Liberals of Iran

Jondollah: New freedomfighter movement in Balouchistan province of Iran

2006-05-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

For a while I have been tacking the Jundallah (Soldiers of God) movement that have made IRI thugs miserable
in Sistan-Balochistan province of Iran.

The group is made of Iranian-Baluchi Sunni militant freedom fighters that have chosen armed conflict for
confrontation with the terrorist Islamic Republic of Iran regime. It appears that the Hezbollah has met its
match in Sistan-Balochistan province!

They have no foreign government back-up; they are not related to al-Qaeda or Hamas terrorist organizations.
They are not separatists neither! They demand freedom and justice for all Iranians and not solely for Baluchies.Â Â Â Â
They are not â€œbanditsâ€, â€œdrug traffickersâ€ as the IRI claims; they are dissident tribesmen.

I wonder if we are looking at the resurrection of another Satar Khan or Bagher Khan!

Interview of Iran's exile prince with BBC

2006-05-06T20:44:00.000-07:00

"BBC World Service> >> > The Interview with Reza Pahlavi> >> > As part of a special week of programming about Iran on BBC WorldService,> this week's guest on The Interview is the son of the last Shah of Iran,Reza> Pahlavi.> >> > Born into a life of privilege and heir to one of the most powerfulthrones> in the world, Reza Pahlavi had his life torn apart by the Islamicrevolution> of 1979 and his family hounded into exile.> >> > Since then he's based himself in the United States and dedicated hislife> to campaigning for democracy in Iran.> >> > And as he tells Owen Bennett-Jones he thinks that right now thefractious> opposition in exile is finally uniting behind the common cause ofdemocracy> and human rights.> >> > Reza Pahlavi is reluctant to talk about the past and says he is lookingto> the future but he admits that his best memories are from his childhoodback> in Iran."> >> > ---------> >> > To listen to 'The Interview':> >> >http://www.rezapahlavi.org/audiovideo/BBC-Interview-OwenBennettJones.html> >> >> > Please forward this information to friends and family.

Iran before and after ellections

2006-04-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

Restating the Obvious About Islam, By Herb London

2006-04-27T21:28:00.000-07:00

With war clouds on the horizon in the 1930’s and policy analysis in thralldom to a form of denial, George Orwell said: “Things have sunk so low that the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious.” In our own time there is a reluctance to consider the true and emerging nature of Islam, what the faith teaches and its doctrines. For tactical reasons, many politicians in the West call Islam a religion of peace; some say it is a religion hijacked by extremists and others maintain that Sufis (a small minority sect) represent the true nature of Islamic pacifism. Very recently, however, MEMRI reports that an Islamic scholar Dr. Kamel Al-Najjar challenged these suppositions by restating the obvious: intellectuals, who call for a condemnation of violence among Moslems and an openness in Islam, do not understand the history of this religion. According to Dr. Al-Najjar, Islam was tolerant during only one brief period in its history. Islam was humane and tolerant when it was relatively weak, during the so-called Mecca period. Later Koranic verses call on Muslims to fight anyone who does not convert to Islam: “And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out.” The “verse of the sword” and other warlike verses were said to abrogate tolerant verses of the Mecca period. The Second Caliph (Omar Ibn Khattaab) imposed his well known contract on Christians which forced them to cut their hair and wear special garments so that they would be recognizable, and forbade them to ring church bells. Al-Najjar also notes that violence is rooted in Islam from inception. A child should be beaten if he doesn’t pray and a woman should be beaten if she disobeys her husband. Fatwas are routinely issued against those who criticize any form of the religion. And apostasy, as events in Afghanistan suggest, is a crime punishable by death. By the way, this Sharia code has been adopted in 14 Muslim nations. How then can Judeo-Christian societies co-exist with Islam when Christians are described a polytheists for their worship of the Trinity and Jews are portrayed as descendants of apes and pigs? The hostility engendered by claims that the Bible and New Testament are falsified is not easily overcome. Surely the West should attempt to discover the radiant face of Islam, but it can do so only with realism, facing harsh facts, and understanding a history that has been ignored or misunderstood. The emerging clash of cultures has to be considered without a white wash of Islamic history. Winston Churchill, who fought against the Mohammedans, recognized the extremism endemic to the religion. The rivers of the Sudan and Asia Minor turned red from the blood let by Islamic violence. It doesn’t make sense to ignore this past. This description does not presuppose a strategy. I do not know how this religious force let loose on the world stage can be moderated. However, I do know the first condition for strategic planning is an unvarnished view of the truth, what Orwell called the restatement of the obvious. On this score, we should not suffer from illusions. Islam is not comparable to other religions; it is distinctly uneasy with modernity. Islam has not had an Enlightenment. As a consequence, politics and religion are not separate entities. Sharia holds for both. Islam does not provide for individual rights; there are only group rights. And Islam is totalistic in the sense it pervades every aspect of one’s life. This leads to several poignant questions: Can Islam adapt to the 21 century without violence? Can Islamic leaders find precepts in the Mecca period that can predominate and reduce the extremist impulse? Can the young be reeducated to accept the views of other religions? The world jury awaits answers. In fact, the fate of the globe may hang in the balance of these answers. At the moment, however, it is best in my judgment, to consider conditions as they are rather than how we might like them to be.
About the Writer: Herbert London is president of the Hudson Institute. He is also the author of the book Decade of Denial (Lexington Books).

Iran's President Recruits Terror Master

2006-04-24T05:14:00.000-07:00

April 23, 2006 The Times Sarah Baxter, Washington and Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv
link to original article
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, attended a meeting in Syria earlier this year with one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, according to intelligence experts and a former national security official in Washington. US officials and Israel intelligence sources believe Imad Mugniyeh, the Lebanese commander of Hezbollah’s overseas operations, has taken charge of plotting Iran’s retaliation against western targets should President George W Bush order a strike on Iranian nuclear sites. Mugniyeh is on the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorists” list for his role in a series of high-profile attacks against the West, including the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jet and murder of one of its passengers, a US navy diver. Now in his mid-forties, Mugniyeh is reported to have travelled with Ahmadinejad in January this year from Tehran to Damascus, where the Iranian president met leaders of Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas. The meeting has been dubbed a “terror summit” because of the presence of so many groups behind attacks on Israel, which Ahmadinejad has threatened to wipe from the map. Jane’s Intelligence Review cited “reports in recent weeks” of Mugniyeh’s presence alongside the president. Michael Ledeen, a Middle East expert and former Pentagon and National Security Council official who wrote that Mugniyeh had “probably” been there, said last week senior American officials had confirmed it. “It’s hard to identify Mugniyeh because he is said to have changed his face and his fingerprints,” Ledeen said. “But senior government officials have told me I was right. He was there.” Shortly after the Damascus summit Henry Crumpton, head of counter-terrorism at the state department, singled out the elusive Mugniyeh as a threat. The Iranians, Crumpton said, “have complete command and control of Hezbollah. Imad Mugniyeh works for Tehran. And you can’t talk about Hezbollah and not think about Iran. They really are part and parcel of the same problem.” Mugniyeh lives in Iran and has evaded capture for more than 20 years, despite a $5m American bounty on his head. Western intelligence reports claim he has many connections to terrorist cells in Europe, Africa, Latin America and the US and he is said to have met Osama Bin Laden. “When and if the Iranians decide to hit the West in its soft belly, Imad will be the one to act,” a western intelligence source said last week. An Israeli defence source claimed Mugniyeh was in regular touch with the new Iranian intelligence minister, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ezhei. The minister is a long-time confidant of Ahmadinejad and was appointed by him. “We know that Mohseni Ezhei holds routine meetings with Mugniyeh, who is today Iran’s head of overseas operations,” said the Israeli defence source. “Since we know from previous Iranian terror attacks that it takes about a year to plan a substantial one, we should not be surprised if operations against western targets are already in high gear and Mugniyeh is certainly playing a major role.” The young Mugniyeh first attracted the attention of the West when he was involved in the kidnapping, torture and mutilation of William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, in 1984. He kept his victim at the Sheikh Abdullah camp in the Lebanese Bekaa valley and was allegedly the last person Buckley saw before he died. “Imad had good reason to retaliate,” said a well-informed source. “A car bomb killed his brother Jihad, who had taken Imad’s old job as bodyguard to Hezbollah’s spiritual leader.” Mugniyeh blamed the CIA, and Buckley was chosen to pay the price. The kidnapping led to the Iran-contra affair, one of the most embarrassing episodes of the Reagan presidency, in which arms were swapped for hostages. But by the time the Americans were negotiating with the Iranians, Buckley was already dead. Mugniyeh has also been linked to the demolition of the American embassy and marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and is wanted in Argentina for his role in recruiting the bombers of the Israeli embassy and Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in the early 1990s. Mugniyeh left Lebanon for Iran in 1994 with his wife and son after an assassination attempt. He is since believed to have played an active role in fomenting trouble in Iraq. Ledeen described him last week as the “spinal column of the terror war against America in Iraq from the beginning”. According to Robert Baer, a former CIA agent who pursued Mugniyeh in the 1980s, “he is the most dangerous terrorist we have ever faced. Mugniyeh is probably the most intelligent, most capable operative we have ever run across, including the KGB or anybody else”. “He enters by one door, exits by another, changes his cars daily, never makes appointments by telephone — he is never predictable. He is the master terrorist, the grail we have been after since 1983”. Elite Iranian army officers who arrived in south Lebanon this month have taken command of thousands of rockets aimed at cities across Israel. They are believed to have been given control of the missiles by Hezbollah to deter possible Israeli attacks against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Al-Qaeda Finds its Missing Link in Iran
April 21, 2006 Asia Times Online Syed Saleem Shahzad
link to original article
KARACHI -- The US-led "war on terror" is entering a critical phase, with the al-Qaeda leadership being given a chance to revitalize its cause now that Iran is in the US crosshairs over its nuclear program. "Tehran has taken over the central stage by challenging American hegemony," Hamid Gul told Asia Times Online. "Tehran is today's inspiration force. It charms the Arab youths on the streets. The Arab rulers are terrified of this development, and this is the reason they are coming to Pakistan one after another." Gul is a former corps commander of the Pakistani army and ex-director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence. Persian-speaking Gul is reckoned as one of the architects of the jihadi movements that finally turned global and made Afghanistan their base in the mid- and late 1990s when the Taliban ruled. Gul was referring to visits to Pakistan by Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Salah. Islamabad is a US outpost in the "war on terror" that the two prominent Arab leaders visited, while at least one more is scheduled in coming weeks. Contacts close to the echelons of power in Pakistan's military headquarters, Rawalpindi, tell Asia Times Online that judging from the pattern of talks, all of the Muslim countries that side with the United States anticipate a US attack on Iran around October. And, according to these contacts, their strategy is to consolidate opinion in the Organization of Islamic Conferences to be prepared. This does not mean stopping the attack, but being ready for the fallout in the Middle East and beyond. "Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's anti-American calls have become the voice of today's Arab youths. They see in him a hero, and it has shaken the foundations of pro-American dictators and monarchs," Gul explained. "They [Arab rulers] are anxious and restive. They are seeing their doomsday started. Since Pakistan and Arab rulers operate under the US umbrella, they are basically joining their heads together to contain the Iranian threat. "The way Iran has spun its web in the region, all strategic levers are coming into Tehran's hands. The Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan led by [Gulbuddin] Hekmatyar is part of the Islamic movement and already close to Iran, but it is only a matter of time when Taliban-related movements will resolve all differences with Iran and join hands with Tehran," Gul said. Historically, Arabs have viewed Iran with hostility, and there are some who are skeptical whether Iran will continue in its current role as anti-US champion should back-channel diplomacy, especially involving Russia and China, lead to a resolution of the crisis over its nuclear program. Within two weeks, the International Atomic Energy Agency will give a final report to the United Nations Security Council, the results of which could determine whether or not sanctions are imposed on Iran. Critics argue that should the crisis be defused, Iran will back down from its present rhetoric and leave all radicals in the lurch. After all, they argue, Tehran has indirectly facilitated US interests in the region, be they in Afghanistan or Iraq. "I don't agree with this notion," Gul said dismissively. "Iran raised funds for Hamas at a time when the whole Muslim world was sympathetic with Hamas but did not dare to openly support them. Iran [this week] pledged [US]$50 million. "At the same time, it is untrue that Iran supported US designs in the region. Instead, it cleverly played its cards and now it is evident that it has trapped the Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq," said Gul. Al-Qaeda's grand design Iran's becoming a rallying point for anti-US sentiment in the Muslim world fits well with al-Qaeda. Asia Times Online has already outlined a pivotal debate in al-Qaeda on two major issues - the question of a base and that of a unified command structure. Integral to the first issue was whether al-Qaeda should get rid of its shadowy image and fight in the open. This would involve the establishment of an Islamic state (base) from which calls for jihad could be issued and jihadi forces prepared. Al-Qaeda has achieved this target in the Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan on the Afghan border by setting up a virtual independent state, which is being expanded into South Waziristan and many towns in Afghanistan, in Kunar, Paktia, Khost, Helmand and Zabul provinces. But although the Afghan resistance is linked with the Iraqi resistance and they have started open battles against US-led forces in Afghanistan, the question of a unified command that would control resistance movements whether they be in Iraq, Palestine or Afghanistan is still unanswered. This is where Iran could now fit in, by evolving from an inspirational anti-US model to taking a lead role in orchestrating resistance movements, in collaboration with al-Qaeda. For radical Islamists, the situation is a major turnaround for their cause of pan-Islamicism and one that could even resolve 1,400 years of historical, ideological and political differences in the Muslim world. "The Islamic Revolution of Iran [1979] was in fact a victory of all Islamic movements which were striving to establish one Islamic role model in the world so that it would be an inspirational force and would convince the masses that the Islamic system of life was still workable after 1,400 years," Muslim intellectual Shahnawaz Farooqui explained to Asia Times Online. Shahnawaz is a young Pakistan-based Muslim intellectual, a teacher, writer and a poet. His main work is in the field of the interpretation of Muslim history and Muslim ideologies. His views are often aired in the Iranian media. "The Iranian revolution was in fact a complete revolution under the leadership of imam [Ruhollah] Khomeini. It was above any sectarian bounds. After the revolution, Khomeini announced that the base of Shi'ite-Sunni differences was historical rather than theological. "Shi'ites believe that Ali deserved to be the first Muslim caliph, and they rejected all three before Ali and believe Ali is the first caliph. Sunnis believe that the first three caliphs, Bakr, Omar and Osman, are all [the] righteous [ones] and that Ali was the fourth caliph. Imam Khomeini addressed this issue and called it historical differences which had no connection with basic Islamic theology, and if Shi'ites gave up their historical point of view on the issue of the caliphate, it would make no difference, but on the other hand it would wipe out Shi'ite-Sunni differences once and for all," Shahnawaz maintained. "Unfortunately, imam Khomeini could not convince anybody - neither his internal circles of clerics nor Al-Howza [the supreme Shi'ite religious council in Iraq] as no one among the Shi'ites was ready to give up their historical position on the question of the caliphate. "However, the situation turned bad after the demise of Khomeini and it was felt that during the period of [ex-president Hashemi] Rafsanjani and [former president Mohammed] Khatami the Iranian revolution was somewhere lost. "However, the victory of President Ahmadinejad has once again revived the very spirit of the Iranian revolution, and once again all Islamic movements, whether it is the Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat-i-Islami, Hamas, Islamic Jihad or any other, are joining hands with Tehran," said Shahnawaz. "To me, President Ahmadinejad has redeemed the Iranian Islamic revolution with all its ideological legacies," Shahnawaz added. Syed Saleem Shahzad is Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.

