LettersFebruary 29, 2007 2 wrongs don't make a rightIn response to Dariush Abadi's " Iran will never be secular": Dear Dariush, During the times that I was involved with this site I had a several encounters with many extremists from different ends of the spectrum. Most of these people were anti –Islamist blind lovers of the west and capitalism. On the other hand you sir (as an Islamic extremist) can be categorised as and endangered specie. I must admit, it is now quit a while that I have not come across such naïve distorted and superstitious views such as yours. It is quiet amazing and Ironic that how often people in the extreme opposites of the spectrum mirror and reflect each other points of view and live up to each other expectation .In all their efforts to appose and defer from each other they look more and more the same just like the opposite sides of the same counterfeit coin. Looking into your article I found so many errors and fabrication (Deliberate or uninformed) that I did not know whether to laugh at your naivety become saddened and concerned for the future of our people (you included) and the direction that this country is taking. You see, the problem with you and your anti-Islamist counterparts is that you both see the world as either black or white. You either tend to defy the religion (in this case Islam) with all the benefits and inspirations that it has brought to our culture and history, or you would accept any bullshit that was pumped into your ears in the name of Islam and religion without applying any logic or questioning the source. May be the most important similarity that I see in your logic (or lack of it), is the way you both are selective in your facts by only referring to that part of truth which serves your purpose and using it to fabricate the rest of your argument. On the other hand when it comes to those parts, which contradicts with your beliefs you conveniently choose to ignore it. For example: in your article you rightly pointed to 1400 years of Islamic history in our country and its effects and contributions on our life and culture, while you conveniently forgot the suffering and misfortunes that we endured in the hand of Arabs and the crimes they committed against this nation. Furthermore you are taking the same position as the people you are criticizing by ignoring over 2000 years of our history, achievements and glory before Islam. I can only assume that this comes from lack of education and information about ones own country, heritage and identity. Hence I do strongly suggest that you read a few books about Iran before Islam and its glories and achievements instead of relying on the baseless allegations fabricated by a few Arabs and their extremist ass kissers. The following link introduces "Sarzamin-e Javid" a good non-bias book, which could be a good starting point. In your thoughts and behaviours, you extremists complement each other so perfectly that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish which one is which. For example a person like yourself thinks being moderate means that one has to defy his religion nationality and tradition and extremists on the other side (like Mr Amil Imani) are just behaving like that by insulting Islam and Muslims. People like you think being moderate and trying to learn from other nations successes and achievements means to be a traitor to ones own country and leaving the door wide open for foreign invaders to come and loot our country and assets, and people like Mr Sam Dehghani the (auditor of article "If a war were to start between Iran and the US, the responsibility clearly stands with the Iranian government") just do that in the name of being rational and moderate. On other hand people like Amil think being Muslim is equivalent to being a fascist and not having any respect for other peoples freedom and choice of religion and interfering in other people's way of life and dictating the way they should live their lives, and guess what! Your behaviour exactly reflects his perception. The extremist anti-Islamists on the other side claim that being a Muslim means defying one's identity as a Persian and lack of respect for our culture history achievements before Islam and dismissing our great national heroes such as Kooroshe Kabir and Khashayar Shah, and your writing exactly matches their expectations So as you see, you extremists are more alike in the way you think than you want to admit. On the issue of revolution I strongly advice you to do some research on western conspiracies that led into the catastrophic mayhem of 1979 (The so called "revolution") and the real beneficiaries behind it. As a reference I can mention the books: The Great War for Civilisation by Robert Fisk Memoir of General Hazer Answer to history by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. People of Iran were deceived by Khomeini and his accomplices (MKO Jebhey Melli, Hezbe Toodeh and so on) to serve their interest. It was not without the help of British Intelligence and CIA who were looking to advance their own interest by bringing down the price of Oil. This was due to the fact that one year earlier Shah refused to renew the thirty years old contract that would give the West and especially the Americans access to cheap oil. The fact was that $40 per barrel was simply much more than what the west could afford or was prepared to pay for the oil. So they simply got rid of their own poppet and put another one in his place. As a result for the following 15 years they enjoyed cheap oil price ($10 per barrel). The other issue behind the revolution was creating the controversial green belt against the advancement of communist in the Middle East and noting could do the job better than Islamic extremism. So they founded and promoted it like there was no tomorrow Now the fact that just like any other ill planned short-sided conspiracy plotted by the West this one also backfired and in the end the extremists got the upper hand, is another story. In all these affairs people of Iran were deceived and used to serve the purpose of the West and Khomeini's selfishness and unfortunately they were naïve enough to act without thinking and allow themselves to be used by these conspirators. Furthermore I do not know which planet you are living on but here on the planet Earth almost all of the people in Iran who took part on that disaster of revolution are now regretting their actions and are still living in nostalgia of the past. Now do not get me wrong. I am by no means a monarchist or a blind admirer of Shah's regime. His regime like many others before it had its own flaws and mistakes. But according to the opinion of the majority in Iran he and his regime were far better in managing the country than many regimes before them and certainly much better than the one that came after. Along with the mistakes and weaknesses there were also a lot of achievements regenerations