“Unite and Be Victorious”, anti-thesis against enemies’ plot “Divide and Rule”
“Unity and Requirements of Modern Islamic Civilization” is the theme for 31st Islamic Unity Conference, annually held by Iran’s World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought. The theme however has been stressed as the goal by the Supreme Leader in many instances including in a meeting with youths where Ayatollah Khamenei reiterated Iran as the country which should raise the flag of new Islamic civilization. The Leader counted the criteria needed for the youths to follow the objective of new Islamic civilization including courageous, educated, pious, innovative, pioneering, self-confident and zealous.
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American journalist and a Muslim convert, Marzieh Hashemi, in an interview with Taqrib News Agency (TNA) has shed more light on the political, social and religious aspects of the objective, modern Islamic civilization as it is going to be discussed in the upcoming 31st Islamic Unity Conference to be held on 4-6 December, 2017.
Q: Do you find any necessity for renovation of Islamic civilization?
A: I think the Leader of Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei, has said it best when he talked about the stages of that for instance Iran. He said there was first a revolution, then establishment of security, then establishment of Islamic government which was kind of stalking because of the name (Islamic Revolution) perhaps, then Islamic society and then Islamic civilization. So these are the steps in process of an Islamic civilization. I think in Iran that really started in 1979 with the victory of Islamic Revolution.
Now what we have seen this year proves the importance of being united in the name of Islam. I think that is a transition we have not had before. Of course we know that the goal for imperialist powers is to make sure that there is division and that there is no unity. We have seen the importance of unity as we have witnessed the achievement during Arbaeen when people came together from all over the world under one flag, Islam. Definitely this is all going towards being a part of an Islamic civilization.
Q: Do you find any necessity for renovating any part of this Islamic civilization or tailoring it for the present needs of Muslims or more generally all the people around the world?
A: I do not think that Islamic civilization has been without serious challenges. I think there have always been some problems and efforts even at the time of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), Imams (AS) up to now.
The most important aspects to an absolute Islamic civilization, first and foremost, is the awareness of the people of necessity of understanding the Islamic belief that we can be victorious only through Islamic civilization. I think we need to basically reeducate ourselves because of course people in the region have been under these hegemonic powers that have actually weeded our confidence about ourselves. People in the region, Muslims in general, have been looking at the east and west for help. I have to reiterate the importance of this victory over Daesh because this shows that no matter the billions and billions of dollars spent on this Daesh project and all the countries east and west that supported it Allah continues to show us that if we are steadfast there is nothing that cannot be accomplished and of course we saw this back in the 80s with the 8-year Saddam Hussein Iraqi imposed war on Iran the whole world was once against Iran but at the end of the day Iran attained victory; so, the most important thing is believing in oneself, in Islam, in Islamic civilization and that it has the answer for all our needs.
Q: What is the necessity of unity for the new Islamic civilization which Muslims are moving towards?
A: Unity is the key. If you look at the tools of the enemy number one is to “divide and conquer” which its anti-thesis would be to “unite and be victorious” so obviously if we unite there is nothing that we cannot do. This has been the plot of the enemies since the beginning to keep us divided and unfortunately a lot of Muslims fall for this but I think more and more are now becoming aware of these plots.
I was in Iraq a couple of weeks ago for Arbaeen march to see people coming together from across the world, all colors and ethnicities under one flag, the flag of Islam that is very important.
When we look at this Daesh situation, we know that Daesh killed Shia and Sunni, Christians and secular people across the world however the mainstream media in their propaganda continued to show this as a sectarian flag which was never sectarian. We saw Hezbollah liberating Christian towns because it was not about belief perspectives of people. It was against a tyrannical entity of Takfiri Zionist imperialist that has been created to destroy us.
Q: Originally you are from the United States of America. Have you seen any changes made by the Islamic civilization as it has entered the US?
About Islamic civilization and its influences on the American society, I think first of all as Muslims we really have to work on acquiring true Islamic culture in order to have an Islamic civilization. We have seen an influence of Islam in the world and also in the United States.
When I first converted to Islam, back in 1982, and walking around in Islamic hijab, during the day rarely I would see another woman in hijab, for example, now in the same city, Denver Colorado, you can see many women in hijab in your own area; so, people are becoming more and more aware of it because they are more Muslim women in Islamic hijab.
It is very important that Muslims are aware of their religion especially for women because they wear hijab and they are like the flag bearers of Islam.
At moment people are looking for sanity because the world has become so insane; so, we (Muslims) go back to our roots, out of which one, of course, is Tawhid (monotheism) the unity of God, importance of God and implementing what he has asked us. Be the example that Allah has asked us to be and believe me Islam spreads by itself because it is very sane very logical and because it works now in 2017 as it worked 1400 years ago.
The reason we have so many plots against us as Muslim is because of the power we have. They understand it better than us that Islam actually offers the answer to our demands in this world.
It is very important that we come together as one and be aware of our responsibility in this world and make sure that we do not get cut off on the side issues that are created by others to cause separation.
Let’s keep our eyes on one of the most important elements of Islam , first oneness of God, second prophet hood of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), why he came and what he thought us and if we can implement that we will definitely see a better world all around.
Originally from the United States, Marzieh Hashemi, was brought up in a religious Christian family though converting to Islam a little while after the Islamic Revolution in Iran which, together with characteristic of Imam Khomeini, was the main reasons for her conversion. Inspired by the Iranian activist students in the United States she took the first step to become a Muslim. She has been a news anchor and journalist on Iranian English news channel Press TV. She is also the editor-in-chief of Mahjubah magazine.
