This time we are going to continue dwelling upon Ayatollah Khamenei’s views on the status of sciences and technologies.

Acquisition of knowledge has no limit in Islam. According to the Prophet of Islam knowledge should be acquired even if it is in the farthest regions of the world. The Prophet also said that acquisition of knowledge is mandatory from the cradle to the grave. Therefore, graduation is meaningless.

Meanwhile, today, the Arrogant have monopolized sciences and technology and do not let other nations especially Muslims get access to the modern know-how and sophisticated technologies. In view of this, Ayatollah Khamenei a couple of years ago ordered the main organs to draw up the comprehensive scientific map of the country.

Unlike the common concept on acquisition of knowledge, in view of the Leader this concept is not limited to learning, finding a job, progress in technology and facilitation of material life; rather he considers the main usage of knowledge as “creation of power”. For this reason, the Leader, relying on the bright talents of the elites and students, has seriously supported the scientific institutions both materially and spiritually. The result of this attention has been the spectacular advancements in the domains in which Iran had fallen behind for centuries.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution says, “The nuclear technology has accidentally become famous and everybody pays attention to it; but it is not just this. There are the aerospace sciences and the medical sciences, too. Fortunately, today our country enjoys very important and inaccessible medical fields and great medical works are carried out in this country; the biotechnology, Nano-technology which is one of the new sciences in the world, radio-medicines, cloning, making super-computers, stem cells which is one of the greatest works in the realm of science are done in the country. There are important radio-medicines and anti-cancer medicines and this list continues.”

With the supports of the clever guidelines of the Leader Iran has made great breakthroughs in sciences and technology and ranks among the top countries. Ayatollah Khamenei urges the students, professors, elites and inventors to focus on the constructive motto of “We can”. He says, “Undoubtedly, we are at the start and the first steps. We should take these steps successively. We should go forward and believe that ‘We can.’ You should go forward with this belief.”

The Leader has reminded professors of prominent points. He stresses that they must strengthen self-confidence and national self-confidence as an important necessity. He states, “First, our professor should personally have self-confidence and do the scientific work. He should rely on and take pride in that scientific work. Secondly, he should have the national self-confidence. He should trust in the capability and abilities of this nation. If this exists in a professor he will be humble at class and in imparting it to the student and this will have its educational impact. The third issue is the hard work. We have been struck to some extent by our laziness and shirking. We should work without getting tired. Thus, innovation, scientific bravery, personal and national self-confidence and massive and collective work is the remedy for our scientific progress. The addresses here are the university professors.”

Ayatollah Khamenei calls on professors to focus on scientific bravery. He stresses, “Both in the field of humanities and experimental sciences and in the fields close to sciences, technologies and basic sciences; follow the theory, produce, create, innovate and criticize. One must not pursue blindly and imitatively.”

One of the important points of the Leader’s remarks was the target-orientation of the scientific move in the country. It means that first the scientific needs of the country should be assessed and then the universities and academic centers must concentrate their efforts and enrolment of students in view of this. The three branches of government, too, should found their programs and decisions on the basis of these needs. The Leader pays special attention to research, saying, “We should make research target-oriented according to the needs in the country; that is, we should see what the country really needs and put researches in that direction. This requires having a central data bank; so that everybody can know what has been done and what is needed for completing a research in a bid to put these various fragments together.”

Ayatollah Khamenei emphasizes that the ISI essays do not fill any gap in the country and there are rather problems that should be addressed in researches and essays. He makes it clear, “It is not correct to write an essay for gaining a scientific grade abroad. This system must change and the system of granting scientific concessions and the existing statutes in this domain should comply with the fact that which research is compatible with the need of the country and which one completes a chain of research.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution has raised the issue of production of science and scientific movement since a few years ago. Thanks to his efforts and ceaseless attention, this has turned into a public demand in the academic and educational environments. He states, “We want our scientists and scholars find short-cut ways and undiscovered ways in these countless courses of the nature which human being should discover one after the other. We want to discover the undiscovered ways. That we manage to make a certain technological tool, say a centrifuge for nuclear work, which has been found, produced, used and put into practice by others many years ago; this is surely a great job that we have been able to do and produce its new generations without the help of others. There is no doubt in this. But this is not a novel thing. This is a done thing and a path that others have covered; and we, who were supposed to be deprived of it for 50 or hundred years, our youths, scientists and researchers have managed to attain through their pursuit and effort and this is a valuable thing; but I say, in the field of science and technology, put on the top of your endeavors what the human mind has not attained. This is how we break the frontline of science and take a step forward. Then we can claim this and this is possible. Of course, taking new steps requires covering the paths gone and covered by others. No doubt in this. But the mind should never be deprived and banned of exploration and quest to find short-cut ways. We need this in the country.”

RM/ME