancel the rankings among the members, but also it should not cause chaos, either.

“Discipline does not contradict the humble state or brotherhood spirit.”