Khodadad Rezakhani

Khodadad, do you know Karen Armstrong?

I wrote to you ages ago...I'm the one who thought you looked like my own son. I always read your articles.

Is it possible that you know Karen Armstrong through your research for your doctorate? I just think the way the comment was written is just like her writing style. People have word prints just like they have finger prints.

I'm so impressed that someone like Karen would even look at a site that I read. LOL. I emailed your blog to every friend that I imagined would care and several think it might be her.

In 2004 at the Brown U graduation, I met Shirin Ebadi and I'm still in heaven. People like Karen Armstrong and Shirin Ebadi are my heroes.

Answer to MythBuster

For your information, the only reason Iran has been suffering as a nation is because of the Iranian people, not a religion!

As I recall, before Islam, Iranians blamed magi priests for raping women in the Zoroastrian temples. That led to a halfhearted defense against Arab armies, which let to defeat of Persia.

As long as Iranians remain a selfish and arrogant people, Iran will remain as is. Here in the U.S., Iranians hardly if ever support an Iranian community. There are many, many wealthy Iranians in Iran and abroad. Why is it that they keep their wealth for their personal pleasure? They say a dollar goes hand-to-hand over 20 times in the Korean community here in U.S.! If a dollar would go at least 5 times hand-to-hand in the Iranian community then there might be a glimmer of hope for Iran and Iranians!

Is this the real Karen Armstrong?

You words seem like the words of her books. I read Karen's "History of God," and watched her in several documentaries including those from Amanpour's CNN Warriors of God series. I think she's a reasonable person on a planet of religious fanatics.

REligion is a lie

ALL RELIGION IS A LIE

no religious believer
can prove their so called holy book
is anything more then a bunch of stories

To Karen Armstrong: Islam brought only misery and genocide

Nice try Karen. Iranians well know how much misery and destruction Islam has brought to Iran and Iranians.

To: Iva about TRUE ISLAM

Iva Ignorance is not a blessing. Before you start condemning a religion worshiped by over 1.5 billion people in the world it would do you good to study the religion as opposed to spreading misinformation by those who want to create hatred toward Muslims either out of pure ignorance or desire to create a divide among people of a specific faith

We have a long history of Islamophobia in Western culture that dates back to the time of the Crusades. In the 12th century, Christian monks in Europe insisted that Islam was a violent religion of the sword, and that Mohammad was a Charlatan who imposed his religion on a reluctant world by force of arms; they called him a lecher and a sexual pervert. This distorted version of the Prophet’s life became one of the received ideas of the West and Western people have always found it difficult to see Muhammad in a more objective light. Since the destruction of the World Trade Center in September 11, 2001, members of the Christian Right in the United States and some sectors of the Western media have continued this tradition of hostility, claiming that Muhammad was irredeemably addicted to war. Some have gone as far as to claim that he was a terrorist and a pedophile.

We can no longer afford to indulge this type of bigotry, because it is a gift to extremists who can use such statements to “prove” that the Western world is indeed engaged on a new crusade against the Islamic world. Muhammad was not a man of violence. We must approach his life in a balanced way, in order to appreciate his considerable achievements. To cultivate an inaccurate prejudice damages the tolerance, liberty, and compassion that supposed to characterize Western culture.

As a paradigmatic personality, Muhammad has important lessons, not only for Muslims, but also for Western people. His life was a jihad, this word does not mean “holy war”, it means, “struggle”. Muhammad literally sweated with the effort to bring peace to war thorn-Arabia, and we need people who are prepared to do this today. His life was a tireless campaign against greed, injustice and arrogance. He realized that Arabia was at a turning point and that the old way of thinking would no longer suffice, so he wore himself out in the creative effort to evolve an entirely new solution. We entered another era in history on September 11, and must strive with equal intensity to develop a different outlook.

