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This is a comment posted by Reza1400 at www.daneshjoo.org. It shows a Persian perspective on Arabs and Islam. I found it really interesting.

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I agree that we must not hate Arabs. However, one must keep in mind that Arabs are not a race, so it can not be called racism when measures are taken against them.

Indeed, they are the pillagers of Persian culture and have tried for 1400 years to wipe it out and replace it with their simple-minded, dictatorial, barbaric doctrine. But, it is in true irony that Iranian Culture has prevailed as it always has throughout its history, taken the plight of invaders, twisted it and customized it to its own moral and cultural standards - which have been far beyond Arab comprehension - and tamed the world around with it.

More Iranians died in the invasion of 1980 than Iraqis and that is a fact. Many rapes were committed by Iraqis, so even if they were forced to fight, they truly revelled in destroying the sanctity of women where they could.

Someone here mentioned that they have similar goals to Iranians in seeking a democratic and secular way of life. That is a grave misunderstanding of the Arab world. Many citizens of Saudi Arabia would get very defensive if you speak of democracy; and act as if you are attacking Islam. They simply are not comfortable with it. Indeed, it is the Egyptian people who are pressuring the government toward further islamification. It is the female students at the American University in Cairo who insist on the hijab dresscode. And maybe that is because of the incapability of Arab men to control their urges in public.

If the Arab world is full of dictators, it is because the Arab people create them and need them. The people of Iran, only after ten years into the reign of the Islamic Republic began building extensive underground opposition and resistance to the regime and this day they are prevailing. Under the extremely strict limitations imposed upon our students, they have blossomed to the maximum potentials they could achieve, and in many cases achieved much more than those on the outside. Our nation is a mine of knowledge and cultivation of thought.

After almost three decades of rule under Saddam Hussein, and after the coalition takeover, we have yet to hear of an effective Iraqi resistance. This is not to say that many Iraqis are not genuinely nice people, as many Muslims are. But, that there is an Islamic Barricade placed upon them, which has political and social ramifications where tolerance is concerned. And this barricade is all the security that they have. Without it, they are simple and complete barbarians for they do not feel at ease with accepting anything new.

Observing the Arab world, no major contribution to the modern world can be associated with them, except from Christian Arabs, such as Khalil Gibran, the famous poet. The Arab world itself came into existence after the emergence of Islam during the Arabization of the ancient hordes i.e. Babylonians, Egyptians, Europeans, European concubines( many of whom are the ancestors of blue-eyed and blond-haired people we see in Lebanon, Jordan etc..).

Therefore, Arabs are not a race. They are merely a concept. It is a concept with which, I do not agree, for it has destroyed many an ancient civilization including the great Egyptian Empire, which Egyptians do not pay homage to and instead have chosen Islam for national identity and declared themselves as Arabs.

It is a concept whose elements must be wiped out of Iranian culture in order for an harmonic and prosperous future for Iran. A future regime must adamantly promote a revitalization of ancient Persian culture and that will remain as the only cure for the plague, which has ravaged our nation for centuries.