Studying the Challenges of the Islamic Awakening from the Perspective of the Supreme Leader

Internal Challenges to the Ideology Embedded in Islamic Awakening

 

A) In the opinion of Ayatollah Khamenei, two fundamental challenges can be seen as threats posed by the actors of the Islamic world against the ideology embedded in the Islamic Awakening: 

 

1) Misrepresenting Islamism as fanaticism: Islamism should not be regarded as ignorant and extremist prejudices, and the boundary between the two should be illustrated. From the point of view of the Supreme Leader, religious extremism, which is often accompanied by blind violence, is the cause of the backwardness and deviation of the Islamic Awakening revolutions from their noble goals, which in turn will lead to the separation of the people from the revolutions and consequently the defeat of those revolutions. (2011/09/17)

 

Therefore, it is an undeniable reality that the Islamic Awakening of Muslim nations is not represented by those who are engaged in acts of terrorism in the Islamic world. Because they are acting against Muslims in the name of Islam and hence, they cannot symbolize or represent Islamic Awakening. (2005/09/02)

 

Regarding the Takfiri currents, such as Daesh, which is a product of the deviation from the original Islamic ideology and misrepresenting Islamism as fanaticism, the Supreme Leader states that:

 

The Takfiri orientation managed to deviate the Islamic Awakening from its path. The movement of Islamic Awakening was an anti-American and anti-arrogance movement that was against the elements that the United States had installed in the region. It was a movement that had been launched by the masses of the people in different countries of North Africa. These countries were against the arrogant powers and the United States. The Takfiri orientation changed the direction of this anti-arrogance, anti-American and anti-tyranny movement. It turned it into a war between Muslims and into fratricide. While the front line of fighting in the region was the borders of occupied Palestine, but the Takfiri orientation came and changed this front line to the streets of Baghdad, the Jame’ Mosque of Syria and Damascus, the streets of Pakistan and different cities of Syria.

 

This movement serves the intelligence services of the United States and the United Kingdom as well as Mossad and other such intelligence services. (2014/11/25)

 

B) Following the West: Ayatollah Khamenei believes that in the movements of Islamic Awakening, the bitter and horrifying experience of following the West in politics, ethics, behaviour and lifestyle should be constantly taken into consideration. Following the culture and politics of arrogant governments for more than a century, the Muslim countries have been plagued by deadly calamities such as political affiliation and dependence, economic misery and poverty, the decline of virtue and ethics, and scientific backwardness; while the Islamic ummah had a glorious history in all these fields. (2013/04/28) In his view, the two greatest adverse effects that the Western culture left on Islamic countries are the following misconceptions:

 

1. Indoctrinating Muslim nations that they cannot do anything in the fields of politics, economics and science. The Islamic countries, too, held such a view for decades and hence did not made any progress. 

 

2. Indoctrinating the idea of the enemy being infinite and powerful in a way that the West and the United States will not be defeated and hence the Islamic states have to submit to the domination of these countries. (2013/01/29)

 

The Domestic Challenges for the People in the Islamic Awakening

 

Ayatollah Khamenei believes that the Muslim nations have many resources, they have sensitive geographical locations, they have a very valuable historical legacy and they have unique economic resources. If Muslims become aware, find their true identity, rely on themselves and become united, then this region will be an outstanding and enlightened region and the world of Islam will witness dignity, greatness and honour. (2014/01/19) But alongside these advantages, he addresses the challenges that the Islamic nations are facing:

 

(A) Weakening of the determinations and the vain illusion: having a vain illusion which is caused by the feeling of gaining victory when the dependent, corrupt, and dictator rulers fall, and consequently the weakening of the motives and determinations, are the first threats. In the view of Ayatollah Khamenei, when a nation achieves wealth, power, triumph, and scientific growth, it is subject to a test. (2011/09/17) Consequently, if nations can remain healthy when they reach the peak of power, they will pass this test; but, if they forget God, they will not gain succession. (2014/02/16)

 

B) Ignoring the enemy: In the eyes of the Supreme Leader, being proud and ignoring the enemy is another challenge that should be dealt with through courage, insightfulness and determination. (2011/09/17)

 

