Two Parallel Developments in Islamic History: Corrupt and Ruthless Hypocrites Rulers and an Authentic Shi’a Movement
By Mansoureh Tajik for the Saker Blog
Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim, “In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
I contemplated at length how to frame, what to include in, and what to exclude from the final installments of the essay series that have explored the foundation of Iran’s system of governance –anchored in the concepts of Imamat and Wilayat in Shi’a Islam. I hope to bring the series to a conclusion in such a way that the significance and urgent role of this system in contemporary politics are conveyed much more explicitly than before. Taking shortcuts in explaining complex subjects is unproductive for certain but so is protracted renditions. A rock || moi || A hard place.
In any case, I would conceptualize the crux of this and previous six articles (see Here1, Here2, Here3, Here4, Here5, and Here6) as follows: these articles revolve around two of the most vexing questions in all human societies: the question of direction and the question of leadership. That is, what direction are we as collectives, nations, or communes (not merely as individuals) taking in our lives? And, who are those best qualified, based on proven and honest records, to choose to lead us in that direction?
Embedded in the question of social direction is matters of collective vision, collective goals and sound strategies to achieve the goals and realize the vision. For true Muslim believers – as it is the case with other true believers in God and the Hereafter – our collective vision and goals are not limited to this material world but extend beyond “Here” well into the “Hereafter” and our horizon is quite limitless. Thus, our direction as well as our leaders must have the capacity and be fit to fulfill the tasks of the Here and the Hereafter both. For non-believers of the Hereafter, well, they could define the direction of their evolution and the quality of their leaders as they see fit so long as what and how they fulfill their goals do not create a public nuisance and limit our ability to realize our goals and vision as well.
As I have mentioned in previous installments, for Shi’a Muslims, the relationship of leadership and direction with the collective (society of people), that is, the relationship of Wilayat and Imamat with Ummat, is not a linear, top-down, leader-follower arrangement but a mutually-supportive interaction based on authentic and sincere submission to Will of God by both the leader and the followers on earth.
Teachings of Quran make our strategy quite clear: the strategy is I-Sirat al-Mustaqim, the Straight Path (attributes of the Straight Path are well defined within Quran). So, too, is the qualifications of leadership or those whom we must choose to guide us strategically and lead us in that Path. Specific Verses of Quran explicitly define and describe them as: Alladhina an’amta alayhim, “those upon whom God has bestowed His Favor.” Many verses throughout Quran describe their characteristics and we are able to identify them with their deeds and behavior. The sort of people we must avoid and reject as our leaders is also spelled out. They are of two types: 1) Al-Maqdhubi ‘alayhim, those who have earned God’s Wrath; and 2) I-Dhallin, those who have gone astray.[1] Again, many verses of Quran and examples describe the sort of people who have earned God’s Wrath and the sort who have gone astray.
Imam Ali (Allayhu-Salaam) had a proven record of someone “upon whom God had bestowed His Favor.” However, a majority among Muslims, dazzled by excesses and worldly fluff and stuff, abandoned him to their own detriment. Immediately after his martyrdom on the 21st of holy month of Ramadan, year 40 HQ [661 AD], that majority turned its back to Imam Hasan (AS), another one of Alladhina an’amta alayhim [those upon whom God had bestowed His Favor] and entrusted their fate and affairs instead to a coalition of 1+1: Al-Maqdhubi ‘alayhim [those who have earned God’s Wrath] + I-Dhallin [those who had gone astray]. Outstanding hypocrites ruled, clueless useful idiots aided, abetted, and cheered; safety-seekers remained silent.
Throughout Islam’s history, hypocrites, no matter in what clothing they have appeared, be they attired in khalifah garbs, or clerics robes, or checkered suits, or black onyx cufflinks, are those who clearly and unambiguously violated God’s commands while claiming to be adherents to His Order. Hypocrites are indeed top contenders on a list of those who earn God’s Wrath.[2]
From the martyrdom of Imam Ali (AS) onward, we observe two chronologically parallel but cardinally divergent developments in Islam. One relates to the establishment of ruthless, corrupt, and transgressing regimes and dynasties decorated with hypocrisy and armed with oppression under the rubric of Islam, the religion that expressly forbids and categorically rejects both hypocrisy and oppression.
The other is the formation of a Shi’a Nihzat or movement guided and successively led by eleven Imams succeeding Imam Ali (AS) and faqihs, as informed and pious surrogates, according to Shi’a Twelve-Imami. The Shi’a Nihzat (movement) has aimed to accomplish two major tasks: 1) Prevent deviance in Islam and teachings of Quran; and 2) To return the leadership of Muslim Ummah to the rightful Wali or Imam, the last of whom is Imam Mahdi (Allayhu-Salaam wa Salawaat). And the latter task is not accomplish until and unless a given condition is fulfilled:
“For sure, God does not change the condition of any people/nation unless and until they change their own conditions.” Quran, Surah (Ra’ad), Verse 11:12-21.
The lessons from the above verse for case examples used in this essay series are twofold: One is that people must change that which is within them related to their Nafs that makes them such dimwits and so vulnerable to manipulation and hypocrisy, and the other is for people themselves to take practical and sound steps (i.e. not wait for others to do things for them) to reform their own condition. Otherwise, even if a thousand wise, pious, and infallible imams are sent by God for every generation, they would all be killed and people would remain none the wiser.
We briefly examine the two developments in Islam in this essay.
Hypocrisy, Oppression, and Aggression under Rubric of Islam
Several corrupt dynasties ruled over Muslim lands under the rubric of Islam using ideologies, methods, and tools that were exactly opposite of what Islam had come to dismantle and eradicate. Some of the most notable and well-known among those dynasties are Bani Umayyah, Bani Abbas, Fatimi, and Ottomans. Each dynasty outdid the works of its predecessors and peers in dishonesty and malfeasance.
Ayatullah Khamenei referenced these rulers in an address to a public audience from various segments of the Iranian society as follows:
“Over twelve, thirteen centuries, in this very Islamic world, rulers came to power who would invoke the name of the great Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Allihi Wasallam) with such augustness; they claimed themselves to be khalifah of the Prophet (SAWAW)! If someone would dare to tell them, ‘you are NOT the khalifah of the Prophet,’ they would go so far as to kill him. They would say, ‘we are the khalifah of the Prophet!’ This was the case from Bani Umayyah khalifahs to Bani Abbas khalifahs who ruled between five to six hundred years to Fatimi khalifahs in Egypt and North Africa, and later the Ottomans who ruled up until this World War I in Asia Minor – that is the current Turkey where the capital of their rule was, and all these Arab countries were almost completely under their rule.”
“All of them called themselves the khalifahs of the Prophet. Some went even a step further and call themselves khalifatullah! ‘We are God’s khalifahs! We are a substitute for God!’ But what were their deeds and conduct? Their deeds were along the same exact line as ruthless and unjust kings who had been there before them or those who were their contemporaries at some other corner of the world. After them and to this date, these sorts of rulers have existed all over the world. In name, it was khilafat of the Prophet (SAWAW) but in deeds, conduct, and behavior, it was something else entirely. Who exactly were these people? What would be an appropriate name for them? Hypocrites. That is someone who claims something, who promises one thing, who raises the flag of something, but in his behavior, in his deed and in his path, he does not see himself bound to and responsible for that promise. This is how one becomes a hypocrite.”
