The history of Islamic terror in Iran

Persian Mirror:

By Amil Imani The aim of this letter is to address the future generation as well as the current Iranian youth. The time to keep silence has passed and the time to speak of the truth has begun. As I write this letter to you today, I am perplexed and frightened to think about what it will be like when you are born. My mind is filled with uncertainty for your future. My soul is filled with pain and agony of the unknown.

Today, Iran is under the occupation of the most savage form of the Islamic butchers. These are the descendants of the same Islamic butchers who conquered Persia 1400 years ago with the sword of Islam. These are the same creatures that plundered and burned Iran and took Iranian women as slaves to the desert of Arabia. Even now the Islamic Republic is selling the Iranian women in Dubai and other Persian Gulf kingdoms.

We have been witnessing the exact brutalities, savageries and barbarism for the past twenty-six years by the Arab-Islamic fascists upon Iran as our forefathers saw 1400 years ago. There are thousands upon thousands of our countrymen spending their youth in the Arab-Islamic dungeons. People's rights are being violated on a daily basis in the name of the same Islamic barbarism of 1400 years ago. It is ironic how history keeps repeating itself.

I am telling you this story, partly because it is timely, partly because it is good to know the lessons that history teaches us. Iran did not have to turn out as it did. Truth and provocative ideas ought to be welcomed in our society. Yet, with provocative ideas and opinions one must be ready to embrace death. As we have witnessed, the Islamic zealots do not tolerate opinions contrary to their own. Euripides said many years ago, “A slave is he who cannot speak his thoughts”.

However, death is the last thing on my mind. Actions are needed to correct the past mistakes and that starts with you. You, the born and unborn, must know what is happening in your country and what has led us to where we are today. You must know this and do everything in your power to save your country and her people.

So, this is a message to you and to the future generation. We cannot allow the same ruthless Islamic zealots who went on their roofs calling upon an Arab God, “Allah-o Akbar,” to impose an Islamic revolution on our society, to control and interpret our history. Also, we cannot allow the guardians of the status quo to define and control our future.

You must adhere to the wisdom of Zartushtra, who was a messenger of peace and longevity and eternal love and wisdom. He was also a messenger of “Good Thoughts, Good Words and Good Deeds”. History has shown if only Iranians had adhered to those “three” principles, Iran would have remained eternally prosperous and exalted.

Let me tell you who and what the Arabs were before turning Islamic and bringing the wrath of their “Allah” upon Iranians and other nations. Before the advent of Islam, the Arabs were idol worshipers. According to Vaqqidi, the Arabs had 360 gods for each day of the year and the largest and the main God was called “Allah.” They were pagan, a polytheistic culture. One wonders how could a group of desert dwellers, nomads, who lacked culture and civilization, possibly attack an old Empire and advance so quickly!

The Sassanid dynasty, despite being a great and powerful Iranian dynasty had become extremely corrupt and very unstable towards the end. Four centuries of theocratic oppression of different religious groups, suppression of the peasants and lack of tolerance had caught up with the dynasty. The decay and abandonment and growth are part of the circle of evolution and also the birth of enlightenment and blossoms of the truth. The rule of nature dictates to us that anything that does not change with time stagnates and degenerates. While the Sassanid dynasty was in a chaotic and frenzied stage, across the desert a new religion was forming and foaming with fever and zealousness. Being deprived most of their lives from earthly pleasures and splendor and for centuries looking toward the Persians and the Romans with a certain awe, envy and fear, the Arabs were uniting under the new flag of Islam and marching toward the Persian lands and later the Roman lands.

King Yazdgird III, with the help of the Commander of Persian forces Rostam Farokhzad, became the last King of the Sassanids. It fell to him to pay for the sins of his forefathers. Before the war broke out with the Arabs, his vanity and overconfidence, as shown by Iranian rulers and nobles time and again, brought disaster to the nation. He was an inexperienced and arrogant ruler.

Rostam Farokhzad, a very courageous and brilliant Persian commander, foresaw the consequences. Yazdgird, sitting on the throne of the Aryan Empires, thought that the Iranian Army, like the previous Armies was invincible. Farokhzad knew that the time had changed. These were not the same Arabs and his military was not the same military.

