Islam's Victimization of Iran

Printer-friendly versionSend to friendPDF version By Amil Imani Some 1400 years ago, across the arid Arabian Peninsula roamed disparate savage tribes in a constant state of war with one another.  Acts of violence, pillage and slave trading were their way of life. Out of necessity and expediency, they refrained from active warfare for only one month a year-the month of Moharam (the forbidden month). Even during this lull in active warfare, the various tribes rearmed and prepared for the next eleven months of bloodletting. Violence of the worst kind and form was their way of life. Although the ongoing warfare inflicted great suffering and death, it remained the major means of livelihood for the survivors in the harsh desert that sustained little other than the hardy goats, desert-suited camels and the indispensable vehicles of war-horses. Violent death ruled. The victor had a reprieve for a time ‘til he became the victim. Then there was a new summons. An orphan from the tribe of Quraish by the name of Muhammad, the son of the late Abdullah, offered the savages a deal they couldn't refuse. He said that they should stop worshiping all the various idols in the idolatry of Mecca and turn to the one and only god, Allah, one of their numerous idols. He said it is Allah who is the creator of the universe and Allah has another world of immense bounty and pleasure. He promised the savages that by embracing Allah, banding together and carrying out his commands they assure themselves of great worldly spoils as well as eternal admission to a glorious paradise. Muhammad promised further that instead of warring against one another, as they have done for millennia, for pittance of reward, they could venture out beyond the impoverished desert into a world of great wealth and bounties. Muhammad motivated his rapidly growing body of followers to rally around him by proclaiming, (1) if they are victorious they will have the treasures of the infidels as well as their women and children as slaves to hold or sell, (2) if the faithful kill the infidels in doing the work of Allah, further reward awaits them in paradise and, (3) in the unlikely event that they are killed, they find themselves in Allah's glorious paradise for an eternal life of joy and bliss. The outlandish, frequently confused and often contradictory incoherent rhetoric of Muhammad made the less gullible few question his sanity. They dismissed him as, "Insane Poet." Yet, the generality of the savages found in him their savior -- the one who would lead them to all the good in this world and the next. It was a win-win proposition for them. Win and you are rewarded handsomely, lose your life, and you go directly to heaven. How could they refuse? Muhammad preached that earthly life is a small price to pay for eternal life. It is the next life that the faithful should seek. Hence, Islam can rightfully be considered a cult of death, not life. It will never run out of volunteers to sacrifice their life until Islam itself expires. Gladly placing their lives on the line, sword in hand, on the steed of greed, the well-adapted killers of Arabia sallied outward under the banner of Islam. In a space of a few centuries, they rampaged through much of the civilized world and inflicted death and great destruction in their path. An early victim of these marauding conquerors was Persia - Iran -- arguably one of the greatest civilizations known to humanity. It was the ancient Iranians who gave humanity its first charter of human rights, championed the ideals of tolerance, justice and autonomy of the diverse peoples in their vast empire. Islam systematically destroyed that civilization and, over time, tried its utmost to replace it with a way of thinking and behaving rooted in the tribal past. Millions of Iranians resisted the savagery and paid with their lives. Some were forced to live under jazyyeh -- poll tax levied on non-Muslims. Others lost their identity and heritage and embraced the ways of their new rulers. It is this band, an oppressive tyrannical minority, that is presently ruling Iran. Yet, even under the rule of Islamofascism, the overwhelming majority of Iranians of various ethnicity and religion, remain faithful to their ancient creed -- a creed that was given to the world by Zoroaster. The faith of Zoroaster, based on the triad of Good Thought, Good Speech and Good Deed, constituted the standard of life for the Persian. Other teachings of the faith of Zoroaster, arguably the most ancient divine religion, have inspired the teachings of other faiths. The influence of Zoroastrianism in Judaism, for instance, is so compelling that some religious scholars have called Judaism, "Moses through Zoroastrian eyes." Furthermore, it was during the rule of the Zoroastrian kings of Persia that the Old Testament was for the first time recorded in written form. Teachings such as Good and Evil, Heaven and Hell, Resurrection, and Paradise derive from the Faith of Zoroaster. In reality, both Judaism and Christianity have their roots in Zoroastrianism. W.Y. Evans-Wentz, an Oxford professor, one of the world's leading authorities on Eastern mysticism and religion, contends, "Without Zarathustra there would be no Christ."The spiritual bond between the faith of Zoroaster and Christianity is further evidenced by the travel of the three Zoroastrian Magi who anticipated the birth of the infant Jesus and traveled from Iran to celebrate his birth. It is evident that Islam succeeded in stifling the magnificent Persian civilization. Once again with renewed vigor, militant Islam is aiming to destroy another civilization -- the Judeo-Christian civilization, a civilization that constitutes a living falsification of the Islamic primitive and backward creed. Islamofascism presents a clear and present danger, not only to Western civilization, but to the entire civilized world as is evidenced by the ruling Islamists in Iran. Iran of today, on the one hand, has the potential of rapidly becoming a nuclear state and becoming a formidable adversary that would not settle for anything less than the total subjugation of the free world. On the other hand, in Iran's people and culture is a genuine potential for replacing the doomsday-bent Mullahcracy and making Iran the free world's staunchest partner in the Islamic world. The overwhelming majority of Iranians of today stand shoulder to shoulder with the civilized free people of the world to defeat Islamofascism. The Iranians have not forgotten their heritage. They have pride in their ancient creed of light -- that of Zoroastrianism. They see themselves as inheritors of a great culture and tradition -- that of Cyrus the Great, the exemplary just king and, are determined to pay any price to put an end, once and for all, to the virulent disease of Islamofascism.