Recently, I had a few visitors from Iran. As usual we talked about the situation there, and they gave me some amazing accounts of what has been going on in the old country since IRI. It truly saddened me.
One of them was saying that he met this guy in Iran, who claimed to be a “disc jockey” & invited him to this really bizarre place in the north around Alborz mountains. There he witnessed bunch of girls dressed exclusively in the latest designer fashion outfits, all perfectly made up, and ready for action. The disc jockey happened to be their pimp, and the girls were “high class hookers”, apparently, all well educated with university degrees, and mostly from quite wealthy families. According to this visitor, it has become sort of fashionable to be an escort/call girl in Iran.
I asked: “It isn’t necessarily a matter of poverty then?”.. He said, “oh, there are a lot of prostitutes who must do what they do to make ends meet, but, No, it isn’t confined to the poorer section of the society, it seems that it has become part of the recent culture or I should say sub-culture - well, at around $2000 plus, depending on what you want, these “exclusive high class hookers” can make a lot of money!” - I was too baffled to ask him for a menu and a price list, just for the record.
Another visitor, a lady in her 70’s, said: “These Mullahs know how to destroy and rebuild a culture. They know they have to do it from within and they’ve had plenty of time to do just that. Put a lot of incompetent & religious people in charge of different parts of the society and country, start at a young age, and make the girls and boys dependent (drugs for instance), keep things outwardly pristine e.g. wear the hejab, but teach them corrupt values, make sure they know they’ll only survive if they follow these corrupt values, and there you have an evil recipe for changing the culture and society at large.”
Now, I wasn’t there and can’t vouch for the veracity of what I was told, but have no reason to think that the visitor was telling fibs. In fact, almost every single Iranian person who has visited Iran in recent decades has told me similar stories about rampant drug and prostitution problems in Islamic Iran.
By the way, I had written about Sex Slavery in IRI before, but interesting to note that across the Gulf at a fleshpot dictatorship like the United Arab Emirates where 80% of the population live in abject poverty, the government gives a tacit nod and a wink to the massive, miserable sex trade.
So, I did a search to see if I could find some article or first hand experience verifying what I was told and came across this piece. I’m publishing an abridged version.
“There are practically prostitutes on every main street corner and intersection in all large cities of Iran, selling poon tang at the Red Lights! Especially in Tehran there are prostitutes all over the streets.
There are call girls, high-class whores whom you can call and they come over to your hotel rooms or apartments and gladly service you! There are escort agencies, Islamicaly correct that you can call for appointments!
There are siqeh, temporary marriage service for Muslim crowd to call and catalogues to view and pick a temporary wife for half an hour up to 99 years! There are Hotel girls, at the Lobby of all major hotels to do the nasty with.
The funny thing is that many full time students, government administrators, secretaries, professionals, artists, private sector employees, etc. are actually part time prostitutes to make ends meet! It is so bad that one of my comrades said, in two weeks I seen more Prostitutes in Iran than I have ever seen in my whole lifetime in America!
An Islamic Government and wide-open prostitution!
Prostitutes are just coming towards men openly; especially tourists or well dressed Persian men!
When they were in North Caspian Sea shores, prostitutes just simply came to them, offered them to do yah bah youh bah Islamicaly correct or incorrect at the shores! Prostitutes in the street, at the stop light, at the resorts of sea shores, by the phone, by escort service, temporary marriage siqeh, girl catalogue, young and old, at the offices, universities, government organizations, house of runaway girls, even at the Mosque as temporary Marriage Volunteers!
Prostitutes from 13 years old up to senior citizen! Of course if you like girls or boys under 13, then the parents or guardians simply sell them to you for as low as $1000 to just take home, adopt or bring back to the west!
There are a great number of Iranian married men with children and very respectable businessmen who go to Iran by the bunch and in groups, one month every year or every other year, rent an apartment, call a few underage teenage high-school girls to just move in with them for a month. These girls are so desperate that they move in for a month, cook for them, wash their clothes, clean the apartment and have orgies with them, doing all kinds of sexual acts on nightly basis! These great moral Iranian businessmen go to Iran every year to have sex with girls younger than their daughters! The most desired age group is between 13 to 16 year olds! These are your respectable professional businessmen!
Now in addition that we are famous for our Persian Caviar, Cats, Rugs, Oil, hand made arts, paintings, miniatures, etc……….. We are also famous for our Whores, and Opium, Hashish, Heroin, and Bang!
