A group of Iranian intellectuals, writers, thinkers, poets, artists and academicians issued a call to Iranians, asking them to leave Islam. They should heed the call and return to their glorious past and legacy of great humanitarians, like Cyrus the Great, as was dreamt by Ferdowsi.
A call to Iranians to liberate from Islam
On March 23, 2011, a report in www.faithfreedom.org said:
"The 21st of March was the first day of spring in the Northern hemisphere and the New Year for Iranians. In this year, a group of Iranian intellectuals, writers, thinkers, poets, artists and academicians issued a declaration asking the people of Iran to leave Islam. They blame Islam for the downfall of their country. They believe Islam is violent and abusive and incompatible with the peace loving nature of Iranians. Today Islam is the biggest abuser of human rights. The Islamic regime of Iran kills more Iranians per capita than any other regime killing their citizens. This has not always been the case. The first declaration of human rights was issued in Iran by King Cyrus 2500 years ago."
This is highly encouraging, which repudiates the common notion that Muslims are so thoroughly brainwashed that it is impossible for them to question Islam and come out of it; instead, in every eventuality, they will seek a solution within the frame-work of Islam. The above report clearly shows that a section of the Iranian society have succeeded in coming out of the labyrinth of Islam, and are aspiring to liberate their nation from the slavery to Arab religious imperialism embedded in Islam. Presently, young Muslims in the Islamic world are agitating for freedom from despotic rulers. But real freedom cannot be achieved unless they abandon Islam, an authoritarian and suppressive religio-political creed, which stifles critical and independent thinking and freedom of expression, without which a nation cannot prosper. So, the young protesters, who are taking to the street in the Muslim world, must include Islam alongside the despotic rulers in their campaign for freedom and liberty. They must realize that it is Islam that incubates, fosters and nurtures authoritarianism, misrule and oppression. To establish true freedom, rule of law and democracy, uprooting the edifice of Islam is as important, if not more, as deposing their current dictatorial rulers.
The ideal Islamic state is what Prophet Muhammad had founded in Media, in which Muhammad was the supreme dictator: the head of administration, chief of army and the head of judiciary. So, there lies a strong propensity for the government of an Islamic state to become dictatorial, rather than democratic. As a result, most Islamic states in the world are dictatorial as we witness today. To achieve real freedom and democracy, Islam must be thrown into dustbin of history.
Pernicious Impact of Islam, the Arab Imperialism
Islam, in the guise of a religion, is an imperialism Arab religious-cultural-social doctrine that uproots a convert from his/ her ancestral culture, thus, crippling the natural growth of a human being. Furthermore, Islam is a creed of intense hate and violence, and pollutes the mind of its follower with the bane of hatred and bloodshed, thus, driving its followers of their humanity. So says the Nobel Laureate author V S Naipaul:
“Islam is not simply a matter of conscience or private belief. It makes imperial demands. A convert’s worldview alters. His holy places are in Arab lands. His sacred language is Arabic. His idea of history alters. He rejects whatever is his own: he becomes, whether he likes it or not, a part of the Arab story. The convert has to turn away from everything that is his.”
He add:
“Islam asks its followers to abandon their past histories, culture, and identities… Islam has had a calamitous effect on converted peoples. To be converted you have to destroy your past, destroy your history. You have to stamp on it, you have to say ‘my ancestral culture does not exist, it does not matter’….” (Beyond Belief)
Islam, thus, aims to turn every convert into a slave of Arabia.
Naipaul's above-mentioned observation is beyond dispute; it's all too obvious to the discerning eye. In Islamic Iraq today, there is no taker of the rich ancient Mesopotamian and Babylonian culture; the same applies to Iran, a proud heir to one of the world's finest ancient civilizations. In Pakistan, there are no takers for the ancient Harappan civilization. The same pattern runs through the entire Islamic world.
The greater irony is that the Muslim invaders -- who once massacred their ancestors, enslaved and raped in massive numbers, and converted them to Islam through inhuman torture and at the point of sword -- are seen by today's Muslims as their saviors. For example, Pakistan has named its most up-to-date long-range missile as Ghauri, after the same of one of the most brutal Muslim invaders of India. And when they sought to celebrate the cessation of Pakistan on August 14, 1947 from India, they chose Karachi as the venue, because this was the place where Mohammad bin Qasem, the first successful Islamic invader of India, brought the light of the Koran and Hadith in 712.
Iran's glorious heritage
Iran has a glorious past, a brilliant cultural heritage, which was much more superior to that of the nomadic Arabs, who invaded it in the 630s. In this context, it should be mentioned that, in the early days of human civilization, people earned their living either by food-gathering or by hunting; later on they raised themselves to the pastoral stage through domestication of animals. Up to this stage civilization, killing of animals was a daily routine matter and meat was the principle food item and this practice turns people naturally cruel. Then, with advent agriculture, men became less and less dependent on animal flesh and in this regard, the position of Iran was unique. There is sufficient evidence that Iran became agricultural as early as 8000 BC. Early agricultural communities such as Chogha Bonut etc. lived nearly in 8000 BC.
