There is a lot to say about Ayatollah Khamenei. It is well beyond me and multiple dimensions that Ayatollah Khamenei had that I cannot even reach to discuss or even describe. But from my limited and distant perspective, and from someone who has lived in the West and has lived some years in Iran, I would like to share what I think.
He looked beyond Iran. He looked beyond Islam. He looked at humanity as a whole. His role was a continuation of the role of our prophets. Of course, he was not a prophet, he was not a saint, he was a regular person who continued the path of these prophets, something that every one of us can potentially do.
What I mean by he looked at humanity as a whole is that he wanted to save everyone. He wanted to help everyone. Not just Muslims, not just Shia, not just Iranians. If you were to ask him or maybe figure out the inside of what he was planning, what he was thinking, I think that would be the summary. He wanted a world where everyone is saved, everyone is on the path of God Almighty and not a specific version of God which is defined by a particular group but the real God.
You can see from the letters that he sent to the West. He sent one in 2015 to the youth of Europe and America, the West. And he invited them to look beyond Islamophobia and look at what the true values of Islam are. He asked everyone to look at the true sources. Do not look at people’s description of Islam which is not the direct sources of Islam but look at what the scriptures say. Every Muslim claims and agrees that the true source of Islam is the Quran. And probably no religion on earth claims that their book is flawless and has not changed over time. But Islam says that the Quran which descended upon the Prophet has not changed. No sect in Islam disagrees that the Quran is the Quran and is the same version and you can compare it. Everyone has the same Quran. So the single most reliable reference is the Quran.
He sent a second letter in 2024, right after the attacks of Israel on Gaza, and he wrote that to the youth of America who had risen against this massacre. Gaza, I mean probably the weakest people on earth in terms of military infrastructure, they have been surrounded and under siege for a long time with complete control of Israel over what goes in and goes out. In such an attack on these people, of course, it awakened the people on earth and especially the youth in America. And again, Ayatollah Khamenei sent this letter to the youth in America to guide them to Islam and the truth and the path that can guide humanity to a better hereafter.
So if I were to summarize Ayatollah Khamenei’s ideology, it would be how to save humanity, not just how to save Iran or Islam.
The fact that he spoke or wrote to the Western youth is not because they lack something, but because they had something, and he was trying to awaken something within them. I have lived in the West. I have lived in the United States. A lot of people in the West have really good values. They have a really good conscience. And many times they are misinformed. If they really had the right information, they would probably stand on a different side. It is not about Iran winning. It is not about Islam winning. It is about our life. It is about saving ourselves. Every single person has to save themselves because there is a life after this life, and we will be accountable for everything we do.
In Islam they say, “Do not oppress,” even the oppressor. Yes, there is an eye for an eye in Islam, but you do not oppress the oppressor. You do not go beyond the limits of what is right and what Allah or what God Almighty, the same God that everyone knows within themselves, asks from us.
So those letters were written to the West, to the youth, for a reason. Ayatollah Khamenei is a wise man, a genius. He knew something, maybe we still do not know. I encourage everyone to go back to those letters and go back to the Quran, the scripture, and really try to understand things without bias. We are in a really fast-changing world where information is abundant and available. Maybe 100 years ago, scholars would have to travel thousands of miles to reach one copy of a book that was handwritten, and then they had only a few nights to look at it, they had to copy it, bring it back, think about it, ponder. Now you just go online, search, you can summarize the whole book, find various things. And so accessing the truth has never been easier than now. I think it is the time for us to actually try again, give it a second chance, to be honest. If true freedom and freedom of thought is established, a lot of things would change. If it were not for propaganda, for lies, for threats, a lot of people would see the truth.
In the end, Ayatollah Khamenei was not just a leader for Iran or for Shia Islam. He was a man who carried a message for all of humanity.
