Speech of His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad President of the Islamic Republic of Iran

at the Extraordinary Islamic Summit
Excellencies, Presidents, Prime Ministers
And Heads of Islamic Countries

Infinite praise is due to the God of Beit al-Haram, the God of Arafat and Mashar al-Haram, the God of the land of revelation and Qoran, the land of the prophet of compassion, peace and freedom; the prophet who was the saviour of the humanity, who raised His flag of dignity and bestowed honour on the prophet for the reason that he obeyed God and fought against shirk and the worshippers of idols.

I am grateful to the Almighty that we have come together here in the land of revelation to explore solutions with unity and with all our hearts for the problems besetting the Islamic world and search for ways and plans that could lead to the advancement of the Ummah.

At the outset, I would like to thank the Custodian of the Two Holy Shrines, His Majesty King Malik Abdollaha ibn Al-Aziz, for the warm hospitality and for hosting the Extraordinary Islamic Summit. I should also convey the best regards and wishes of the government and the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the government and people of Saudi Arabia and thank my brother Dr Ahmade al-Din Ehsan Oghloo, the honourable Secretary General of OIC for the successful organization of this meeting.

Excellencies, Presidents, Prime Ministers
And Heads of Islamic Countries

Today Muslim Ummah look toward great and historical hopes, expectations and opportunities, but also stand facing challenges and threats. By having better insight of these challenges and opportunities, we can overcome the hurdles, and with the grace of the Almighty pave the way for the advancement of our nations and the Islamic Ummah by bringing our hearts closer together and by our greater solidarity. As a large part of the world population, Muslim nations can play a central in role global developments, in promotion of justice and morality, in contributing to peace and freedom and in elevating human dignity.

Hopes and Opportunities – The great opportunities and hopes are not few in the Islamic world. Inspired by the Islamic teachings, Muslim Ummah has always put its hope and trust in God, since He is the dear, all-powerful and invincible one. He has absolute power over all things here and in the other world, and knows the secrets to the heavens and the Earth. But He is also compassionate and merciful. He calls on people to give them life. He has taught them to seek refuge in Him in times of adversity. He watches over us with concern and anxiety. Such a God with this exalted power and dignity says: …………………………He tells his prophet ……………. Such a Creator will never abandon the faithful Muslims who place their hopes and trust in Him. Therefore, there is no room for despair and hopelessness in the Islamic world. In fact, the greatest asset of Muslims is hope.

Greater awakening: - Muslims of today are more than ever cognizant of the global developments and conscious of the good and evil. This capital asset radiates with light and deep knowledge and is the blessing of the Almighty granted to the Muslims of our time. Awakening is the source of movement and change towards the better life. With the blessings of the Almighty, this awakening flourishes among our Ummah and is a never-ending and unparalleled asset that protects us against deceptions of our adversaries and malicious intentions.

Presence of people: More than ever Muslim nations are mindful of the good and evil and the destiny of the Islamic countries and maintain a presence in developments that affect their destiny. This presence is a clear sign of the power and progress of the Muslim nation. The presence of people assures the interests, the power and dignity of Muslim Ummah and disheartens our greedy opponents. We cannot afford to take too lightly this power. The presence of people on the scene is a manifestation of the power of God and no one has the power to face up to it. Many Islamic countries enjoy the benefits of this great asset.

Scientific Advancement: There are clear indications of scientific progress in the Islamic world. Scientists and scholars are being trained and educated, and the existence of universities, research centers, instructors, and energetic and eager young men and women in these places of learning are tower of strengthen for the Muslim Ummah. With the advances in science and learning come many skills, capabilities and greater independence. Illiteracy is declining. Muslim Scientifics and scholars figure prominently in the world.

Although our adversaries place restrictions and refuse to make available equal technologies and sciences and have created technological apartheid, whenever there have been opportunities our scholars and scientists have proved their capabilities and unparalleled innovative powers. I have no doubt that Muslims will once again prevail and conquer the pinnacles of scientific achievements.

Economic Development: Muslims have been crowned with endless bounties of the Almighty. God-given abundant resources of energy, mines seas, ports, forests, rivers, incorporable islands, and important waterways are all assets of the Islamic world. We are pleased to see signs of economic progress and power in most Islamic countries. But, there is still along way before reaching the desire destination.