Qouted from news website

2006-04-22T22:14:00.000-07:00

Tehran - An 18-year-old Iranian woman has been sentenced to death for killing the man she says tried to rape her.
Iran's Etemad newpaper reports that the woman, identified as Nazanin, claimed self defence after she had stabbed a man to death in March 2005.
Nazanin, 17 at the time, had been out with her niece and their boyfriends in Tehran when two men started harassing them. She said the men tried to rape them after their boyfriends had run away.
Nazanin told the newspaper: "I committed murder to defend myself and my niece, I did not mean to kill him. I did not know what to do because nobody came to help us."
The European Union and international human rights groups have been pressuring Iran to stop executing convicted minors.
The United Nations general assembly has adopted a non-binding resolution denouncing the practice.
Iran's judiciary says minors are not executed in the republic. It has also proposed a law prohibiting the death penalty or flagellation for those who were minors at the time of the crimes.
In Iranian law, a boy can be executed from the age of 15, and a girl from the age of nine. However, the execution is carried out when the offender is over 18 years old.
The Iranian press reported a disabled man had been executed in public on Friday.
At least 81 people were executed in Iran last year. Amnesty International reports at least 159 people were executed in Iran in 2004.

Let's transform the 26th anniversary of the Islamic revolution into a rejection!

2005-02-08T20:15:00.000-08:00

In this line SMCCDI is suggesting to all Iranians to:1. At 9:00pm (Iran's local time) on Wednesday February 9, 2005, to massively gather in all Iranian cities main sidewalks and squares (such as Vali E Asr in Teheran, and Tchar-Bagh in Esfahan), on foot or by bringing cars in order to jam them in such a way as to disrupt law enforcement deployment and function.- Request is being made of all Iranians to shut off all lights in their homes and businesses from 9:00pm on.- Requests in that night to use any occasion to protest the regime in totality. 2. From early morning till 9:00pm, on Thursday February10, 2005, that Iranian cities should become empty "dead cities". Compatriots should avoid strictly any presence in main squares and streets in order to cut off the claws of the regime from any use of propaganda.- Again on Feb.10, 2005, from 9:00pm on, Iranians should jam the sidewalks and squares as the night previously, and all lights shut off in homes and businesses as before, and the darkness should be used to protest in any way possible. ALSO: -Compatriots may dye their right index finger with blue ink in the now well-known sign of "Right of self-determination."-Slogans of the two nights of demonstrations should be clear and understandable for foreign reporters inside Iran, stating the TRUE aspirations of Iranians so that "mistakes" of the last eight years cannot be repeated. Some of these slogans should be: "Na, be Regim e Eslami" (NO TO ISLAMIC REGIME), "Marg bar Taleban e Iran" (DOWN WITH IRAN'S TALIBAN), "Secular Iran" (SECULAR IRAN), "Referandom, Referandom, in ast shoar e Mardom" (REFERENDUM REFERENDUM, THIS IS OUR PEOPLE'S SLOGAN)-If possible, the regime's ceremony ornaments and advertisements should be brought down and/or defaced.- It is evident that any support offered by the personnel of the "Tavanir" (State Electric Company) can be of valuable help to the protesters. ( It's necessary and very important that technical employees of hospitals and airports activate their emergency electrical generators on both nights from 9:00pm to 2:00am the following morning.) Let it, that the protest actions of February 9th and 10th be utter shocks to the body of the theocratic mafia-style regime, in its totality, and a clear sign of Iranians' power to reach for freedom and a genuine Democracy !Long Live Freedom!Long Live Secularity!Established be Democracy!Tehran, February 7, 2005 (19th Bahman 1383)

haryan89@yahoo.se

vote for iranian to be miss canada again!

2005-01-25T20:53:00.000-08:00

Hi there,

Hope everybody doing well, Farnoush Goshtasbi (no. 25) is one of the 49 delegates for Miss Universe Canada 2005. I would appreciate it if you could please go online and vote for her.

http://www.beautiesofcanada.com/2005/farnoush.htm

Till January 25, you can vote up to five times from same computer

Have a great day,
Khashayar.

About Farnoush: Farnoush is a graduate of the University of Calgary where she completed a double major degree, obtaining a Bachelor of Commerce in Business as well as a Bachelor of Social Science in Economics. She was also one of ten students selected to go to Santiago, Chile to represent her University. She worked as an English teacher for children in Gumi, Korea, where she learned the martial art form of Taekwondo and successfully received a black belt.
In the past year she has managed her family's restaurant and will use this experience to complete one of her goals in life - owning her own restaurant. She would also like to become a physiotherapist.
Interests: Farnoush enjoys cultural dancing including belly dancing and Indo Jazz. She speaks Farsi, Gujarati, and conversational Hindi, Spanish, and French.

It's All About Fuck!

2005-01-10T21:47:00.000-08:00

Recently, International Human rights watchdog declared that the bloggers that have testified about their being tortured have received death threats from Tehran’s notorious general prosecutor, Saeid Mortazavi, the same man who is believed to have killed Canadian-Iranian journalist, Zahra Kazemi.
These young bloggers, some of them also journalists, used to write stuff against Islamic republic in their internet weblogs and have been arrested a few months ago. During an inquiry carried out by Mr. Abtahi, enforcer of constitution assigned by the moderate president Khatami, some of them testified that they have been tortured, beaten and threatened to give some false confessions. One of them even complained about her nose being broken. What were these confessions which they were tortured to sign? Some where about expressing condemnations against some reformist activists, accusing them of encouraging them to write those stuff against Islamic Republic ideology or criticizing/insulting the sacred supreme leader. It might be strange for westerners that people are jailed, tortured and even executed just for insulting officials in Iran but that is exactly how a dictatorship survives.
The rest of the charges were all about fuck. boys where forced to confess of having illegitimate sexual relationship. Since these people have been under custody and torture for long periods of time, the corrupted judiciary had to present a good reason for these atrocities and it was to charge them with liaison, one of the biggest sins in Islam. This way, their status would also be damaged specially for their readers who sometimes excess the readers of legal political magazines.
The girl who was between them was also forced to confess charges about fuck! She claimed to be forced to sign a paper saying that she has had sexual relationship with Abtahi and Tajzadeh, another former reformist politician. Fortunately she agreed to have her nose broken but not accept those charges.
As said before, extramarital sex is a big sin an a very hated practice in Iranian/Islamic culture. But since most youngsters don’t have the possibility of marriage, mostly because of poverty and unemployment, few people really believe and practice this rule. I, as a single 22 year old university student, am not virgin, and none my friends are. Girls are still more cautious about their physical virginity and being none as a clean girl, so they mostly let boys in only from behind(anus) and are ingenious in secrecy and hiding their identity but since they have much less other pleasure than boys and thus they need the stuff more than us, I can estimate than in our own university no girl is really virgin when she graduates. But when you ask her has she ever had a boyfriend, she says, “no, never. I don’t like boyfriend…”
So the common practice is to fuck secretly but to be a Saint Virgin Mary officially. A while ago, a film of a private girl’s party in Zahedan, an east south city of Iran, was distributed and publicized in the underground market. I haven’t seen that film but whatever it was, it lead some of those girls present at the party to attempt suicide. Many brothers, although themselves exercisers of liaison, kill their sister when they doubt she had committed premarital sex. A boy and a girl where expelled from Azad university of Dezful because of kissing each other. Considering how difficult is that to enter university in Iran, one might well judge what a harsh punishment is that for something in most parts of the world is not a crime at all. After all there is no real place for such things in Iran, I mean no love hotel and couples cannot enter hotel without showing documentation proving they are married.
Having known how much hated and yet common is premarital sex in Iran, it is a good charge to disrepute political rivals of supreme leader Khamenei’s supporters. Recently, a former culture minister, Mohajerani, who was a very renowned and respected reformist and a potential winner of upcoming presidential election was accused to extramarital sex and bigamy. He quickly lost all his popularity and charisma with this unproved charge that he even closed his website and never appeared in public and stopped all his political activities since then. The same acts of moral(sexual) accusations were also applied on a few other reformists, including former Tehran mayor, Karbaschi and former fiery parliament member, Armin but the charges didn’t materialize for them. Before, Khamenei’s mafia removed political rivals with murdering them, including people like Ali Reza Nouri, Rahman Dadman, and Saeid Hajjarian the last one survived the terror attempt but was paralyzed due to neural damages done to his cord by the bullet. The method of charging with fuck is much more efficient. It will not result in international condemnation of Islamic republic but will politically kill the activist/rival.
Iranian nation is not yet enough civilized to understand that the bedroom behavior has nothing to do with political understanding or liability for leading of some person. So in order to remove your rival from the scene of political process, just find one of the millions of prostitutes and pay her to claim to have been married to or have had sex with the guy. Bigamy, although legally allowed, is disgusted by the public and accusations to that also works very well. So it’s all about fuck isn’t it? If you don’t agree with me about extramarital sex’s being so common in Iran, just have a look at the following pictures of a fetus found in Tehran’s Vali Asr Street very recently.

Mullahs Hate Iran's Ancient Heritage!

2004-12-30T22:47:00.000-08:00

John Vidal Thursday December 23, 2004 The Guardian The tomb of Cyrus the Great, at Pasargadae. Photo: bestirantravel.com Dam is threat to Iran's heritage Unesco appeals for help as ancient sites face being flooded More than 100 of Iran's potentially most important but least examined archaeological sites, including fringes of Pasargadae, the city built by King Cyrus the Great, will be flooded in the next two years according to the UN, which appealed yesterday to international scientists to try to record what they can. The flooding of the eight-mile Tang-e-Bolaghi gorge because of the construction of a dam will destroy ancient Persia's imperial road which ran from Persepolis to Pasargadae. The Sivand dam has been planned for 10 years as part of a project to provide irrigation water for farmers in the parched south of the country. But the speed of its construction and the scale of what will be lost have surprised scientists and the UN. Iranian archaeologists have pinpointed 129 sites of interest in the gorge, ranging from prehistoric finds to remains of the Qajar monarchy which fell in 1925. Stretches of the cobbled road have already been unearthed but caves, ancient paths, burial mounds, canals and other sites which have never been excavated will also be lost. There are also legends of a long underground "king's passage". Unesco said yesterday it was hopeful that the world heritage site of Pasargadae, Cyrus's capital city, renowned for its palaces, gardens and the tomb of the founder of the Achaemenid dynasty, would be only marginally affected. The city, which was included in Unesco's world heritage site list last year, is less than three miles from the end of the gorge. It was built on the site where Cyrus defeated Astyages, the leader of the Medes, in 550BC. It has added importance today because it is believed to be the capital of the first Asian empire which respected the cultural diversity of its people."We understand that only the buffer zone will be affected by the flooding. There is no immediate physical risk but the site's potential [heritage] value will be shrouded in mystery for ever", said Junko Taniguchi, a Unesco officer in Tehran. Unesco and Iran have called on international archaeologists to go to the sites and eight teams of Iranian, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish and others are expected to arrive next month. "But they will only be able to do initial research. It is unfortunate but the work is very urgent," said Ms Taniguchi. Mohammad Hassan Talebian, the Iranian director of the group conducting the "rescue archaeology", said the sites held a wealth of information on Iran's past. "One clearly sees the unspoken thoughts of past peoples in Tang-e Bolaghi. We are not in a position to say 'don't do that project', but we can delay the construction process," he said. The dam's opening was planned for next March but the Iranian energy ministry has delayed it to early 2006 to give the archaeologists more time to examine the sites. Masoud Azarnoush, director of archaeological research at the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organisation in Tehran, was stoical about the flooding of the valley. "We are losing irreplaceable human heritage here but we have to take into account the fate of the country and people as well," he said.

Some Nationalistic Stuff Sent by Fellow Iranians

2004-12-29T22:14:00.000-08:00

Please reject National Geographic's shameful proposal Dear Iranians, Please contact NIAC or write to "Trita Parsi" directly to let them know that they should not accept this shameful proposal by NG on behalf of the Iranians. This is another "Treaty of turkmenchai", which we should reject outright. Once this new proposal is accepted, we no longer can change it.Read the whole proposal for yourself. You have only few hours to express your opinion. Email NIAC: persiangulf@niacouncil.org Trita Parsi: tparsi@jhu.eduPresident and co-founder, National Iranian American Council (NIAC)http://www.geocities.com/tritaparsi http://www.niacouncil.org/board.aspPROPOSAL ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAPS CONSIDERED BY NIAC MEMBERSHIPhttp://www.niacouncil.org/pressreleases/press232.asp

The best -- misrepresentation of history

2004-12-20T06:09:00.000-08:00

On Oliver Stone's "Alexander"
M.A.R.November 29, 2004iranian.com
When I heard that Oliver Stone had directed a movie about the life of Alexander, I was thrilled and couldn't wait to watch it. In fact, I went to the very first screening in Canada, last Wednesday.
The first hour was fairly boring. Eventually after about an hour and a half we see the most important and historic battle of Alexander with the Persians. Interestingly enough, as usual in Hollywood, the Iranians spoke Arabic, and they were all shorter than the average human being.
After watching the Iranians fight with their Arab swords in Arab garb, and loosing the war to the heroic Greeks, who were obviously fighting for the freedom of the Persian people, I was fascinated to see inhabitants of Babylon in the streets cheering their loss to the Greeks, and happily welcoming their enemy.
In Oliver Stone's eyes, Westerners own the whole world and if you're not one of them, then you're too dumb to tell the difference between your king and some other guy who doesn't even look like him. Even if you do realize the difference, you're still happy to welcome the new guy, because the Persian king was definitely a cruel leader, as oppose to Alexander who was the nicest king ever.
It's funny how Americans seem to portray the world of 323 B.C. like today's. They wonder why the majority of the world's population is not really in favor of them and blame Islamic fundamentalism, jealousy and "stupid European snobs" for their unpopularity.
I'm no fan of Islamic fundamentalism or Europeans, but I can see why the people of the world aren't very fond of Americans. They showed Persians, the ancestors of today's Iranians, as violent, backward, and primitive people
Just because Iran is being led by a bunch of backward, primitive radical Muslims today, that doesn't mean that this ancient country has always been led by primitive people. The Persian culture is richer than that of any Western country and it rivals the most ancient civilizations such as China and Egypt.
After the loss of the Persian army, as the great historians of east and west tell us, Alexander went to Susa and Persepolis and conquered and looted those cities. The burnt remains of Persepolis still stand in the Fars desert in south-central Iran. None of those facts were mentioned in the movie.
At the end of the day, the movie to some extent, harmed the credibility and greatness of Alexander; for if the Persians were a bunch of foolish, evil, disorganized barbarians, almost anybody could've defeated them.
Everything said, the best part of the movie was Alexander's marriage to a Persian. According to Stone, Alexander's wife comes from somewhere in today's Turkmenistan or Kazakhstan, and yet she was played by a black woman. Funny or tragic, I don't know, you be the judge. Blacks have never lived in that area, but historical and geographical facts did not interest Stone.
As one of my friends said, this movie was a typical Hollywood movie, and the main goal was to get a hot actress and actor on the screen and do injustice to history right and left. Stone probably thought that since Americans are clueless about history and the world, there's no need to reflect the truth.
I found Alexander to be a very confusing movie. It was blurry about many historic events, and it left many stories untold. This movie is very insulting to me and to those who have a brain, read history, and separate fact from fiction.
adapted by courtesy from: www.persiancultures.com

