In a blistering 6 March New York Times op-ed, How Iran Completely and Utterly Botched Its Response to the Coronavirus, former Iranian doctors Kamiar Alaei and Arash Alaei conclude that, “The most important lesson of the coronavirus crisis in Iran is that health policy must never be politicized, especially in terms of emergency medical response.” This is true. But it is far from a complete picture. Iran is an Islamic Republic, and as such it has one priority and one priority alone: impose Islam upon the entire world through jihad. This single-priority raison-d’être means that all state policy, including health policy, is there to serve jihad. This global priority is nothing but an accretion of the personal priority of every single Muslim: to at all times defend and, if possible, advance Islam. It manifests in every “scholar’s” answer to the question: “How are Muslims to respond to the coronavirus?”
At time of writing, there have been 100 cases of the coronavirus in Israel. Yes, Jews contract the virus, just like Muslims. But that’s where the similarity ends. The Israeli Minister of Health, Yaakov Litzman, was swift and decisive, collecting the necessary data, imposing strict preventative measures, and putting the most skilled teams together to take the most effective action. He has been visible and up front, giving both his government and his nation daily updates. In Israel, the scale of the problem is publicly known, as is its location, its movement and its development
“In some countries, they have yet to understand the severity of the situation,” said Litzman in a major national coronavirus announcement on 27 February. “Over here, at the Ministry of Health we re-examine the situation twice a day and will not hesitate to bring out more instructions as they are needed.” The Minister and two of his officials gave a detailed breakdown of the situation and the comprehensive measures taken to combat the spread of the virus, including strict quarantines. Not once did Minister Litzman, a religious Jew in religious garb, or either of his officials, mention God or prayer, at all. Science and democratic accountability are clearly the two key weapons in Israel’s fight against COVID-19. Israel cases: 100. Death toll: 0. Recoveries: 4. No further questions.
In the Islamic Republic of Iran, a country that since its inception has indulged in daily chants of “Death to Israel,” the profuse sweating of the Deputy Minister of Health during a public announcement on the virus could not have contrasted more strongly with the calm determination of Health Minister Litzman in Israel during his announcement.
The Turkish news channel TRT News set out to establish whether the coronavirus in Iran is under control. Keeping in mind that this is a propaganda outlet, information can still be extracted from it. The report opens with a press conference during which a government spokesperson addressing the nation insisted that the number of cases of COVID-19 infections is overblown, and that the government is not “in favour” of imposing quarantine measures. While he was making this announcement, standing right beside him was the Iranian Deputy Minister of Health, Iraj Harirchi, sweating profusely, all on camera. The next day, the Deputy Minister of Health tested positive for the coronavirus. Then the Deputy Minister, sick with the virus, releases a video in which he declares, “Certainly, in the next few weeks we will be victorious over this virus. Be sure, we will defeat coronavirus,” and raising a feeble clenched fist, “Be sure, I am saying this from the bottom of my heart.” This kind of completely baseless confidence is part of daily Muslim discourse.
That was late February. Since then “dozens of officials have been infected,” and one MP, as well as a senior advisor to the Supreme Leader, have died from the virus. In bafflement, the TRT reporter asks why the leadership hasn’t reported that grim reality. Farnaz Fassihi and David D. Kirkpatrick, in the New York Times, under the headline, Iran’s Coronavirus Response: Pride, Paranoia, Secrecy, Chaos, report:
Iranian leaders once predicted the coronavirus epidemic ravaging China would not affect their country. Now Iran has amongst the most coronavirus deaths outside China, and Iranian medical workers have been told to keep quiet.
Someone, nonetheless, shot and distributed a video of rows of body bags lining the floor of a hospital ward reportedly in Qom, according to TRT. The person who shot that video is now in prison, from which the Iranian authorities have released 54,000 inmates who were deemed “symptom-free” — after superficial testing — to prevent the spread of the disease. There is more grim information in the TRT video, that concludes, “Efforts have been focussed on controlling the information, instead of bringing the contagion itself under control.”
