Mohammad Javad Zarif Quotes
Extremism and terrorism are based on lack of hope and an ideology that takes advantage of that.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Interview, The Charlie Rose Show, July 19, 2017
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This statement of the Prophet is often quoted by Yusuf al-Qaradawi and other moderate, modernist Islamic clerics and leaders urging people to eschew terrorism and Muslim fundamentalist extremism.
He was one of the few Muslim political leaders who at that time called for reform of any aspect of Islam where reform and change are considered blasphemy and heresy by most Islamic theologians and clerics.
This quotation is often given by those who believe that nothing has really changed regarding the Arabs and non-Islamic Westerners in the last century. While the support of dictators, Israel and support for that democracy, the artificial Western imposed borders, 9-11, or the Iraq war is often cited as the cause of Arab hostility and murderous aggression, as this quotation demonstrates, the problems and attitudes and behaviors existed long before any of these occurred. The borders were not set until after WWI and all the other causes occurred almost 50 years later, Yet there was still the propensity for fanaticism and violence. Sikes actually was one of those who was to determine the Arab borders, making one of the first “suggested” maps of the area for the English.
Mohammad Javad Zarif is an Iranian career diplomat and academic. He has been foreign minister of Iran since 2013. During his tenure as foreign minister, he led the Iranian negotiation with P5+1 countries which produced the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on 14 July 2015, lifting the economic sanctions against Iran on 16 January 2016. On 25 February 2019, Zarif resigned from his post as foreign minister. His resignation was rejected by President Hassan Rouhani and he continues as foreign minister.
