Iran should engage in intellectual jihad with the West: Leader

TEHRAN, Sept. 7 (MNA) -- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says Iran should have the audacity to engage in intellectual debate with the proponents of Western liberal democracy.

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in an address to a large gathering of academics and university professors in Tehran on Sunday.

Using cogent arguments based on Islamic thought is the appropriate way to debate about the West’s human sciences, and Iranian academics should redouble their efforts to fulfill this heavy responsibility, he said.

The Leader highlighted the importance of scientific progress in society and likened the acquisition of knowledge to jihad.

“In Islamic culture, jihad means making efforts to negotiate obstacles… and now the country is truly in need of academic jihad,” he opined.

He stated that universities are the engine of progress in the country.

If the Iranian nation wants to be held in high esteem and to be independent, powerful, and prosperous, it should enhance its universities, he noted.

The Leader also praised the progress Iran has made in various areas over the past three decades.

“We should regard all the achievements attained over the past 30 years as the first steps along the illuminated road to the scientific progress of the country, and with a strategic outlook, we should think of greater steps,” he stated.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Ayatollah Khamenei criticized the West for trying to maintain a monopoly over science and technology and said that endeavor is one of the obstacles in the way of Iran’s progress.