Addressing the 'Muslim Ulema (religious scholars) and Islamic Awakening' conference here in Tehran today, Ayatollah Khamenei elaborated on the threats posed to the ongoing Islamic Awakening movement in the Islamic states, and cautioned that enemies' efforts to sow discord among Muslims to turn the Islamic Awakening movement into a bloody sectarian, religious, ethnic and nationalist confrontations is the greatest danger threatening the movement today.
"This plot, assisted by petro dollars and hired politicians, is seriously pursued by the western and Zionist spy agencies in East Asia to North Africa, specially in the Arab region, now," the Leader said.
The Leader added that the West and Israel, who see an integrated Muslim power as a an obstacle to the achievement of their devilish goals, spark rifts within the Islamic Ummah (community) as the easiest way to reach their objectives.
Stressing that enemies' involvement in the recent developments in the region can be seen very clearly, Ayatollah Khamenei cautioned that religious and political elites and scholars bear a "heavy responsibility" for defusing this plot.
The Leader noted that Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq and Lebanon are all among the Islamic states being threatened by this plot today.
Ayatollah Khamenei said the West and their western media allies have waged an intensive media campaign to portray the crisis in Syria as a conflict between Shiites and Sunnis, and added that the conflict is, in fact, between the supporters and opponents of resistance against Zionism.
He further noted the situation in Bahrain as another instance of the western states' propaganda campaign which seeks to portray the popular movement as a Shiite-Sunni conflict.
"In Bahrain, an oppressed majority, which has been deprived of the right of voting and other basic rights of a nation for long years, has risen to ask for its rights," the Leader said.
He called on Muslim scholars to think deeply about the situation in Bahrain, and asked, "Should this strife be seen as Shiite-Sunni clash only because the oppressed majority is Shiite and the secular and tyrannical government pretends to be Sunni?"
The 'Muslim Ulema (religious scholars) and Islamic Awakening' conference started work in Iran on Monday Ayatollah Khamenei.
The two-day conference is attended by over 500 Iranian and 200 foreign scholars.
The Islamic awakening in Muslim countries and the role of Muslim Ulema is among the topics to be discussed by participants in the conference.
