PART 1 [1]

Before any thing I would like to thank our friend Jahanshah for all his hard work and congratulate him on the improvements he made on this site, which is my favourite.

My friend Jahanshah I should admit that since the new features have gone live, this site has become a hundred times more interesting and do not let anybody to tell you otherwise. I used to check out this site once or twice per week max, but now I have it open on my desktop all the time.

And the comment feedbacks!!!!, Well, Just brilliant. I had my first experience with this feature during the first part of this article and I must admit the feedback was amazing.

After ten years of studying Iran's history, culture and political climate, during which I have read over a hundred books assessments and papers and attended a countless number of seminar and lectures by people from every side of the spectrum, I thought that, I may know a thing or two a bout the mentality of our nation and our attitude toward social and political issues. However I must admit that even I did not anticipate to get it so accurate.

I must admit that my commentators lived up to my every expectation. Especially people in the second group.

Among their feed backs I was accused I being a paedophile, a mullah, a homosexual, an Arab and of course an IRI agent. I was even threatened to be sent into U.S concentrations camps in Guantanamo, and being sexually abused by the Islamic Extremists.

And all because I ask for some respect understanding and dialogue.

Many of my readers have concluded that I was an Islamist. So I as a result must admit I did go through my article several times and I still do not know where did they get this idea.

I could only guessed that they must have got this conclusion from the Logo that JJ have kindly selected for me.

Although I could perfectly understand the logic and Irony behind the half disappeared Islamic flag, however some of our more simple-minded friends concluded that this choice was because of my blind faith for Islam.

So this time I decided to choose my own logo and here it is. After many years of studying our history I found this simple cylinder and the deceleration encrypted on it, the single most important and valuable artefact in our whole history.

This was not just because of my Zartoshty faith. It definitely is not because I wanted to hold it to the face of the rest of the world and show them our origin and it definitely is not just an empty symbol to pump up my eager and self-righteousness, But It is because that I totally and genuinely believe in its message.

The message of respect, tolerance, understanding and reconciliation, which is more than what I could say for our extremist nationalist friends.

Now a days everybody talks about Cyrus and his deceleration of human right. Every one talks about the Persian Civilisation and its tolerance and fairness (which I totally agree with).

However it just stops at that. We have no problem with talking about Cyrus and his respect for other people and their religion but when it comes to our own action, then hardly any of us is willing to follow in his footsteps

Hence to an outsider observing our behaviour verses our claims it appears as noting but total hypocrisy an even a discredit to Cyrus The Great and his Declaration of Human Right.

Now before anybody brings up the issue of extremist Muslims and Arabs or their behaviour and the damages they have done to us, I should remind them that I am by no mean defending those groups. However you who claim to be better, more civilised and open minded than the Muslims and Arabs, are behaving just as bad if not even worse than those Arabs you despise so much.

I mean some of the reactions and responses posted on this site is so disgraceful, such a discredit to Persian culture and heritage and so destructive to whatever left of our reputation, that leaves one wondering " with such friends who needs an enemy".

Now, if you think using such a vulgar foul mouth attitude will help you to advance your cause or wins you new support among ordinary Iranian then you are even more delusional than your Hezbollahi counterparts.

Seriously guys, if you people are supposed to be the future of this country and our hope for salvation lay in you hands, then God help us all, as I am afraid we are all stuffed.

As I was saying during this period I was receiving all kind of respond from my commentators, from anger to denials to sarcasm and misinterpretation of Quran. From insults and foul language to threat and even alternative sex offer. However I am yet waiting for one single response that addresses my original question and offers a sensible answer..

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE

Now if you think sarcasm and misinterpretation of other people's values and faith would win them over or if you think Islam and Quran is the only book open to misinterpretation, bigotry and mockery, then I strongly advise to have a look at this article [2] and other articles written by the same Author.

If any of these articles are having a constructive effect on you or makes you rethink your position then your approach would definitely work on others. Otherwise in order to have any effect you should learn to first respect the opposition.