“Do we want to become like this? Do we want to hold up Alawi [pertaining to Imam Ali] flag of Wilayat and the flag of the rule of Ali, and in the name of following the path of Amir al-Mu’minin but align our rules, pair up our governance with schools of thought that are completely opposite and a hundred percent antagonistic to Ali’s path, Ali’s thought, and Amir al-Mu’minin’s logic?! Well, some deviate a hundred percent [from Ali’s path], some ninety percent and some eighty percent and for some, the very foundation of their work is something entirely different. Therefore, we, more than anyone else, must be duty-bound to know and understand Ali’s model and standards and set those as our benchmark.”[3, 4]
I would like to pause and reiterate a point which is obvious but cannot be emphasized enough: The Leader’s statement here and elsewhere referencing historical events are not meant to merely reminisce history but to also serve as warnings and words of caution, here and now, to people and the government officials in Iran (and anywhere else in the Shi’a world where his words and speeches carry weight and have currency). He alerts us to be cautious, to be constantly mindful and vigilant in order not to deviate from the path of Imam Ali (AS) and Ahl-ul-Bayt (Pure Household of the Prophet) while claiming to be Shi’a, followers of Imam Ali.
History books are replete with examples of wickedness these dynasties and khalifahs brought upon Muslims and other people. Their conducts against the Pure Household of the Prophet (SAWAW) and the Shi’a are exceptionally brutal since they viewed the Shi’a as the greatest threat to their legitimacy. Why? Because the greatest threat to hypocrites are those who also know the teachings very well and are not afraid to stand up, make other people aware, and take action.
We review a few case examples from the most well-known khalifahs and their modus operandi.
Bani Umayyah. After the martyrdom of Imam Ali (AS), Muawiah made excellent use of bereavement-shock moment and tightened his grip on power and solidified his position as khalifah. He expanded Umayyad dynasty’s control and announced himself to be the khalifah. These changes occurred, of course, with the help of none other than some of those who claimed to have the companionship of the Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Allihi Wasallam) as their most significant credentials. Well, if mere companionship could have fundamentally changed the nature of beings, what wealth we could have gained by simply putting metal craps next to gold bars.
We could divide the rest of the Muslim population into three general categories: 1) those who were seduced, bribed, and coopted using silver, gold, status, and material comfort; 2) those who were bullied and intimidated by means of violence and brutality into submission; and 3) those who fought and resisted, sometimes overtly and sometimes covertly, to continue the path of Imam Ali (AS), that is, the Shi’a and Shi’a-influenced Sunni schools of thought (e.g., Hanafi, Hanbali, etc.), or the Shi’a leaders and activists.
Umayyad dynasty lasted for 88 years (from 662 AD to 750 AD) and its rulers followed a dual-containment policy: within the Islamic territories, the rulers crushed uprisings and dissent by Muslims, particularly but not exclusively the Shi’a believers, and outside these territories, they attacked various nations and captured their territories from central Asia to Africa, looted their wealth and used inhumane and brutal means to keep the local populations subdued and their own treasuries overflowing with spoils of unjust wars of aggression. These are textbook behavior of ruthless rulers in human history in the West or the East. Nothing out of ordinary and nothing unique and exceptional. So, progenies of Romans, Westerns, and Crusading cultures living in glass houses, please refrain from throwing stones at Muslims.
Since these khalifahs rightfully perceived our Imams and their true followers, the Shi’a, a serious threat to their legitimacy and an obstacle to their impunity to do whatever, wherever, and to whomever in the name of Islam, they elevated harassment and killing of the Imams and their followers to an art form. House arrests, near-complete surveillance of the Imams and identification and killing of anyone they suspected to be a follower, poising and killing of one Imam after another are only a few examples of the path they took. Except for the third Imam, Imam Hussain (AS) and his companions who were martyred in Karbala on the day of Ashura (about this, I have written in the past), the second Imam, Imam Hasan Mujtaba (AS), the fourth Imam, Imam Sajjad, and the fifth Imam, Imam Muhammad Baqir were all poisoned and martyred under the order of Umayyad rulers.
At the same time, Umayyads went about transgressing against other people and acquiring lands and territories in the name of Islam. They led astray the hearts and minds of the majority of the Muslim population who were ignorant about true essence and spirit of Islam and Quran and deceived them into thinking that they were actually expanding Islam and Quran, in teachings of which end never ever justifies the means and eternal damnation is the consequence of their transgressing and oppressive behavior.
In 91 HQ (710 AD), when Umayyad army reached Taliqan (a city currently in northeastern part of current Afghanistan), “They began fighting the people and killed masses. They formed a queue 4 Farsakh of one long line of people and killed them all.”[5] Farsakh is from Persian word Farsang which is a unit to measure distance (equal to 4.8 kilometer) and is defined as “the distance a horse would walk in an hour.”[6]
In capturing Gorgan, Tabari writes, “In the war with Gorgan and Behshar, the Iranians asked them for amnesty under the condition they do not kill. They were granted amnesty. However, when the city collapsed and the victors entered the city, they killed everyone except for one.”[5] Tabari further writes about Yazid Ibn Mihlab, one of the commanders in that war,
“Yazid [Ibn Mihlab] had sworn to kill from the people of the region so many and spill so much of their bloods that one could turn a wheat mill with which he could turn wheat into flour from which they would cook bread to eat. If this did not happen, then he would not be known to have fulfilled his pledge.”[7]
Above examples are extracted directly from books and sources well-accepted by our Sunni brothers. What might appear quite puzzling though is this: what happened that most Muslims went along with these vile abominations of the so-called khalifahs? They had the Quran before them. They still had examples of the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAWAW) before them. How could they have possibly deviated so severely and so quickly? Put it differently, how did these khalifahs succeed in legitimating themselves before the people?
One of the most effective soft weapons used by Mu’aviah and Bani Ummayah rulers to legitimize their position and subjugate the majority of Muslims was fatalism. Their propaganda machine worked non-stop to promote the idea that everything that happens to humans and their societies (good and bad) are God’s Will and determination, there is no way out of it, and efforts to counter it is tantamount to going against the Will of God.
Mu’aviah and his successors selectively picked verses of Quran and self-servingly interpreted out of context, fabricated hadith and sayings and attributed those to Prophet Muhammad (SAWAW) to induce this idea that their reign and everything they do is nothing but God’s Will and determination and one should not oppose God’s Will and this fate. Any protest, uprising, and opposition to their rules was billed as opposing God’s Will and those who did so were deemed to have committed a grave sin and must be killed.
Qaemi & Sadeqi, two contemporary scholars of culture and history of Islam, examine the role Bani Ummayah played in spreading fatalism and determinism among Muslims. Narrating a scene recorded by Muslim historian, Ibn al-Athir, they explain,
“When Yazid witnessed the decapitated head of Hazrat Aba Abdullah (AS) [i.e. Imam Hussain (AS)] in front of him, he turned to the crowd and said, ‘Do you know why Hussain has fallen into this condition while his ancestor and mother were better than my ancestor and mother? Because Hussain had not read this verse from Quran: ‘Say, O Allah! The Master of the kingdom, You give the kingdom to whom You Will, and You take the kingdom away from whom You Will, and You give honor to whom You Will, and You humiliate whom You Will. In Your Hands is all the virtue. Surely, You have power over all things.’[8]
“With this, Yezid was stating that if Imam Hussain (AS) had read this verse, he would not have led and uprising against his rule because ‘this position and power has been granted to me by God and it has been God’s Will that I reach the position of khilafat over Muslims. Therefore, Hussain Ibn Ali went against this verse in Quran and God’s Will. His killing is therefore rightful and necessary not based on my decision but based in God’s Command and Will.’”[9]
A sick and twisted cabal. A tragic outcome for humanity. May God curse all those who knowingly and deliberately distorted His Commands and paved the way for the martyrdom of Sayyd-u-Shohada (The Master of all Martyrs). Amen.
As stated, Bani Ummayah dynasty ruled for 88 years. A historical note for those interested in the history of Byzantine, the first siege of Constantinople (674-678 AD) and the second siege of Constantinople (717-718 AD) both occurred during Bani Ummayah. This dynasty was dismantled and its army was defeated by Behzadan Pour Vandad, nicknamed Abu Muslim Khorasani, an Iranian commander and leader of a fierce and active militia group, Siaah Jamegan [Black Attired], apparently fighting against injustices and atrocities of Bani Ummayah rulers. However, his efforts amounted to replacing one corrupt and ferocious dynasty and hypocrite rulers with another, the Abbasid khalifahs.