Rostam Farokhzad had realized that these newly motivated Muslims were fearless as the today's suicide bombers in our era seem to be fearless and do not value human life. He knew that his soldiers were thinking about how to survive a war, yet, the Arab Army, similar to today's Islamic overzealous militants, were embracing death. The Arabs did not fear death because of the promise of a better life after death by “Allah”. He knew he couldn't possibly win this war and the best option was a diplomatic one.

Nonetheless, the war began and the Arab army under its ruthless commander, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas approached. The Persian Army was defeated in the decisive “Battle of Qadisiyah.” Rostam Farokhzad, the courageous Iranian general was murdered and Yazdgird's last attempt to gather forces to counter attack fell short. He wandered around the country for many years and it is told that he was slain in one of the villages in northern Iran.

Just how decisive was the “Battle of Qadisiyah”? Even though the “Battle of Nahavand” was the last war of the Arabs with the Persians in which Yazdgird's Army was completely defeated, the “Battle of Qadisiyah” had already sealed the fate of the Sassanids Empire just as the “Battle of Yarmuk” had sealed the fate of the Byzantine Empire in the West and was the start of a new chapter of the Islamic world and Islamic Iran. This was an unusual defeat for the Persians. The Arabs were not satisfied with the spoils of the war. They wanted an Islamic Persia. They had come to convert the Persians by hook or by crook. "La ilah ilallah, Mohammed ur Rasulallah" (There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his Prophet). Those who resisted uttering those words were faced with death or burdened with heavy taxes and other unjust punishments.

It is the belief in the same “Allah” that brought upon the Iranian people the greatest catastrophe of the Islamic revolution. This is also the same belief that brought the twin towers down in the United States of America. This belief in this “Allah” will not stop until the entire world bows to its will.

History had taught the Arabs to plunder anybody anywhere. They burned one of the greatest libraries that ever existed at that period. With that, they destroyed not only the collections of previous Persian cultures, but other collections as well. It made no difference whose belongings they were. And now, with their newly found ideology, it made all their crimes more justifiable. The same can be said about today's Islamic rulers.

Fearing prosecution and death by extremely ruthless and merciless Arabs, great numbers of Iranians left Iran for safe haven in India. In a similar fashion, thousand of Iranians left Iran for safety place in the West after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The Parsis moved to a different world to save their religion, race, culture, language, identity and tradition from extinction. Today Iranian Parsis are one of most successful strata in India. The Iranians took refuge in the West to be immune from the wrath of a mad man and the rejuvenated Islamists in Iran. Today, Iranian communities in the West are one of the most successful groups of people in the country.

Historically, when a traditional religion encountered a society with a world or universal religion, the followers of the traditional religion converted, either by choice or by force. At any rate, the remaining Persians either accepted it or were forced to become Muslims and retain Islam as their state religion even after they gained their independence and developed the Persian language.

The struggle for liberation from the Arab fanatics never stopped Iranians. There were numerous Iranian uprisings against the Islamic Caliphs. Abu-Moslem Khorasani's revolution almost freed Iran from the Arabs. It created a strong drive throughout Iran and revived the Persian sense of pride and dignity.

All these liberation movements, from Abu Moslem Khorasani in Khorasan, to Sinbad from Nayshabor, who followed the path of Abu Moslem Khorasani to Babak Khoramdin from Azerpaigan, who fought against the Arab army very fiercely, until he was betrayed by another Iranian, Afshin and was decapitated by the Arab Caliph, to Maziar, who led freedom fighters in the North against the Arab Army and envisioned of reviving the Iranian tradition; to Mardaviz-e-Zeyari, from Daylaman revolutionary leader and a Persian renaissance, to the Great Yaghoob-e Leis-e Saffari and Astadhsis, carried out five basic virtues: wisdom, bravery, courage, justice and a never ending struggle for an independent Iran. The spirits of these Persian heroes will live on and so does the Iranian struggle. This is something you must pursue.

With the first invasion of Arab-Islamic values, history has shown that the Arabs had not come to Persia merely for its vast spoils, but rather, they wanted an Islamic Arab Persia. They succeeded in making Iranians Islamic by the sword, but they miscalculated and gravely failed to inject the Arabic way of life into a very sophisticated and highly elevated Persian culture and tradition. They never accomplished their goal of taking away the Iranian identity as they did with Egypt, Libya, Morocco and other ancient African countries.