Strangely, events that took place in seventh-century Arabia have much to teach us about the events of our time and their underlying significance-far more, in fact, than the facile sound bites of politicians. Mohammad was not trying to impose religious orthodoxy-he was not much interested in metaphysics-but to change people’s hearts and minds. He called the prevailing spirit of his time “jahiliyyah”; this means the “Time of Ignorance”. Muhammad used this term jahiliyya to refer not to a historical era but to a state of mind that caused violence and terror in seventh century Arabia. Jahiliyyah is also in evidence in the West today as well as in the Muslim world.

True faith required surrender to God, not to an established faith. Indeed, exclusive loyalty to only one tradition could become “shirk”, an idolatry, which puts a human institution on the same level as God. This is one of the first passages in the Qur’an to emphasize the words “islam” and “muslim”, which both derive from the verb “asalama” surrendering oneself entirely to God.

The Qur’an depicts one prophet handing on the revelation to another. The message passes from Abraham to Ishmael and Isaac to Moses, and so on, in a continuous narrative. The Qur’an is simply a “confirmation” of the previous scriptures, and the Torah, the Gospel and the Qur’an are simply moments in God’s continuous self-disclosure.: “Verily, those who have attained to faith [in this divine writ], as well as those who follow the Jewish faith, the Zoroastrian faith, and the Christian – all who believe in God the Last Day and do righteous deeds – no fear need they have, and neither shall they grieve.” There was no thought of forcing everybody into the Muslim ummah . Each of the revealed traditions had its own din, its own practice and insights. “Unto every one of you have We appointed a law and way of life,” God told Muhammad.

God was not the exclusive property of one tradition, but was the source of human knowledge.

In the Qur’an, self-defense was the only possible justification for hostilities and the preemptive strike was condemned. Constantly the Qur’an insists upon the importance of mercy and forgiveness, even during armed conflict. Warfare in self-defense is the last resort after having taken all measures to bring about truce and even then the moment the enemy asks for peace, Muslims must lay down their arms.” They must accept any offer of truce, whatever conditions are imposed, even if they suspect the enemy of double-dealing.”

The TRUE ISLAM IS DEFINITELY NOT WHAT YOU HAVE INDICATED IN YOUR COMMENTS. Unfortunately the West, Christians, Jews, Muslims as well as other religious faiths have abandoned the true teachings of their din. This is what the Qur’an refers to as the “hypocrites”; those who say they are, Muslims but in fact simply make such statements to deceive.

A healthy, functioning Islam had for centuries helped Muslims cultivate decent values, which we in the West share, because they spring from a common tradition. Some Muslims have problems with Western modernity. They have turned against the cultures of the People of the Book, and have even begun to Islamize their hatred of these sister faiths, which were so powerfully endorsed in the Qur’an. Muslims must learn to understand the Western traditions and institutions because they are not going to disappear. At the same time the Western civilization intellectually, and socially, politically and economically, and the Christian church theologically, can learn to treat other men with fundamental respect as opposed to inferior beings and must learn to recognize that they share the planet with equals. If the two cannot meet the challenges of our they will have failed to come to terms with the actualities of the twentieth century.

If we are to avoid catastrophe, the Muslim and Western worlds must learn not merely to tolerate but to appreciate one another. A good place to start is with the figure of Muhammad: a complex man, who resists facile, ideologically-driven categorization, who sometimes did things that were difficult or impossible for us to understand, but who had profound genius and founded a religion and cultural tradition that was not based on the sword but whose name “Islam” – signified peace and reconciliation.

True Islam

We keep hearing, of course, from brainwashed fanatics that "true Islam" is different than what we see on daily basis.

Lets go back in history a bit to find out about true islam.

