The Persian Abyss- Jerusalem Post

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An article for your consideration

Our dying Islam
by Reza Zarabi |



Imagine if you will.... the year is 1985 and you are 29-year-old resident of East Berlin. A native by birth, you grew up in the shadow of Soviet might and have been taught all your life that you live in the most ideal of societies, one in which the government acts as your father, censor, caretaker, and mentor. Having gone through government-sponsored schooling, equipped with a master’s degree, and with ample knowledge of global affairs, you still live with your parents and siblings in a one-bedroom flat about a half-an-hour walk from the Berlin Wall, the great symbol of the Iron Curtain and Soviet domination of your homeland.

Although you undertook years of Soviet-inspired education and passed through the gauntlet of communist academic rigor, you still do manual work in a government-run textile mill, carving out some morose existence for yourself and family.
All of the members of your family work, yet they can only afford to live in one-bedroom flat located in that part of town where everyone’s residence looks the same, sparsely furnished within and bearing no distinction from one another. Wearing the same gray coat that you received as a Christmas present five years ago, you stand in line with the countless other East Berliners who can only afford public transportation.

As you board your bus and watch it creep along the familiar route, you pass a small section of the eastside of the Berlin Wall, rhythmically gazing at the sky beyond it. As you have done so often, you contemplate your circumstance and wonder what your cousin, who lives on the west side, is doing at that very moment.
Because of government restrictions, you have not seen him or your extended family for years. The lack of contact has left you with little knowledge about him but you still know certain things. You know that he is roughly the same age and has a master’s degree like you do. You know about his brand new Fiat, his trips to England and the US on holidays, and his posh flat somewhere close to the “cool bars” of lively West Berlin. Somewhere around the 10th minute after you delved into this routine contemplation, your mind ruminates about the concept of providence, destiny, chance, and all the other vague theories we as humans use to understand who, what, and why…however, your stop has come up and you must get off.

Now, somewhere between the brisk walk from the bus stop to the factory where you must clock in, a neatly dressed, bright-eyed young man walks towards you with certain pamphlets in hand. His upbeat stride, plastic smile, and cheap civil servant uniform identifies him as that low-level government official that you and your peers love to mock…. you know…that blind sheep that swallows all and any piece of propaganda that is feed to them by those who run your country. As he approaches closer to you, he announces,

“Good day comrade, I want to share with you some exciting principles by the Great Karl Marx…I have found them to be of much help for us and our society…my group and I are having meetings tonight about how these principles can be further implemented in our great society. Would you like to join?”

Now think to yourself- at this moment - how would you respond? What would you say to this person?
If you are a clear-thinking, logical human being you would probably respond in the same manner that an average Iranian responds towards some hermitic, brainwashed product of the I.R.I. who attempts to propagate to them the glory of the Islamic Revolution.

Now, you might ask, “What does Soviet-imposed communism have anything to do with the Iranian government’s view of Islam and the imposition of the Sharia on Iran? Well, nothing at all, but they yield the same effects on their respective societies. They are two different opposing views on how society should be; yet their end results are the same.
When speaking of Islam, its history, and progression, Iran is certainly at the forefront. Islam never defined Iran, yet in many ways, Iran defined Islam. For the past millennia, Iranian scholars have been instrumental in the development of Islamic thought and philosophy, Islamic jurisprudence, Islamic finance, and Islam’s evolution from a regional faith to a worldwide phenomenon. The heart, soul, and mind of the Islamic Renaissance had its birth and center in Iran. Middle East scholar, Bernard Lewis attests to this:

… Iran reemerged as a separate, different and distinctive element within Islam, eventually adding a new element even to Islam itself. Culturally, politically, and most remarkable of all even religiously, the Iranian contribution to this new Islamic civilization is of immense importance. The work of Iranians can be seen in every field of cultural endeavor, including Arabic poetry, to which poets of Iranian origin composing their poems in Arabic made a very significant contribution. In a sense, Iranian Islam is a second advent of Islam itself, a new Islam sometimes referred to as Islam-i Ajam. It was this Persian Islam, rather than the original Arab Islam, that was brought to new areas and new peoples: to the Turks, first in Central Asia and then in the Middle East in the country which came to be called Turkey, and of course to India. The Ottoman Turks brought a form of Iranian civilization to the walls of Vienna. "Iran in History" by Bernard Lewis

