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.
Negative image of Islam in the West
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?
West’s Islamophobic agenda
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.
The Holy Qur’an
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?
Impartial judgment
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.
Seyyed Ali Khamenei
21st Jan. 2015
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