Once again, a coalition of 1+1: Al-Maqdhubi ‘alayhim [those who have earned God’s Wrath] + I-Dhallin [those who had gone astray] gave way to another coalition of similar nature. Outstanding hypocrites ruled, clueless useful idiots aided, abetted, and cheered; safety-seekers remained silent.
Abbasids. This dynasty, succeeded Bani Ummayah and ruled for 764 years from 750 to 1517 AD with a 3-year gap from 1258-1261 AD. Within about one hundred years of their rule (dubbed as the 1st Abbasid Era or the Golden Era), six Imams of Shi’a Twelve-Imami were martyred by the order of Abbasid rulers and attempts at assassinating the 12th Imam, Imam Mahdi (AS) were unsuccessful and his occultation, the Minor Occultation and the Major Occultation, both occurred during the rule of Al-Mu’tamid Abbasid.
Abbasids came to power with the help of the Iranian fighters in Khorasan. However, immediately after solidifying their position, they killed one after another of the key figures who had helped them come to power. Very quickly, multiple uprisings and revolts erupted there and elsewhere against Abbasid. Factors that contributed to these uprisings included Iranians’ outrage with how the members of the household of the Prophet (SAWAW) had been treated, oppressive rules and corruptions that continued during the Abbasids, killing of Abu Muslim under the order of khalifah, nationalistic sentiments, and forceful confiscation of people’s land and possession by corrupt local rulers among other factors.
The 2nd Abbasid Era was replete with more corruption, more revolts, additional forced extraction of ever-increasing taxes, inter-fiefdom fights and lootings, wasteful and luxury living, depravity, and more by the elites. From without, forty years of sustained attacks by Mongol tribes led to a dismantled power in Bagdad in the hands of Hulagu Khan. During the 3rd Abbasid Era, Abbasid khalifahs were only a figurehead controlled and manipulated by the sultan du jour.
Ottomans. The rulers of Ottoman dynasty are the most well-known to the readers of this blog. I do not wish to take a superficial and uncritical look at how Ottomans ruled nor would I care to have a “revolutionary” look at Ottomans’ geostrategic role in global commerce, nor how in Sultan Selim, Sultan Erdogan might find inspirations for a neo-Ottoman resurgence. For that, you could refer to a couple of other articles in this very blog or elsewhere in mainstream history books.
For the purpose of the overall theme of this essay series though, I would like to present examples that expose the hypocrisies of the Ottomans with respect to Islam, Muslims, and teachings of Quran. In other words, I aim to expose the old coalition of 1+1: Al-Maqdhubi ‘alayhim [those who have earned God’s Wrath] + I-Dhallin [those who had gone astray] and demonstrate how once again outstanding hypocrites ruled and clueless useful idiots aided, abetted, and cheered in the name of Islam. Why? Because unless people, not all but a good majority of them, if they are not hit over the head over and over again with these hard facts, if they are not forced to take a sober and critical look at history, they are bound to follow yet another megalomaniac neo-crackpot hypocrite leader in the name of Islam heading straight to hell of their own making.
The Ottomans gained power and control of territories mainly due to three factors: 1) their fierce and ruthless militarism, 2) weakened and discombobulated Seljuqi and Kharazmshahi powers due to internal corruption and feuds and external attacks by Mongol tribes to their east; and 3) severely weakened Byzantine Empire due to the Crusades, internal divisions and civil wars, attacks by Seljuqi, abandonment by other Christian factions to their west, among other factors. So, the Ottomans seized the moment, took territories from their east, west, north, and south one segment at a time, and ruled for 623 years from 1299 to 1922 AD.
As an example, in 1452 AD, Sultan Mehmet II captured Constantinople and entered into the great Orthodox Church, Hagia Sophia. This church was an important place of worship and religious significance to great many Christians. Had he been an authentic follower of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (SAWAW), he should have respected, preserved, and, in case of any damages, repaired the damages, and finally returned the custody of this place of worship to its rightful Christian custodians.
“If it were not for Allah’s repelling some people by others, certainly synagogues, churches, mosques, and places where God’s name is commemorated frequently, would have been destroyed. Most certainly, Allah will support those who support His cause. Most surely, God is Powerful, Alighty.” Quran, Chapter 22 (Hajj), Verse 40: 12-35.
Sultan Mehmet, instead, went against the teachings of Quran and Sunnah of the Prophet (SAWAW) and expropriated the church. The hypocrites of the East cloaked in khalifah attire were trying to make grand symbolic gestures to the crusaders of the West. The two spoke the same language and understood each other rather well. Birds of a feather…
I must also add a note here that the Ottomans were not even that good a strategic thinkers. They lacked foresight even with worldly matters of power and long-term control. Otherwise, instead of expropriating Hagia Sophia, they could have helped and supported the church as an independent center of influence in the world of Christians. Their motive in doing so would have of course gone beyond obeying God’s Command to obtain His Satisfaction which is considered shirk. I am just saying that they were not that good a long-term strategic thinkers by worldly standards and measures either.
In any case, as believers in Islam and teachings of Quran, those teachings are the only legitimate golden standards based on which Muslims must measure the conducts of those in charge of their leadership, any time, any place, and in any event.
Another example from the Ottomans concerns an abhorrent practice they made into law with respect to the family members. In “Canon of brother-killing by Sultan Mehmet the mechanisms of executing family members,” the historian Imami Khoei writes:
“In general, many of those who seized power and ruled over people anywhere in the world believed their reign to be a holy duty bestowed upon their family by God and after their death, the power would be transferred to another member of their family. This was the fate determined by God. Any member of that family could, therefore, use any means to seize that power and there would not be any issue in the way of their legitimacy. As such, after a ruler’s death, conflict among his potential successors would lead to disintegration of power and territory. Sultan Mehmet made into a law this policy that after his death any Ottoman progeny succeeding him had the right to kill his brothers in order to ensure a cohesive Islamic system. It was based on this rule that killing brothers became a law [not just a tradition] among Ottoman rulers for a long time.”[11]
Alas. Backlash and objections to the above law during the reign of Mehmet III in 17th Century led to an abolishment of that law. However, that law was replaced with another one that allowed for imprisonment of family members for life in a secluded area called “cage”[11] until the time of their natural or mysterious death. A thorn by any other name is still a transgressing prick.
“The killing of one person, who did not commit murder or vast corruption, is the same as killing of all human beings; and the saving of one life is the same as the saving of lives of all human beings. Indeed, Our Messengers went to them with profound Messages but most of them continued to transgress.” Quran, Chapter 5 (Maidah), Verse 32:9-40.
Another Ottoman ruler who is Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s role model, Sultan Salim, killed his two older brothers and sent his ill father (Bayezid II) on a long journey to exile to have removed him as an obstacle to his rule. His father suffered a painful death before reaching his destination. Sultan Salim, as someone who called himself khalifah and a champion to defend Islam, took to heart the following Verses in Quran and led Muslims by example:
“And We have enjoined on man to be dutiful and kind to his parents.” Quran, Surah 46 (Ahqaf), Verse 15:1-4.
“And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him. And that you be dutiful and kind to your parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age in your life, do not say to them any word of disrespect, nor shout at them but address them kindly and with honor.” Quran, Surah 17 (Isra), Verse 24.
“Worship Allah and do not put anyone besides Him in worship. And do good to your parents, your kinsfolk, orphans, the homebound poor, the neighbor who is near of kin, the neighbor who is a stranger, the companion by your side, the wayfarer, and those whom your right hands possess. Surely, Allah does not like those who are arrogant and boastful.” Quran, Surah 4 (Nisa), Verse 36.
“And We have enjoined on man to be dutiful and kind to his parents. His mother bore him in weakness and hardship upon weakness and hardship, and his weaning is in two years. Give thanks to Me and to your parents. To Me is the final return.” Quran, Surah 31 (Luqman), Verse 14.
