special issue for ayatollah khamenei’s letter to north...

Special Issue for Ayatollah Khamenei’s Letter to North American and European Youth

No. 251, May 2015IS

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www.echoofislam.com

Special Issue, May 2015

Special Issue for Ayatollah Khamenei’s Letter to North American and European Youth

Ayatollah Khamenei’s Letter

A Way to Avoid Colossal Mistakes

The Letter of Iran’s Leader Is Inspirational

A Message for Breaking Terrorism Back

Italian Anthropologist Hails Iran Leader’s ‘Historical Letter’

A Roadmap to Find the Right Way

Dimensions of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution’s Letter to Western Youth

Zarif Delivers Ayatullah Khamenei’s Letter for Youth to UNSG

An Open Letter Like No Other

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Special Issue for Ayatollah Khamenei's Letter to North American and European Youth

The recent events in France and similar ones in some oth-er Western countries have convinced me to directly talk to you about them. I am ad-dressing 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 politi-

cians and statesmen either in this writing because I believe that they have consciously separated the route of politics from the path of righteous-ness and truth.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 reli-gion in the seat of a horrifying enemy. The provocation of a feeling of horror and hatred and its utilization has unfortu-nately a long record in the po-litical history of the West.Here, I don’t want to deal

with the different phobias with which the Western nations have thus far been indoctri-nated. A cursory review of re-cent critical studies of history would bring home to you the fact that the Western govern-ments’ insincere and hypocrit-ical treatment of other nations and cultures has been cen-sured in new historiographies.The histories of the Unit-

ed States and Europe are ashamed of slavery, embar-rassed by the colonial pe-riod and chagrined at the oppression of people of col-or 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 ap-proach is admirable.By mentioning a fraction of

this long list, I don’t want to re-proach history; rather I would like you to ask your intellectu-

In the name of God, the Beneficent the Merciful


4 Special Issue, May 2015


als as to why the public con-science in the West awakens and comes to its senses after a delay of several decades or centuries. Why should the re-vision of collective conscience apply to the distant past and not to the current problems? Why is it that attempts are made to prevent public aware-ness regarding an important issue such as the treatment of Islamic culture and thought?You know well that humilia-

tion and spreading hatred and illusionary fear of the “other” have been the common base of all those oppressive prof-iteers. Now, I would like you to ask yourself why the old policy of spreading “phobia” and hatred has targeted Islam and Muslims with an unprec-edented 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 pow-ers and what interests are safeguarded in the shadow of distorting the image of Islam? Hence, my first request is: Study and research the incen-tives behind this widespread tarnishing of the image of Is-lam.My second request is that in

reaction to the flood of pre-judgments and disinformation campaigns, try to gain a di-rect 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 ac-

cept my reading or any other reading of Islam. What I want to say is: Don’t allow this dy-namic and effective reality in today’s world to be introduced to you through resentments and prejudices. Don’t allow them to hypocritically intro-duce their own recruited ter-rorists as representatives of Islam.Receive knowledge of Islam

from its primary and origi-nal sources. Gain informa-tion 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 Mus-lims. Have you studied the teachings of the Prophet of Islam and his humane, ethical doctrines? Have you ever re-ceived the message of Islam from any sources other than the media?Have you ever asked your-

self how and on the basis of which values has Islam estab-lished the greatest scientific and intellectual civilization of the world and raised the most distinguished scientists and intellectuals throughout sev-eral centuries?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 bor-ders.Although no one can individ-

ually 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 pre-planned 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 ques-tions will provide you with an appropriate opportunity to dis-cover new truths.Therefore, don’t miss the

opportunity to gain proper, correct and unbiased un-derstanding 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


5Special Issue, May 2015


1. What is the most im-portant aspect of the Su-preme Leader’s message to European and North American Youth?

It seems that the Supreme Leader’s letter includes pre-liminaries which serve a pivot-al message. This message, in brief, distorts the assumption that referring to information and images about Islam, that today are broadcasted by European and American media, can de-pict a reliable picture of Islam and since at the current time the confrontation between West and Islam has become unavoid-able, the message encourages the reader to gain a true and real image of Islam in order to avoid committing noncompensable mistakes.

Regarding that for answer-ing other questions, some dis-cussions are offered regarding the preliminaries the Supreme Leader used in his letter, it’s bet-ter to point briefly to the prelim-inaries in order to reach a clear understanding about the relation between such preliminaries and Supreme Leader’s message:

● In this letter the goodwill of rulers and owners of media car-

Supreme Leader’s letter to European and North American youth is the Islamic Revolution’s new strategy in international cultural diplomacy


A Way to Avoid Colossal Mistakes


Dr. Ali Jannati is an Iranian politician, former diplomat, cul-tural figure and currently minis-ter of Islamic Culture and Guid-ance, having being appointed on 15 August 2013. We made an interview with about the Let-ter of Ayatollah Khamenei’s let-ter to Western Youth, which you can find it as follows:


tels has been questioned.● Addressing the youth, in

a fundamental issue which is considered as one of the most important problems of the cur-rent world, the Supreme Leader somehow shows them that he trust them and considers them as people who have goodwill and justice-seeking spirit.

● The letter questions the im-age western media depict of themselves as the supporters of human rights and justice-seek-ing regarding the background of these governments in not-so-long pasts like world wars, Viet-nam War, etc.

● The Supreme Leader some-how has encouraged the Col-lective consciousness of the western thinkers to criticize their statesmen big mistakes when-ever they face them. Howev-er, analyzing the chronology of such mistakes and when they have become general and dom-inated, it turns out that there is a multi-decade delay.

● The letter unveils the media trick that says western media and rulers usually one or more decades after the brutalities they made already come to the conclusion that they have made mistakes. Because, this trick in-spires the audience to consider them as the good characters be-cause they dare to confess their even big mistakes. But what is important is that it happens when the stable door is closed after the horse has bolted.

● He warns his audiences to avoid the same condition in which after several years they would understand that their per-

ception of Islam was not correct.● For him, Tekfiris and terror-

ist groups, as one of the most important sources to publicize a negative image of Islam, are the product of western media to un-dermine Islam’s reputation.

● Then this question is em-phasized that what aspect and dimension of Islam has con-vinced the holders of power and media in West to confront it so harshly? Thus, he encourag-es and incentivizes the reader to understand and study Islam through the right ways.

● But how can achieve a right picture and understanding of Islam, the Supreme Leader, in this step in which a question has been raised in the mind of the reader on how can determine the correct account of Islam, of-fer a solution.

● Making direct relationship with Islam through reciting Qu-ran and reading Holy Prophet’s history directly

In conclusion, it turns out the Supreme Leader at first de-stabilizes the image offered by western media about Islam and at the same time necessitates gaining a right picture of Islam and introduces the direct refer to the original sources as the best way to understand Islam.

2. How can interpret the Islamic Revolution’s Su-preme Leader regarding the challenge between Islam and West? Is it im-plies the new challenge between Islam and West?

The Supreme Leader’s letter to European and Northern youth was written regarding the new political requirements across the world and islamophobia and iranophobia policies taken by the western governments. If one consider this letter and the con-dition under which it was written, he will confirm that the world has riddled with turbulence’s and accidents which can destabi-lize the region and the world for many years if are not faced and interacted properly.

In a nutshell, it is a percep-tion and understanding of Islam which is broadcasted across the world and the most important ef-fective components of develop-ment of such perception can be discussed through two main piv-ots. The first one is that funda-mentalist Islamist used to com-mit any unethical and immoral cruelty such as cutting hands

Tekfiris and terrorist groups, as one of the most important sources to pub-licize a negative image of Islam,

are the product of western media to undermine Islam›s reputation.





and heads, throwing people from high buildings and burning human beings and books, de-molishing artistic works, etc. in the name of Islam. The second is that they suggest such cruel-ties with the best visionary qual-ity and the best documented form to their audiences. These two components are those that are recalled as the islamophobia and the Supreme Leader has written this letter to depict Iran’s strategy against this strategy; hence, it seems that the letter needs to be interpreted beyond a regular political letter which its importance is dwindled away over time.

In this condition, it is possible to offer a more precise analysis of the Supreme Leader’s letter. This letter has been written in order to neutralize above men-tioned dangers and it is clear cut that its long-term cultural objec-tives will be met only when the general lines of confronting with islamophobia, which have been listed and pointed out in this let-ter, are followed continuously and effectively through innova-tive and artistic media activities, as same as the islamophobia policies which followed by West and terroristic groups. There-fore, it seems that this letter and its main pivots must be treated as the new strategy of the Is-lamic Revolution of Iran in the first step of confronting with the Islamophobia phenomenon and in the second step to publicize and promote Islamic values in the new international condition.

