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An interesting article by amir taheri
Tehran slapdown
Mursi shocks the mullahs
Last Updated: 11:44 PM, August 30, 2012
Posted: 10:55 PM, August 30, 2012
Share on email Share on facebook More Sharing ServicesMore Print
headshotAmir Taheri
With his speech yesterday at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran, Egypts new president, Muhammad Mursi, drew a line in the sand against Irans hope of creating an Islamic Awakening Front under its leadership.
Irans leaders had spent a great deal of energy preparing what Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei dubbed the triumph of Ayatollah Khomeinis version of Islam.
That version de-emphasizes the religious content of Islam to instead highlight a political role.To Khomeini and his successors, anti-Americanism provides the ideological backbone of contemporary Islam; shouting Death to America was as important as saying There is no God but Allah.
Not such a warm embrace: Egypts Mohammed Mursi (l.) with Irans Ahmadinejad in Tehran yesterday.
AFP/Getty Images
Not such a warm embrace: Egypts Mohammed Mursi (l.) with Irans Ahmadinejad in Tehran yesterday.
In his opening address at the summit, Khamenei spelled out that ideology with a torrent of hate against the American Great Satan. For him, Islams ultimate goal is the destruction of America.
To the Khomeini-Khamenei school, the only valid version of Islam as a faith is the Shiite one as interpreted by the ayatollah. Sunni Muslims are deviants, partly because they venerate the first caliphs of Islam Abu-Bakr, Omar and Osman. In the Khomeinist version, all three were usurpers who betrayed the Prophet by preventing his cousin Ali from succeeding him.
Each year, Khomeinists organize ceremonies to expose and denounce the three caliphs, labeling them The Dirty Trio (al-Muthallath al-Mulawwatha). Omar is particularly hated because he led the Arab invasion of Persia. Burning his effigies (Omar-Suzan) is a major feast in many parts of Iran.
Khomeinist discourse now stresses three other themes:
* It wants the recent uprisings in the Middle East to be termed not the Arab Spring but the Islamic Awakening and somehow, against all logic, linked to Khomeinism in Iran.
* The second theme is Holocaust denial, coupled with calls for the elimination of Israel as a cancerous cell.
* Finally, Tehran demands unwavering support for the Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad.
In his speech in Tehran, delivered during a four-hour stopover, Mursi disappointed the Khomeinist leadership on all accounts.
First, the Egyptian leader took care not to allow any hint of anti-Americanism in his speech, rejecting Khomeinis equation of Islam with politics and politics with hatred for the United States.
Next, Mursi rejected the label the Islamic Awakening, insisting that uprisings in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen be described as the Arab Spring. The uprisings, he insisted, had been for democracy and human dignity not for strictly religious reasons, let alone Khomeinis weird version of Islam.
He then turned the knife by asserting that the uprising in Syria is an extension of the Arab Spring not an American-Zionist conspiracy, as Khamenei claims.
Khamenei has declared the preservation of the Assad regime as one of Tehrans key strategic objectives. Mursi called the Assad regime oppressive and illegitimate and threw Egypts support behind the Syrian uprising.
Nor, to the chagrin of the Khomeinist leadership, did Mursi beat the drums of war against Israel.
Tehran media had promised that the Egyptian leader would cancel the Camp David peace accords and join the Iranian-led Resistance Front to wipe off the Jewish stain of shame. Mursi did none of that. Instead, he said his administration is dedicated to peace and stability in the region.
And Mursi delivered one more slap at the Tehran mullahs. Khamenei had started his address by saluting the Prophet and his descendants, an old phrase revived by Khomeini that excludes the early caliphs. But Mursi in his speech saluted the Prophet and his successors, naming the Dirty Trio one by one.
The sound of those three names would send shockwaves down the spine of any mullah who has one.
Not surprisingly, Tehran television interrupted its live broadcast of Mursis address with a gas-company ad.
Mursi made it clear that, post-Mubarak, Egypt intends to reclaim its position as one of Islams three key powers (along with Iran and Turkey) by rejecting Khomeinis equation of Islam with anti-Americanism.