However, this is not the case any more. After the Islamic Revolution and the realization of the inadequacy of the current regime to provide Iran and her people with a hopeful future and conducive environment where their potential can be reached, the average Iranian became disillusioned with Islam. Having no plan for the economy, the educational system, or the population expansion, Khomeini focused solely on what he knew: Islamic principles. He constantly preached that Islam would take care of all of Iran’s ills. Khomeini promised the Iranian people that they would not live under a dictatorship any longer and that Islam would be the key to their newfound “freedom.”
Yet as time proved, one dictator was soon replaced by a collection of dictators who were even more ruthless and corrupt than their predecessor. As the war with Iraq came to an end and as Khomeini, the grand architect of I.R.I., met his demise, Iranians truly understood what they received in exchange for the Shah. As teenagers were being imprisoned for committing acts of indecency such as wearing a purple shirt, all the while members of Lebanese Hizbullah, Arabs not Iranians, were acting as the de facto Teheran P.D., the Iranian devotion for their Islam turned to dismay. Centuries of respect for their faith turned to ridicule and, sadly for some, allegiance has turned into apostasy.

For the devout Muslim who lives in a free society, Islam is a very personal devotion that is at the very center their being. Yet to an average Iranian who has seen his economy plummet into a never-ending abyss, who has his future compromised because of his government’s inefficient leadership, all the while they witness the affluence of their fellow countrymen in other places, Islam has become a stumbling block. To them, Islam is the reason why a 30-year-old civil engineer has to drive a taxi for a living. To them, Islam is the reason why a high school graduate with a GPA of 3.8 has a slim chance of ever going to college within Iran. To them, Islam is the reason why the name “Iran”, which used to be equated with such things as luxury, fine wine, and the arts, has become synonymous with terrorism. The sad reality is that, to the average Iranian, Islam is no longer seen as a religion; to them, it has become a failed political system comparable only to communism. What rational human being on the streets of East Berlin, or Warsaw, or Moscow, or Leningrad, in 1985, still believed in the tenets of communism any more?
Today, almost 70% of Iran is comprised of people under the age of 30. From birth to present, their entire life has been filled with state sponsored Islamic teaching mingled with anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric. At the same time, they have seen their country's economy crumble, being exemplified at present as the highest Iranian bank note is worth only $5.50. For these young Iranians, these children of the Revolution, the Mullah and even his apparel has become the symbol of tyranny. If you are on the streets of any major Iranian city like Teheran, Tabriz, Esfehan, or Shiraz and happen to pass any given mosque, the only people you will find within are the poor in of need financial assistance, the uneducated who know of nothing else to alleviate their problems, and the elderly who in hopeless despair still latch on to their faith.

Russian historian Viktor Suvorov, in describing the effects of the Berlin Wall and the institutionalized communist philosophy that was imposed upon East Germany, wrote that “the further development of the wall, the clearer it became: human beings can be kept in a communist society only by impenetrable obstructions, barbed wire, dogs and by shooting in the back. The wall meant that the system, which the communists had built, attracted no one. It repelled.” In all the ways I could describe to you the impacts of living under an Islamic Republic, I can find no better description than what Viktor Suvorov stated about communism. As mentioned before, these two different and violently opposing philosophies yield the same result, with no exceptions. The greatest proof of this is the I.M.F.’s (World Bank) report on the brain drain of the Middle East, the highest rate in the world - and sadly, Iran topping that list.
It is not secularism that is sought after. The failure of the Soviet Union and its indoctrination of atheistic principles upon their society proved this to be true. It is collectivism-pluralism, the conception that a nation prospers when it allows a free forum of thought and discourse to exist, unadulterated by despotic restriction and regulation. When the Islamic Republic government of Iran finally meets its demise, they will have many symbols and slogans as testaments of their rule, yet the most profound will be their genocide of Islam, the black stain that they have put on this faith for many generations to come.