By mentioning a fraction
of this long list, I don’t want to reproach history; rather I would like you to
ask your intellectuals as to why the public conscience in the West awakens and
comes to its senses after a delay of several decades or centuries.
21/01/2015
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العربیة
In the name of God, the Beneficent the Merciful
To the Youth in Europe and North America,
The recent events in France and similar ones in some other
Western countries have convinced me to directly talk to you
about them. I am addressing you, [the youth], not because I
overlook your parents, rather it is because the future of
your nations and countries will be in your hands; and also I
find that the sense of quest for truth is more vigorous and
attentive in your hearts.
I don’t address your politicians and statesmen either in
this writing because I believe that they have consciously
separated the route of politics from the path of
righteousness and truth.
I would like to talk to you about Islam, particularly the
image that is presented to you as Islam. Many attempts have
been made over the past two decades, almost since the
disintegration of the Soviet Union, to place this great
religion in the seat of a horrifying enemy. The provocation
of a feeling of horror and hatred and its utilization has
unfortunately a long record in the political history of the
West.
Here, I don’t want to deal with the different phobias with
which the Western nations have thus far been indoctrinated.
A cursory review of recent critical studies of history would
bring home to you the fact that the Western governments’
insincere and hypocritical treatment of other nations and
cultures has been censured in new historiographies.
The histories of the United States and Europe are ashamed of
slavery, embarrassed by the colonial period and chagrined at
the oppression of people of color and non-Christians. Your
researchers and historians are deeply ashamed of the
bloodsheds wrought in the name of religion between the
Catholics and Protestants or in the name of nationality and
ethnicity during the First and Second World Wars. This
approach is admirable.
By mentioning a fraction of this long list, I don’t want to
reproach history; rather I would like you to ask your
intellectuals as to why the public conscience in the West
awakens and comes to its senses after a delay of several
decades or centuries. Why should the revision of collective
conscience apply to the distant past and not to the current
problems? Why is it that attempts are made to prevent public
awareness regarding an important issue such as the treatment
of Islamic culture and thought?
You know well that humiliation and spreading hatred and
illusionary fear of the “other” have been the common base of
all those oppressive profiteers. Now, I would like you to
ask yourself why the old policy of spreading “phobia” and
hatred has targeted Islam and Muslims with an unprecedented
intensity. Why does the power structure in the world want
Islamic thought to be marginalized and remain latent? What
concepts and values in Islam disturb the programs of the
super powers and what interests are safeguarded in the
shadow of distorting the image of Islam? Hence, my first
request is: Study and research the incentives behind this
widespread tarnishing of the image of Islam.
My second request is that in reaction to the flood of
prejudgments and disinformation campaigns, try to gain a
direct and firsthand knowledge of this religion. The right
logic requires that you understand the nature and essence of
what they are frightening you about and want you to keep
away from.
I don’t insist that you accept my reading or any other
reading of Islam. What I want to say is: Don’t allow this
dynamic and effective reality in today’s world to be
introduced to you through resentments and prejudices. Don’t
allow them to hypocritically introduce their own recruited
terrorists as representatives of Islam.
Receive knowledge of Islam from its primary and original
sources. Gain information about Islam through the Qur’an and
the life of its great Prophet. I would like to ask you
whether you have directly read the Qur’an of the Muslims.
Have you studied the teachings of the Prophet of Islam and
his humane, ethical doctrines? Have you ever received the
message of Islam from any sources other than the media?
Have you ever asked yourself how and on the basis of which
values has Islam established the greatest scientific and
intellectual civilization of the world and raised the most
distinguished scientists and intellectuals throughout
several centuries?
I would like you not to allow the derogatory and offensive
image-buildings to create an emotional gulf between you and
the reality, taking away the possibility of an impartial
judgment from you. Today, the communication media have
removed the geographical borders. Hence, don’t allow them to
besiege you within fabricated and mental borders.
Although no one can individually fill the created gaps, each
one of you can construct a bridge of thought and fairness
over the gaps to illuminate yourself and your surrounding
environment. While this preplanned challenge between Islam
and you, the youth, is undesirable, it can raise new
questions in your curious and inquiring minds. Attempts to
find answers to these questions will provide you with an
appropriate opportunity to discover new truths.
Therefore, don’t miss the opportunity to gain proper,
correct and unbiased understanding of Islam so that
hopefully, due to your sense of responsibility toward the
truth, future generations would write the history of this
current interaction between Islam and the West with a
clearer conscience and lesser resentment.
film
Seyyed Ali Khamenei
21st Jan. 2015
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