Some have criticized Mursis decision to go to Tehran. I think he was right to go especially with a powerful message that rejects every tenet of the Khomeinists schismatic doctrine
Read more: Tehran slapdown - NYPOST.com
Tehran slapdown
Mursi shocks the mullahs
Last Updated: 11:44 PM, August 30, 2012
Posted: 10:55 PM, August 30, 2012
Share on email Share on facebook More Sharing ServicesMore Print
headshotAmir Taheri
With his speech yesterday at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran, Egypts new president, Muhammad Mursi, drew a line in the sand against Irans hope of creating an Islamic Awakening Front under its leadership.
Irans leaders had spent a great deal of energy preparing what Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei dubbed the triumph of Ayatollah Khomeinis version of Islam.
That version de-emphasizes the religious content of Islam to instead highlight a political role.To Khomeini and his successors, anti-Americanism provides the ideological backbone of contemporary Islam; shouting Death to America was as important as saying There is no God but Allah.
Not such a warm embrace: Egypts Mohammed Mursi (l.) with Irans Ahmadinejad in Tehran yesterday.
AFP/Getty Images
Not such a warm embrace: Egypts Mohammed Mursi (l.) with Irans Ahmadinejad in Tehran yesterday.
In his opening address at the summit, Khamenei spelled out that ideology with a torrent of hate against the American Great Satan. For him, Islams ultimate goal is the destruction of America.
To the Khomeini-Khamenei school, the only valid version of Islam as a faith is the Shiite one as interpreted by the ayatollah. Sunni Muslims are deviants, partly because they venerate the first caliphs of Islam Abu-Bakr, Omar and Osman. In the Khomeinist version, all three were usurpers who betrayed the Prophet by preventing his cousin Ali from succeeding him.
Each year, Khomeinists organize ceremonies to expose and denounce the three caliphs, labeling them The Dirty Trio (al-Muthallath al-Mulawwatha). Omar is particularly hated because he led the Arab invasion of Persia. Burning his effigies (Omar-Suzan) is a major feast in many parts of Iran.
Khomeinist discourse now stresses three other themes:
* It wants the recent uprisings in the Middle East to be termed not the Arab Spring but the Islamic Awakening and somehow, against all logic, linked to Khomeinism in Iran.
* The second theme is Holocaust denial, coupled with calls for the elimination of Israel as a cancerous cell.
* Finally, Tehran demands unwavering support for the Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad.
In his speech in Tehran, delivered during a four-hour stopover, Mursi disappointed the Khomeinist leadership on all accounts.
First, the Egyptian leader took care not to allow any hint of anti-Americanism in his speech, rejecting Khomeinis equation of Islam with politics and politics with hatred for the United States.
Next, Mursi rejected the label the Islamic Awakening, insisting that uprisings in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen be described as the Arab Spring. The uprisings, he insisted, had been for democracy and human dignity not for strictly religious reasons, let alone Khomeinis weird version of Islam.
He then turned the knife by asserting that the uprising in Syria is an extension of the Arab Spring not an American-Zionist conspiracy, as Khamenei claims.
Khamenei has declared the preservation of the Assad regime as one of Tehrans key strategic objectives. Mursi called the Assad regime oppressive and illegitimate and threw Egypts support behind the Syrian uprising.
Nor, to the chagrin of the Khomeinist leadership, did Mursi beat the drums of war against Israel.
Tehran media had promised that the Egyptian leader would cancel the Camp David peace accords and join the Iranian-led Resistance Front to wipe off the Jewish stain of shame. Mursi did none of that. Instead, he said his administration is dedicated to peace and stability in the region.
And Mursi delivered one more slap at the Tehran mullahs. Khamenei had started his address by saluting the Prophet and his descendants, an old phrase revived by Khomeini that excludes the early caliphs. But Mursi in his speech saluted the Prophet and his successors, naming the Dirty Trio one by one.
The sound of those three names would send shockwaves down the spine of any mullah who has one.
Not surprisingly, Tehran television interrupted its live broadcast of Mursis address with a gas-company ad.
Mursi made it clear that, post-Mubarak, Egypt intends to reclaim its position as one of Islams three key powers (along with Iran and Turkey) by rejecting Khomeinis equation of Islam with anti-Americanism.
Some have criticized Mursis decision to go to Tehran. I think he was right to go especially with a powerful message that rejects every tenet of the Khomeinists schismatic doctrine
Read more: Tehran slapdown - NYPOST.com