Mammad, the founder, was a child molester (True)
.
Ali, the cousin, with his own hands cut off heads of over 600 jews without due process by simply labeling them "moafegh" or hypocript (True)
.
Moslem armys cut off the heads of those who did not accept the new religion particularly in occupied lands such is Iran (True).
.
Libraries were burnt to ground by moslem armys because "everything man needs to know" can be found in their so called holy text (TRUE).
.
Slavery is not forbidden in Islam. Many of African slaves that were sent to the new world were captured by moslem/arabs and sold to slavery (True).
.
Moslems have destroyed and continue to destroy everything that is not related to Islam. Examples would be Buddha statues in Afghanistan, Dynamiting Arg-e-shah in Tabriz, Pasargad in Iran (in process of being destroyed). If I am not mistaken Ayatooleh Meshkini wanted to bulldoze Takht-e-Jamshid, but someone stopped him. (TRUE)

Moslems, the hypocrites, holler "injustice" in regards to Felestine, however, they shut when it comes to Chechnia (TRUE)

List goes on and on ... TRUE ISLAM IS NOTHING MORE THAN EVIL IN DISGUISE

Barbaric animals

Calling human beings filthy names in order to justify annihilating them calls to mind others that have done so to Armenians, Jews, American Indians and others in the same way. Such "thinkers" are common in the "civilized West" today, as they have been since Christopher Columbus, that author of genocide in Hispaniola.

Those who have done such things to human beings and want to do the same some more, just as their fathers did, are not "barbaric animals" themselves. That is an insult to both animals and barbarians, neither of which act that way.

Javabe Hey Olagh

Mr./Ms Ex-Muslim. Hatred is against God and the good of all humanity, especially if it is irrational hatred. Whether you think that you are a Christian, Jewish, Muslim or a non-believer your hate might have a reason. You obviously know nothing about true Islam. Unfortunately for you, your hate would only destroy your own soul in this world and no injustice and evil, as you indicated will happen to Muslims!

Where is the outrage of the moderate muslims

around the world on this barbaric act? If somebody drew a cartoon of that criminal child molester Muhammad in some newspaper, there would be riots on the streets!? But, when a Muslim woman is barbarically murdered by the hands of barbaric Muslims, everybody is quiet!? Why? It's because all Muslims are barbaric! There is no difference between a moderate Muslim and and extreme Muslim!? They are all a bunch of barbaric animals who must be annihilated from the face of the Earth?

Not Pakistan

Call it FILTHYstan, the name is more fitting for a place that is filled with brained washed nasty moslems whose first order of business is to KILL as perscribed by their idol Al-Lah.

We need our own Binazir

I nominate googoosh, you see Valiahd is too ugly, (well the wife is OK), maybe just like MKO, shahis can nominate her to be
the next president (with no election of course).
PS. I think the mullahs did it, they did not want the Iranians
to get any ideas that they want a hot looking leader.

What a poor analysis! Do you really live in the United States?

It's shocking how some of the Iranians who have been living in the States for a long time have no idea about the US politics and particularly the way media works here. it was better for you to sleep more rather then sitting and writing a poor, absurd, and childish analysis. You neither know about Pakistan nor about the US politics. Why some people think that they can write about everything without any background information. It was useful if you could follow CNN the whole day to get some lessons on how the media functions here. Then, you would learn how Pakistan is the core of Terrorism and on the top of the US National Security issues. Next time, wait a little bit and prepare yourself more for such a think to write.

I'm with you

I agree. I think it's an ISS (or is it ISI?) job designed to look like an Islamist hit in the way it was executed. In looking for "who did it" one should start by looking at who benefits from the ensuing fiasco...and the answer is clearly not the Islamists. Plus, with all the intelligence and police surveilance of Buhotto, the Islamists would not have had the opportunity to plan and execute such a sophisticated attack.

Curiosity on the Subject

Benazir Bhutto's assassination reminds me of the number of rednecks and misogynists in the US who are ready to bet that if either Hillary or Obama are elected next year, they'll be assassinated by January 2010.

It also makes me wonder when will the Iranians wake up and separate Disneyland/God/Religion from the State?

Proud of their 2500 years history, will the Iranians ever wake up to realize that the whole concept of “God” is nothing but a mere figment of human imagination – no matter whether it is marketed via the Bible, Torah, Qoran, or any other fairy tale -- and no matter how many millions in South America or Africa believe in such BS.