However I understand some people still have a lot of unresolved issues and lots of anger in them. Well that is perfectly OK too. You have my full permission to continue with your misbehaviour. However as we covered this issue in PART 1 [3] and for the sake of other readers I would respectfully ask you to leave such messages in part one. I promise you that I will go back and read every single one of them (If That helps). You can use as much foul language as you want. I even recommend that you write these messages on an e-mail and not only send them to me but if it make you feel better; put your head out of the window, shout and repeat them from the top of your lungs.

When you have got it all out of your system take a cold shower, have a glass of vine (or a pint of beer) to calm you down. Then and only then, when felt you are ready for a constructing adult conversation comeback to part two and post your questions comments and suggestions about these important issues. So that we can talk about them and come into a sensible conclusion.

Now back to our main discussion.

According what I gathered from many comments in part one it seems to me that many of our nationalist friends believe that Islam was shoved down the thought of our ancestors by the force of sward without them being able to have say about it. Sorry, but this is an over simplistic and naive presumption that not only does not do us any favour but also degrades our Persian ancestors.

Of course I am by no mean trying to deny Taazi savagery and the crimes they committed against our country. However criminal savagery in one thing and selling out an ideology is quiet another.

It is simply not possible to make a person let alone a nation to accept a faith and ideology at the point of sward, one can kill them rape them burn their cities and commit crimes against humanity however a faith would only come from the hearth.. To those anti-Islamists who do not believe me my answer is simply this.

To get the proof to my claim all you have to do is to look in the mirror.

You and your generation have been living under the most brutal, savage and radical regime on the planet. For the past thirty years Islam have been forced on you from the barrel of a gun and more importantly you have been bombarded with their propaganda day in day out, and forced to learn their ideology at school. However I am yet to find a faithful Muslim among you. If what your claim about Islam being forced on our ancestors is right then you all should have become good little Muslims as well. But we can all see, this enforcement and brutality have not only did not win you over but it also had an opposite effect on you. Now I do not see the reason that the effect on our ancestors would have been any different, unless you think of yourself as being better smarter and more brave than them, in which case I do not see what is all the fuss about.

How ever to those of us who actually bothered to read some history the reason is much more complex.

For me personally it was always a big question. How could the mightiest empire in the world who had the strongest, most modern army and war tactic, who was much stronger than the Romans, Greeks and Egyptians all put together, and had such patriotic and nationalist people behind it, could fall victim to a few bare foot savage Arabs.

My quest took me to the end of the Sassanid dynasty and right before the Arab invasion.

As the historians put it. Immediately before the time of Arabs invasion there was actually no Persian army left.

The fact was that more than 20 years of pointless war between Persians and Romans left their two army broken and bankrupted and disintegrated. Both nations were in dismay and angry with their rulers.

In fact the only resistant encountered by the Taazy troops was in the Ghadesyyeh which due to lack of planning investment and leadership was lost.

More importantly, at the time of the invasion and for a period after that, Arabs did encounter any grass root resistant from ordinary people until it was to late and despite efforts of people like Babak Khorramdin, their resistance and sacrifices noting significant was achieved. By that time the damage was done and Arabs got a firm grip on the country. The reason for this lack of resistance was noting but the incompetent and brutality of the last Sassanid kings who did not respect human right, charged high taxes, did not care about the affairs of their country and people, and even in a few isolated cases promoted slavery.

Now, you might think that could not be true. How can a patriotic Iranian hand his country to the enemy just because they do not like their government. Then I suggest to you to just have a look at the comments of our Friend, Kouroush Sassanian and the likes of him who are inviting the Americans to bomb and invade Iran just because he is not happy with the mullahs.

Anybody who is familiar with the terms Vietnam, Korea, Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo and Abu-Gharib, would very well know the American army for the rapist savage murderers that they are. Now, if you think they are less destructive to Iran that the Savage Arabs then you need your head Examined.

If in the 21st century and the age of Information super highway and 24houser news media we still get such hot heads then we should not be surprised or upset by the 8 th century Persians.

