Saturday, February 26, 2011

The Disgraceful Silence of Shiite Clergy

Ever since we were kids, we were told by our elders and by the Shiite clergy about the prophet's grandson, Hossein. He was the embodiment of good against evil, a fearless man of justice who stood up against the tyranny of Yazid, the ruling Khalif at the time, against all odds. The pledge by the Kufa warriors and tribal leaders who had promised loyalty to Hossein turned out to be tall tales of cheap talk bravado. Hossein was left on his own to face the tyrant Yazid, with just seventy two men against a large number of Yazid's army.

All water was cut off to Hossein and his entourage by the ruling Khalif's army. On the seventh day of the month of Muharram, the water storage in Hussein's camp was finished. When Hossein took his six month old baby, Ali-Asghar and asked the tyrant's army for water for his children, they shot arrows at him, one of which killed the six month old baby, Ali-Asghar.

Hossein however refused to back down and cower, as the battle of Karbala began, he told his men:
'I do not see death but as happiness, and living with tyrants but as sorrow.'

And so Hossein and his Seventy Two followers became martyrs that were celebrated by the Shiites ever since. They were all beheaded and their bodies were left for forty days without burial. Hossein's family members were taken prisoners to Syria. We were taught by our elders and by the Shiite clergy to be like Hossein, to be fearless and to stand up to tyranny and that at the end it was Hossein and his Seventy Two men who were victorious and won the hearts.

Today, something very similar to the epic of Karbala is happening in Iran. A courageous man, Karroubi the Lion Heart, has decided to stand by his people to the very end, risking everything including the lives of his own family. Today Karroubi the Lion Heart has embraced Hossein's last words to his warriors. Just like in Karbala, the tyrants cut off his water and supplies. They arrested his son Ali and his wife Nafisseh who is the sister of three war martyrs. The whereabouts of Ali is still unknown. His other son, Hossein is still in hiding. Today neighbours reported that last night there were no lights switched on, the windows are broken and there are no more security outside his house. Giving rise to fears that Karroubi and his wife are taken away to some hideous dungeon.

The news of Moussavi and his wife's whereabouts is no better either. Their children too have said they can not go near their house and have had no news or contact with their parents.

Yet despite all this, the Shiite clergy are all silent. Even Ayatollah Sanei has not dared to issue a public condemnation of such wrongs carried out against a fellow cleric. Worse still, Ayatollah Sistani who is safe and outside Iran has remained silent. So what happened to all those talks and sermons of Hossein's courage? Where are the Shiite clergy today? They told us about Hossein's valour and yet they have decided to emulate the deserters of Kufa today. So were all their sermons poppycock balderdash and just a source of income for their pockets?

Once again the disgraceful silence of the Shiite clergy today, for me is the testimony that organised religion is nothing more than a business. Businessmen whose sermons about justice is nothing more than a sales pitch, whose empty words never materialise when it threatens their interests. For if they truly believed in God, paradise and life after death, why are they so scared? If this life is a mere test for the day of judgement, they have failed miserably, time and time again and they should expect nothing other than hell fire for their lies and their cowardice.

True believers do not wear their piety on their sleeves, they fight evil by not staying silent.




8 comments:

Waybec said...

Well at least Khatami has spoken out. But Rasfanjani still remains in that shameful silence between a rock and a hard place. That of hating Ahmandinejad, while having once rubber stamped that murdering Khamenei! So....? See the society you helped create Rasfanjani? A place where your own daughter can be heckled by thugs with impunity. Plus a Revolutionary Guard that IS now more interested in protecting it's own fat cat gas and oil wealth than the people!
Instead of a protest march being called on March 1st and then March 14th if Karroubi and Mousav aren't released. I would personally March EVERY DAY between March 1st and the 14th, with a National strike accompanying it. After all, the Arab protesters didn't just disappear after one day to let their Regime gloat and claim it as THEIR victory@ -So why should you???

Claudia Clare said...

Great post, Potkin and excellent choice of keywords :))

Anonymous said...

Karroubi is a late turncoat. Promoting him is not the future of Iran but the desperate act of what is left of IRI supporters. Iran needs a complete break with all Akhounds. Where was "Lion Heart" when tens of thousands were being tortured and executed. He was standing behind the executioners.

Azarmehr said...

anon

Lets just say I know about things that you don't know and about the same prisoners from the same time who were saved by Karroubi that you dont know about

Anonymous said...

Azarmehr,

Please save us from our ignorance and enlighten us of those things you know, but we don't know about.

These clerics were supposed to stick to their trade and not run for public office. It is hard for many of us who disapprove of the regime to trust or support any of them.

But perhaps you are right. Perhaps the best way is to put a moderate cleric in charge. I wish you could explain what you know and convince us.

Another anonymous.

Anonymous said...

As with all revolutions, when the revolutionaries come to power, revolution is ok so long as it is not in their own backyard. Hence the disgustingly hypocritcal way the hierocratic elite in Iran is licking its lips over the uprisings in North Africa yet biting its lip in fear and disgust at the uprising on its own streets.

Jared Israel said...

Potkin, all collaborators with Fascism (which is what the IRI is -- clerical fascism, not one word more or less) say, if and when they try to justify their actions, that they saved people. Cardinal Stepinac said it about Fascist Croatia. Nazis said it. Pius XII apologists have created a whole literature devoted to this baloney argument. The very large fly in your argument -- regardless of who Karoubi did or didn't save, that you know, but it's a secret, and so nobody can refute it -- is this: Mousavi and Karoubi don't now say, "What happened in the 80s was monstrous and we did our best to save people from the madman Khomeini." They say, "We must return to the purity of Khomeini."

Meaning the purity of mass murder of anyone who has an ounce of independence.

You want to sleep with that one? Pleasant dreams -- but Potkin, really, you deserve better.

Jared Israel
tenc.net
Emperor's Clothes

Anonymous said...

Potkin maybe you should rename this post, The Disgraceful Silence of Potkin. How can you continue to support criminals like Karroubi & Mousavi when they like all Akhounds have blood of tens of thousands of Iranians on their hands.