Kamangir (Archer)

“Death to You”, very Peacefully

Kamangir | April 27, 2006 | Category Iran

With their fists up, people shout “Death to America”. Khameneii has just mentioned “the Americans should know: If they take any aggressive action against Islamic Iran, Iran will harm their interests wherever possible in the world” (see) (see). It is a habit during his speeches that when he states something very serious against the “enemies of the country” people approve him by shouting relevant slogans. Khameneii looks at the crowd and seems delighted from his serious position. Though, he is not an angry warlord, so he continues “we are people of peace and tranquility. We don’t attack anybody. The reason is obvious. What country did we ever attack? Against what country did we ever start a war? What country did we ever threaten?…”. After a few minutes people start shouting again “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”. I am shocked. Assume that we forget Mr Ahmadinejad’s quote that “Israel should be wiped off the map”, repeating Khomeini’s famous words. But, what were you peaceful people shouting last minute? Would you please help me know what does “Death to” a country exactly mean?

Zarqawi and Khameneii

Kamangir | April 27, 2006 | Category Iran

Abu Mus’ab Al-Zarqawi recently appeared in a video sending tough messages to the American administration and to the followers of Bush including “the Jews, the Crusaders, the Rafidite Shi’ites, the apostates, and others” that “you will not rest peacefully in the lands of Islam” (see) (see). The word “Rafidite” (Persian: رافضی) means the one who has left the circle of religion and is used for Shias (also Shi’ites, Persian: شیعه) (see) (thanks to Hossein for reminding). So as the major opposition leader to US invasion he excludes Iranian administration, which is Shia, from the good people and adds them to category of bad ones, like Bush. This triangle of hatred is interesting. Zarqawi, Khameneii, and Bush all denounce each other. Though Khameneii may not be very angry with Zarqawi if he stops denying his efforts against the Great Satan.
At the end of the video, there is a briefing from a member of Al’Anbar district about the recent results of research and development. Using a notebook to present the two new missiles, the officer introduces Al-Qaeda 1 missile which can carry 50Kg of warhead to a distance of 40Km. The other achievement is Al-Quds 1 (Quds is the name for the mosque in Jerusalem, Persian: قدس). The later one is a shoulder-launched anti-vehicle weapon with a range of 1Km. The interesting point to me was not the fantastic R&D work and the ambition to do mass production under the hostile situations of Iraq. The amazing part is the portion of Quran read over the scenes of launching the first missile. It reads,

و اعدوا لهم ما استطعتم من قوة و من رباط الخيل ترهبون به عدو الله و عدوكم و آخرين من دونهم لا تعلمونهم الله يعلمهم و ما تنفقوا من شي‏ء في سبيل الله يوف اليكم و انتم‏لا تظلمون

which translates in English into,

Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know. Whatever ye shall spend in the cause of Allah, shall be repaid unto you, and ye shall not be treated unjustly.

It is Anfal, 8 in Quran (see).Actually, it is the very verse decorating Iran’s Sepah army’s logo (see). It really seems Khameneii and Zarqawi should think about their relationship again. They have many common factors.
The video ends with a Hollywood style, yet boring, footage of Zarqawi shooting with a huge machine gun. First he walks a few steps to the right and to the left. Then, he shoots with two different poses for about 40 seconds (the video is about 17 minutes long). He then turns into the camera and says “By Allah, America is certain to be defeated in Iraq. Allah willing …” and the video finishes. This portion is actually among the few occasions when he actually looks at the camera. Even during his long speech he is always looking at somewhere below or besides the camera. Maybe he is reading from a text.

Holy Aliases

Kamangir | April 27, 2006 | Category Iran

The Islamic Republic literature is full of aliases which carry different or contrary meanings to the actual event or identity. For example, the terrorist organization PMO (Mujahideen-e-Khalq Organization, Persian:سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران) (see) with its nickname “Mujahideen” (Persian: مجاهدين, means fighters of a war for good) was called “Munafigheen” (Persian: منافقین, means those who betrayed) by Khomeini. The new name which is very similar in pronunciation to the original name is produced by the same grammatical rule. Actually, you will never see the original name used in the national television or by the newspapers. Another interesting alias is the usage of “occupied Palestine” (Persian: فلسطین اشغالی) for the Israel. Khomeini also at least once called the CIA as the “ciah” organization (Persian: سیاه) which means black. Another one is the US embassy in Tehran which is called “espionage nest” (Persian: لانه جاسوسی). Yet, another one is the “world-eater America” (آمریکای جهان خوار) for USA. The “great Satan” (شیطان بزرگ) is another well-known alias for the US. Many of these aliases come from stories about the early days of Islam, like the expression “Munafigheen”. It is quite a serious effort for the Islamic Republic to resemble themselves to events in Quran. Take Khomeini’s arrival to the country as an example. The official story says that he entered Iran from exile on February 1, 1979. Then, on February 11, 1979 (see) Shah’s last prime minister, Bakhtiar (see), resigned and that day was announced as the Islamic Revolution’s Victory Day. Having had a sura in Quran that talks about the event which happens after “the ten days” Islamic Republic’s early days was decorated with “truly in that there is an oath for those who possess understanding” (Quran, 89.5) (see) (the duration is actually eleven days but who cares). The Sura is called “Valfajr” (Arabic: والفجر, Persian: فجر means the dawn). Hence, it is not strange at all that the ten-day celebration of the revolution is called Fajr’s decade. Islamic Republic uses things as they want. Who cares what the actual thing is or has been.

Fatwa-Driven Democracy

Kamangir | April 27, 2006 | Category Iran

A view of the shrine in Qom which is surrounded by some of the most important Iranian seminaries.

Minister of state says “we follow Sharia” (see). With the rising protests against the president’s order to let women watch games in stadiums, it seems that Ahmadinejad has to step back from his very popular stance. Having two Fatwas issued against him, given his strategic links to the hardliners, he has no other choice. What seems interesting to me in this whole situation is the struggle of the government with Fatwas. One way to look at a Fatwa is to assume it as a personal recommendation to the followers. In this way we would only expected none of those female followers to enter an stadium. However, there is another interpretation of Fatwa, as the final verdict according to which everything should be corrected. In this way, which is actually what being practiced in Iran, followers will attack, or at least openly threaten to attack, women in stadiums. With Basij members stopping “immodest” people in the streets that actually is an everyday event in today Iran. However, not always followers take it that serious. When Khomeini issued a Fatwa against Salman Rushdi people started conspiring to kill him. A few of them, including an Iranian, did go very close. Then, the Islamic Republic realized that it can’t live with having that Fatwa as its major foreign policy. However, nobody could have broken Khomeini’s charisma. So, they very smoothly forgot the Fatwa, with out ever mentioning it publicly.
In the new Fatwa battle Ahmadinejad seems to have lost one point. Though, I doubt if that was actually loosing something. With out thinking about a conspiracy theory, that the decision was announced to be denounced later, the religious part of the Iranian nation may even see this whole situation as another approval that the Islamic Republic is governed by the will of God, practiced through top clerics’ rigorous watch. For the rest of Iranians it may even be an indication that oppression does not come from Ahmadinejad. What both groups agree upon is that the strong pillars of religious extremism in Iran have their bases in Qom (see), the Iranian Vatican. I think this event just proved again that Iran’s capital city is actually that holy city. Furthermore, it was a glimpse into the actual face of “Iranian democracy”