Glorious anniversary of the Islamic Revolution!

Abu Dharr

Rabi' al-Thani 22, 1437 2016-02-01

Opinion

by Abu Dharr (Opinion, Crescent International Vol. 44, No. 12, Rabi' al-Thani, 1437)

The current month of February will lift the Islamic Revolution in Iran into its 38th year. The past years have not been easy by any means. This Islamic Revolution had to sweat and bleed at every turn during the past 37 painstaking years. Let us go down memory lane and recall some of the ups and downs in this monumental achievement.

The Islamic Revolution was born in a divided and turbulent world. There were two monsters slugging it out; each one wanted the world in its own image. One of those monsters is capitalist and the other was communist. Neither would accept a newcomer into the geopolitical sphere that is free, independent, and sovereign. Outside of and in spite of their combined calculations that is exactly what happened — a free, independent, and sovereign state was born.

The birth of that self-governing, autonomous, and self-reliant Islamic state created waves of excitement and eruption of euphoria throughout the Muslim world. Even other oppressed peoples began to look up to this nascent Islamic model of unsusceptibility with hopes and prospects. The social instincts and political gut feelings of Muslim and non-Muslim alike were on the mark. The global “deep state,” though, was scared stiff of this “Islamic threat” — the threat of a good example.

From the troubled psychology of disturbed Zionists and imperialists, a war of aggression and occupation was launched on their behalf by the Iraqi Ba‘thi regime when this Islamic state was still in its cradle. The Islamic newborn fought back valiantly for eight gory years. The outcome was around one million killed and millions of others wounded and displaced. In August 1988. a ceasefire was brokered and the combined military muscle of the Zionists, imperialists, and their Arabian subcontractors was channeled into other spheres of hostility.

War with all its agony and suffering brought together what would otherwise be antagonistic parties. The imposed war on Islamic Iran brought together secularists and sectarians, Muslims and non-Muslims, Persians and non-Persians, the rich and the poor. But when the fires of war were extinguished these segments of the population began to raise their heads and amplify their voices.

Some “leadership” figures were lured into a false sense of security: they began to express overtures to the imperialist camp (by that time the Soviet Union had ceased to exist). They did this during the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and they did it once again during the war on the Bosnian Muslims. The upshot of all that was that Iran was referred to as a member of the “Axis of Evil.”

What began as warfare against the Islamic Republic of Iran in the 1980s turned into “economic, financial, and monetary” sanctions against the Islamic Republic at the turn of the century. This culminated in imperialist America — goaded by Zionist Israel — corralling the primary members of the international monetary system to censure Islamic Iran in virtually all of its international monetary transactions, along with a host of other laws and procedures including the freezing of Iran’s assets worldwide.

Parallel to these unprovoked hostile policies emanating from Zionist controlled quarters, the Islamic Republic embarked on a no-nonsense program of acquiring peaceful nuclear technology. The deep-seated fear of the global deep state was unjustifiably stoked again. Thus began a race to the finishing line: either the imperialist and Zionist political club of nations bring Islamic Iran to surrender through their all-out war of finances or the Islamic State brings that political alliance of belligerents to their senses, to recognize Islamic Iran’s right to acquire peaceful nuclear technology.

The pre-President Rouhani administration in its two terms with all its mistakes built up the political capital upon which the current administration has been negotiating. And the race to the finishing line is ending with a publicly fueled impression of a “tie.” This is not a tie. It is the beginning of a new phase in which the same Zionist-imperialist hierarchy is changing its colors and its tactics.

Enter the Saudi-led sectarian dimension. Military explosions failed to bring the Islamic Republic to its knees. Economic detonations failed to bring the Islamic Republic to capitulation. Now Zionist-imperialist manipulations will fail to bring the Islamic Republic into implosions.

This brings us up to the elation of nowadays. Little do the jubilant crowds who are overtaken by the moment realize that this phase of the Joint Comprehension Plan of Action (JCPOA) is laced with discomfiture and trouble. There is jubilation in Iran, emotional disturbance in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, a sense of relief in Europe, depression in Israel, and mental muddiness in the USA.

How will this phase play out in Iraq, Syria and Yemen? What are the remaining options for the do-or-die Arabian rulers? The Saudi patricians are moving to eliminate the American middleman and are going directly to the Israelis for survival purposes. The Saudi princely preachers are sounding off about the Safawi danger that has gripped Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen! Their public vocabulary now refers to Islamic Iran as “the enemy of the Ummah”! They are echoing the jargon of the Israelis and the “Mujahideen-e-Khalq,” referring to Islamic Iran as the “regime of the Mullahs.” The Saudi mouthpieces — among them many an individual who counts himself within the contemporary Islamic Movement — are talking about “minorities” and “majorities” in the Muslim Ummah! And what they mean by that is a “Sunni” majority and a “Shi‘i” minority. They are stuck in the Zionist-orientalist description of Muslims. Had they just used their independent Islamic mind they would have realized that if they are compelled to use such terms as “minority” and “majority” the minority would be the ruling class(es) and the majority would be everyone else.

Why have the scions and Zions of Saud gone bonkers when an Islamic country is moving in an Islamic direction? Yet they sip coffee, smoke cigarettes, drink wine, and eat swine when the subject is the liberation of Palestine. Where are the Saudi-salaried shaykhs when it comes to the Madayas and Zabadanis of Yemen? Should anyone remind these moody Saudis that when they gave up on the Palestinian issue, it was the “Safawis” who came to the Palestinian rescue? Can anyone who has a talking relationship with the sons of Saud tell them that Yemenis are people who seek freedom in their own country and the Saudi-led invasion is against all principles of the Qur’an and Sunnah as well as international law and rules of engagement? Cluster bombs, phosphorous bombs: what next, napalm? The Saudi rulers are acting like their enemy in Syria and their friend in Israel.

Why have Bani Saud and their Wahhabi religious class turned their takfiri vocabulary against Islamic Iran? Both the political and religious arms of the Saudi regime are fired up against Islamic Iran but not against Zionist Israel. It is a feature of the end of times to see and hear ‘ulama riding a wave of Israeli inspired sectarianism. Ask the ignorance-stuffed minds of Arabian officials, did the “Safawis” have anything to do with the toppling of a democratically elected government in Egypt? Are the “Safawis” involved in clamping precarious economic conditions on a Tunisia finding its way? Are the Iranian “Safawis” supporting the antagonistic and breakaway factions in Libya? Are the Iranian “Safawis” the ones who are propping up an Egyptian dictator who has thousands of committed Muslims behind bars, on the run, or exiled? Aren’t the Hebrew-centric Wahhabis behind all this mess?

And guess what? The Islamic State with its Islamic leadership and devotees have survived all this turmoil. A heart and mind free of prejudice and malice has no choice but to salute this Islamic success story.

And We want to favor those who have been oppressed in the world, and to make of them leaders and to make of them heirs… (28:5).