There are comments on this article as posted on Iranian.com. That site has an amazing number of page views per day. It's a great site, and a great community. http://www.iranian.com/main/blog/jigsawnovich/irans-sepah-more-secular-or-simply-more-severe
by Julie Jigsawnovich
Dictators may or may not be religious. There is speculation in the US about whether Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Sepah, will become less and less religious as they seize more and more control over businesses and industries in Iran. The following news story might reinforce this speculation. But does it really mean that Sepah is becoming more secular? And if they did become more secular, would this result in an easing up on laws supposedly based on religion in Iran? Would the great irony of brutal secular dictators granting more personal freedoms of expression--as long as they did not challenge the State--occur? Well, from what I've seen, don't hold your breath for that. Religion is a mighty power in Iran, and a useful one. Sepah may instead be simply positioning themselves to perpetrate an even more severe round of political repression, exceeding even that of the clerics.
Some of my Iranian friends are secular and some are devout Muslims. Those who are religious resent the regime's exploitation and corruption of Islam as a means to the end of brutal repression. Those who are secular deeply resent having religion and Sharia laws forced upon them, and would prefer a separation of religion and state. Within the context of awareness of their concerns, I read the following article with great interest.
www.ayandenews.com/news/14482/
via Tehran Bureau headlines
"IRGC Chief: Preserving regime more sacred than Islamic prayers
According to Sepah News, the official website of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Guards, in an IRGC meeting in the city of Urumiye on Wednesday, said "Preserving the Islamic Republic establishment is even more vital [a duty] than performing namaz" [Islamic daily prayers, the main pillar of Islam].
[This is the first time an IRGC commander appears to be issuing a religious edict. Some suggest it is a reformulation of an existing 1988 fatwa by Ayatollah Khomeini.]
'No one dares to claim that the Islamic Republic regime must be destroyed, and no one must dare to challenge the principles of this establishment,' Jafari added.29 Oct 2009"
Showing posts with label fatwa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fatwa. Show all posts
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Shia cleric defends civil rights: Grand Ayatollah Montazeri's Fatwa
Grand Ayatollah Montazeri's Fatwa is heartening and stereotype-breaking. Here are some excerpts:
"A political system based on force, oppression, changing people’s votes, killing, closure [of organs of civil society], arresting [people] and using Stalinist and medieval torture, creating repression, censorship of newspapers, interruption of the means of mass communications, jailing the enlightened and the elite of society for false reasons, and forcing them to make false confessions in jail, is condemned and illegitimate. And, according to the teachings of the Prophet and his descendants confessions in jail have no religious or legal validity and cannot be the criterion for action [against the confessor].
The courageous people of Iran are also aware of such confessions — the examples of which can be found in the history of communist and fascist regimes — and are aware that such confessions and fake television interviews are extracted from their jailed children under duress and torture, in order to hide the oppression and injustice, and in order to present a distorted image of the peaceful and lawful protests of the people. The [government] officials who are responsible for such acts must be aware that such acts are sinful, and are punishable both religiously and by law. Iran belongs to the people, not to you and me, and they make the decisions, and the officials are their servants. People must be able to gather peacefully, and defend their rights both in writing and orally."
For the full text, please visit:
http://tehranbureau.com/grand-ayatollah-montazeris-fatwa/![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=08e60f84-a00d-47c8-a8c7-8cc7efe5b56b)
"A political system based on force, oppression, changing people’s votes, killing, closure [of organs of civil society], arresting [people] and using Stalinist and medieval torture, creating repression, censorship of newspapers, interruption of the means of mass communications, jailing the enlightened and the elite of society for false reasons, and forcing them to make false confessions in jail, is condemned and illegitimate. And, according to the teachings of the Prophet and his descendants confessions in jail have no religious or legal validity and cannot be the criterion for action [against the confessor].
The courageous people of Iran are also aware of such confessions — the examples of which can be found in the history of communist and fascist regimes — and are aware that such confessions and fake television interviews are extracted from their jailed children under duress and torture, in order to hide the oppression and injustice, and in order to present a distorted image of the peaceful and lawful protests of the people. The [government] officials who are responsible for such acts must be aware that such acts are sinful, and are punishable both religiously and by law. Iran belongs to the people, not to you and me, and they make the decisions, and the officials are their servants. People must be able to gather peacefully, and defend their rights both in writing and orally."
For the full text, please visit:
http://tehranbureau.com/grand-ayatollah-montazeris-fatwa/
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