On the other hand, the Su-preme Leader’s letter unveils

the new strategy of Islamic Re-public of Iran in the International Cultural diplomacy dimension.

3. How do you analyze the fields of acceptance of Supreme Leader’s letter by the young generation of USA and Europe?

The new principles of the West’ civilization which calls for people to stick with individual-ism, Epicureanism, secularism and liberal democracy apparent-ly have failed to saturate nature of western thinkers and youth. Inclination towards post-mod-ern viewpoints among western thinkers and scholars and in-troducing the west’s culture as the sole reliable culture in the world and acknowledging most cultures regarding the time and spatial requirements in which they have been grown are signs

that show that western thinkers have not be convinced with the dominant culture over the west-ern societies. As most people, especially the youth, inclination to spirituality and faith within re-cent decades somehow demon-strated that the religion-free cul-ture of west fails to respond and meet the epistemological needs of people to a divine fact and spirituality in their life; thus, to tackle the problem they started



they suggest such cruelties with the best visionary quality and the best documented

form to their audiences.

to seek for a certain sort of spiri-tuality that is compatible with the cultural values of west including individualism, epicureanism, separate ways of religion and governance. Most sociologists and scholars have justified the western youth inclination to the new-emerging spiritualties and some individualistic oriental reli-gion with this reason.

In this new perception there was no special position for Islam for which Enjoining good and forbidding wrong as well Jihad against oppressors were strong; however, was this individualistic spirituality able to compensate the epistemological gap in the western culture? For those who believed in Islamic teachings, it was clear that according to “the nature made by Allah in which he has made men; there is no altering of Allah’s creation”, the

religion that saturates all dimen-sions of mankind dimensions is Islam, hence it was predictable that although these fake spiri-tualties could heal the wound of the west’s god-free culture, but they could not bring about a fundamental treatment for its disease. What is seen today as the unpredictable inclination of western youth towards violent spiritualties including Satanism and recently inclination to Tekfi-ri groups such as Alqaeda and ISIS are somehow the conse-quences of secular spirituality failure to satisfy them.

Therefore, it is evident that the divine nature of mankind needs a religion which can meet his/her all existing dimensions and it is the pure Islam which puts compassion and violence in their proper positions. As you see, the thirsty of audiences’ nature to a religion which has such fea-

tures can somehow support the effectiveness of this message. It seems that the Islamic revo-lution’s trust in the Islam whole-ness and his knowledge about various dimensions of audienc-es’ nature has convinced him to write the letter. It is necessary to pay attention to this fact that if the target society has the po-tential to accept this message, it does not mean that out success to transfer the message is guar-anteed, but for this message is transferred and heard, we need broad activities in this field which must be organized by the rele-vant organization and motivated youth.

4. Despite the efforts of hegemonic systems how can the general diplomacy of Imam Khamenei come to conclusion?

To answer the question, its


better to make a comparison between Imam Khomeini’s his-torical letter to former USSR au-thorities and the letter of Ayatol-lah Khamenei. Imam Khomeini in his letter, regarding the media requirements of his era which al-most makes impossible to make direct connection with another nation, analyzed the situation of this country according to his understanding of its intellectual and cultural principles and pre-dicted the collapse of this su-perpower and tried to depict a horizon for the foreign minister of USSR. Therefore, Imam Kho-meini’s letter is a letter with all necessary details that would be

required for transferring a mes-sage, accordingly we see that Imam found himself obliged to write a long letter and attached anything that would be neces-sary to transfer the message. For instance, he introduces sev-eral sources for reaching a cor-rect account of pure Islam and even he missioned a board to answer possible questions and ambiguities including someone like Ayatollah Javadi Amoli.

In contrast, in letter of the Su-preme Leader it must be con-sidered that he has said that speaking with politicians and statesmen of west does not seem useful, because he thinks

that they have separated the way of honesty from politics. Here the target audiences of the letter are North American and European youth, because they are next generation of their country and they can direct the destination of their mother-lands; on the other hand their truth seeking is stronger in their heart. Accordingly, it must be ex-amined what is the best possibil-ity to transpire this message to American and European youth? Today, virtual and social net-works have not yet censured, hence using such networks for such kind of messages is ide-al; however, this question is




Therefore, it seems that this letter and its main pivots must be treated as the new strat-egy of the Is-

lamic Revolution of Iran in the first step of confronting with the Islamophobia phenomenon and in the second step to publicize and pro-mote Islamic values in the new interna-tional condition.

raised here why this message did not transferred by Iranian state media such as Press TV and Hispan TV. The answer is clear, Ayatollah Khamenei were seeking for releasing the great capacity of Muslim youth in this way. He took a giant stride to build a new sort of culture and accordingly the most important factor for transferring this mes-sage are motivated youth who access new media tools. As a result most people who are in-volved with modern technology are obliged to promote rather the formal organizations of the country.

It is important to note that Aya-

tollah Khamenei is used to invite youth to do bog jobs for many years; in this regard we can point to justice-seeking, soft-ware movement, political analy-ses, etc.

The media-based point that must be considered is that so-cial and virtual networks are fea-tured with certain requirements in transferring a message. For example, the message should be short, eloquent, convincing, etc.

The letter of Ayatollah Khame-nei has been written in accor-dance with such requirements. He has offered his message through an attractive and short

format; therefore, preparing ma-terials for sidelines of this mes-sage, so that to be appropriate with this media is among the activities that must be followed by authorities and the youth through the mentioned net-works. It helps the message to be broadcasted very properly to the audiences.

5. How west has de-picted Islam in USA and Europe?

After Islamic revolution and es-pecially after collapse of USSR, Islam was posed as a new al-ternative for liberal democracy among the Muslim thinkers and even most westerners and liber-al democracy advocates need to find a fundamental solution for this.

Therefore, two important events should be happened, one is media and propaganda activities arranged by Zionist enterprises and trusts including producing movies, TV series and documentaries which are set in order demolish Muslims’ and Islam’s reputation continu-ously, another is raising and cre-ating terrorist groups who work behind the mask of Islam and Islamic values and teachings. They depict a violent, corrupted and lusty picture of Islam to the world. These two components are astonishingly synergistic, as the western media extract the best and most attractive and most real propaganda ma-terials, that can approve their claims, from behaviors of these fundamentalist groups which mostly are filmed documentarily.





After Islamic revolution and especially af-ter collapse of USSR, Islam was posed as a new alternative for

liberal democracy among the Muslim thinkers and even most westerners and liberal democ-racy advocates need to find a fun-damental solution for this.

These videos are accessible for everyone through online tubes. On the other hand, these groups sometimes have the best filming equipment and create a perva-sive and extended dread and fear through such videos across the world. This dread and fear sometime do not let their victims to dare to resist and as you see many basements and cities sur-render without a little resisting. It helped them to progress very quickly and without stop in Syr-ia, Iraq, Sinai Desert, Libya and Nigeria, etc. these two compo-nents have acted as two blades of scissors and spare no efforts to destabilize Islam as a whole.

6. What do you think about Islam’s future in USA and Europe?

Undoubtedly our current be-havior and function will be ef-fective in future, the Supreme Leader’s letter can be analyzed in this regard, as well. There-fore, the target behind writing this letter would be collecting all facilities and using optimal-ly them in order to achieve the target and preventing them from being wasted.

Today, North American and European youth, regarding the numerous failures of their socio-political systems, have become ready to hear something other than what is broadcasted by the formal medial and their rulers. On the other hand, new media such as social networks have developed an infrastructure by which can bypass formal media and make a direct relationship with the reader or audience.

This letter not only has a mes-sage for American and Europe-an youth, but also it is mean-ingful and useful for motivated Muslim youth. This letter shows the way of fighting and resisting against the Islamophobia, which can be a religious imperative for each Muslim youth. The whole contents of the letter need docu-ments for supporting; for exam-ple, violence and oppression we see from advocates of human rights across several past de-cades can be documented with documentaries, movies, video clips, poems and introducing his-torical books along with a brief description about them. It has been already done by west me-dia and now we need to review them or preparing a report about activities of Hollywood on Islam-

ophobia. Likewise, preparing proper translations for the Noble Quran, encouraging audiences to communicate with Noble Qu-ran and preparing documented books and literature about the Islamic history are among duties and responsibilities that are im-portant in this regard.

It is clear that if Muslim youth find themselves responsi-ble, they need to review Islam through authenticated resourc-es and literature, it can result in elimination of many diversions and distortion in their minds.

