Letters

Write for The Iranian Editorial policy

Wedneday
August 29, 2001

Do not denigrate us

Thank you for your reply Mr. Kaveh Ahangar ["Forcible conversion"]. Now to the issue:

Now I see, you have changed your tactic. First, it was conversion by the Sword, and now it has been changed to what you say:

"'Conversion' under financial pressure is forcible conversion too."

So basically your (and mine) forefathers "converted" because of financial pressure?! What kind of sick reasoning is that! They must have indeed despised their own religion to such an extent, or have not had any belief in their own beliefs, that they change religions based on financial pressure? Oh please...

Second you write:

"Iranains rebelled against Arab occupiers many times."

Muslims of all races, iranian and otherwise, rebelled against Arab occupiers. Yes I agree with you, and I agree with these rebellions. The arab rulers, except Prophet Muhammad and Imam Ali's brief rule, were brutal oppressive regimes and I don't support any of it. Maybe you should take up some lessons on our beliefs (Shi'ite Islam) before you make such ignorant comments. Who said anything about support or sympathy for these racist arabs?

Third you go on:

"Islam has been propagated by the sword and kept by force."

Oh this funny, I thought it was financial? Now it switched back to the sword?

Forth:

"Only recently the Taliban in Afganestan have arrested some aid workers for "propagating Christianity" because they had a copy of the Bible."

Oh please. Making Taliban the norm of Islam? That's like making Saddam, Stalin or Hitler the norm for Secularism.

Fifth:

"This kind of behaviour has been the norm in the past 1,400 years throughout the Islamic world."

I see. That's why in countries which was occupied my muslims, such as Syria, Iran, India etc., you will find such ancient religious minorities as Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Sabians etc., whereas in the countries occupied by for example Christians you will not find any populations of their 'original religion', such as for example Asatro in the Scandinavian ones, or Maya in Latin America, or Druidism in England and so and so forth. Please spare us from your conjectures.

You say:

"Finally, I am very well aware of what the Persian emperors did."

I hope that is true. The Qur'an orders us to investigate history and see what happened to past nations, and to take lessons from it.

"However, first they did not do it in the name of Allah!"

Allah = al (the) + ilah (deity) = The (underimplied "One and Only") Deity

So they did it in the name of Ahura Mazda. Difference? Is your case so weak you need to go into semantics?

"And second, who said that they were perfect?!"

I certainly didn't.

"But third, Iranians were much better off under their own emperors than under the Arab emperors."

Well, I might partly agree with you if you mean the emperors other than the rulership of Muhammad (though Iran wasn't under his rulership), or during Imam Ali (unfortunately he was involved in civil wars mostly during his reign). But I don't think they had it GOOD during the dictatorship of the Sassanid persian emperors. (But, the earlier emperors who professed the real religion of Zoroaster, whom we by the way consider a prophet, were good rulers.)

Also, it seems that, you don't have a problem with the Persian emperors imposing things upon other people, but only if you see others (in this case Arab dictators) impose upon the Iranian something you consider unjust, then that's objectionable. That's a racist attitude my dear friend! That's what Islam came to abolish.

"If he reads any books written on Iranian history by "independent sources", for example from Russian or English books"

Ok this is nice, let's see.

Example #1: English sources.

History of English connections with Islam: Occupation of Palestine, Iraq, Bahrain, UAE, Egypt, large of parts of then India (Now Pakistan, India and Bangladesh) are some small examples. Murder, oppression, rape of thousands of muslims, propagation of Christianity in all of these countries, looking down upon the local cultures and religions. This is an 'independent source'? Who are you trying to fool?

Example #2: Russian sources.

History of Russian connections with Islam: Occupation of Tajikistan, Kirgizistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Tatarstan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Afghanistan (among which large part belonging to then Persia) are some small examples. They did basically what the British did. This is an 'independent source'? In that case, spare me from your 'independent' sources.

But maybe the worst thing is your insult of Persians. I will echo what Shahid Mutahhari wrote in one of his books about history of Iran & Islam:

"The most surprising thing is the attitude of some persons who inflict the gravest of insults on the Iranian people in the name of defence of Iranian race and nationality.

Sometimes they say that the people of Iran wanted to defend their old regime and creed with utmost seriousness, but despite all their grandeur, power, vastness of their land and a large population of a hundred and forty million, they were defeated by a small Arab army of fifty to sixty thousands. If this is true, isn't it a matter of great shame for the Iranians?

