Iran's Supreme Leader pens open letter to the young people of the West

By Nick Thompson, CNN

Updated 1453 GMT (2253 HKT) January 22, 2015

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has asked young people in the West to ignore media portrayals of Islam.


(CNN)—Iran's Supreme Leader has written a letter in English asking Western youths not to judge Islam based on the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks, in a message published on the cleric's website and Twitter account.

In the post, titled "To the Youth in Europe and North America," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls on young people to seek out their own understanding of Islam, and he criticizes the media's portrayal of Muslims following the massacre of 16 people at the French satirical magazine and at a kosher supermarket in Paris this month.

"The recent events in France and similar ones in some other Western countries have convinced me to directly talk to you about them," Khamenei's letter reads. "I am addressing 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."

The Paris attacks, which have provoked a wave of anti-Islam protests in the West, were retribution for Charlie Hebdo's lampooning of Islam over the years. The magazine's first issue after the attack, which features a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed on its cover, has sparked demonstrations across the Muslim world.

But the leader of Iran, where chants of "Death to America" have been a familiar refrain at Friday prayers and parliamentary sessions since the Islamic republic's founding in 1979, strikes a more conciliatory tone in his message to young people in the West.

"I don't insist that you accept my reading or any other reading of Islam," his letter reads. "What I want to say is: Don't allow this dynamic and effective reality in today's world to be introduced to you through resentments and prejudices. Don't allow them to hypocritically introduce their own recruited terrorists as representatives of Islam."


(CNN)—Iran's Supreme Leader has written a letter in English asking Western youths not to judge Islam based on the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks, in a message published on the cleric's website and Twitter account.

In the post, titled "To the Youth in Europe and North America," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls on young people to seek out their own understanding of Islam, and he criticizes the media's portrayal of Muslims following the massacre of 16 people at the French satirical magazine and at a kosher supermarket in Paris this month.

"The recent events in France and similar ones in some other Western countries have convinced me to directly talk to you about them," Khamenei's letter reads. "I am addressing 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."

The Paris attacks, which have provoked a wave of anti-Islam protests in the West, were retribution for Charlie Hebdo's lampooning of Islam over the years. The magazine's first issue after the attack, which features a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed on its cover, has sparked demonstrations across the Muslim world.

But the leader of Iran, where chants of "Death to America" have been a familiar refrain at Friday prayers and parliamentary sessions since the Islamic republic's founding in 1979, strikes a more conciliatory tone in his message to young people in the West.

"I don't insist that you accept my reading or any other reading of Islam," his letter reads. "What I want to say is: Don't allow this dynamic and effective reality in today's world to be introduced to you through resentments and prejudices. Don't allow them to hypocritically introduce their own recruited terrorists as representatives of Islam."

Khamenei also riffs on Western history, explaining that the United States and Europe have a long tradition of oppressing people of "color and non-Christians."

He describes his admiration for chastened Western historians who are, in his words, "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."

Khamenei calls on readers to ignore media portrayals of Islam: "Receive knowledge of Islam from its primary and original sources. Gain information about Islam through the Qur'an and the life of its great Prophet," he writes.

"Why does the power structure in the world want Islamic thought to be marginalized and remain latent?" Khamenei asks readers to ask themselves, then: "I would like you not to allow the derogatory and offensive image-buildings to create an emotional gulf between you and the reality."

The Supreme Leader finishes with a hopeful message that "future generations would write the history of this current interaction between Islam and the West with a clearer conscience and lesser resentment."

Khamenei's letter comes at a time of thawing relations between Iran and the U.S., as the two longtime adversaries try to hammer out a deal on the future of Iran's nuclear program.

Barack Obama even sent a letter to Khamenei in October, pointing out that they share a common enemy in ISIS, the Sunni Islamist terror group that has seized huge chunks of Syria and Iraq.

But diplomatic progress has not stopped the Ayatollah from bashing the West on social media in recent months. He called the U.S. the "enemy" on Twitter two weeks ago in a tweet about nuclear talks, and in August he blasted the treatment of African-Americans in a tweet about the protests after the police killing of an unarmed black teen in Ferguson, Missouri.

