First of all, I would like to express my deepest and most sincere gratitude to you, the dear youngsters, for your great effort and perseverance and your remarkable achievements that have made many of the Iranians, including me, very happy.
Indeed, whenever I read reports of your success and achievements and your attaining high ranks in scientific Olympiads or other international competitions, I feel very happy.
I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to your teachers and instructors in high schools, universities and other educational centers who helped you fulfill your potential and to those who provided you with facilities and necessary equipment and apparatus for your scientific researches.
Nonetheless, the relevant officials should increase their efforts to create a more scientific atmosphere for our talented and brilliant youth. For instance, as an effective measure to achieve this objective, special centers should be established in universities where our brilliant youngsters may have access to more research facilities. A special budget should also be allocated for this purpose.
The fact is that scientific research is the top priority of any country, since without scientific progress it is not possible to achieve economic or industrial development, to raise the living standards of a nation, to increase its power or to boost its dignity and international image.
Fortunately, the average intelligence of the Iranian youth is above the world average. Therefore, if they are provided with adequate facilities, and if they are infused with stronger motivation and encouragement, they will surely make great strides in the field of science and technology.
Above all, the important point with regard to our brilliant youngsters is their firm religious beliefs and their strong adherence to the Islamic tenets.
Over the past decades, or more exactly ever since the 19th century, some have been trying to inculcate in the world public the wrong idea that religion poses an obstacle to scientific progress. But the contrary is true because a licentious person who has no faith and who only pursues sensual pleasures would never shoulder the heavy task of scientific research, which surely takes a lot of time and energy and which is tedious and boring to those who only seek comfort and sensual pleasures in life.
Regarding the root of this false notion, it should be said that this wrong idea has originated from medieval Europe, namely the period in European history described as the Middle Ages when extremely radical religious beliefs predominated over European society and hindered the progress of science.
Nevertheless, after a lapse of a few centuries, scientific thought sprouted in Europe and gradually disentangled itself from those extreme religious beliefs. Consequently, radical religious tenets were gradually weakened and discredited with the growth of science in Europe.
Now, the mistake that some Europeans are making is that they are generalizing from what happened in Europe during the Middle Ages, which they regard as a period of ignorance, misery and backwardness in their history. Hence, because of this mistake, they are trying to convey the wrong notion that religion and science cannot get along with each other!
However, the reality on the ground is that while the Middle Ages was a period of misery, ignorance and scientific stagnation in Europe because of the prevalent radical religious beliefs, religion and science advanced side by side in the Islamic world, and religion even paved the way for the scientific progress of Muslim nations.
What is worthy of mention is that the darkest centuries in medieval Europe were the 10th, 11th and 12th century in the Christian calendar, which correspond to the 4th, 5th and 6th century in the Islamic calendar respectively. History bears witness to the fact that during these centuries, the Islamic world, especially Iran, was at the peak of its scientific progress and development.
It was the period in which prominent and world-renowned Islamic scholars and luminaries like ibn-Sina, Razi and Farabi lived. They were the luminaries that shone from this part of the world.
The 4th century in the Islamic calendar, in particular, was the time when the Islamic civilization thrived and flourished to a great extent. If you read the book "the Islamic Civilization in the 4th century", you will notice that in this century, which corresponds to the 10th century and early 11th century in the Christian calendar, namely the time when ignorance and backwardness predominated over medieval Europe, considerable scientific progress was made in the Islamic world, especially in Iran. In fact, the Islamic scholars and scientists who were in the vanguard of this scientific progress were, except few, all Iranians.
The point that should be stressed here is that the Iranians were even more religious than the Europeans, since they adhered to the principles of their religion with more eagerness and enthusiasm. Therefore, this proves that religion poses no obstacle to scientific progress, but that there were other factors that hindered the flourishing of science in medieval Europe.
What were those factors? The main factors were ignorance and various superstitions stemming from distorted Christianity that were prevalent in Europe during the Middle Ages.
Never in the Islamic world was a scholar even insulted because of his scientific views. But in medieval Europe one scholar was killed, another one was stoned, one was hanged and some other scholars were set on fire because of their scientific beliefs!
Therefore, the Europeans have generalized from the plight and suffering that they experienced during the Middle Ages and reached the wrong conclusion that religion and science cannot get along with each other!
A pure religion encourages the pursuit of knowledge. This is why almost all the prominent and renowned scholars and scientists in the Islamic world have had great faith in Almighty Allah.
For instance, ibn-Sina, an eminent Iranian physician whose book "the Canon of Medicine" was a standard medical text in European universities until just a few centuries ago, was a very religious figure. He also wrote some valuable treatises on philosophy and mysticism. Other famous scientists and scholars like Farabi also had strong religious beliefs.
This all proves that science and religion not only get along with each other very well, but religion also helps the advance and progress of science.
We can clearly witness this in our country even today, since our educational elite and our top students have firm religious beliefs and practice their religion with great enthusiasm.