Finally, if all relevant organiza-tions and institution of Iran and more importantly NGOs and the youth work on this issue, then a capacity would be developed in the country for promoting Is-lam, which is unique across the history, because this promo-tion is possible without travels, and hefty facilities and expens-es and since this interaction is done face-t-face and the re-ceiver is active reciprocally, the effectiveness of such relation would be interesting. It helps us to find many missionaries with high motivation and familiarity with language and culture of the target society with lowest cost…

7. What are the executive and practical solutions to enhance the impact of this message?

The Supreme Leader of Islam-ic Revolution has determined the main agenda of new general diplomacy of Islamic Republic of Iran. He has pointed to several preliminaries to reach the final target which is the main and



pivotal message of the letter. Raw materials are necessary and vital for each preliminary and deliver to people regarding the requirements of such media. Therefore, preparing document-ed sources for each preliminary, especially using art works, can be useful in this area. For ex-ample, despite what west media try to show about Islam, Mus-lim never slaughtered people during conquering Quds, but they took there through peace from crusaders. Likewise, the violent behaviors of US army in Vietnam, during the 16-year war threw 500000 bombs over the Vietnamese heads, they burned forests and finally after leaving 45000 dead, 300000 wounded and spending 150 billion USD and historical digrace they leave

there through their warships. The Islamic Thought Foun-

dation, regarding its innate po-tential, can prepare a reference website in this regard and invite all readers, either the target readers or those who are de-termined to play a key role in transferring the message to co-operate. Both Islamic Thought Foundation and Islamic Cul-ture and Relation Organization, based on their important and valuable experiences in export-ing the Islamic revolution’s mes-sage, can design a part in the mentioned website for answer-ing the questions of audiences and they can use any point or material that would be useful and necessary in this website. It would have a part in which users can share their experiences and

exchange what they have found and seen in their own country, city or region.

Mosques’ artistic centers can hold competitions in order to identify the exemplary mission-aries for this great mission.

It is necessary to remind that the most important factor to be successful in this area is in-volving the Iranian and Muslim youth with this issue. They are very talented and have high ca-pacity and play a key role in this regard.

I am very appreciated for the opportunity you gave me.



I had already read the in-spired letter from the Supreme Leader to North American and European youth. I noticed that the Ayatollah Khamenei re-ferred specifically to academ-ics who write about issues in the past like the genocide of Indigenous peoples, slavery, imperialism and such.The original misrepresenta-tion of what did and did not happen on 9/11 has been very instrumental in giving murder-ous intensity to the currently round of Zionist-fomented, Zi-

onist-exploited Islamophobia. This intensity of Islamophobia in the poisoned minds of many Westerners is being stimulated anew with the kind of Zionist-fo-mented false flag terror events that took place on Ottawa on Oct. 22, in Sydney Australia in December and in recent days in Paris. These violent, stage managed episodes are all a part of truly diabolical process of rebranding the so-called Global War on Terror. A major aspect of this rebranding is to replace the US-constructed

enemy of al-Qaeda with the Zionist-constructed enemy of ISIL/DAESH. I have already explained this process on a Press TV report where I was asked to comment on the phenomenon that the US Armed Forces have been parachute dropping weaponry directly to ISIL units. As with the outcome of the 9/11 de-ception, the real beneficiary of the deceptions of ISIL/DAESH is the government of Israel whose operatives are clearly hard at work stage managing a psychological operation with the object of further poisoning the minds of Westerners. The resulting stimulation of Islamophobia is part of the necessary task of preparing a sick and psychotic mental environment to create citizen support for the military oper-ations aimed at dividing Iraq, a process that may well be a prelude to the future eastward expansion of Israel’s territorial base towards the Persian Gulf.Obviously these machinations extend to Zionist plans for the demise of the Islamic Repub-lic of Iraq in its present form. The background of this evil in-tent needs to be emphasized. Clearly the recent background of anti-Iranian operations in-cludes Israeli-American cy-berattacks on Iran’s peace-ful nuclear energy program, the Zionist-directed murder of Iranian nuclear scientists, frequent surges of econom-ic warfare directed at Iran in

The letter of Iran’s Leader Is Inspirational

Anthony Hall



the name of so-called “sanc-tions,” and the Zionist-directed MeK terror attacks. These and many other acts of aggression signal the unbroken intent of Zionist forces, including the Zionist federal government of Canada, to destroy the Islamic Republic of Iran as presently constituted. Justice-minded citizens of conscience the world over must join together to see that this ongoing war crime, this crime against all humanity, is not pushed to its ultimate con-clusion, to see that the pro-cess of aggression is reversed to move towards peace, trade and the reciprocity of harmony between bothers and sisters throughout the world. Indeed, the prospect of moving to-wards peace, prosperity, and a federation of enlightened sta-bility in the global community depends very much on work-ing together to bring about a future where the people and government of Iran can as-sume their proper places as well integrated members of the community of nations, as respected sources of spiritual nourishment. I would be happy to see these words passed along in the di-rection of the Supreme Lead-er. I believe there are some colleagues in Iran and else-where with enough knowledge of my work that they could vouch for the veracity of the assertions I am making about how my prior studies have given rise to the ideas I am

expressing here and have ex-pressed in a number of public venues in North America and Iran. As the Supreme Leaders has emphasized, it is very im-portant at this crucial moment in history to raise awareness in the West about the sourc-es of Islamophobia; about the way this severe contamination of the mental environment has been created and exploited by Zionist operatives to advance a very dark and demented agenda of global despoliation.



A Review of the Islamic Rev-olution Leader’s Message to North American and Europe-an YouthThe message of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran to the North American and European youth was followed by many reactions and feedbacks in media and academic circles.

For example, Foreign Policy described it “unexpected” and wrote in his report, “through an unusual letter, [Ayatollah] Khamenei has asked North American and European youth to understand and identify Islam before condemning it.” Perhaps, the most important aspect of the letter is its inclination to call for

people, especially the youth, to “ponder” and “dialogue” about the world’s status quo and to gain a correct understanding of the Islam. Dr. Shahab Esfandiary, faculty member of University of Arts, has analyzed further aspects of the message through the following article.

Fake Illustration of Muslims Four years after 9/11 terrorist attacks, four suicidal explosions were committed in several parts of London on July 7, 2005. It left behind 52 dead and more 107 wounded. London Police Department introduced Muhammad Sadiq Khan as the designer and suicidal bomber of this operation; he was born in Leeds to a parent who has migrated to Britain several decades ago. When his confessional footage about his incentives to do this was broadcasted by Aljazeera TV, more than content of his harsh language against the western governments his accent was surprising for people of Britain. He used to speak with the Yorkshire accent and if his face was not obvious in TV one may confuse him with an aboriginal Englishman. There was a difference between this terrorist and the usual model by which “Arab/Muslim terrorists” were shown in both western verbal and visual narratives about people who used to come out of borders of these western countries to commit terrorist operations. He was not a foreigner, but he was an insider.

A Message for Breaking Terrorism Back

Dr. Shahab Esfandiyari



He was not “other” but was a “relative”. Finally the British Police found a new explanation for this phenomenon through pointing to his travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan and participation in Al-Qaeda military forts: Radicalization. From that date downward, any speech that make invoke people to commit terrorist operations was become a new crime, called incitement. Keeping books, pamphlets and tapes containing such materials would be punished under the similar crime. One of the most controversial bills endorsed by the British government was a bill that allowed police force to keep in detainment any suspected one for ninety days without any certain proof and evidences. Opposition parties and most scholars and academicians called this bill misusing the psychological atmosphere developed after bombings in order to limit the public freedoms. One of popular and well-established newspapers of London published a heart-breaking picture of a man who has been wounded during

the contests between police and protestors and wrote in its front page: “Tell Tony he is alright.” The day after that, the man whose picture had been published by papers wrote a letter and condemned misusing his picture to support the bill so called “anti-terrorism” bill. This man was Professor

John Tullouch, the professor of media studies of Brunel University of London. He, like most European academicians, was among the opponents of Iraq War and contribution of Blair administration in that war. In the disaster day, he was sitting near Muhammad Sadiq Khan in a subway station and only a briefcase saved him from severe damages to his chest or even his death. However, he had lost his ability to hear and speak for a long time after that. But, all of these pains and wounds did not change his opinion about the propaganda project of “war on terror”. Several months after regaining his physical ability, interviewed with BBC. In answer to a question that “are you angry for being the victim of a terrorist attack?” he answered, “I am angry, but I am angry for the autonomous and illegal measures of governments who flame the fire of such violence.” Professor Tullouch was invited by Britain’s ATV in the anniversary of the attack and asked him to go personally, as a reporter, to the house in which Muhammad Sadiq Khan used to live in already and to make a

