The Islamic Republic calls people to focus on the commonalities that different denominations share and to demolish the walls of enmity and spite that have been built by the enemies. The Islamic Republic calls on different denominations to come together and exchange views on various aspects of the teachings of the Prophet's (SWA) household. Today, the enemies are more than ever strengthening the foundation of these walls and elements of enmity and spite and are trying to foment schism among Muslim brethren.
Americans, Zionists and global arrogant powers like neither the Shia nor the Sunni. They are antagonistic towards both of them. They are opposed to all efforts made by Muslims to stand up to their coercion in the name of Allah and by relying on their Islamic faith. As you can see, they are as antagonistic towards the Lebanese Shia Hezbollah as they are to the Sunni Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad. During the reign of the evil Pahlavi regime, they were as cooperative with the corrupt, dependant and mercenary court of the regime - which was a Shia government in name only - as they were with similar governments in countries that were so-called Sunni Muslims.
They are opposed to the kind of Islam that stands up to coercion, arrogance and the plundering and exploiting of natural resources and the kind of Islam that requires people to claim their rights. Shia and Sunni are meaningless labels to them. However, in order to prevent the Islamic Ummah from gaining power and asserting their opinions, they follow the divide-and-rule policy to foment schism between Muslim brethren and between and within the Shia and the Sunni. They seek to foment discord. We, our elites and our people must understand this.
Leader's Speech at Imam Reza's Shrine; March 20, 2008.
Muslims should figure out where and how the recent fitnas, wars, explosions, assassinations, and indiscriminate killings in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are being planned. Why did the regional nations not experience so many hardships and tragic events before the western armies- led by America- domineeringly entered this region as if they had proprietary rights to it? On the one hand, the occupiers label as terrorist the resistance movements of the people of Palestine, Lebanon, and other countries of the world. On the other hand, they mastermind and lead brutal sectarian and ethnic terrorism among the nations of this region.
The Middle East and North Africa were colonized, occupied, and humiliated for more than a century by western governments, including the British and French governments, and subsequently by the American government. Their natural resources were exploited and their spirit of freedom-seeking was suppressed. Their people were the hostages of the foreign aggressors' greed. And when the Islamic Awakening and national resistance movements made it impossible for international oppressors to continue their oppression, and the issue of martyrdom and ascension to God reappeared as a unique factor in Islamic jihad, the disgraced aggressors resorted to hypocrisy and replaced their old method with new methods of colonialism.
In order to bring Islam to its knees, the hypocritical fiend of colonialism is currently making use of all its capabilities - anything ranging from military coercion, iron-hand policy, and outright occupation to the evil chain of propaganda and to utilization of thousands of slandering centers; from organizing terrorist groups and brutal murders to preparing the ground for corruption, to distributing and promoting drugs, and to destroying the determination, spirits, and morality of the youth; and from all-out political attacks against the centers of resistance to provoking ethnic conceit and sectarian prejudice as well as enmity among brothers.
Leader's Message to Hajj Pilgrims; November 26, 2009.
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