TEHRAN — Ali-Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, says scientific apartheid goes beyond university relations or ties among scientists; it is rooted in the international system, power relations, and how scientific and technological opportunities are distributed today.
In his message to the fifth International Conference of the Global Alliance Against Scientific Apartheid, held under the theme For Justice in Science and Technology in the New Global Order, Velayati said that during the years the country was under sanctions and war, scientists, researchers, and young people vigorously continued their scientific work and did not discontinue it.
In no other religion has as much emphasis been placed on acquiring knowledge, scholarship, and deep thinking as in Islam, he added.
Anyone who views religion and science as conflicting has no choice but to remain silent in the face of this volume of emphasis, since there is no sign of anti-science sentiment in Islamic sources or in the history of the emergence of this religion, he noted.
The scientific legacy of Iran and Islamic civilization serves as the foundation upon which today’s science rests.
As one of the most significant centers for the development of sciences such as algebra, trigonometry, and astronomy, Iran has conveyed these sciences to the world, including the West; science has moved from East to West, and today’s Western progress is based in the East, including Iran, the message reads.