There was a dif-ference between this terrorist and the usual model by which “Arab/Muslim terrorists” were

shown in both western verbal and visual narratives about people who used to come out of borders of these western countries to commit terrorist operations.



three-minute documentary film for the main part of nighttime news of the network. John Tullouch became familiar with another face of Muhammad Sadiq Khan. He found that Muhammad Sadiq Khan has used to work as a teacher assistant at a school in a poor and deprived neighborhood in Leeds. His colleagues described him as a hard-working and kind man who helped weaker children in training. More investigations and inquiries from the city council indicated that Muhammad Sadiq khan had been very active in fighting against social damages and abnormalities. John Tullouch chose a photo of Muhammad Sadiq Khan as the symbol of this unknown aspect of his personality; the photo showed him in the school with a thinking face and pen in his hand while listening to a student. In this very short program, Tullouch talked with several Muslim students who all have been raised in Britain and were neighbors of Muhammad Sadiq Khan and let them to say their words. Their main concerns and worries were being forgetting the real meaning of Islam in the British society and wrong mentalities and imaginations about Islam. It forced them to be marginalized in the British society. In fact, in this TV program, professor Tullouch introduced “reaction” to warmongerings made by western governments across the world as the main cause

of such terrorist behaviors; while western media and policy-makers call terrorism as an affirmative action based on a certain culture, a religion or an ideology which aims at undermining the western civilization. After a while professor Tullouch published his book, One day in July which included his memoirs and analyses about the bombing and its aftermath. He finishes his book with a letter, “a letter to Muhammad Sadiq Khan”. In this letter, addressing Muhammad Sadiq Khan he writes, “I am encountered with several faces of yours, not a single face. I know you were a good listener. I want to speak

to you and perhaps thousands other Muhammad Sadiq Khans who have not yet deserved to be talked with.” In this letter we find John Tulouch as a thinker and scholar who have let the traditional position of Europeans when they speak with others and emphasizes the correct understanding of the another party.For the author, Professor Tulloucj and his co-thinkers must be considered as a part of “conversation axis” of the contemporary world which stands against the “terrorism axis”. Unfortunately, because of the media domination of “terrorism axis”, the voice of “conversation axis” is not reflected properly in the western societies. The “terrorism axis” domination is so strong that despite the unprecedented and eye-catching rally of 1.5 million people in London on 2003 against the contribution of British government in war against Iraq, Tony Blair, Bush’s war-mongering partner, was re-elected as the prime minister in the next election. If Tulouch and his friends constitute the western wing of the “conversation axis” in the contemporary world, this axis has serious supporters in the Muslim World. The Message of Ayatollah Khamenei to European and Northern American youth unveiled another side of this axis in the part of the world. While the media, which are supported by the “terrorism axis”, have tried their best to indicate the violent

One of the most controversial bills endorsed by the British government was a bill that allowed police

force to keep in detainment any suspected one for ninety days without any certain proof and evidences.



and fake image of Islam though misusing the recent accidents of Paris and fuelling the fire of grudges and deepening gaps, at once one of the greatest religious and political leaders of the Muslim World writes directly a letter to European and North American youth and calls them to start study and identify Islam directly. There are various points in this points which are discussed her briefly.

Bypassing stereotypical images of westFirstly, the nature of deciding to outreach, apart from the content of letter, is a symbolic action. There is a sort of acknowledgement in any speech which speaks to others respectfully. Hence, it is said that worst insult is ignoring or denying the presence of others. Perhaps most Muslims and even some Muslim thinkers have dark mentalities about western youth and consider them sinking in corruption and sins. In other words, as we have westerners, we have westophobists as well in the Muslim societies who have certain stereotypes and imaginations about the western societies, as a whole. However the critical approach of Ayatollah Khamenei’s letter to western societies is not none-dimensional. Before inviting western youth to cross the pre-judgments and false imaginations, he ignores some stereotypical images about western youth. For him, western

youth are more truth-seeker than their grown-ups.

Conversation axis against terrorism axisThe second of the letters is that it has been written by a man who is qualified to be considered in the “conversation axis” against the “terrorism axis” regarding his legal and real entity and character, because he is a victim of terrorism too, he is the victim of terrorists who have been later supported by the France government who claims fighting against terrorism. Rather converting his physical pains to racist grudges against all western people, he considers western youth separated from their terrorist supporting governments and is worry about the future interaction between west and Islam. On the other hand, as a

legal entity, Ayatollah Khamenei has led a great country for more 25 years and has proved that he is not warmonger. Despite several wars occurred within three recent decades in the turbulent region of Middle East, he has protected Iran.

Inviting to correct understanding The third point of this message is that its author is a great religious leader, it content does not ask the reader to convert their religion, but ask them to understand the Islam rightly. Mutual understanding without doubt can pave the way for peaceful interaction between world’s people and prevent warmongers of terrorism axis to reach their ominous targets. Ayatollah Khamenei says, “I do not insist you to accept my

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or any other account of Islam.” It is obvious that whenever the heavy and dark curtains of falsity and fraud by media of “terrorism axis” on the Islam face, then basically there will be no chance to invite people to Islam. The first step, according to him, is correct understanding and without prejudgment;

The addressee of letter is the future builder generation rather statesmen The fourth point of the message which differentiates it from the highfalutin but empty slogans of some past politicians and statesmen is its receiver or addressee. Already, some politicians who did not know the difference between “negotiation” and “dialogue” used to confuse the international political space (which is the area of war of smiles and struggle on national interests) with the intellectual dialogues about civilizations

and cultures and intended to start cultural-civilizational dialogue with the oppressive armed enemy. However, Ayatollah Khamenei chooses his letter’s receiver youth rather western statesmen and politicians. Using this approach

to communicate intellectually and culturally with youth is not new, but it backs to hi revolutionary efforts before Islamic Revolution.

Precise familiarity with the modern media One last point about the media and the so-called “medium” is promoting the message. The decision to promote the letter and its message through social networks rather TV and radio channels indicates how much he is acquainted with the new media and their capabilities and capacities. Todays, social networks have challenged the hegemony of written media and old audio-video media (which are controlled by the masters of “terrorism axis”). Choosing this “medium” for promoting a message whose content is about calling for people to cross the hegemony of stereotypes is very good and smart idea. Although most social networks are run by masters of “terrorism axis” and these media have already made cooperation with warmongering governments, they cannot be fully controlled by their owners because there are too many users and contents there which make control very difficult. Because of influence of these social networks, we see that even old media have forced to reflect the letter.

Ayatollah Khamenei has led a great coun-try for more 25 years and has proved that he is not warmon-

ger. Despite sever-al wars occurred within three recent decades in the turbulent region of Middle East, he has protected Iran.



Italian anthropologist hails Iran Leader’s ‘historic letter‘

An Italian anthropologist de-scribed the recent letter by the Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution to Western youths as a “historic letter” whose im-

pact will be revealed in future.

On January 21, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Rev-olution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei wrote a letter asking the European and North Amer-ican youths not to judge Islam

based on the recent terrorist attacks in Paris.

In his letter, Imam Khamenei urged Western youths to try to gain a direct and firsthand knowledge of the religion in re-action to the flood of prejudg-ments and disinformation cam-paigns.

In an e-mail interview with the Tasnim News Agency, Italian anthropologist Tiziana Ciavar-dini discussed the significance of the Supreme Leader’s letter.

Ciavardini is a cultural anthro-pologist, and the president of Italy’s Ancis Anthropology Fo-rum.

Here is the full text of the inter-view.

Q – Regarding the recent letter by Iran’s Supreme Leader to the youth in Eu-rope and North America, how could it be (more) effective in attracting those youths to real and authentic Islam?

A – What written in the letter is very true, we must learn from the real source. I hope that this let-ter could help the youth to study Islam as a religion, and lessen the bad propaganda against Is-lam. Ayatollah Khamenei said that there had been a flood of misinformation about Islam in the West. Unfortunately, in western countries people who declare themselves as ‘expert’ on Islam sometimes are con-fused about understanding the

Italian Anthropologist Hails Iran Leader’s ‘Historical Letter’



religion. Even the one who tries to tarnish the image of Islam, most of the time doesn’t know what he is talking about. This is one of the reasons behind the increase of Islamophobia in the West.

Q – How capable this message is in preventing the ongoing Islamopho-bia in the West?

