Imam Khamenei’s critique of Western capitalism’s deception regarding women: Exploitation under the guise of humanitarian theories

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution described the hidden goal of the slogan of freedom of American slaves about two centuries ago as drawing slaves from farms in the south to factories in the north of the country, and said: Today, too, behind feminist slogans and freedom and women's rights, there are inhumane and political goals, some of which are clear and some of which will be revealed later.

Ayatollah Khamenei described Hazrat Fatemeh Zahra (PBUH), the daughter of the Prophet of Islam, as one of the wonders of creation, and by expressing the important principles of Islam's charter regarding women, emphasized: In Islam, men and women are complementary to each other, and in striving for a good life and intellectual and spiritual abilities in scientific, cultural, artistic, social-political, economic, and international fields, they are not different from each other.

At the beginning of his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei congratulated the birthday of Hazrat Seddiqeh Tahereh (PBUH) and described the meeting with women and girls as very good and enthusiastic.

The position of Hazrat Fatemeh (PBUH)

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution, referring to some aspects of the existence of Hazrat Fatemeh Zahra (PBUH) as a wonderful phenomenon of the universe, said: It is very great and strange that a young lady, in terms of spirituality and divine and celestial identity, reaches a point where, according to Shia and Sunni narrations, her anger is God's anger and her satisfaction is the satisfaction of God.

He described "sorrow with the Prophet in hardships", "accompanying Amir al-Mu'minin in jihad", "dazzling the eyes of angels in worship", "expressing eloquent and fiery sermons", "raising Imam Hassan and Imam Hussein (PBUT) and Hazrat Zeinab (PBUH)" as unique features of Hazrat Fatemeh (PBUH), and added: That lady, in childhood, youth, marriage, and lifestyle, is the best, most beautiful, and most eloquent model of a Muslim woman.

Capitalists and the issue of women

Ayatollah Khamenei, referring to different views on the issue of women in the world, stated: Capitalism and politicians who are subject to it, with the control of influential media in the world, with dishonesty and lies, and under the guise of a philosophical and humanitarian theory, hide their criminal and corrupt motives for interfering and directing the affairs of the global community of women and gaining illegitimate benefits.

He considered dishonesty and hypocrisy to be the usual method of Western colonialists and capitalists, and the attraction of women to factories to meet the needs of industries with low-wage workers under the guise of women's freedom and independence, as an example of this hypocrisy.

Ayatollah Khamenei described the hidden goal of the slogan of freedom of American slaves about two centuries ago as drawing slaves from farms in the south to factories in the north of the country, and said: Today, too, behind feminist slogans and freedom and women's rights, there are inhumane and political goals, some of which are clear and some of which will be revealed later.

Islam and women

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution considered the issue of couplehood to be the first important principle in the charter of women in Islam, and added: Based on several verses of the Quran, men and women are of the same gender, couple, and complementary to each other.

Ayatollah Khamenei considered the necessity of couplehood and complementarity of men and women to be the formation of a third unit called the family, and said: Accordingly, forming a family is a divine tradition of creation, and fortunately, in Iranian culture, family devotion is one of the key indicators of the nation’s cultural strength and depth.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution considered another principle of the Islamic charter regarding women to be "the absence of any difference between men and women in spiritual movement and human transcendence and achieving a good life", and stated: From the perspective of Islam, men and women, despite physical differences, both have intellectual and practical abilities and infinite innovations that enable women, like men, to play a role in various scientific, political, social, economic, international, cultural, and artistic fields.

He considered the spiritual value of motherhood and pride in it to be another pillar of Islam's view of the issue of women, and added: Today, some people, under the influence of the policies of capitalists and exploiters and enemies of independent societies, especially our society, present a bad image of "motherhood". 

While motherhood and raising a human being is a highly valuable honor, it is for this reason that in Islam, various expressions emphasize the importance of mothers, including the saying that “paradise lies beneath the feet of mothers,” and there are numerous recommendations to show love, service, and obedience to mothers.

Women after the Islamic Revolution

Ayatollah Khamenei, after mentioning some of the important principles of Islam's charter regarding women, considered the remarkable growth of believing, knowledgeable, and active women in various fields after the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran to be based on this sublime view.

He described the growth of women scholars, university professors, writers, poets, and artists while maintaining religiosity as incomparable to before the Islamic Revolution of Iran, and stated: Of course, the enemy is not idle and is busy designing, because they quickly realized that defeating the revolution with hardware methods such as war, bombing, ethnicism, and seditionary forces is not possible, so they turned to soft methods, namely propaganda, temptations, and slogans far from honesty.

The issue of resistance

In the concluding part of his remarks, the Leader of the Revolution, referring to regional issues, stated: With what happened in Syria, along with the crimes committed by the Zionist regime and the United States, and the support they received from others, the enemies thought that the issue of resistance was over. However, they are gravely mistaken.

Emphasizing that the spirit of Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sinwar is alive, the Leader added: Their bodies may have departed, but martyrdom has not removed them from the realm of existence. Their spirit and ideas remain, and their path continues.

Ayatollah Khamenei, referring to the resistance of Gaza against the daily attacks of the Zionists and the continuation of the resistance of Lebanon, stated: The Zionist regime thinks that it is preparing itself through Syria to besiege and uproot Hezbollah, but what will be uprooted is Israel.

Before the speech of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, 6 activists in the field of women and girls spoke about topics such as "the model of a Muslim revolutionary woman", "cyberspace, women, family, and children", "solving the population problem through strengthening the family institution", "empowering women artists and strengthening women's performance works", "facilitating marriage and the issue of mediation" and also "reforming school curricula for girls with a look at strengthening cultural identity".

Also, Mrs. "Aedah Sorour", the mother of two Lebanese martyrs, spoke on behalf of the women of the resistance axis in this meeting. She expressed her views on the continuation and victory of the resistance.

Key phrases: Women in Islam, Who is Hazrat Zahra, Women's status, Women in the West, Ayatollah Khamenei's views

MG/UR