What began on December 28 as local protests against high food prices in the northern city of Mashhad, Iran, has spiraled into mass protests consisting of some hundreds of thousands of Iranians in some two dozen cities, including if not especially Tehran, the seat of government. So far over 20 protesters have been killed and many hundreds arrested in what has been widely described as “the most serious internal crisis the country has faced this decade.”
The protests have morphed from mundane topics concerning the economy to more existential topics concerning Islamic leadership. Reportedly hundreds of thousands of protesters have been heard shouting “We don’t want an Islamic Republic,” and calling blessings on Reza Shah, the staunch secularist and political reformer who did much to Westernize Iran, until his son and successor, Muhammad Reza Shah, was deposed during the Islamic Revolution of 1979. According to Mideast media, women — such as Maryam Rajavi — are spearheading the current protests (and symbolically rejecting Islamic impositions by publicly removing their hijabs).
Even the Iranian regime sees the current unrest as a revolt against Islam. In his initial remarks after demonstrations first erupted, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said, “All those who are against the Islamic Republic … have all joined forces in order to create problems for the Islamic Republic and the Islamic Revolution” (note the recurrent and telling adjective “Islamic”).
Even so, “mainstream media” see growing poverty and frustration at the lack of social freedoms as the only reasons behind the current unrest. Overlooked in their analysis is that, because Islam is not meant to be a “spiritual thing” one does privately, but is rather a complete system of governance, permeating the whole of private and social life, the ongoing protests in Iran, while ostensibly revolving around economic, social, and political issues, are ultimately protests against Islamic teachings concerning economic, social, and political issues, which the Islamic Republic of Iran has been imposing on the populace since coming to power in 1979.
This is evident even in the new rallying cry of the protestors — “Death to the Dictator” — in reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself. By its very nature, Islamic law — both Sunni and Shia — calls for dictatorial rule. So long as the caliph, sultan, or emir governs society according to Sharia, Muslims must obey him — even if he is a despicable and cruel personage. After examining a number of Islamic rulings from authoritative exegetes, as well as a number of statements attributed to Muslim prophet Muhammad and in the Koran concerning the importance for Muslims to follow Islamic law — which is the only relevant question of when Muslims should and should not seek to overthrow their ruler — Ayman al-Zawahiri writes,
To summarize: It is forbidden to overthrow a tyrant, but it is a duty to overthrow an infidel. If the ruler is despotic, it is unlawful for a Muslim to rally other Muslims in order to condemn him, for if they do so then they become the aggressors and it becomes incumbent for the sultan to fight them (The Al Qaeda Reader, p. 122).
As it happens, the social oppression currently being protested against in Iran — from second-class status for women, to bans on all forms of expression critical of Islam, its prophet, and his representative on earth — is mandated by Islamic law, thereby making the protesters “the aggressors.”
But even the economic aspects of the protests are largely by-products of Islamist aspirations. As Donald Trump tweeted last Friday, the Iranian “people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism.” Indeed, the economic suffering of the people has come at a time when the regime has grown rich — not least by Barack Obama giving them over $100 billion as part of a nuclear deal. The reason for the disparity is that the regime has been and continues to spend much of its wealth in trying to realize its stated Islamic ideals; that is, it prefers supporting Hezbollah (currently Forbes wealthiest terrorist organization) and Hamas (third wealthiest) against Islam’s arch “infidel” enemy, Israel, in the name of and for the greater glory of Allah, rather than feed its people.
Incidentally, because the right to protest is a given in the West, and thus occurs often, including over trivial and/or absurd matters — as when university students planned a “sh*t-in,” occupying restrooms as a way of demanding more “gender-neutral facilities” — the grave consequences of the current protests in Iran (which are unsurprisingly also connected to Islam) are as underestimated in the West as they are indicative of just how frustrated many Iranians are:
Protesters could also potentially face the death penalty when their cases come to trial, according to the head of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, the AP reported. Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency quoted Mousa Ghazanfarabadi as saying: “Obviously one of their charges can be Moharebeh,” or waging war against God [Allah], which is a death penalty offense in Iran.
Moharebeh is precisely what al-Zawahiri was referring to in the above excerpt: the only legitimate reason to overthrow an Islamic ruler is his failure to govern according to Islam — which Khamenei and his regime can hardly be accused of (from a Shia prism, that is). Seeking to depose him because he is personally corrupt, despotic, cruel, or spending more money on jihad than food is forbidden, and transforms the protesters into aggressors against Allah, a crime worthy of punishment, including death.
concerned canadian says
our MSM says move along people nothing to see here.
