Letter 4 you : To the Youth in Europe and North America 

  Time :  5:38

in the name of God, the Beneficent the Merciful
To the Youth in Europe and North America,
The  recent events in France and similar ones in some other Western  countries have convinced me to directly talk to you about them. I am  addressing you, [the youth], not because I overlook your parents, rather  it is because the future of your nations and countries will be in your  hands; and also I find that the sense of quest for truth is more  vigorous and attentive in your hearts.
I don’t address your  politicians and statesmen either in this writing because I believe that  they have consciously separated the route of politics from the path of  righteousness and truth.
I would like to talk to you about Islam,  particularly the image that is presented to you as Islam. Many attempts  have been made over the past two decades, almost since the  disintegration of the Soviet Union, to place this great religion in the  seat of a horrifying enemy. The provocation of a feeling of horror and  hatred and its utilization has unfortunately a long record in the  political history of the West.
Here, 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.
The histories of the United States  and Europe are ashamed of slavery, embarrassed by the colonial period  and chagrined at the oppression of people of color and non-Christians.  Your researchers and historians are deeply ashamed of the bloodsheds  wrought in the name of religion between the Catholics and Protestants or  in the name of nationality and ethnicity during the First and Second  World Wars. This approach is admirable.
By mentioning a fraction of  this long list, I don’t want to reproach history; rather I would like  you to ask your intellectuals as to why the public conscience in the  West awakens and comes to its senses after a delay of several decades or  centuries. Why should the revision of collective conscience apply to  the distant past and not to the current problems? Why is it that  attempts are made to prevent public awareness regarding an important  issue such as the treatment of Islamic culture and thought?
You know  well that humiliation and spreading hatred and illusionary fear of the  “other” have been the common base of all those oppressive profiteers.  Now, I would like you to ask yourself why the old policy of spreading  “phobia” and hatred has targeted Islam and Muslims with an unprecedented  intensity. Why does the power structure in the world want Islamic  thought to be marginalized and remain latent? What concepts and values  in Islam disturb the programs of the super powers and what interests are  safeguarded in the shadow of distorting the image of Islam? Hence, my  first request is: Study and research the incentives behind this  widespread tarnishing of the image of Islam.
My second request is  that in reaction to the flood of prejudgments and disinformation  campaigns, try to gain a direct and firsthand knowledge of this  religion. The right logic requires that you understand the nature and  essence of what they are frightening you about and want you to keep away  from.
I don’t insist that you accept my reading or any other reading  of Islam. 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 them to hypocritically introduce their own  recruited terrorists as representatives of Islam.
Receive knowledge  of Islam from its primary and original sources. Gain information about  Islam through the Qur’an and the life of its great Prophet. I would like  to ask you whether you have directly read the Qur’an of the Muslims.  Have you studied the teachings of the Prophet of Islam and his humane,  ethical doctrines? Have you ever received the message of Islam from any  sources other than the media?
Have you ever asked yourself how and on  the basis of which values has Islam established the greatest scientific  and intellectual civilization of the world and raised the most  distinguished scientists and intellectuals throughout several centuries?
I  would like you not to allow the derogatory and offensive  image-buildings to create an emotional gulf between you and the reality,  taking away the possibility of an impartial judgment from you. Today,  the communication media have removed the geographical borders. Hence,  don’t allow them to besiege you within fabricated and mental borders.
Although  no one can individually fill the created gaps, each one of you can  construct a bridge of thought and fairness over the gaps to illuminate  yourself and your surrounding environment. While this preplanned  challenge between Islam and you, the youth, is undesirable, it can raise  new questions in your curious and inquiring minds. Attempts to find  answers to these questions will provide you with an appropriate  opportunity to discover new truths.
Therefore, don’t miss the  opportunity to gain proper, correct and unbiased understanding of Islam  so that hopefully, due to your sense of responsibility toward the truth,  future generations would write the history of this current interaction  between Islam and the West with a clearer conscience and lesser  resentment.
Seyyed Ali Khamenei
21st Jan. 2015