Kamangir (Archer)

A major source of legitimacy for the Islamic Republic is through its claims of being the connecting period between the time of the Prophet and Imams and the end of time, when the Islamic Messiah overthrows all earthly governments. To make this acceptable, Ayatollah Khameneii is commonly claimed to be a descendant of the Imams, [...]

Geert Wilders’s famous video finally found its way to the Internet. The much anticipated 15-minute video carries footage of Islamic leaders cursing the west and its values and advocating for Islam and its ways. The footage gives subtitles for the various languages spoken in it, the Persian parts of which are accurate. I wasn’t [...]

The International Fajr Film Festival has been a prominent part of the celebration of the Islamic Revolution since 26 years ago. Since then, every year, the cold February days see a lot of new movies competing against each other. The event also includes discussions about the participating films and a lot of other social events.

When I wrote an article for my Persian blog on how the Islamic Republic of Iran benefits from glorifying the Ayatollahs into holy figures, I had no idea that it would create such a backlash. The reactions, however, offer good insight into what Iran’s main problem is. It is neither Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nor the Ayatollahs who have “corrupted” Iran, as some people suggest. The core problem is the corrupted framework of thought with which the Ayatollahs have infested Iran.

Ashura in Lebanon

When I wrote a piece about how the Islamic Republic benefits from turning the Ayatollahs into holy figures, in my Persian blog [Persian], I had no idea about the backlash it would create. The reactions, however, offer a good insight into what the main problem in Iran is. It is not Ahmadinejad or the Ayatollahs [...]

Today, the Islamic Republic executed 13 people, 8 of whom were hung up in the Evin Prison, among which was one woman.
DW Persian quotes Reuters as qouting from ISNA that the eight people were executed on charges of murder. Three others were hung up in Qom for drug trafficking and and two more were executed [...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ci6NcYyh3I

Police Brutality in Birjand, Iran, during the Sharia crackdown. This is what the girl is saying,
Wait a second! Lady Policewoman! … [Screaming] Let me go! [Screaming] People! Help! Help me!…
It is not clear what happens to the girl at the end. The consequences of detention by the Sharia police can be quite dangerous, see: Medical [...]

In his trip to Southern Khorasan Province, Ahmadinejad stated [Persian],
The whole world has been created for that holy day to occur [the Islamic Armageddon]. The day in which all the prophets and martyrs and good people will arrive and will help. Some people ridicule this. They have no faith in their hearts. These are modern [...]

Zahra Bani Ameri (زهرا بنی عامری), a twenty-seven-year-old medical student, committed suicide in a prison in Hamedan Province, after she was arrested by the Sharia Police.
Zahra was ranked 26 among hundreds of thousands of student who took the test to become a medical student, after she graduated the high school. At the time of the [...]

You might be familiar with the concept of Tabarok, the act of touching holy places with your hands in order to get the blessing. Muslims, mostly Shias, do that in shrines and many other holy places. The people in the picture above are touching the footsteps of the Supreme Leader, according to some accounts. These [...]

You might remember that the former reformist president Khatami was under harsh criticism by the conservatives for having shaken hands with an uncovered lady in Italy and then sitting close to her (in which occasion we also talked about the proper hand-kissing method utilized on the Supreme Leader). At the time, many clerics asked for [...]

Some of the members of the Liberation Movement of Iran and its sister organizations. Source: Kossof [Persian].
After close to four weeks of fasting, the holy month of Ramadan ended and Muslims everywhere marked the event by attending the Fetr Eid Prayer. Most of these people went home with the fabulous sense of having finished a [...]

Although, the formal code of conduct prohibits hanging out for non-married couples, parks in Tehran are always the scene of young couples strolling while holding hands, which is a sin according to Sharia. The pictures is taken in Laleh Park, Tehran. Source: Tehran 24.

As also mentioned before, every year, determining the last day of the holy month of Ramadan sets the play for grabbing the telescopes and going out to the deserts to find the moon. Yet, this is the modern way the clerics had fought against for a very long time, asserting that religion and science [...]

-Jews have not been enjoying total freedom but Iranians have never chased them down in the streets. In fact, Jews have been very active in the financial sector in Iran.
-Many Arabian governments hate Iran, because of religious differences and also because of the still active idea about Arabian superiority. I was once asked by a [...]

The state-run newspaper Qods reported that a mother of three is sentenced to stoning. Reportedly, the evidence is video tapes of her having sex with another person [Persian].
We have to stop this! Spread the news and send the link in the comment section. We have to stop this.
Do we want this to happen again (Very [...]

Kids learn Quran in two-and-half-hour sessions. Pictures taken by the Iranian blogger, Heidariam [Persian].
This is especially for our friend here Roman. Is this kid able to choose for himself what he is going to do with his belief system? More pictures in the photoblog.

As mentioned before, Qadr Nights’ rituals are among the boldest practices in Islam. Last night, Ahmadinejad attended the ritual in a mosque in the neighborhood he used to live before moving to the presidential residence. There, he stated “Thanks to God, the [progress of the] Iranian nation is not comparable to any other nation and [...]

“There is no obligation in the religion (Quran - Bull: 256). There is no obligation in God’s religion, don’t ban water on people!” The English translation of a Persian graffiti on a water cooler in Tehran metro.In order to observe fasting in the holy month of Ramadan, eating and drinking in public is seriously discouraged [...]

Qadr Nights are virtually the most important nights of the year for Muslims and occur on the holy month of Ramadan. During these nights, Muslims attend special ceremonies in mosques and spend the night reciting the Quran and other Islamic books.
As always, kids are taken to these deeply religious events. to my understanding, religion is [...]

This is the text of the scan of what appears to be a Fatwa issued by the Supreme Leader,
[Question:] In a Zoroastrian family, who live in the Islamic Republic, one child is converted to Islam. After the death of the parents, what’s the verdict on the assets of the family? [who will inherit them]
[Fatwa:] [...]

A homeless Iranian enjoys a nap, thanks to the Ayatollahs’ warmth.

Sorry guys, as long as they are going to do this hand-kissing, I am willing to reiterate that I think this is silly. This one sort of happens in an international framework, because the person whose hand is kissed is Rafsanjani of Iran and the kisser is a Quran reciter from some other country, probably [...]

In a press conference, after his speech in the UN, Ahmadinejad was asked why although the Islamic Republic claims to support religion, they do not support Bahai’is. Ahmadinejad responded “The Jews’ prophet is Moses, Christians have Jesus, and Muslims have Muhammad. Tell me who is the prophet of the religion you are talking about and [...]