The Wife of Iran's Late King Interviews BBC

2004-12-15T21:32:00.000-08:00

FARAH PAHLAVI: ...Iranians I think which are really desperate for change, desperate for freedom and democracy. And I am sure with the help of the Iranians inside and outside of Iran, and with the help and the moral help of the freedom-loving people of the world, Iranian people will reach democracy and freedom. DAVID FROST: It's now 25 years since the Shah of Iran was deposed in one of the most dramatic overthrows of power of the 20th century. Before he was forced to relinquish the Peacock throne I interviewed him at Persepolis the ancient symbol of Persian kingship and I asked him what was the common bond that united the Iranian people (TAPE INSERT) With months the Islamic revolution headed by Ayatollah Khomema changed everything and the Shah and his family were forced to flee Iran, never to return, never yet to return anyway. I interviewed the Shah again in exile in Panama in January 1980 and he died six months later in Egypt. At his side throughout the whole of the last 21 years of his life was his Empress, Farah Pahlavi. Ma'am, welcome. Very good to have you here. FARAH PAHLAVI: Good morning, thank you for inviting me. DAVID FROST: And seeing your husband, your late husband there. When you met him, how long was it between ... was it love at first sight? FARAH PAHLAVI: Well I must say that of course I always loved the King as a citizen, the loyal citizen to her King. But after many meetings of course this love turned from a person to his king to a love of a woman to a man. DAVID FROST: And I suppose perhaps one of the happiest moments of your whole time together was when you were able to give birth to your first child who was a son, the son and heir that he so hoped for. That must have been a moment of ecstasy? FARAH PAHLAVI: Yes, it was. It was a wonderful moment, not only for us but also for all our compatriots. And also so many moments of other happiness with my other children. And whatever happened positive for our country. DAVID FROST: And when we were talking in that clip, I think probably looking back on it now, the Shah probably overestimated the power that the King had over the people and probably underestimated the power that the Mullahs had? FARAH PAHLAVI: Well not being where we are now today, of course we think back and in spite of what has happened in Iran and the revolution and the 25 years, now we're looking back and with hindsight of course we could have seen the problems better, we maybe could have managed, the problems better ... And also it was a mistake from our part and also in the government and I guess the mistake of the people in the streets and many of the opposition that thought that Khomeni who had promised them paradise, will give them paradise. But unfortunately he opened the door to hell. DAVID FROST: And at the same time, I mean, I suppose the two things people quoted a lot about that time were of course the activities of SAVAK and of corruption and so on. But do you think the real problem, because this is something I ask prime ministers about, how do you keep in touch with what people are thinking and so on? And the answer is that they try, but with an absolute monarch, presumably people apart from you, tell a Shah what they think he wants to hear? FARAH PAHLAVI: It's possible that around every power there are people who want to only give the good news. But we have to consider Iran in the context of that period. We had our big neighbour, the Soviet Union, who always dreamt to reach the warm waters of the Persian Gulf. We had religious fanatics and seeing the result now, we see that we didn't see some of the dissatisfactions. But, having said that, when you look back in the last 25 years I can not stop myself comparing what was the situation of the Iranians 25 years ago and what was the situation of Iran, and also in the Middle East, and what would have happened if the revolution didn't happen. And I think really that with all the shortcomings we had, like any other country or any other regime, we didn't need such a horrible revolution. DAVID FROST: Did you feel betrayed in that last year, year and a half, when you had been ousted from Iran and the United States' President Carter and others didn't really give you the support that you thought you'd earned? FARAH PAHLAVI: Well Sir David, you know it was a very difficult time. And sometimes unbearable. But we had to survive, I had to survive for my husband, for my children, for my own dignity. And you know, for foreign politics and power you can understand they are after what they think is their national interest. And after all a government had changed. But we at the same time received many letters and many supporting words from simple people, and that kept us going on. And I can consider that life is a struggle for all of us, no matter in what position we are relative to opposition. DAVID FROST: Talking of struggle and so on, when I was doing the interview with the Shah in exile the Khomeni regime were announcing to the world that you as a family, and the Shah, had left Iran with 176 billion dollars. I presume that was not true? FARAH PAHLAVI: Of course it's not true. It's all the propaganda of the regime and also all the opposition. The King was a patriot. He loved his country above all, and its people. And I must assure you now people realise that that was all propaganda and I hope today the same people who wrote or said about this supposedly billions, think of the corruption which exists today in Iran. DAVID FROST: And finally, would you like George Bush, President Bush, would you like him to do in Iran what he's done in Iraq, and go in and have a regime change? FARAH PAHLAVI: This is the most undesirable thing to happen. Iranians I think which are really desperate for change, desperate for freedom and democracy. And I am sure with the help of the Iranians inside and outside of Iran, and with the help and the moral help of the freedom-loving people of the world, Iranian people will reach democracy and freedom.

Liberal But Nationalist And Pro Bush?

2004-12-11T02:12:00.000-08:00

A reader, apparently an Iranian one, questioned our being liberal but simultaneously being nationalist and pro Bush. A bout nationalism, I think no political behavior has meaning without being nationalist. What is a moral aim for political activity, if not nationalism? Don’t tell me internationalism and believing in building a better world for all the people on earth is better than nationalism, because if you say so, I would quote Popper (am I right with the spelling?) that anyone who tried to build a heaven or utopia on earth, actually have built hell instead of that. This perfectionists and internationalists are of either 2 major groups: Communists and Islamists, both of whom have committed most brutal atrocities. Internationalism is doomed to lead to something like that and convert to a means of tricking and slaving the masses. Both Communism and Islamism have bean nothing more than a justification for dictatorship. Since 2 only practical types of internationalism deal with dictatorship and slavery instead of liberty, so as a liberal, I see no reason to waste life with either of them.
The same person questioned how is it possible to be liberal but be pro Bush. Being liberal doesn’t necessarily have the same meaning it has in the US. Liberal to us means believing in the value of liberty and democracy, the same thing Iran’s leader, Khamenei, hates and denounces most. There are some values in liberalism that both liberals and conservatives of America agree upon, like freedom of thought and speech and vote and etc. we, Iranian youth seeking to contemplate the meaning of liberal-democracy, can hardly go any further than these basic creeds. What we know about it for sure is that it is a good thing, because the worst person on earth, dictator Khamenei, denounces it. It surely has something to do with equal rights for people of different genders, beliefs, races, languages, religions etc. , the right for the people to choose and criticize rulers, and these basic commodities from which Iranians are deprived of.
Being Iranian, nationalist and liberal, will naturally lead to welcoming bush’s reelection. Maybe his reelection has some bad consequences for American interests, only in the short term and only in the fields of economy, but it absolutely is good for liberals in Iran and all the middle east. The best reason for that is Iran’s totalitarian government supporting and financially aiding his opponent. So the same thing which is unwelcome for American liberals, can be enthusiastically welcomed by Iranian liberals because before being liberal, both of them are nationalist and think of the prophet of their own nation.
Now lets say a little about how and why we, Iranian nationalists claim that Persian gulf should remain Persian. There has been many things told about this matter in all Iranian tribunes, both fascist and liberal, but I want to illustrate the matter with some maps of Iranian empire at different historical eras. In all these maps, Persian gulf have been a portion of Persian/Iran empire but due to week dictators and kings, little by little we lost soil. The last portion of these lost pieces of soil was current Bahrain which declared autonomy by British conspiracy in the era of late king, Mohammad Reza Shah and the next seams to be some Persian gulf islands, Abumusa, Greater Tonb and Lesser Tonb, claimed by UAE.

Maps of ancient Iran in different dynasties. Note that in all maps, Persian gulf is completely surrounded by Iranian territory.

No Real Muslim Left In Iran

2004-12-09T22:10:00.000-08:00

Iran’s government, is the last theocracy left in the world. Our mullah leaders claim to lead the whole Shite(A minority branch of Islam in which Muslims of Iran, Iraq and Lebanon believe) world, if not the whole Islam world. Many of their followers believe that Imam Mahdi (Shite’s holly last imam believed to have apparition near the apocalypse) is based in Iran. Some even call Iran, imam Mahdi’s territory. The basic creed of Ayatollah Khomeini, the late founder of Islamic republic was that ruling is the right of god and no human being, elected or unelected, has the right to own it, except he is selected by Allah. This divine selection can be direct (as in the case of the prophets) or in direct (as in the case of imams and leaders of Islamic republic). With this creed, Khomeini discredited all ruling systems in the world, except his own Walaiah, calling them Taghout(الطاغوت), a Koran-derived word meaning a satanic ruling system.

Not only Iran is now the only country ruled by a medieval theocracy, having clergy members as authorities, but also it is the only place Islamic rules like Hijab and Islamic brutal punishments like flogging, dismembering and stone-throwing are enforced on people. Don’t tell me Arabia has the same circumstance because there are basic differences between Arabia and Iran, which are the subject of this article. Arabia is a country with uneducated, prejudiced and misogynist people, mostly having jobs of commerce and trade. Due to great money they earn from oil and Haj (Muslims’ pilgrimage in Mecca), those people don’t need to work hard in order to have the most comfortable lives in the Muslim world. Men do trade and practice polygamy, the only fun allowed in radical Islam and women, don’t have any right or requirement to get educated more than a certain limit and have jobs. Almost all Arabia women are housewives, doing nothing more than serving husband and producing and average number of about 5 kids in life. The government is pro-western and interested in reforming the big traditional defects in Arabia society but it cannot face the harsh bias of the people over their tradition, the nation whose majority are supporters and worshippers of Usama Bin Ladin. All this doesn’t make Arabia’s government a theocracy. Although Saudi leadership is definitely a dictatorship, but it is a secular one, ruling the country based on what people believe not based on what is written in Koran. however, these two ways coincide in Arabia.

But situation inn Iran is totally different. Islam has no place in the hearts of people, especially young ones born after 1979 revolution. Our government is a dictatorship theocracy which enforces Islamic rules by means of oppression and menace. Just have a look at Tehran’s streets and you will notice most of the girls wear their obligatory scarves in such a reluctant way, covering the smallest portion of their heads. Even the force of fathers and brothers is no more enough for obliging girls to wear Hijab, many of them don’t believe in it either. Although premarital sex is still highly denounced by Iranian society, especially women, but few girls comply this rule. Most of the girls have sex in the form of sodomy, in order to prevent loss of virginity, and the others who are wealthier, just do what they like and when found a good rich guy for marriage, perform a vaginal surgery reviving virginity. This specific surgery is banned in Iran but it is performed in underground market and is a simple, lucrative business for surgeons not believing in Islam themselves. The exact same thing applies to abortion. Many women die or get severely injured each year because of trying unhealthy abortion techniques, for not being able to afford the underground medical abortion.

In Iran, you can get anything you want, including wine, porn movies, extramarital sex, even gay relationship but you have to accept the high costs and risks. The risk is not always being caught by the government and being flogged, dismembered or stoned, according to the type of the committed sin, but it can be getting in trouble with the bands who distribute these un-Islamic things. A while ago many youngsters in Shiraz, lost either their life or their vision for drinking unhealthy, home made wine. Any educated person knows that wine’s main constituent is ethanol, which is an edible alcohol and if wine contains some wood alcohol, methanol, can result in death or blindness for the drinker. Since Iranian youth mostly don’t have enough money to pay for the super expensive foreign made whisky and vodka, many try to make wine on their own and the result can be death and blindness for the drinkers. Note that Shiraz, a touristy major city in south Iran, once had the best wine of the middle east and in Iran’s ancient poetry and literature, there are many references to the Wine of Shiraz.

I say all this to conclude unlike what mullahs claim, Iran is the most infidel full Islamic country. The face which our leaders have shown from Islam, is so horrible that most of the young people either don’t believe in Islam or don’t believe in any divine stuff at all. A good measure for the strength of the faith between people is the population of mosques in prayer times. A good mullah, one who believed in separation of religion and estate, once told in a speech in our university that mosques of Istanbul are much more populated than the mosques of Iran, “because in that country Islam have not been tainted by politics and people still believe in it”.

A survey recently performed by national youth organization of Iran, revealed that the more educated the youngsters get in Iran, the less they care about prayer, Islam’s most important daily rituals. Results of these kind’s of surveys are not easy to publish in Iran and this one’s publication was due to Khatami’s reformist government.

A few days ago, it was Ramadan, Muslims’ holy month of fasting. In previous years, when Ramadan, it was harshly prohibited to eat in the public before the dawn and could result in harsh reaction of the people most of whom where fast. But this year, it was totally different as if the majority are not fast now. I ate in the public several times and nobody even looked at me in a bad way. In the college, other guys and galls also explicitly drank water, ate snacks, smocked cigarettes, flirted together (things banned in fasting) as is something called Ramadan and Islamic values never existed. Even sandwich shops did not bother to cover their walls, a rule which even cops don’t have motivation to enforce it.

No matter how much mullahs try to pretend Iranian people have faith on Islam, I , having seen many other Islamic nations in which there is no obligatory Hijab or fasting or low against drinking alcohol or…, but there are a lot more real Muslims than Iran. Iranian people obey Islamic rules only fearing the government. As the case of the girls, this fear can be imparted by their male family members, should they have a conventional family. I have recently had a girlfriend who wore chador, the most radical form of Hijab. She did it not for believing in Islam but because of the pressure enforced on her by her family. I say that because I went to a movie theatre with her and at that dark place, we did every thing except seeing the movie, i.e. sexually oriented things. Later I found out that most girls and boys use movie theaters for the same reason, to have erotic massage! A chador-wearing girl from a very religious family being so much obsessed with extramarital sex that she touched me at our first visit, means a lot to me, that nobody the majority of Iranian youth, especially the ones having academic education, have such a weak faith for Islam that they don’t even bother to abstain biggest sins as liaison. So one can say there is no religion or faith in Iran. All that exists in some of Iranians is pretence to religion and pretence to faith.

