Promoting Islamic Lifestyle Helps Repel Cultural Invasion

Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei called on Iranian religious poets to help repulse “cultural invasion” waged by western countries against Iran by promoting Islamic lifestyle in their poems.

In a meeting with poets writing on religious issues in Tehran on Thursday, Ayatollah Khamenei said centers in Europe and US are working to change people’s lifestyles in non-western countries, particularly Iran.

“Countering this attack is not possible by only putting up fences. One could fulfill the [defensive] duty by explaining Islamic lifestyle and its moral, political and cultural values in poems,” Leader.ir quoted him as saying. The Leader has long warned about the cultural invasion waged by western powers, saying it aims to divest the Islamic Republic of its original content, Islamic values and revolutionary spirit.

Cultural invasion happens when a particular group tries to replace the culture and beliefs of the nation with new concepts to reap political or economic benefits.

It differs from cultural interchange, under which nations seek to enrich and develop their culture at their own will. Ayatollah Khamenei said religious poets can also work to promote Islamic guidelines regarding the need to fight oppression and hypocrisy.

“Fighting oppression is not limited to its physical form. In today’s world, publicity campaigns play a very important role, and oppressors can be fought by using the tool of poetry,” he said.