So in the Islamic Iran we got young boys selling their bodies to rich Arab sheiks of the gulf while older boys are deeply addicted to Opium, Heroin and Hashish. This boy was clearly stating that Heroin is so widely used in Iran and so popular that the price of Heroin is cheaper than Opium now! Actually a gram of Heroin is cheaper than a pack of cigarette!
On the other hand young girls are doing siqeh temporary marriage or just open prostitution all over the nation and outside neighbors! While the older girls are doing full time positions and regular jobs but also part time prostitution, many also turning in tricks full time!
In a nation that decent people with education must have two or three jobs to just make ends meet, what should the lower skill labor do?! Prostitution and Wide Drug use is the results of IRI economy!
Friend of mine was telling me that he stopped at an intersection for the red light, but a hooker automatically opened the door and jumped in his car! He said: Lady please get out, I am not a taxi driver! She said: Taxi is not needed, don’t worry I’ll give you discount!
Things are so bad that decent women cannot walk the streets of Tehran! Two ladies were telling me that they got out of a restaurant and were waiting for their friend to bring over the parked car to pick them up. While waiting, at least 10 cars stopped near their feet and offered money to pick them up! One of these ladies is 70 years old and the other one is 50 years old!
Well, IPC, this is the very result of Islamic Government’s teachings! At least in the past and beginning of Revolution, we only had that one building at the main Avenue of Tehran doing Temporary Marriage with Catalogue and all the money would go to Account number 100 of Imam Khomeini for Mostaz’afin!
Zeynab Sisters (Islamic morality police for women) were giving it away as part time Islamic Whores in the building, Imam Khomeini was acting as a Pimp taking money in account number 100, and life would go on! Eventually they closed down that building and part time Islamic Whores/full time Gashte Komiteh Basij Militia women or Sisters of Zeynab started concentrating more on keeping people in line about their dress codes and separating boys and girls from walking together in the streets or checking their ID cards and taking them to police stations!
So Sisters of Zeynab went back to their 4WD in English: (Four Wheel Drive) and in Persian: (Chahar Welgarde Dayus) Jeeps SUV’s to observe obscenity according to Nakir O Monker and to protect Islam! They call them “Chahar Welgarde Dayus” because at the beginning there were always 4 of them bitches (Sisters of Zeynab) or boys (Basij) would ride in the SUVs!
However now things changed, instead of a building to do siqeh in Tehran, the whole nation is a
whorehouse! We used to make remarks on Thailand, Philippines, Holland and Mexico as the whorehouses of the world! Little we knew that the prestigious Imperial Iran would one day turn to The “Islamic Whorehouse of Iran”! Thanks to Allah, Mohammed, Imam Khomeini, Islamic Republic, mullahs and all good old Muslims of Iran for the creation of “Islamic whorehouse of Iran”.
For God’s sake, during Shah’s time we had one neighborhood in Shush Street Downtown Tehran to do the nasty. Whores were only allowed in this neighborhood and all the whorehouses located on this neighborhood. “Shahr-e Now” (New City) was the name and hookers were not allowed to hook anywhere else because heavy punishments and penalties would be imposed on them. There were tight control on VD by medics and social workers so an epidemic would not break out!
Today, AIDS is rising sky high in Iran! Syphilis, Gonorrhea and Herpes are the norms!
A typical Islamic tradition, cover your face and body, yet open up your privates underneath Chador! Wear Chador, Shrouds, Lachaq, Maqana’e and Veil, yet make sure to wear Mini Skirts underneath! Islamic Hypocrisy in action!
No wonder we have clubs listed in Yahoo or other Search Engines inside Iran, with the names of “Jendeh Khuneh”, “Iran Sex”, “Iran X”, “Rahnamaye Sex” and etc. First I thought it’s the deprivation of sex and segregation of sexes inside Iran since elementary school and Kindergarten which causes the existence of these clubs! Then I found out that, these clubs are actually Net Whorehouses, Call Girl Service and the actual Real McCoy and small Samples of today’s Iranian society!
Today in Iran, we have 6 million full time prostitutes; 6 million part time prostitutes; 6 million drug addicts; 6 million gay, transvestite and transsexual hookers; 6 million drug dealers, thieves, gang members, con artists and other criminals; 6 million corrupt government employees; 6 million … go figure the rest!” - Link to Article
OK, let me get this straight– in Iran people are engaging in legal “temporary marriages” as a cover for prostitution, and the mullahs are perfectly okay with this? (I’m not Iranian and I’ve never been to Iran, so I just want to be sure I’m understanding this correctly.) And then this “Zenyab Sisters”– these are female police? Also engaging in prostitution? That is one screwed up country.
