Posted on 02/28/2005 9:11:41 AM PST by Khashayar
TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- Outraged by scenes of young boys and girls using Shiite Islam's most sacred mourning day as an opportunity to flirt in public, Iran's religious hard-liners are calling on authorities to stamp out such "vulgar displays."
Failure to do so, some newspaper commentators said, would force pious citizens to take matters into their own hands.
"Let the officials realize that the heroic and passionate people of Iran can easily deal with a handful of hoodlums and promiscuous elements that ridicule our sanctities," the hard-line Jomhuri-ye Eslami daily said in an editorial last week.
The main focus of hard-line anger was a gathering of several hundred youngsters at Mohseni square in affluent northern Tehran earlier this month on the night of Ashura.
Ashura is the day Shiites commemorate the death of Imam Hossein in a 680 AD battle which cemented the schism between Sunni and Shiite Islam. In Iran, where Shiite Islam is the official religion, it is supposed to be marked by mourning.
"In the sunset of Ashura, women and girls in tight clothes and transparent scarves and guys dressed in Western fashion lit candles while laughing their hearts out," said the Ya Lesarat weekly, mouthpiece of the feared Ansar-e Hizbollah hard-line vigilante group, members of whom later dispersed the crowds.
Other newspapers printed pictures from the Mohseni square gathering, focusing on young girls wearing make-up, laughing and mingling freely with the opposite sex.
"In this disgraceful event which was like a large street party, women and girls ... as well as boys ... mocked Muslims' beliefs and sanctities in the most shameless manner," Jomhuri-ye Eslami said.
Public displays of affection between unrelated men and women are banned in Iran. Western dress, make-up and pop music are also frowned on by hard-liners upon as signs of moral turpitude.
'Immoral scenes'
"Some long-haired guys would openly cuddle girls creating awful and immoral scenes. Fast, provoking music ... nearby gave the street party more steam," it added.
Tehran residents said the Mohseni square Ashura gathering has swelled in size over recent years, attracting growing numbers from the generally more affluent parts of the city.
But political analysts said the trend observed at Mohseni square was in evidence, to a lesser extent, elsewhere.
"In general, religious events like Ashura have become a way for young people to interact freely in public," said one analyst who follows religious affairs closely.
"The religious side of it is much less important to them than the social aspect," the analyst, who declined to be named, added.
Religious figures in Iran, including President Mohammad Khatami, a reformist cleric, have noted with dismay that Iran's disproportionately youthful population, around two-thirds of whom were born after the 1979 Islamic revolution, are increasingly turning away from religion.
Mohsen Kadivar, a mid-ranking cleric and philosophy lecturer whose views have landed him in prison, told Reuters in an interview earlier this month that young people in secular Turkey were more interested in religion than those in Iran.
"This shows that religion is voluntary. Forcing it on society has the opposite effect," he said.
This is one of our ways to fight Islam in our homeland.
Give us freedom and we will be the most secular country of the whole mideast
.FREEDOM FOR IRAN NOW
Ping!
Someone show these imams some MTV Spring Break.
Their heads will explode.
"I Want My M-TV" Bump!
Already posted at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1352711/posts
"Give us freedom and we will be the most secular country of the whole mideast."
Wonderful! After Iran has been 'given' it's freedom it'll be BLTs and chablis for everyone! Can't wait...(sarcasm off)
Every little bit helps and we ARE paying attention ... hopefully, you will be free soon.
damn HOT!!!
The night of Ashura will surely be more popular in the future, particularly among the young. Nice move, Islamo-holes! :'D
"This shows that religion is voluntary. Forcing it on society has the opposite effect," he said.
Exactly! You would think that with all the talk about the free-market that conservatives would understand that, but they don't.
That really is an interesting comparison though between 'secular' Turkey and Iran and how gov't sponsored religion actually turns people off. Maybe the ACLU is actually doing The Lord's work? :-)
How DARE those beautiful women flaunt themselves so openly. I'm surprised dome imam or other hasn't ordered an acid attack to teach them humility. (/sarcasm)
A good comparison of Iran pre/post 1979
http://www.amiran.com/iran/IranPhoto/leaders_of_iran.htm
“Failure to do so, some newspaper commentators said, would force pious citizens to take matters into their own hands.”
Here comes the Syrian and Palestinian hired help to do the mullahs bid and kill babies. That should answer any question on “how bad can it get under Islam?”.
They added, "We consider it sacrilege to the great Allah for these blasphemous young people to have hearts! Next thing you know they will be refusing to strap on explosives and kill the Zionist servants of the Great Satan!"
A serious comment:
Even though FReepers like to believe that the force of the young Iranians' desire for freedom is going to bring about change in their country without intervention by us, it is hard for me to imagine a scenario by which the radical Islamist forces inside Iran are going to go quietly into powerlessness.
If nothing else, we have learned in recent years that the only way you can deal with an Islamo-nazi is to lock him up and throw away the key, or to kill him.
That's what Ceausescu thought.
I hope you're right.
But the radical Islamists in Iran are a bit different than the cowed communist apparatchiks in Romania.
They think flirting is sinful? Looks like feminism really has made inroads in Iran.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.