Free Republic

Terror in Iran by means of Islam By: Amil Imani July 24, 2004 The Islamic Republic terror machine once again has taken off at the speed of light. The Islamic Republic exemplifies a depraved, clerical system of government, which legitimizes its depravity through a series of terror, fear and intimidation of Iranian people. With the additional handpicking of the newly selected members of the "Majles," the clergies have intensified their terror and war against the people of Iran and their insatiable appetite for another holocaust against the Jewish State, at all cost. The leaders of the Islamic Republic have gone...

"Muslims Should Reform Religion... Accept Democracy" The Middle East Media Research Institute MEMRI July 02, 2004 Iranian Intellectual: 'Religious Tyranny is Based on a Fascist Interpretation of Faith... Muslims Should Reform Religion... Accept Democracy' The director of the Association for the Defense of Journalism in Iran, Dr. Mohsen Kedivar, participated in a seminar titled "Towards Democracy" at the Law and Political Science Faculty of the University of Tehran. In a speech, he addressed the issue of tyranny and democracy in Iran, noting that Iranian society had experienced two types of tyranny: secular tyranny under the Shah's regime, and religious tyranny...

Taking Back Islam - Moderate Muslims say their faith is compatible with Freedom. By Erick Stakelbeck & Nir Boms June 03, 2004 There's an elephant in the room whenever the current U.S. operation in Iraq is discussed: Is Islam truly compatible with democracy? Or do the U.S.'s troubles in stabilizing Iraq signal that Muslims simply have no desire to live in a free, democratic society? Right now the answers to these questions are unclear. For every modern Islamic "success story" like Turkey or Malaysia, there are Islamist nightmares like Saudi Arabia and Iran. In the United States, too, there is...

Once I was the student of a very great shaikh. He taught me and the other students many things. May Allah bless him for teaching us so many things and accept his jihad of teaching. Once our teacher taught us about the rules of jihad. He said that every Muslim must first do jihad-i-nafs, the struggle against the desires of the lower self, for self-purification. Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him and his family) said that jihad-i-nafs is the great jihad. We should reflect upon this deep hadith. After performing jihad-i-nafs to a satisfactory level and committing oneself to lifelong...

The message from the 9/11 hearings is that we're a bit slow in connecting the dots — about 25 years too slow. It was Feb. 1, 1979, when the dark side of Islam stepped off a plane from Paris in Iran. After 14 years in exile, Muslim cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had come triumphantly home to establish his revolutionary "reign of virtue," an Islamic theocracy designed to cleanse a nation of what Khomeini called "Westoxification," the poisonous influences of Western culture. With no delay, Khomeini urged a jihad against "the Great Satan" and supported the storming of the American embassy...

The global war on terror cannot be won through counterterrorism alone; it also requires convincing the terrorists and their sympathizers that their goals and methods are faulty and failing. But how is this to be done? By focusing on the ideological and religious sources of the violence, say I: “the immediate war goal must be to destroy militant Islam and the ultimate war goal the modernization of Islam.” I have not worked out the detailed implications of this policy, however. Which explains my delight on finding that the RAND Corporation’s Cheryl Benard has done just this, publishing her results in...

A Look at Ashoura, the Holiest Day of the Shiite Muslim Calendar Mar 2, 2004 The Associated Press The series of deadly blasts Tuesday struck important shrines on the holiest day of the Shiite Muslim calendar, Ashoura, which marks the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad, in a 7th century battle for leadership of the Islamic world. Hundreds of thousands of Shiites around the world traditionally gather at the Hussein's tomb in Karbala and other Shiite holy sites in Iraq. Black-garbed pilgrims flagellate themselves with chains and cut themselves with swords in grief at Hussein's death...

Ayatollah Ali Meshkini stood erect in the pulpit of this holy city's central mosque, delivering the political portion of his Friday sermon by engaging the 3,000 worshippers in a familiar volley of call and response. "The first issue and only issue is Palestine," said Meshkini, a lean figure who wore a white turban. "The Great Satan is supporting Israel unconditionally. That's why they are repressing the Palestinians." "Down with the U.S.A.," chanted the faithful. A few blocks down Riverbank Street, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri sat in the house where Iran's government kept him locked away for five years. His...

Al-Sa'dawi called for amending the Egyptian constitution and eliminating the article that declares Islam to be the official state religion, "because we have among us Copts, and because religion is a matter between man and God and no one has the right to impose his faith, his God and his rituals on others. Therefore, I am one of the die-hard opponents of a religious state, because our God should not be involved in politics in any fashion. "However, the Copts lived happily and in paramount fairness under the wings of Islam," commented the interviewer. Al-Sa'dawi responded: "We are the sons...

<p>THOSE making Iraq policy in Washington appear to have found an easy way to explain, and explain away, whatever snag that their changing and contradictory plans may hit at any given time. It consists of one phrase: the Sistani logjam. This refers to Grand Ayatollah Ali Muhammad Sistani, the primus inter pares of Shi'ite clerics in Najaf.</p>

Sistani: Clerics Must Remain Outside Politics Iraq Today / Zaid H. Fahm November 17, 2003/NAJAF -- Some seven months since the fall of the regime, the elusive Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani remains adamantly against the involvement of Muslim religious leaders in Iraq's politics and political institutions, but still advocates the elections of a constitutional convention. In a rare communication with the press, Sistani outlined his thoughts on the new Iraq to Iraq Today, conveying his concerns and hopes for Muslims in Iraq. Sistani has long argued that the men of religion must advise people in their daily lives and concerns and...

How To Combat Islamist Terrorism Without Combating Islam? Iran va Jahan / Mehdi Mozaffari November 06, 2003/The laconic answer to this question would be: 'that it is not an easy task but a highly compelling one'. The issue is far too complicated to be answered laconically. Let me begin with a reformulation of the above question. Why It Is Necessary To Combat Islamist Terrorism Without Combating Islam? Or Why Not Combat Both At The Same Time? Three reasons explain the impossibility of such an enterprise: First, it does not represent the issue, Second, it is not feasible, and Third, it...

Radical Iraq Cleric Confounds U.S. Allies Knight Ridder Drew Brown October 15, 2003 (BAGHDAD) -- Coalition officials say a radical young cleric named Moqtader al-Sadr is behind a recent spate of suicide bombings and political assassinations that he is using to try to gain power over Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority. But they have not yet decided how to deal with him for fear of touching off even worse violence. Coalition officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say they now think that a car bombing Sunday at the Baghdad Hotel was a Sadr-inspired assassination attempt against Mowaffak al-Rubaie, a moderate Shiite...

Resolute Iranian Pilgrims Meet Awed G.I.'s NY Times By IAN FISHER October 7, 2003 TURSAQ, Iraq, Oct. 3 — The fall of Saddam Hussein has undammed a flood of Shiite Muslims across Iran's rough border here into Iraq, driven not by the desire to fight Americans but by a religious devotion that United States soldiers here are finding hard to contain or even comprehend. In just over a month, American forces have stopped more than 17,000 people sneaking into Iraq near here with the goal of making a pilgrimage to the holy city of Karbala south of Baghdad. As many...

Is bin Laden the "Mahdi"? September 08, 2003 World Net Daily Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin U.S. military intelligence experts are studying a video clip of Osama bin Laden in which he stands before a dry-erase board with an Arabic phrase written upon it – "awaited enlightened one," reports Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. No one who has seen the video is quite certain of the meaning or the context. But, the Hadith, a collection of Islamic holy writings that supplement the Quran, predicts a messianic figure will arise in the last days of history. This "Mahdi," along with the "Prophet Jesus,"...