Back to real news.
CNN breaking alert……………Trump put sugar on rice krispies !!!!!!!
StellaSaidSo says
Still waiting to hear expressions of solidarity with Iranian women from Linda Sarsour…
DFD says
Don’t forget: Patience is a virtue !!
Bev says
Don’t hold your breath Stella. This woman Sarsour needs to be removed from our country and dropped into Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, or any other country where Islam is the law. She advocates for the overthrow of our Constitutional Republic and to replace it with Sharia.
StellaSaidSo says
Not holding my breath Bev. I was being sarcastic. I totally agree with you re Sarsour. She should be sent to a sharia-compliant country, along with every other Muslim who supports barbarism. They do not deserve to live in a civilised society.
Linde Barrera says
To Bev- I read on Wikipedia that Linda Sarsour was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1980. (I inquired if I can get a copy of her birth certificate.) But if Wikikpedia is accurate, then she cannot be deported because she is a natural born US citizen. ? With people like her, the US has in-grown traitors. ?
David says
Does this make Linda Cockroach a traitor to America? There must be some sort of punishment for this, surely?
elee says
Remember how the Arab Spring turned out.
When a people gets force-fed some kind of poison it sticks around for longer than one might rationally surmise. During the War Adolf Hitler pumped a half-baked lunatic neo-paganism into Europe. Few remember this now……it took 5 hugely expensive years to de-Nazufy the joint. So what will it take to eradicate this poisonous death cult? Hint: Ataturk tried really really hard and apparently failed.
762x51FMJ says
Islam is a flow chart that only leads to enslavement or death.
Islam forces the mind and soul into an invisible maze that has no exit
you are a slave forever within your own mind unless you can escape it.
Islam is so insecure in its own belief that it has to force convert people by the sword, and then declare the penalty for your apostasy will be your death.
StellaSaidSo says
An honest Muslim? That would be an EX-Muslim.
Haller says
Correct. A pyramid selling scheme whose sole product can only be death, fear and ignorance. Humanity’s only under performing culture of obsessive, hydrophobic paranoia.
billybob says
The offence of “Waging war against Allah”… Suggests that Allah is such a weak and puny god that a mere mortal could harm him and he needs to be protected. It’s like this notion that if Muhammad is offended Muslims need to defend him. Muhammad is so vulnerable and weak a figure they he cannot withstand any insults.
Actually, there is much truth to these statements. As a theology, Islam is so full of holes it is like moral Swiss cheese. It is so full of internal contradictions that it is in danger of falling apart without an external force applied to hold it together. Hence the need for blasphemy laws to protect it against criticism. Apostates must be killed because the mere fact of their existence demonstrates that there can be life independent of Islam.
Goutam says
Islam is comparable to riding a tiger. Once you ride it, you can never get down, unless you are happy to offer yourself as a meal.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Raymond Ibrahim, It Is not true that these myopic idiots are protesting against sharia. Are you aware that pious Iranian women are more educated and enlightened than their men counterparts and they were the majority Who supported khomaini in his Islamic révolution, which brought down American stooge the shaa ? Do you mean that Iranian women are protesting for freedom to appear half-naked and look ugly líke filthy Christian ladies in the West, like the fake Iranian lady appearing in picture wearing indecent western dressing?
Note:we ,muslim men ,do not force our women to wear modest dressing .they believe that It is good to comply with sharia as basis of their Islamic system. As someone Who is well acquainted with muslim countries like Egypt and Turkey, It is educated and enlightened muslim women there Who are demanding right to wear modest Islamic dressing.
6woods says
Ibrahim, we filthy immodest western ladies are free to choose our own dressing. I personally prefer Balsamic Vinaigrette, but that’s just me.
Darryl Kerney says
illogical to the extreme, therefore it fits right into islam.
WHY would women need to be granted the Right to dress modestly ?
why would they ever need to DEMAND such a Right ?
no gov’t or rulers ANYWHERE at ANY TIME have EVER FORCED women to dress “immodestly”.