I guess this isn’t surprising, though. People are going to want sex just as they want food or water. (Sex might not be as vitally necessary, but the desire is still there.) Try to put up barriers to stop it, and they are going to find a way.
It so happens I’m in southern Afghanistan right now, where women wear a burqa that makes Iranian dress look liberal. Difference is, here it’s not legally required. The women in this neighborhood just happen to be from very traditional backgrounds, and this is what they choose to wear (I choice I don’t really understand, but, hey, whatever floats your boat). I’m told that up in Kabul, western dress is more the norm.
Given a choice, some people will dress conservatively, some less so, and some people will make fools of themselves. A person’s sexual habits are self-governing as well. I don’t think these are things that can be successfully legislated, and I don’t think governments should try. People need to be free to grow, make mistakes, and develop. Trying to enforce a one-size-fits-all code of moral behavior only leads to a lot of tension and some decidedly immoral behavior, as we are seeing in Iran.
Thanks for reminding me why I put you on my blogroll.
“OK, let me get this straight– in Iran people are engaging in legal “temporary marriages” as a cover for prostitution, and the mullahs are perfectly okay with this?”
Yes. Engaging in both “temporary marriage” and “illegal prostitution i.e. not legally sanctioned by [sigha] as per Shia/Mullah Islam”.
Mullahs are perfectly ok with it; actually, they encourage Prostitution through temporary marriage - see the link in the post about “Temporary Marriage”.
““Zenyab Sisters”– these are female police? Also engaging in prostitution?”
Yes, they are female Morality police in Iran. Many are very brutal and often have mental problems; some do it because of their belief in Islam & Mullahs; others are your typical Muslim & traditional; still others do it out of desperation - i.e. if you can’t beat the system, then work with it. Many wouldn’t see [temp marriage] as “Prostitution”, not as one would in the West.
For many Zeynab sisters it is also very much a matter of POWER over the society, not necessarily as much about Sex. All this covering up and hejab in Iran is mostly a facade & superficial.
Alamanach: In today’s Iran, it isn’t simply about a choice of what you want to wear i.e. whether a full black veil (Chador), a mini skirt, just a head-scarf or simply to dress conservatively.
In today’s Iran and since the arrival of Mullahs, Iranian women have not had a choice in the society. They were told outright to cover up as soon as Khomeini’s plane landed in Iran in 1979.
In recent years it has become worse (Islamic dress code imposed on women in Iran).
Before the Mullahs, women in Iran had a choice of either wearing the hejab or not.
Also, you are comparing Iran with Afghanistan. I guess if we were to compare Iranian women with Saudi women, then we could say Iranians women are more “liberated”, and that would be a bad joke. For Iranians, the point of reference is not Afghanistan nor Saudi Arabia. We have to look at Iran in absolute terms, not relative to Saudi or Afghanistan.
Why don’t we compare Iranians women to, for example, Turkish or even Indonesian women, where they are also Muslim countries, but have far more rights than Iranian women have had since the Mullahs’ Rule. Do you see what I’m saying?
Finally, as I was trying to convey, all this prostitution and temp marriage and the ongoing situation in Iran is mostly about Cultural Change and shaping the society by the Mullahs. It isn’t simply about who has what sexual preferences.
When the women of a country sell their bodies to earn money and many younger men are drug addicts, what kind of future do we hope for that country??
When you get the chance, read the comments in this post - it further explains:
http://plateauofiran.wordpress.com/2007/02/22/islamic-republics-antics/
FYI.
Iran Is exactly the way your guest described it. You have said it all.
Please read this its sad.
Temporary Marriages
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By
Sayyid Mujtaba Busavi Lari
Islam is a realistic and practical religion. Divinely inspired, it fits human nature like a glove. It does not exalt, as ideals, ways of life which are contrary to nature. It therefore rejected the doctrine (which the Christian Church had promulgated during its first six centuries) that celibacy was a desirable or meritorious way of life, estimable as a work of supererogation (i.e. adding to the store of merit which could be shared amongst the saints and even turned to the salvation of sinners for whom they prayed) while marriage, though not an unlawful state, falls in a moral category called “makruh” which lies halfway’ between the “mubah” or “indifferent” and the “haram” or totally forbidden.