“And remember when We took a covenant from the Children of Israel, (saying): ‘Worship none but Allah and be dutiful and kind to your parents, and to your kinfolk, and to orphans and the homebound poor, and speak kindly to people, and establish the Salaat prayer, and give Zakat.’ Then, you turned back except for a few of you. Most of you are backsliders.” Quran, Surah 2 (Baqarah), Verse 83.
Having ardently embraced Quran’s teachings with respect to his parents and family members, Sultan Selim prompted Sunni muftis to pronounce Shi’a Muslims as corrupt infidels killing of whom became a religious duty. In a short span of time, he massacred more than 40,000 Shi’a in Ottoman territories.[12, 13] Sultan Salim also made direct military confrontation with Safavid dynasty into a long-term policy of the Ottomans against Shi’a Iran that continued on well into the nineteenth century.
I could write tens of essay each containing numerous case examples from history that clearly demonstrate how half-wits with dreams of world domination invoked the name of Islam (and other true religions of God for that matter) to deceive the masses in order to further their worldly aims. I could also bring equal number of examples or more from other religions of God. But for those who are willing to listen and pay attention, a few is enough. For those who are not willing to listen, even thousands of such examples fall on deaf ears. One fact remains constant though:
“For sure, God does not change the condition of any people/nation unless and until they change their own conditions.” Quran, Surah (Ra’ad), Verse 11:12-21.
Our lesson here is twofold: One, people must change that which is within them and makes them so vulnerable to manipulation and propels them to become cheerleaders of hypocrisy. Two, people must take practical and sound steps to reform their own condition. Some one hundred twenty four thousands Prophets of God and eleven pious Imams later, in one side of the world, there are still people who gather to cheer a hypocrite whose role model is another criminal hypocrite with genocidal tendencies in the name of Islam. In the other side of the world, a half-drunk gamblers and depraved casino owners become the champions of the Christian right and demented and corrupt pedophiles become the guardians of the liberal left, whatever that means. And in the middle of the two sits a people who have not decided whether they are a race, a tribe, a religion, or whatever but they know for a fact they are the “chosen ones” entitled to everything and anything the material world can give them.
Shi’a Nihzat [Movement]
Let’s journey forward in time before we take a trip back again. About a month before the victory of the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979, when Imam Khomeini was in exile and temporarily residing in Neauphle-le-Château, an Italian reporter asked Imam during an interview the following question:
“In an Islamic society, which social organs must guarantee political decision making and equality among individuals and prevent a dominating-dominated relationship among people and similarly control those who make decisions within the system? Our historical experience teaches us that people’s power is enacted through a parliament and even if the parliament is elected freely, its power is limited and wanes.”
I do not intend to discuss the number of unquestioned assumptions the question packed. Imam Khomeini’s answer is what I wish to highlight. We must remember that the exchange occurred more than 42 light years away and around the time God had been declared dead by the west, as discussed in previous essays, and the West and the East were both sailing the oceans in Titanic and shouting, “I am the king of the world.”
To the Italian reporter, Imam Khomeini answered:
“In today’s world, which is said to be an industrial world, the leaders of thought want to manage human societies like a big industrial factory whereas societies are built by humans who have spiritual dimensions and ever-evolving esoteric souls. Islam, with its rules and regulations for social, economic, and other aspects, is founded on human development contingent upon a belief in God. In guiding the society, therefore, it guides the humanity toward excellence and happiness from this given direction. If belief in God and performing deeds to gain God’s satisfaction and His satisfaction alone entered into all aspects of social, political, economic, and other dimensions of human life, then the most complex problems of today’s world would be easily solved. Today’s world is trapped in this dead-end path and still refuses to accept the guidance of the Prophets of God (Peace be upon them). Eventually though, the humanity has no other way out but to surrender.”[14]
It appears the reporter’s mind was caught up in mental battles that limited his vision. The trees were preventing him from seeing the forest. Imam Khomeini’s response was meant to liberate the poor reporter’s mind from short-term tactics and expand his horizon with a sound strategy. The follow-up question the reporter asked shows how Imam’s response went way over the reporter’s head. He asked,
“In what ways do you think it is possible to decentralize economic power not only between the poor and the rich but even among different classes of production like workers and managers?”
The reporter must have been thinking he was interviewing Marx, Lenin, or someone like them. To that question Imam responded,
<blockquote> “A society without God and without belief in God and without deeds for the cause of God becomes so entangled with relationship problems between workers and proprietors that even when it attempts to solve a problem, it creates even a bigger problem in solving which, it sees itself in a dead end! In a society, if things get established and evaluated based on the standards of Islam and true belief, then such problems would not emerge.” </blockquote>
(To be continued, God Willing.)
References
[1] Quran Karim, Chapter 1 (Fatihah), Verse 6-7: “Guide us to the Straight Path. The Path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have earned Your Wrath, nor of those who have gone astray.”
[2] Khatibi A (1391). “Comparative study of criteria for social classification and three first Surah in Al-Quran Al-Karim.” Quarterly of Interdisciplinary Quranic Studies, 3rd Year, No. 1, Spring/Summer ’91, Pages 55-80.
[3] Sayyed Ali Khamenei. “The Opposition of Claims with Conducts in Bani Ummayyah, Bani Abbas, Fatimi, and Ottoman Khalifahs.’”1381/6/30 [Sept. 21, 2002]. Accessed online at: https://farsi.khamenei.ir/newspart-index?tid=1523
[4] Sayyed Ali Khamenei. “Public speech in visits from various segments of the society” delivered on 1381/6/30 [Sept. 21, 2002]. Accessed online at: https://farsi.khamenei.ir/speech-content?id=3144
[5] Muhammad Ibn Jarir Tabari (224-301 HQ). Tariq al-Rusol wa al-Muluk [The History of the Prophet and the Kings]. Vol. 6, Pages 447. School of Fiqahat Online Library. Available online at: http://lib.eshia.ir/86659/6/447
[6] “Sizes: Farsakh or Farsang.” Accessed online on April 11, 2021, at: https://www.sizes.com/units/farsakh.htm
[7] Muhammad Ibn Jarir Tabari (224-301 HQ). Tariq al-Rusol wa al-Muluk [The History of the Prophet and the Kings]. Vol. 6, Pages 447. School of Fiqahat Online Library. Available online at: http://lib.eshia.ir/86659/6/541
[8] Quran al-Karim, Chapter 3 (Al-Imran), Verse 26.
[9] Qaemi SR & Sadeqi H (1391). “The Role of Bani Ummayah Rulers in Promoting Determinism Thoughts.” Quarterly Journal of the History of Islamic Culture and Civilization, Spring 2012, Vol. 3, No. 6, Pages 121-138.
[10] Imami Khoei MT (1387). “Canon of brother-killing by Sultan Mehmet the mechanisms of executing family members.” College of Literature and Social Sciences, Tehran University; No. 185, Pages 23-35.
[12] Sadeqi MH & Hazrati H (1395). “Politico-Religious Conflict between the Ottoman and Safavid rulers.” Journal for the History of Islamic Civilization, Vol. 49, No. 1, Spring & Summer 2016.
[13] Ramezani R. (1391). “Iran’s Foreign Relations from Safavid to Nader Shah with an Emphasis on Safavid-Ottoman Relations.” Biennial Journal of Foreign Relations, Fall/Winter Issues, No. 52 & 53, Pages 37-62.
[14] Imam Ruhullah Khomeini, Sahifeh Imam. Vol. 5, Page 410, Accessed online March 21, 2021, at: www.imam-khomeini.ir/fa/C207_41969/
“..Siaah Jamegan [Black Attired], apparently fighting against injustices and atrocities of Bani Ummayah rulers. However, his efforts amounted to replacing one corrupt and ferocious dynasty and hypocrite rulers with another, the Abbasid khalifahs.”