This might be in contrary with what pretended with Iranian media. Because media in Iran is controlled by the theocratic government, it tries it’s best to anoint Iranian youth as the most innocent and faithful to Islam. Both because one of the Islamic creeds is that presentation of the sins leads to development of them throughout the society, thus it is better to conceal sins and defects of the society so that more people are not motivated to surrendering temptation to that particular sin. This is enough in contrary with freedom of press, but another motivation for this pretence is that people’s being faithful to Islam means their being faithful to mullahs and it sends a message to the west, particularly American leading liberator coalition, not to think about democratizing Iran. So when the government controlled media tries to show Iranian girls, if it is TV, they use their best tricks to find girls with complete Hijab, existing 1 in thousand in Iranian streets. If the pres is a magazine or still image, the Hijab can be created for the women present in the image with Adobe Photoshop. Recently i had a letter from a news photographer working for Iranian media, telling that he had never been able to show the true face of Iran’s streets in his photos because if the Hijab of women in the pictures is not completed with Photoshop or other photo handling means, the images are not allowed to be published. The girls you see in Iranian official TV or in magazines are not the girls you see in the streets. Some websites published photos taken with mobile phones from the real style of dressing of Iranian girls but during the latest wave of police attacks to ISPs and webmasters, all of them got effaced.

So aye American troops! You are very welcomed here because nobody believes in Islamic stuff which would lead to giving up his life for killing you.

Happy Christmas after all!

Shemshad(12/9/2004)

arabian gulf?

2004-12-02T22:03:00.000-08:00

Iran bars National Geographic over gulf’s name

2004-11-26T14:20:00.000-08:00

Sales of magazines, reporting banned until atlas is changed

TEHRAN - Iran banned National Geographic reporters and sales of the magazine until it corrects an atlas it published using a disputed name for waters off the Islamic Republic’s south coast.
Iran insists on calling the waters the “Persian Gulf.” However, the saltwater body also touches the shores of eastern Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain. Many people in these other states refer to the waters as the “Arabian Gulf.”
Iran’s culture ministry said the atlas published by U.S.-based National Geographic labelled the waters as the “Persian Gulf,” but also included the “Arabian Gulf” name in parentheses on the map.
“As a reaction, we are banning their journalists from entering Iran and the distribution of their publications until they correct this,” the culture ministry’s foreign media director Mohammad Hossein Khoshvaght told Reuters.
The ministry also said the atlas labels three islands in the Gulf claimed by the United Arab Emirates as “occupied by Iran.” Iran insists Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb are part of its sovereign territory.“We consider this a clear violation of U.N. documents and antagonistic towards Iran’s national interests,” Khoshvaght said. “National Geographic should immediately correct this big mistake and this strange move.”
The National Geographic’s chief cartographer Allen Carroll (email:http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=acarroll@ngs.org) defended the use of both names.
“We do, and will continue, to recognize ’Persian Gulf’ as the primary name,” he said on National Geographic’s Web site.
“But we want people searching for “Arabian Gulf” to be able to find what they’re looking for and not to confuse it with the nearby Arabian Sea,” he added.

The culture ministry has previously also objected to the use of the compromise term “The Gulf” used by some foreign news agencies

Singers in exile

2004-11-22T23:50:00.000-08:00

Not only many of Iran’s writers and political/human-rights activists have found living in Iran dangerous for their lives and hence immigrated to other countries, mostly USA, but also our most popular singers and musicians have left the country. Most of this artists in exile live in Los Angeles, the city which has the most number of Persian Americans. Most of these have escaped Iran in he eve of 1979 Islamic fundamentalist revolution. If they didn’t do so, they could face execution under the theocratic government because fundamentalist Islam regards music as a great sin, or like what happened to Iranian legendary female vocalist, Googoosh, or dancer Mohammed Khordadian, be banned from exiting the country for up to 20 years! Although some musicians and singers are currently active inside Iran, but they face great deal of trouble and censorship by the government for their music not be like what Islam considers Ghena ( corrupted music). Who determines what music is corrupted? A bunch of old, ultra religious, untalented, unsuccessful and prejudiced music veterans who have no way of making money other than taking part in this disgusted censorship business. They do it in an organization called Music Council which is a part of culture (read censorship) ministry and controls any music which is to be published in the country. No pop album can pass the barrier of this council before it’s creators being forced to remove some parts of it. Many albums stay in the line of publication qualification for months and even years.

It was these problems which forced at least 2 of after-revolutionary singers of Iran’s younger generation (Shadmehr Aghili and Arshia) to migrate to the north America and continue their carrier there. When these singers migrate there, they can make and sing whatever they like and suffer no censorship but they can’t legally publish their CDs inside Iran. So they sell a lot less copies, at most 20,000 of each new CD, considering that the last album of Shadmehr Aghili inside Iran, sold over a million copies, the difference in the revenue of the singer will be clear. The other problem they complain is that costs of living in the north America is much more than in Iran, so no Iranian singer would like to migrate, should there be no censorship in Iran. The pop albums published inside Iran are of poor quality and have nothing interesting. I am telling this to you as a freelance Persian poet and songwriter and I would never let any of my lyrics be song by any of legal pop singers living inside Iran, not only because of the poor quality of their work, but also because for every word of the lyric, a permission should be given from Culture Ministry’s Poetry Council and thus censorships again apply. For your lyric to get that permission, you shouldn’t talk directly about love affairs, kissing and hugging in it. If you use sexual oriented words, not only the lyric will never get the permission, but also you can be charged for fostering immorality and be sent to prison for it.

Anyway majority of the Iranian youth only listen to Los Angeles created illegal music. They get it without paying for the CDs and usually from the internet. Or someone may buy a copy from Dubai and enjoying lack of copyright law in Iran, Replicate it and sell it in an underground market for a price less than a tenth of the original CD per copy. Therefore although 10-20 millions of people may have listened a popular new album, but only 10-20 thousand may have really bought the CD and paid for it.

The wealthy minority of musical fans, can pay something to our pop stars via going to concerts. These concerts are held all around the world, from Los Angeles to Glendale to Stockholm to Hamburg to Tokyo… and wherever there is a considerable number of Persian immigrants. The most poplar of these are the concerts held in neighboring countries of Iran, because many pop music lover Iran residents can also go to those concerts if they can afford the costs of Visa, Ticket and Hotel. The neighboring countries also enjoy attracting many tourists who can’t see their favorite singer’s concerts in their own country. The most popular of these neighbors are respectively Dubai(UAE), Turkey, Tajikistan and even newly freed Afghanistan! This is how national money flows to the pockets of foreigner countries and also many of the fans who cannot get outside the country, because of financial or legal problems, have no chance to see their idles on the stage.

Shemshad(8/9/2003)

7TH CONGRESS OF ZOROASTRIAN AND IRANIAN CULTURAL STUDIES

2004-11-12T20:59:00.000-08:00

Brussels, Belgium(Part 4)A Gist of PapersAli A. Jafarey
Farid, Fatane (Formerly archeologist and anthropologist, Iranian Ministry of Culture and Arts, presently a dress designer for a well-known company, Los Angeles, U.S.A.) Woman in the Good Religion: History shows that patriarchy in Mesopotamia and neighborhood had turned the people into warlike, and that frequent wars and conquests had brought misery to the defeated nations. Matriarchy on the Iranian Plateau had promoted peace, stability, economy and trade. At the same time, the Indo-Iranians had a moderate patriarchy that held women closely high next to men. Then Zarathushtra came with his Divine Doctrine that recognizes absolute equality of man and woman in the human society, from household to government. Woman is the "Lady of the House" just as man is the "Lord of the House." She can be elected as the Ruler of a nation. She can choose the man, whom she knows well and loves, as her partner in the fruitful life. The same holds true of religious affairs. She can be as high in religious knowledge as any person, and she can officiate as the Head Officiant at religious ceremonies. Founded more than 3,700 years ago, the Good Religion stands very high in human rights and the equality of man and woman. (Ms. Farid based her speech on the citations from the Gathas, the Gathic Supplements and the Later Avesta. She showed and explained over 30 slides of women, from the bas-reliefs, gold and silver vessels, coins, seals and carpets, from the Achaemenian to the Sassanian times.) Golshani, Vandidad (Physician by profession both in Iran and UK, poet, writer and Senior Member of the Zarathushtrian Assembly branch in London). The Sweet Dream: The speaker recited a poem in which he described how his Sweet Dream has been turned into reality as a practicing Zoroastrian. Then followed his speech: The Message of Zarathushtra is based on Wisdom, Consideration, Free Will, Equality, Progress, Peace, Prosperity, Progress, and above all, true mental and physical Happiness that lead one to God and to serve well the creation. It is a unique doctrine. (The speech was punctuated all along with citations from the Persian poetry that made it typically zestful Persian style.)Jafarey, Ali A (U.S.A.). Achaemenians Traces in "Shahnameh," the Book of Kings: The Shahnameh, based on the "History of Iran" manuscripts from the caveman to the downfall of the Sassanians, strangely does not mention the Achaemenian period. The reason: The disaster following the invasion of Alexander the Macedonian and its aftermath made the Iranians forget the Achaemenian kings with the exception of two - Darius the Great and Darius III. Furthermore, the great reliance of the Sassanians on the historical narrations from the Avesta, made them to connect their dynasty to the Kiyanians. Therefore we see Darius the Great as the great grandson of King Goshtasp the Kiyanian. Yet Ferdowsi begins his Shahnameh with "Be-nâm-e Khodâvand-e Jân-o-Kherad - In the Name of the Lord of Life and Intellect;" a reflection of Ahura Mazda so often written by the Achaemenians on their bas-reliefs. The next trace is the term "Shâhanshâh," invented by the Achaemenians as the title of all Kiyanian kings. Persepolis is known as "Takht-e Jamshid" and its construction in the heart of Pars, as the seat of the Empire, is ascribed to the legendary Jamshid. Other traces include the Nowruz audience, the multinational empire, seafaring, and the learning of writing from non-Iranians. Names were forgotten with the exception of two, but the tales of the Achaemenians, from the beginning to the fall of the Empire, can be traced well from the History of Kiyanians.(Continued in Part 5)Ali A. JafareyBuena Park, California20 Aban 3742 ZRE = 10 November 2004

Another Honor For Free Persians

2004-11-08T20:00:00.000-08:00

On Monday morning when SpaceShipOne climbed 368,000 feet into space to claimthe $10 million Ansari X Prize, Anousheh Ansari, founder and CEO of TelecomTechnologies, also climbed one step closer to her dream of going into spaceas well.The Ansari X Prize is officially named after Amir and Anousheh Ansari ofDallas TX, to reflect their generous multi-million dollar donation to theworld's first privately funded space program. Both Anousheh and Amir Ansari,who were born in Iran, have always! had a dream of traveling into space andbelieve that their donation will help others realize this goal.Mrs. Ansari is the perfect example, even in the words of the Arab 7thcentury prophet Mohammed, of "Persians that aspire to reach the heavens insearch of knowledge and wisdom." Indeed, Mrs. Ansari is a role model for allIranians and Iranian Americans today.Born in 1968, Mrs. Anousheh moved from Iran to the US at the age of 16. Shestudied electrical and computer engineering at George Mason University,earning her masters degree in Electrical Engineering at The GeorgeWashington University.Early in her career, Mrs. Ansari worked for MCI and COMSAT specializing onarchitectural designs for SS7 and ISDN networks. She authored numeroustechnical papers and has two patents for her work on Automated OperatorServices and Wireless Service Node. She also served as representative at theAmerican National Standard Institute Technical Subcommittees.! Many recognize her from the cover of Working Woman magazine, announcin gher the winner of the 2000 National Entrepreneurial Excellence award, andwinner of the 1999 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year for theTechnology and Communications category.In 1994, she and her husband founded their company Telecom Technologies inRichardson Texas. TTI, a supplier of hi-tech softswitch based solutions fornetwork and service providers, was estimated worth $600 million in 2001.Today, Mrs. Ansari and her husband live in Plano Texas. Their names will godown in history as the first persons to help realize commercial spaceflight, reaching up to the heavens, a dream Persians have long had since thedays of Maragheh, Samarkand, and Jundi Shapur.Mrs. Ansari's story is a stark reminder to us all of the impeccable talentswomen in Iran have, and that if provided with the freedom and the necessarytools for growth, what celestial heights they can obtain.M! rs. Ansari's story should prove an example that in the new millenium, thevalue of women is measured by the height of their outstanding achievements,and not by the length of their Hijab, and size or tightness of their dress.Let us try to appreciate what the women of Persia have to offer to ourcivilization in the dawn of the space age millenium.

About Iranian Great Poet

2004-11-06T20:51:00.000-08:00

Also spelled HAFIZ, in full MOHAMMAD SHAMS OD-DIN SHIRAZI, he was one of the finest lyric poets of Persia. He was born in 1325 in the city of Shiraz. Hafez received a classical religious education, lectured on Koran and other theological subjects ("Hafez" designates one who has learned the Koran by heart), and wrote commentaries on religious classics. As a court poet he enjoyed the patronage of several rulers of Shiraz.
About 1368-69 & when he was in his 40’s, Hafez fell out of favour at the court and did not regain his position until 20 years later, just before his death. In his poetry, there are many echoes of historical events as well as biographical descriptions and details of life in Shiraz. One of the guiding principles of his life was Sufism, the Islamic mystical movement that demanded of its adherents complete devotion to the pursuit of union with the ultimate reality.
Hafez's principal verse form, one that he brought to a perfection never achieved before or since, was the ghazal, a lyric poem of 6 to 15 couplets linked by unity of subject and symbolism rather than by a logical sequence of ideas. Traditionally the ghazal had dealt with love and wine, motifs that, in their association with ecstasy and freedom from restraint, lent themselves naturally to the _expression of Sufi ideas. Hafez's achievement was to give these conventional subjects a freshness and subtlety that completely relieves his poetry of tedious formalism. An important innovation credited to Hafez was the use of the ghazal instead of the qasida in panegyrics. Hafez also reduced the panegyric element of his poems to a mere one or two lines, leaving the remainder of the poem for his ideas.
The extraordinary popularity of Hafez's poetry in all Persian-speaking lands stems from his simple and often colloquial though musical language, free from artificial virtuosity, and his unaffected use of homely images and proverbial expressions. Above all, his poetry is characterized by love of humanity, contempt for hypocrisy and mediocrity, and an ability to universalise everyday experience and to relate it to the mystic's unending search for union with God.
His appeal in the West is indicated by the numerous translations of his poems. Hafez is most famous for his legendary collection known as Divan. Many European scholars, in particular those from Russia & Germany, have done extensive research on his works. The great man, perhaps the finest poet the world has ever seen, died in 1389 in his hometown. His mausoleum in Shiraz is visited by thousands of his devoted fans every year.

Congratularions!

2004-11-03T21:28:00.000-08:00

Persianliberals.tk wishes to present it's warmest congratulations for the reelection of the Liberator angel of the world and the number one fighter of terrorism, George W Bush. We hope he will proceed the war against terrorism and fostering democrasy in the middle east. this time it will be our nation's turn to be liberated by the coalition army and we are eagorly looking forward to our D Day.

Not Only Hoe Factory, But Also RAPIST Factory!