Mixing human well-being with illusions such as God and Religion (as documented in Richard Dawkins 2007 book entitled “The God Delusion”) leads to the assassination of a speaker such as Benazir Bhutto today.

It is about time for 90% of human beings on this planet (and 80% of god-loving citizens of the US) to wake up and dump the American theocracy, the Jewish Wailing Wall, as well as the fundamentalism of IRI/Bin Laden/Taliban in the garbage of the human history.

Enough is enough with all this God and Religion business.  So, Benazir Bhutto is dead.  For what, I ask you.  Please don’t tell me that she was killed for the same reason as Olof Palmer in Sweden in 1986.  If you believe that, then the Pakistanis must be as civilized as the Swedish...

Hey Mr. smart.....

Now that we established you are the only one on this land who knows what the right question is you definitly know the right answers as well.
From the tone of your blab I sensed you have some sensitivity to the word "extremist" and "jihadist" as though you condone suicide bombing and killing of innocent people for whatever the cause. If you sympathize with this murderous act, (no matter what the cause), then you are extremist, muslim or non-muslim. Unfortunately, these acts have been committed mostly by muslims.
I find it hypocritical for you to sit here and enjoy everything you have and keep on blabbing the garbage you spit out. I wouldn't be surprised if you have your own suicide belt hidden somewhere, waiting for the right opportunity to use it.

Salam Khodadad- Glad you

Salam Khodadad- Glad you wrote on this, and glad to see you writing more in general.

My theory is that whoever did this had a two part assignment: kill bhutto and make the whole thing look like a suicide bombing. Clearly he suceeded at the first, but no so much the second thing. Making the whole thing out to be only a suicide bombing would make it easier to point the finger at Qaeda types and away from musharraf.

BHUTOO'S MOTHER WAS IRANIAN

In her political speeches she always boasted that her mother is Iranian. Good upbringing by an Iranian mom.

Who Cares?

You have already heard Romney or others.
Now, go and ask ordinary Americans in the streets of any major or minor city in America these questions:
1. Do you know who Bhuto was?
2. Do you know what she did?
3. Do you know where she was from?
4. Do you know where Pakistan is?
5. Do you know how she was killed and why?
Believe it or not, not many Americans would know or care. Neither would tens of millions of Iranians or Chinese, or Bangladeshis, etc.

Here we go again...

Conspiracy theories by a bunch of fvcking Muslims from the Islamic Republic of barbarics as to Bhutto's death. Hey KoskeshHa stop blaming CIA, MI6, this, and that. It is you fvking Muslims behind all the barbaric acts for the past 1400 years!!!!

Obviously CIA. The new head

Obviously CIA.

The new head of Pakistani Army graduated from the School of the America's in Ft. Bennings, GA. Musharraf plays ball, the Bushies don't want to theaten that relationship.

Go to the experts...

I noticed the BBC seemed to be the only news organization interviewing actual Muslims and/or South Asians (not that being Muslim and/or South Asian automatically means you're an expert, but it's a step up from Pat Buchanan).

Bhutto was not all that popular,

she was also very corrupt and was forced out of office. She really was no threat to Musharaf because she was running her party in Parliament. No matter what Parviz was going to remain president.

Defending Islamists to the hilt

By accusing Musharaf aren’t you doing exactly what you accuse others of doing? And how many suicidal/homicidal attacks does it take to recognize the M.O. of Islamists.

Hey Olagh

It is NOT Senator Mitt Romney rather Governor Mitt Romney!? Today's barbaric act was another proof that Muslims all over the world are a bunch of barbaric animals who will never civilize!? The only solution for the Western world to nuke all fvcking Muslims including those in Iran!?

good point

and obviousely the work of Islamic Brotherhood, (Ekhvanol-Moslemin) which are bred in England and their alligence is to the fucking British flag.

All these Islamic problems initiate from fucking England.