Whereas in Israel, truth is what science uncovers, in Iran, truth is what the totalitarian authorities declare. But no one any longer believes the regime. Totalitarianism cannot function without a monopoly on truth. “The authorities seem as worried about controlling information as they are about controlling the virus.” When the monopoly on truth breaks down, totalitarianism is truly in crisis. It was time for the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to step in and show leadership. He did:
The Coronavirus is not such a big tragedy and this country has surmounted graver ones. However, beseeching God, seeking intercession from the Prophet and his Household, and the prayers of the pure youth and pious are very effective in repelling major tragedies. …I don’t want to say it’s unimportant, but let’s not exaggerate it either. The Coronavirus will affect the country briefly and leave.
Thus spake Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, managing to not once mention any measures to either understand the outbreak or combat the desease. Jihad and totalitarian unaccountability are clearly the two key weapons in Iran’s fight against COVID-19. Iran cases: 10,075. Death toll: 429. Recoveries: 2,959. Endless further questions.
Islam’s supra-rational sheikh, Dr Yasir Qadhi, highlights one of the “wisdoms” of the coronavirus outbreak as “to demonstrate for us that there must be a higher power that predetermines what is happening.” He continues,
This virus and the anxiety that comes from it, and the seemingly (sic) randomness — who gets it, who doesn’t get it …a person can take every single precaution; a person can always wash his hands and wear the mask and don’t go anywhere and still be afflicted with the virus. Another person can walk to the very epicentre without any protection and nothing happens to him. And that is why in the end of the day, there must be a higher power …that is telling what is going to happen to whom. …Think about this …If you were to take every precaution in the book, but it is decreed for you that it is going to happen, …you taking precautions will not save you from Allah’s qadr (decree). But, the prophet (SAW) said, “but rather du’a (supplication) is helping you against what has happened and what is going to happen. Du’a is your weapon that you turn to. So I command you to have du’a and to make du’a, oh servants of Allah (SWT).” The Muslim …finds consolation in belief in qadr (destiny). This does not mean that we don’t take precautions. The hadith does not say we act foolishly. The hadith is saying, even if you were to take every precaution, yet it is Allah’s qadr that something will happen, those precautions will not benefit you. …Say, ‘Nothing will happen to us, except if Allah has decreed it upon us.’ …We accept the qadr of Allah …and then whatever happens, happens.
Worse than Yasir Qadhi’s irresponsible equivocal advice to Muslims is his very unequivocal celebration of the “seven wisdoms” attendant to the coronavirus outbreak, seven wisdoms that bind the Muslim more tightly to fatalism and resignation. When Israel’s Minister of Health threatens to take action against Israelis violating the quarantines, one cannot help but wonder who, exactly, these Israelis are. Earth, we have a problem!
Yasr Qadhi has put more eloquently what Ustadh Baajour, another “scholar,” can only manage crudely. Baajour tells his congregation to take precautionary measures, but to supplicate with greater fervour, as it’s all up to Allah in any case, and whether a Muslim survives the virus or dies from it, it’s all good anyway since a Muslim dying from the virus becomes a martyr, securing his place in Heaven. Muhammad said so. The much more educated Qadhi seems unaware of this clincher.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the head of the Iranian state and unlike most “scholars” is responsible for the well-being of an entire nation. It is therefore only to be expected that the Supreme Leader’s advice to Muslims in these difficult times would be more practical than the dubious and dangerous, “make more du’a (supplication)” advice of the Qadhi’s and the Baajours of this world. Khamenei takes pains to thank and sing the praises of those Muslims who take practical precautions that actually work in combating the virus, such as going out and licking shrines. Subhanallah. Naturally, Muslims who go around licking shrines earn both Allah’s pleasure and the appreciation of their brothers and sisters whom they lick to safety. Lesser mortals than Khamenei, especially in those parts of the world afflicted with autonomous individuals, do have their image to consider. Calling on Muslims to go shrine-licking is not a hit. It just isn’t.