2004-11-01T06:03:00.000-08:00

First of all, I want to apologize for my long term absence in this blog. Since my Persian weblog is filtered by Islamic republic telecom and is no more available for Iranians living inside Iran, I have no motivation for writing in Persian. That is the reason from now on, I will be writing here more often than ever before. I am not sure weather you have read a couple of my previous articles titled “Today’s Iran, A Prostitute Factory” and “Zahra Kazemi(the Iranian Canadian journalist who was arrested trying to take photos from Iran’s Evin prison and finally got killed in custody) Was raped Before Being murdered”. Today I want to add another tale to sad sex stories about Iran. About a couple of months ago, two guys were arrested in the vicinity of Pakdasht near Tehran, for raping, killing, dismembering and burning 21 (some sources say 29) schoolboys aged from 7 to 10. The killers were workers of a brick making factory in Pakdasht. They were single and aged 25, almost the exact same age of Islamic republic government. The main convict, named Bijeh, said he have been raped when he was a young boy and that was why he hated children so much and committed those brutal acts to so many of them. He have been previously arrested but the local police because of raping children but since there is now law in Iran defending children(and women alike) he was released on bail and with the help of some friends in the police, he easily got rid of the case. That have became the main reason both independent newspapers and families of the victims say the main guilty is the local police for releasing such a brute and failing to arrest him until he killed so many kids. Some of those kids were children of Afghan refugees living illegally in Iran and because of their illegal settlement, they failed to go to cops looking after their missed little boys, fearing being deported to Afghanistan. Some opposition analysts say the fact that Bijeh, the rapist and murderer of 21 little boys turn out to be such a brute is because he was born and grown up in the Islamic republic regime, where any relationship between boys and girls, including talking, is prohibited and every where, even buses are like toilets divided to man-woman sections. I have also heard gay relationships and anal sex is very common in Qom’s Islamic madrasahs (Islamic Schools), where all people are young boys who study and live there and no woman is allowed to get close to there.
Just before the story of Bijeh, another man was arrested, tried and finally hanged for abducting and raping several little boys and girls, in another vicinity in the country of Tehran. He, dubbed the Spider Man by the media, didn’t kill any on the victims who were mostly preteen boys and girls but he abducted them, brought them to some vacant place, abused them and stole their jewels if they had any, and then released them. The more horrible fact was that he was married and he himself had a couple of young kids.
The first famous serial rapist-killer, was 28 years old Gholam Reza Khoshroo. About 6 years ago, He was nicknamed by the media, the bat of the night. He, masqueraded a passenger carrier, (since in Iran, the majority don’t afford to own a car and most of women don’t even have the driver’s license, and unemployment is very high, many people use their old car, mostly Peikan, to do a taxi driver’s job and transport people through the city but since they don’t have the taxi and it’s license, they are called passenger carriers),in the dark of the night he lured young girls and women to give them a ride to their home, and in the middle of they way he suddenly attacked the women, wounded her with a knife and then raped her, stole her jewelry and money and released her body somewhere. He kept doing this until he took 19 victims and yet was not caught by the police. The cops where highly criticized at the aftermath of the crimes not only for failing to catch him, but also for not declaring to the public as soon as they found out some passenger carrier is raping and killing his female passengers. Their failure to declare it, was just like the Chinese health authorities failure to declare the news of Sars epidemic. They both wanted the public not to experience panic and not to criticize them for not doing their job right. That is what always happens in dictatorship governments. People are not to find out about the dirtiest outcomes of regime’s malfunction, no matter how big they are. After Khoshroo’s arrest and TV interview and finally execution, several events happened of young men trying to imitate what he did. It finally ended in woman’s fear to travel with any car which is not a taxi are the driver of which looks like bad guys. And since most of the girls and women don’t have a car and not even the driving skill, the troubles are doubled for them. Maybe you say these events are also common in the western countries but I tell you that it is almost a daily event in Tehran that some girls are tricked, groped and if they are fortunate, released by immoral guys.
All the rapist-killers mentioned above were people born in obscure cities of poor regions of Iran who have migrated to Tehran for finding jobs. But there were also some other serial killer-rapist bands who were native of their own cities. One was the famous Said Hanai, a 40 year old married, religious looking man in Iran’s holiest city, Mashhad. He systematically found, duped, raped and killed 19 women in the holy city. Almost all of the women have been known for prostitution. Again he was left alone by the police to kill one woman after the other but this time the cops didn’t try to hide the news from the media. Some believe the cops, controlled indirectly by the unelected supreme leader, Khamenei, deliberately let him do his job so that the holy city would become clean from prostitution, the charged denied by cops. But there is more allegeable news that during his trial, Hanai was ensured and supported by some members of the fundamentalist governing mafia and vowed to be saved from execution. He himself denied having raped the women and claimed that he killed them just for doing the order of the God, but dissecting of the victims bodies revealed they were raped before being killed. If you have read the former articles mentioned in the beginning of this, you know that according to me, an Islamic religious man can never avoid fucking a woman, while he can, because of being so sex hungry and believing that women are created for men’s pleasure.
Another native serial rapist band, was the scorpion band in Tehran. They were some native Tehranian young guys who abducted, abused and released about 25 young girls and women, a couple of years ago. They were also unemployed and single and finally were caught and hung. It is only the cases of serial raping-killing which finds it’s way to media. In fact, it is hard to find a young girl who have never been abused, groped or harshly insulted with sexual words in her life. That is the main reason almost all boys and girls hate each other in today’s Iran. If it wasn’t for easily accessible sex, no guy would get married. For women, marriage is a source of making a living and having security in life because Iranian girls are not trained for either defending themselves, or making money. All they learn is making food, cleaning house and changing a kid’s diapers. Although over 60 percent of Iranian university graduates are female, but not much of them find their way to the employment market and almost all of the ones who get a job, satisfy to lowest positions and receiving orders from men who are usually less educated than them. They hate men and guys, because of years of being harmed both verbally and physically by them. All this leads to a very high divorce rate in today’s Iran, over 30 percent of marriages lead to divorce. Due to hating guys and wanting to stay physically virgin till finding the ideal man for marriage, which can take until the girl is over 30, most girls satisfy their desires with lesbian acts. Just go to Yahoo’s user-created voice chat rooms and see almost all lesbo rooms are created by Iranians.(you might need to know some Persian to find it out) so that’s it in Iran: girls go to girls, and guys, who are mostly unemployed, uneducated and too poor to get married, have to rape! If they cannot find a hot girl, they try to find a kid, and no low protects either women or children against rapists.
The most horrible event happened very recently, was impregnation of the 13 year old Kurdian Iranian girl, named Zhila Izady, by her 15 year old brother! The boy was condemned to 150 flog strikes but the girl was condemned to Rajm(Sangsar). I will tell you about what Rajm is in another post. The girl’s verdict was finally converted to imprisonment after international pressure and intervention of International Amnesty but she was allegedly flogged 50 strikes in jail. Iranian guys even rape their own sisters! And the cases of family rapes are a lot more common that this one. This is the only one which lead to impregnation and was finally discovered. I can tell you hundreds of these rape and sexual crime stories which found their ways to the media. Many more have happened which due to Iranians’ nature of hiding the bitter truth, didn’t get out. The things like which were done by American priests are so common in Iran that they are not considered crime at all! So whenever you are, no matter man or woman, if you meet an Iranian guy, be wary not to get alone with him, or you are very likely to e raped or at least groped! Don’t laugh, it is the ultimate truth!

Shemshad(10/31/2004)

pride? anything left for iranians?

