Posted on 11/22/2009 11:19:58 AM PST by AdmSmith
Sounds like a Masonic Lodge meeting. How about entering the 21st Century, Iran...
Where? Here or there?????
>“There is a cognitive dissonance among the students.”
You’re spot on.
Without generalizing too much, there is cognitive dissonance among Iranians (not just students), both inside and many outside Iran. And, it seems there are plenty of people to keep that Cognitive Dissonance alive and kicking; no matter how subtly or inadvertently.
Those outside of Iran, particularly in the West, are mostly dual citizens. Therefore, many of these Iranians do not have to live in an Islamic, theocratic Iran for prolonged periods of time; they are mostly visitors to Iran for family, business or holiday purposes. But, more than a few belonging to this group rationalize the existence of an Islamic Regime in Iran on different levels. At best, they disagree with the Mullahs’ Regime by saying the Mullahs’ Regime does not represent “true Islam” or it is “radical Islam”.
No doubt, Mullahs’ Regime can be specifically categorized as a form of institutionalized & Political Islam, with Sharia being its legal and social extensions. Then again, Islam, shia or sunni, historically, has always been very closely intertwined with politics.
Iran, for the last 1388 yrs, has never been secular – neither politically, nor socially, nor culturally. Modernizations efforts & Western Policies of the Pahlavis aside, the Islamic culture was greater, much more ingrained, yet dormant, hence took over because there was already a substantial readiness for its acceptance.
Attending mosques, or public prayers are not necessarily indicative of how things work in Iran or for Iranians in general. In recent years I was told by several Iranians that moving away from an Islamic culture, & a genuine cultural revolution, has to begin “in our own homes and what we teach to our own children”.
I think your conclusions (#16) are very likely. Although the timing will remain to be seen.
Under Sharia, everybody over a certain threshold of wealth is supposed to pay 2.5% of their assets as their zakat tithe. Note well, this is not income, it's ASSETS (end of year money in the bank, stocks, bonds, value of business, etc).
This zakat is then distributed to the benefit of the poor, the clerics, the jihadis (they are an explicitly designated class of recipients) and the collectors of zakat. This makes every designated recipient of zakat a defend-to-the-death supporter of the system. Dismantling Sharia and the zakat system would be as hard, and as bloody, as cancelling the US Welfare State.
Meanwhile, the zakat system creates a disincentive to be a member of the taxed producing class, and is a strong contributor to the low level of industry in Islamic nations.
A friend just told me he saw a brief flash on Yahoo mail about an attack in the Philippines that has killed 46 including 20 journalists. Has anyone seen this? I couldn’t find it posted here on FR yet.
the news came our way in two Yahoo messages to our hand helds. Google or Yahoo search should bring it up
Here are some articles about the Philippines massacre. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to post them, but it seems big and the MSM did not have anything to say about it this evening.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1124/p06s01-woap.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091124/ap_on_re_as/as_philippines_hostages_killed
The second article points out that the area where the massacre took place used to be ruled by fiercely independent sultans. This was apparently a major political feud between two powerful clans. Once again it appears the religion of peace shows its true colors. I really hope someone will post this soon, as it seems to be totally ignored by the main media.
> “This zakat is then distributed to the benefit of the poor,....”
If interested watch the externally linked video on this thread. It does not specifically mention “zakat” but makes references to it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2388030/posts#comment
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