In recent speeches, Ahmad-Hossein Sharifi, deputy chairman and research director at the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute, discussed the dangers presented by the West to Iran's Shi'ite society.[1] He said that the West had decided to undermine this society by disseminating its corrupt, immoral, and anti-Islam culture, and that it was targeting Iran in particular – because Shi'ite Iran, unlike the Sunni Wahhabi Saudi Arabia, was the center of the pure Islam. Yet despite the West's efforts, Sharifi added, Islam was spreading rapidly in the West, and the U.S. and Europe would become Islamic countries within a few decades.
The following are the main points of recent statements by Sharifi:
Sharifi: Americans "Would Rather Marry Animals or Robots than Human Beings"
At a November 19, 2011 conference in Hamadan dealing with the West's "soft war" against the Iranian regime, Sharifi explained that the West had despaired of launching a military attack against Iran and that therefore it was trying to topple it from within by weakening its religious values and striking at the Iranian people's obedience to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The following are the main points of his address:[2]
"The military experts acknowledge that in order to conquer Iran, there is a need for at least two million troops, including land, marine, and aerial forces... [In contrast], the 'soft war,' which is being waged on the level of the society, aspires to change [our] people's world view, monotheism, and religious principles, to destroy the values of [our] culture, politics, and society, and to change [our] way of life, including [our] architecture, music, leisure activity, dress, and cuisine.
"In the wake of the West's negative propaganda on the Internet, on satellite [television channels], and in the media, there has been a proliferation of grave problems in [Iranian] society, such as keeping dogs [as pets][3] and attraction to corrupt, content-free music. On the political level, the main elements of the 'cold war' are weakening the status of the velayat-e faqih [rule of the jurisprudent], sowing division among the officials of the three authorities [in the Iranian regime], creating a rift between the people and [regime] officials, and using beautiful, attractive slogans. On the public level, this soft war is being waged by means of the Internet, films, [political] cartoons, and the print media."
Sharifi called Western music "an element that disrupts a man's reason" and complained that "today, with the approval of the [Iranian] Culture Ministry, there are translations [in Iran] of the lyrics of [songs performed by] devil-worshipping singers, who enmesh young people in loss of identity and loss of [moral] restraint."
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Sharifi harshly criticized the American family, saying "Today, 70% of married American women say that they would be happier if they had a dog and a Toyota instead of a husband." He added that only 7% of American families were "reasonable" and the other 93% were rootless and single-sex; in some cases, he said, Americans "would rather marry animals and robots than a human being."
At the same time, however, Sharifi stated that the Islamic way of life and Islam itself were spreading in the West: "In contrast to what people think, Islam is spreading in the world. For example, between 2000 and 2010, one thousand mosques were built in France, and 60 churches were turned into mosques or shut down. One out of every two babies born in the Netherlands is raised in a Muslim family, and therefore it can be expected that by 2025 all the Dutch will be Muslims. At the beginning of the [1979] Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Muslin population in the U.S. was 300,000 to 400,000 – but in light of the growth of the Muslim population in that country, this number today has reached nine million."
Sharifi: In Another Few Decades, Europe and the U.S. Will Be Islamic
At an October 17, 2011 science conference in Qom, Sharifi expanded further on the spread of Islam and the Shi'a in the West. The following are the main points of his comments:[4]
"Today, everyone acknowledges that the Islamic spirituality, and particularly Shi'ism, is spreading rapidly in the world – to the point where Islam has become an unrivalled religion in the world. If the Islamic trend continues at the present pace, the U.S. is predicted to become an Islamic country by 2070. According to these statistics, it is expected that by 2045 Germany will be completely Islamic; the Netherlands will also be completely Islamic by 2025, and by 2050 more than 70% of the French will be Muslims."
Sharifi explained, "The Islamic societies [that will develop in the West] might not be ideal as far as we are concerned, but in general an Islamic spirituality will prevail in them, and they will gradually march towards the ideal spirituality." He added that Western society was very fearful of this Islamic trend, and was therefore fighting "the pure Islam whose center is Iran." He added, "Sowing doubt is one of the important elements that the 'global arrogance' [i.e. the West, led by the U.S.] uses in hope of harming the Shi'ite school of thought. This has expanded greatly in the past 20 years. The main target of the arrogant ones is Iran, and indeed we see that they do not fear the [Sunni Wahhabi] Islam of Saudi Arabia, but even encourage it and propagandize for it."
Dismissing the concepts of individualism and sanctity of the individual promoted by the West, which he said came at the expense of the concepts of faith and community, he noted that "infiltration of [drug] rehabilitation centers is another weapon used by the enemies [of Iran]." He said, "The [Western] guidelines state that in order to recover from addiction, there is no hope in [turning] to God or to the imams, but only in trusting the 'ego,' and that there is no hope [in relying on] others, including resorting to the imams. This harms the infrastructure of monotheism and the imamate [i.e. the leading principle in Shi'ism – the belief in the 12 Shi'ite imams]."
Sharifi also warned that kindergartens were being infiltrated by non-Islamic beliefs, such as Baha'ism and Buddhism, by means of children's television shows, among other means, which are a tool in the hands of the enemies of Islam: "I have learned that some time ago in two [northern Iran] provinces, Gilan and Mazandaran, 25 kindergartens linked to the Baha'is were identified and shut down." He added that a recently released children's film spreads Buddhism very cleverly, using children's language.
[1] The Qom-based Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute is directed by Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, a former associate of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
[2] Fars (Iran), November 19, 2011.
[3] In Shi'ite society, dogs are considered unclean, and several ayatollahs have spoken out against the Western custom, adopted by some Iranians, of keeping them as pets.
[4] Hawzahnews.com (Iran), October 17, 2011.