Abu Muslim, and then Taher, twice did Iranians hold the power of life and death over the early Caliphate. And yet, so thorough was the Islamic brainwashing, that they actually believed that these Arab heathen Kings were the Khalifeh or representative of God on Earth.
Taher Dhul-Yaminayn was a good man, he would have been a good King, bless his soul. But he was told his whole life that as an Ajam (Arab derogatory term for Iranians, like nigger in modern USA), he was racially inferior to the Arab masters for one, and either way, he could never rule in the place of God-chosen Caliphs like the utterly corrupt al-Mamun, the alleged murderer of Ali ibn Musa al-Reza.
It is funny that a bunch of corrupt heathens were able to hijack Allah’s empire, immediately after it was created, what with Allah being omnipotent and all.
The Arab Conquest remains one of the most damaging episodes of Iranian history. Iran is very close to shedding the yoke of Islam today, with the great majority of people being educated now.
Nobody can claim today that the Quran is the “best” book in the world. I challenge the author to provide one piece of knowledge derived from the Quran which will be so profound as to shock an educated person today.
Compared to the poetry of Rumi and Khayyam, and the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, the Quran reads like it was written by semi-literate desert Arabs.
If the Quran could have competed with other books of the time, the Arabs would have never burned every single book in Iran. Not a single book in Iran survived the Arab book burnings.
The Arabs set Iran back a thousand years by destroying all knowledge, told Iranians they were racially inferior, and then touted the Quran as the solution to all their problems. Problems which were all caused by the Arab Conquest, and still haven’t been solved 1400 years later.
If the Resistance is successful today, it is because of Iranian culture and the Iranian spirit, not because of Islam. Otherwise, why are all the other Islamic countries in the world such backwards hell holes, and all allied with the Great Satan?
Breathlessly waiting for a great revelation from the Quran, Mansoureh. Go ahead, convert me, like your ancestors converted mine.
The message of the Quran is both simple and timeless. It is no less profound now than it was then, but it is not unique. It is the message of all the prophets. Do good works, encourage others to truthfulness, and encourage others to patience. Be good, kindhearted, and peaceful.
This message can be elaborated upon. Islam provides a good template of how to establish justice and develop smooth relations among the peoples. This is all. It is a shame that it has also often been subverted, like so many others.
It is unfair to speak ill of the Quran. Taken in context with true Hadith, there is no question about its beauty and truthfulness.
What is there to convert you to? What is it we’re talking about? We have been given life on this beautiful planet, is there not beauty in it? Aren’t you grateful for it? Can’t we see that humanity is at war with itself? Isn’t it obvious that if we followed this advice we would have peace? (Making ourselves servants of God and each other, living peacefully and gratefully, tending to and caring for Gods creation, serving humbly, establishing justice, caring for the sick and the needy, and doing all these things we have been advised to do.) Is there any doubt about it?
No, Khomeini is correct, mankind has no choice but to surrender. Following God’s good advice isn’t a matter of wrote obedience, it is a matter of common sense. Until we as a species recognize that the prophets have been advising us in wisdom all along, mankind’s suffering will continue, and that suffering will remain entirely our fault. We have been advised wisely, but we have ignored it.
Hence, the constant refrain of the prophets: “Repent! Beg for forgiveness and place your hope in the mercy of God!”
For God has been trying to teach us wisdom this whole time. If only we listened, the earth would instantly be transformed into a peaceful and abundant place. Instead we have been stubborn and selfish and we have destroyed this creation.
We have forsaken our duty to be stewards of the planet, and we have lived lavish lifestyles. While the masses in the global south have suffered and labored, we have turned our eyes away from our nation’s roles in exploiting them. We have watched our TV programs and eaten our fill. We have chased or own good pleasure at the expense of the health of the people and the planet, and most of all we have forsaken the one who created us.
We must turn back to God, repent, and become humble servants. Our hope is in the great mercy of God, that He might save us from our own destruction which would surely occur at our own hands, were we left to our folly. It will take a miracle to save us at this point. So I say once more, our only hope is to repent, to beg God for help and mercy, and to pray that he might save us.
What more can anyone say on this topic? There is no longer any reason to be confused on this point. I don’t really care which prophet you follow, they all said the same thing, in essence. The point is, they’re all clear about the message. If you get it, then you’re good. If you’re still missing this, then what else can be said?
Convert to what? Common sense? That’s it. We’re just talking about common sense at this point.
Wise words, Eddison Flame.
Iran was already a monotheistic nation. A beacon of truth and justice, fighting the treacheries of Roman Imperialism, and very often defeating them. Iranians were a noble and highly civilized people on the eve of the Arab Conquest.
My question to you is, why should I, or any Iranian, follow the religion of the Arabs who raped and killed possibly up to millions of my people? Why did they have to rape? Why did they have to burn _all_ of our books? They claimed at the time that their God told them to do so. Thus, naturally, I do not respect their God.
The God who orders innocent women to be raped is the one we call Ahriman, aka Satan. He also orders books to be burned. When the Arabs invaded Iran, Satan invaded Iran, as the Magi warned, before the Arabs murdered them all.
Have you ever read the works of the ancient Greek philosophers? There is spectacular wisdom in their words. Have you heard the poetry of the Persian poets? Unimaginable eloquence coupled with otherworldly wisdom. Have you read the works of the ancient Hindus? Knowledge imparted by the ton.
I am asking for some words from the Quran that contain spectacular wisdom, which can rival the wisdom of the ancient Greeks, Persians and Hindus. I am looking for profound knowledge. Your reply does not meet the criteria. If you are an advocate of the Best Book, quote a passage from your God in this public forum, so all can judge its merits openly without fear of the Muslims’ swords hanging over their necks.
At least the Christians did not burn all the books of the Greeks. Where would the world be today if they had? How many books of Persian Plato-like writers were lost forever in the Arab book purges?
Islam brought untold suffering on the Iranian people for 1400 years. Iranians lived like dogs until modern times.
I wish you could have seen my grandfather’s village even 30 years ago. The wretched poverty, the backwards culture, the oppressive compulsory nature of Islamic law, women not allowed to leave the house, the normalized sexual abuse of young boys, etc. An average Iranian village, still living in the inhumane state that the Arabs reduced the Iranian people to.
I will end this with a little anecdote. The ancient Persians believed that humans and dogs were equals, and they treated their dogs with the utmost love and respect. The Persians believed that mistreating dogs would land you in hell, guaranteed, while treating dogs with love and kindness would score you big points with the man upstairs. This is all documented, you can look it up for yourself.
Islam says dogs are najes, unclean and despicable. Can you believe that? Such a noble creature, despicably unclean! So, what happens when you tell people that God says dogs are disgusting and unclean? The children in my grandfather’s village still pour gasoline on dogs and light them on fire and watch and laugh as the dog runs around crying while it burns to death.
When the Arabs came to Iran, they saw that Iranians had ferocious dogs that were their friends, and they loved their dogs, and their dogs loved them back and would kill to protect them. This could not be allowed to stand. So, they made sure to institute a culture of savagery and disgust towards dogs, to drive a wedge between Iranians and their beloved dogs.
I have seen Iranians in a devout Muslim village do things to dogs, for entertainment, that have broken my heart beyond repair. I have 5 dogs at my grandfather’s old farm, all of whom were rescued from the savageries of the Muslim inhabitants of the area.
What I am describing is by no means unique to my village. It is stereotypical of all Iranian village people. One of my dogs was so badly burned and beaten when he came and sought refuge at our farm, I did not think he would ever recover. After many months of love and caring, he is now a 50kg giant. We call him Little Ragnar, after Ragnar Lothbrok.
The village kids still come and throw rocks at my dogs for fun. Then they go and pray at the mosque.
And don’t even get me started on how this lot treats women. Fuckin A!
Islam? No thanks, buddy.
Traditional Persian values? Yes, please.