Obviously, neither the Qur’an nor the hadith say anything specifically about how Muslims should deal with the COVID-19 crisis. Yet the dying Muhammad claimed that after he had gone, Muslims needed only the as yet unwritten Qur’an and the example of his life and they’d be ready for anything till the Day of Judgement. Not only do followers of Muhammad expect answers to everything from their Qur’an and the example of their prophet, they are entitled to expect such answers since the clear undertaking was given, and the “scholars,” by setting themselves up as “the guardians, transmitters and interpreters of religious knowledge,” have taken it upon themselves to find answers to all questions, problems or conundrums that Muslims might run into, directly from the perfect Qur’an and Muhammad’s life, all the way to the end of time. During the centuries that all Muslims observed “I hear and I obey,” the social role that the “scholars” had committed to presented no problems. But today they all too often run into Muslims who say, “Please can you explain how it is that…,” and, without necessarily intending to do so, show up the “scholars” as unable to deliver, i.e., as frauds, which of course, they have always been.
The non-Muslim might well ask, why bother with these “scholars” in the first place? Nobody else consults such frauds and they’re getting on just fine and, in the case of the coronavirus, obviously way, way better than Muslims are. Here we get to the heart of the problem: the Muslim’s sense of self. The Muslim sees him- or herself as so distinct from non-Muslims that even though the non-Muslim world has one set of responses to the epidemic and these responses are clearly effective, the Muslim will still ask, “What should a Muslim do in this situation?” and do nothing until a “scholar” has pronounced what a Muslim should do, as if a Muslim’s physiology is different to that of a non-Muslim.
Muslims, unfortunately, still respect their “scholars”, despite these people proving an increasing dead weight on the Muslims’ latitude for responding to the demands of the modern world, the coronavirus crisis being only the latest in long string of tragedies reaching all the way back to a moment in the year 632. But worse than that, doing revering the “scholars” restrains the Muslims’ capacity for pursuing almost any personal interests and pleasures that the modern world makes possible, their lives’ priority above all else being at all times to preserve the sanctity of a barbaric social system from late antiquity and everything associated with it.
Should a Muslim, by natural personal inclination, be excited about, say, what the James Webb Space Telescope will discover, there are distinct limits to how far he or she will be able take that excitement. More topically, the same applies to a Muslim trained in, say, virology. Such a Muslim’s life is in danger not so much from the coronavirus, but from the Muslims whose lives he could otherwise be saving from that virus, as Iranian doctors are finding. The total number of Muslims that have existed since the inception of Islam fourteen centuries ago represents a squandering of human creative energy on a civilisational scale. Only now are significant numbers of Muslims becoming aware of what their ummah represents in the social, cultural and technological evolution of humanity. The COVID-19 epidemic could well prove to be the straw that finally breaks the camel’s back.
Shabir Ali and Mufti Menk see prudence in meeting the modern, questioning, troublesome Muslim half way, or avoiding dodgy advice altogether. In a video entitled Coronavirus Prevention, “scholar” Mufti Menk manages to get closer than any of his fellow ulema to proposing real, practical preventative measures, yet he too cannot escape the imperative of reminding his congregation of Allah’s arbitrary decrees and the need to supplicate before him in hope of extracting mercy. In a video entitled Coronavirus punishment from God, Shabir Ally manages to stick to inane platitudes and vague generalities, such as to take care of the sick, which “our religion teaches us.” Even though he says nothing of substance, he still finds it necessary to remind Muslims that “We don’t want to exclude God from the picture because God is in control of all affairs.”
Whichever way these “scholars” wish to play the Muslims’ coronavirus predicament, the paramountcy of Allah’s omnipotence must be affirmed above all else, and so people are told to do whatever they can to defend against COVID-19, but whatever they do, they must remember that if Allah wills otherwise, then their efforts will come to naught anyway. In short, petitioning Allah for help is far more important than any other measure one might take.
It is a tortuously-ambiguous message that can kill Muslims and is killing Muslims and can kill only Muslims. The “guardians, transmitters and interpreters of religious knowledge,” cannot escape this trap of their own making if they are to preserve the sanctity of the Islamic teaching and traditions, and at the same time hold onto the respect of the increasingly scientifically-aware Muslims who, chrysalis-like, are transforming into autonomous individuals on the inside, while retaining the appearance of mindless obedient slaves of Allah on the outside.
