Leader Says All Religions Seek Man's Salvation, Prosperity
August 30, 2000 - 0:0
TEHRAN I consider the assembly of the representatives of world major religions a worthwhile measure and beseech the Almighty God to enable man to continuously utilize the divine religions, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said in a message to the UN-sponsored summit titled "World Peace in the Third Millennium" which was inaugurated in New York yesterday.
Without any doubt all the religions seek man's salvation, welfare, and prosperity and all have introduced their programs in accordance to time, space and the capacity of their addressees. In order to materialize their goals and impart their messages, they have endured hardships and long struggles and left behind distinguished examples of devotion in the way of belief.
The divine religions do not want salvation for a particular people and particular time or a particular region and do not impose them on the people.
But all peoples in all places and all times are the addressees of the prophets of God. The progresses of the recent centuries, particularly the twentieth century, proved that scientific progress alone cannot take man to salvation and bring them peace and redemption as a gift.
Science is useful for the human society only when it is accompanied with love, incentive and faith and these can be found in religions.
It is not right to confine the plans of the messengers of salvation which they designed for man to individual action and his spiritual relation with God or deprive the great arena of man's relations with man, individual's relations with the society, and man's relations with the environment.
From our point of view, all the prophets have trodden this path and there are no differences among them.
Environmental health of the environment man's growth signifies that man should treat his God, his inner self, his fellow countrymen, and the mother nature surrounding him with peace.
Peace in this general sense is one of the greatest needs of human beings for growth, elevation and salvation.
This peace should emanate from faith and thought. Prophets have strived to materialize this fact.
An environment of silence stemming from force, fear and deceit created by the power-wielders in parts of the world totally differs from the peace offered by the harbingers of salvation.
Peace should be based on justice and understanding of human dignity and free from the grudges of the powerful poles in the world.
Imposing silence and submission on the people who have risen to defend their denied rights is not what man was invited to by the messengers of heavenly peace.
In the course of history, power-seekers who have thought of nothing but fulfillment of their insatiable desires have worked to exploit religion and religious dignitaries in the cause of their hegemonic intentions.
No divinely religion has confirmed this big trick. Many of the apparently religious wars have been stained with such ill-intentions.
Religion will not serve hegemonic policies, rather it considers the domain of politics and administration of the affairs of human societies to be part of its jurisdiction. Religion, as a political system, relies on love and faith of the people and fights these policies.
Many of the masters of hegemony and power-thirsty politicians argue that religion should not interfere in the realm of politics and say that religion is separate from politics, although they themselves have never observed this demarcation and taken advantage of religion and exploited it.
Today's world is confronted with the problem of moral corruption.
Religions can provide solution to this problem provided that it can purify and regulate economic incentives that foment (give rise to) moral corruption.
Today, the world is witness to the successful experience of the establishment of a political system based on religious teachings in Islamic Iran. The greatest task of the Islamic Republic is to thwart the problems imposed on it by the big powers of the world.
They are not willing to see any hurdle in the way of their tyrannical acts and policies in this part of the world.
Dear fiends and guests, if the leaders of divine religions accept that they have sat in place of prophets, the clear path of those harbingers of salvation and happiness for man is open before them.
This is a strenuous path full of obstacles, but at the same time giving reality to the gratification of the wayfarer and eventually the satisfaction of God.
Without any doubt all the religions seek man's salvation, welfare, and prosperity and all have introduced their programs in accordance to time, space and the capacity of their addressees. In order to materialize their goals and impart their messages, they have endured hardships and long struggles and left behind distinguished examples of devotion in the way of belief.
The divine religions do not want salvation for a particular people and particular time or a particular region and do not impose them on the people.
But all peoples in all places and all times are the addressees of the prophets of God. The progresses of the recent centuries, particularly the twentieth century, proved that scientific progress alone cannot take man to salvation and bring them peace and redemption as a gift.
Science is useful for the human society only when it is accompanied with love, incentive and faith and these can be found in religions.
It is not right to confine the plans of the messengers of salvation which they designed for man to individual action and his spiritual relation with God or deprive the great arena of man's relations with man, individual's relations with the society, and man's relations with the environment.
From our point of view, all the prophets have trodden this path and there are no differences among them.
Environmental health of the environment man's growth signifies that man should treat his God, his inner self, his fellow countrymen, and the mother nature surrounding him with peace.
Peace in this general sense is one of the greatest needs of human beings for growth, elevation and salvation.
This peace should emanate from faith and thought. Prophets have strived to materialize this fact.
An environment of silence stemming from force, fear and deceit created by the power-wielders in parts of the world totally differs from the peace offered by the harbingers of salvation.
Peace should be based on justice and understanding of human dignity and free from the grudges of the powerful poles in the world.
Imposing silence and submission on the people who have risen to defend their denied rights is not what man was invited to by the messengers of heavenly peace.
In the course of history, power-seekers who have thought of nothing but fulfillment of their insatiable desires have worked to exploit religion and religious dignitaries in the cause of their hegemonic intentions.
No divinely religion has confirmed this big trick. Many of the apparently religious wars have been stained with such ill-intentions.
Religion will not serve hegemonic policies, rather it considers the domain of politics and administration of the affairs of human societies to be part of its jurisdiction. Religion, as a political system, relies on love and faith of the people and fights these policies.
Many of the masters of hegemony and power-thirsty politicians argue that religion should not interfere in the realm of politics and say that religion is separate from politics, although they themselves have never observed this demarcation and taken advantage of religion and exploited it.
Today's world is confronted with the problem of moral corruption.
Religions can provide solution to this problem provided that it can purify and regulate economic incentives that foment (give rise to) moral corruption.
Today, the world is witness to the successful experience of the establishment of a political system based on religious teachings in Islamic Iran. The greatest task of the Islamic Republic is to thwart the problems imposed on it by the big powers of the world.
They are not willing to see any hurdle in the way of their tyrannical acts and policies in this part of the world.
Dear fiends and guests, if the leaders of divine religions accept that they have sat in place of prophets, the clear path of those harbingers of salvation and happiness for man is open before them.
This is a strenuous path full of obstacles, but at the same time giving reality to the gratification of the wayfarer and eventually the satisfaction of God.