Addressing the 29th International Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran on Sunday, Rouhani said enemies and big powers are doing their best to portray Islam as a religion of violence, urging Muslims to take necessary steps to thwart all efforts aimed at depicting Islam as the religion of violence.
President also said: “Today, responding to the great Prophet of Islam’s call depends on unity, abstinence from violence, and expansion of Islamic amity”.
He also congratulated the advent of the birthday of the great Prophet of Islam (PBUH) and Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (PBUH) and continued: “If some day our concern was that foreign powers were killing and plundering Muslims and their lands, today we are facing a situation in which a country with an Islamic flag pours bombs and missiles over the heads of innocent Muslims or some groups tarnish Islam and Muslims under the disguise of religion, Islam, and Jihad”.
“Maybe we would never think that one day in the Islamic World, the Zionist Regime would be forgotten as the main aggressor and even put aside from the news, and instead, the media focus on news about the killing of Muslims by pretenders to Islam who have the glorious name of Allah and the great Prophet of Islam (PBUH) on its flag” added Rouhani.
Dr Rouhani added: “So far, the enemies have described Islam as the religion of violence and bloodshed, and currently, some inside the Muslim community are introducing Islam as the religion of carnage, bloodshed, and tyranny in the name of Jihad”.
On the responsibility of all Islamic nations, he said: “Two years ago when the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran proposed WAVE underlining extremism and violence as the biggest threat faced by the world, although it was apparently approved by all Islamic and non-Islamic countries, but practically, nothing was seen out of good will in fulfilling the proposal”.
“Without a doubt, intellectual violence is the source of practical violence started with wrong understanding of the texts” he added when speaking about the roots of violence.
“Beginning of violence is deviation from moderation in thought and speech. The real danger is when in a community violence turns into rhetoric and unless our rhetoric is based on moderation and away from extremism, it will result in intellectual and practical violence” added Dr Rouhani.
He also deplored running schools in the name of religion but teaching violence and said: “Why shouldn’t our societies, schools, and lessons be based on monotheism and resurrection; isn’t Islam based on merits such as “There is No God but Allah” and “Mohammad is Allah’s Messenger?”
“The idea that anyone translates religion differently is the nature of human and, basically, the difference is acceptable in this area but conflict is not acceptable at all” said Rouhani, adding that nobody should forget unity as the base in the Islamic World.
We all believe in God’s book and agree on many words and Prophet Mohammad’s lifestyle but the problem arises when other dogmatic texts become the base of defining identities and as a result, instead of the contrast between religion and blasphemy, it puts Islamic factions against each other, added Rouhani.
Referring to claims of ‘Shia Crescent’ by some people as baseless, he said: “We neither have Shia Crescent, nor Sunni Crescent, rather we have Islamic full moon”.
He further stressed the need for unity among the Muslims of the world and posed questions: “To whose benefit is destruction in Syria and looting the Syrian nation’s oil? To whose benefit is undermining a country which has resisted against the Zionist Regime for years?”
Saying that 84 percent of the ongoing violence, acts of terror and massacre are taking place in the Muslim World, North Africa, the Middle East and West Asia, he demanded an end to the “intellectual and discourse-based violence.”
President also called for correction of the negative image of Islam in cyberspace.
“In the current situation there is no option other than Muslims joining hands in unity. I also call on those Islamic countries inside and outside the region, and even those who have so far poured bombs and missiles over their neighbours’ heads to choose the right and correct path” he added.
Directing his speech at certain countries who bombard their neighbours, Dr Rouhani said: “If you gave the money you have been spending buying bombs and missiles from the U.S. to the hungry, today the Islamic World would not be struggling with poverty”.
President Rouhani emphasized: “If a small group like ISIS can recruit soldiers, that is chiefly because of financial and cultural poverty; so let’s join hands and eradicate this kind of poverty”.
He continued: “Terrorism cannot be eradicated by bomb, rather we should change the course of discourse towards eradicating terrorism”.
In an era of the Iranian history, he added, “Mongols dominated the country and killed scholars and destroyed the mosques but when Iran’s discourse culture dominated by the scholars and sages of the time, the same Mongols turned into preachers for Islam and constructors of big Islamic mosques”.
He then stressed the need to impress the youths of the Islamic World by the correct discourse, as well as the need to make the true Islam known to the public opinion.
“After 12 years of accusation and intimidation, we discussed and proved by reasoning that the Islamic Republic of Iran does not lie to anyone and IAEA also clearly stated that Iran has got no secret place for enriching uranium” added Dr Rouhani.
This showed that issues of the world can be solved by logic and reason, he continued.
Reiterating that terrorist groups cannot be beneficial to anyone, President Rouhani said: “It is a false belief that if someone is against the leader of a country, they can resort to spreading violence and bomb and missiles to change it; the future of nations is at the hands of the people of that country and with bombs and missiles you cannot decide for a nation’s future. Everyone should surrender to the power of nations”.
It is not possible to undermine the government of a country and, at the same time, claim that you are fighting terrorism, said President.
“If we want to respond to the Prophet of Islam’s call, we should all shout unity and introduce the beneficent Islam, as well as the Prophet’s lifestyle to the world and unite for a bright future of Islam” Dr Rouhani said.
He also underscored improving economic ties among the countries of the Islamic World to fight poverty.
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