The smarter (or slyer) “scholars”, such as Shabir Ali, Mufti Menk and Yasir Qadhi, are able to play this duplicity well, managing to stay one step ahead of their increasingly unconvinced flocks. Those of a more simplistic bent, such as Ustadh Baajour, Sheikh Imran Hosein, Nouman Ali Khan and Zakir Naik, are oblivious to the changes that Muslims are undergoing and can respond only by belittling, demeaning or insulting any Muslim whose questioning threatens to expose their ignorance and lies before the ones who still simply hear and obey.
Yet the line between these two groups of “scholars” is blurred, as they are also in conflict with each other, sometimes discreetly, at other times openly, forcing each to shift back and forth so as not to alienate their followers, making their speech sound like the Qur’an, full of contradictions and errors, totally incoherent. Because their congregations don’t call them out on the nonsense they speak, they act as if they are getting away with it. Yet in their heart of hearts they know, at least the smarter ones do, that the gradual dwindling of familiar faces in their congregations are connected to their utterances, increasingly recognised as manipulative, dishonest and ridiculous.
What can these “scholars” do, having invested their entire lives in study and da’wa? They themselves realise that, far from attracting the kufaar to Islam, their da’wa is now driving Muslims away from Islam. Rather than honestly face up to a painful truth, the “scholars” can only do as they’ve been doing for fourteen-hundred years: keep what remains of Allah’s slaves in line. In the Dar al-Harb and in growing parts of the Dar al-Islam, intimidation and scaremongering no longer work, so they try reason, a stunted, distorted and corrupted kind of reason that tip-toes around the sanctities of Islam, thereby managing only to compound their own folly. Unsurprisingly, Muslims who have started questioning Islam see straight through the scholars’ mendacious reasoning and eventually leave.
But it would be remiss to not acknowledge the one “scholar” who transcends all these complications, Sheikh Imran Hosein, who astutely detects the hand of Israel behind the coronavirus outbreak and cuts to the chase exposing a fiendish Jewish plan, Pax Judaica, to control the world by wiping out the surrounding Muslim populations. Alhamdulillah.
That Iran is failing so spectacularly to make even a dent in the coronavirus ravaging its population conceals that probably everyone in Iran, even the clergy, is doing their best to get control of the situation, but in doing so, each compounds the crisis. The problem is well-explained in a different context. Greek Minister of Finance at the height of the Euro crisis, Yanis Varoufakis, a highly-cultured individual of rare intellect and sincerity, reflecting on the European Union’s handling of the financial crisis observed,
When you watch an ancient Greek tragedy — Oedipus — who is the bad guy? There are no bad guys. Everybody is trying to do their best, but that is the whole structure of the tragedy. The game is set up in such a way that although everybody is trying to do their best, in the end, everybody is contributing to disaster. …In the end, the game we play in Europe is bringing out the worst possible outcome for our people. Even powerful men and women, in the end, are caught in the trap of their own power and end up powerless. This is the stuff of true tragedy.
The antidote to Europe being the stuff of true tragedy, maintains Varoufakis, is democratising it. He continues:
Democracy is not a luxury for the credulous. It’s not something that’s nice to have. The reason democracy evolved is …because it’s the only way of managing a crisis. During the good times, you don’t need democracy. …During the bad times, cartels cannot handle the distribution of burdens and losses. …It is now, since the crisis began, that you can see that the European Union is desperately in need of more democracy, because it cannot handle the distribution and redistribution of burdens. That’s why we need democracy and transparency. It is absurd that the people out there do not know what their representatives are saying on their behalf behind closed doors.
Democratic accountability, more so even than science, is the reason Israel is in control of the COVID-19 outbreak, while the lack of democratic accountability, more so than the lack of science, is the reason the COVID-19 outbreak is in control of Iran.
