Palestinians, Resistance to Eradicate Israel: Ayatollah Khamenei

On the auspicious occasion of the birth anniversaries of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Imam Sadiq (AS), the participants in the 37^th International Islamic Unity Conference, ambassadors of Islamic countries, some government officials, and a number of other people met with Ayatollah Khamenei at the Imam Khomeini Hussainiyyah of Tehran on Tuesday.

In remarks at the meeting, the Leader said the reason behind plots hatched by aggressive powers to insult the Holy Quran is that they feel threatened by the teachings of the divine book.

Through unity and adopting a unified policy on fundamental issues, the Islamic countries will be able to deal with the interferences of the United States and other bullying, aggressive powers, he said, Khamenei.ir reported.

The Leader also likened the "normalization wager" with the Zionist regime to “betting on a losing horse”, saying such moves will only end in defeat as the Palestinian movement is more energetic and more prepared than ever and the Zionist regime is on the verge of annihilation.

Ayatollah Khamenei offered his good wishes on the occasion of the birth anniversaries of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Imam Sadiq (AS), saying mankind is incapable of understanding the Prophet’s noble personality or expressing his virtues in words.

He noted that all human beings are indebted to the "shining sun of the Great Prophet" because he, like a skilled and wise physician, presented mankind with the panacea for all major sources of pain such as poverty, ignorance, oppression, discrimination, lust, disbelief, aimlessness, moral corruption, and social harms.

Ayatollah Khamenei also said "jihad in the way of God" is a way to pay the debt to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), adding, "The meaning of jihad is not limited to jihad with weapons, but rather, jihad in all fields, including science, politics, spirituality and ethics, and with jihad in these fields one can pay his respects to that sacred being as much as he can."

The Leader emphasized that today, the hostility towards Islam is clearer than ever. He considered the desecration of the Holy Quran as an example of these hostilities. "You see an ignorant fool insulting (the Quran) and a government supports it. What this shows is that the problem is not merely what we see in the open."

"We are not concerned about that ignorant person who condemns himself to the most severe punishments and execution in order to fulfill the objectives of the elements working behind-the-scenes. The issue is about the instigators of these crimes and despicable acts," Ayatollah Khamenei noted.

The Leader also considered the vain plan of weakening the Quran with these measures to be illusory, while underlining that it has revealed what is inside the minds of the Holy Book’s enemies. "The Quran is a book of wisdom, knowledge, awakening, and hostility towards the Quran is actually hostility towards these lofty concepts. Of course, the Quran is a threat to the corrupt powers because it both condemns oppression and blames the oppressed people who succumb to oppression," he said.

The Leader then added that making justifications to insults made against the Quran, with repeated lies and false claims such as freedom of speech, dishonors the claimants. "In countries that allow the desecration of the Quran under the pretext of freedom of speech, are people also allowed to attack symbols that represent Zionism? What language can be used to prove more clearly that these (countries) are under the domination of the world’s cruel, criminal and plundering Zionists?" he concluded.