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Welcome to the 2nd episode of this series which is an attempt to review some of the outstanding points of the historical letter written by the leader of the Islamic Revolution to the youth in the west, especially the US and Europe.
Professor Kevin Barrett, the American Arabist- Islamologist, writes on the letter of Ayatollah Khamenei to the western youth, "I am honored to publish today’s message to Western young people from Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who urges Western young people not to succumb to the Islamophobic conditioning of their societies, but instead to think for themselves. Some readers may be surprised to hear an Islamic leader urging free thought. In the West, it is usually assumed that “freethinkers” are opposed to religion."

He, then, refers to some regrettable points of the western culture, saying, "Today’s Western orthodoxy holds that religion and free thought are always at loggerheads. This perspective dominates our schools and universities, where people like Galileo, Voltaire and Darwin are lionized for battling the censorship of the church."

This American researcher, regarding the leader's letter, considers a mentality ready to accept the reality of Islam which is devoid of any preconceptions toward this heavenly religion. He believes that those westerners who can set aside their preconceptions and move outside the propaganda bubble fabricated by the western media will most probably be astonished at the fact that what their media inject into their minds round the clock throughout the year are far away from reality.

In the end, Professor Kevin Barrett asks all his readers to convey the letter of the leader of the Islamic revolution to every youth they know.

Yavuz Ozuguz is another prominent thinker who has presented his views on the letter of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to the western youth. This German-based scholar, in an interview with the Iranian news agency IRNA said, "What is more catching in this letter is the beautiful, straight and direct wording of the leader who has addressed the western countries' youth; that's why just a few minutes after its release on the leader's website it went viral on many websites of the world and even in Germany."

He calls this letter as "call of enlightenment" stating, "In the current conditions many youth in the west don't have a good feeling of their daily life and are indeed desperate of their leaders' policies."

This Muslim thinker considers another outstanding aspect of the letter to be invitation of the youth toward deepening of religious dialogue among them and understanding the meaning of real Islam. He maintains that, by this letter, the youth can so much bolster inter-faith dialogue so that peace, friendship and justice will be attained among nations.

Stephen Lendman is an American author and researcher who has studied the letter of the leader of the Islamic revolution. He believes that understanding and knowledge starts with learning hard realities. He recommends reading Ayatollah Khamenei's letter to all strata of society in the US and Europe. Lendman believes that the events such as the Coulibaly and Kouachi brothers are just false flag operations to foment Islamophobia in a bid to push forward anti-Islamic policies and pave the ground for continuation of war against Islam across the world. Lendman says that the western youth and adults ought to study the message of the leader of the Islamic revolution to understand that all monotheistic creeds have a common root and the true followers of Islam are law-abiding people just like true Jews and Christians. He continues that if this had been taught in the western schools we would have been witness to love and affection rather than hatred and resentment.

Professor Charles Taliaferro from the American Philosophical Association Committee, in an interview with an Iranian news agency, says the main focus of the letter is challenging those who are intent to portray Islam as a dangerous religion that violates the rights of others. He says that the leader's take on Islam and Christianity is very deep and clever. He believes that the letter has condemned the measures of those who perpetrate violent acts in the name of Islam and the Prophet of Islam; the measures that are in stark contrast to the instructions of Qur'an.

The American philosopher Charles Taliaferro states, "Many in the west call for welcoming Islamic culture and thoughts, for; today we are witnessing the sustainable growth of Muslim population in many western countries and Muslims are increasingly becoming members of legislatures and legal courts. Therefore, there is no concern over Islam, for; otherwise Muslims wouldn't have attained any of these achievements. The concern is over radical and extremist individuals who take arms and bomb in their hands and pursue violent ways instead of peaceful ones."

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei's letter had a lot of reactions among politicians in the west and Europe. For instance, a member of the British House of Commons, Howard, believes that the letter was the symbol of campaign against extremism and ISIL. He continues, "What is important to me is that Iran's leader has pointed to the common issue that is the matter of concern for all of us. He recommends the western youth to study Islam themselves to know the real Islam. This is a very good idea so that the youth look for the Islamic texts themselves without learning it via unreliable persons and individuals."

David Powel, a member of the Monotheistic Christians "Menonnite" of America and Canada, also refers to the letter of the leader of the Islamic revolution, saying, "In my opinion the Iranian leader would like the western youth understand that the overwhelming majority of the followers of Islam is different from the tiny minority with extremist behavior whose news is being released on the media. He wants them to get the information on Islam through impartial ways."

The letter of Ayatollah Khamenei to the western youth was severely boycotted by most of the western and Zionist controlled media and they just sufficed to publishing a small part of it. But this media octopus couldn't prevent the spread of this eternal message. According to the figures, within the first week after the issuance of this letter was published over 16 million times on Twitter and it was among the 22 top hashtags of the social networks. It was seen over half a million times on Press TV and 80 valid international sites have covered the news. It is interesting that it in North America it had the highest number of viewers and could push back the huge wave of Islamophobia launched by the western media. The American weekly magazine Business Week writes that Iran's leader has recognized the time properly. He has known well that sending this letter has been quite necessary after the Paris shootings and this shows his high awareness of the current developments.