Statements at the Meeting with Participants of the Congress on 'The Role of Shia in the Emergence and Expansion of Islamic Sciences'

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad, his pure family, and his chosen companions, and those who follow them with goodness until the Day of Judgment.

Welcome, dear guests of this gathering and assembly. I thank you for your presence in this scientific and social movement, and I express my gratitude to the creators of this beneficial and, God willing, promising initiative. I also thank His Eminence Ayatollah Makarem (may his soul be sanctified), who truly endeavored and initiated a great work that can, God willing, continue and yield very good results.

Dear brothers and sisters! Today, any movement that leads to the unity of the Islamic Ummah is blessed; it is a good deed. The intention of the enemies of Islam is to create division; our intention as believers in Islam must be to create unity in the Islamic world and among the Islamic Ummah and to foster mutual recognition among the groups and sects of the Islamic Ummah. This movement you have initiated and this gathering is one of the manifestations of working towards the unity of the Islamic Ummah. One of the issues we have always viewed as a problem is that the various sects of the Islamic Ummah do not have a proper understanding of one another; they lack accurate and true knowledge of each other. The enemies, the foreigners, have often introduced one sect to another in a hostile manner and with malicious intentions to create enmity. We have witnessed many clear examples of this over the past 100 to 150 years, and we see it clearly in recent events. We observe judgments made by one Islamic sect about another, and vice versa. The enemies make us appear ugly in each other's eyes; they make us seem undesirable to one another. This is the work of the enemies. Any movement that enables us to recognize each other correctly, to know each other better, to understand each other's strengths, to enhance these strengths, and to transfer them to one another will lead to the unity and integrity of the Islamic Ummah, and this congress is one of those efforts.

Throughout history, Shia Islam has made significant contributions to the advancement of Islamic and natural sciences. The body of works produced by Shia scholars in Islamic sciences such as jurisprudence, hadith, philosophy, especially rational sciences, theology, and the books created in this field are, honestly, a source of pride and joy for every Muslim to observe. This must be recognized; the Islamic Ummah must feel this, must know this, and must understand this; this will help us draw closer to one another and enhance our knowledge of each other.

Among Shia scholars, there are many who excelled in various Islamic disciplines - in jurisprudence, philosophy, theology, hadith, and the like - such as Allameh Helli, Sheikh Tusi, and many others. Fortunately, there are individuals of this caliber in our time as well. The books written about the Quran, about Quranic sciences, and about Quranic interpretation are very important and pioneering works. If these are introduced, recognized, and made familiar with each other's works and the efforts they have made are brought to the attention of all, the Islamic Ummah will feel proud of this; this will lead to the unity of the Islamic Ummah.

In all movements and in this scientific endeavor you are engaged in, we must carefully ensure that no marginal issues or suspicions arise that could lead to differences, divisions, or grievances among the Islamic sects; because this is what the enemies want. Thus, one issue is the unity of the Islamic Ummah, which, God willing, we believe will be significantly achieved in this movement.

Another issue is the advancement of science. The Islamic world has lagged behind and has been dominated due to scientific backwardness. The West, after being backward for centuries and learning sciences from Muslims, using Islamic books as references and stepping stones towards scientific advancement, was able to surpass the Islamic countries and the Islamic world in terms of science. This led to an increase in their wealth, military power, political power, and propaganda power. This resulted in colonialism; the phenomenon of colonialism emerged, and Islamic countries suffered under the bloody and ruthless boots of colonizers, witnessing this backwardness and deprivation from progress in all aspects of their existence and in all fields of science, leading to the situation you observe today: global powers, particularly Western powers and the world's tyrants, impose their will on Islamic countries and Muslim nations, and many unfortunate Muslim rulers follow them; this is due to scientific backwardness.

