The Message of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, to youths in North America and Europe, has aroused the conscience of scholars and political analysts in the West. Charles Taliaferro, a professor of philosophy at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, US, says he believes that the message of Ayatollah Khamenei has been welcomed by conscientious youth in the West. Here are the excerpts of an interview with Professor Taliaferro conducted by Payman Yazdani of Tehran Times.

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Q: How do you assess the Leader’s message which was published after the Charlie Hebdo event in Paris which is used as a pretext by some politicians in West for Islamophobia?

A: “I believe that this message from the Leader of the Islamic Republic, Seyyed Ali Khamenei, to the youth in the West is most welcome. It should be welcomed by those of any age in the West. His analogy about Islam and Christianity is deeply wise.  Just as Christians needed to understand and recognize that the atrocities carried out in the name of Christianity (that is, slavery) were contrary to the teachings of Jesus and thus not true to the spirit and integrity of Christianity, today, everyone, perhaps especially the youth who are trying to be open minded and find wisdom, need to discern what is truly Islam and what is false. While the letter’s focus is on challenging those who portray Islam as innately dangerous and bent on violating the rights of others, it implicitly challenges and condemns those who wrongly use the name of Islam and the Prophet of Islam to carry out acts of violence which are clearly in violation of Qur’anic teachings. It is important for the West to see that those who killed the staff of Charlie Hebdo are not heroes in the great culture and religion of Islam. The great legacy of the 1979 Iranian Revolution is that it was one of the greatest overthrow of a cruel regime by nonviolent means.  It is good for the youth and those of any age to appreciate how strikes, marches, boycotts, and especially voting can bring about radical change, and such powerful nonviolent means are what we are called to do in Islam.