History of Glaring Civilization and Culture: The Islamic World is honoured to have a history that shines with science, culture and civilization. Without any doubt the world today is indebted to Islamic civilization. Muslim Ummah were in the forefront of arts, literature, divine sciences and various techniques and disciplines of knowledge. The Islamic culture abounds in notions and values such as compassion, kindness, and respect for the rights of people, charity and devotion, forgiveness and mercy, decency, generosity, bravery, piety, cooperation and solidarity, faithfulness, helping the poor, respect for the elders, gentleness toward children, respect for the rights of women, respect for the parents, protection of human dignity and worth, jihad against oppression, occupation and usurpation and defending the oppressed.

This culture is a great moral capital and means to move towards the pinnacles of morality and dignity of Muslims. Muslims have a good and perfection-seeking religious identity. Their cultural background is a solid foundation on which they will be able to tread on the path to advancement and perfection without wavering and deviation.

The Islamic world is also facing challenges that we cannot afford to deny and ignore.

1. Poverty and Unemployment: Poverty and unemployment in some countries are due to number of reasons, including, insecurity and civil wars, inclement climatic conditions, natural disasters and brutal policies of the oppressive powers. There are places in the Islamic world that people toil to meet their bare necessities. Unemployment is also vivid and tangible in many countries.

2. Military Interventions: Unfortunately, some Islamic countries suffer from consequences of military interventions and policies of superpowers. Muslim Ummah are parts of a single body and when one part is at pains, the rest cannot remain at rest. Regrettably, these aggressions and interventions continue to take place.

3. Attempts by the enemies of Islam to sow the seeds of disunity in the ranks of Muslim nations have a long record in history. Fomenting sectarian and ethnic differences among Muslims and among their governments by political devices and false insinuations were the p9olicy tools of the past, today and future of those who hold malice towards us.

Unfortunately, a huge part of the global media is managed by the enemies of Islam. This media attempt to suggest and say over and over that there are antagonistic differences among us. They have been, regrettably, successful to some extend.

4. Among the old challenges facing the Islamic world is the existence of the occupier Zionist regime. More than fifty years, Muslims have suffered from the aggressions of this regime. Huge human and financial resources have gone away in this struggle. This existence of such a regime that enjoys the full support of the United States poses a lasting pain and anguish for the Muslim Ummah. The honour of our Ummah has been blemished because of the existence of these occupiers. Hardly a day passes without a young Palestinian falling in his blood, a house demolished over the head of the owner, harvest of a farmer set ablaze and olive trees cut to the ground. The existence of such a vicious and destructive force is one of the pains of the Islamic world for which we must find a solution.

5. Promotion of Western Values: Opponents and enemies of Islam know full well that so long as the culture and identity of Muslims are protected they will not be able to reach all their goals and ambitions. For this reason, they are targeting Islamic culture, manners, morality and upbringing under the guise of arts, humanist philosophy, liberalism, secularism, nihilism, and by electronic media and satellites. They intend to take away Islamic values and replace them with the values of their own choice. If they succeed to impose their own culture, then they have been able to surmount the cultural and value boundaries of Islam and there will no longer be any need to resort to military invasion, political pressures, economic sanctions and propaganda onslaught. By taking away Islamic culture they will be able to take everything else. This is a daunting and formidable challenge facing the Islamic world.

6. Strengthening deviant cults and preparing new groups under the name of Islam: In recent decades new cults have been given a boost. Their very presence is an affront to Muslims and presents a warped and twisted picture of our religion. These groups present a brutal, inflexible and irrational picture of Islam and commit grave crimes. What we used to see in Afghanistan yesterday, we see them today in Iraq. These deviations and emergence of these cults are also among the problems of the Islamic world.

7. Drug Abuse has reached a crisis level among the youths of some Islamic countries. Destruction of talents of our huge human resources which are the backbone and principal capital of every country, the collapse of families, and corruption and decadence are the consequences of this phenomenon.

8. Scientific and Technological Backwardness: Despite the fact that some Islamic countries have made substantial progress in science and technology, there are others that have remained behind. This is a serious deficiency that jeopardizes the independence of nations and provides an opportunity for imposition of culture and the will of those powers that are at odds with the Muslims.

