Bribing Allah through Khomeini
By Kamangir • Aug 20th, 2007 • Category: Iran, Islam, Islamic Republic
A big fraction of the economical power of the Islamic groups in Iran comes from the money people throw in the numerous shrines, as oblation. These pictures show the shrine of Khomeini, whom is called the 13th Imam in a famous Persian joke. This, many Muslims believe, is pure idolatry.
Source: Heidariam [Persian].
Posted by Kamangir
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Striking Pictures. Would you care to share the joke about Khomeini and the 30th Imam?
Kamangir: I do apologize. He is said to be the 13th imam, not the 30th. This is because Shias think there has been 12 Imams, whom do not make any mistake and do not do anything bad. No Imam will come after them in Shia faith. However, Khomeini carries the title Imam, and thus is the 13th. I guess it is only funny for someone raised in that culture.
For a religious man from a similar monotheistic faith like myself, this stuff does look like idolatry.
Also a form of kufr
I don’t see any idolatry here. There’s nothing wrong with putting money in a shrine to someone you respect. For a slightly religious, yet still secular in many ways man like myself, the proceeding two comments simply sound like ignorant noises coming from uneducated persons.
Definition of idolatry from http://www.dictionary.com (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/idolatry)
1. the religious worship of idols.
2. excessive or blind adoration, reverence, devotion, etc.
3. image-worship or divine honour paid to any created object. Paul describes the origin of idolatry in Rom. 1:21-25: men forsook God, and sank into ignorance and moral corruption (1:28). The forms of idolatry are: Fetishism, or the worship of trees, rivers, hills, stones, etc. Nature worship, the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, as the supposed powers of nature Hero worship, the worship of deceased ancestors, or of heroes. In Scripture, idolatry is regarded as of heathen origin, and as being imported among the Hebrews through contact with heathen nations. The first allusion to idolatry is in the account of Rachel stealing her father’s teraphim (Gen. 31:19), which were the relics of the worship of other gods by Laban’s progenitors “on the other side of the river in old time” (Josh. 24:2). During their long residence in Egypt the Hebrews fell into idolatry, and it was long before they were delivered from it (Josh. 24:14; Ezek. 20:7). Many a token of God’s displeasure fell upon them because of this sin. The idolatry learned in Egypt was probably rooted out from among the people during the forty years’ wanderings; but when the Jews entered Palestine, they came into contact with the monuments and associations of the idolatry of the old Canaanitish races, and showed a constant tendency to depart from the living God and follow the idolatrous practices of those heathen nations. It was their great national sin, which was only effectually rebuked by the Babylonian exile. That exile finally purified the Jews of all idolatrous tendencies. The first and second commandments are directed against idolatry of every form. Individuals and communities were equally amenable to the rigorous code. The individual offender was devoted to destruction (Ex. 22:20). His nearest relatives were not only bound to denounce him and deliver him up to punishment (Deut. 13:20-10), but their hands were to strike the first blow when, on the evidence of two witnesses at least, he was stoned (Deut. 17:2-7). To attempt to seduce others to false worship was a crime of equal enormity (13:6-10). An idolatrous nation shared the same fate. No facts are more strongly declared in the Old Testament than that the extermination of the Canaanites was the punishment of their idolatry (Ex. 34:15, 16; Deut. 7; 12:29-31; 20:17), and that the calamities of the Israelites were due to the same cause (Jer. 2:17). “A city guilty of idolatry was looked upon as a cancer in the state; it was considered to be in rebellion, and treated according to the laws of war. Its inhabitants and all their cattle were put to death.” Jehovah was the theocratic King of Israel, the civil Head of the commonwealth, and therefore to an Israelite idolatry was a state offence (1 Sam. 15:23), high treason. On taking possession of the land, the Jews were commanded to destroy all traces of every kind of the existing idolatry of the Canaanites (Ex. 23:24, 32; 34:13; Deut. 7:5, 25; 12:1-3). In the New Testament the term idolatry is used to designate covetousness (Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:13; Col. 3:5; Eph. 5:5)
And lest Jewish and Christian sources form our only religious understanding of idolatry, see Qur’an 4:48 regarding ’shirk’
Kamangir: As always, I have to admire your knowledge about Islam.
That source oversimplifies a great deal regarding Jewish matters, Mattew, (from a theological point of view, much of the whole world was idolatrous. The sins of the Canaanites were far more than mere idolatry, and Jewish sources describe them as doing just about anything Jews were forbidden to do, from human sacrifice to sex with children to just about anything that comes to mind), but it’s mostly alright. It seems to focus too much on idolatry, is all, thus kinda ignoring other aspects of the events mentioned. The Babylonian exile and the fall of the Temple, for instance, are ascribed to widespread incest, idolatry, and murder.
Anyways, here we have a living man, quite frankly, being worshipped as the symbol of his faith. Supreme Leader or not, he’s just a man. Having a shrine for him and tribute being sacrificed in his favor is also telling. Respect is one thing, but a personality cult is still a cult. North Korea is a fine example of this “hero worship”.
To clarify, the definition under the third bullet point is from Easton’s Bible Dictionary as quoted on dictionary.com. The Dictionary is a product of 19th century Protestant Christian theology and emphasizes (in the tradition of Luther) a literal reading of the Scripture without regard for contextualization.
Ah, that explains it. Thanks, Mattew. Though in truth, even purely a literal reading ought to have had better results. Sacrifices of the firstborn to the flaming shrine of Moloch is mentioned more than once, after all, and quite clearly. But oh well.
Matthew, thank you for the definition. I don’t think I am convinced however, but I will say it should be beyond us to sit here on the internet and judge Iranians and North Koreans religious beliefs.
vpendse, my great-grandfather lived through Stalin. In fact, he was lucky! He got sent to a gulag instead of being shot. The same divinification of a state leader happened at the time.
A state leader should never be seen as divine, should never be worshipped. It makes him beyond criticism, above reproach, it sanctifies every single monstrous act he makes.
Heresy? Damn right it is.
Vpendse,
To choose one set of religious beliefs over another is in itself a judgement of other religious beliefs. (in countries like the US, Canada, Great Britain, Spain, France, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Israel, Romania, Hungary, Greece, Poland, Russia, etc. it is not a crime to change between religions unlike say, Iran or Saudi Arabia or Egypt where for a Muslim to become something other than Muslim is a crime punishable by death [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070811/ap_on_re_mi_ea/egypt_muslim_convert]).
I don’t think anywhere in this train of conversation the religious beliefs of Koreans were mentioned however I find it interesting that you equate excessive adoration of Khomeini (idolatry) with the religious beliefs of Iranians. Is it necessary to believe in Khomeini to be an Iranian Muslim? Is it necessary to even revere Khomeini to be an Iranian Muslim? Can otherwise orthoprax Iranian Muslims despise Khomeini and be considered believers? I don’t think idolatry–be it of Lat, Uzza, Manat, or Khomeini–is permissable in Islam, hence my original assertion that idolatry of any kind is a form of kufr in Islam. Some scholars would disagree, most notably Sheikh Waliullah al-dihlawi, who maintains (and here I’m simplifying a lengthy treatise) that the emanations of the Creator in creation are so magnificent that the created can not be condemned for at times worshipping elements of creation as part of worship of the Creator.
However, it is not beyond me to sit here and judge what I see and know to be, adoration of a dictator by wrong-thinking Iranian Muslim believers.
I agree.