In a meeting with Cardinal Peter Turkson, the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which was held in Imam Sajjad (a) seminary school in Qom, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi stated that such meetings between the scholars of different religions can open new horizons towards the resolution of the problems of the human world. He also stated: “If the leaders of various divine religions work together, they can take great strides in the resolution of various problems in the world”.
Stating that the world of today is inflicted by an abundance of problems, he continued: “the human world has been ravaged by wars, conflicts, moral corruptions, and political and economic problems. In such circumstances, if the followers of various divine religions work hand in hand they will be able to effectively do away with these problems”.
Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, then, referred to the positive stance shared by Islam and Christianity regarding the issue of Takfir and added: “a few years ago Cardinal Tauran visited Iran and we had a meeting during his visit. He did a little research about the seminary school in Qom and was amazed by the amount of achievements made in this great seminary school. A short while later the Pope also asked the heads of various religions to announce their stance regarding the Takfiri groups. We presented our outright condemnation of the Takfiris and also our plans for the extermination of this problem; our stance was met with positive reactions by the Pope”.
His eminence, then, referred to the congress which was recently held on the Takfiri threats and stated: “we held two great congresses regarding the Takfiri threats recently and we invited all the ambassadors and various media to attend and broadcast the message of these congresses, which aimed at the extermination of the ideology of Takfir. This way, no more youth would fall prey to these Takfiri trends and so we will be able to effectively do away with this ideology. We believe that such dangerous ideologies can be effectively exterminated only through cultural and intellectual confrontation.”
He also said: “I hope that with your trip to Iran our two religious centers will have better connections. We are glad to see that you place such an importance on peace and justice and that you have a ministry for the promotion of justice and peace”.
Referring to the three great problems of the world of today, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi stated: “the first problem of our world is the problem of atheism and irreligion caused by some individuals who try to alienate the people from divine religions. To this end, they grant the people unconditional freedom. The second problem that we are faced with is the rise of extremist groups in the world. These groups are the sources of insecurity and war in the world. Therefore, if they are not stopped quickly they will spread the flames of war to all parts of the world. The third problem of our world is moral corruption which is growing ever faster by means of the cyberspace. However, since it is impossible to completely root this problem out, the further spread of such moral corruptions on the net must be restricted. We believe that the teachings of the divine religions are so powerful and attractive that they can easily stop such corruptions from spreading; yet, we must try to find proper solutions to these problems with each other’s help”.
His eminence called the establishment of justice and peace in the world a necessity for the world and further noted: “the promotion of justice and peace, the goal you are working for, is a necessity for the world. Yet, in order to achieve this goal we have to first study the roots of injustice in the world so as to be able to eradicate them. Unfortunately, many of the powerful states are either the source or the supporter of injustice in the world”.
In the end, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi stated: “I hope that you are also successful in fighting injustice and the promotion of justice and equity in the world”.