Iran’s Supreme Leader under-stands better than anyone the importance of the new gen-eration. He is talking to them because he knows the elder are already spoiled. He knows that we must push our youth to learn and study, since they are the future. If we encourage our youth to understand Islam from the (real) source, we can hope a better future with less people afraid of Islam. Islamophobia is just a fear of what we don’t know. We have also in Italy some cases of Islamophobia since people confuse Islam with

terrorism. With our immigration policies, we have many Muslim people here in Italy who have escaped from war or difficulties in their countries to find a better life either in Italy or in Europe. Unfortunately these people may be stigmatized as people who may import terrorism to It-aly. Especially at this moment that we are living in fear of ter-rorist attacks, in a state of max-imum security alert.

Q – Do you think Western mainstream media are interested in widespread dissemination of Su-preme Leader’s letter, or Western media empire is

reluctant to publish it?A – When the letter first ap-peared in English on the web-site I told myself: this will be a historic letter. As far as I know, this is the first time that Iran’s Supreme Leader talks to the western youth in this confi-dential way. The letter seems to me that he is saying much more than the words written on it. I was surprised as well to see that the letter was not on the first page of Italian News-paper. The reasons could be varied. Even though Italy and Iran have great cooperation in many fields and we also see the new Italian government is ready to talk with and invest in Iran, still there are some me-dia unenthusiastic to publish a letter from the Leader of Islam Republic of Iran. We can think of it as a sign of respect: the im-portant words from a religious Leader could not be shared just on a piece of paper, but still this reflects my theory about the prejudice on Iran. If something bad (in western eyes) happens in Iran, the news will be on first page, if it is good news it means no news. In this case, they make a mistake. We will see in the future the power of words of Supreme Leader.

Q – How do you evaluate the letter’s content?

A – The best of this letter is the way the Leader emphasizes the new generation’s education. He with all his experiences and culture knows that education is the way to succeed. Not only in



school or university, education is the way to fight the war and bring peace on the earth. It is very important that he didn’t force the youth to convert to Islam and be Muslim, but just urged them to understand Is-lam and study from the source.

He did not refer to the violence directly, but on the intellectual conditions that allows ideolo-gies of violence to exist.

Q – In your opinion, could this letter be a new chap-ter in paying attention to Islam by Europeans?

A – Yes this could be, if West-ern young generation spends more time on intellectual fields instead of material issues. Some Western countries are losing more values day by day and most of the youth do not have any hope for the future, not even dreams. I am not a Muslim, but I have not seen in any other religion the devotion I see in Islam. I think Islam can help all of us understand better the world we live in. The terri-tory of Islam has given birth to the most famous scientists and intellectuals. How can we believe that the same territory has given birth to people who spread death?

Q – Can this letter show the differences between authentic Islam and the one that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and other terrorist groups have shown?

A – Whoever makes corre-spondence between Islam and terrorist groups certainly doesn’t know Islam. The Su-preme Leader takes his dis-tance from terrorist acts. It is unthinkable that someone who really believes in a religion may commit these acts. How a re-ligion of peace may suggest to the people to kill other people? Islam has nothing to do with this brutality. What people do not understand yet is that the primary victim of this cruelty is Islam itself. They operate in the name of Islam but the rea-sons are not religious but just political. These attacks and ter-rorist groups are damaging the peaceful vision of Islam. We

must ask ourselves who will benefit or get power by show-ing Islam so hostile.

Q – What is the next step in order to enlighten the youth in West to introduce the real Islam to them?

A – We know that Islam is spreading in Europe. We have also seen an increase in the number of conversion to Islam in Italy. Islam is the second faith in Italy. I think the next steps must be taken by West-ern governments increasing the useful projects to let people understand Islam better. In Ita-ly we have already schools with scholars from diverse nationali-ties and I hope in future we will be able to introduce lessons of ‘Religious Studies’ instead of studying one religion. Studying other religions does not mean converting to other religions, but learning more about some-thing we don’t know. In the let-ter of Ayatollah Khamenei, he wrote about ‘other’. This term is exactly what we must un-derstand. Other means know-ing people who are different from us and we must consider diversities as great values to improve comprehending our nature.

Source: Tasnim News Agency

The letter seems to me that he is saying much more than the words written on it. I was sur-prised as well to

see that the letter was not on the first page of Italian Newspaper.


1. What is the most import-ant pivot of Supreme Lead-er’s message to American and European youth?

● Direct study of Quran and Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) lifestyle against imitative and inductive accounts and perceptions;● Fair and responsibility in fac-ing with recognizing Islam and negative perception of west about Islam.

2. How can analyze the letter of Leader of Islamic Revolution in terms of the

challenge between Islam and west? Is it indicates the new challenge be-tween Islam and the West?

It indicate a more intellectual and responsible-based future which develops intellectual communicative bridges to fill the deep gap between Islam and the west.

3. How do you analyze the acceptance aspects of Leader’s message, as a Muslim Thought, in the young generation of United

States and Europe?Ever increasing efforts of the west to demonize Islam’s face and preventing promotion of this message indicate relative-ly ready condition for accepting this message.

4. How Leader’s general diplomacy would result in conclusion through social and virtual networks, de-spite efforts of the hege-monic system of west?

Personally I am disagree with applying definition of “general di-plomacy” for this letter. This mes-sage is based on divine mission and performing religious duty to invite people to the truth. Contin-uous and serious planning and taking advantage of all strategic facilities will pave the way for this letter to be effective.

5. How Islam has been depicted by hegemonic system in United States and Europe?

A violent, illogical and warrior Islam…

6. How do you predict the future of Islam in the west?

Certainly, Islam will be success-ful, if the Almighty God Intends.

7. Please name practical solutions to increase in-fluence of the letter.

Development and promotion of independent works, which are proper with the needs of audienc-es about questions and points of the letter and using any possible capacity to promote it…..

Dr. Zu-Elm is the professor of Kalam and Islamic Sciences who acts as the faculty member in Islamic Culture and Thought Research Center. He has published more than books includ-ing theory of development in Islam, effective experience of Jurisprudential state, Islamic revolution, culture of criterion for Noble Quran, etc. We arranged an interview with Dr. Zu-Elm which you can find it as follows:

A Roadmap to Find the Right Way



Undoubtedly, the recent letter of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution to youth in Europe and North America covers widespread and com-prehensive dimensions.

To learn more about the de-tails, NASIM News Agency has conducted an interview

with Hassan Kachouian. He clarified and analyzed dimen-sions of this letter.

Let’s review the interview in questions and answers.

Q: How do you evaluate the preliminaries of admit-ting message of supreme

Leader of the Islamic Rev-olution in later generation of Europe and West?

A: In response to your ques-tion, it should be acknowledged that a wave like tsunami rose in the West as of 1960s which covered two important aspects in general. One aspect is relat-ed to disappointment and un-happiness of current civilization of west or modernity. The next aspect is related to inclination to dimensions of existence and life which is neglected in this civilization.

The first dimension or “dis-appointment” and “dissatisfac-tion”, arising from current west civilization, led to the formation of an environment which was then famed “postmodernism”. In other words, criticism of mo-dernity came to being with dif-ferent aspects including value crises, etc.

In the same years of second dimension, a severe inclina-tion to religion was observed among youth and west’s new generation. Tendency to the eastern Gnosticism and mys-ticisms, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. became prevalent in the west in that time and different movements like hippies came to being which was followed by protest.

These two movements have been invigorated in the course of these years and no weak-nesses can be observed in these movements. The more steps are taken in this regard; preliminaries of criticism, un-

Dimensions of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution’s Letter to Western Youth




happiness, and dissatisfaction of exist-ing systems (including social, cultural, economic and political systems) are de-veloped. In recent developments such as Wall Street Movement, it can be witnessed that these movements have been transferred to the public general level.

Presently, there is not aspect of west-ern lifestyle and the said issue is of par-amount importance for westerners with regard to the cases such as democracy and other issues in terms of modern val-ues and consequently, critical stance has been formed with regard to these cases.

It is advancing with regard to the re-ligious tendencies and this issue was mostly observed after the glorious victo-ry of the Islamic Revolution. After the glo-rious victory of the Islamic Revolution, a large sea wave “tsunami” spread across the world. In the same direction Hindus, Jews, Christians, Buddhism, etc. were revived. For instance, issues happened in Myanmar is the outcome and con-sequence of revival of Buddhism. Bud-dhism claims religious is free from any violence and feels sense of existence and enters the political arena and finally, defend its identity.

Given the above issue, I do not agree with these movements, rather, I point to the reason and their root. The issues happened in Myanmar is the outcome of revival of Buddhism and such movement came to being in Israel (Judaism) and world of Christianity and other religions across the world.

Q: Do you believe “Takfiri” movement in the course of such uprising?

