Kamangir (Archer)

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.

It all came to mind when I saw this picture. It is from the “Abail’s Revenge” conference held in Tehran. Ababil (Persian: ابابیل) is a small kind of bird. The story behind Ababil is that an ancient king, about the time of Ibrahim, planned to destroy

God’s house, means Mecca. The story says that he and all his army, which included elephants, were attacked by millions of

Ababils which dropped tiny stones at them. The penetrating stones are told to have killed the whole army (see). In the Islamic Republic literature the operation Eagle Claw’s (see) failure was resembled to that. According to them, God sent a

sand storm to destroy the Americans and to prevent them from entering Iran and destroying a God’s favorite regime, or “the favorite one” according to some even more serious believers. If it is Islamic Republic, then they decorate the conference with possessions of American soldiers captured in the scene. Furthermore, a part of their planes or helicopters will be used as the tribune. Will it be strange for you to know that Islamic Republic army call their unmanned aerial vehicle, the Ababil? By the way, this is the 500th post of this blog.