NO WHERE, you cannot show me even a single example of any gov’t ever doing such a thing, so the “need” for the establishment of such a “Right” is far more than ABSURD, it’s preposterous,
your argument is totally irrational and ridiculous.
what you consider “highly educated and enlightened” women are only such in the sense that they have been thoroughly indoctrinated in the belief that SIMPLY SHOWING THEIR HAIR is somehow “immodest” and a terrible thing that would JUSTIFY their being RAPED for such a “heinous” offence as to show what, if one believes in a God, THAT GOD GAVE THEM THAT HAIR,
so,
IS ALLAH ASHAMED OF THE HAIR HE GAVE TO WOMEN’S HEADS SO HE MUST INSIST THEY NOT SHOW IT PUBLICLY ?????
or,
did he make the men that he decides are muslims so WEAK and IMMORAL as to be incapable of RESISTING THE NATURAL “ALLAH GIVEN” beautiful Attributes of his female creations ?
why is it that here in the “evil” non islamic West, even if a beautiful woman walks NAKED on the BEACH, all but the most depraved and completely lacking in SELF CONTROL understand that it would still be WRONG TO ASSAULT OR RAPE HER ?
we are not so totally lacking in MORAL and ETHICAL principles that we NEED TO OUTLAW WOMEN SHOWING THEIR HAIR to prevent them all from getting raped, and we aren’t such degenerates that we CAN appreciate a woman’s beauty who isn’t our wife without considering her a filthy slut and whore,
which is exactly what the MANDATORY HIJAB more than simply suggests. it makes any who refuse into horrible sinners, simply for showing what, for theists, THEIR GOD GAVE THEM.
that is some screwed up god who would forbid HALF OF his own creations, the female ones, from simply showing the hair on their heads THAT HE PUT THERE !
6woods says
Don’t expect this stupid, ugly, vile little troglodyte to listen to reason. It’s more fun just to troll him. I actually welcome his posts because they’re like Islam 101 all wrapped up in one nasty little package. Very illuminating.
StellaSaidSo says
Yep, he is the perfect poster boy for the vilest ideology ever conceived by mortal man. Every word he utters is proof that we need to eradicate Islam from the face of the earth if humanity is to have a civilised future.
Darryl Kerney says
yes 6WOODS,
i realize you cannot reason with those who have renounced all use of reason by adhering to religious dogma, but, perhaps a tiny shadow of doubt can be induced, and i’d like to see others apply the points i’ve made about “allah’s” weakness and insecurity that made him forbid any critical examination of his irrational rules and mandate death for leaving the cult that one had no choice in being part of in the first place, by sheer accident of birth.
and yes also to your point about the illuminating aspects of the attitude of the slave of allah, whose illogic is so clear to us who use Reason applied to the principles that foster well being for humans versus those that mentally and physically enslave.
David says
I wonder whether a Muslim woman could wear a wig over a niqab. She would not be showing her hair.
Darryl Kerney says
HAHA !
good one David !
gravenimage says
Ibrahim itace muhammed wrote:
Raymond Ibrahim, It Is not true that these myopic idiots are protesting against sharia.
………………………..
Well, of course not! How could *anyone* have a problem with child rape, hanging gay people from cranes, and stoning women to death? After all, Ibrahim itace muhammed *loves* all these things.
More:
Are you aware that pious Iranian women are more educated and enlightened than their men counterparts and they were the majority Who supported khomaini in his Islamic révolution, which brought down American stooge the shaa ?
………………………..
Being more enlightened that Muslim men is not hard…
As for the claim that all Iranian woman wanted to be immured in the Chador, this is just not true:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxGYLk92edY
More:
Do you mean that Iranian women are protesting for freedom to appear half-naked and look ugly líke filthy Christian ladies in the West, like the fake Iranian lady appearing in picture wearing indecent western dressing?
………………………..
Note that he considers any woman not wrapped in the Hijab to be “naked”. I guess Ibrahim itace muhammed has not had much luck with the ladies…
This is why he is such a fan of child “marriage”, rape, and sex slavery…
More:
Note:we ,muslim men ,do not force our women to wear modest dressing .they believe that It is good to comply with sharia as basis of their Islamic system.
………………………..
Ibrahim itace muhammed believes that beating unveiled women, imprisoning them, and “Honor Killing” them is not force. Typical Islamic point of view. *Ugh*.
More:
As someone Who is well acquainted with muslim countries like Egypt and Turkey, It is educated and enlightened muslim women there Who are demanding right to wear modest Islamic dressing.
………………………..