2004-10-25T22:15:00.000-07:00

Ba Droud, > >It is a long article, but a good reminder to be proud of. > >Have a nice day > >Habib R. Zamani > > > > Contribution of Persia to the World Civilization > > > >"Persia" is the Greek name of Pars, a province of modern day >Iran. Meanwhile, the name Iran (=Land of the Aryans) is derived from >the Aryan people, who first moved from Central Asia, and settled in >what is now Iran, some 30,000 years ago. And here are some of the >most important contributions of the people of Persia or Iran, to the >world civilization: > > > 1. The first human civilization - - The Persian >Civilization (=Eilam); It was ahead of Egypt by 500 years, of India, >by 1,000 years, and of China, by 2,000 years, of Greece by 3,000 >years, and of Rome, by 4,000 years! According to Professor Arthur A. >Pope, the famous Orientalist (A.H. Saidian, Iran: Land and the >People, Tehran 2001 P. 358) > > Professor Pope also believes that the world owes its greatest >industrial developments, in the early stages, to the Persian >Civilization! (Ibid). > > Another Orientalist, the French Professor Kalamar of the >Sorbonne University of Paris believes that: The Persian Civilization >is the mother of all civilizations! (Ibid). > > 2. The first empire in the world, the Persian Empire (from >the Indus River down to the Danube River in Europe and up to the Nile >River in Africa;Central Asia, present day Iran, Iraq, Turkey, >Azirbaijan, Armenia, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Macedonia, >Cyprus,Lydia and up to the borders of Greece. It stretched from >Ethiopia to India, with 127 provinces and 28 different nationalities). > > "The Greeks and Romans later copied the best features of the >Persian Method of Governing the Empire. (World History, Philip >Groisser, New York, 1970, p. 17). > > 3. Cyrus the Great conquered Babylonia, Assyria, Media and >India; His son Cambodia (any influence on the Cambodian People?) >added Egypt later, and for the first and the last time in history, >all the governments of the known world were ruled under one color! > > 4. Insurance by Government was started during Cyrus the >Great of Persia. (Gardeshgari, Iran, March 2000). > > 5. Weight, Money and Measurements were standardized in >Persia, for the first time, some 2, 500 years ago (Gardeshgari, March >2000) > > 6. Sanskrit, which is the mother of all modern languages, >was born in Iran, before it went to India (Gardeshgari, Aug. 2001). > > 7. The Stone Age, which dates back some 70, 000 years ago, >was started in Iran, the cradle of the earliest human civilization! >(Gardeshgari, July 2000). > > 8. In Iran today, there are 1.2 million historical sites, >discovered so far, with some 70,000 historical moulds (Gardeshgari, >July 2000). > > 9. The first accounting tools were found in Iran, belonging >to 9,000 years ago. (Gardeshgari, March 2000). > > 10. The first brick invention took place in Iran. >(Gardeshgari, Iran, March 2002). > > 11. The world's greatest masonry work is Perspolis, Iran. >(Gardeshgeri, Iran, March, 2000). > > 12. The architecture of castles originated in Persia >thousands of years ago. > > 13. Iranian tales/legends are some 20, 000 years old.(Ibid) > > 14. According to the Shah-Namah of Ferdausi, the first >caesarian operation (actually Persian-Birth) was done in Persia, some >5,000 years ago upon the birth of Rustom from his mother--- Rudabeh. >(Gardeshgari, Iran, Jan. 2000. > > 15. According to the Persian Holy Books--- Avesta, the first >anesthesia was practiced in Persia 1,000 B.C. > > 16. According to Professor Griffith Taylor of Australia, the >homo sapiens (Caucassians) were originated from the Iranian Plateau, >also known as the Land of Mahd(the Medes?) and scattered throughout >the world some 17,000 years ago (15,000 B.C.)Gardeshgari, Iran, Jan. >2001. > > No wonder, the famous Orientalist, Professor Arthur Pope >said: "Western world has a vast unpaid debt to the Persian >civilization!" > > Also Hegel, the great German Philosopher, wrote: The >beginning of evolution of man starts with the history of Persia >(Hegel, Philosophy of History p. 174). > > 17. Some paintings in Lorestan caves in Persia, that show a >horse-riding man, are 17,000 years old! (15,000 B.C.) (Gardeshgari, >Iran, Jan. 2001). > > 18. The original homeland of the Chaldeans (Father Abraham?) >was Susa, Iran. The word Chaldean comes from Khald, which comes from >Kurd (Kurdish) who were originally Tajiks (Gradeshgari, Iran, Sep. >2000). > > 19. According to the Encyclopedia Britanica, "It may well be >proved eventually that the human race evolved in Central Asia or >Iran" (Gardeshgari, Iran, Sep. 2000). > > 20. According to the Indian Professor, Mereji Baba Kolka: A >group of Iranian migrants were settled along the Nile River and >founded the Egyptian civilization, thousands of years ago! >(Gardeshgari, Iran, March 2000). > > 21. Sumerians were originally Iranians from Kurdestan. So >were the Chaldeans, Babylonians, Assyrians, Achadians; All of them >spoke Chaldean, as their original language. > > 22. According to Professor Filder Petry : The civilizations >of Egypt and Mesopotamia are actually branches of the older Culture >of Eilam (Persia), which dates back to 6-10 thousand years ago! >(Gardeshgari, Iran, March 2000). > > 23. The Turkish People are a result of the mixture of the >early Iranians, and the Chinese; Semites and Egyptians, Palestinians >and Arabs, are the mixtures of Iranians and Africans; while the >Indians are a mixture of Iranians (Brahman) and the native blacks of >India, Dravidians. (Gardeshgari, March 2000 p. 47). > > 24. The history of first people of Persia goes back some >30,000 years ago (28,000 B.C.) Gardeshgari, Iran, March 2000). > > 25. The oldest rock relief in the world is the Bistoon rock >relief in Persia some 2,500 years old. > > 26. The most mammoth ziggurat was constructed in Persia, >near the historic city of Susa, thousands of years ago. > > 27. The biggest thatch construction also took place in >Kerman, Persia, some 2,000 years ago. > > 28. King Darius of Persia wrote the first Human Rights >Charter, some 2,500 years ago. It is still engraved in the Alvand >Mountain (Ganj-Nameh), near the ancient Persian Capital of Hagmataneh >(Present City of Hamadan). > > It was this concept of Human Rights, freedom of >religion and the equality of all races that lead to the freedom of >the Jews, from the captivity of Babylon, by Cyrus the Great of Persia >(539 B.C.). > > 29. While all other world powers persecuted and >discriminated against the Jews (e.g. The Egyptians, Assyrians, >Babylonians, Romans and later Germans and the Russians etc.) the >Persians were the only world power who actually liberated and >protected the Jews (the only monotheistic religion of that time). By >doing so, the Persians pioneered the freedom of religion and culture >of the minorities in the world. (While some European conquerors, like >Alexander the Great, destroyed Persepolis and other areas, or exiled >their people, the Persian kings supported the local culture and >religion). > > 30. The first World Super-Highway, that connected the East >and the West, was the Silk Road. It joined China to Europe; and its >main part was Central Asia (Ancient Persia) with its many Caravans, >Caravansarais, Bazaars, etc. etc. > > 31. The first time that the Navy was used in a Military >Operation was by the Persian Army some 2,500B.C. > > 32. The first time that the ships were used as bridge to >cross the river, was done by King Darius, who crossed the Nile and >conquered Egypt. > > 33. The first ruler who planned and constructed the Suez >Canal in Egypt was King Xerxes of Persia (539 B.C.). > > 34. The first time that a canal was built to connect two >seawaters was by King Xerxes of Persia, who built the Xerxes' canal, >near Greece, and attacked Greece, during the Persian Wars, 500 B.C. >(International Herald Tribune, Nov. 15, 2001). > > 35. One of the earliest Legal Codes in the world is called >The Law of the Medes and the Persians (the "unchangeable"). > > 36. The first system of federal government was started in >the Persian Empire. There were many Ostans (Stan or State, like what >you see in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Hindu-stan, Uzbeki-stan, Etc.) that >were run by the satraps or smaller kings (Shah) who were under the >great king or Shahan-Shah (Kings' King). > > 37. The first secret service, called the eyes and the ears >of the king, was started in Persia. > > 38. The first world leader, who was called great, was Cyrus >the Great of Persia, some 200 years ahead of Alexander the Great! > > 39. Darius the Great of Persia established the First Tax >System, Customs Duties, Official Records and The Legal Code, in the >world level. > > 40. Countries of the world, whose names are originally >Persian: > > 1) Afghanistan, 2) Iran, 3) Kazakhstan, 4) Azirbaijan >(Fire Temples Land), 5) Turkministan, 6) Qirqizistan, 7) >Tajikistan 8) Uzbikistan, 9) Pakistan (Land of the Pure), 10) >Hindustan (also the Khalistan of the Sikhs). > > 41. Regions of the world, whose names are originated from >Persian: > > 1) Dagestan (Caucasus), 2) Qara Bagh (Azirbaijan, also >Afghanistan) 3) Baluchistan (Iran and Pakistan) 4) Rajastan >(India) 5) Panjab or Punjab (India and Pakistan) 6) Waziristan >(Pakistan) 7) Turkistan (China) 8) Kurdistan (Iran, Iraq, Turkey, >Syria and Russia), 9) Bash-Kurtustan (Russia), 10) Hazara >(Afghanistan, Pakistan) 11) Kafiristan, 12) Noorestan (Afghanistan) >13)Possibly, the Iranon tribes of the Southern Philippines, the Ire- >an of Palawan (Pahlawan?) in Southern Philippines, and the Irian Jaya >of Indonesia, etc. > > 42. Capitals of the world, whose names are Persian: > > 1.Baghdad (Iraq), combination of Bagh (God, Garden) and Dad >(justice / giving) A God given Place (Diosdado) or Garden of Justice >(of King Anush Ravan or Anushirvan of Persia).Actually, Baghdad was >rebuilt by the Iranian Master Architect, Nou-Bakht, during the >Abbasid Era (8th century A.D.). > > 2.Damascus (City of Musk, capital of Syria, the oldest >existing city in the world). > > 3. Ashq Abad (or Eshqabad) capital of Turkmenistan. > > 4. Islamabad capital of Pakistan (Note: Abad in Persian means >Town, City). > > 5. Baku (Baad Kubeh = the Windy City) capital of Azerbaijan. > > 6. Doshanbeh, capital of Tajikistan. > > 7. Tashkant (or Tashkent) capital of Qirqizistan. > > 8. Muscat or Muskat (=Musky, see Webster) the Capital of >Oman, on the shores of the Persian Gulf. > > 9. Samarkant (or Samarqand) Capital of Uzbekistan. > > 10. Bandar Sri Begawan (Brunei). > > 11. Iravan (Yerevan) capital of Armenia >(Armanestan). > > 12. Astana, Capital of Kazakhstan. > > 13. Moscow or Musk_va (City of Musk, from Moschi >or Moschos=Persian word for musk). > > 43. Historical cities whose names are Persian: > > 1) Bukhara, 2) Samarkand 3) Khawrazm (Khiveh) in Central >Asia, 4) Allahabad, 5) Ahmed Abad, 6) Heydar Abad, 7) Faiz >Abad, 8) Jamshid Pour, 9) Mahmood Abad, 10) Shah Abad etc. >(India) 11) Faisal Abad , 12) Heydar Abad, 13) Ghazi Abad,14) >Khorram, 15) Chaman, 16)Islamabad, etc. (Pakistan) 17) Rajshahi 18) >Cox Bazaar, (Bangladesh) 19) Mozaffar Abad (Pakistani Kashmir) 20) >Kufah or Kuppah (Hillside) Iraq 21) Salman Pak (Pure) Iraq, 22) >Ctesiphon (Iraq), 23) Halabcha (Iraq) 24) Khorsabad (Iraq) 25) >Nippur (Iraq) 26) Khanaqin (Iraq) 27) Khan Azad (Iraq) 28) Diwaniyyah, >(Iraq) 29) Bandar Sri Begawan (Brunei) (Note: Bandar in Persian >means port city like Bandar Abbas) 30) Banda Aceh (Indonesia) 31) >Shirwan (Caucasia) 32) Nakhjavan (Armenia) 33)Mozdok >(=Mazdak,Caucasia) 34) Astarkhan (Russia)etc. > > 44. Famous Persian Queens/Princesses in History: > > 1) Queen Vashti of King Xerxes ( see the Bible) 2) Queen >Esther, a Jewish girl, born in Persia, who became the Queen of >Persian King Xerxes (see Old Testament, Book of Esther Note: Esther's >tomb is in Hamadan Iran today) 3) Queen Cleopatra of Egypt (Part >Greek, Part Persian) 4) Queen Mumtaz Mahal (of Taj Mahal ) the Queen >of the Mogul Emperor of India, 5) Princess Shahr Banu of the Sasan >Dynasty, the daughter-in-law of Prophet Mohammad (wife of Imam >Hosain) 6) Madam Maragel, one of the wives of Emperor Harun Rashid, >the Abbasid Khalif (she was the mother of Mamoon, the most >intellectual Khalifah in the history of Islamic civilization, who >translated and transferred all Greek philosophy and science books >into Arabic language), 7) Puran-Dokht, the First Lady of Khaliffah >Ma'moon, 8) Princesses in several Arab states of the Persian Gulf, >including the mother of Shaikh Makhtum of the United Arab Emirates, >9) Nusrat Bhutto, the First Lady of Pakistan (1971-1978) wife of >Pakistani Prime Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. 10) Jihan Sadat, the >First Lady of Egypt (1970-1982), wife of President Anwar Sadat of >Egypt, etc. > > 45. In the Field of Fashion: Almost all the clothing and >dresses of the Mogul Darbar in the Indian subcontinent (Including >Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc) are Persian in origin; that includes the >world famous Nehru Tunic or Shirwani, the Jinah Cap (made of lamb >skin), the Shalvar Qamis, the Indian Turban, the Parsi Gara (Persian >Style Embroidery in India), and a variety of shoes and other >accessories, including the well known Sukarno cap in Indonesia, >Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Philippines, etc. > > 46. According to Professor Noel Malcon: Necktie (or cravat >in European languages) came from the Croats (of Balkans) a branch of >Iranian people who migrated from Persia, some 2000 years ago! Even >the Serbs are originally from Persia. > > (Ref. Malcolm, Noel: Bosnia, A Short History, Mc. Millan, >London 1996). Also: CNN World Report, November 16, 2003. > > 47. In Jewelries: Almost all the famous jewelries of the >Moguls of India (including those of Taj Mahal) were designed by >Persian master designers. The well-known Kooh-i Noor is a Persian >name, which means the mountain of light. > > Incidentally, the word Jawaher (as in Jawaher Lal-Nehru) >comes from the Persian word Gauhar (=Gem/Precious stone). Also the >word La'l is another Persian word, meaning Ruby. > > > > 48. In Linguistic Influences: > > 1. For 700 years, Persian was the official language of the >Moguls of Indian subcontinent (including Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc). > > Practically, every Mogul miniature contains not only the >Persian arts and drawings, but also Persian poetry in Farsi Alphabet >(a mixture of Persian and Arabic letters) in them. > > 2. Urdu language: the official language of Pakistan (and >India) is a result of Marriage between Persian-Arabic (which came >through Persia) and the Sanskrit. It is now spoken by some 800 >million people around the world. ( Even Sanskrit itself was born in >Persia, before it reached India, some 7,000 years ago!). Gardeshgari, >August 2001. > > 3. Persian literature of the Indian subcontinent, with great >writers and poets, the jewel of them being, the late Dr. Mohammad >Iqbal,the National Poet of Pakistan (and India). > > 4. The names and surnames of almost all the people in >Armenia (Armanestan) and the Armenians around the world, is totally >or partially influenced by Persian language and culture. (Examples: >Melekian, Saturian, Haturian, etc. etc.). > > 49. The first animal domesticated by man was goat, and it >was done in Persia (Manila Bulletin, February 20,2001). Also the so- >called Arabian Horse (originally Persian) See BBC Worlds' Simpson >Report.(Note: In Arabic Language, horse is called Al-Faras, and >Persia is called Al-Fars; while the Persian is called Al-Farsi!). >Other animals, which were also first domesticated in Persia, are >Sheep, Cow, and Camel. > > 50. The first people who used fish as food were the people >around the Persian Gulf, (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 1998). > > 51. Nargileh/Hookeah or Shishah, the most famous pastime >smoking pipe in the Ottoman Empire, and the rest of Asia and the >Middle East, was invented in Persia (The Webster Dictionary). > > 52. The first time in the world that pearl was discovered >and harvested (Some 5,000 years ago) was in the Persian Gulf state of >Bahrain (which was part of the greater Persia, before the British >colonization in the 19th century) CNN 2002. > > 53. Noodles were first invented in Persia.(Expat. Weekly, >Manila 1996) > > 54. King Feraidun of Persia discovered winemaking method, >some 3,000 year B.C. > > 55. Punch (the mixture of five beverages) although was >popularized in British-India, is actually a Persian concoction. Panj >in Persian means five, the number of the mixtures. (Philippine >Daily Inquirer (Trivia) Feb. 2000) > > Also the word Punjab (or Panjab = Five waters/rivers, >in India and Pakistan) and Panjacila (Five Principles) of Sukarno in >Indonesia, etc. > > 56. A Persian Alchemist, called Zacharia Alrazi discovered >the Industrial Alcohol.(Al Razi is known in the west as Rhazes). > > 57. The first Beer-making techniques were discovered in >Medeo-Persia, some 5-6, 000 years ago. (On the >Net://www.udli./ucla.edu/). > > The legend says that beer was first brewed by >Ninkasi, some 3,500B.C. (For details, see the cult of Ninkasi). >*Manila Bulletin,August 30, 2002. > > 58. Various musical instruments, including setar (cithara or >cittern) and probably even guitar, Tamboor (Tambourine,) and Santour >(Dulcimer). Other musical instruments are Tar (six-stringed, while >Setar is four-stringed) and Ud, from which the medieval European lute >developed; as well as Ney or Flute. (Iran Today, MFA, Tehran, 1976, >p. 122). Iranian Music has even influenced the Flamenco tradition of >Spain. (Iran Today p.122). > > 59. The first people, who started the "Birthday" >celebration, where the Persian nobility and the royalty (So, "Happy >Birthday" could originally be a Persian song?) > > 60. The first time that cake was used in a birthday party was >by King Darius of Persia when he conquered Egypt. (500 B.C.) >Philippine Daily Inquirer 1999. > > 61. Polo game was invented in Persia, some 500 years B.C. >(Philippine Daily Inquirer 1998). > > 62. Wrestling, both as an art of war and sports, originated >in Persia. > > 63. Poker was also invented in Persia some 3,000 years ago. >It was called Aas. (The Philippine Daily Inquirer (Trivia) June 18, >2000.) > > 64. Chess, although originated in India, but was perfected >and passed on to the West, through Persia, in 10th century; thus the >words Chess (from Shah or King) Shakhmat (Shahmat) Rookh (rokh, or >Chariot) etc. > > 65. The world's first known money appeared in Persia, 800 B.C. >(Philippine Daily Inquirer,April 27,2002) > > 66. The words Paradise, Star, Bazaar, Caravan, Bank, Check, >Roxan, Rose, Jasmine, Parthian-Shots, (=Parting Shots), Sugar >(Shakar), Paw (Paa) Cow (Gau), Name (Naam); Nan (Bread) Nah (No), >Bad, Behtar (Better), Mushk (Musk) Pajamas, Orange, Dervish, Khaki, >Sepoy (Sepahy), Istana (Astana), Diwan/Divan, Pashmina (the Cashmere) >Kooh-e- Noor (Mountain of Light), Pasha, Pesh Marga, Jungle, Magi, >Magic, Magician, Mummy (Moumi) Sherryvalies (Shalvar), Kaftan >(Caftan), Taffeta, Shawl, Shahtoosh, Sherpa, Bang,Band,Spinach, >Saffron, Lemon, Woe! (Waa/Waay!), Gyn (Zan=Woman) Bakh-shish, Penta >(Panj=five), Thou (Toh), Me (Man), Am (-am), Eyebrow (Abru), Lips >(Lab), Pharao (=Far-zand or son of Ra/Mithra, the Sun-god of Persia >and later, Egypt) Buss (Buseh), Officer (Afsar/Afsara), Mouse >(Moush), Ouch (Aaakh), Aura (Ahura), Aurora, Murra, Ricksha (Rakh'sh) >as well as Pope (Papa/Baba), Pedar (Father) Madar (Mother) Nana >(Nanny=Mother), Baradar (Brother) Brethren, Dokhtar (Daughter), etc. >(almost 300 words in the English language) > > 67. The world's first public postal system was invented in >the Persian Empire some 3,000 years ago. > > 68. Cuneiform, the earliest form of writing in the world. The >cuneiform (wedge-shaped) was invented in what is known in History as >the Medeo-Persia, some 5-600 years ago. (On the Net >http://www.cdli.ucla.edu /) > > 69. The earliest known written documents, clay tablets, >inscribed more than 4,000 years ago, were found in the Medeo- Persian >region. These cuneiform texts include the earliest known creation >myths, legal codes, medical prescriptions and recipes--- Ledgers, >deeds, receipts --- and the list of everything, from the types of >bird, to the musical instruments and the woods used to make them. >(The Philippine Star, May 24, 2002). > > 70. The first calendar, composed of a year with 354 days, was >invented in Medeo-Persia, 2000 B.C. (*Philippine Daily Inquirer April >27, 2002) And during the Islamic era, another new Calendar, but this >time the most accurate calendar ever devised, in the whole history of >mankind, came into being --- the Jalali Solar Calendar by the Persian >mathematician and poet par excellence, the Great Omar Khayyam. > > Omar Khayyam's Persian solar calendar is even more >accurate than its Western Gregorian counterpart. (The Persian >calendar has an error of only one day in every 5,000 years, as >opposed to one in every 3,500 years for the Gregorian calendar). See >Iran Today, MFA, Tehran, 1976 p. 130. > > 71. The latest archeological excavations show that, glass was >first produced in the Asia-Minor region, some 4, 000 years ago. (Echo >of Islam Magazine, Tehran, Iran. Aug. 1986). > > 72. The Art of Miniature was originated in Persia, by Maani >(founder of Manichaeism) some 2,600 years ago, and reached China, >later, (Gardeshgari, Iran, Sep. 2002) > > 73. The first operation on human skull in the world, took >place in Persia, some 5,000 years ago! (Gardeshgari, Iran, Sep. 2002) > > 74. The origins of all the Indo-European languages, including >Indian, German, English, Greek, Spanish, French and many other >European languages today, are Iranian. (Gardeshgari, Iran, Sep. 2002) >So, it should be called Irano-European, not Indo-European! > > 75. Did you know where the Saxons (of Saxony - - Germany and >the Anglo-Saxons of Britain) came from? Well, the British >Orientalist, Sir Percy Sykes, himself a Saxon, went around the world >to look for their origin. He found out that the Saxons originated >from the Central Iranian Plateau, which was called Sakstan (Present >day Sistan- Baluchistan!) Gardeshgari, Iran, Sept. 2002. (How about >the Saxan or Sassan Dynasty of Persia?). > > 76. The Iranian Capital of Tehran with 3,200 years of history >has much greater historical treasures to offer to humanity than the >entire country of Greece! (Gardeshgari, Iran, Sep. 2002) > > 77. Domes of the Byzantine Churches and Palaces were an >adaptation from the Persian Architecture (Gardegari, Iran, Aug. 2000) > > 78. The world famous Holland Windmill is originally Persian, >and the Dutch know about it! (Gardeshgari, Iran, Aug. 2001). > > 79. The Sumerians and Egyptians were the early migrants who >came from the Iranian Plateau, thousands of years ago! (Gardeshagri, >Iran, Sep. 2002). > > 80. The Sumerian Seamen (probably) discovered America, many >centuries before Christopher Columbus. (Gardeshgari, Iran, Aug. >2001) > > 81. Archery of which the world famous Parthian Shots (or >Parting Shots) is a good proof, originated in Persia. > > 82. Persian carpet, walnuts, hazelnuts, Pistachio nuts, >pilau, kebab, beryani, shawarma, naan (bread) yoghurt, spinach, >saffron (the world's most precious spice), rice, grapes, lemon, >tulip, rose and perfume-were all originated in Persia. > > 83. Vertical windmill was invented in Persia, in 9th century, >A.D. (Ancient Inventions p. 398). Also the hand operated mills. > > 84. Trousers called Shalwar, were invented by the Persians >(while the Greek and the Romans preferred skirts). > > Also the world famous shawl and many other innovations >in clothing and shoe making, including a variety of hats and caps, >etc. The word pajama in English comes from the Persian words Paa >(leg) and Jameh (clothes). > > 85. The wheel was first invented in the cradle of >civilization, the area that is known in History as Medeo-Persia, some >5,000 years ago. (*Philippine Daily Inquirer, April 27, 2002) See >Persian wheel (Webster Dictionary). > > 86. Chariots of war were invented during Cyrus the Great of >Persia (559-529 B.C.) > > 87. Cross, as an instrument of punishment for the criminals >was first invented by the Persians, and it was > > adopted by the Romans, some 2,300 years ago.