Imam Khamenei Criticizes Western-Style Freedom in Contemporary World

Addressing a meeting of some 150 domestic scholars, elites and academics Tuesday evening, the Ayatollah said, “The reality of western freedom is discrimination, war-mongering attitudes and selective approaches towards human rights and democracy.”
Referring to the present circumstances in the country, the Supreme Leader underlined the need to pay due attention to infrastructural issues.
The Ayatollah further criticized Iranian scholars’ imitation of western school of thoughts, particularly in the field of defining the conception of freedom.
Noting that there were enormous sources in Islam to define freedom, the Supreme Leader urged Iranian thinkers and scholars to redefine the concept of freedom based on the Islamic values and teachings.
“The common meaning of freedom in the present academic circles refers to individual and social freedoms not spiritual ones,” said the Ayatollah, adding the main difference between the Islamic and Western versions of freedom was how to define the word freedom.
The origin of freedom in Islam is Theism while in the West and based on a liberalist view it is originated from humanism, Ayatollah Khamenei said.
The Supreme Leader urged Iranian thinkers and scholars to avoid imitating western schools of thoughts and rely on the Islamic sources.