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Friday * Postmodern bilge I am writing in response to A. Shamlokhi's article about stonings in Iran ["Virtually impossible"]. I actually took the time to read this linear and didactic article, an act I later regret, and Mr Shamlokhi sounds to me like another Islamic apologist, a person who tries so desperately to justify acts of utter inhumanity by laying the blame not on the ideologies that surround this government that likes to call itself an Islamic Republic. Shamlokhi only reiterates what many of "our" so-called reformists have. NOTHING! Laying blame on judges and not pointing out the obvious misogynistic ways in which stonings are acted out is absurd and simplistic. Mr. Shamlokhi, I suggest you go to Iran, bury yourself from the waist up and have about fifty of your closest "vatanis" hurl stones at you until you die. There is no justifying this act. Quit all this postmodern bilge. * Only 7 or 8 were stoned Once again the issue of stoning has been discussed ["Virtually impossible"]. I'm just going to add some points. 1. Some people, though maybe not explicitly, hinted at the impossibility of the carrying out stoning. This is not correct. It is possible to carry it out, it just has tough conditions and requirements, i.e four just eye witnesses. In Iran for example, with a population of 65 million, about 75 people were executed for various crimes last year. Among these, maybe 7 or 8 were through stoning. Of course, in a population of 65 million, there aren't 3 or 4 people who commit adultery! But the cases where the requirements where met, the punishment was carried out. Such as the pornographic movie actress stoned not so long ago. Obviously more than four eye witnesses could witness that. 2. Another person claimed that the law of stoning is man-made, and has no basis in the Qur'an. First of all, he has to get rid of his basic misunderstanding that the Qur'an is the SOLE basis for laws. All Muslims of all sects are in total agreement that the basis for the laws is the Qur'an & the Sunnah (example) of the Prophet. Examples: >>> FULL TEXT * Acquitting Islam Regarding "Virtually impossible" and Ramin Tabib's letter, "Understanding its context": Stoning like many other Islamic laws may be interpreted as the following: "An ideological/judiciary façade of a male-dominated society which considers women as personal properties" or " lawlessness for women in an economically/judiciary backward society." Any attempt to acquit Islam from this social crime and any moral or utilitarian justification of this form of punishment is collaboration with the executors and sympathizans of this backward ideology. * Freedom not exclusively Western idea Dear Mohandes, Thank you for your article, "Aadame aazaadeh", regarding freedom/liberty. It is thought provoking, especially for the younger generation. Near the end you say: "What is meant by liberty/freedom is that which we learned from the Western thought?" Then you immediately go to say : "Making liberty conditional and dependent on geographical and cultural characteristics is making it impotent." (Hope you like my translations). Now, I think your latter sentence (with which I partially agree) contradicts, rather dramatically, the former. Unless, if you mean that the notion of freedom/liberty is new to human experience and starts only (and is thoroughly interwoven with) the modernist Western tradition. If such is the case, how do you account for the indigenous notions of human rights as expressed in the writings of Sufis such as Hafiz, Rumi, Ibn-Arabi, Attar (afterall you use the term aazaade-gee yourself), the "human rights" declaration of Cyrus, The Great, 2,500 years ago, or our own Sa'di's notion of the unity of humanity (bani aadam a'zaay-e yek paykarand), or even the struggles of Imam Ali or Imam Hosein for preserving the essence of freedom/liberty (as expressed through the desire for justice), as well as countless other examples within Islamic or non-Islamic traditions (pre-modern AND modern), whereby various peoples who were inspired by their "innate" desire for justice, freedom and liberty (in their own indigenous cultural and historical contexts) have left profound marks on history? Wow! I should get some sort of prize for writing LONG sentences, right? :-) The developed notions of freedom/liberty within the Western tradition (encoded within modern constitutional systems) have benefited immensely (self-admitted) from such collective human heritage. I respectfully disagree with your notion that liberty/freedom owes its essence or birth to the West. I think consciously adopting or unconsciously "internalizing" such colonial