(Philippine Daily >Inquirer 1997) Also Swastika, etc. > > 88. Condom comes from the Persian word kandu or kondu, a >long vessel made from the intestines of the animals and used for >storing corn. Even today kondu (or kendu) is used in Persian language >for the beehives as well as small clay storage for grains or food. >(Condominium also?). Well, in Western Iran, there is a town called >Kanduan [plural of kandu]. In that town, all the houses are dug in >the mountain, on top of each other--a natural condominium). > > 89. Qanat or kanat, the underground water supply systems >that are stretched several miles, were also invented in Persia. > > 90. Silo for grains preservation, some 1300 B.C. (Ettelaat, >Iran Daily, 2001). > > 91. Baad-gir or Wind Shaft, the earliest form of modern air- >conditioners,which was built on top of the roof in order to catch the >fresh air and transfer it inside the building. > > 92. Aub-Anbar, the underground water reservoir that kept >water cool and safe, for the community (Take note of the word Aub, >the Persian word for water and its relation to Eu de Cologne, water >of cologne; also the ending of the words like Mindan-ao, Dav-ao, Lan- >ao,Mara-nao, Maguin-danao, Tugigar-ao, Suri-gao, Dan-ao (even Tamar- >ao, Carab-ao?) as well as Aub-dast -- Filipino and Chinese Muslims' >ablution with water, or Panj-ab, in India and Pakistan. etc.). > > 93. The first man who used an Airplane, to fly, was a >legendary Persian King, by the name of Keykaus. He tied 4 big birds >to his coach and placed some baits in a distance, dangling in front >of the birds to catch. (And thus for him to fly!). > > 94. The oldest combination lock, (with secret numbers) was >made some 800 years ago in Persia (Professor Arthur Pope, History of >Persian Civilization. c/o Ettelaat Daily, Tehran, Iran, January 25, >2003). > > 95. Embroidery was first invented by the Scythian people (a >branch of Persians) Ref. Webster Dictionary & CNN 2003. > > 96. The first travelers Inns called caravansaray (Inns of >caravan) some of which still exist along the Silk Road, were built in >Persia. > > 97. The largest mud-brick structure is the citadel of Bam, in >Kerman Province of Iran. It is 2,000 years old! > > 98. Parasol (Decorative Umbrella), used as an honor, over >the heads of the kings and the dignitaries, was invented in Persia, >too. > > 99. Crown or Taj (See Taj Mahal)- the bejeweled headpiece >for the King or the Queen, was first used in Persia. > > 100. The art of tile-work was invented and perfected in >Persia, many centuries ago. It was copied by others, but was never >equaled in its elegance and beauty. > > 101. Persian Blinds (or Persiana in Spanish and other >European Languages) is the origin of what is known today as the >Venetian Blinds (Webster Dictionary). > > 102. Blue Jars. The blue jars with floral designs (just >like the Blue Domes) are also a Persian invention. The Chinese >adopted these blue jars, after Genghis Khan invaded Persia in 13th >century A.D. > > 103. Chewing gum (called saqqez) as well as a variety of >other gums, including the well-known mummy or moumi (Webster >Dictionary). > > 104. There are many other ancient inventions that are >originated in the greater Persia. Some of them are as follows: > > 1) Needle 2) Weaving (like Taffeta, Shawl, etc.) 3) Roads/Hi- >ways 4) Chain mail (for body defense) 5) Spoons and Forks 6) Boots 7) >Gloves 8) Soap 9) Shampoo, 10) Perfume 11) Protocols and Etiquette >12) Turkish Bath 13) Dagger, hammer, axes 14) Military Marches, >15) Catapult, 16) Puppet Show 17) Tradition of syndication (for >farmers, workers, professionals) 18) Dams 19) Sickle 20) Jars and >Pots of clay 21) Brick making 22) Metals 23) Seals (Origin of >printing?) 24) Wheel (Persian wheel) 25) Coins 26) Oil 27) >Compass 28) Animal skin for writing 29) Measurement 30) Lighthouse >31) World map 32) Basic Human Flight 33) Military Fire Power 34) >Alphabet 35) Early Electrical devices 36) Fast Reporting system >(Like mores code, using mirror and sun) etc. (for more details see >Iran: Land and the People, by Mr. A.H. Saidian, Tehran, 2001) > > > > 105. King Cambyses II, of Persia, was the first person that >examined the dead bodies of the mummies of Egypt, after conquering >the Egyptian City of Memphis, in 600 B.C. (Philippine Daily Inquirer >(Trivia)June 15,2000.) > > 106. Also, the first people who fought against the >superstitious beliefs of the Egyptians (e.g. cats, bulls, crocodiles >worshipped as gods) were the Persians. King Cambyses II threw many >cats over the walls of Memphis City, and the Egyptians who believed >in cats as gods, were so scared that they surrendered the city, >without a fight (Philippine Daily Inquirer,Trivia ,2001). > > 107. The first person that gazed into a crystal ball (to see >the world events, just like a TV or a satellite) was King Jamshid of >Persia (see Jam-e Jamshid). > > 108. Persians were also pioneers in Astronomy, as Bible >states that the Magies saw the birth of Jesus Christ in the stars. >(see Mathew, Chapter II). > > 109. The belief that Number 13 is an unlucky one, was started >in Persia, some 5,000 years ago. Even today, all Persians (the >Kurdish, the Baluchis, the Central Asians, etc.) leave their homes >every 13th day of the New Year (March 21) and they go out in the >fields, so as to avoid the bad luck of the 13th day of the New Year. > > 110. Incidentally, the Phenomenon of the New Year itself is a >Persian Tradition, where the Natural New Year (first day of the >Spring, not middle of the winter!) is celebrated on March 21, every >year. (CNN,January 01, 2003). > > 111. The Persian Businessmen Mr. Hosain Qermezian and his >brothers, in Canada, introduced the first Mega Mall in the West, >during the 40s and the 50s. In that Mega Mall (which was probably >inspired by the Persian Bazaar or Timcheh) everything, from a needle >up to the latest car, is available under one roof! > > 112. The world's most glamorous building-cum-mausoleum, (one >of the Seven Wonders of the World) the Taj Mahal in India (also the >Shish Mahal or Mirror Palace in Pakistan) was designed by a Persian >Master Architect, Ustad Eisa Shirazi and his son Mohammad Shirazi, in >1631 A.D. (Village Voice, Manila, Feb.2002. Also the world's most >glamorous and the best loved Queen was a Persian Lady,Arjumand Banu >or Mumtaz Mahal, whose Mausoleum is also the best ever; -- The Taj >Mahal. In the words of the English poet, Sir Edwin Arnold: "Not a >piece of Architecture as other buildings are, but a proud passion of >an Emperor's love wrought in living stones." (Village Voice, Manila >Feb.2002). > > 113. The world's most educated (100% highly educated) >Community is that of the Parsis (the Persian Zoroastrians) who live >mostly in Iran, India, Pakistan and England. They are also one of the >most financially successful communities in the world. (They >established the first Cancer Hospital, and many other educational and >Social Centers, including some of the oldest and biggest libraries in >India - -see International Herald Tribune, April 24, 2003). >Incidentally, the most well known poet of the Gujrati language in >India is a Parsee by the name of Khabar-Dar. > > 114. The world's most expensive residence belongs to a >Persian by a name of Dr. Nasser Khalili, who lives in England. His >classical English Mansion is worth over $240 Million (Manila >Bulletin, June, 12, 200). > > 115. For further details on Persian Culture, see Webster >Dictionary for terms such as: Persiana, Persian ammoniac, Persian >apple, Persian berry, Persian blue, Persian buttercup, Persian cat, >Persian clover, Persian daisy, Persian date, Persian deer, Persian >earth, Persian green, Persian iris, Persian lamb, Persian lawn, >Persian lilac, Persian melon, Persian nightingale, Persian rose, >Persian wheel, etc. > > 116. In the fields of Religion and Philosophy: The oldest >living religion in the world, is Zoroastrianism, the ancient religion >of Persia, (Philippine Star, Jan. 26, 2002). > > 117. The first divinely revealed religion, which still >exists today is Zoroastrianism. No other religion has influenced >other world Religions like Zoroastrianism. It has influenced Judaism, >Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, (Mahayana), Manicheanism and the Pagan >European Cults. Over half of the world has virtually accepted a >significant portion of Zoroastrian teachings. Many Christian >traditions as well as some of its Philosophy are actually the >adaptations from the Zoroasterianism and Mithraism, the Persian >Religion of Sun god worshipping. Here are some examples: > > > > 1. The Christmas is, in reality, the Birthday of Mithra the >Sun-god (Not the Son of God!) which was born on December 25, after >the Saturnalia Festivals). > > 2. Virgin Mary (mother of Baby-god Jesus) resembles >Anahita, the Persian goddess, The Mother of >gods! > > 3. Sunday (the Christians Holiday) is actually dedicated >to Sun-god or Mithra, the Persian god. > > 4. Songs and praises in the churches. > > 5. Bread and wine tradition. > > 6. The white ropes of the priests. > > 7. Celibacy of the Priests and Nuns > > 8. Cross, Swastika, etc. > > 9. The symbol of Smiling Sun (Mithra) on some Christian >flags (like that of Argentina) etc. > > (Note: Even the Egyptians adopted the Persian Sun-god - - >Mithra, as their highest deity, and called him "Ra" (Probably short >for Mithra). In fact, Pharaoh [The title of the Kings of Egypt] means >The Son of Ra!). Is it possible that Ray in English has also >something to do with Ra or Mithra? How about Rex (king) in Latin, Rey >(king in Spanish), etc? > > > > Aside from Zoroastrianism, the other religious and >philosophical movements of Persia, include Mithraism (the Sun god), >which was also adopted by the Romans; Manicheanism, which was later >on adopted by the Christians in North Africa, and probably the first >communist movement called Mazdakism (500 A.D.) Later on Sufism, >Carmathism, Ismaili (Agha Khani), Babism, Bahaism, Akhbarism, >Kasravism, etc., etc. > > > > 118. According to some scholars, the most important person in >the recorded history of religion, is the Persian Prophet - - >Zoroaster. (Check Internet, Persian Culture, also Mithraism, >etc). > > 119. FAMOUS PERSIAN PROPHETS/RELIGIOUS FOUNDERS: > > 1. Zoroaster (500 B.C.), Founder of Zoroastrianism, the >oldest living religion in the world, that has influenced all other >religions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. > > 2. Maani "The Messenger of Light" (the founder of Gnosticism >and Manicheanism that influenced Christianity, later). The _expression >of "Manichaean language" or religious absolutism came from there. > > 3. Mazdak (founder of Mazdakism, a communist movement at 500 >AD). > > 4. Baabak Khorram-din, 800 AD (Founder of the Religious- >Political movement of Khorram Dinan). > > 5. Hassan Sabbah (founder of Militant Esmailism and the >originator of the Assassins, or the Hashashin movement, also known >as Fedayins, 11th century A.D). > > 6. Agha Khan Mahallati 1900 A.D. (Founder of Agha Khani / >Esmaili sect.). > > 7. Baab (Ali Mohammad) 1900 A.D. (Founder of Babism). > > 8. Bahaullah,1900 A.D. (Founder of Bahaism). > > 9. Shah Nematullah Kermani, Sheikh Safi-Uddin, Safi Ali Shah >and many other founders of Sufi Orders. > > 120. The hippies of Europe and America got their hairstyle >and their shabby looks (and probably their ideas, too from the Fekirs >and Qalandars of India, who in turn got it from the Dervishes and >Sufis of Persia! > > 121. The philosophy of Yin and Yang (male-female/positive- >negative), which is the foundation of the Taoist religion in China, >Korea, Japan, etc., was first introduced by the Persian Prophet >Zoroaster, as the Ahura Mazda (God of light) and Ahriman (God of >darkness) some 5,000-6,000 years ago. > > It was later on expanded further by another Persian >Prophet-Maani, as religious and philosophical Dualism of Good and >Evil (see Webster). > > 122. The concept of Celibacy in Christianity was one of the >many influences of the Persian Prophet Maani on the Christian Faith >("Manicaean influences on the Augustinian Doctrines") see Webster. > > 123. Special respect for the animals, particularly cows and >bulls, which was very popular among the early Egyptians and the >Indians today, has an Aryan (Iranian) origin. It's because of those >animals' great roles in agriculture and human sustenance. (And >considering that the early Egyptians and the Brahmans of India, were >actually the emigrants from the Land of Arya, the connections becomes >more evident). > > But, while the Indian and the Egyptian cultures >considered all animals sacred, even the dangerous ones (crocodiles, >snakes, disease-carrying mice, etc.) the Persians respected the good >ones, but also did not hesitate to kill the harmful. > > > > > > > > > > 124. The latest archeological, historical and linguistic >researches very clearly show that the Europeans (Eastern and Western) >were originally the migrants from the Land of the Aryans (Iran). So >were the ruling classes of Egypt (the Pharaohs), and India (the >Brahmans), as well as the ancient Greeks and the Romans. > > In other words, all those leading cultures of the >ancient world were the children of the migrant Iranians of the olden >days. > > But how about the White Americans of today? Well, >the White Americans are actually the children of of the European >migrants, or the "grandchildren" of the Persians or the Iranians! > > 125. The first people, who accepted and believed in Jesus >Christ, were the Persians. See the story of the three Magi/Wise >men/Kings, who came from Persia to see baby Jesus (Ref. Mathew II). > > 126. In Political and Economic Fronts. The first revolution >in the Middle East, even ahead of the 1917 Russian Revolution, was >the Mashruta (Constitutional) Revolution of Iran, in 1906. It changed >the country from an absolute Monarchy to a Constitutional Monarchy. > > 127. The first religious revolution in the world, that led to >the establishment of an Islamic Republic, took place in Iran in 1979. >Ahmad Ben Bella, the revolutionary president of Algeria called it >the "Miracle of our Age". (Ettelaat, Tehran January 1980). > > That Islamic Revolution caused the Revival of the >Islamic aspirations all over the Muslim world, which is visible >everywhere, today. (Time Magazine, New York, April 16, 1979. Also >International Herald Tribune September 4, 2002) > > 128. The first nationalization of oil and other natural >resources in the Middle East was lead by Dr. Mohammad Mosaddeq of >Iran, in 1940s and 1950s. > > 129. The first oil well in the world was found and drilled in >the Persian City of Baku (or Baad Kubeh = the Windy City, now the >capital of Azerbaijan) in the 1394, A.D. (New World, Siemens >Magazine, Germany Sept. 2001). It was in this same region that the >first Temple of Fire was built by the followers of Zoroaster the >Persian Prophet some 5, 000 years ago). > > 130. The first oil pipeline also was built in Baku, from the >woods of the Caspian region. > > 131. The first oil tanker in the world was built in Baku, and >it was named after the Persian Prophet the Zoroaster. (Source: New >World, Siemens Magazine, Germany, Sept. 2001). > > 132. The largest inland body of water in the world, is >located in Northern Persia. The Caspian Sea, with the best Caviar in >the world, plus oil, gas and a lot of flora and fauna. > > 133. In Poetry and Literature: > > A. One Thousand and one Nights (The "Arabian Nights" or >corrected The Persian Nights, written in the 10th century A.D.) > > B. Undoubtedly the best poetry that was created by man, in: > > 1. The Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayyam > > 2. The Shah Namah of Firdausi (The "Paradise Man") the story >of Rostum and Sohrab. > > 3. The Math-nawi. The ultimate light of mysticism and Sufism >by Jalalud Din Rumi. (The best-seller in the US today)! > > 4. The best Love Songs in the Odes of Hafez of Shiraz, who >is considered as the "Greatest Poet ever who walked this earth"! (See >The Gift, Collection of Hafiz's Poems, by Daniel Ladinsky, 1998, >N.Y., USA). Hafez is also adored and "worshipped" by J.W. Goethe, the >greatest poet of Germany and Europe). > > 5. The classical Persian Romanticism by Nezami of Ganjeh; > > 6. The Purest Sufi Expressions in the "Ruba'iyyat"of Baba >Tahir "The Oryan". > > 7. The Sweetest language in poetry and prose in the Rose >Gardens (Gulestan and later Bustan) of Sheikh Sa'di. > > > > > > In Islamic Sciences and Islamic Civilization: > > > > The Persians also played the greatest role in the >development of the Islamic Sciences and Islamic Civilization, as well >as the preservation and spreading of it, in the world, as follows: > > > > 134. Salman Al-Farsi was the first person to translate the >Holy Quran into a foreign language (i.e. Persian). > > 135. The first time the Holy Qur'an was printed in a Muslim >country (by modern machines) was in Persia, in 1866 A.D. (Ref. >Ettelaat International, Tehran, 1996). > > 136. The first melodious translation of the Holy Qur'an (as >the original Arabic is also melodious) for a better reading and an >easier memorization of its verses, by the non-Arabs, was done by the >Persian scholar, Dr. Fazlollah Nikayin - - in the USA(1998). > > This translation which is titled, "Qur'an: A Poetic >Translation from the Original" is first of its kind, not only in >English language, but also in any other translation of the Holy >Qur'an, in 1,400 year history of Islam. (Reference: The Ultimate Book >2000, Skokie Publications (Illinois) U.S.A.) > > 137. The most translated language of the entire Holy Qur'an >in the world is Persian---some one thousand translations (Ref. >Ettalaat International, Tehran, 1996) > > 138. The youngest person, who ever memorized the entire Holy >Qur'an, was a 5-year-old Persian boy by the name of M.H. Taba-Tabai. >(He received a Ph.D. from the Hijaz Islamic College of England, as >the youngest scholar of the Holy Qur'an in 1996). > > 139. The greatest Imam among the majority of Muslims---Imam >Abu Hanifah was a Persian. > > 140. The greatest master of SUFISM (Islamic Mysticism) was Al- >Ghazzali, another Persian teacher, (Some orientalists consider him >as the most qualified scholar in Islam, aside from the Prophet >Mohammad himself). > > 141. The greatest interpreter of the Holy Quran in Islam, is >Tabari, also a Persian. > > 142. All the earliest collectors and writers of the >traditions of Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H.) who preserved and spread >his words, were Persians--Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidi, Ibni Maja, Nasai >and Abu Dawoud. > > 143. The man, who finally defeated the western crusaders, >liberated Jerusalem from the invaders and saved the Muslims from a >total annihilation, was a Kurdish (Persian) man by the name of >Salahud Din (Saladin the Magnificent). > > 144. The greatest grammarian of Arabic language was a Persian- >-the Sibwaih of Shiraz. > > 145. The first compiler of Arabic Dictionary was a Persian by >the name of Khalil Bin Ahmad. > > 146. The first scholar who organized, formulated and >established the Science of Rhetoric, Elocution and Prosody in Arabic >language was a Persian master by the name of Sheikh Abdul Qadir >Jorjani (Gorgani). > > 147. The greatest Philosophical mind after Aristotle, who >preserved philosophy from destruction during the Dark Ages (of >Europe) was Al-Farabi the Persian. He was a linguist and a music >virtuoso. He is known as the Second Master. (After Aristotle). > > 148. The greatest intellectual during the Middle Ages was Abu >Ali Sina (Avicena) the Persian Physician-Philosopher (see >International Herald Tribune, Oct. 11, 2001). > > 149. The first scientific book that was printed in the world, >after the invention of the printing machine, was the Cannon of Abu >Ali Sina (or Avicena, the Persian Physician-Philosopher). His medical >masterpiece was the most popular textbook of Medicine, in European >Colleges and Universities, during the Middle Ages and up to the 18th >Century A.D.(By the way, the earliest College of Medicine, recorded >in the History of Iran was "Gundishapur Medical School", 500 A.D. >Also take note that the terms, Medica, Medicine, etc. came from >Medes=Medeo-Persian Men). > > 150. The first man who introduced Arabic numerals in the West >(which used Roman Numerals, before) was a Persian scholar by the name >of Al Kharwrazmi (9th century A.D.). > > 151. The first physician in the world, who treated Small Pox, >was Zakariyya Al Razi (10th century A.D.). > > 152. The first scientist who invented a computing machine was >Al-Kashani (15th century A.D.). > > 153. The first scientist who explained the cause of rainbow >in 13th century A.D. was another Persian called Qutb Shirazi. >(Source: Islam: A global civilization, Cambridge, U.K. 1995.) > > 154. The first scientist who measured the distance between >the Earth and the Moon was a Persian by the name of Naseer ud-Din >Tousi (13th century A.D.). > > 155. The first physician who diagnosed and treated Meningitis >during the Dark Ages was Abu Ali Sina (11th century A.D.). (Source: >The Islamic Text Society Cambridge U.K. 1995). > > 156. The greatest Muslim scholar, who collected and preserved >Islamic traditions and teachings, is another Persian by the name of >Mohammad Majlesi (17th century A.D.) His masterpiece on Islamic >teaching and traditions (titled, Behar Al-Anwaar) is 100 plus Volumes. > > 157. The most prominent religious and political figure in the >history of Islam in the past 1,000 years (as far as the political and >religious revival of the Muslim world is concerned) was Ayatullah >Ruhullah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran >(1979). He was named, Man of the Year (Time, 1980). > > 158. The greatest collection and preservation of the Islamic >Arts in the world belongs to a Persian patron of Arts, by the name of >Dr. Nasser Khalili, who lives in England. (Mabuhay Magazine, >Philippines, 1998). > > 159. Qawwali, the Art of Sufi chanting with music, started in >Persia, in the 9th century A.D. before it came to India (also >Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc.) It was also spread westward to >Turkey and other countries up to Algeria, Tunesia and Morocco, in >North Africa. > > It is a form of Praising Allah, remembering the Holy Prophet, >and the spiritual men of God, thru musical songs. > > 160. The first scientists who claimed that the Earth was >actually round (not flat, as the Europeans believed) were the Muslim >scholars of Persia (Gardeshgari, Iran, March 2002). > > 161. Persian Muslim Scientists knew the Law of Gravity, as >early as 840 A.D. (Ibid). > > 162. The Iranian master musicians, like Abu Ishaq Musuli, >actually thought the Arabs the Fine Art of Music, but later on they >gave up on music, upon conversion to Islam, because of Religious >reasons (Motahhari,Khadamat, Tehran, Iran, 1970). > > 163. The most popular word among the Muslim Communities, >around the world for Teacher/Guru/Master/Spiritual Leader, is >Ustad/Ustaz, a Persian word which means Educator/Trainor . > > 164. Muslims in Central Asia, South West Asia, South East >Asia and China, still use the Islamic terms, in Persian, rather than >in the Original Arabic Language. Examples are: Namaz (Prayer) Ruzah >(Fasting) Bang (call to prayer) Aub-dast (Ablution) Farman (Teaching) >etc. etc. > > 165. The most brilliant and the most intellectual Caliph in >the History of Islam, was a half-Persian, by the name of Ma-moon. >His father was Khalifa Haroon Ar-Rashid, and his mother, a lady from >Persia by the name of Maragel. > > This same Khalifa Ma-moon, translated and transferred >all the Greek Philosophy and Science books into Arabic (by the help >of mostly Iranian scholars) and thus saved Ancient Science and >Philosophy for mankind, by protecting them from destruction during >the Dark Ages of Europe! He established the House of Wisdom or House >of Sciences in Baghdad in 9th Century A.D. > > 166. The first Muslim woman in the world, who won the Noble >Peace Prize, was the Iranian Lady Judge, Shirin Ebadi (Year 2003). > > 167. Iran was probably the only country in the Middle East >(and one of the few in the world) that was not colonized by the >foreign powers, in the Modern History. > > 168. One of the chief architects of OPEC (the first oil >cartel in the Third World, which turned many poor oil producing >countries into super-rich) was the Shah of Iran, Shah Mohammad Reza >Pahlavi (International Herald Tribune, October 18, 2003) > > 169. The world's most exclusive "couturier" (for the rich and >the famous) is Mr. "Bijan", an Iranian master designer in New York >with over $300 Million of income annually. (Mohajer, info@i...) > > 170. The First Sheikhul Islam of Siam (Modern Thailand) was a >Persian Statesman by the name of Shaikh Ahmad Qommi (1600 AD). He >was later on appointed by the King of Thailand as the Prime Minister >of Siam. (Thailand: A Golden Land by M. Tamhidi, Al Hoda Publishing, >Tehran. 2001) > > Also, the first Sheikhul Islam of Aceh in Indonesia, >Seyyed Hassan Astar Abadi was a Persian religious leader, during the >reign of "Sultan Malek Salek" of Aceh, 17th century. (ibid.) > > > > >------ End of Forwarded Message > > > > > >Habib R. Zamani >Managing Director > >EdibOil General Trading L.L.C. >Suite 408 Al Maidan Tower , Deira , Dubai >P.O. Box 13941 Dubai , United Arab Emirates > >Tel. 00971 4 22 800 26 Fax 4 22 811 60 >http://www.EdibOil.com >ediboil@eim.ae / zamani@mohandes.com > > > > >