As we have witnessed again 1400 years later, the third invasion of Arab-Islamic values of 1979, lead by its extremely brutal satanic Islamic revolutionary man, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, also has gravely failed to convert a highly complicated and sophisticated Persian culture, tradition and identity, into an Islamic way of life. History has shown time and again that the crown of Islamic Arab values simply does not fit the Persians. It never has and it never will.

There exists much duplicity within the Iranian culture. Originally, Iranians accepted Islam to save their lives, but deep inside the heart of every single Iranian alive to this date, the burning sensation and resentment of the Arab-Islamic invasion of their culture is everlastingly enflaming. They confess of being Muslims; yet, the overwhelming numbers Iranians have never read the Quran or understand its language. The events in history have toughened Iranians gravely. They have become great pretenders.

During the next two centuries, a silence rolled over the once dynamic land. The heroic efforts by the Persian national heroes never allowed the Arab occupiers to live at peace. The Arabs keep fighting the rebellions constantly and at the same time emptying out the wealth of Persia. Iran was under the rule of the Caliphs, from Medina and later from Baghdad. These Caliphs were determined to obliterate all vestiges of Zoroastrianism and the great Sassanid dynasty.

Anywhere the Arabs would find a Zoroastrian temple, they would burn it down. Any Persian books were obliterated and those who wrote or spoke in Persian were faced with death. Their mission was very similar to the third invasion of Arab-Islamic values of 1979. Each invasion diverted from its original goals. Each went after Persian culture and identity and each gravely have failed.

The historical division of Islam went underway under Shah Ismail. He declared Ithna Ashari Shiitism as the official and compulsory religion of his new Qizilbash State in 1501 A.D. This period has been noted by some as the second invasion of Arab-Islamic values on Persian values and religion. It is interesting to note that the Prophet of Islam had never put his foot on Iranian soil, but his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib had fought in the wars of succession within the boundaries of the country.

Caliphs had passed into the hands of the close associates of the Prophet starting in line with Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn and Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammad's son-in-law. It should be noted that Ali never claimed to be an Imam or an innocent one. He was simply an Arab Caliph. After the death of the Prophet, the Arab world followed by an elective process to nominate the next in line successor which started with Abu Bakr. This group is known as ahl alsunnah wa-l-jama'ah, "the people of custom and community," or Sunnis. The imamate or "leadership" -- in non-elective manner would become what we know today as Shiitism. Shiites say that succession must remain within the family of the Prophet, a blood-line -- with Ali the first valid caliph. It should also be noted that this division occurred after the assassination of Imam Ali in Kufa by Ibn Muljim.

After the assassination of Imam Ali, his older son Imam Hassan became rightful Shiite leader. Not long into his Imamate, Imam Hassan also became victim to Bani Umayyad family. Now here is the defining moment for the entire Shiitism division and especially leading to the Iranian version. After Imam Hussein inherited the Imamate, in a decisive battle with Yazid who was the son of Mu'awiya sealed the everlasting fairly tales of Shiitism. It has been said Imam Hussein who was out numbered was beheaded by the Yazid's Army in an unfair battle. Imam Hussein, like his father becomes martyr, hence, the start of a new era of Shiitism.

Up to this day, Iranians mourn for the first Imam and the third Imam, Ali ebn-e abi taaleb, and Hussein-ebn-e Ali, (Majaales-e Rozehkhaani va Azaa daari), After Iranians were forced to become Shiite by Shah Ismail, this practice became extremely prevalent and popular in the mosques and “Takaayaa, Huseinieh haa” and in many people homes. Especially in the month of Safar and Ramadan, they were devoted to the ceremonies of (Sineh zani) beating oneself on the chest, (Zanjir zani), beating oneself with metal chain, (Sang zani), beating oneself with rocks, and (Ghameh zani), wounding oneself with poniard. “Ghameh zani or Shah Husseini,” was conducted in what is called on the days of Aashoora and Taasooaa, on the 9th and 10th of Moharam.

