Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, penned an open letter to the young people of the Western world defending Islam and slamming North American and European countries' skewed interpretations of the religion and their own histories.
He shared his thoughts on his social media accounts, tweeting out excerpts with the hashtag #LETTER4U.
The English-language letter, posted on Wednesday, references the recent terror attacks in France, and urges young people to keep an open mind about Islam.
Maybe,by ur sense of responsibility, future GEN would write history of interaction b/t Islam&West w lesser resentment pic.twitter.com/9nFLuxarkw— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) January 21, 2015
“I don’t insist that you accept my reading or any other reading of Islam,” he writes. “What I want to say is: Don’t allow this dynamic and effective reality in today’s world to be introduced to you through resentments and prejudices.”
Don’t allow the arrogants to hypocritically introduce their own recruited terrorists as representatives of Islam. #ISIS #BokoHaram#Letter4U— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) January 21, 2015
Khamenei specifically addresses young people who he says have been "indoctrinated" by "different phobias," and also devotes a few paragraphs to direct criticism at Western countries' pretense:
I don’t want to deal with the different phobias with which the Western nations have thus far been indoctrinated. A cursory review of recent critical studies of history would bring home to you the fact that the Western governments’ insincere and hypocritical treatment of other nations and cultures has been censured in new historiographies.
Histories of US & Europe are ashamed of #slavery, #ColonialPeriod & oppression against ppl of color & non-Christians. #Ferguson#Letter4U— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) January 21, 2015
Khamenei has been an outspoken critic of the U.S. on his social media accounts before, jumping on the #blacklivesmatter discussion and expressing his disapproval of the CIA torture report.
Although Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, oversees day-to-day politics, Khamenei has ultimate power.
In a country notorious for its limitations on freedom of speech, Twitter is blocked, but Khamenei's office maintains a Twitter presence.
Other Twitter users relayed messages to Khamenei highlighting the limitations of Iran's own policies on free speech using #LETTER4U. One shared a personal anecdote about his father.
Dear Youth!, My dad spent 5 years in jail for just telling the guy who wrote you a letter he is a dictator #Letter4U— Mehdi Saharkhiz (@onlymehdi) January 22, 2015