9. Honourable Presidents and Heads of Islamic Countries

In light of the hopes, opportunities, challenges and threats that I just spelled out, we can overcome the hurdles by relying on hopes and opportunities and tread upon the path to advancement and perfection. If we put our trust in God we can prevail over impediments and reach the pinnacles of dignity and honour and disappoint the adversaries of the Muslim Ummah and make our enemies to think twice before aggressing and invading our countries. To achieve this goal I draw the attention my dear brothers to the following points:

Ø The foundation of power and dignity of Muslims is Islamic faith, culture and noble values. We must defend and promote them with all our power. The logic behind Islam is more superior. We can create opportunities for dialogue and interactions with scholars of other nations. We need to lay the ground more than ever for interactions among our own Muslim scholars, writers and academicians. By establishing centres of learning and international universities in collaboration with each other we can open doors to greater convergence of our views and deeper understanding of various disciplines of knowledge. The achievements of the Islamic countries belong to the entire Islamic world. The Islamic Republic of Iran is prepared to accept and receive scholars, students and researchers of the Islamic world in scientific areas and fields of interest to all countries. We need to seriously embark on exchange of students and university instructors.

Ø Today different forms of media play a fundamental role in cultural exchanges. By establishing a union broadcasters of the Islamic countries we can provide opportunities for exchanges of information, technologies and sciences as well as media products. The Islamic countries do not have even a single international network. We propose the launching of an Islamic radio and television network for the purpose of protection of the cultural boundaries and elevating Islamic culture in order to bring about greater convergence of diverse thoughts, ideas and values of Islamic countries.

For the purpose of promoting economic prosperity, increasing production and generating employment opportunities we suggest the following measures to be accorded priority.

A. Accelerating establishment of joint banking establishment on the basis of Sharia and Islamic contracts.

B. Establishing an Islamic common market: Diverse range of our products and national requirements make the establishment of a common market desirable. A common market facilitates trade and commercial interactions through customs and trade facilitation schemes.

C. What we have put forward as our proposals will not materialize without visa facilitation for the nationals of the Islamic countries. I propose abolition of visa requirement for nationals of Islamic countries. Islamic Republic of Iran declares here that all nationals of Islamic countries can travel to Iran for a period of two weeks, which is extendable for one month, without the need to have a visa. The Islamic Republic of Iran is home to all Muslims.

Honourable Presidents, Heads of Islamic Countries

As I explained earlier in my presentation here the Muslim ummah is being targeted from all sides by the world arrogant powers and our malicious adversaries. They cannot stand to see peace, tranquility progress of Islamic countries and by their interventions they seek to change the political map of some Islamic countries. Under these circumstances the Islamic countries have no choice but to stay together and consolidate their ranks of solidarity. As I also mentioned earlier, people are the foundation of the power of Islamic countries, if they remain on the scene with vigilance and awareness, no power in the world can defeat them. The presence of people requires trustful relationship with their governments. This will only happen when the governments are also on the side of their people and share in their joy and agony and serve them to overcome their problems. Governments also need to respect the right of people, to place promotion of justice on the top of their agenda and fight corruption and discrimination and protect the honour of their people. This is the key to success and survival.

Dear Brothers and Heads of Islamic Countries

The solid connection between the people and government creates a powerful alliance that will disappoint and defeat enemies of Islam. All differences among us can be resolved by peaceful means on the basis of justice. Mistrust, misunderstandings and disputes as well as issues of concerns, a major part of which are created artificially by our common enemies, can be resolved. It is also very clear that unity and power of the Islamic world do not jeopardize and is not against any nation or country. The global power of Islam is at the service of peace and stability. Islam wants peace, dignity and respect for the entire humanity.

We need to have full agreement among ourselves in confronting our common challenges. The usurper regime of Palestine is the shared preoccupation of the Muslim Ummah. Recognition of this regime has no justification both in our Sharia or rules of international law. How can we recognize a regime that has gained strength by aggression and occupation. I said at the UN General Assembly that return of Palestinian refugees, holding a referendum with the participation of people of Palestine origin with different religious beliefs – Muslims, Christians and Jews – is the logical way to determine the type of government in the entire Palestinian land and Al-Qods as its capital. I propose a group comprising representatives of some of the member countries of OIC to follow this up at the UN on behalf of the OIC. Today some Islamic countries are subjected to threats by big powers. They bring a huge military force from thousand of kilometers away to invade an Islamic country, but also at the same time claim to be the advocate of human rights.

In light of the fact that Islam has much respect for the rights of people I propose establishment of an Islamic human rights body that His Majesty King Abdullah for hosting our meeting. I wish to also thank the Secretary General of OIC. I pray to the Almighty for the success of the audience here and Muslims throughout the world.

Mahmouid Ahmadi Nejad
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
 

Back...