Honestly, I could write a book, enumerating all the character flaws and cultural backwardness of modern Iranians. Where are Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great? All I see in Iran are degenerate dog-beaters and wife-beaters.
You know what I saw at the beach yesterday? A family. The guy was just wearing swim shorts, the wife was in full hijab, in 36 degree 90% humidity. Wtf is the justification for that?
So, spare me your pro-Islam speech. This is not the dark ages that followed the Arab Conquest, and I am not an idiot. I probably know the Quran and Hadith better than you, or even Mansoureh khanum. In fact, I am challenging you all to recite something profound from the Quran, because I know you will fail.
I do not despise Islam out of ignorant bias. I despise it because I see what it has done to my people. And I know what a noble people they were, when, for example, they set all the slaves free in Babylon, or instituted human rights in 500 BC.
The challenge still stands. One piece of profound knowledge from the Best Book, authored by the Creator of the Universe, who allegedly despises dogs. Let’s have it then.
P.S. Mansoureh khanum, I give my dogs hugs and kisses all the time. They are even allowed to come indoors, God forbid. And I even let them on to my bed, where we take naps together. What does the Best Religion say about me? Is it time for my head to be chopped off?
If the above words sound harsh, it is because the number of those raped and killed is too many to count.
So, I will clarify some points.
Islam did not come to Iran to liberate and enlighten Iranians, and make life better for them. It came to dominate and subjugate them to the most corrupt heathen barbarians Iranians had ever met.
Cyrus walked into Babylon unopposed, did not allow any blood to be shed in the great city, set all the slaves free, and instituted a very tolerant regime. The message: everyone live and worship as you wish, you are free now. Cyrus even gave money to enslaved people like the Jews to go rebuild their homeland again and live in peace and prosperity under the protection of the Persian Empire.
The Arabs, in turn, walked into Iran as blood-soaked conquerors. They raped so many that the European-looking Iranian turned into a black-haired Arab. The unraped Iranian race is still alive in Nuristan in the inaccessible parts of the mountains of Afghanistan.
https://www.google.com/search?q=nuristanis
The Arabs did not free any slaves, did not institute a tolerant regime, did not give people freedom of worship.
What followed the Arab invasion of Iran was a 200+ year dark age. All books had been burned, all scholars murdered, practically all women raped, and all men who had any fight in them killed, ie. genocide.
The Iranian race did not survive the Arab Conquest.
The Arabs did not liberate the Iranian people from an oppressive regime, they instituted an oppressive regime. They even told Iranians that marrying your cousin is the best marriage in the eyes of Allah, and turned Iranians into inbred wretches.
The Arabs pragmatically and systematically destroyed the Iranian psyche, Iranian culture, and degraded Iranian people in order to make them weak subjects of the racist Arab Empire.
How did they do this? Islam.
Did they want the best for Iranians? No.
Did life get better for Iranians? Lol no.
But, is everything Islam says wrong? No.
There are rational, reasonable aspects to Islam, but they are not exclusively Islamic. They belong to Reason, what Zarathushtra called: Vohumana, good thought, good mind. A benevolent deity in the old pantheon of angel. The modern Iranian month of Bahman is named after the angel.
So, reason says, keep what’s reasonable, chuck the rest. Do not lie and say this is all the word of the creator of the universe and then say nobody is allowed to question it. Zarathushtra believed that lies were weapons of the enemy, Angra Mainyu (Ahriman-Satan), the destructive spirit, and a pious person should never lie, not even to their enemy.
As I have said before, Iran already had a good religion before the Arabs came. A better religion than Islam, unless Islam can muster up someone to come and debate me, to prove otherwise.
I think they’d still rather cut my head off than debate me, 1400 years later.
The highest tiers of Iranian power have fully stepped over to the side of reason, thank God, and they no longer uphold preposterous Islamic notions simply because Islam says so.
There are parts of Iran today where women are allowed to ride a bicycle, for example. And soon all women in Iran will have this right. Hijab laws, as another example, which only limit women’s ability to comfortably perform outdoor activities, are being slowly eased. They have to be _slowly_ eased because there are a lot of Islamist fundamentalists in Iran like Mansoureh khanum, who would object otherwise.
Within a generation, Iran will have completely shed all the detrimental aspects of Islam, holding on just to what is reasonable, and building on that, based on reason.
For example, reason says, you cannot force women to wear black tarps in the 40+ degree heat of the desert, and then wonder why all the women in Iran are bitter and miserable. They either don’t ever leave the house, or if they do, it’s torture for them to be out in the summer.
Reason says, you cannot have a healthy society if all your women are miserable.
The Iranian society is not healthy. But there are genuinely good and smart people at the top, like Khamenei et al., who are just lovely human beings, and are doing everything in their power to turn Iran around and get things back to where they were before the Arabs invaded. Much of the lost territory has already been recaptured, and a new Persian Empire is in the process of being born.
Again, it is a tolerant empire, composed of many ethnicities and religions, where the subject peoples choose to be Iranian subjects because of the protection that we provide, under wise native leaders like Nasrallah et al.
Iran only wants freedom and peace and prosperity for the people of the region, because we want to trade with them and build a new economic bloc to counter US global hegemony.
Those who fight under the seal of the IRGC, all across the region, know that our intentions are noble.
We come in friendship and peace, and we want a better life for all, unlike the Arab hordes in 633 AD.
Did you know know Sarama was the dog of the gods and the ancestor of all dogs, the progeny of Sarama are sarameya. A fun tidbit from the Mahabharata.
– gavishti
The ancient Iranians believed that “four-eyed” dogs like the Sarayema were very special, sacred even.
They had a classification of species, based on a good and evil scale. The most evil were parasitic creatures which harm and kill others so that they may live. It was the religious duty of Iranians to rid the world of such creatures. The most noble creature in their classification scheme was the dog.
Here’s a creature that scavenges for the leftovers of other animals, subsisting on mere bones and scraps, often rummaging through the garbage left behind by people looking for food. And if you give it a piece of bread and a pat, it will be your loyal friend and protector forever.
Human beings are not nearly as noble as dogs, on the Dog-Parasite Scale ®.
As the ancient Persians have said, anyone who harms a dog should automatically be sent to the Inferno, regardless of how many other good deeds they have supposedly done.
If you think you are a tough guy, go fight the parasites like agricultural pests and the Zionist state. Leave the dogs alone.
But I think we owe Mansoureh an apology. I don’t think people are aware, but to even speak of dogs where Islam and the Quran are being discussed, is a great offense.
• A man enters a terrible forest filled with carnivorous beasts. The forest is surrounded by a net on every side that a terrible looking woman is embracing with her arms. There is no opening through which he might run away. Five-headed serpents rose up, like mountains in the impenetrable forest. Running here and there he falls down in a well which is in the midst of that forest getting entwined in creepers coming down from a huge tree. He hangs upside down like a giant jackfruit, hanging from its stalk. At the edge of the well, he saw a giant elephant possessing six faces and moving on twelve feet, gradually advancing, through the trees. There is a beehive in the branch of a tree, with huge fearful bees wondering about collecting honey. Though he was in this difficulty, the man continuously drinks the honey flowing from the hive, but his thirst does not get satisfied. His hopes of remaining alive gets ignited. Black and white rats gnawed through the tree on which, the hopes of the man remaining alive were based, and this was the fifth fear of falling down from the tree. His greed of honey represents the sixth fear.
This is an allegory, the desolate forest is the unfathomable cycle of life. The carnivorous beasts are diseases, both mental and physical. The terrible woman is old age, destructive of beauty. The serpent is time. The creeper is the hope of remaining alive. The elephants six faces represents the seasons and it’s twelve feet are the months. The rats are days and nights. The bees are desire, from which flows the streams of honey which are like the juices of desire. Those who are learned say that the wheel of life circles in this way. That is the reason why wise ones sever the noose that ties them to the wheel of life.
– an abridged excerpt from The Mahabharata.