VENERATING THE DEAD AND ALIVE

2004-10-15T21:48:00.000-07:00

GOOD CONSCIENCE, the Good Religion, holds men and women as equals in all respects. They may surpass one another in righteousness only. It is their service to God and the creation that counts. Not the sex. The more a person serves the living world in which we all live, the nearer he or she draws to God and the more God knows him or her as a better person. In the 'Vohu Khshathra' Gatha, Asho Zarathushtra praises such persons:
ýehyâ môi ashât hacâ vahishtem ýesnê paitî vaêdâ mazdå ahurô ýôi ångharecâ heñticâ tã ýazâi hvâish nâmênîsh pairicâ jasâi vañtâ.
Translation:
The Wise God knows best any person of mine for his or her veneration done in accordance with righteousness. I shall, on my part, venerate such persons, passed away or living, by their names, and shall lovingly encircle them.(Gatha: Song 16.22 = Yasna 51:22)
Zarathushtra is paying tribute to the people promoting righteousness. He says that Mazda Ahura knows best the good acts of veneration and service done according to precision and righteousness. Zarathushtra, on his part, venerates all such persons, dead or alive, by mentioning their names and by lovingly embracing them. What a touching scene to see a Master mentioning each of his followers, those who have passed away and those who are with him, by name, and then loving encircling them! Teacher venerating pupils! Only one like Zarathushtra could do it.This poetic stanza is paraphrased in prose in the "Yenghê Hâtâm" prayer. It states:Yênghê hâtâm â-at yesnê paiti vanghô, Mazdâo Ahurô vaêthâ ashât hachâ yâonghâm-châ. Tâns-châ tâos-châ yazamaidê.Translated Text:Indeed Mazda Ahura, the Wise God, knows better any person among men and women for his or her veneration. We, on our part, venerate all such men and women.Yenghe Hatam, often repeated in some daily prayers, is an _expression of continuous gratefulness to the people who truly serve God and the living world. It shows how important it is to pay our respects to those who serve the Divine Cause better.This extraordinary love and respect shown by Zarathushtra and his immediate followers initiated the beautiful tradition of commemorating outstanding men and women for their services on the Memorial Day, the Farvardegân or Muktâd, at the end of the year. The Farvardin Yasht, an early post-Gathic text in the Avesta, venerates the names of 261 men and women for their 'conviction' and rational faith because they joined Asho Zarathushtra in his divine mission and served the cause of the Good Religion during the initial period of its establishment. It also venerates the 'conviction' in the Good Religion of all men and women of the world. Truly, a Universal veneration by a Universal Divine Doctrine! We, on our part, also join in and express our respects to such deserving persons, dead or alive.* * * * * *Ali A. Jafarey23 Mehr 3742 ZRE = 14 October 2004 CE