21st-century Muslims are expected to remain concerned, as a matter of top priority, about issues that troubled illiterate desert barbarians in late antiquity, and are commanded to waste their entire lives imitating a pre-mediaeval society as the highest possible human achievement both before and since, and impose that society on the kufaar as a favour. In the meantime, the kufaar pursue a COVID-19 vaccine, place telescopes in space to photograph exoplanets, keep their religions well away from science, and above all, the more their leaders are accountable, the better are they able to apply the best that their society has to offer to whatever challenge the gods may throw down before them.
Of course the epidemic also offers an excellent “live dry-run” for any country to test its national preparedness for a biological attack, and I have no doubt that Israel is taking full advantage of the opportunity. Despite numerous quarantines in place, the national elections held at the height of the crisis evidenced an historically-high voter turn-out, with quarantined voters able to go to the polls and cast their votes in complete safety to the same standards of secrecy and observer oversight as the rest of the polling.
As it happens, Iran, where no quarantines are in place, held national elections during the same crisis. These had an historically low voter turn-out stemming from a combination of voter safety concerns, dissatisfaction with developments in the country and disaffection from the regime. Iran could not risk quarantines for fear of shutting down the economy altogether. Far from the COVID-19 crisis offering an opportunity for testing national preparedness for something, it proved staggering national unpreparedness for anything. Israel is on the brink of a vaccine breakthrough; Iran is on he brink of total melt-down. Underlying every Muslim’s advice on what Muslims should do in response to the crisis lurks the barely-concealed notion, sometimes explicitly stated, that the COVID-19 outbreak is a blessing.
Most telling, though, is the image of Iran’s President Hassan Rohani at time mark 3:27 in the TRT video. Whatever the context of this image, it recalls an article in the New York Daily News of 26 September 2019, entitled The tragedy of Hassan Rouhani. I invite the reader to look carefully at Rouhani’s eyes. Those are the eyes of a man who knows that the game is up. The Islamic Revolution has failed. If the Islamic Revolution has failed, then Islam has failed. Allah has failed.
Since Islam has failed, there is nothing left to defend. Unfortunately, most Muslims can still not see that their revered sheikhs, their “scholars,” have no Islam left to defend. What the critics of Islam have not demolished, COVID-19 is finishing off. These “guardians of religious knowledge” are now guarding only their own skins. Islam is moribund and every Muslim can finally, finally, be free, starting with freedom to fight a viral pandemic with the means and intention of actually defeating it.
It came as no surprise to read Majid Rafizadeh write in Iran: The Mullahs’ Coronavirus Lies, with obvious diplomatic caution, “The Iranian leaders’ cover-up and lies are some of the underlying reasons behind the spread of coronavirus to other nations. By calling the coronavirus a “blessing,” Iran’s Supreme Leader seems to suggest that his objective is to spread the virus to other countries, particularly Israel and the West.” Reminded of the Syria-North Korea nuclear collaboration that ended in catastrophe, I have been wondering, along similar lines, what Iran and China might have been up to that’s gone horribly, horribly wrong, alternatively, gone exactly as intended. In other words, is Iran’s “incompetence” simply its nuclear option Plan-B, or, more consistent with taqiyya, its real nuclear bomb? At this point, it might be a case of Allah knows best.
Tony Stark says
Dr. Pandavar: Marvellously brilliant article. Your detailed assessment of Iran’s Covid-19 situation should be required reading for all Western diplomats and politicians. Thank you!
Ray Jarman says
Also the fake news personalities at CNN, MSNBC, etc. should read what true journalism looks like.
Ray Jarman says
Excellent article and great insight into the Iranian regime. I do wish however that the word “scholar” not be used in context with these fools. Maybe a new and more accurately descriptive word say, “foolar” be used instead. To paraphrase former senator, Joe Lieberman, “I know many scholars and you (imam, etc.) are no scholar,” you sir are only an evil sadistic fool.
Quazgaa says
Always a pleasure to read Miss Pandavar’s articles.
The word becomes the tool that cuts through to the hidden truth.
Thank you, Miss Pandavar.
Phil Copson says
Clearly, the situation in Iran requires that the leadership make an immediate public demonstration of their unshakeable belief in the powers of Allah and efficacy of muslim medicine.
