Jannati here is making assertions about Islam that contradict the version of Islam presented in the U.S. by most prominent Muslim spokesmen. Surely Islam doesn’t “permit rulers to execute ‘hypocrites,'” does it? Surely CAIR and MPAC and all the rest are going to make their case for Islamic pluralism and Islam’s compatibility with democracy in response to Jannati, aren’t they? Surely a bland reference to Islam not being a monolith and to there being a multiplicity of views in Islam is not sufficient in this case, is it — when an entire state apparatus is practicing brutal repression of dissidents explicitly in Islam’s name? Surely a fuller explanation of exactly how the Islam of the U.S. Muslim groups differs from that of the Islamic Republic — quite aside from the Sunni/Shia divide — is warranted and necessary, isn’t it?
(Lest the thuddingly literal-minded start writing to me again about naivete and the real face of CAIR and MPAC, I will note here parenthetically that the questions above are an exercise in reductio ad absurdum, designed to show the bankruptcy of the prevailing media and law enforcement view of the general situation.)
More on this story. “Iranian cleric: More opposition should be executed,” from The Associated Press, January 29 (thanks to Ruhollah):
TEHRAN, Iran — A senior hard-line Iranian cleric has called for more activists to be executed to silence anti-government protests, a day after two men were hanged.
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati says in a Friday prayer sermon that the clerical leadership’s opponents must be killed “for the sake of God” and that Islam permits rulers to execute “hypocrites.”…