Ayatollah Khamenei says unipolar world order losing legitimacy, calls for Muslim unity

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the unipolar world order in which one or two states impose their will on other countries is no longer accepted. 

“The political map of the world is changing,” Ayatollah Khamenei told Iranian officials and guests of the 36th International Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran on Friday.

The issue of being in a unipolar world where “one or two countries forcing other states and nations has lost its legitimacy,” he said, adding, “Nations have been awakened. The unipolar world order is no longer accepted and is gradually losing its legitimacy.”

In a unipolar system, he maintained, arrogant powers such as the US, would design their own schemes and dictate them to other countries such as Iraq, Syria, Iran, or Lebanon.

The people of the world are awakening to the truth of those powers and are opposed to one or two states bullying others into obedience, he said.

‘Islamic unity amounts to safeguarding interests of Muslim Ummah’

Ayatollah Khamenei also said Islamic unity means being united in safeguarding the interests of the Islamic Ummah across the world.

“Unity means being united in protecting the interests of the Islamic Ummah (community),” he said.

It also does not mean geographical unity, he maintained, as some Arab countries tried to get united in the 1960s and 1970s. “This is impossible.”

“We should first detect the interests of the Muslim Ummah. Then, nations should come to an agreement on that and see what the Ummah needs at the time; [they should see] to whom they should be foes, [and] with whom friends, and how they should engage in friendship.”

Unity means implementing “joint actions against the plots of the Arrogance,” he added.

The 36th International Islamic Unity Conference officially opened on Wednesday at Tehran’s Summit Hall with the participation of delegates from over 40 countries

The annual conference is organized by the Iran-based World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought. The annual event marks Islamic Unity Week which coincides with the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

“Islamic unity, peace and avoiding division and conflict within the Islamic world” has been named as the main theme of the conference. Just war and peace, Islamic brotherhood, countering terrorism, accepting religious consensus, empathy, and sympathy, mutual action among various Islamic schools of thought, and condemning normalization of relations with the Zionist regime are among the other topics of the event.

The conference will wrap up this afternoon after issuing a statement.

Muslim scholars attend Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran

Muslim scholars and intellectuals from around the world have attended this year

Muslim Ummah’s position in new world order

The Muslim Ummah can attain a “high position” in the new world which is gradually being shaped, he said, adding that the Muslim world can become a “role model” and a “pioneer.”

However, he continued, the only condition for realizing this is to have unity and overcome the temptations of enemies, especially the US and Israel.

“Unity among Islamic nations is possible but it needs efforts,” he said, adding, most hope on this issue is pinned on elites and thinkers of the Muslim world as they can guide the public opinion toward the issue. “If the public opinion is formed in a country, the administrative policies of that country will forcibly move in that direction.”

‘Iran stood against two world powers’

Ayatollah Khamenei went on to note that the Islamic Republic stood against two major powers of the time, namely the US and the Soviet Union.

“The powers had differences in tens of issues but they were united in one thing: opposing the Islamic Republic,” he said, adding, “They imagined that they could uproot this seedling [but] this seedling has now turned into a mighty tree.”

“They are damn wrong in thinking that they can uproot it,” he said.

British Shia, American Sunni

Further expanding on unity, Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized that differences in religious schools of thought, i.e. Sunni or Shia, should not lead to strife or discord among people, noting that American and British politicians, who are anti-Islam and are neither good towards Shias nor towards Sunnis “have brought the ‘Shia-Sunni’ debates into their circles, and this matter is really dangerous.”

“I spoke once about the British Shia and the American Sunni…Some through lies interpreted my words claiming that what is meant by the English Shia is the Shias residing in Britain,” the Leader said, explaining that “A British Shia can be living inside the Islamic World.”

“What I mean (by this) is being inspired by Britain; a Shia troublemaker or a Sunni troublemaker, such as Daesh (ISIS), Wahhabis and the like who cause trouble. Or such as Takfiris; they are called Muslims and they might be practicing Muslims too in terms of Individual Islamic rules, however, in practice they serve the enemy. It does not matter where those who cause discord in such a manner that benefits the enemies stand, or what rank they have or in which country they are present. This is something we profoundly believe in,” the Leader elaborated.

Ayatollah Khamenei further highlighted that “We show serious attitude towards those who claim to be supporters of Shia thought and try to provoke our Sunni brothers and deal with them. This (accountability) should prevail. There should be a consensus on this matter. Of course, there are extremist individuals on both sides. There are individuals among the Shias who are extremists because of their beliefs or other reason, just like there are also extremist individuals among the Sunnis; extremism exists (on both sides).”

‘Normalization is a betrayal of Muslims’

Elsewhere in his address, Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to the Palestinian issue and normalization of ties between some Arab countries and the Israeli regime.

Enemies planted the “rotten seed of a cancerous cell in the region, namely the Zionist regime” to act as a base for Islam’s enemies.

Following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the leader said, “they needed to have a base in the region so as to be able to constantly engage in occupation and not allow the realization of lofty goals.”

“This base was the oppressed Palestine in which they deployed cruel, corrupt, murderous, and brutal Zionists; they established a fake government and created a fake nation for this purpose,” added the Leader.

He also pointed to the ongoing efforts to press ahead with the infamous normalization deals, saying, “Now they are working to remove the title of the enemy from this detrimental body and grown cancerous cell so that it can sow more division among regional countries … these normalizations are among the biggest betrayals that are being made against Islam and Muslims.”

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed United States-brokered agreements with Israel to normalize their ties with the regime back in September 2020. Two other Arab states, namely Sudan and Morocco, followed suit soon afterward.

The normalization deals have sparked widespread condemnations from the Palestinians as well as nations and human rights advocates across the globe, especially within the Muslim world.

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