Actually, there are no such bans in these nations.
gravenimage says
Well, its also true that Ibrahim itace muhammed is obsessed with Infidel men’s foreskins. Make of that what you will…
gravenimage says
Raymond Ibrahim: Iranians are Ultimately Protesting Sharia
……………..
Yes!
David says
It is beginning to look like Islam is on the run. One must feel sorry for Muslims who are being killed by other Muslims for not being good? Muslims. To infidels, a good Muslim is a bad Muslim, And a bad Muslim is a good Muslim. Strange but true.
Iranians are protesting for freedom, and are sick of repression and misery brought about by sharia law. Through the Internet they have seen what the West has to offer(Good and bad) and have decided that is what they would like. We call it freedom of choice.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
6wood, ï am more handsome than you. ï am an Arab known with beautiful ladies and handsome m’en ,while you belong to specie of baboon family with ugly ladies and men. You look like your god the Satan (holy spirit). According to Dawin you had tails at your back during Stone age walking naked with women, which you have retained now in christian West.
gravenimage says
Ibrahim itace muhammed wrote:
6wood, ï am more handsome than you. ï am an Arab known with beautiful ladies and handsome m’en ,while you belong to specie of baboon family with ugly ladies and men. You look like your god the Satan (holy spirit). According to Dawin you had tails at your back during Stone age walking naked with women, which you have retained now in christian West.
…………………………
Where to start with this mess? Firstly, since Ibrahim itace muhammed is Nigerian, he is not Arab. But many sub-Saharan Muslims not only consider themselves to be “Arab”, but oppress and persecute those they consider “non-Arab”.
We saw this in Sudan, where the “Arab” Muslims oppressed and enslaved the “black African” Christians and animists. Arab supremacy, even in the absence of Arabs…
And Ibrahim itace muhammed has made these bizarre claims before–he once said that an entire busfull of “smelly Christian ladies” wanted to have sex with him in public in New York City.
Clearly, he has an active fantasy life. It seems his sexual fantasies extend to “handsome m’en” (sic). Not that I have a problem with that. And he has long been obsessed with Infidel men’s foreskins.
And does he now believe that Westerners have tails? It would not surprise me, given some of the bizarre things he has said about uncircumcised penises. He understands nothing about evolution, certainly.
The main thing that comes through is that he considers Muslims to be ladies men–an odd assertion, since he has affirmed that Muslims have to resort to child “marriage”, kidnapping, rape, and sex slavery to get women.
As always, Ibrahim itace muhammed’s posts offer a disturbing glimpse into the diseased Muslim mindset.
gravenimage says
Also, it is clear that 6wood’s comments are more about character than about looks. No surprise, though, that Ibrahim itace muhammed would understand nothing about character…
Darryl Kerney says
HAHA !
what a PATHETIC rebuttal ibrahim !
is it your position that you as a muslim are a DIFFERENT SPECIES than we non-muslim kuffars ?
or do you even understand the concept of species ?
why is your islam so backward if you are such a superior “species” than us ?
why is it so pathetic that it must forbid muslim women from marrying non muslims but it’s Ok for muslim men to marry non muslim women ?
is it that fragile that it must mandate death for any critical analysis of its basic principles ?
will you realize that GOOD IDEAS don’t need FORCE to be accepted by intelligent people ?
that only TERRIBLE IDEAS must be maintained by FORCE ?
6woods says
Ibby, Ibby, Ibby….you sound constipated. Drink a couple of liters of camel urine. That will surely help, and you’ll be much less cranky. And just so you know, I had my tail removed last year, so now I’m just as “hansome” as you.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
yes, Satan (holy spirit) worshiper Gravenimage, my parents Who came from the middleast acquired Nigerian citizenship by naturalisation due to their contribution to Nigeria in the academic as they did the same to your evil united states.
you lied to say sudanese Arabs are not truely Arabs. the black skin in some of them is due to intermarriage with black Africans. in North-Eastern Nigeria and chad there are similar species of Arabs called Shuwa or bagra because they rear cows.
UNCLE VLADDI says
Re: ” By its very nature, Islamic law — both Sunni and Shia — calls for dictatorial rule. So long as the caliph, sultan, or emir governs society according to Sharia, Muslims must obey him — even if he is a despicable and cruel personage.”
NOT true!
According to sharia, if people don’t like the decisions of courts, judges, or sultans, they are perfectly free to WAGE WAR on their own governments. If they win, it was the (might-makes-right) will of allah the whole time!