And the same can be said for that other branch of Judaism, Christianity.
“A society without God and without belief in God and without deeds for the cause of God becomes so entangled with relationship problems between workers and proprietors that even when it attempts to solve a problem, it creates even a bigger problem… In a society based on the standards of Islam and true belief, then such problems would not emerge.”
Such far-seeing standards were proposed thousands of years ago. For a start:
Love God with all your heart, and your neighbour as yourself. Do not Lie. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not commit adultery. Do not covet your neighbour’s possessions. Respect your elders and honour the sanctified days. Etc…
Today in this family we have new proverbs, like do unto your children as you would have your children do unto the gvt.
In my Parents day we had organized labour.
Now we have governments everywhere encouraging UBI.
Labour used to be workers united for a bigger slice of the pie.
Much like the reporter example, the connections between the situation, the “book”, the history and peoples (including the great Iranian peoples) have gone past our head with your comment.
Waiting for a revelation won’t do you any good, and any text (including Mansoureh’s) writing is enough to trigger a domino effect of many revelations, if you will it to be so.
Orienting your hostility is part Iranian spirit and culture, so wield it carefully and don’t bring it down by “such backwards hell hole” comments.
While Iran plays a supportive role in the so called Resistance, the people on the front lines are the ones who are change makers. Iranian people watch closely hoping the best for the Arab peoples. They do this while trusting and hanging on to their country and government structure which they’ve built to last.
That structure has Islamic influence for the right reasons, like it or not; whether Iran is branded Islamic or not. I understand this to be part of the topics presented by Mansoureh in her series.
Islam was the worst thing that ever happened to the people of Iran. I say this as a historian who can recount events in Iran year by year since Assyrian subjugation of the Medians. Do you know what Iran was before the Arab Conquest?
Yes, Muslim countries are backwards hell holes for the most part. Have you been? I have lived in them my whole life. Everyone wants to leave.
Look, it shouldn’t be too hard to find a few lines of text from the Quran that hold true profound knowledge, considering the claim that the whole thing was written by the creator of the universe. In fact, any random sentence from the Quran should suffice to bring some enlightenment.
I have read the thing quite a few times, and I am calling BS. I say it isn’t the word of the creator of the universe, but stories that Mohamed had heard in his travels around the Middle East.
But I admit that perhaps I have not understood the Best Book properly, so I am asking one who advocates for the Best Book and the Best Religion to set me straight. You know, I cannot ask for such a thing in Iran, because accepting the Quran as the unquestionable word of God is mandatory there since the Arabs made it so 1400 years ago, and people who ask such questions end up dead or in prison.
I am asking for one piece of knowledge from the Quran that if revealed to a modern educated person, will cause that person to pause and exclaim awe at the sophistication of this ancient book of wonders.
If this is provided, I will never speak against Islam for the rest of my life. In fact, I will advocate for Islam, and use that one piece of knowledge to advertise and enlighten everyone around me in the name of Allah.
Being my last comment on this site, my crystal ball say, that the saker vinager is finally turning into wine! So it is goodbye to you all. I wish you all good luck and hope, that this site will be filled with comments like this fellow anonymous, it is the measure of the truth and nothing but and this site deserves nothing less! who are we to stand in the way of the truth. I am out of here …… to buy a dog!
وَ مَنۡ کَفَرَ فَلَا یَحۡزُنۡکَ کُفۡرُہٗ ؕ اِلَیۡنَا مَرۡجِعُہُمۡ فَنُنَبِّئُہُمۡ بِمَا عَمِلُوۡا ؕ اِنَّ اللّٰہَ عَلِیۡمٌۢ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُوۡرِ
But whoever disbelieves, do not let their disbelief grieve you. To Us is their return, and We will inform them of all they did. Surely Allah knows best what is ˹hidden˺ in the heart.
Sura Loqman, verse 23.
Mod: Yandex unable to provide translation of the script.
Anonymous,
I do not intervene in the comments unless there are specific questions which I evaluate them to have emerged due to a deficiency in the text or in the supporting material, or a vagueness in the way I have discussed and explained the main thesis of the essay. Nevertheless, I appreciate the efforts of anyone who comments and read and learn from their statements regardless of their particular worldview.
Some (not all) of your comments suggest you have some things to say not in response to what I have written but in spite of it. In that case, I take them in that spirit and move on. To some other comments, I would like to offer the following responses in the hopes that they might be useful to someone:
RE: “It is funny that a bunch of corrupt heathens were able to hijack Allah’s empire, immediately after it was created, what with Allah being omnipotent and all.”
In this world, God as the Ultimate Teacher-Trainer-Developer (i.e. Rabb) sets up participatory interactive classrooms based on peer-to-peer education not empires. So, the more accurate question to ask is if Allah’s classroom on earth has been hijacked by a coalition of mischievous, hypocrite, and particularly ‘slow’ students. Firstly, the class is still in session. Secondly, based on all my essays, the answer to that question is ‘Hell no!’ or ‘Heavens no!’ depending on the HVAC system the ‘hearer’ prefers.
RE: “The Arabs set Iran back a thousand years by destroying all knowledge, told Iranians they were racially inferior, and then touted the Quran as the solution to all their problems. Problems which were all caused by the Arab Conquest, and still haven’t been solved 1400 years later.”
I am not too sure if you fully understand and know what you are actually implying with this statement. Your statement falsely attributes to the Iranian culture a long-lasting powerlessness, acquiescence, sterility, and impotence; the attributes that are not at all supported by historical and cultural facts. If these are tactical statements used by an enemy of the Iranian people and culture, well, do as you wish. However, if you are doing it as a friend of the Iranian people and culture, then, please be a wise and informed defender. A verse from this rich culture:
دشمن دانا بلندت می کند – بر زمینت می زند نادان دوست.
“A wise enemy elevates your status; A foolish friend brings you down.”
RE: “If the Resistance is successful today, it is because of Iranian culture and the Iranian spirit, not because of Islam. Otherwise, why are all the other Islamic countries in the world such backwards hell holes, and all allied with the Great Satan?”
Key figures, selfless fighters, and wise leaders of the Resistance themselves openly claim they are inspired and directed by the teachings of Quran, examples of Imams such as Ali, Hasan, Hussain, and more. Are you claiming that you understand them and know their motivations better than themselves? Or, are you suggesting they are lying and being deceitful?
Also, based on your argument regarding the alliance of other Islamic countries with the Great Satan, how do you explain the alliance of the Pahlavi dynasty and the king of kings, the very one who said, “Sleep Cyrus because we are awake,” with the Great Satan prior to the Islamic Revolution? Iran was at the time tagged as the US gendarme in Persian Gulf and it appears the Iranian culture and spirit had gone AWOL.
RE: “Breathlessly waiting for a great revelation from the Quran, Mansoureh. Go ahead, convert me, like your ancestors converted mine.”
Please breathe. True spiritual conversion occurs from within not from without and only you can covert yourself with God’s Will. And God’s Will is contingent upon your honest and sincere desire and request. Just please do not be as sarcastic with God as you are with me because I have no power to help you or hurt you but He Does.
RE: Compared to the poetry of Rumi and Khayyam, and the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, the Quran reads like it was written by semi-literate desert Arabs. If the Quran could have competed with other books of the time, the Arabs would have never burned every single book in Iran. Not a single book in Iran survived the Arab book burnings.
Allow me to quote Molavi since you referenced him. It is from Divan_e Shams, Ruba’iyat, Ruba’i No. 1330:
من بنده ی قرآنم اگر جان دارم — من خاک در محمد مختارم
گر نقل کند جز این کس از گفتارم — بیزارم از او زین سخن بیزارم
“I am the servant of Quran if I have any life – I am a dust at the gate of Muhammad, the selected;”
“If someone recites other than this from my discourse – I dissociate myself from him and his recitation.”
