Leader highlights Iran’s scientific achievements, rules WMD haraam (2)

Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, on Wednesday October 9, granted audience in Tehran to outstanding students and members of knowledge-based companies, and quoted the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini’s famous saying that the Islamic Revolution gave us the courage to enter the most difficult scientific areas with complete confidence.

He also said that despite mastering the despite mastering the nuclear fuel cycle for peaceful use of this technology, Iran will never build the bomb, since Islam forbids manufacture of weapons of mass destruction.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said: “When Iranian scientists mingle with the Iranian-Islamic culture, they will turn into a vital part of the life of the nation. In fact, they revive and empower the whole nation. We do not want our universities to copy and reproduce such and such an American university. What we want is science and we are ready to learn as pupils. We do not find it disgraceful to be pupils, but we do not want our universities to be a replication and reproduction of such and such an American university in Tehran or in such and such a city in the country. We do not wish the same culture to be imitated here. The scientific movement of the country should be an Iranian-Islamic scientific environment.

“Fortunately, when we look at prominent and advanced scientific organizations – the ones that everyone talks about: stem cells, nanotechnology, biotechnological and nuclear organizations – we see that they are mostly organizations with great religious motives. This is because religion views the scientific movement as jihad. These organizations are carrying out a jihadi task. This spirit should dominate the scientific environment of the universities of the country. Our conditions are different from those of a country which has prominent universities too. We should live like Iranians with our own culture. We should think in an Iranian way and we should definitely observe the Islamic-Iranian paradigm of progress in the area of scientific issues. In my opinion, this is very important.

“The next point is that one of the important tasks that the elite society can carry out is to play a part in public diplomacy. This includes gathering outstanding personalities working on the culture of Iran. Iran has a great culture. Our country enjoyed a vast cultural territory in previous centuries which has changed to some extent in the present time. We should be able to gather cultural personalities which includes personalities from some of our neighboring countries.

“We should gather personalities from West Asia. There are many outstanding personalities in those countries. We should gather the personalities of the world of Islam and the personalities of the Axis of Resistance. Today, there is a phenomenon in our region and in North Africa, namely the Axis of Resistance. There are certain outstanding personalities among them. We should gather them together and we should interact with them.

“We should even gather together outstanding personalities who seek the truth from throughout the world: from every country, from Europe and even from the US itself. There are certain personalities in other countries which seek the truth. They seek good and correct ideas and they agree with your claims. This will be good if you can interact and communicate with them. You can interact with them. Then, under such circumstances and with that interaction and the institutionalizations that are established with such interaction, you can convey pure and noble science and correct thinking.”

Ayatollah Khamenei pointed out: “Thanks to Islam, we have proposed a third path to the world which is not a socialist solution in economics and its affiliated areas and not the liberal democracy of the West with its negative consequences. We have a solution which is the path that our country is treading in the present time. Forty years is not a long time for the movement of a system and for achieving a civilization. Western countries – which have a so-called established civilization today – used to tackle problems for four, five centuries. Therefore, 40 years is not a long time.

“We ought to introduce this third path correctly. We can move and act correctly. We can attract hearts to this direction and to this path with our actions and with our reasonable statements. And this is not necessarily an attraction to ourselves or to our country. Rather, this is an invitation to this great movement which can be beneficial to all humanity and with which we can liberate countries from the influence of western culture that is becoming increasingly decadent.

“Since its beginning, the Western culture chose a wrong direction, though it was not such decadent in the beginning. Many of the perversions and deviations which exist today in Western culture were not present before. They incorporated them gradually and they did the unmentionables. One really feels ashamed to even speak about these deviations. Today, they are enjoining to do evil and forbidding good. This is common today in Western countries.

“And this is not only our claim who are opposed to them. Many of their own scientists and well-intentioned and trustworthy personalities have acknowledged this in their writings. However, a power-seeking capitalist orientation – which is a mixture of Zionism, colonialism and arrogance – is furthering this movement in the US and naturally in Europe and the countries which follow them. If we can move correctly, we will be able to liberate many societies from these people and from the infiltration, influence and authority of that culture.

“Today, the country is thankfully launching an important movement. Before the victory of the Revolution, we used to be a stagnant and motionless country which would follow others. Other backward countries kept overtaking us. And it was corrupt regimes dependent on the US, which were in control of the country.”

As noted by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution: “The talent that you see today in the country has not emerged overnight. Such Iranian talent is a natural phenomenon. Why did we not produce so much science before the Revolution? Why did we not witness such extensive scientific movement before the Revolution? They have given me certain statistics in this regard. Those statistics are astonishing. In them, they have shown the percentage of scientific production in the universities of the country – such as the University of Tehran, Sharif University, the University of Shiraz – before and after the Revolution. It is astonishing!

“It was the Revolution, the great revolutionary movement of the country and the authority of revolutionary and Islamic thinking that helped the country move forward until it has reached this point.

“We are still in the beginning of the path and by Allah’s favor we will reach the peak and we will make great leaps, Insha Allah (God willing). Our youth should move with such hope and confidence because it makes a great difference. Scientific work is not easy, though it is exciting for those who seek knowledge.

Of course, one of the ingredients of hope is reliance on Allah the Exalted, as ayah 128 of Surah al-Aaraaf, says: “Turn to Allah for help and be patient. The earth indeed belongs to Allah, and He gives its inheritance to whomever He wishes of His servants, and the outcome will be in favor of the Godwary.”

“This means, when you are pious and virtuous and when you observe divine rules, God will be with you. When God is with you, victory, success, bliss and spiritual exaltation will be with you as well. And I strongly advise you youth to observe piety. You are thankfully pure and cultivated and you have not been afflicted with the maladies that the others suffer from. Therefore, you should make the most of this purity, sincerity and enlightenment. You should always be with Allah the Exalted in your hearts, in your souls and in your actions. And then you will move forward, God willing.

“A few years ago, I said that we should make progress in a way that in 50 years if someone wishes to have access to new scientific findings, they will have to learn Farsi (Persian). We should reach that point. In the present time, if you want to have access to scientific findings, you have to learn, for example, English. In certain areas – like the law and other such fields – you have to learn French for example. We should reach that point. You should move forward in a way that by the time that I mentioned relatively speaking, anyone who wishes to have access to scientific findings in different areas, they will have no choice but to learn Farsi (Persian) so that they will be able to benefit from your writings.

Of course, on that day, you who are today’s youth will be the established officials of the country, but you should prepare the ground today in a way that the youth of the next 20, 25 years who are your children today - of course in the case of those of you who are married and who have children – will be able to carry out tasks in the best way possible, Insha Allah (God willing).”

AS/SS