Popes and Catholics tend to follow this doctrine to this day, as also do the higher ranks of the Orthodox hierarchy. It was one of the Catholic doctrines against which Luther and his Protestants revolted, and it is forming a great source of controversy within the Church of Rome at this very date at which we write. After long discussions at a Vatican Congress, it was decided that “marriage is still less meritorious than celibacy. and no alteration in the Church’s doctrine can be allowed on this point.”
The sexual instinct has the deepest roots in human nature. Unless it is properly catered for and regulated, it avenges itself. It responds to suppression by psychological explosions that can be volcanic in their effect if they take place simultaneously in large numbers of people. It might well be held that the disastrous breakdown of the family institution in the West is precisely such an explosive reaction against Christian attempts to suppress the sex instinct instead of sanctifying and subliminating it in its natural channels. Christians must ask themselves whether they have not committed the very sin of which their Lord and Master accused the Pharisees of His day that of “binding on men’s backs burdens too heavy to be borne.” Like caged beasts escaping from captivity; the people of the West dash forth from the bondage in which Christianity had tried to hold them, and in an equal and opposite reaction go much too far in the other direction.
Islam makes a proper marriage, when a man and woman reach adult hood, a merit and a virtue. Thus it turns the God-implanted instinct to its correct operation in the strengthening of society. It bans bestial abuse of the instinct, but exalts its truly human use in accordance with the way in which God has made mankind. A man was made to love a wife and children. This is acknowledged in every race in every clime.
It is written in Sura 3: Al-i-Imran -”Imran’s Family” (verse 14, in part): “Fair in the eyes of men is the love of objects which are the desire of their instinct, women and sons. . . ..”
Islam during the 14 centuries of its existence has done its utmost to end the scandal of prostitution which takes such a heavy toll in family and social life, and degrades both the women who are compelled to practise it and the men whose incontinence exploits them. The law of “the temporary marriage” (ezdevaj-i-muwaqat or muta’a) by the formula (or seeghe) laid down in it, was instituted to establish conditions under which a man who was compelled by the necessities of his business or for other causes to be away from home for long periods, or who desired to give temporary assistance to a woman whose life had fallen into difficulties, could undertake a union for a specified period under strictly controlled conditions.
Remember that this beneficent piece of legislation was produced through the Prophet of Islam in the environment of those “days of ignorance” when men walked in darkness; and when illicit relationships were as common as other types of immorality in those generations of unregenerate and unenlightened persons. Most places had official “red-light districts” and houses of ill-fame as a matter of course. To raise the thinking and living of men, and to put an end to illicit sex, the Prophet of Islam brought in this law of “temporary marriage”, to canalise the sex instinct in sound channels.
The chapters on “Temporary Marriage” in the book “Vassa’el” report that the Prophet posted an edict in the streets and bazaars which read: “O people! God’s Apostle has made temporary marriage permissible for you, for the quenching of the fires of the sex instinct, and for turning it to sound uses, that ye may not be the slaves of sexual licence, fornication or illicit relationships.” By this law the man and woman enter upon a marriage, not of permanence, but of a limited time, and live as man and wife until the expiry of the stated period. The only difference in this type of marriage is that it does not carry with it the same rights of inheritance, nor does the man have to continue to provide the woman’s food, clothing and shelter after the termination of their relationship. But to preserve proper order all the other rules that govern permanent marriage must also be observed in the temporary marriage.
A woman who enters such a contract is counted as the man’s real wife and can claim all the rights which are legally specified as such. As it is written in Sura IV. Nisa’a-”The Women” (verse 24): “To women whom you choose in temporary and conditional (muwaqat and muta’a) marriage, give their dowry, as a duty.”
The only difference between permanent marriage and temporary marriage, so far as its social status is concerned, is its duration. If the contract specifies a definite and limited period, that is a temporary marriage. But the wife is as much a wife as if the contract had specified “a permanent and unlimited period.” The children of the temporary marriage are recognised on precisely the same footing as those of a permanent marriage, and enjoy all the legal and canonical and customary rights of children whose paternity is recognised.
One reason for prostitution is that some men find it not within their reach to enter upon a permanent marriage, either because their personality or their finances prevent them undertaking the heavy lifelong responsibility. or because their stay in any one place can only be short. Merchants, soldiers, students and even tourists find themselves in these conditions. It is the realistic recognition of these facts, and Islam’s consistent “yes!”. to life, which have produced the institution of “temporary marriage”.
What better solution could there be? Properly practised. this institution is a powerful antidote and preventative of ills like prostitution and other social ailments. It blocks the way to women’s selling themselves, raises the general tone of public morality, and gives needed assistance to women who, through no fault of their own, either by the death of their husband or some other disaster, have fallen on bad times. We say “properly practised”, because there are licentious and ignorant persons who abuse this law, including opponents of Islam who make misuse of it a basis for false propaganda and misrepresentation.