Also, the tradition of Iranian book and library burning goes back to Alexander with his Greek army, the fellow-culturists and ardent admirers of Plato and Aristotle. Just in Apadana library in Persepolis, nearly 20,000 leather manuscripts were burnt to ashes in one night by Alexander and his Greek army. We have some archeological remains left only because when they set fire to burn everything down, the archived clay tablets in cuneiform language partially cooked and that led to their preservation and survival for two and a half millennia. Burning books and records like that are shameful acts no matter who does it and I have discussed that in one of the essays when referencing the burning of all hadith from Prophet Muhammad (SAWAW).
I wish you salaam and serenity.
“Please breathe. True spiritual conversion occurs from within not from without and only you can covert yourself with God’s Will. And God’s Will is contingent upon your honest and sincere desire and request. Just please do not be as sarcastic with God as you are with me because I have no power to help you or hurt you but He Does.”
God and I are on friendly terms, my dear lady. He forgives the irreverence of his imbecile servants, like yours truly. Surely Allah knows best what is ˹hidden˺ in the heart. ❤️
Our disagreement does not stem from my lack of faith in God. I believe in God, and my ancestors believed in God before the Muslims came to Iran, believe it or not. I want to know why the supposedly Faithful armies of Islam came to my land and raped and killed my people?
You must know what a remarkable man Zarathushtra was, and how beautiful and perfect his religion was, and the beautiful great men that his religion reared, like Cyrus and Darius, and the beautiful country of qanats and paradise-like gardens in the desert that his religion created.
Have you seen the state of the land of Iran today? All the old qanats are dying because of bores and pumps. And there is trash _everywhere_ on the ground. You know we believe that throwing trash on the earth and polluting it is a great sin? Do you know that we also believe electric pumps sucking groundwater are tools of Ahriman and not compatible with the Iranian way of life?
Please, tell me you understand the severity of the ecological catastrophe in Iran, dear wise Muslim sister?
“Also, based on your argument regarding the alliance of other Islamic countries with the Great Satan, how do you explain the alliance of the Pahlavi dynasty and the king of kings, the very one who said, “Sleep Cyrus because we are awake,” with the Great Satan prior to the Islamic Revolution? Iran was at the time tagged as the US gendarme in Persian Gulf and it appears the Iranian culture and spirit had gone AWOL.”
Mohamadreza Pahlavi was an idiot. I am no Pahlavi supporter, Mansoureh khanum. I do not deny that Reza Pahlavi Sr. did a lot for Iran, but I am not calling for a return of the Pahlavi dynasty, or anything like that. The Islamic Republic has done a lot for Iran as well, and I am not calling for its removal either.
If Cyrus were here, he would think Mohamadreza Pahlavi an imbecile, and the Islamic Republic a brewing den of corruption on Earth. Do you know that the Islamic Republic sanctions the cutting of Hyrcanian forests to feed plywood factories? Go see what is happening at the Zideh plywood factory near Fouman, Gilan. Truckloads of illegally downed forest trees arrive continuously, day and night. And a sickening smoke endlesy rises from the factory. Cancer is on the rise in the immediate vicinity.
“What about the forests?” Cyrus would ask. “Will no one protect them?”
The Zagros Oak forests are being cut down at a tremendous rate to make high quality charcoal for waterpipes and opium-pipes. It is a catastrophe. Your religion may not care about the forests, but mine does. And I am telling you, there will be no forests soon.
“Allow me to quote Molavi since you referenced him. It is from Divan_e Shams, Ruba’iyat, Ruba’i No. 1330:
من بنده ی قرآنم اگر جان دارم — من خاک در محمد مختارم
گر نقل کند جز این کس از گفتارم — بیزارم از او زین سخن بیزارم
“I am the servant of Quran if I have any life – I am a dust at the gate of Muhammad, the selected;”
“If someone recites other than this from my discourse – I dissociate myself from him and his recitation.””
As a student of Molana, I can tell you for certain, that the verse you have quoted is a disclaimer for legal reasons. Do you think Mowlana wanted to end up like our dear insane, Mansur Hallaj? Chopped up to pieces?
“Also, the tradition of Iranian book and library burning goes back to Alexander with his Greek army, the fellow-culturists and ardent admirers of Plato and Aristotle. Just in Apadana library in Persepolis, nearly 20,000 leather manuscripts were burnt to ashes in one night by Alexander and his Greek army. We have some archeological remains left only because when they set fire to burn everything down, the archived clay tablets in cuneiform language partially cooked and that led to their preservation and survival for two and a half millennia. Burning books and records like that are shameful acts no matter who does it and I have discussed that in one of the essays when referencing the burning of all hadith from Prophet Muhammad (SAWAW).”
Yes, Alexander was a buffoon war-monger. But his destruction of Iran was not systematic, nor was it genocidal. Iran rebounded from Alexander’s devastation, in the form of the Arsacid Parthians, who were a very great and noble dynasty that was Rome’s equal in power, as I’m sure you know. This does not excuse the Muslims from genocide and book burning. And when was Iran ever a superpower after the Muslims came? How could it have been when the Muslims made Iranians so ignorant and backwards, Ajam second class citizens inferior race as we were.
“I am not too sure if you fully understand and know what you are actually implying with this statement. Your statement falsely attributes to the Iranian culture a long-lasting powerlessness, acquiescence, sterility, and impotence; the attributes that are not at all supported by historical and cultural facts. If these are tactical statements used by an enemy of the Iranian people and culture, well, do as you wish. However, if you are doing it as a friend of the Iranian people and culture, then, please be a wise and informed defender. A verse from this rich culture:
دشمن دانا بلندت می کند – بر زمینت می زند نادان دوست.
“A wise enemy elevates your status; A foolish friend brings you down.””
When did Iranian culture rebound after the Islamic Conquest? Ferdowsi? Iranshahri? Bayazid Bastami? That is a 200+ year dark age, before we hear of Iranians producing great works again. And the Arabs haven’t left us any pre-Conquest written works, so that we can compare to Ferdowsi et al. and estimate how far back Iranian scholarship and learning had been set.
At least in the realm of the knowledge of history, the Iranians lost all of their past, as is evident from Ferdowsi, who compiled all that was known of Iranian history.
Iranians thought the tomb of Cyrus at Pasargadae was the tomb of the mother of King Solomon, before Western archaeology revealed what it actually was in modern times. They thought the ruins at Persepolis/Parsa were the throne of Jamshyd.
” In this world, God as the Ultimate Teacher-Trainer-Developer (i.e. Rabb) sets up participatory interactive classrooms based on peer-to-peer education not empires. So, the more accurate question to ask is if Allah’s classroom on earth has been hijacked by a coalition of mischievous, hypocrite, and particularly ‘slow’ students. Firstly, the class is still in session. Secondly, based on all my essays, the answer to that question is ‘Hell no!’ or ‘Heavens no!’ depending on the HVAC system the ‘hearer’ prefers.””
This world of God has been hijacked in its entirety by the forces of Ahriman, and has been turned into a hellish nightmare of war and sickness. We have been fighting the enemy, since before the first Arab in the desert realized the idea of God and Satan, and though the Muslims have set us back, and caused untold harm to our original Resistance movement against Ahriman, that movement has been renewed now, since the Iranian spirit was liberated from the chains of Western Imperialism in the Revolution of 1979.
Resistance against Ahriman is not an Islamic concept or tradition. It is embedded in the Iranian spirit, since the time of Zarathushtra. Who else but Persia and Parthia ever successfully stood up to the Ahrimanic Roman Imperialist war machine? The spirit of Resistance in Iran is much older than Hossein ibn Ali. The names and tales of the old champions, like Siavash, were systematically erased, so the Iranian psyche hooked on to new similar champions, like Hossein.
I am sorry if my first posts were harsh. I am sure you can understand where I am coming from. Thank you for your wishes of serenity. It appears your wish has been granted
I’d wish you peace and serenity too, but it looks like you’ve got that covered. So I will just wish you a good day.