New Year Message from Mu`ammar al-Qadhafi
to World Rulers
(1975)
The people of the Earth, and even the angels of heaven have despaired of the meaningless exchange over hundreds of years of the greeting, "Happy New Year!" Every ruler repeats this greeting, and yet goes on striving to make the year one of misfortune, rather than happiness. Can we, therefore, stop for a moment to ponder some verses of the scriptures: The Qur'an, the Torah, and the Gospels?
The Qur'an says, "Assist one another in works of righteousness and piety, and assist not one another in works of wrongdoing and transgression." Let us remember how Christ reproached people because they forgot the word of God, and instead gave themselves to conceit. He upbraided the priests for their neglect of God's word and for their greed. He reproached the scribes for spreading false teachings, and for abandoning the law of God. All this he declared in his first sermon which he preached in Jerusalem.
Now because we are without a Christ to reproach the conceited, the greedy, those who propagate false teachings and those who oppose God's law, we must reproach one another for our sins. ... We must realize that we are far removed from the teachings of Christ, and are instead close to the teaching of Satan. The superpowers spend large sums on producing more nuclear bombs and the development of intercontinental missiles. They are engaged in the conquest of space and the spread of propaganda and psychological warfare, while the rest of the people of the globe suffer the scourges of disease, hunger, and rocketing inflation. In reality, these nations are guided by Satan and his scriptures and by the theories of Marx, and not by any holy scripture.
We are in great need of the teachings of Christ which would command us saying, "Lift your hands from Palestine, the birthplace of Christ (peace be upon him) from Ireland, Southeast Asia and your colonies in Africa!" How greatly in need is the world today of Christ, in order that it may turn away from bars and from vain pleasures on every Christmas and New Year. People should instead turn to houses of worship to offer prayers, seek God's forgiveness and reflect upon His law.
With season's greetings.
(Source: al-Sijill al-Qawmi, vol. 6, pp 174-5)