Temporary marriage preserves the aspect of purity and saves people from sin. That something right can be misused by wicked persons exposes those persons’ wickedness. but does not invalidate the right institution. The answer is to change them by replacing their wickedness with piety of spirit and absolute moral standards. The Prophet of Islam was “sent to bring about the excellences of virtue”, and it is to this end that all Islam’s efforts are directed.
There exists no law anywhere in the world which is not twisted by the wicked to their own ends and against its original purpose. This is true of laws which are of the greatest benefit to society. The law of “temporary marriage” is one such. It should be backed with the full authority of the state. Those who misuse it should be punished. Those who use it right should be supported and aided in their righteous living.
In the “Temporary Marriage” chapters of the book “Vassa’el” it is reported that the Fifth Imam said, quoting the Imam Ali: “If the 2nd Caliph had not prohibited temporary marriages, no Muslim, save perchance a few utterly degraded lewd fellows of the baser sort, would have ever committed fornication.” Close attention to the words of Omar (the 2nd Caliph) as reported by the learned Islamic leaders and Ulema, and reflected in both the Sunni and the Shia Feqh, leaves no doubt that in the time of the Prophet himself “temporary marriage” was both permitted and frequent : but Omar, for reasons which are not clear, towards the close of his Caliphate prohibited it in the notorious phrase: “There were two dispensations which were both legal and frequently practised during the time of the Prophet of God (on Whom be blessing), both of which I cancel, annul, prohibit and will punish: and they are (1) the dispensation permitting enjoyments prohibited to wearers of Ehram (Hajji’s white garments) during the interval between ‘umra’ ['little pilgrimage'] and the full Hajj: (2) the dispensation allowing ‘temporary marriage’ in particular circumstances.”
Sunni Feqh gives more information. But it is clear enough that in this proclamation Omar was acting merely on a personal viewpoint, which was far from carrying with it the assent of other companions of the Prophet, who both held ,hat temporary marriage is a true Islamic institution, and also practised it themselves in many instances.
Division is the hallmark of our age. Our magazines, newspapers, films and television are filled with meretricious pictures: our radio with salacious stuff: our hoardings with posters of erotic enticement, while our women dress seductively and go around half-naked. The whole ambience entices youth off the path of virtue. Those who wish to be chaste are in grave danger all the time. People of poor background, and little knowledge of Islamic law, criticise the law of “temporary marriage” in foolish and illogical ignorance and prejudice; and this lays a further obstacle before the feet of our young people.
What then should we do? We can hardly expect even the best to master a total control of themselves and stem this powerful flood so stimulating to sexual instincts, which, in the critical age of youth, are so close to the surface and so impatient of outward control. Even if we imagined that the ideal is the real, and that every one of our youth is endowed with what amounts to a supernatural self-control, will this not of itself annul the purpose of the creation of this instinct within humankind. prevent the continuance of the race, prevent the use of that vital sperm, prevent the spirit and teachings of Islam being truly practised, in accordance with the law proclaimed in Sura XXII: Hajj-”Pilgrimage”, (verse 78): “Strive in God’s cause as ye should; for He has chosen you, and has in His religion not laid a difficult or insupportable task upon you”?
Should we now return to the low morals of our pre-Islamic past, and to that dirty habit of prostitution, with all the social ills and personal misfortunes with which it has filled the Western world? Shall we leave humanity to fall into that confusion of passions which is the law Of the jungle and the behaviour of brute beasts?
It is written in Sura II: Baqara - “The Heifer” (verse 61): “Remember O Israelis, that ye said: ‘O Moses! We cannot keep on with only one kind of food; so pray thy Lord to give us vegetables!’ And he replied: “Will ye exchange the better for the worse? Go down to Egypt and there find what you want!. They were covered with humiliation and misery, for they had drawn upon themselves the wrath of God.-. We should merit Moses. rebuke if we, who have been shown that is good, preferred to return to fleshpots of our own past and the West’s present. Shall we barter a heritage of glory for a mess of pottage?
It is to prevent precisely this disaster that the law of “temporary marriage” was introduced. What better way could there be to rescue millions of women, who are divorced or unmarried or widowed, from the pressure to keep alive in wrongful ways and to prostitute their sex to meet the cost of living? Some might be able to get a job and so a livelihood. But can that satisfy a woman’s inmost feelings and spiritual needs? Can it satisfy the emptiness left in her soul by the loss of a husband’s love and nearness? And what of her innate emotions and her instinct of motherhood? Are not all these temptations to lead her astray unless proper provision is made?
