TEHRAN – A letter by the leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution urging young people in the West to gain unbiased understanding of Islam has been brought to the spotlight as the youth around the world show interest in the Holy Quran following the massacre of Palestinians in recent weeks.

In the letter, written in January of 2015, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei asks young people in the U.S. and Europe to attain “firsthand knowledge” of Islam. The Leader decided to directly address Western Youth after French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published offensive cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, stirring outrage among Muslim nations and fueling Islamophobia in the West. 

In the letter, Ayotallah Khamenei asks youngsters not to allow the states to “hypocritically introduce their own recruited terrorists as representatives of Islam”. He also points out that with the mass development of social media, people can go beyond their geographical borders and try to view different cultures and religions objectively. 

The pieces of advice from the Leader have once again been brought to attention as young people around the world are showing growing interest in Islam after witnessing the unyielding resistance and faith of the Palestinian people in the face of relentless Israeli attacks against the Gaza Strip.

Some sharing their stories on social media have even announced that they are converting to Islam following extensive research on the religion. An American girl in her 20s claimed she was finally able to see Islam “for what it really is” after she decided to steer away from mainstream Western media which actively “advocate anti-Islam sentiments”. 

A meeting held at the University of Tehran on Monday tried to discuss the 2015 letter and how the Leader’s vision is finally materializing in 2023.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the former Iranian foreign minister, was one of the speakers at the event. He stated that young people in the West who are looking for the meaning of life are gravitating towards Islam as the religion shows them a “systematic way of life” and also gives them hope regarding the hereafter.

He noted that instead of money and materialistic possessions, the youth in Western nations can grab onto a more soothing and inclusive philosophy by forming affiliations with Islam. The former FM also talked about the 1978 Islamic Revolution in Iran, pointing out how the religion gave rise to a vast societal movement, defying all previous expectations.

Another speaker was Massoud Shajareh, the head of the Islamic Human Rights Commission in London. Shajareh called the Leader’s letter a “fatherly address” aiming to uproot the xenophobia that oppressive states usually spread in an attempt to justify their violence towards the ingenious people of a certain land. Shajareh explained how Europeans tried to depict native Americans as sub-humans in order to justify their killing and thief. He added that Islamophobia is only fueled in the West as a means of controlling people. 

Since October 7, various Western media outlets have been trying to justify Israeli crimes in Gaza by making unsubstantiated claims to vilify Palestinians. That’s while they have largely attempted to sidestep the vast distress brought upon the 2.3 million people of Gaza in recent weeks. Young people, however, have been taking to the streets in support of Palestine in large numbers, after finding out about Israeli atrocities through social media.  

So far, over 14,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s bombing campaign on Gaza with 70% of the casualties consisting of women and children. Some estimates show that Israel has dropped more than 40,000 tons of explosives on the territory in 48 days of war.