In his view, one should not trust the political and hypocritical gestures of the United States and the West because they were supporting the corrupt regimes before they collapse. But now that they have despaired of keeping them in power, they are claiming to support the rights of the people. Using this cover, they are trying to replace the pawns with other pawns. By bringing in new faces, they are trying to help those who are connected with them dominate the nations once again. This is an insult to the intelligence of nations which should not be tolerated, and people should not settle for anything less than the establishment of a totally independent and populist system that is faithful to Islam. (2011/02/05)

 

C) Dealing With Insignificant Issues: creating divisions and disagreements between revolutionaries who support the struggle, is a great challenge that should be avoided. (2011/02/05) The Muslim nations, as well as the elites in Islamic countries, must be vigilant and refrain from engaging in the void and useless discussions and debates such as religious and ethnic differences as well as personal disagreements. In his thinking, what is happening in the West Asian region and the Islamic countries, is greater than these insignificant issues. (2011/06/30) Therefore, the individuals and groups who consider their most important responsibility to be creating divisions among Muslims through dividing them into Shi’ah and Sunnis or promoting ethnic orientations can never be a symbol of Islamic Awakening. (2005/09/02)

 

The External Challenges for the Leader and the Elites in Islamic Awakening (The First Strategy of Enemy: Preserving the Pyramid of Power)

 

According to Ayatollah Khamenei, the first external challenge in the Islamic Awakening movements is the elements committed to the United States and the West taking power. In his view, after the downfall of its pawns the West tries to protect the basic pillars of the system and levers of power, and change the direction by using the same foundation, but with a different head, in order to perpetuate its domination. This means wasting all the efforts and sacrifices. (2011/09/17)

 

He believes that they tried to hijack these revolutions. The plot was to deceive the people. They expressed their support for the people and at the same time, they tried to put their own supporters in positions of power. however, they were unsuccessful in this regard. (2011/03/21)

 

In other words, after they failed to control and suppress the people of nations, their biggest goal was to try to take control of the revolutions, infiltrate influential political parties, preserve the original structure of the overthrown corrupt regimes, limit the changes to superficial reforms, and reorganize their local pawns in the countries that have carried out a revolution. (2012/02/03) At this stage, if they face resistance and vigilance of the people, they will try to present different deviating alternatives to the movement and the people. (2011/09/17)

 

The External Challenges to the Ideology Embedded in Islamic Awakening (The Second Strategy of the Enemy: Offering Deviating Alternatives)

 

According to Ayatollah Khamenei, the scenario of presenting deviating alternatives with respect to the ideological matters could be the recommending government models and constitutions that will again throw the Islamic countries into the trap of cultural, political and economic dependence on the West. This could lead to their influence among the revolutionaries greater financial and media strength of an unreliable current and marginalization of the genuine currents in the revolution. This also means the return of the domination of the West, the stronger grip of the redesigned Western models that are far from basic principles of the revolution, and finally the domination of the West. (2011/09/17)

 

In his view, after following the tactics of being “anti-Islam” and committing “violent actions publicly” the West began to adopt the tactic of “presenting alternatives” in relation to profound Islamic and human concepts in an attempt to deviate the Islamic ideology. In the following some examples of such a tactic will be mentioned:

 

In the decades of Islamic Awakening especially during the recent years after being defeated in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine and most lately in Egypt, Tunisia and other countries, the West has resorted to the tactic of simulation and replication. The aim is to pass off the terror operations against the people as martyrdom operations, prejudice, rigidity and violence as Islamism and jihad, ethnic and tribal tendencies as a tendency towards Islam and building an Islamic ummah, Westoxication and economic and cultural dependence as independent progress, secularism as scientism, concessions as rationality, moral corruption and unscrupulous behaviour as freedom, dictatorship as order and security, consumerism, materialistic tendencies and aristocracy as development and progress, and poverty and backwardness as spirituality and piety. (2013/02/03)

 

Another notable point in this strategy is that they try to pose threats by removing the intellectual authority from religious bases and create unreliable new poles:

Today in the era of hope-inspiring movements of Islamic Awakening, sometimes certain things are witnessed which on the one hand, show the efforts by the agents of the United States and Zionism to create unreliable intellectual authorities and which on the other hand, show the efforts made by debauched Qaruns to drag religious and pious people towards their poisoned and contaminated activities. Religious scholars and pious men should be extremely vigilant and careful. (2013/04/29)

 

In the view of Ayatollah Khamenei, the clerics and theologians have been the intellectual authority and spiritual support for the people and wherever they have appeared in the role of guides and pioneers at the time of great developments and have moved forward in the first rows of popular movements in the face of dangers, the intellectual bond between them and the people has been strengthened and they have played a significant role in showing the path to the people. This is as beneficial to the wave of Islamic Awakening as it is unpleasant and distressing to the enemies of the Islamic ummah, those who bear grudges against Islam and those who are opposed to the rule of Islamic values. Hence, they are trying to take away this intellectual authority from religious strongholds and create new centres for it. They have learned through experience that they can easily reach a compromise with these centres over national principles and values, and this is something that will never happen regarding the pious religious scholars and devoted religious personalities. (2013/04/29)

 

The External Challenges People Facing in the Islamic Awakening (The Third Strategy of the Enemy: Making People and Fighters Feel Disappointed and Regretful)

 

Regarding the efforts made by the enemy to disappoint people and to make the revolutionaries feel regretful about the Islamic Awakening: 

 

If this tactic (introducing other alternatives) does not produce the desired result, experience tells us that they will go for anarchy, terrorism, civil war among followers of religions or ethnic communities and tribes, political parties, or even among neighbouring nations and governments. Parallel to these actions, they will impose economic siege and sanctions, freeze national assets and launch all-out media war and propaganda. They intend to tire out and frustrate people and make the revolutionaries disappointed. Under these circumstances, it becomes easy to defeat the revolution. (2011/09/17)

 

Given the statements of the Supreme Leader and taking into account the current requirements and conditions of the Muslim world, it seems that the two threats of “creating divisions” and “sending mercenaries” by the enemies, have made the Islamic Awakening extremely vulnerable and exerted pressure on it. Accordingly, these two threats, as the third strategy of the enemy, will be examined:

 

A) Creating Disagreements: In the view of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, one external challenge is the efforts on the part of the enemies of Islam to foment discord. In his view, people must be totally vigilant against such efforts. These efforts are not a recent issue. They came into being the day the dominant political powers in the world realized that they could influence other nations. But these goals are being currently pursued more vigorously than ever before. The modern means of communication have helped further their goals. These people try to foment discord. They coin incendiary slogans to create discord. People should be vigilant. (2009/03/15)

 

The enemies of the Islamic ummah have long used Muslim negligence to create division among them so that they lose trust in each other. (2007/12/05)

 

In the view of Ayatollah Khamenei, fanning the flames of conflicts inside the Islamic ummah is the easiest way to achieve their satanic goal and they have used differences of opinion in Islamic jurisprudence, theology, history and hadith – which are natural and inevitable – as a pretext to excommunicate, shed blood and cause corruption. (2013/04/29)

 

Today, the most dangerous thing that threatens the movement of the Islamic Awakening is the efforts to foment discord and turn these movements into bloody sectarian, ethnic and national conflicts. Currently, this plot is being seriously pursued by the intelligence services of the West and Zionism with the help of petrodollars and bribed politicians from East Asia to North Africa and particularly in the Arab region. The money that could have been spent to bring about happiness for mankind is being used to make threats, excommunicate, assassinate, shed Muslim blood and kindle the fire of long-lasting grudges. (2013/04/29)

 

B) Sending Mercenaries: In the view of Ayatollah Khamenei, the enemies of Muslim nations, by mobilize their security mercenaries and send them to confront people so that they may frustrate the people through causing insecurity and turmoil. Muslim nations should not be afraid of them. Because they are more powerful than mercenaries. People are at a stage in which God told the Messenger and his companions, “Oh Prophet, urge the believers to carry out jihad. If there are twenty patient ones of you, they shall overcome two hundred, and if there are a hundred of you, they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve because they are the people who do not understand.” (Quran 8:65) Hence, by relying on God and trusting the motivated and determined youths, Muslims can overcome any kind of insecurity and turmoil. (2011/02/05)

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