Posted on 06/16/2005 2:12:34 PM PDT by nuconvert
'May God Be Our Guide'
Ayatollah Medhi Haeri Khorshidi/ Wall Street Journal:
June 16, 2005
Muslims must understand that participation in Friday's presidential election in Iran is haram, that is, it is unclean according to religious principles and reasonable logic. Therefore it is forbidden to participate.
Whoever would participate in this process would be a full partner in the destruction of Iran by the current regime, a partner in its criminal behavior in the past, in the present and in the future. I am speaking not only on behalf of myself, but on behalf of the thousands of Muslim clerics who are imprisoned for defying the assertion that the state and religion should be under the control of a single Supreme Leader.
What I am saying is exactly what many other ayatollahs and grand ayatollahs are saying.
May God be our guide!
* * *
The coming election is nothing but a show for cheating the people of Iran, and for making propaganda with other Muslim nations. I am asking the people not to go out of their houses on election day, and to boycott the polls. In the U.S., any candidate is given the chance to go before the people and tell them what he proposes to do in office. But in Iran, such debate does not seem to be necessary, since, long before the election, the government already knows who would win.
The Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Khamanei and the Guardian Council -- composed of 12 of his cronies -- have already rejected most candidates that they don't consider acceptable, and have designated their favorites. If by chance someone not designated a favorite should win, the Guardians can set aside the election of the unfortunate winner.
There are three reasons why this process is contrary to Islamic principles.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
"The second reason not to go to the polls is that the regime has no respect for the opinion of the people. What the regime is saying is that the more people in line to vote, the more successful the election will appear to be. They think that the public will interpret a big turnout as support for the regime, without reflecting on the years of intimidation and terror."
"If people go out and vote, they are ratifying a criminal process carried out by a so-called Islamic Republic, which does not follow the principles of Islam at all. There is nothing in the Quran that allows the clergy to be involved in government. By voting, the people would legitimize the slaughter of our youth, the destruction of our culture and economy, the murders of innocent citizens, and the tragedy of Iran today. This kind of election is a betrayal of Islam...."
"We human beings are made in the image of God, so we do know the difference between right and wrong without being guided by clerics who have usurped power. The right thing is not to become a participant in elections that are an insult to all the principles of the Quran and to all humanity."
you can also go here for the rest of the article.........
http://regimechangeiran.blogspot.com/2005/06/ayatollah-says-election-in-iran-is.html
One thing about Iranian elections though...
They actually have secret ballots, and if you want to get down to it, they are alot more democratic than say, Egypt or Saudi Arabia.
Also, of the Muslim countries, Iran is the only one that actually mandates seats in parliament for religious minorities (I think the Zoroastrians even have some)
Well, I guess that kind of depends on your definitions of "secret ballots", & "democratic".
As for the seats in Parliament, they're window dressing and meaningless.
pong
Thanks for the ping. Read this in the WSJ today...
Cool. How many women are there in a "haram" anyway?
This guy has been against the supreme leader since the early days of his (khamenei's) leadership.
Any way, I think the turnout of this sham election will be very low!
None. You're thinking of "harem." haram is quite something else.
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