Taking the man at his word
Caroline Glick reviews the actual content of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s speeches this week
At Columbia University, Ahmadinejad devoted the majority of his speech to a discussion of the role of science in human affairs…Speaking as “an academic,” Ahmadinejad said that from his perspective, the role of science is to serve Islam and that any science that does not serve Islamic goals is corrupt. As he put it, “Science is the light, and scientists must be pure and pious. If humanity achieves the highest level of physical and spiritual knowledge but its scholars and scientists are not pure, then this knowledge cannot serve the interests of humanity.” Elaborating on this notion, he argued that Western scientists serve corrupt governments who reject the pure and pious path of Islam and therefore are used as agents for corruption.
Tellingly, Ahmadinejad moved directly from his assault on non-Islamic scientists and regimes to a defense of Iran’s nuclear program. The message was clear: Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons is done in the name of Islam and therefore it is inherently legitimate. As far as he is concerned, refusing to allow Iran to pursue nuclear weapons is tantamount to an assault on God.
In his address at the UN, Ahmadinejad laid out his case for Islamic supremacy. He claimed that all of the world’s problems are the consequence of two things. First, by his reading of history, after the Second World War, “The victors of the war drew the road map for global domination and formulated their policies not on the basis of justice but for ensuring the interests of the victors over the vanquished nations.” The second cause for the world’s woes is the world powers’ rejection of Islam. As he put it, “The second and more important factor is some big powers’ disregard of morals, divine values, the teachings of prophets and instructions by the Almighty God… Unfortunately, they have put themselves in the position of God!”
Thankfully for Ahmadinejad, this “corrupted” world order will soon be swept away. Either the “corrupted” powers will “return from the path of arrogance and obedience to Satan to the path of faith in God,” or “the same calamities that befell the people of the distant past will befall them as well.” Concluding his UN remarks Ahmadinejad pledged, “Without any doubt, the Promised One who is the ultimate Savior… will come. In the company of all believers, justice-seekers and benefactors, he will establish a bright future and fill the world with justice and beauty. This is the promise of God; therefore it will be fulfilled.“
Ahmadinejad said: “Science is the light, and scientists must be pure and pious. If humanity achieves the highest level of physical and spiritual knowledge but its scholars and scientists are not pure, then this knowledge cannot serve the interests of humanity.” When we heard it, we took that passage possibly to mean that Iran’s nuclear plans were coming up a little short, and Ahmadinejad wanted to do some recruiting in the US and around the world for pious scientists to help out back in Iran. One can hope they are having such problems, yes?