A: Such tendencies came to being since 1960s in the world. It can be said that the Islamic Revolution also came to being in such situation and this issue

a wave like tsu-nami rose in the West as of 1960s which covered two important aspects in general. One aspect is related

to disappointment and unhappiness of current civilization of west or modernity. The next aspect is related to inclination to dimensions of ex-istence and life which is neglected in this civilization.



was improved comprehensively after the glorious victory of the Islamic Revolution. Occurrence of the Islamic Revolution brought about a tremendous influence among Muslim emigrants in Europe to restore their Islamic identity. In the same direction, many Muslim thinkers and intellectuals have pointed to the said issue that emigrants were not introduc-ing themselves as “Muslim” before the Islamic Revolution, rather, they were in-troducing themselves as an individual as resident of Pakistan, Somalia, Algeria, etc. Pakistani and African Muslims, etc. returned to this Islamic identity in coun-tries like France, England, etc.

Q: Is this issue considered as consequences of the Islamic Rev-olution or outcomes as a result of measures taken by the executive officials?

A: No, the consequences of revival of Islam were occurred by the Islamic Revolution. For instance, Christianity in these years was highly welcomed in world under the influence of revival of religion and the ceremonies which Pope John Paul II participated in it is a solid evidence of the said claim.

The sense of recurrence to the Islamic identity by Muslims in the West created an extraordinary feeling of fear among westerners in order to prevent European and western youth from being convert-ed into Islam. Since then, the wave of Islamophobia and converting Islam into a monster and giant issue started. The major fear of west world was inspired by the tendency of the very westerners to Islam, neither the Muslims who were in west and wave of recurrence to the Is-lamic identity had been formed among them.

Of course, unfortunately, westerners managed to curb and control this affair

The sense of recurrence to the Islamic identity by Muslims in the West created an extraordinary feel-ing of fear among

westerners in order to prevent European and western youth from being converted into Islam. Since then, the wave of Islamophobia and converting Islam into a monster and giant issue started.


in one sense. In the same di-rection, organized and wide-spread measures were taken in this regard which included several preliminaries such as cinema, the press, and political circles. For instance, the issue of apostate Salman Rushdie is a clear example of these cases. If a Muslim did not feel a threat by Islam, there is no reason to seek Islam and Holy Prophet (S) and mar them.

During this time, making Hol-lywood films started with the centrality of destructing and marring real image of Islam. When a fixed and constant pol-icy entered the cinema and if a film is made in related field con-secutively, it is not meant that the risk is related to today and

tomorrow, rather, it is meant sense of a strategic danger.

This path started since that time and is intensifying con-tinually. For instance, an issue is raised in each of Europe-an counters every day, one day, the issue of Hijab (Islamic Dress Code) is raised and the other day, the issue of mina-ret of mosques and the next day, another issue is raised as well. Eventually, it is observed an insulting caricature in this respect. These issues indicate that west feels a serious fear and such fear are not related to the Muslims who are present in these countries; rather, it is beyond expectation. A glance at sales rate of Holy Quran in recent years, it is be grasped

out that the Holy Book is one of the best-selling books in the world. All these cases which were explained indicate that the trend has not only been continued, but also it has been improved and developed. Giv-en the above issue, it is clear that preliminary of acceptance of the supreme Leader’s letter to western and European youth is very high.

Another point which is usually ignored is this that westerners had not considered approach-es taken by easterners, for, westerners were considering the easterners with people at second grade. Moreover, west-erners were not paying due at-tention to the events happened in eastern countries. Generally



All these cases which were ex-plained indicate that the trend has not only been continued, but also it has

been improved and developed. Given the above issue, it is clear that preliminary of acceptance of the supreme Leader’s letter to western and European youth is very high.

speaking, westerners were not considering way of thinking of easterners as important, let along to refer them [easterners] as an evidence for their claims. But in the movement of Wall Street, it can be observed that not only westerners took Is-lamic countries as a role mod-el, but also they [westerners] compared themselves with the countries like Egypt and Islamic countries in banners and plac-ards apparently.

These issues are very im-portant and indicate that not only western idea has failed, but also it shows the direction of the attitudes they are think-ing about. Presently, west looks towards the east and especially Islamic and Islamic world. All of these indicate the issue that the west is very apt to admit the valuable concepts.

Q: There is a contem-plation that this letter has been written since the West managed to act suc-cessfully. Considering that an aspect of Islam has been displayed pres-ently which indicates that Islam is not a pure Islam and Islamic Republic of Iran felt the risk of the is-sue and for this purpose, a letter was written to youth in this respect.

A: No. I do not agree with you. Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution wrote the letter on this purpose that a battle has been formed between Islam and the West. The Leader be-

lieves that silence should not be adopted in this respect; rather, effective steps should be tak-en as well. In other words, the Leader decided to enter the bat-tle himself. Suddenly, world peo-ple cannot be addressed or rec-ommended to do special activity,

rather, social and cultural fields should first be provided.

Given the above issue, Su-preme Leader of the Islamic Revolution predicted that time is ripped and it is the best time to do such move.

Q: Officials in the coun-try adopted silence as the Leader’s wrote letter to youth in Europe and North America. What is the main reason here?

A: In response to your ques-tion, I should say that states-men and politicians in the coun-try have not considered a role and position for themselves at this juncture, rather they con-sider incorrect role and posi-tions for themselves.

For instance, during Khatami Administration, many efforts were taken in this respect to merge Iran in global system. Perhaps, it can be said that Mr. Ahmadinejad is the only person who acted differently in this re-gard. He was thinking of a revo-




When Islam came to being in Medi-eval Ages, west-erners felt fear of Islam due to its development and penetration.

However, they [west-erners] created an im-age of Islam in their minds. In this image, Islam and Christian-ity stood along with each other i.e. Islam [which is manifes-tation of aggression and violence] and Christianity [which is manifestation of love and peace].

lutionary system for himself and was of the opinion that such revolutionary system should be propelled. Some officials have recently explained in their inter-views that we are in a dilemma. They are of the opinion that one clear-cut way should be select-ed: either to be a revolutionary system or be a responsible of-ficial in international system in order to take advantage of its interests. It is not meant that we should be a major player for the west in the region.

Q: West has not allowed an accurate identifica-tion and recognition of Islam. In many books of humanities, it can be ob-served that West knows Islam with Jihadi spirit and this issue indicates aggressive and hardline attitude toward Islam. In your opinion, which Is-lamic aspects, according to the letter of Leader, can attract western addresses in this field?

A: If west has changed in ev-ery field, it has not changed in one field. When Islam came to being in Medieval Ages, west-erners felt fear of Islam due to its development and penetra-tion. However, they [western-ers] created an image of Islam in their minds. In this image, Is-lam and Christianity stood along with each other i.e. Islam [which is manifestation of aggression and violence] and Christianity [which is manifestation of love and peace]. West thinkers and intellectuals also have such an

image from Islam. For exam-ple, a thinker like Marx Weber has the same imagination on Islam in his works. In this im-age, Islam only knows sword on one hand, moving forward with sword and violence, and on the other hand, Islam was found with “debauchery “char-acteristic, for, they could not match themselves with Islam and eventually, they resorted to mar the real image of Islam. Generally speaking, western-ers left no stone unturned in order to destroy real image of Islam in their minds.

Even in late century i.e. 19th century, Holy Quran has not been translated fairly in west-ern countries and motivation-al and arousing subjects have been reflected towards Islam in these countries as well. This is the framework and an image that has been formed approx. 900 years ago and has also been intensified during these years with various events.

The most important point that should be taken into consider-ation here is this that Islam is a two- dimensional religion. Giv-en the traditions, other religions have been introduced as a sin-gle- dimensional aspect.

Of course, it is not meant that Christianity has not committed any crime in the course of histo-ry. The mass killing and massa-cres happened during Medieval Ages and crucified wars, etc. are considered as crimes and felonies committed by Chris-tians. Let’s draw a comparison between Islam crucified wars wit Christianity. When Chris-tianity occupies Holy city of Quds, many people are killed while Islam has nothing to do with people and westerns ac-knowledge this affair.

Therefore, Islam is a religion that has two aspects simul-taneously. Basically, Islam is meant a religion of perfection, compassion, and mercy, for mercy and compassion always overtakes violence and aggres-sion. To learn more about this, it should be noted that the Holy Prophet of Islam (S) was not



forerunner as beginner of war and was making his utmost ef-fort in order to prevent war from happening. Given the above issue, Islam is a two- dimen-sional religion and it should be introduced in two aspects.

Q: Considering the simi-larity of this letter with the letters wrote by the late founding father of Islamic Revolution, Imam Kho-meini (RA), what is the main reason behind rep-etition of this letter. How do you evaluate effective-ness of this latter?

