No human being is capable of fully describing the dimensions of the Holy Prophet’s personality, nor are they capable of painting a picture that closely depicts his character. What we know about God’s chosen one and about the greatest prophet in history is merely a shadow and trace of his true, inner, spiritual existence. But first of all, even this amount of knowledge is enough to ensure the Muslims’ movement toward perfection by putting the peak of humanity and human development before their eyes. Secondly, it leads them toward Islamic unity and encourages them to gather around this axis. Therefore, my advice to all the Muslims of the world is for abundant work to be carried out on the dimensions of the Prophet’s personality, the dimensions of his life, his conduct, his morals, and the teachings that have been related from him and stipulated by him. After the Middle Ages, a widespread propaganda attack was put into action against the personality of the Holy Prophet in the Western world and the Christian world. The sworn enemies of Islam realized that one of the ways to fight Islam is to distort the Holy Prophet of Islam’s image. A great deal of work has been done in this regard up until today. The enemy has constantly been working on this – although using different methods – to erase the character of the Prophet from all the free minds in the world. There are many people in the world whom if they knew the Prophet of Islam in the same way that Muslims know him, or even less than that, or if they only managed to catch a glimpse of his enlightened face, their belief and attitude toward Islam and Islamic spirituality would be guaranteed.
Imam Khamenei
Oct. 16, 1989