attitudes toward history and even reality is the real danger in "Westoxification". In my perspective, such simplistic visions are just untrue, as when the proponents of ANY ideology claim exclusive ownership of whatever "noble" and "purified" values they hold as fundamental (hence ABUSING the essence of such values, by definition) in order to justify holding their ideology's version of reality superior to WHAT IS. The problem is that WHAT IS is always diverse in its core essence and does not let ANY civilization (especially when interpreted by a purposeful ideology) to claim human glory exclusively, based on its inherently biased perspective--because we humans are prisoners of perspective. Please remember, our consciousness/being IS the "center of the universe," while at the same time it is an insignificantly small yet indispensable part of what constitutes the cosmos. As our Great Rumi says, we are both a transitory wave AND the permanent ocean. Respectfully, * Won't last with a non-Iranian man For the same reason that I don't recommend "Not Without My Daughter" I shouldn't recommend Iranian.com's "Mary" to anyone. I think the problem of Iranian women is not with Iranian men. It is with their Iranian being or with men in general? Do they know that they choose their husband first and then after 20 years they would be sorry about their decision? Have they had any other options at that time? What makes their nice husband a cruel person after a long time? Iranian women get married usually when they are young and without any experience in their life. If they are smart they just know whatever they read in the books and whatever their parents and friends have talked about. That is not life. You have to be in the community, work hard and meet challenges in so many ways to feel what life is like for a man inside Iran. Men need real love as well. They don't want to push their wives to love them. This is the situation inside the Iran that makes women and men to behave differently and that is not anybody's fault. Foreigners have better families than we do. Good for them. However, let's assume "Mary" is right. Iranian men are not as perfect as other men in the world. So what's the solution? Should we influence them by posting a story such as "Mary"? Zane Irani cheghadr saboore! Oonghadr harfaaro tooye deletoon negah midaarin va nemigin ke dar nehaayat tabdil be nefrat mishe va dige nemitoonin baa shoharetoon zendegi konin. Esmesho mizaarin sabr. Badam migin zanaaye irani sabreshoon ziyaade. Inghadr az shoharetoon pishe ino oon harf nazanin. Taa haalaa nashnidam ke mardi bege baa zanesh chetor sex daashte. Vali az daste in zanaa ke moo be mooye zendegishoon o doostashoon (yaa maadareshoon) midoonan. You have to live with a non-Iranian husband (African, Arab, Turk, American,..) then make a comment. I mean a long-term relationship, not only spending a couple of days with them. If it is a matter of a couple of days (or a few months). I think even I as a man will enjoy it. Don't we know that Iranian women make fun of other minorities more than men do inside the Iran? That's okay. We forgive them because they have less grammatical mistakes in their writings ["FAQ"] than men do. By the way, have you heard about that group of African women who are hairy and have the longest period duration in the world? Is it right that American women (and men) love to be with hairy Iranian men? Be aarezooie khoshbakhtie hamegie shomaa, * Greatest aunty Thank you for the great advice ["Kobra Khanom"]. How did you know I should take a shuttle bus? The two cities are in fact close, and very "shutalable". You must have a sixth sense. No wonder everyone thinks of you as the greatest aunty. Sleepless * Eftekhar Meekhastam kheylee behetoon eftekhar konam ba een neveshteyeh ghashangetoon ["Sadaf Kiani Abbassian"]. Vaghtee dashtam meekhoondamesh, hameh cheez ro jeloyeh cheshmam meedeedam va chehghadr zeeba bood... Kheyly mamnoon az een akseh ghashangee keh dar zehneh man gozashteen... Khoda Neghadar, Panteha Najian * Loved it I loved Pantea Karimi's paintings ["My way"]. Thank you for putting it on your website! Also, thank you for your wonderful website. * Annoying ads I enjoy The Iranian website and I am a regular visitor. The one thing that always spoils the enjoyment is your animated adverts/links. They can be quite distracting when you are trying to read and article. Some of them are in poor taste (such as the Iranian Personals) and some downright annoying (e.g. Khorsid.com). It would be a big improvement if you reduced (or better still removed) animated links and icons from your webpages. Regards,
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