Even if it has no medical effect whatsoever, it would undoubtedly raise the morale of millions upon millions of people world-wide to see Ayatollah Ali Khameini, Hassan Rouhani etc appear on Iranian TV and set an example to the ummah by following Old Mullah Mohamed’s tried-and-tested prescription for all known ills by knocking back a nice large glass of warm and tasty camel urine a-piece !
In all probability, the Ayatollahs could raise so much money by putting the footage on pay TV that it would become a regular feature, and people across the Arab world would stop whatever they’re doing and tune-in each week to watch the parliamentary p*ss-drinking contest. Correctly marketed, the income could be enormous and would surely go a long way to off-set the loss in oil revenue caused by US sanctions !
A further benefit is that unlike oil, which is a finite and diminishing resource, switching the Iranian economy from oil to camel urine – (the infinite supply of which Allah in his wisdom has made an Arabian monopoly denied to infidel countries) – will ensure the long-term prosperity of Iran and demonstrate Khameini’s personal commitment to Green energy…….
Truly, the cure is sometimes worse than the disease…..
ElderlyZionist says
Allah kills whom he wills and spares whom he wills, and Allah is the best sickener.
Just look at him go!
Kepha says
So, two Docs from Iran say the disease should not be politicized. Great advice. However, this coronzvirus has been politicized from Day 1–or Patient 0–take your pick.
China has just come out blaming the US Army for the coronavirus outbreak, even though it is clear the disease started in China, and the all-wise Communist Party tired to hide and obfuscate for weeks. They say that their Patient Zero had been in the USA, but that’s scads of scholars, businesspeople, students, diplomats, and whatnot.
The rest of the post above presents all the usual Islamic vitriol against the Israelis. Who’s to blame for the new virus? DA JOOOOOOOOOOOOZ!!!! Methinks the next time there’s a major disease, I’ll put down a lot of money that the Islamic world will blame Israel. But I fear there’d be a single sane adult to bet against me.
And our own Democratic Party over here wants to blame Trump and the Republicans and call for a nationalized health service, all while failing to note how badly hit Italy has been,even if it has a national health plan.
Can’t we all admit that governments worldwide were caught flat-footed, and encourage both private and public research efforts?
Chistopher Watson says
How can a country which is governed by a bunch of totally moronic idiots have lasted so long? There are some very intelligent and very pleasant people in Iran but how can they have allowed these mentally deficient morons to last this long. Even their followers must realise by now that they being led to a speedy end.
mhw says
Actually, Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may be correct that the Islamic Republic Of Iran has survived worse things than the Wuhan Virus. The Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s probably took about 500,000 lives in Iran and most were men of military age. The Wuhan Virus, may kill, say, 100,000 in Iran but most will be people in their 70s or older.
gravenimage says
“Scholarly” COVID-19: Science, Democracy, Allah and Totalitarianism
……………….
What a bunch of barbarians. How many people will die due to this aggressive Islamic ignorance?
Jayell says
Sorry, haven’t had a chance to read this article properly yet but I was struck by this sentence:-
“It manifests in every “scholar’s” answer to the question: “How are Muslims to respond to the coronavirus?”…..
1. I presume that these are islamic ‘scholars’? Here in the West, the word ‘scholar’ usually presupposes an experienced, well-informed and educated person of high and proven intellectual integrity who deals with matters of equally high integrity. Islam is characterised by the lack of any intellectual integrity whatsoever, and the same would have to be true of any person who can understand nothing better than to dedicate themselves to something so demonstrably worthless.
2. Left to its their devices, and without any input from the West, followers of islam would not even begin to have the faintest concept of a ‘virus’ and that word, or any equivalent, would not even exist in their vocabulary.
andrew mckendrick says
Islamic Scholars surely one of the worlds greatest oxymorons?
Phil Copson says
Together with “Military Intelligence” and “Labour Friends of Israel”…..
Valkyrie Ziege says
; I’d tell Muhammadans a joke about “Jones Town”,
except the punch-line is too long.