Sometimes they say that the Iranians changed their creed and faith because of fear. If what they say be true, the Iranians are the most degenerate people of the world, for a people which fails to preserve its cherished faith against a victor does not deserve the name of humanity.

Sometimes they say that the Iranians remained under the Arab yoke for the last fourteen hundred years. It means that although the military supremacy of Arabs did not last longer than a hundred years, Iranians could never recover from a blow struck fourteen hundred years ago. What a weakness, incapacity and worthlessness it reveals! Even some backward peoples of Africa, after centuries of European colonialism, could, one after another, break their chains and liberate themselves; but a civilized nation with a rich past was defeated by a nomadic people who lost their power within a short time, but that nation could not overcome the shock of her defeat for fourteen hundred years and was compelled to continue living with the creed, ideas, customs, norms, and language of the victor against its own inner inclination!

Sometimes they say that Iranians adopted the Shi'i faith with a view to preserving their old beliefs and customs under its guise. That is, during this entire long period they have been hypocritical in their profession of Islam, and all their claims of being Muslims, with which their history is replete, have been false and deceptive. For the past fourteen centuries Iranians have been telling lies, writing lies and living a life of lies. What greater dishonour and unmanliness is imaginable for a people?!

Sometimes they say that the root cause of all their love and sacrifices for Islam is not to be sought in the affinity of the Iranian spirit with Islam and Shi'ism and the Iranians' grasp and perception of a series of higher truths and teachings; rather, it is to be traced in a single marital union. These people changed the entire course of their lives and culture just for the sake of a kinship born of a marriage. What an absurdly rootless people!

Sometimes they say that the Iranians were eager to defend the creed and government of those days, but they withdrew from the battlefield and preferred to be silent spectators of events. Again what meanness and cowardice!

According to the views of these feeble-minded persons, the Iranian people are the meanest and the most degenerate people of the world, for in fear of their conquerors they abandoned their old script and adopted the Arabic script, paid greater attention to Arabic as compared to Persian and took pains to compile Arabic grammar and dictionaries, wrote their books in Arabic under duress, taught Arabic to their children under fear, incorporated Islamic teachings into the heart and soul of their literature in a state of dread, forgot their ancient creed on account of fear, did not rise to defend their favourite regime, and failed to defend their beloved faith and creed due to fear!

To summarize the views of these persons, the history of the fourteen centuries of the Iranian people reflects nothing but incompetence, hypocrisy, two-facedness, fear, cowardice, rootlessness, meanness and unmanliness, and what they have been lacking all the time was discretion, choice, conviction, faith and love of truth. In this way the greatest of all insults are piled over the heads of the noble people of Iran by these senseless individuals.

But the respected reader of this book will see for himself that these are false allegations against Iran and Iranians. Whatever the Iranian did was with his own discretion and choice. The Iranian has been competent, not hypocritical and double-tongued; brave and courageous, not timid and cowardly; a seeker of truth, not shortsighted and attentive to passing events; with deep roots, not rootless and baseless. In the future also the Iranian will retain his roots and integrity and strengthen further his ties with Islam with every passing day."

(You can read more of it here)

Why do you keep insulting us to such a degree? An army of 50,000-60,000 these lizard eating, illiterate desert arabs with no culture to speak of (which I presume you and your likes describe them as), beat down and conquer a nation with more than thousand year old tradition, a great organized army and a vast nation with farms, aqeducts, postal system, experienced war commanders and wealth coming into the state coffins from the taxes and tributes, with millions of citizens?! Which logic accepts this?! Now you insult us further by saying that they gave up their religion through financial pressure!!! What a weak pathetic people that does such a thing. May God save us from these allegations.

No, my dear friend. Persians are nothing of what you say. Persia is a nation of scientists, poets, cultured and civilized people, they were the good people before Islam, and according to the Prophet those who were good before Islam became the good muslims, and indeed this proved to be true as the majority of the best scholars in every field of religion and science were to consist of Persians.

This is the nation to which Prophet Muhammad had a special attraction and which he said he trusts them more than many arabs. This is the nation which Imam Ali said, they would bring back Islam to the arabs in the future, as the arabs brought them Islam at this instance. Do not denigrate us. Go and read the works of Persian poets such as Sa'adi, Ferdowsi, Hafez, Mowlavi and many other of the great ones, to see what love they expressed for the Prophet and his Ahlul Bayt. Instead of wasting your time on hatred. Thank you.

Corr Chris

Comment for The Iranian letters section