Cooperation with the Tehran Regime Is a Sin

July 19, 2009

Hossein Askari

In the early years of any revolution, excesses and failures are to be expected. The hope is that the revolutionary march is forward, and not backwards to the dictatorship that it had replaced. The “Islamic” Republic of Iran (IRI) has been marching backwards for much of the last ten years and in June 2009 it bared the tip of its dirty little secrets for the whole world to see. Today it can be best described as an illegitimate clerical regime that is more abusive than the harsh monarchial regime it replaced. As a clerical regime that claims Islamic legitimacy, it should be judged by the same rule-based system that is Islam.

First, the Quran preaches the Unity of Allah’s creation. At Islam’s center is the concept of walayat, or reciprocal love—mankind’s love of Allah and Allah’s love of mankind, reflected in the love of humans for each other. A Muslim shows his love of Allah by service to other humans. To harm, much less kill, a single human is a crime against humanity. The regime puts little value on human life, Allah’s creation, and has used and uses thugs to kill peaceful demonstrators and other innocent citizens. Clerics, such as Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, give sermons and use language at Friday Prayers that can be only classified as bloodthirsty and a distortion of facts. Love for Allah’s Creation is far from the lips and the deeds of these senior clerics.

Second, Allah could have made humans perfect without the freedom of choice to go astray. But he gave humans the freedom of choice, so that they could embrace or reject Allah’s creation and also in part to chose their leaders and forms of governance. Does the IRI give a reasonable choice of leaders and governance to the people? The answer is a definite no. All candidates for the presidency, parliament and the Assembly of Experts have to be approved by the Guardian Council. The Supreme Leader appoints half of the Guardian Council’s twelve clerics and the other half are nominated by the Judiciary (which in turn is appointed by the Supreme Leader) and voted on by the parliament. The Assembly of Experts (composed of eighty six clerics, but again the list of candidates has to be approved by the Guardian Council) elects the Supreme Leader. Thus the Supreme Leader indirectly, through his control of the Guardian Council, determines the candidates for every important office in the land, including those of the Assembly of Experts, who in turn elect him and can in theory fire him. In other words, the Iranian constitution does not protect the right of those in opposition to run for any office, much less get elected. But on top of all this, as the recent presidential elections has shown, the regime interferes even in its sham elections.

Third, the Quran teaches that Allah put humans on this earth in part to develop societies that are just. There is little justice in the Iran of today. The rights of the disadvantaged are not protected. The regime’s insiders and backers live in luxury while the poor suffer. All members of society do not have an equal opportunity, as envisaged in Islam, to develop and improve their lives.

Fourth, the Quran says that Allah hates corruption. The regime is corrupt to its very core.

Fifth, in Islam economic prosperity is afforded much importance as economic decay is seen a major threat to the faith itself. Iran’s economic performance has been miserable since the revolution. The regime has wasted the depletable resources that are the heritage of all Iranians equally, those of the present and all future generations. Instead of adopting sustainable economic development policies, the regime has opted for expedient handouts to shore up domestic support and to enrich the regime and its backers.

While we could go on listing other egregious un-Islamic policies and failures, it is clear that the regime’s Islamic mantle is a fraud. The regime is unjust and illegitimate. As such, every Shia Muslim of Iran has the duty and the right to reject the regime and oppose its policies. To do otherwise, would be, by omission, a sin. Shia Muslims firmly believe in the Prophetic saying that on the Day of Reckoning the oppressor, the oppressed, and the person(s) who stood by and observed the oppression will be called upon to answer: the oppressor for the oppression, the oppressed for not resisting the oppression, and the bystander for not assisting the oppressed.

Hossein Askari is the Iran Professor of International Business and International Affairs at the George Washington University.