Iqbal Latif

Socrates said 'I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.' Nothing needs to be taught! Education that does not teach scepticism and ability to challenge and destroy myths with 'truth' is no good, our system will fire a teacher who incorporate these values in the minds of our generations.

If after all this your child walks up to you and tell you that 'As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.' You achieved your goal. You created a Socrates who was forced to drink hemlock as he was polluting the mind of young, let's do it all the time. I do it!!

Socrates was found guilty of both corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens and of "not believing in the gods of the state!" Crimes every intelligent man should commit. We should question collective notion of "might makes right." Socrates was sentenced to death by drinking a mixture containing poison hemlock.

In modern Iran teaching of Khomeini emphasize that the just ruler should “subordinate individuals to the collective interest of society” by rooting out “numerous groups that were a source of corruption and harm” – just as the Prophet Mohammad had “eliminated” the Jews of Medina. Human rights violations in Iran registers more than 300 people executed for ‘Mofsed fel-Arz’. Executions have followed in recent cases in which defendants have been convicted of ’spreading corruption on earth’.This is in memory of those 300 Socrates of Iran.

Is there someone ready to teach nothing? Is someone ready to hear nothing? I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance. If someone exists out there he is my seer, my sage, my prophet; he who tells me to destroy which can be through reason and logic!

I rather be constituted 'a mad man' in a space where I can say something; than an intelligent being amongst those who rarely ever talk. When you treat your philosophers as polluters of minds; something is wrong with you not those who are polluters.

'Mofsed fel-Arz' as per Khomeini: “Muslim government should stop the spread of such illegal and heretical ideas, and execute in public and in the presence of all true believers all such provocateurs who spread corruption on earth.”

Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali, who was one of the most active judges in applying the charge of ’spreading corruption on earth’, defined it in his memoirs:

A Corrupter on earth is a person who contributes to spreading and expanding corruption on earth. Corruption is what leads to the decline, destruction and deviation of society from its true nature. People who were executed had striven to spread corruption and prostitution, distributing heroin and opium and exhibiting licentious behavior, atheism, murder, betrayal, flattery: in sum, all these vile qualities. These people’s problems were aggravated by the fact that they did not repent once they saw the people’s revolution.Khalkhali referred to those he sentenced to death under the charge as “traitors” who “destroyed society”.

I rather be constituted 'a mad man' in a space where I can say something; than an intelligent being amongst those who rarely ever talk and condemn medieval stupid
arrogance and darkness that continues to engulf Iran.

'Pollution rarely survives,' that which survived thousands of years is the eternal truth. He who tread and treat every word that may 'please everyone pleases no one' he ultimately hurts the balance of nature. Nature thrives on probing of ideas. Be a ''gadfly.'' Plato refers to Socrates as the "gadfly" of the state (as the gadfly stings the horse into action, so Socrates stung various Athenians), insofar as he irritated some people with considerations of justice and the pursuit of goodness.

Socrates said 'I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.' 'Nothing' needs to be taught! Education that does not teach scepticism and ability to challenge and destroy myths with 'truth' is no good, our system will fire a teacher who incorporate these values in the minds of our generations.

We need to institute 'power of questioning' establish wisdom, we need to incorporate will like 'he is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.' And advise our children that they need to 'employ their time in improving themselves by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have laboured hard for.'

If after all this your child walks up to you and tell you that 'As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.' You achieved your goal. You created a Socrates who was forced to drink hemlock as he was polluting the mind of young, let's do it all the time. I do it!! False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

Is there someone ready to teach nothing? Is someone ready to hear nothing? Let's become 'Mofsed fel-Arz'ala Socrates! Let's spare a moment in remembering all those 300 who were sacrificed on the altar of super ego of a 'Usooli philosophy' that refuses to be examined through the microscope of reason and logic.