A: Politic can be viewed in two aspects. One aspect is in ordinary form. Even, Imam Khomeini’s move with regard to Salman Rushdie does not include in its ordinary form. A glance at works of Toffler and many others, it can be grasped out that Imam Khomeini’s move with regard to Salman Rushdie or his conveyance of message to Gorbachev is manifestation of emergence of a type of dif-ferent politics.

When your word does not include within the framework of an ordinary diplomatic pol-icies, you can resort to define a new different form of politics. It should be noted that politics is not confined to government in the global arena; rather, in-dividuals, nongovernmental or-ganizations (NGOs), etc. have turned into players of arena of politics. Therefore, general pol-itics becomes very important in this situation and measures

taken by supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatol-lah Khamenei and imam Kho-meini (RA) can be defined in this framework. That is to say that there are parties and in-dividuals in new situation that play an effective role in world of politics but they cannot be ac-cessed in ordinary framework and eventually, they cannot be addressed.

This is an aspect of story. An-other aspect of the story, that the late Imam Khomeini (RA) and Leadership place special emphasis on them, is this that we consider our revolution as

sequence of Nabavi tradition. Given the above issue, convey-ance of message to Gorbachev or to youth in Europe and North America will be meaningful in this definition.

As far as story of Salman Rushdie is concerned, merely defending Islam is not the main objective of the late Imam Kho-meini (RA). Therefore, letter of leadership can be analyzed in this respect and it is not a matter of today and yesterday. It is heard repeatedly western democracy and liberal system has vanished and the Islamic Republic is the other alternative



When your word does not include within the framework of an ordinary diplomatic pol-icies, you can

resort to define a new different form of politics.

which has come to being in the world.

Q: To what extent this letter will influence the audience? Some for-eign outlets have weak-ened feedback and reflection of the news according to the statis-tics of western resourc-es like Tweeter, etc.?

A: This issue cannot be eval-uated based on foreign media outlets, because, addressees of this letter are not media com-panions. Secondly, these orga-nizations are moving forwards based on preplanned pro-grams. A brief look to Tweeter, you can find subjects on Iran.

For example, it is not allowed message of the late Imam Kho-meini (RA) to Pope John Paul II to be published in dailies. Even the message was not published even funding at local dailies. I lived in English for about six years and during these years, only three news on Iran were

published in British media and dailies, so that the three of them were disappointed and bad news on Iran.

Q: The activities done by the West to show Is-lam as “religion of vio-lence” marred real image of Islam on one hand and caused Islam as an im-portant religion in world on the other hand. Is mar-ring Islam considered as important for the West which carried out such measures in this respect?

A: After the glorious victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, revival of Islam in the West was found with various aspects. The issue of lawful (halal) meat was considered as one of the as-pects in compatible with the liv-ing condition of western coun-tries. Western courses have come to know that lawful meat dubbed “Halal” is more benefi-cial for human health condition. Eating lawful “Halal” meat has not only been spread among

Muslims, but also it is eaten by all European and western peo-ple.

Q: Message of the Lead-er of Islamic Revolution handed over to youth in Europe and North Amer-ica. What is the role of system and government in clarification and dis-semination of message of the Leader? What is the role of people in this re-spect?

A: Two moves should be tak-en into consideration with re-gard to one message. Firstly message should be published or disseminated to addressee. For this purpose, our cultural advisors and envoys, embas-sies, trans- boundary organi-zations such as radio and TV,



etc. can play a leading role in conveyance or publication of the message. Clarification and opening message should be carried out at the next step. However, various aspects of this issue should be discussed.

At first step, it should be tried to disseminate or convey the message rapidly. At the next step, it should be tried to pre-vent ambiguity of the message in a way that the message should be conveyed accurately and precisely and doing such activities will guarantee effec-tiveness of the message more.

Q: In your opinion, what was the most important pivot of message of Lead-er in this letter?

A: Leader’s message is very brief, transparent, accurate and precise. The message followed with various satisfactory as-pects. In my opinion, the most interesting point in the mes-sage is as follows: “Why west-ern intellectuals and thinkers always adopt posterity in histor-ical point of view?”

Q: To what extent we have been successful in export of revolution to other countries?

A: The most important events happened after the glorious vic-tory of the Islamic Revolution in 1978. In other words, Islamic Revolution in Iran is the brain-child of many important events in world ranging from the event happened in Latin America to the developments in the Middle East region. Every influential

activity done in world is inspired by the Islamic Revolution to a great extent.

In other words, most import-ant events have been affected by the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the revolution which chal-lenged the existing civilization. Various individuals with queer and strange policies came to being in order to control Islam-ic revolution and for materializ-ing their objectives, they left no stone unturned.

How much is the palpable costs that Islamic Revolution has imposed to U.S. during Iran and Iraq war?

Let’s consider only two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. How much cost did the two wars im-pose to U.S. economy?

Q: Since Takfiri move-ment has been dissemi-nated and spread across the world, do you think that it is an obstacle for export of real and pure Islamic Revolution to world?

A: Forming Takfiri movements is one of the blessings of West which started as of Taliban came to power. The Liberal West had not any power to cre-ate social and popular move-ments in world until before the Islamic revolution. Concurrent with the Islamic Revolution, western countries managed to form quintets in Latin America and consequently, they created Taliban in Islamic world.

Western countries took ad-

vantage of irrelevant govern-ments in their favor and en-livened historical animosities among people. One of Takfiri Friday Prayers Leader in a mosque in England told me that he was interested in behavior of the late Imam Khomeini and Islamic revolution.

Given the above issue, Islam-ic Revolution in Iran managed to export pure Revolution and teachings to the Islamic world in particular.



Iranian FM, while addressing Ban Ki-moon in a letter and expressing worry of islamo-phobic symbols in the West, delivered Ayatollah Khame-nei’s ‘Letter to Western Youth’ to the UN chief.

In a letter dated late January, Iranian Foreign Minister Mo-hammad Javad Zarif wrote to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to warn against in-creasing Islamophobia in the western world. Zarif has also criticized western dou-ble standards towards values such as freedom of expression and has urged international consensus in reaching practi-cal solutions to bring violence and extremism to an end. The letter was sent along with Aya-tollah Khamenei’s message to the youth in North American and Europe which was re-leased in mid-January with the hashtag #Letter4U mostly on Twitter and other social media.

Here is the full text of the letter:

29 January 2015

In the name of God, the Com-passionate, the Merciful

Excellency,

I wish to draw your kind atten-tion to the quite unsettling and pervasive manifestations of Islamophobia, which have fur-ther escalated in the aftermath of the recent terrorist acts in Paris. The unjustifiable killings by members of an infamous vi-olent extremist group – whos-


Zarif Delivers Ayatullah Khamenei’s Letter for Youth to UNSG



But how can achieve a right picture and understanding of Islam, the Supreme Leader, in this step in

which a question has been raised in the mind of the reader on how

eraison d’etre and emergence recently as a player in our region is known to all – have been condemned by the Mus-lims across the globe, in clear and unequivocal terms, includ-ing governments, religious in-stitutions and authorities, civil society and prominent individ-uals. The fact that such sense-less resorts to violence has no place in Islam and its exalted teachings, nor acceptable to Muslims, is not in doubt; not-withstanding the campaign by the perpetrators promoters of Islamophobia try depict it oth-erwise.

The issue for us, in the Islam-ic Republic, and in the larger Muslim world, is the preva-lence of double-standards when it comes to the question of the proclaimed defense of the universally respected prin-ciple of the ‘freedom of expres-sion’. You might find this of in-terest that in 2008, a cartoonist of the same magazine was in-structed by the magazine’s ed-itor to write a letter apology for what was perceived to be an-ti-Semitic; and was summarily fired once he refused. No such approach and resolve has ever been seen in the case of frequent frivolous caricatures defaming Muslim and dese-crating Islamic values, which appeared in that magazine and other similar publications in Europe; leading to exacer-bated tension with the Muslim community in France and the Islamic world. As we all have ruefully witnessed in recent

times in various societies in the Western world, whether by political quarters and person-alities, the media, or the virtual world, open assault on the re-ligious values of Muslims, be it the person of Prophet Moham-mad (PBUH), the Holy Qur’an or the Islamic teachings and values has regrettably become the order of the day.

This inherently dangerous phenomenon poses serious threat to international peace and security, and the acutely needed ambiance of humane, peaceful inter-state and in-ter-people relations and the requisite recourse, by all, to dialogue, understanding and tolerance between and among

the plurality of ethnic, religious and racial communities in our world today.

