In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I am so happy to see and be in the presence of you esteemed friends. Welcome to Iran. I wish you a pleasant stay here.

The reality is that nowadays we need each other more than before. Thus we need to engage more with one another so that we can be more familiar with each other’s beliefs, and gain a better understanding of one another. Then, by focusing on the commonalities between us, we can better confront the issues that have targeted the Islamic World

At the present, there exist radical, extremist, and takfiri groups in the Muslim world that unfortunately are representing Islam in the world. I mean that the world recognizes Islam by their faces. This is while both you and we know that many of the thoughts of these groups are in complete contradiction with genuine Islamic thought.

Why should there be a gap between our scholars and that of Islamic schools of thought, and between the professors of different Islamic Universities, so that extremist groups abuse this situation and can introduce themselves as the representative of Islam to the world?

We must keep in mind that Islam will not grow on the basis of prejudice. Rather Islam will grow on the basis of “thinking” and this thinking will form based on research and scientific work. That is, we must identify the existing values in Islam and then present them to the world. If the world sees our presentation, the real Islam, it will be attracted to it. We do not need to resort to destructive methods. In order to propagate Islam, presenting its true image is enough.

A mindset called “Takfir” exists which strives to separate the Shi'a from Islam. Now they may have political aims or nonpolitical ones, but the result is to introduce the Shi'a as a population separate from the rest of the Islamic World. While throughout the history of Shi’ism, we have never had an issue with Hamabali’s, nor Shafi'i’s, nor Maliki’s, nor others. Today Wahabi’ism is the extreme movement in the extremist school of thought, and this school of thought, will excommunicate other schools of thought, just as it has excommunicated the Shia.

The late Ayatullah Borujerdi started a movement called "Taqrib", meaning approximation, which resulted in late Sheikh Mahmud Shaltut, the Egyptian Sheikh of al-Azhar University, to give his historic fatwa that "Shiism is also the fifth School of Thought of the Islamic Schools of Thought". Based on this fatwa, it does not make a difference whether a person is a devout Shafi’i or Maliki or Shia … the followers of all these schools of thought are Muslims, brothers, and stand side by side. This fatwa of Sheikh Mahmud Shaltut is still valid in al-Azhar University. Even more recently, Mr. Ahmad al-Tayeb, the Sheikh of al-Azhar, has emphasized that there is no problem for anyone from any of these five Islamic Schools of Thought to convert from one school to another.

The important thing that Ayatullah Boroujerdi did was to found the Assembly of Proximity (Taqrib). This assembly, which was located in Cairo, was made up of of 70 to 80 thinkers and scholars of various Islamic schools, including Zaidi’s, Maliki’s, Shafi'i’s, Hanbali’s and Shia’s. For example, one of the members of this council was Sheikh Hassan al-Banna, the founder and leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. The criterion for being a member of this assembly was to have an influential and effective character in the Islamic world. The mission of this council was to investigate the fundamental issues of the Islamic world and have those who were attending the meetings propose their ideas and solutions.

For example, at that time, France was at war with Algeria. It was a tough war. Many Algerians were killed. The Taqrib Assembly condemned the attack to Algeria and took good stances to prevent further killing of Muslims. They negotiated with the French authorities and held meetings with the leaders of Liberation Movement of Algeria to find a formula for the independence of Algeria to prevent the killing of Muslims.

All members were committed to the decisions that were made in the assembly. It did not matter which school of thought the problem was related to. What mattered was that Muslims live in peace and not under pressure.

Another example was the Israel’s attack and expulsion of the Palestinians. From the start of the clashes, the Taqrib assembly responded. Islam scholars, wherever they were, condemned the Israeli actions with one voice and supported the Palestinians. Whether it was Mr. Boroujerdi, or Shafi’i scholars, or the Hanbali scholars.

But the problem with these movements is that they are dependent on individuals. As long as Ayatullah Boroujerdi was alive, the assembly was acting well. But when he passed away, the movement ended.

Mr Tantawi, the previous Sheikh of al-Azhar, complained to me in Bahrain, asking, “Why did you let the Taqrib Assembly to be shut down after the death of Ayatullah Boroujerdi?” This is really unfortunate.

Now, my request from your dear friends is to put this idea forward in your scholarly congregations: In the Islamic World we need such centers, regardless of political movements or governments. The issues of the Islamic World are fundamental ones.

Turkey is a great and established country in the Islamic World. Iran is an established country in the world. Egypt is an established country. Pakistan is an established country. Despite this, we cannot be effective in solving the problems of the Islamic problems. These days, everything is done through money and politics. This is reached the point that because Saudi Arabia has such money and oil dollars, it governs all our social relations and interferes in the communications between you and us.

I ask you dear friends to promote the idea in your universities and colleges that we need to shape the basic policies of the Islamic world based on thinking, not on the basis of the politics of individual countries.

The great powers of the world do not pity us and are seeking their own interests. There are about 50 to 60 Islamic countries each of which adapts its policies with one of the global powers. I am looking for the world of Islam to rely on knowledge, thinking, Islamic seminaries, and universities rather than being influenced by the politics of countries, and that the elites and thinkers of Islam gather together and make decisions to solve the problems of the Islamic World based on thought and knowledge.

This is exactly what I am asking you as the elites of the Turkish community. This is not an issue of Sunni or Shi'a. Both you and us know that Ali-ibn-Abi Talib (AS) cannot be separated from Islam. Nahj al-Balagha cannot be separated from Islam. You know as well as us that Ashura is a valuable resource for Islam. You yourself commemorate Ashura in a glorious manner in Istanbul. So regardless of the issues of schools of thought, regardless of nationality, regardless of ethnic or nationalist prejudices, let us sit together to promote and present genuine Islam.

There are many commonalities between us. But these commonalities will have an impact only when we are connected, sit together, and communicate with one another. We sincerely ask for such communications and ask that you present them to other friends and elites in Turkey and those that have gone from Turkey to Europe. Your people are well known in European and American Universities, just like we have well known people there. Let us extend these interactions and thoughts among them.

In the future we will have more and bigger issues. We should be aware that great powers like the United States are after their own interests, as they have shown in the past, not after our interests or Turkey’s interests.

Things have reached the point that Saudi Arabia has united with Israel in the service of the United States and conspires against Islamic Nations. Our ultimate goal and hope is that we can form this “Taqrib Assembly” that I have mentioned so that Muslims all over the world can make their own decisions, not foreigners.

Let us be careful not to be deceived by the West’s superficiality. The essence of the human rights that they bring forth comes from Imam Ali’s letter of Malik Ashtar which was noted by the United Nations.

I pray to God Almighty for all you dearest one’s success and again hope you have a good stay in Iran and take a heavy load from your trip back home. Inshallah.