 Don't blame Islam
Blame yourselves
By Payman A.
December 21, 2004
iranian.com
All the time people are sending garbage to Iranian.com
stating that Islam and the mullahs have caused the problems Iranians
face today. Wake up and smell the
roses. We Iranians have brought these problems onto ourselves. Who supported
the Islamic revolution and the end of 2,500 years of nonstop monarchy? Which
people voted 98% for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeinei in 1979?
Now that Iran is a theocratical dictatorship, we
say "I
remember the good old times when the Shah was in power." Or "The
Shah was a good man." We've forgotten that the shah also was a dictator
and sent SAVAK to arrest and torture his suspected enemies. He too did not
allow
political
freedom or freedom of speech. He let foreign powers manipulate our oil industry.
When the Shah was in power people complained about
him in secret just like we do today. So we came up with a bright
plan: overthrow the Shah and make
Khomeinei
supreme ruler. Iranians poured into the streets all over the country in
a successful effort to bring down the shah.
People risked their
lives to do
this. The only
problem is we replaced the shah with another king. The so-called spiritual
leader has the powers of the king and rules for life. The only difference
is that an
assembly picks the spiritual leader. With the mullahs in power the people
slowly realized it was all a hoax. It was just a way for the mullahs
to rule the nation.
People are so fed
up nowadays with not only the lack of freedom, but economical, technological
and other miscellaneous
problems facing Iran today, that they blame it all on the mullahs and
Islam. That's where they're wrong.
When I went to Iran this past summer I saw people breaking laws that
are for their own safety. Even though the law forbids more than one person
sitting in the front seat people break that law by having two or more
people
sit
in
the
front seat. Heck I've been in a sedan crammed with ten people.
Motorists go at top speed with no head covering to
protect them. I once saw a motorist
going
at a high-speed crash with a pedestrian crossing the street. The motorist
scraped his head on the asphalt and he bled badly. Another outrageous
thing: people
blame the regime for no organization and good, clean streets.
The people
themselves, instead of throwing away trash throw it into the street
making the streets
dirty.
In Hamedan I saw a woman with her little boy. The boy had to defecate,
so
his mother let him do it in the street. When she was asked why she
let her son
do that, she responded: " It's okay. He's a little kid."
Another thing that causes Iranians problems is superstition. For example
if a person sneezes, a lot of people would say to stop what their doing
and send
seven
salavats to the prophet to force Satan away. People mistake this with
an Islamic command. This is called superstition and it has nothing
to do with
Islam. It's
a handy device for corrupt religious leaders to control their subjects.
However it should be known that all mullahs and ayatollahs
are not bad. Some of them
are good, kindly people. I should also remind you that Islam encourages
knowledge and science, not the other way around.
Maybe I should
remind
all of you
that a thousand years ago in Islamic lands the arts and sciences
were at a way higher level than in the West. Muslim scholars translated
and preserved
many
ancient Greek and Roman documents, so therefore Muslims helped create
modern Western civilization.
During the Safavid era the arts and
sciences
were
highly valued in Iran as well. Unfortunately, during the Qajar era
Iran fell into
an abyss culturally, ideologically, technologically, and militarily.
The gap
that
separates Iran and the Western world came to be during the Qajar
era. But even today, Iranians can purchase books about the arts
and sciences
and
are interested
in acquiring knowledge.
Now all you Iranians who want to overthrow the dictatorial regime
listen up. How come you sit home and pout about the regime when a
lot of you
are enjoying
having access to modern technology and are very successful? Some
of you (not all of you) are a bunch of selfish jerks who don't think
about
the
plight
of the many other groups of people around the world. I mean, some
Iranian millionaires
are living off food stamps in L.A.
No, it's about me, me, and me.
Take this into consideration: Millions of people
in Africa are starving to death at
this very
moment, not even making it to middle age, and dying from AIDS.
Millions of people have no access to clean water, food, and medicine
to fight
off disease.
In Bangladesh
130 million people are jammed into a space smaller than Iowa. Global
warming might cause the Indian Ocean to flood about 20% of this
land. Tell me where
these poor, suffering people would go? What is hejab compared to
this?
 If you really
want to overthrow the regime Iranians have to do what they did
26 years ago. They have to pour into the streets and complain.
They
have to
put their lives
at risk to achieve freedom. They have to make sure that some dirty
ass bitches don't trick them.
You may think I'm done, but I'm not.
I want
to discuss
Iranian atomic weapons and Islam itself.
I myself personally think Iranians should have nukes at their disposal.
It would certainly shut up all those Arab countries that despise
Iran and Iranians.
Also
if Israel has the special privilege of having nukes in the Middle
East, why can't we? I say it's all or none. Given the current situation
of
the world,
I'd say
the U.S.A. has the right to be afraid of Iran handing off nukes
to terrorists. But we let Pakistan have nukes even though it has
way
more Islamic extremists
than Iran.
In fact why can't we just ban nukes to every country
on the planet and arrest anyone who is making or planning to create
nukes? With
the destruction
of nukes, the world will be a safer place and terrorists will be
denied of a good chance to threaten the world. Furthermore we'd
be
closer
to world peace
and the threat of nuclear warfare would be in the past. How do
we even know
Iran has nukes? Iran is complying with the demands of Europe and
the U.S to freeze
its uranium enrichment program. How can we trust the Bush Administration
now that they've lied about WMDs in Iraq? In the end we'll see
who the real liar
is.
Last but not least I'd like to discuss misconceptions about Islam.
I already mentioned how people blame Islam for superstition. People
also
blame Islam
for cultural stagnation and backwardness, and corruption, stupidity,
lack of freedom,
and ignorance. Let me tell you something: they're all wrong. They
don't look deeply into the matter. Islam actually encourages the
arts and
sciences like
I said before.
Jihad is exaggerated. God never said to go blow
up innocent people with bombs. Islam actually forbids suicide. Murder
is also outlawed. Terrorist attacks such as 9-11, are major gonaahs (sins).
God never said to go kill innocent people. God never said to kill
people because of ideological differences.
In
the Quran it says kafars (atheists) cannot be changed
because as punishment for disbelief God has sealed up their eyes
and ears
so you cannot change their minds.
Only will they be given proof of the existence of God once they
believe in him. God himself says that you don't have to believe
in him and "woe
to the disbelievers". So killing atheists is not justified.
Superstition regarding the advance of technology
is lies. Islam has nothing against technology.
Islam doesn't allow you to force someone to believe in what you
believe. Islam does not forbid cultural advancement; it only
forbids culture with low morals
such as alcoholism and marijuana use. The reason why Islam is
associated with these things is that corrupt, greedy and power-hungry
people
who may not have
even believed in Islam added superstition and lies to it to advance
themselves in life.
 Many Muslim religious leaders today violate Islam
itself and brainwash
young Muslim men into thinking killing Westerners is right,
even though it's wrong. Most Muslim terrorists are brainwashed
by
Osama Bin Laden (what an asshole)
and other corrupt people. Terrorism does not represent Islam.
So please think before you misjudge Islam.
My name
is Payman, and I'm an American-born Iranian
who speaks Farsi. I'm 14-years-old and I live
in the Sacramento, California, area.
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Don't blame Islam