Men and women have taken up temporary marriages in the West without legal, social or religious sanctions - and their society has been cast into chaos. The West’s thinkers are feeling after an institution like Muslim “temporary marriage” to end this chaos.
Thus Bertrand Russell writes: “Modern social and financial difficulties put obstacles in the way of youthful marriages, contrary to our liking. A century or two ago the student completed his studies between the ages of 17 and 20; and, when the pressures of instinct and the age of puberty made him marriageable, he was able to enter that state. Very few remained unmarried until they were 30 or 40. But today students only enter on their serious studies after the age of 20 and proceed to their specialisation in industry or science. Even after they have got their degree and left college, they have to spend quite a period securing their means of livelihood; so that they may be 35 before they can afford to get married and found a family The long gap between adulthood and marriage causes emotional and instinctive upheavals in the sexual life and drives the victims to find relief where they had better not. Would it not be better for the sake of the proper order of human society that we should end this touchy problem by finding some proper outlet for the sexual instinct and the marital urge to replace or to fill in that lengthy gap, and so safeguard public health, posterity, morality, the principles of communication between men and women? Some sort of temporary marriage for our girls and boys would be a solution and prepare them for a permanent marriage later when they can afford it, saving them from the corruptions of illicit sex and the spiritual pangs of conscience which follow that type of wrongdoing as well as from the veneral diseases which only too often result”
Wilhelm van Loom “Matrimonial Health as seen by Islam” (p.175) wrote: “Psychology has confirmed that when men pass early marriageable age without getting wed, tendencies to homosexuality or other forms of sexual satisfaction beset them. Statistics show that some 65% of men who have wives are unfaithful to them. To lessen their burdens the government ought to introduce legislation making temporary marriage by consent of both parties legal, with definite regulations and a proper form for them to sign and register.”
Thanks Parviz.
“Statistics show that some 65% of men who have wives are unfaithful to them. To lessen their burdens the government ought to introduce legislation making temporary marriage by consent of both parties legal, with definite regulations and a proper form for them to sign and register.”
I see Temp Marriage as A Temporary Solution.
Whats more, in Islamic Iran, there should be much more stringent rules for TEMP MARRIAGE, and what constitutes ADULTERY and HENCE STONING OF WOMEN OR MEN, But, mostly Women.
Really, all in all, it is quite pathetic.
Was away for a while, since wordpress was blogged in turkey.
Can I run this story on internations?
kindest
hans
will add you to our blogroll again
Hi Hans,
Sorry for delay in responding, was away yesterday.
Glad wordpress is back to normal in Turkey.
Sure, feel free to run it.
A friend sent me an email regarding this post and said:
“What you relate is terribly sad, but I can’t say I’m surprised. The unnatural repression I saw in my students in the Kingdom [of Saudi Arabia] had much the same results, though I think the Saudis keep it undercover and offshore.
I’ve never figured out if my students were pulling my leg, but I was told that there was a strip joint in Ras Tanura (about an hour from Dahran) that cost you plenty to get in.
Steve”
After these sad stories and yet another cynical exaltation of Islam perhaps it is useful to point out here what the point is. Many of the leaders of the Iranian revolution were studying at the Paris Sorbonne in 1968 when the student revolt took place. They took in the Marxist elements, coupled it to Frantz Fanon’s “Wretched of the Earth”, and proceeded with their hybrid revolt. The oppression of the Iranian people by the mullahs has nothing to do with the repression of sexual instincts, but everything with control, as has the drug abuse. The government can crack down at any time it wants, yet does nothing. An sufficiently oppressed people do revolt against their government. Any inconsistencies in the government’s behavior serves the purpose of yet another method of control. The Soviets excelled in it: it takes a lot of time and energy to sort out “the truth of the day” to which one us supposed to conform.
Cassandra:
I agree that it has everything to do with both power and “control”. In fact this is precisely what the Mullahs did during 1999 Student uprising in Iran; they sent drug dealers to Student dorms to hand out free drugs to students, so that they’d be subdued and incapable of further revolt. This is partly what I was alluding to in my reply to Alamanach, particularly, the last couple of sentences in bold.
Incidentally, the Shia Mullahs of Iran began to exercise control over Iranians when Iranians were forcefully converted to Shia Islam during Safavid period circa 16th century CE. Although this is the first time Iran has a government ruled directly by the Mullahs.