The domination and existence of Arabs in Iran had many good and bad affects, one of which was the introduction of Islam to Iran, which was adopted by the Majority of out people. Iranians not only adopted this religion and brought it into their own culture but also through their poetry philosophy and culture improved it immensely. (Of course with the exception of those extremists who destroy everything they touch)

This is the historical fact well documented by many independent historians and whether we like it or not is irrelevant.

However if some of our friends like to hide their head in sand and live their own fantasy, then who am I to stop them.

At the end of the day the reality on the ground is that the majority of Iranians are Muslim or at least carry the title and our insult, bigotry and sarcasm definitely would not win them over. The only way one can make them interested in our way is by giving them respect and recognition along with pointing to their short comes.

Furthermore converting people from one religion to another is not going to resolve our political economical and cultural problems over night

Also to the friend who believes that the death and destruction that Alexander have brought to Persia was less than what the Arabs have Done, I can only say WOW

I mean seriously guys you should really learn to read a few books and do some research before putting your pen to the paper (or in this case your hands on the keyboard) and making a fool of yourselves. Here is a good point to start www.google.com [4]

To understand the death and destructions that Alexander brought into Iran its culture and people one needs to look no further than the writings of Strabon, the Greek historian who entered Persia with Alexander. Read how he describes the magnificent Iranian cities, libraries and structure that fell to his master and got burnet to the ground in ordered to prevent the evil Persian Empire to rise again.

You should really read about the largest most magnificent libraries in the world that were burnt to the ground by Alexander and his army. Learn about the copies of original Avesta, which was destroyed. May be you need to know about the main copy Avesta that was stolen from Persepolis and sent to Greek. An act of thievery, which resulted in the permanent loss of more than 2/3 of the original Avesta. May be you should know that the copy of Avesta which was sent to Greek was used as the main point reference for people like Aristotle and founded the base of Greek philosophy and mythology and democracy. This was an act of theft and forgery that still affect till this day. If it was not for him and his looting there would have been no Greek civilisation and people like me did not have to challenge and fight Europe's snobbish Historian wana-bees who claim the history of civilisation, philosophy poetry and art starts from Greek and refer to us Persians as savage Barbarians.

If you are only happy with the fact that Alexander's soldiers got married to Iranian women then may I remind you that the Arabs did the same too? However it is hardly logical to praise Arabs for embracing Persian Culture.

Also to the friend who recommended that book, I should inform you that I have already read the books and many others from the same Author (Shojaa-oddin Shafaa). However if a person is after the truth and not only proving his own point, then he/she must read more than one view so I suggest to read the book Shefaa by Abu Ali Sina and at least one of the books from Dr Shariatti or Mr Ghomshey on Islamic philosophy.

Personally I never allow the author to do my conclusion for me that is why I choose to read books from a broad range of views and mind set and I prefer for the conclusion to be left to me.

In the end you guys need to come down to earth and deal with the reality that 98% of the population in our country are ordinary Muslims (Unless you are planning to send them all to the concentration camps)

For better or worst Islam has made its deep foot print in our society culture, poetry philosophyÖ , and whether we like it or not is irrelevant.

We can either try to deal with this fact by engaging with Iranian Muslims through dialog, respect reconciliation, education and try to keep the forces of extreme at bay, or we can sit on the side lines keep moaning, insulting, and devaluing peoples belief. A self-defeating act by which we would end up being marginalised ourselves.

The choice is clearly yours.

In the end no single party, ideology, religion or political orientation can claim that they have got it 100% right and they have all the answers in the same way that none of them could be totally dismissed as having being completely wrong. Those who follow such path will run the risk of falling to the very same trap of becoming an extremist themselves.

On the other hand civilised and successful nations have learned long ago to listen an learn from each other's point of view by trying to pick and combine the best parts of each idea, in order to build a secular modest and successful society.

No one said it would be easy, Doing the right thing never is.

However question you need to ask yourselves: is

HAVE YOU GOT WHAT IS TAKES? >>> PART 3 [5]
PART 1 [6]