Supreme Leader: “The West hires Islamic terrorists”

Ayatollah Khamenei, the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, has accused “the West” of hiring terrorists to discredit Islam. In a message published in all official Islamic Republic's news outlets on January 22, he urged young people to make sure they stayed informed about how Islam was being presented.

“Don’t allow them to hypocritically introduce their own recruited terrorists as representatives of Islam.” Khamenei said.

Some hardliner media and activists regularly claim that Western countries are responsible for founding and financing militant Jihadist groups such as Al Qaeda.

Ayatollah Khamenei also urged young people in the West to learn about Islam through the Koran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad and said it was important for them to inform themselves about Islamic teaching.

Describing “the recent events in France and certain other countries in the West” as the incentive behind the statement, the Supreme Leader said his focus was young people because they are in the process of “searching for the truth.” He did add, however, that his advice would also benefit people from other generations.

Western leaders, Khamenei said, were not in a position to follow his advice, because they had “consciously separated the path of politics from the path to truth and honesty.”

“For two decades, i.e. since the collapse of the Soviet Union, numerous attempts have been made to instil in this great religion an image of it being a fearful, hostile enemy,” Khamenei said. “Provoking hatred, fear and intimidation for political purposes has a long history in the West, with various fears being imposed on the people of Western nations in the past.”

The Ayatollah said colonialism, the exploitation of and cruelty against non-whites and non-Christians, Christian sectarianism and the World Wars were among the West’s most shameful acts. “Why is public awareness with regards to Islamic thought and culture not promoted in Western countries? Why has an archaic policy of inciting hatred and fear been intensely revived against Islam and Muslims?”

Although the message contained strongly-worded advice, the Supreme Leader also hinted that people had a choice when it came to knowledge and belief: “I’m not telling you to accept my notion of Islam or anybody else’s for that matter,” Khamenei said. “Just don't allow the reality of the world today to be told to you in a distorted and prejudiced way.”