Islam is not peripheral to that “control”, it is a central element. Drug abuse, prostitution, high unemployment, beatings, fear, and so on are other tools to maintain control and prevent people from anti-regime activities.
You’re right to say it was a hybrid of Marxist elements and “Wretched of the Earth” that significantly contributed to ‘79 revolution in Iran. Actually, the current supreme mullah Ali Khamenei has always been very left wing. However, putting the marxists and communists, as well as “Wretched of the Earth” aside, many Iranians were manipulated, and exploited through their belief in Islam. That to me is a fundamental difference between Marxism/communism vs. Islamism or Islam. One is a “man-made” doctrine/ideology, whereas the other bases its authority on “Allah” i.e. “God”. For those who are true believers, it will be very difficult to argue or disobey when a Mullah claims to be God’s representative on earth and often a direct descendant of its prophet. Mullahs continue to manipulate and exploit peoples’ faith.
Once Iranians begin to see & accept the Mullahs for the charlatans they are, who use Islam and Islamic teachings as a key vehicle to dominate and exercise control over the masses, then we can ensure this type of oppression does not happen in the future. Unfortunately, this requires some serious shift in mindset and values and not easily brought about after centuries of Islamic indoctrination in Iran. But, I’m hopeful.
Legacy of Islam is no better than what we’ve got…
تف بر این دین جهنمی
Earlier post regarding Drugs in Iran:
http://plateauofiran.wordpress.com/2007/06/13/opium-brown-sugar-mullahs-in-iran/
Iranians were NOT peacefully converted to Shia during Safavid period. In Tabriz alone 40,000 were killed for not converting. Qezelbash (Mongol origin) Safavids had ‘adamkhar’, literally ‘man eaters’, who would go around and have limbs thorn off of the people who did not recite the phrase “I give witness that Ali is vali of Allah”.
Maziar, am unsure if you’re referring to my comment to Cassandra or not, but I said “forcefully” not “peacefully”.
Persia has a much greater history than the sequestration and horrors imposed upon it by the current crowd of Neanderthal thinkers.
At least to my understanding, the greatness of Iran and her people is being severely interfered with under the current (so called) leadership.
Publication of divergent or interesting ideas appears to be progressively censored. Professors at Tehran University who don’t toe the hard line lose their jobs.
Does the glittery eyed, Israel hating Ahmadinejhad really anticipate the “return” of the 12th imam ?
He is perfectly insane and, one can only hope, reports of him falling into disfavor are authentic.
tanstaafl:
Ahmadinejad is a fundamentalist, but can NOT be dismissed as “insane” or even labelled as such, though I know what you mean. He is more of a “true Shia believer” than many in IRI government, especially regarding the 12th Imam.
But, that may not be quite the overall point, as others have and will use the same angle [12th imam], more so if or when they may see it expedient.
Ahmadinejad, others in IRI more so, are also politicians. But, the return of of the 12th imam is believed by many shia muslims, similar to the resurrection of Jesus.
Thank you plateau. I do appreciate that many Shi’a believe in the return of the Mahdi. It is A’jad’s intensity and (apparent) conviction that chaos in the region necessarily presages the “return” that I find dangerous.
I know Ahmadinejhad has a certain shrewdness, but I would also argue he has a certain self-aggrandizing paranoia. The story (whatever the story might be at the moment) always seems to be about himself.
His own personality and his choice (for purposes of a rallying point) to focus on the destruction of one tiny country in the region (rather than the well being of Iraqis) seems to be the focal point of his obsessiveness.
Recently, he has accused the US of a plot to assassinate him during a visit to Iraq.
Also, he has made an accusation of a plot to assassinate him during a recent visit to Rome.
It’s slightly encouraging (to me) that his seemingly more stable semi- rival Larijani appears to be gaining in stature and power.
I think Iran is an exquisite country and, what I really hate about A’jad (and repression everywhere) is what I regard as an attempt to destroy that grandness.
There were very few Iraqis who even remembered what Iraq was like before Saddam seized control. Perhaps not a perfect place, but a place of culture and art and individuality.
tanstaafl:
I am really unsure to what extent Ahmadinejad’s utterances are based on his religious beliefs or politically motivated to play the general (especially Iranian) public and his own faction/supporters - I suspect a combination of the two. As you say, he is politically shrewd, but also very much a religious conservative.
Frankly, I don’t think any of the mullahs or many of the inner circle regime supporters care much about Iraqis nor Palestinians for that matter. It is a political card (and an islamic one) they have often used, and continue to do so.