Beyond the immediate and necessary action to denounce and condemn acts of ver-bal or physical violence, the West and Europe in particu-lar now needs to undertake a sole searching exercise as to the underlying reasons why quite a sizeable number of individuals and groups es-pousing extremist ideologies and engaged in acts of brutal terror and heinous violence, in Europe and on a much big-ger scale in Iraq and Syria, happen to be second gener-ation Europeans. This rather bizarre and seemingly inexpli-cable phenomenon cannot be a mere coincidence, nor can it be easily dismissed or pushed under the rug; it is part and parcel of the current European political landscape. It betrays signs of a deeper socio-polit-ical malaise in the societies concerned, and especially in the policies in place as re-gards Muslim minorities and their values and sanctities.

Recent analyses, prompted in large measure by the high rate of terrorist recruitments in Eu-rope and North America, point in the direction of systemat-ic failure of these societies, which has led to marginaliza-tion, alienation and disenfran-chisement of these communi-ties and their members, most notably the second genera-tion, born, raised and educat-

As we all have ruefully witnessed in recent times in various societies in the Western world, whether by political quarters

and personalities, the media, or the virtual world, open assault on the religious val-ues of Muslims, be it the person of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), the Holy Qur’an or the Islamic teachings and values has regrettably become the order of the day.

ed in Western societies. It is bewildering, and equally fright-ening, that Da’esh terrorists, beheading innocent civilians and dangling with self-satisfy-ing depravity the heads of the murdered hostages just hap-pen to be speaking European languages with native accent. Pointing fingers of accusa-tion towards others, wheth-er Muslim countries, certain governments whose policies and politics might be found disagreeable, or much worse, Islam as a faith, even if politi-cally-correct domestically and of instantaneous or short-term benefit, is simply unconvinc-ing, and incapable of address-ing serious problems at the so-cietal, and now global, levels.

In writing this letter, Mr. Secre-tary-General, I do not intend to lament obvious manifestations of double-standards or find fault with highly-sanctioned policies by this or that Western

government or society. Rather, I share this concern with you with a more serious objective in mind. Considering the insti-tutional capabilities of the Unit-

ed Nations, and as a career multilateral diplomat who still believes in the substantial po-tentials of the Organization, I tend to remain hopeful that the UN and its capacity and mech-anisms can be brought to bear on an issue of immense inter-national impact and reverber-ations. Two Iranian proposals, adopted by the General As-sembly of the United Nations on Dialogue Among Civiliza-tions (A/Res/56/6) and World Against Violence and Extrem-ism (WAVE) (A/Res/68/127) can provide appropriate in-stitutional framework for this endeavor. More recently, in a message that I have the privilege to enclose, Ayatollah Khamenei has taken the lead in initiating dialogue with the youth in the West on this car-dinal issue.

I strongly believe we urgently need to draw on our collective wisdom, at the level of the en-tire international community, to explore practical ways and means in this regard.

Looking forward to be advised of your resolute initiative, and underlining my readiness for further exchange of views on this topical issue, allow me, Mr. Secretary-General, to as-sure you of my highest consid-eration.



Muslims, their leaders, scholars and politicians, have been asked, nay demanded, infinite times to speak out about extremism, terrorism, or whatever other –ism cur-rently incorrectly associated with Islam. Ayatollah Khame-nei has just responded to that call in an open letter, albeit not in a manner that fits in with the current and popular nar-rative about Islam. He did not, as was likely desired, apol-ogize for the religion, or for Muslims.

The mainstream media, as well as the Western establish-

ment, seemingly knows and un-derstands little about how Islam, Muslims and their scholars think and speak of the world around them. When Ayatollah Khamenei says that Western youth need to stop relying on their media to judge Islam, reading his own full speeches and press releases would be a good place to start, as an example. The amount of disinformation and twisting that goes into how the media presents any words spoken or written by Ayatollah Khamenei is such that one can genuinely imagine a group of people sitting somewhere brainstorming, ‘how

do we misuse this to attain our ends?’ That is neither an exag-geration or conspiratorial if you look at the evidence.

The direct and unprecedented approach of addressing West-ern youth has seen Ayatollah Khamenei one-up the West, catching it off guard.

Fear of the ‘other’ is a weapon which, as Ayatollah Khamenei rightly addresses, has been an effective tool used by the West throughout the years to ensure blind support for its political aims, both domestic and overseas. As stated in the letter, since the fall of the Soviet Union, and the end of the communist boogeyman, Islam and Muslims were brought to the fore to use as punching bags to guarantee unquestiona-ble support for pro-war policies, among others.

To some all this sounds less like a systematic defaming of Islam, but of the activities of a number of fringe Islamophobic, right-wing groups. The evidence shows otherwise. As proven by studies and research in the West itself, Islamophobia has become an industry in and of itself, making many who work within it unimaginably wealthy. These groups are very quickly being able to buy their influence on TV, in films, and in politics.

As time goes by, and as proof of the continuous acceptance of anti-Islam stances, the media, through movies or otherwise, feels more comfortable in por-traying Muslims as successively more negative. Its almost a com-petition at this point as to who can do a better job of making Muslims out to be the barbaric,

An Open Letter Like No Other

WAQAR RIZVI



Ayatollah Khamenei, as in every Muslim, simply wants others to judge Islam and Mus-lims without

prejudice and Is-lamophobia. No one is asking everyone to become Muslim, or to become cheer-leaders for Islam, but for Muslims and Islam to be given the same respect as all other faiths and their followers.


uncivilized, violent people that the current narrative describes them as. The recent movie ‘American Sniper,’ as well as the recent TV show ‘Homeland,’ are good examples of accept-able, propaganda-filled enter-tainment, meant to increase the hype about a ‘Muslim-threat.’

One paragraph in Ayatollah Khamenei’s letter deserves spe-cial attention:

‘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 ef-fective reality in today’s world to be introduced to you through re-sentments and prejudices. Don’t allow them to hypocritically intro-duce their own recruited terror-ists as representatives of Islam.’

Ayatollah Khamenei, as in every Muslim, simply wants oth-ers to judge Islam and Muslims without prejudice and Islamo-phobia. No one is asking every-one to become Muslim, or to become cheerleaders for Islam, but for Muslims and Islam to be given the same respect as all other faiths and their followers.

The gem-of-a-statement here is Ayatollah Khamenei’s plea for Western youth to not allow their governments and media to ‘introduce their own recruited terrorists as representatives of Islam.’

Just days ago, The Inde-pendent reported that evidence has emerged that 700 ‘moder-ate’-Syrian opposition members joined the [un]-Islamic State ter-rorists. As Iran, Syria, and others have been warning for years, the line between ‘moderate’ and ‘extremist’ in the Syrian conflict

has always been muddled. Yet, the Western world insists on arming, training, and financing the ‘moderate’-opposition which lives on the brink or in line with the extremist ideologies the West now claims it is fighting against through its anti-ISIL coa-lition. If that sounds confusing, it is meant to be.

The [un-]Islamic State did not appear in a vacuum, and evi-dence shows US-allies in the Middle East enthusiastically funded, trained, and armed the terrorists, with American weap-

ons, under the guise of fighting President Assad of Syria, while poisoning their minds with a warped version of Islam prop-agated by Persian Gulf Arab monarchies to further their po-litical interests. Many, including Western Muslims, were recruit-ed through an organized and crisp social media campaign to join the fight. That these very countries, this very West, now claims moral authority in fighting its own Frankenstein is hypocri-sy of the highest order.

For the media and politicians to turn around, while knowing full well those who are respon-sible for the rise of these terror-ists, and ask Muslims to apolo-gize for, and condemn terrorism, while calling for ‘reform’ within Is-lam would be comical if the con-sequences weren’t so real. For many Westerners, the drones that fly over the skies over many Muslim countries’ skies are an after-thought, but for those on the receiving end, the Islamo-phobia that begins in the minds of racist Islamophobes eventu-



ally translates into the death of their innocents, seen as worthy collateral-damage.

As blowback from support for terrorists and warped ideologies is felt across the Western world, instead of reflecting on its own role in this, the West has con-veniently put Islam into the void where its own good name must stand. Muslims and Islam are seemingly in a lose-lose situa-tion, where the vicious cycle of founding terrorist groups, acts of terrorism, and inescapable blowback all come back to bite them.

It is time for some honest re-flection on the use of Islam as a convenient scapegoat, and to ask the Western world to put its money where its mouth is, when it comes to its claims of free-dom, equality, and respect for all. There is still time, and much hope that the next generation, as addressed by Ayatollah Khame-nei, will rise above the previous one’s blunders, towards a world truly in line with stated Western, and in fact global, ideals.


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