and strong points. It is only fair to consider both of these issues when judging the man and his reign With regard to our great scientists and scholars after Islam. Although I do totally accept the fact that they were truly Muslims and were inspired by their religion, however unlike you I do not think that they owe all their achievement to Islam. For them Islam was just a tool and an inspiration. But at the end of the day it was they and their ingenuity that accomplished those achievements and led them to glory and not Islam on its own. This reminds me of an example that was always mentioned by my grand father. Consider the sun. It shines on everything equally one cannot consider the sunshine as good or bad. However when sun, shines on a rose it will blossom become beautiful and fills the air with a pleasant aroma. On the other hand when the same sun shines on a dog's carcass, causes it to rot, smell and pollute the environment around it. The sun still is the same sun for both these features, but what makes them behave differently is their potential and nature. The same principal applies to Islam or any other religion or ideology. In the hands of a great genius like Hafez, Molavi or Ebne Sina it becomes an inspiration and driving force for their achievements and masterpieces. On the other hand the same Islam in the hands of an ignorant extremist like Khomeini or Bin Laden will become the tool of suppression and death and destruction. Just as one should not blame Islam for the barbaric behaviours of those extremist it is also unfair and erroneous to give all the credit to Islam for the achievements of great men such as Hafez, Saadi, Ebne Sina and Kharazmi. In all this cases Islam is just a tool and inspiration but the ingenuity or in the some cases evilness lays somewhere else (these peoples nature and state of mind). When people admire the painting of Mona Lisa by Leonardo Davinchee, they do not admire the brush and tools that he used for it (In fact the intensive analysis now shows that some of these materials were in such poor quality that makes it very difficult for the museum to preserve the painting for a long period). They neither admire the woman in the painting, although she was the reason and inspiration for Leonardo to create that painting in the first place. But what is being admired is the painting itself and man who created this masterpiece, his ingenuity, thoughts and talent. The same argument can be used in the case of Islam and its effect on our culture and its inspiration for our great poets, scientists and scholars. In the same way when a gun is used to kill someone, no one in their right mind condemn the gun or put in on trial for the crime that is was used for but it is the murderer who is on trial. This is why I find your claims about Ebne Sina's achievements coming directly from Quran verses or Kharazmi's mathematic was for finding Ghebleh (direction to Mecca), really childish and stupid. Your claims are not only a disgrace to Islam, but also an insult to these great men, their hard work and achievements. From your gullible and childish claims it is obvious that you have neither read Quran nor you have any information about these great men's life and state of mind. So I suggest to you to read the books of Shefa, Ghanoon and Esharat-va-Tanbihaat by Ebne Sina and Asaar al Baghieh by Aboreihan-e Biroony. It is also strongly recommended that you get your hand on a Farsi translated version of Quran and find out what the book is really about, instead of relying on the bullshit which is being pumped into your ears by a few illiterate self centred mullahs Also on your comments about Persian identity and why it should be limited only to the borders of modern Iran, I should inform you that it is obvious from your comments that you do not even know the meaning of nationality and heritage. Nationality and identity is first and for most is the matter of hearth and mind and one's up bringing, not physical borders. We know very well that the old Persian Empire was much larger than the modern Iran and included many other nations. However many of those nations (for what ever reason) are now separated from us and do not even identify themselves as Persians nor do they associate themselves with this glory and traditions. We could and should not force them accept what they do not want to and neither we should try to turn the clock back. On the other hand we the people of modern Iran still consider ourselves as the descendants of this Empire and see it as our duty to protect and promote our own glorious past and heritage With regard where people of Iran stand today, despite what you think, I am pleased to inform you that people of Iran are moderate people. That was why mullahs were never able to impose a Taliban style regime upon them. Even many of the restrictions that were imposed upon them by mullahs were defiantly challenged so that in the end the mullahs had no choice but to give in to the will of the people. On the contrary to what you might think, most of people in today's Iran are fed up with nosey extremists who interfere in every aspect of their lives. Although they are Muslims they do not want to be bossed around by an stupid arrogant mullah who calls himself Vally-ye Vagheeh treats them as unworthy children who need to be told what to do in every aspect of their lives. You should also be informed that being moderate and secular and separating religion from state is the only way forward and our only way to salvation So as I said in the start of my article the good news is that people with your type of mentality are fast on decline in our society. One only needs to take a non bias look at the cross section of Iranian society and especially our young generation to see that no one is any more interested in the rubbish that is being preached by the mullahs. Majority of Iranian people want separation of the religion from the state and want a secular society in which all the religions and opinions are respected and their leader are properly elected and are held accountable for their action. On the other hand the bad news is that people like you have already done a lot of damage to our country, culture and the mentality of our young generation. Your arrogant extremist behaviours has led to the formation of another extreme school of thought to oppose you. These people have no respect for Islam and other people 's choice of religion. In some cases they have turned to the blind admirers of the west and are closing their eyes to all the crimes and conspiracies that have been committed by U.S and Europe over the past couple of centuries. They do not even mind to hand over their country to these enemies as long as their own selfish interests are met. And For the people like me it is our next challenge to fight and defeat this new type of extremism No thanks to you
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