RNA – Ayatollah Ali-Reza Arafi said that moderate Islam and also Takfiri and extremist Islam are the most important forms of Islam that have been presented of Islam in the current era.
“The main source of antagonism in Islamic discourse is not between the Sunni and Shi’a sects but rather it is between intellectual and moderate Islam and Takfiri and extremist Islam. These ideologies are in confrontation with each other,” he added.
He made the remarks during a meet with Archbishop Leo Boccardi, the Vatican’s ambassador to Iran, in Qom.
Referring to the Western support of Saudi Arabia and its patronage of the Wahhabi ideology, he said: “Unfortunately, the most extreme form of Islam is supported by the country which is supported by the major powers of the world.”
Ayatollah Arafi noted: “Some Western countries defend regimes which do not understand democracy and have established academic institutions which follow the most extreme theories.”
The Iranian scholar added that backed by some Western countries, the educational systems and intellectual output in certain countries has become violent and this phenomenon is becoming stronger.
He said that in al-Mustafa International University, rational and philosophical thought are considered very important and that dozens of courses in comparative religions have been launched and
The theology of religion is an important feature of the Islamic Seminaries of Qom, and the volume of studies in Christianity philosophy and theology here cannot be found elsewhere in the Muslim world," he added.
Ayatollah Arafi added: “It’s important to develop interaction and dialogue between Islam and Christianity and avoid religious violence and to propagate sacred thought in the world.”
The member of Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council expressed his satisfaction with the presence of the Roman Catholic archbishop and diplomat in the holy city of Shi’s Islam and at al-Mustafa International University, saying that Qom is one of the bases for the genesis of Islamic thought in the world.
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