Hawzah News Agency- Hojatoleslam Mohammad Hossein Ziaeinia, Deputy Representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader in Delhi, opened the session by outlining Imam Khamenei’s anti-colonial perspective. He stated: “When we speak of Western culture, we do not only mean the West itself, but also the ways in which Western influence has permeated the East.” He highlighted three central pillars of Western culture—secularism, nationalism, and humanism—and explained their impact on Eastern societies.
Several academics and researchers presented papers addressing the historical and intellectual effects of colonialism:
- Akhlaq Ahan, professor of Persian at Jawaharlal Nehru University, explored the decline of Indo-Iranian knowledge traditions, emphasizing the role of Western colonialism in undermining the Persian language in India while acknowledging Eastern intellectual heritage preserved in Persian literature and Sufi mysticism, citing figures such as Rumi.
- Syed Ali Kazem, historian at Aligarh Islamic University, offered a comparative study of Gandhi, Nehru, and Imam Khomeini’s anti-colonial approaches, noting the shared emphasis on non-violence and moral integrity in their respective movements.
- Disha Rajender, researcher, highlighted the importance of Eastern epistemology, arguing that beyond rationality, spiritual understanding is essential for human development, reflecting the Islamic tradition of man as God’s vicegerent.
- Syed Tanveer Ahmed, Secretary of Education for Jamaat-e-Islami India, emphasized decolonizing Indian textbooks, contrasting Western education’s focus on job preparation with Eastern education’s value-based approach, noting post-liberation reforms in India.
- Taslim Rahmani, political activist, traced the evolution of Western colonialism, highlighting the intellectual subjugation of Eastern civilizations despite millennia-old cultural achievements in China, Iran, and India. He warned that even today, Eastern scholars’ contributions are often appropriated and misattributed in global knowledge systems.
- Qamar Agha, journalist and analyst, examined global colonial practices, noting that while Western powers-maintained dominance through technology, countries like Iran and India are now making significant advances, demonstrated recently by Iran’s military achievements in the conflict with Israel.
The meeting concluded with a presentation by Fariduddin Farid-Asr, Iran’s cultural advisor in New Delhi, on “Anti-colonial Metaphors in the Words of Anti-Dominance Leaders of Iran and India.” He highlighted shared rhetorical strategies in the works of Gandhi, Nehru, Iqbal, Imam Khomeini (RA), and Imam Khamenei, underscoring the enduring cultural and intellectual resistance of Eastern civilizations against Western domination.
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