As for Larijani, he is more of pragmatist, but at the end of the day, they are all part of the same system and the Islamic Republic regime; different ones have different approach, but same motivation, which is to keep IRI in business and get what they want. They must all go.
http://plateauofiran.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/new-majlis-speaker-ambitious-conservative-ali-larijani/
you may also find this post and comments interesting:
http://plateauofiran.wordpress.com/2008/03/16/a-view-from-jordan-islamic-republics-ridiculous-elections/
“(rather than the well being of Iraqis)”
I meant to write the well being of Iranians.
From al qaeda to Iran, it would seem “the palestinians” are more useful as fodder for an agenda than they are objects of genuine concern.
It’s amazing how individuals in the rest of the Muslim world get away with, effectively, not really doing anything to alleviate the situation. Beyond, of course, Iran arming (and training) Hamas. (not to mention Hezbollah).
Both of which seem available to do A’jad’s incremental bidding in keeping Israel under a constant state of mild siege. His threats seem so pointless in our very small world.
I hope a more moderate individual prevails as the ailing Khamenei inevitably reaches his final end.
“I hope a more moderate individual prevails as the ailing Khamenei inevitably reaches his final end.”
If I understand you correctly, this is what most Islamic reformists of IRI hope for too. I believe in a more meaningful and drastic change. The change for a complete end to any and all forms of an Islamic (religious) regime/government and constitution in Iran. There is never a “moderate” Islamic individual for Iran. Religion is a private matter, should not be imposed on people, society, etc…
Iran’s backwardness in many respects, especially in the last 1400 yrs, has always been due to Islam. Iran’s significant civilized contributions, in every field, even during the mentioned yrs, have always been due to those key aspects not part of “Islamic civilization”, even if mistakenly attributed as such.
There is no such thing as “Islamic civilization”. Those Iranians who contributed in many fields post Islam, did so not due to Islam or its teachings per se, they did so, only after the savagery of Islamic invasion had passed, by applying their pre Islamic learning and culture.
http://plateauofiran.wordpress.com/2007/04/07/persianization-of-islam-part-iii/
I hope for a secular democracy in Iran, where State and Religion are clearly separated.
“Iran’s backwardness in many respects, especially in the last 1400 yrs, has always been due to Islam. ”
Dear Plateau,
I appreciate your frustration, but to blame Islam (as a Faith) for what’s being done in its name is unfair to say the least. Putting the issue of Islam as a Faith aside, how can we deny the influence of 1400years of a belief system on a nation? Denial of the influence of Islam in making us Iranian what we are now, is I suggest, as wrong as the denial of the influence of Zoroastrian Faith and our earlier forefathers/mothers!
With best wishes, Mehyar
Mehyar jaan, I don’t have an issue with peoples’ Faith, whatever it may be. However, I see a number of dimensions regarding one’s faith, in connection with the sentence you quoted from me:
1. One’s faith does not exist in a vaccum. It largely is derived from what one is taught and the belief system of a religion as demonstrated and preached firstly by its prophet (messenger) and thereafter by those who represent the faith and its prophet (mullahs or Islamic theologians in this case). Muslims look to their theologians for guidance and application of their faith.
2. Since its inception, and throughout history, Islam has mostly, if not entirely, been very closely associated with politics. Islam is not purely a spiritual faith, it also is very much a political and legal system of governance. Its prophet set a clear example for this, especially after his move to Medina.
3. In Iran’s case alone, we can say Khomeini invented the velayate faghih, but we cannot say that everything done in the last 1400 yrs or even last 30 yrs in only done “in the name of Islam”. Much is part and parcel of Islamic teachings, laws, rules and belief system.
4. Islam, by the virtue of its belief system and teachings, is a very prescriptive religion (it is also a doctrine and an ideology). It not only tells one the “what”, but it is often very specific in the “how” - almost like a set of instructions which must be followed, and many muslims actually look for them. It greatly reduces one’s latitude to think for oneself, while actively promoting a highly controlled and regulated traditions.
I really do not blame peoples’ faith. The issue to me is mostly what they are taught by their theologians, who, for one reason or another, continue to maintain & enforce archaic laws, practices, and mentality.
I would offer the same criticism for any other religion and/or ideology. But, of course, one finds it incredibly difficult to even criticize Islam or its prophet or its guiding book the Koran, without often dire consequences…
woman if islam deserve to wear whatever they want. let them wear shorts. and let the women choose their husbands