We must change this situation; we in the Islamic world must initiate a serious movement for advancement in all sciences, all civilization-building sciences - from rational sciences to the entire spectrum of human and social sciences, to natural sciences - and we can. Once, the Islamic world was at the pinnacle of human civilization; why should that not be repeated? Why should we not today do something so that in a suitable time - in forty years, in fifty years - the Islamic Ummah reaches the pinnacle of human civilization? What is the problem? We must move forward. This is the responsibility of governments and the responsibility of elites; both Islamic governments and the elites of the Islamic world are obliged; scholars, intellectuals, writers, poets, and artists in the Islamic world must create a massive intellectual movement and a public demand for scientific advancement and reaching the pinnacle of knowledge, and this is possible today.

In the Islamic Republic, we have made efforts, and these efforts have been successful. Today, we have advanced significantly from the situation before the victory of the revolution and during the reign of the tyrant; our pace in this regard has been good. In recent years, according to the reports of official global scientific references, the pace of the Islamic Republic's advancement has been thirteen times the global average; we did not say this; this was published by global scientific recognition centers in their official documents. Of course, since we were very backward, this thirteen-fold intensity of global growth has not yet brought us to the desired point, but we have been able to make significant progress and will continue to do so.

We said we must transcend the boundaries of knowledge and go beyond the global frontiers of knowledge; we must move forward, and God willing, we will do this, and the Islamic Republic will do this, contrary to the West; the Western tradition is one of withholding, meaning they do not share their best scientific findings with anyone other than themselves. Yes, they do transfer what has long been outdated, but they do not share their outstanding scientific advancements; we, contrary to their tradition, said we are ready to share everything we have achieved with our Muslim brothers in Islamic countries; in all fields.

This movement must continue. We must also advance in the field of Islamic sciences. In jurisprudence, we need to present a new perspective on jurisprudential issues. What the gentlemen referred to - specialized jurisprudences - is in this direction. In various aspects of governance and the administration of human societies, Islamic jurisprudence can offer new insights; we must work in these areas; this is the work of jurisprudence.

In philosophy and rational sciences, we must accelerate our movement. Fortunately, in Shia societies, especially in Iran, rational sciences have seen very good growth; this has been the case historically as well; there have been great scholars and thinkers in our country and in the body of Islamic sciences whose works exist. We must advance in rational sciences. The Westerners have solved political, governmental, and social issues through the extension of their philosophies. Yesterday, I saw books at the book fair written by Westerners, [on] the influence of philosophy on football; meaning the extension of philosophy even to football! See how they extend their intellectual issues to all areas of life and fields of life; we must do this. We are strong in philosophy; Islamic philosophy is stronger, deeper-rooted, and more solid than Western philosophy, but its extension in life must be tangible; the judgments of our philosophy regarding governance, social issues, economics, and all civilization-building matters must be evident and clear; these are tasks that must be accomplished. These are in the field of specific Islamic sciences, and the same applies to natural sciences.

Fortunately, today there is a revival in the Islamic world, although the Westerners have tried to deny this awakening. What has emerged is Islamic awakening in this region of West Asia and in the North African region and in Arab countries; this is an awakening, and this awakening exists throughout the Islamic world. Young people have questions, inquiries, and they wish to have their inquiries answered in the face of Islam; they have expectations from Islam and are inclined towards Islam. Despite all the propaganda that the Westerners have conducted against Islam and against Islamic life and existence, the inclination towards Islam is increasing; this inclination gives us hope that, God willing, the future of the Islamic world will be much better than today. The Islamic world, God willing, will witness days when the Islamic Ummah will be at the pinnacle of its civilization and Islamic life, and the enemies of Islam and tyrants like America and its ilk will no longer be able to dictate to the leaders of Islamic countries what they must do; this situation existed, and unfortunately, it still exists in some cases, but this, God willing, will be resolved, and the Islamic world will reach its peak by God's grace and permission.

Once again, I thank all of you and hope that this scientific movement continues, and I especially thank those who have worked hard and been involved, particularly His Eminence Ayatollah Makarem, and we hope that, God willing, God will keep him and grant him success and increase the enthusiasm and motivation that, thanks be to God, he has always had and still has, day by day, God willing.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.