Answers to Holly from Persian Paradox

Dear Holly,
On Persian Paradox you wrote:

I usually agree with most of your posts and I admire your passion and knowledge on Iran history and politics. However, in you last post you called for "Islamic Democracy" which to me that is an oxymoron. How would you govern with the backward Quran and Sharia laws in a 21st century environment? Islam and its laws belong in mosques not in Parliaments.
October 1, 2008 7:59 PM

I posted a comment in response to you on Persian Paradox, but in case Dr. Ebtekar chooses to censor me again and NOT post my comment, here it is for you:


Dear Holly,
The Sharia law (Islamic Jurisprudence) and the Shiite book of rules called "Mafatih" are indeed things of the past, good for 1400 years ago, perhaps best suited for Arabs of the "jaheliyat" era, but the Holy Quran is not!!!!!
The Quran does not have to be interpreted by fundamentalists and reactionary extremists who don't understand its wisdom!

Islamic Democracy was a promise that was never fulfilled in Iran, not after the fundamentalists took over and hijacked that glorious "Spring of Freedom" (1979) from the people who had fought for 25 years (after the coup of 1953) to free Iran from the dictatorship of a despotic king and the quasi-colonialism of Western Imperialists!

Now though, I believe that people like Mr. Khatami can reverse that wrong path, and steer the ship back in the right direction toward true Islamic Democracy, but you know? this term is not an oxymoron, in that it doesn't refer to the fundamentalist version of Islam, but to the modern, enlightened, and evolved nature of its 21st century version!

Whether you and I like it or not, those people (in the Middle East, of which Iran is a part) have a real connection with their religion, and they can't embrace Democracy the Western style! They need to define it according to their own culture, and when scholars and theoreicians of the revolution (like Dr. Shariati, Ostad Motahari, Dr. Beheshti, Prime Minister Bazargan, ...) came up with a clear definition of the flavor of Democracy that can be feasible and in accordance to that culture, by no means did they ever have this IRI in mind!!!!!

What we see in Iran today is just a ghost of that ideal, and it has in reality turned into the same despotic dictatorship we had under the Pahlavi monarchy, except it is now in the hands of the clerical class!!!!!! but you know what? there is actually a silver-lining here:

This so-called IRI has been helpful in turning many Iranians away from their brand of fundamentalist Islam over the past 3 decades, and they have in a way helped accelerate the evolution of the society's political psyche! The majority of Iran's youth (which is 65% of the Iranian population) no longer looks at the moon and claims to have seen the face of an Ayatollah in it! That's quite an improvement from 30 years ago, don't you think???
:-)

October 3, 2008 6:15 PM


Please make your own weblog visible to the outside, so that people can read your posts and leave comments for you there.

Thanks!