And in November, Khamenei tweeted a nine-point explanation of why Israel should be "annihilated" -- a comment that infuriated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who urged Western powers to pull out of nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Khamenei's letter in full can be read here.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/22/middleeast/iran-ayatollah-letter/

To the Youth in Europe and North America

21/01/2015

Message of ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Leader of The Islamic Republic of Iran

In the name of God, the Beneficent the Merciful

To the Youth in Europe and North America,

The recent events in France and similar ones in some other Western countries have convinced me to directly talk to you about them. I am addressing 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 politicians and statesmen either in this writing because I believe that they have consciously separated the route of politics from the path of righteousness 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 religion in the seat of a horrifying enemy. The provocation of a feeling of horror and hatred and its utilization has unfortunately a long record in the political history of the West.

Here, I don’t want to deal with the different phobias with which the Western nations have thus far been indoctrinated. A cursory review of recent critical studies of history would bring home to you the fact that the Western governments’ insincere and hypocritical treatment of other nations and cultures has been censured in new historiographies.

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.

My second request is that in reaction to the flood of prejudgments and disinformation campaigns, try to gain a direct 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 accept my reading or any other reading of Islam. What I want to say is: Don’t allow this dynamic and effective reality in today’s world to be introduced to you through resentments and prejudices. Don’t allow them to hypocritically introduce their own recruited terrorists as representatives of Islam.

Receive knowledge of Islam from its primary and original sources. Gain information 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 Muslims. Have you studied the teachings of the Prophet of Islam and his humane, ethical doctrines? Have you ever received the message of Islam from any sources other than the media?

Have you ever asked yourself how and on the basis of which values has Islam established the greatest scientific and intellectual civilization of the world and raised the most distinguished scientists and intellectuals throughout several 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 borders.

Although no one can individually 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 preplanned 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 questions will provide you with an appropriate opportunity to discover new truths.

Therefore, don’t miss the opportunity to gain proper, correct and unbiased understanding 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
21st Jan. 2015

Published At 18:57 Z

http://english.khamenei.ir/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2001

22 January 2015 Last updated at 13:42 GMT

BBC

Ayatollah Khamenei writes letter to Western youth

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged young people in Europe and the US to read the Koran for themselves

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has written an open letter to young people in the West urging them to examine Islam first hand rather than believe prejudiced views.

The letter encourages them to read the Koran for themselves and appeals for "impartial judgment".

Ayatollah Khamenei said that there had been a flood of misinformation about Islam in the West.

He added that he was prompted to write the letter by recent events in France.

A series of attacks in Paris by Islamist militants killed 17 people earlier this month.

In a statement published on his website, Ayatollah Khamenei said he was writing to young people in Europe and North America because they were the future of their nations.

Policy of fear

He asked them to gain a "proper, correct and unbiased understanding of Islam" and to form their own opinions of the religion.

He also called for people to question why the "old policy" of spreading fear and hatred has targeted Islam with such intensity.

"Many attempts have been made over the past two decades, almost since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, to place this great religion in the seat of a horrifying enemy," he said.

"Don't allow them to hypocritically introduce their own recruited terrorists as representatives of Islam."

Ayatollah Khamenei also tweeted excerpts from the letter on Wednesday using the hashtag #Letter4U.

He urged young people to find out about Islam from primary sources. "At least, know what they are frightening you about!" he said in a tweet.

Europe remains on high alert after the deadly attacks in Paris on 7 January 2015.

Iran denounced the shooting at the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo but has also condemned as "provocative" its publication last week of a new cartoon of the Prophet Muhammed.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30931363

Ma sha Allah! This is a powerful message from Qa'id, addressing the 'innocent' but leaders of tomorrow, the youths. May Allah preserve Qa'id.

I just hope other muslim leaders too will make it right rather than some doing takfir of anything or talking for talking sake.

LagosShia, you sound like a business man. Isnt? You very scarce brother. This is better than apologetic nonsense I have been reading/watching.

Good speech. For once I concur with AlBaqir's sentiment.
Muslim leaders need to do less apologising for being muslim, and express some more blunt truthfulness. Some unbelievers need to be jolted out if their rank ignorance about the world's hypocrisy.

Abuamam:
Good speech. For once I concur with AlBaqir's sentiment.
Muslim leaders need to do less apologising for being muslim, and express some more blunt truthfulness. Some unbelievers need to be jolted out if their rank ignorance about the world's hypocrisy.

you can choose to use a better word @cancel. Aint no sentiment here. Meanwhile you are invited here atleast for an academic research:
www.nairaland.com/2086696/al-mahdi-savior-last-hour#30040156

AlBaqir:


you can choose to use a better word @cancel. Aint no sentiment here.

My bad. By sentiment, I meant the sense behind your comment. Sorry, I am not an English major. Do I have to consult Wole Soyinka anytime I want to make a remark? Lol.
Dont vex.