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.
Ayatollah Khamenei's letter to the youth in Europe and North America; 21st Jan. 2015.
The knowledge of the west is a unique historical achievement. But this knowledge has been used to further colonialism for many years. It has been used to further slavery. It has been used to promote oppression. It has been used to appropriate the wealth of nations. And you see what they are currently doing. The fact that this knowledge is being used for these purposes in spite of its honorable and admirable nature, is because of the wrong thought, wrong perspective, wrong world view and wrong orientation on which it is based.
Statements made during a speech to Outstanding Personalities; October 5, 2011.
What was the secret behind Islam’s progression during an age of widespread ignorance and darkness, which once prevailed over the entire globe? It was not only amid the Arab word that ignorance triumphed. There was ignorance among two of the greatest empires then, which were the Sassanian and Roman Empires.
There was no justice within either of these empires, and there was immense discrimination. In Iran, education or the awareness of knowledge was exclusive for the privileged class; at the grassroots level they did not have the right to receive an education. Slavery was practiced in its worst manner. The weak were dealt with horribly. The question of women’s rights was nonexistent, as well as the mere presence of women in society; the treatment towards women was practiced in the most deplorable and humiliating way. There was utter ignorance everywhere.
Everywhere knowledge was unbeknownst. Then, out of the sun came Islam; Islamic knowledge shone upon hearts and minds; despite vast ignorance across the globe plus the bad conditions, the caravan of progression and enrichment among mankind was swift. Within half a century, since the birth of Islam, Islam prevailed in over much of the well-established world. This phenomena is extremely significant. Wherever Islam voyaged it was welcomed by the public, the empty and obstructing powers were pushed away effortlessly.
What factor made the might of Islam so progressive? What facilitated the foundation of the Islamic civilization, a civilization that endured at the peak of brightness and valor even during the wane of Islam’s political power, a civilization that influenced the culture across the globe, promoting science and the manifestation of Islamic culture? There are amazing experiences this history as to offer.
November 06, 1999
