Posted on 12/28/2006 11:18:06 AM PST by shrinkermd
....When an Iranian proves to be sophisticated, she no longer qualifies as Iranian. ...then the real biases begin to emerge. The unveiled and urbane Iranian jars the Western mind. For the Anglophone, Iran's history begins in 1979, and the model for an authentic Iranian male is bearded, preferably turbaned and robed; and the female is submissive and veiled...
...The effort began by Ayatollah Khomeini. He made no secret of his contempt for the non-Muslim dimensions of Iranian life. He injected Persian with so many Arabic words that it confounded the ordinary listener, something for which he compensated by repetitiveness. He did all but officially ban Nowrooz, the traditional Iranian new year with its roots in the pre-Islamic era, and refrained from delivering a traditional Nowrooz message in March 1979 (weeks after the victory of the revolution). But as popular as he was in those early days, the public's backlash against his stance on Nowrooz was so powerful that he, who rarely relented, eventually caved in....
...Yet even the ayatollah was borrowing a page from history. The battle to define the Iranian identity, Muslim versus Persian, is an old one. Since the Arab conquest of the 7th century, Iranians have struggled to maintain their heritage through language and tradition. Though the nation fully embraced Islam, the religion of the conquerors, they made it uniquely their own by Persianizing it, which, to a great extent, marks the historical beginnings of Shiism. A leading Iranian philosopher argues that failure and loss have branded the Iranian psyche. The loss here refers to the loss of the Sassanian Persian army against the Arab Muslim army in the year 636 at Qadesiyyah -- a battle which Saddam Hussein often invoked as he unleashed his army into the Iranian territory.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
"...Whatever happens to Iraq and the dream of creating a democracy in the Middle East, Iran is already going through pains of transition. Iranians are turning to the notion of civil society and moderation, not simply as political necessities, but also as ways to define themselves as distinct, and thus to pay contemporary tribute to a past that has, despite the centuries, remained a formative force in their present.
Ms. Hakakian, author of "Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran" (Crown, 2004), is writing a book about the assassination of Iranian Kurdish leaders
I haven't read this yet (I will), but it's funny, I was thinking this exact thing the other day: isn't there a way to get some Iranian's pissed off about how they've been turned into lackeys for a 7th Century Arab pedophile.
If you are talking longhair cat breed, then Persian.
ping
Once the Iranians become Baha'is, it'll be a beautiful place. I think about 10 percent of the Iranian population is Baha'i. It's a homegrown religion with a heck of lot more to offer the world than Islam. Right now, the official policy in Iran is to persecute the Baha'is; of course, it is official Islamic policy to persecute all religions that aren't Islamic.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
There are still Zoroastrians in Iran too, which is another honorable tradition.
Uhm, no. Iran's non-Muslims are dhimmis, of course, and they are the target of a lot of unjust behavior, but only the Ba'hai are targeted for summary execution as they are considered heretical muslims and not dhimmis.
And another article I cannot read...
"I think about 10 percent of the Iranian population is "Baha'i."
Research usually trumps guessing (or thinking). Try a total of about 2 percent, for Christians, Jews, Bahai and Zoroastrians combined.
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ir.html#People
One reason it is small, because they have left. I have met members of all four groups, in California.
You will find many Zoroastrians in Bombay (Mumbay).
There are MANY covert/secret Bahais in Iran. I don't know what percentage of total population, but certainly more then 2%. Also many (educated, better-off) Iranians, privately, are turning away from Islam to Baha'i Faith, Zoroastriansim and also Christianity. I personally know some Evangelical Iranians who used to be (moderate) Shias.
BUMP!
I'm a fan of the term Parthian, myself
In a biography of Ghengis Khan, who conquered Persia sometime after 1200 A.D., the Shi were a small group of hashish smokers living in caves along some cliffs.
As they say, "One mans's Mede is another man's Persian."
If the ayatollahs aren't dealt with soon, there may not be much of Persia left.
If the Iranians don't do something about the ayatollahs, there won't be any Persia left, anyway.
I thought Iran liked dhimmis more?
.... Khomeini introduced so many Arabic words....
*****
Khomeini's Farsi/Persian vocabulary in his early days as "invader" - if you go through his speeches and TV harangues is limited to just above 250 words.
His grasp of the language was almost minimal for some time, after his return, whereas his Arabic from Koranic studies was reasonably extensive.
One thing about him and the other clerics - then specially - is that though "literate" they are uneducated. Even today.
Imagine a student who has studied one single subject all their life - religious philosophy - and then wants to apply this sum total of knowledge to running a country or any part of it.
You get the mess there is now.
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