Leader urges West youth to build basis for 'correct' interaction with Muslims

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has urged the young people in the West to help pave the ground for enhanced interaction with the Muslim world.

This is the second time the Leader addresses the Western youth in an open letter. In January, Ayatollah Khamenei had sent another missive to the youth in Europe and North America, urging them to study about Islam and to obtain firsthand information about it before accepting their governments’ propaganda.

“I want you youth to lay the foundations for a correct and honorable interaction with the Islamic world based on correct understanding, deep insight and lessons learned from horrible experiences,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in the new letter to the Western youth released on Sunday.

The Leader’s letter came against the backdrop of extensive acts of terrorism across the globe.

“Anyone who has benefited from affection and humanity is affected and disturbed by witnessing these scenes- whether it occurs in France or in Palestine or Iraq or Lebanon or Syria,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in the letter.

Ayatollah Khamenei noted that Muslims across the globe are feeling “abhorred and revolted by the perpetrators and those responsible for these calamities.”

“The pain of any human being anywhere in the world causes sorrow for a fellow human being. The sight of a child losing his life in the presence of his loved ones, a mother whose joy for her family turns into mourning, a husband who is rushing the lifeless body of his spouse to some place and the spectator who does not know whether he will be seeing the final scene of life - these are scenes that rouse the emotions and feelings of any human being,” said the letter.

‘Blind terrorism’ in France

The Leader touched on the recent act of “blind terrorism” in the French capital, which left some as many as 130 people dead, warning, “The truth is that if painful matters do not create the grounds for finding solutions and mutual consultation, then the damage caused will be multiplied.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said, however, that the “insecurity and strain” experienced by the Western youth following the Paris attacks “differs from the pain that the people of Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan have been experiencing for many years, in two significant ways.”

“First, the Islamic world has been the victim of terror and brutality to a larger extent territorially, to greater amount quantitatively and for a longer period in terms of time. Second, that unfortunately this violence has been supported by certain great powers through various methods and effective means,” explained the Leader.

Ayatollah Khamenei highlighted the US’s role in “creating, nurturing and arming al-Qaeda, the Taliban and their inauspicious successors,” saying, “Besides this direct support, the overt and well-known supporters of Takfiri terrorism - despite having the most backward political systems - are standing arrayed as allies of the West while the most pioneering, brightest and most dynamic democrats in the region are suppressed mercilessly.”

The Leader described the Western governments’ response to the wave of Islamic Awakening as “prejudiced,” saying that it indicates another “example of “contradictory Western policies.”

Israel's 'state terrorism'

Ayatollah Khamenei said Washington’s support for the Israeli regime’s “state terrorism” is another case in point.

“The oppressed people of Palestine have experienced the worst kind of terrorism for the last sixty years,” added the Leader.

“If the people of Europe have now taken refuge in their homes for a few days and refrain from being present in busy places- it is decades that a Palestinian family is not secure even in its own home from the Zionist regime’s death and destruction machinery,” noted Ayatollah Khamenei.

The Leader said the Israeli regime’s “atrocious violence” against Palestinians is unmatched.

“This regime - without ever being seriously and significantly censured by its influential allies or even by the so -called independent international organizations- everyday demolishes the homes of Palestinians and destroys their orchards and farms,” said Ayatollah Khamenei’s letter.

The Leader also highlighted the Israeli forces’ shooting death of Palestinians in the street only for the “crime of protesting against a soldier who is armed to the teeth,” asking, “If this is not terrorism, what is?”

“This barbarism, because it is being done by the armed forces of an occupying government, should not be called extremism? Or maybe only because these scenes have been seen repeatedly on television screens for sixty years, they should no longer stir our consciences,” said Ayatollah Khamenei.

Military invasions

Ayatollah Khamenei also referred to military campaigns against Muslim countries in recent years with “countless victims” as another example of the “contradictory logic of the West.”

The Leader said the countries that have been attacked have seen numerous deaths and loss of “economic and industrial infrastructure.”

“How can a country be turned into ruins, have its cities and towns covered in dust and then telling it that it should please not view itself as oppressed? Instead of enticements to not understand and to not mention disasters, would not an honest apology be better?” asked Ayatollah Khamenei.

The Leader said the Muslim world has suffered “pain” due to the “hypocrisy and duplicity” of the aggressors.

Ayatollah Khamenei expressed hope that the Western youth would be able to “change this [Western] mentality corrupted by duplicity, a mentality whose highest skill is hiding long-term goals and adorning malevolent objectives.”

The Leader said the first step in restoring security and peace would be to reform the “violence-breeding mentality” of the Western leaders. 

Double-standards to blame for violence

Ayatollah Khamenei said as long as “double-standards” continue to dominate the Western policies by categorizing “bad and good terrorism,” the roots of violence should not be sought anywhere else in the world.

“Unfortunately, these roots have taken hold in the depths of western political culture over the course of many years and they have caused a soft and silent invasion,” said the Leader. “I consider the imposition of Western culture upon other peoples and the trivialization of independent cultures as a form of silent violence and extreme harmfulness.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said that “aggression” and “moral promiscuity” have turned into the main elements of the Western culture.

Daesh, the fusion of colonialism and extremism

The Leader touched on the history of Takfirism, saying terrorist groups like Daesh were created by the “colonialist confluence of extremist and rejected thoughts in the heart of a Bedouin tribe.”

“How then is it possible that such garbage as Daesh comes out of one of the most ethical and humane religious schools who as part of its inner core, includes the notion that taking the life of one human being is equivalent to killing the whole humanity?” Ayatollah Khamenei asked.

The Leader warned against European youth’s inclination for joining Daesh, saying profound analyses are required to find the roots of this scourge.  

“Can we really believe that people with only one or two trips to war zones, suddenly become so extreme that they can riddle the bodies of their compatriots with bullets?” said Ayatollah Khamenei, adding, “On this matter, we need complete analyses, analyses that see the hidden and apparent corruptions.”

Ayatollah Khamenei held out the possibility of “inequality and possibly legal and structural prejudice” having been behind the emergence of such “sickening manner.”

The Leader said the Western youths are the only ones expected to “uncover the apparent layers of your own society and untie and disentangle the knots and resentments.”

No hasty reaction

Ayatollah Khamenei warned that any “hasty and emotional reaction” so as to “isolate, intimidate and create more anxiety for the Muslim communities living in Europe and America” will not resolve the problem and will even widen “chasms” and stir up “resentments.”

“According to reports received, some countries in Europe have issued guidelines encouraging citizens to spy on Muslims. This behavior is unjust and we all know that pursuing injustice has the characteristic of unwanted reversibility,” added the Leader.

Ayatollah Khamenei said Muslims do not deserve to be ill-treated in the Western countries, reminding how well Muslims have already treated the Western people.

The Leader promised the Western youth to experience the “warmth of security and peace” should they opt for interaction with the Muslim community.

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