It is also important to note that, with the advent of agriculture, urban civilization came into being in western Iran as early as in 8000 or 7000 BC. The city of Susa and Chogha Mish still exist since their founding in 7000 BC and 6800 BC respectively. Dozens of pre-historic sites across the Iranian plateau point to the existence of ancient cultures and urban settlements in the fourth millennium BC, centuries before the earliest civilizations arose in nearby Mesopotamia.
Arabia on the other hand is land of semi-desert nature and paucity of rainfall made it hopelessly unsuitable for agriculture. As result, the Arabian society, till today, is somewhat pastoral in nature. Due to their pastoral life-style, the Arabs still manage their daily affairs by using the lunar calendar (Hijri). But adoption of a solar calendar is a must for an agricultural society, as farming is intimately connected with the annual movement of sun and the subsequent changes of seasons. This is the reason why the National Calendar of Islamic State of Bangladesh is not Hijri, but the Bengali solar calendar, as the Bangladeshi society is agricultural.
Agriculture was a milestone in the history of human civilization. Firstly, it terminated the nomadic and pastoral lifestyle and provided man with permanent settlements, which in turn led to the formation of states and governments with well-defined constitutions and judiciaries. Secondly, with the progress of farming, a section of people was able to detach them from hard day-to-day labor for earning a living, and devote their time on pursuit of knowledge and other cultural activities. So, it can safely be said that agriculture was womb of modern human civilization.
 Ferdowsi, Persian poet & philosopher  Cyrus the Great |
In Iran, this process began very early, ca. 8000 BC, and helped her to emerge as one of the oldest as well as the richest civilization on earth. In fact, this enabled Persian thinkers and seekers of truth to spend much time to devote themselves in very intricate as well as subtle philosophical thoughts, while people in the other part of the world, including Arabia, stayed far behind in the race of civilization. So, today’s Iran did not become Islamic due to the superiority of the Arabian culture. It was, instead, forced upon the civilized people of Persian with brute force by the Arab Muslim invaders. In fact, Islamization has dragged down Iran from the pinnacle of civilization.
It should also be mentioned that, Iran was not Islamized overnight but gradually; and its Islamization was never complete, it was never totally Arabized unlike Egypt, Syria and Palestine. Iran could retain strands of cultural identity and vigour, and this inner strength of Iran helped it re-emerge with a separate and distinctive character, and enabled her make immense contribution to the Islamic civilization even within an atmosphere of alien Islamic-Arabic culture. Arab Islam in Iran emerged as a distinct Iranian Islam or Persian Islam; this new Islam is sometimes referred to as Islam-i Ajam (Persian Islam) by scholars.
The Great Iranian poet and philosopher Ferdowsi (d. 1020 CE) comprehended this tragic downfall of his motherland, her culture and civilization. So, nearly a thousand years ago, he gave a call to his converted countrymen through his literary epic, Shahnameh, to return to their cultural and civilizational roots by narrating the Herculean efforts of the Princes of Samanid dynasty (r. 819–999 CE) to revive the Persian cultural heritage, which had been ravaged by the Arab invaders. But unfortunately, the Samanids were later on conquered by the Ghaznavid Turks. He wished that his masterpiece epic would last the test of time, and inspire his countrymen to return to original culture. Ferdowsi's call to the Iranians still rings in the air of Persia.
Today Muslims youths, who are taking to the streets in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain and other Islamic states in the Middle-East, defying bullets and death, must also keep in mind that in 1979, the Iranian people revolted against the oppressive dictatorship of Shah Reza Pahlavi, but the Iranians ended up within the clasp of a much more brutal and ruthless Islamic dictatorship, leading their nation into greater abyss and darkness. If they sidestep Islam today, it will create another, probably more vicious, dictator.
Conclusion
Amidst the wind of aspiration for freedom in the Muslim world, our brothers of Iran should heed the call of their intellectuals to free themselves from the enslaving shackle of Islam, which was once forced upon their forefathers through inhuman torture and oppression. They should throw away the edifice of Islam, and return to their own ancestral culture and faith of great sage, Zoroaster. It's unfortunate that the heirs of the glorious Persian civilization have been forced to follow the legacy of a pedophile, rapist, plunderer, mass murderer imposter-prophet of Arabia for so long. They should go back to the tradition of the great humanitarian king, Cyrus the Great, who propagated the basic principles human rights nearly in 600 BC, which were strictly followed by the Achaemenids, who introduced and adopted policies based on human rights, equality. It is high time that the people of Iran today take steps to salvage their glorious and rich ancient culture. The Iranians should make efforts to emerge out of the abyss of Islam, and stand on the world stage as a respectable people in fitting with their brilliant ancient heritage.