Everyone is wearing grave-cloths, wounding themselves with a poniard (Ghameh) until their heads or their foreheads are cut open, filling their entire head and face with blood. This was a barbaric practice which was abolished during the later reign of the late Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi. It is said this practice has also been banished recently in the Islamic Republic as well. While abusing their bodies, they were shouting “Yaa Hussein, Yaa Abdullah” and repeating it over and over again and another group reciting mourning. Each year many people died as a result of self-inflicted wounds to the head.

Even though 2500 years has passed since Cyrus the Great declared the first Charters of the human rights, yet, at the down of the new millennium, Iranians are still struggling for their simple and basic human rights. What went wrong?

I hope by now you have a clear idea what went wrong and why after two millenniums of supremacy by the Persian Empires over the vast land of the known world, Iranians are at the bottom of the civilized world today. The newly selected president of the Islamic Republic recently spoke at the United Nations, confirming my anxieties of Iran's future are justified.

Our nation for centuries has struggled valiantly to survive. The history of our nation is all about struggle. Our nation, once again is struggling for its independence from the most vicious and barbaric system known to the history of man. It is one of the most tyrannical and oppressive regimes in the modern time. What makes this era the most sensitive era of the Persian history, is the fact that the Islamic Republic is playing games with people's life, by creating the most devastating bombs, ( the nuclear bomb) and opening the doors from outside with a full fledge war on Iran.

The current rulers in Iran are simply vicious, malicious, and dangerous. They are doing everything in their power to make sure there won't be a new generation, and if there is going to be an Iran, they want to make sure that you become one of them. That means an Islamic terrorist. Being part of party of the Islamic terrorism is prerequisite part of the selection process of being accepted in the Islamic government.

History is filled with ironies. What the Arabs had come to Persia to eradicate, it made Ferdowsi to recreate. Hakim Abol-Ghasem Ferdowsi Toosi is one of the greatest heroes of Iran and father of the “Book of Kings,” the Tales of Ancient Persia. He is known in Iran as the father of the Persian language. For more than thirty years, Ferdowsi spent his valuable life to revive, not only the Persian language, but a nation.

Namiram keh az in pass man zendeh'am,

Keh tokhm-e sokhan raa paraa-kardeham

(I am deathless, I am eternal Lord, For I have spread the seed of the Word)

Ferdowsi is dead. But, his spirit lives in the hearts and minds of all freedom-loving Iranians.

The volatile situation in Iran now calls for all of you urgently learn from the mistakes of past and educate the young people about the plague of Islam on the Persian society and perhaps other societies.

Let us regain our dignity of a human being

And to seek out the truth,

Let us enjoy our Persian pride

And to fulfill our destiny.

Let us pursue the true unity and peace on earth

And regain our religious freedom.

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Let us do it

None will remain hidden from the concealed!

Let us be together!

Let the tenderness of our hands,

Overflow with Persian pride and joy,

Let us merge our eyes, In each other's eyes

Let us do it

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Nothing will be hidden from the concealed!

Nothing will grow from absurd values!

Let us eradicate madly,

The roots of prejudice and ignorant beliefs!

And stir the bowl of Love,

Instantly!

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Let me say this:

Nothing stays constant,

Nothing will last till eternity,

And for wisdom to soar,

Our eyes,

Tremble for one small minute!

Let us divide the mirrors equally

I can say this:

This is the last event in the transformation of life;

This is the last human promise!

Let me say this:

Blandishment is not my style,

Let me say this:

I conquered the garden,

Without your knowledge!

Let me share it with you!

Let us make a flower happy,

In our exclusive hands!

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Let us be a bird,

With two open shinning eyes,

Looking at the world!

Let us have faith in purity!

Let us flee away from impurity

Let me fill the cradle of my poetry,

With your image!

Let us surrender to each other,

And understand each other's pain and suffering

Let us do it!

Let us make another Iran!

Let us promise a better future,

And a loftier!

Let us move away from lowly,

And approach exodus!

Let us turn to light!

And remove the doors from all houses,

And awaken a nation!

Let us do it!

Amil Imani is an editorial contributor for PersianMirror from Washinton DC. He is a poet, writer, literary translator, essayist, novelist, and a political activist who speaks out for the struggling people of his native land.