IRAN IN THE GRIP OF CHALLENGES
mohammad
By Shamim A Siddiqi,New York
The re-run presidential election in Iran on last Friday. June 24, 2005
brought Mohammad Ahmadinejad to the forefront. He is now the
President-elect of Iran with a landslide victory over a “bit
“moderate Rafshanjani. President-elect Ahmadinejad is a
“hardliner†in the dictionary of Anglo-American
hegemonies. He was the appointed Mayor of Tehran, the son of a
blacksmith and is of humble origin. The poor and the needy of Iran look
towards him with hope and will judge his promises that he made during
election campaign to replenish the blood in their cheeks, check the
rising inflation and manage the flow of wealth from the “Bunyad
[Foundations] that were established in the wake of Revolution of 1979.
These foundations are being controlled by the Iran Supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khomeini and are not accountable to the elected
officials. These state foundations have amassed a big chunk of oil
wealth of Iran. As a result, the poor are suffering unbearably.
President-elect Ahmadinejad has promised to share that accumulated
wealth with the poor and needy of the country. Thus, he is committed to
a big agenda to spread prosperity in the country, a challenge of great
magnitude. How far he will succeed, it depends on the cooperation and
working together with the powerful unelected Institution of Elders who
are responsible to run the country in context of the ideology of the
Revolution of Iran of 1979. His success in the present context of Iran
is any body's guess.
The agenda of the President-elect Ahmadinejad appears to be attainable.
He has to keep contact with the masses for public support and seek
impetus to maintain his election tempo alive. But at the same time, he
has to maintain the national aspirations ever-growing to perfect
nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and at the same time to be in
the good book of hard liners controlling the affairs of the state that
it does not deviate from the ideology of the Revolution. That is why in
the very first speech after his election, he declared that acquiring
nuclear technology is the national urge of Iranian people and he will
get it through. The foreign press has termed it as a “slapâ€
on the face of the West but in the same breath he has appealed for the
Unity in Ummah to bear the consequences of his challenge which one way
or the other is going to be opposed by both Europe and the USA.
How challenging these propositions are? It is not
incomprehensible.However, this is not Hikmah and stands against normal
human wisdom. An intelligent leader first prepares the ground, musters
his forces in men and material, carries out a whirlwind propaganda
against its die-hard adversaries in soft spoken words [as Allah advised
to Moses. Ref: Verse 44 of Chapter Taha], prepares the world opinion,Â
builds a rainbow of unity of all the peace loving nations of the world
to side with his country against his declared Great Satan [GS} before
making any frontal attack or "boasting" unintelligently ...
Everything what the new leader uttered against GS was undiplomatic and
looks like a burst up of soda-water-bottle. A Muslim is known for
his wisdom and choice of words for which he/she is accountable to
Allah. Why you aggravate the instinct of a "barking" dog so for he
is not vomiting fire and venom. He should have used diplomatic and
meaningful terminologies to establish his credibility as a statesman.
Once elected, he should have behaved as the "caretaker" of Ummah as
Iran now is the only state where Islam can take its root of revival as
Pakistan is doomed under the dark shadow of Parvez Musharraf and other
Muslim states are behaving like cowards.
Unfortunately, the same "blunder" was committed by Late Imam Ayatollah
Khomeini when he announced unwittingly to "export" the revolution to
the Middle East. It created unnecessarily a big alarm in Arab world
and, in consequence, they changed their attitude towards Iran
negatively. In this respect, Rafshanjani was doing somehow better.
Perhaps the elected-president of Iran said so much for home consumption
to show that he is a great hard liner and expressed his solidarity with
the "unelected" leadership in power. He has perhaps†spoiled the
case of Iran at the very outset through delivering undiplomatic
speeches. But if he stands by his declaration, he will be able to
mobilize the young Iranians by providing then new ideals and slogans to
struggle for their supremacy. It would be a world much different from
the world of dance, drink and music†that the advocates of
western cult of life want to spread, cultivate and flourish in Iran. It
is a conflict of fundamental values. If he can accomplish it, he would
be the savior of Iran.
Now to encounter these challenges he has no choice but to turn his face
towards the Qur'an and our Lord God, Allah (SWT). Only these
fundamental sources can protect Iran and nothing else from the
onslaughts of the devilish forces. “Sectarianism,†if it is
displayed in body politics of Iran at this juncture, it will never be
able to create unity and cohesiveness in the ranks and files of his
people and that of the Ummah.
Can the well wishers of the Muslim Ummah expect this blissful approach
from the overall leadership of Iran? If they try to establish a true
Qur'anic society in Iran in twenty-first century leaving the
"sectarianism" behind to be followed only at individual level of each
sect, if it so desires.It would be a unique model of Islamic system -
following the Qur'an as the law of the land as socio-economic-political
need at state level and different sectarian concepts [or "Mazahib"] at
personal level. It would be different from the western secularism that
has no head and tail, a naked disaster for humanity at every count. The
Muslim Fuqaha [jurists] should address this "alliance" as a practical
model to bring the Ummah at a common strategy to get the fate of Ummah
revived.
May Allah give Tawfeeq to Muslim leadership to think on the proposition
that the collective life is governed by the Qur'an and the most
authentic life-pattern of Rasulullah (S) and each sect practices its
beliefs and conviction or traditions in personal life only, if it so
desires This approach will go a long way in establishing the desired
Unity that elected-president of Iran is envisaging to defeat the
approaching shadows of GS and hegemonies that are being hatchedÂ
against his country and the Muslim world at large.
#Author's Contact E-mail: tsidd...@aol.com