raaknews-'It [=Transparency] is an important issue which Imam Ali (PBUH) has mentioned,' said Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in his Fiqh class on Monday, adding that some people are in the bad habit of attributing whatever good concept, including transparency, to the West.

'Some people's short-sightedness is really astonishing,' Ayatollah Khamenei added.

'When they don’t refer to the Islamic references, they perforce have to learn it from the West.'

He quoted Imam Ali's letter addressed to the authorities and military commanders as saying, 'Beware, that it is obligatory for you on me that I should not keep anything secret from you except during war.'

Imam Ali is a leading figure in both big sectors of Islam; he is the first Imam of the Shia Muslims and the fourth caliph of the Sunni Muslims.